Constructed with bamboo, using a highly efficient ducted-fan design, the Stadler Form OTTO Fan is extremely cool, in every sense of the term.
Yearly Archives: 2012
Awesome Technology PoliticsStraight White Male: Lowest Difficulty Level in the Game of Life
May 16, 2012 – 1:05 pm
Using the language of difficulty levels common in video games, John Scalzi does an excellent job of unpacking what it means to have privilege. Like all metaphors, the video game difficulty metaphor of privilege has its limits, but it certainly is illuminating:
Dudes. Imagine life here in the US — or indeed, pretty much anywhere in the Western world — is a massive role playing game, like World of Warcraft except appallingly mundane, where most quests involve the acquisition of money, cell phones and donuts, although not always at the same time. Let’s call it The Real World. You have installed The Real World on your computer and are about to start playing, but first you go to the settings tab to bind your keys, fiddle with your defaults, and choose the difficulty setting for the game. Got it?
Okay: In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is.
You can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting. The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on. The player who plays on the “Gay Minority Female” setting? Hardcore.
via: BoingBoing
See Also: I’ve always like the idea of the invisible knapsack: everyone has one, each one is different, and we are all largely blind to its contents and what those contents enable us to do.
Urban R&D: the perfect keychain
May 16, 2012 – 11:44 am
After many years of research and testing, I think I have finally hit upon the ideal keychain. Before I get into specifics, though, lets talk about what, exactly, makes a keychain “Ideal”.
- First and foremost, silence: I don’t want to hear my keys every step I take.
- Additionally, the ideal keychain must be lightweight, as light as possible.
- Small, so as to not interfere with my day to day movements and add the least wear and tear to my pants as possible.
- Indestructible: I’m carrying this thing everywhere, and well, probably going to be sitting on it.
- Utilitarian: Why else would I carry it with me? For me, utilitarian means being able to store some data, open a beer, easily open packages, and turn a screw here and there.
- Easy to add and remove elements: oddly enough, this is the toughest bit to combine with the rest. The traditional split ring keychain makes adding or removing anything a fight at best.
- Finally, that it can be attached to my beltloop and fit in the backpocket of my pants, without clumping up at the bottom of the pocket, so that I don’t have to sit on my keys, and instead they stay to the upper corner of the pocket.
So, what collection of objects has all of these wonderful properties?
The carabiner key
The Lucky Line Keyring: easy to add and remove keys, but never comes undone accidentally.
The Lacie Iamakey, slow but small and indestructible.
The NiteIze S-Biner size #4: It is the perfect size to hang off a beltloop and into your pocket.
The Gerber shard, sharp enough to cut plastic clamshell packaging, opens a beer, turns a screw, and the TSA lets it through. Super cheap to boot.
And that, my friends, is the perfect keychain.
Metal Band Name Candidate Of The Week
May 15, 2012 – 11:58 pm
STYGIMÖLÖCH
Stygimoloch (meaning “horned devil from the Styx (river of death)”) is a putative genus of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from the end of the Cretaceous period, roughly 65 million years ago. It is currently known from the Hell Creek Formation, Ferris Formation, and Lance Formation of the Western Interior (United States), where it lived alongside Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops. It may represent a sub-adult form of Pachycephalosaurus.
Via XKCD.
Epic Time Lapse Map of Europe
May 15, 2012 – 12:35 pm
Covering more than a thousand years of history, this time lapse shows the shifting boundaries, nations, and states of Europe. There is a slower version that shows the year with annotations for particular events.
The opening lines of the Charter for the Fundamental Rights of the European Union(PDF) make much more sense now:
The peoples of Europe, in creating an ever closer union among them, are resolved to share a peaceful
future based on common values.
Additionally, the opening few lines of the Schuman Declaration of 1950 also become crystal clear:
It proposes that Franco-German production of coal and steel as a whole be placed under a common High Authority, within the framework of an organization open to the participation of the other countries of Europe. The pooling of coal and steel production should immediately provide for the setting up of common foundations for economic development as a first step in the federation of Europe, and will change the destinies of those regions which have long been devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war, of which they have been the most constant victims.
The solidarity in production thus established will make it plain that any war between France and Germany becomes not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible.
Yasutomo2020 The Best Wallet
May 14, 2012 – 3:38 pm
Made from Cuben Fiber, developed as high performance sail material, it’s super light, incredibly thin, and tremendously cool looking. $50 a piece from Yasutomo2020.
Sustainability is not a feature, it’s a requirement
May 1, 2012 – 8:47 am
To my clients, I say that sustainability is not an added value. When they ask me for a sustainable business strategy, they are asking me for a business strategy. When they ask for a plan as to their firm’s interest in renewable energy, they are asking me for an energy plan. When they ask me for a social sustainability plan for employees, they are asking me for an HR plan. The lady doth protest but the lady is in fact wrong. If you are going to label some things as sustainable, then by default, that is which is not sustainable is ‘unsustainable’. And that is the crux.
Excellent comment on this post about whole foods only sourcing sustainable fish by nickrussell on metafilter.com
Hovding: discrete inflatable Bike helment
April 30, 2012 – 6:36 pm
Hovding is an inflatable bike helmet that operates on the same principle as an airbag, hidden in a collar that goes around your neck. Currently only available in Europe, it will set you back a cool $500.
Carabiner Key
April 30, 2012 – 2:44 pm
One of those things that I wish I had thought of: A key that is itself a mini carabiner.
The best keychain in the world
April 27, 2012 – 11:16 am
This is the best keychain in the world, bar none. It’s small, easy to add and remove keys, sturdy but flexible, and most importantly never comes undone unexpectedly.
Forest Service May Blow Up Frozen Cows
April 19, 2012 – 3:06 pm
Headline of the day. Hands down.
It may take explosives to dislodge a group of cows that wandered into an old ranger cabin high in the Rocky Mountains, then died and froze solid when they couldn’t get out.
What was that about truth and fiction?
UPDATE: Obliterating Animal Carcasses With Explosives from the Dept. of Agriculture.
Haunting underwater portraits by Jacob Sutton
April 17, 2012 – 2:49 pm
Three hauntingly beautiful portraits shot by Jacob Sutton. (via designspiration & thisiscolossal.com)
Electric Sheep Fractal Flame Android Wallpaper
April 13, 2012 – 2:08 pm
My favorite distributed genetic fractal visualization, ElectricSheep is now available as an android live wallpaper.
First created in 1999 by Scott Draves, the Electric Sheep is a form of artificial life, which is to say it is software that recreates the biological phenomena of evolution and reproduction though mathematics. The system is made up of man and machine, a cyborg mind with 450,000 participant computers and people all over the Internet.
via: Scottdraves.org
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