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Once a place to get away and make a call in privacy, phone booths now provide a place of refuge for smokers who want to get out of the cold or just smoke in peace.
Phone booths by graphic designer Simone de Graef, link and photo via nextnature.net.
LA graffiti writer Tony, aka TemptOne, has a rare neuromuscular disease that has caused progressive muscle weakness and eventual paralysis. Despite not being able to move a muscle, his eyes still function normally. With the help of the Not Impossible Foundation, he was once again able to get back to work:
Video via F.A.T. (Free Art & Technology), where the project phases are shown. Since the Not Impossible Foundation is open source and non-profit, the source code for this device could be used by anyone.
Thanks to Joseph Holsten for the link!
This crazy beautiful design from the Re-Burbia competition, the Airbia, is just the kind of madness we need to fix this broken world.
Wouldn’t you rather board an alien mothership for your commute to the cubicle?
The proposed airship has a capacity to carry 400 people and travel with an avarage of 150 km/h speed on a hight between 30 – 500 meters. Instead of having a major airship station, Airbia proposes a more dispersed network of station-platforms, that constist of staircases, lifts and ticket spaces. This way the system becomes much more flexible, since these drop off – pick up platforms can be placed almost anywhere in the city
thanks for the tip-off Bindy!
Via dailyfinance.com:
Pittsburgh police on Thursday used an audio cannon manufactured by American Technology Corporation (ATCO), a San Diego-based company, to disperse protesters outside the G-20 Summit — the first time its LRAD series device has been used on civilians in the U.S.
“The police fired a sound cannon that emitted shrill beeps, causing demonstrators to cover their ears and back up,” The New York Times reported. For years, similar “non-lethal” products designed by ATC have been used at sea by cruise ships to ward off pirates.
“LRAD creates increased stand off and safety zones, supports resolution of uncertain situations, and potentially prevents the use of deadly force,” ATC spokesperson Robert Putnam told DailyFinance. “We believe this is highly preferable to the real instances that happen almost every day around the world where officials use guns and other lethal and non-lethal weapons to disperse protesters.”
Still, Putnam acknowledged the potential for physical harm. “If you stand right next to it for several minutes, you could have hearing damage,” he said. “But it’s your choice.” He added that heavy-duty ear-phones can render the weapon less effective.
Now that the law enforcement authorites have begun using the LRAD in U.S. cities, a whole new marketplace for the company may have opened up. Don’t be surprised to see a LRAD at an event with large crowds in your town sometime in the future.
Not exactly the Inferno sound barrier device, but still effective.
Thanks to Noah J. for the link!
From Gregory Bastien’s flickr stream, my favorite version of the shot.
From inventorspot.com:
Closed, a jean brand that provides designer styles based in Hamburg, has launched a denim vending prototype machine in Florence, Italy to see how people embrace jeans-on-the-go. If the concept seems to take off, the idea is that it will be setup in train stations, bus stations and airports around Europe so those jet-lagged and unclean can find themselves in a new and clean pair of jeans.
The project is called “How it would be, if a house was dreaming,” designed by Urbanscreen:
Link via engadget.com.
The Better View Blind, created by Elina Aalto, gives the viewer an illusion of a lovely skyline to look at while it blocks some of the light.
Light seeps in through the small cut out holes creating an image of a city by night. The cut-outs represent the light in the windows of apartment buildings and office complexes in the city. The images represent a selection of cities that Elina has traveled to in the last few years and the photographs are by her. The chosen views are of contrasting cityscapes: skyscrapers in Tokyo, 60s modernism in Helsinki and 19th century architecture in Paris.
Link and photo via mocoloco.com.
From pinktentacle.com:
The video — shot on the Rokko Liner in Kobe, Japan — shows how paperclips stand on end when the train accelerates and brakes. The magnetism, which is produced by the electric current that drives the motors located under the floor, apparently poses no harm to the human body, though it could damage credit cards, mobile phones, or other electronic devices if left on the floor. The Kobe New Transit Company, which operates the Rokko Liner (as well as the Port Liner, which uses similar trains), says extra shielding is being installed just in case.
From archiCentral:
Belgian firm Vincent Callebaut Architectures have designed a vertical farm based on the wings of a dragonfly. Located along the East River at the south edge of Rooselvelt Island in New York City the tower is a true living organism being self-sufficient in water, energy and bio fertilizing. Spanning 132 floors and 600 vertical meters, the dragonfly can accommodate 28 different agricultural fields for the production of fruit, vegetables, grains, meat and dairy.
thanks to cnawan for the tip-off!
Photo from ~EvidenceE~‘s flickr stream.
Far from a Apocalypse Bunker, a Smithsonian employee builds a tunnel structure beneath his house in the 1930s as a way to relax his eyes from hours staring through the microscope. Via oobject.com
Thanks to LBA for the link!
From Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre’s beautiful photography site
Anyone can be anyone on the internet, even if they don’t have a permanent roof over their head:
Cheap computers and free Internet access fuel the phenomenon. So does an increasingly computer-savvy population. Many job and housing applications must be submitted online. Some homeless advocates say the economic downturn is pushing more of the wired middle class on to the streets
Link via disinfo.com, story from the Wall Street Journal online.
From National Geographic, it’s hard to be a bee keeper in New York:
Keeping bees in New York City is illegal, so for years beekeepers have flown below the radar of the health code. They keep their hives on roof tops or in community gardens.
If a neighbor makes a complaint, the owners must disassemble their hives or face steep fines and exterminator fees. Flouting the law seems to have not dissuaded these would be beekeepers.
The New York City health department maintains that bees are a threat due to the possibility of swarming and that stings for some can be fatal.
A city council bill has been introduced to legalize beekeeping in the city.
