Prestidigitation

2010-10-20T22:15:00.001-07:00

2010-09-19T10:36:00.001-07:00

In September 1993, Lynn Hill became the first person, male or female, to free climb The Nose route on El Capitan. In 1994 she upped the ante, by becoming the first to free climb the entire route in a single 24 hour period, beginning at 10:00 PM on September 19. The Free Nose and the Free Nose in a day remained unrepeated over 10 years after Hill's first ascents - despite numerous attempts by some of the best big wall climbers in the world. (wikipedia)

2010-09-18T18:46:00.001-07:00

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

2010-08-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know what these images are about - and apparently the book doesn't make it any easier.

It's like looking through a telescope at a distant galaxy - refocusing and looking ever harder, even though all you can see are a few tiny specks.

2010-07-31T22:57:00.000-07:00

2010-07-26T22:27:00.001-07:00

Beryl Markham

An aviatrix and the first person to fly from Europe to New York.

At 30 miles a day, it would take months or years to paddle the entire California tidal shoreline.

You would have to be a water sprite or an oceanid.

2010-07-09T19:20:00.001-07:00

Emilie Halpern

2010-07-08T20:30:00.001-07:00

Eleven thousand trees were planted in a complex mathematical pattern by eleven thousand people from around the world, to be maintained for 400 years.

tree mountain - 1996
via rolu

2010-06-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

you can see the shadow of the earth, or the twilight wedge, as the sun sets and the earth casts a shadow on the atmosphere.

15 minutes later, night falls.

2010-06-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

"beam...room" by Carl Andre

beam

clay beam

edge clay beam

grid edge clay beam

bond grid edge clay beam

path bond grid edge clay beam

reef

slab reef

wall slab reef

bead wall slab reef

cell bead wall slab reef

rock cell bead wall slab reef

root

heel root

line heel root

rate line heel root

dike rate line heel root

sill dike rate line heel root

room

time room

hill time room

inch hill time room

rack inch hill time room

mass rack inch hill time room

2010-06-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

via rolu, 2 or 3 things

2010-06-01T23:44:00.001-07:00

The last paragraph of Plato's The Republic:

Wherefore my counsel is that we hold fast ever to the heavenly way and follow after justice and virtue always, considering that the soul is immortal and able to endure every sort of good and every sort of evil. Thus shall we live dear to one another and to the gods, both while remaining here and when, like conquerors in the games who go round to gather gifts, we receive our reward. And it shall be well with us both in this life and in the pilgrimage of a thousand years which we have been describing.

2010-05-31T15:33:00.000-07:00

Socrates:

Let us then consider, first of all, what will be their way of life... they will work, in summer, commonly, stripped and barefoot, but in winter substantially clothed and shod. They will feed on barley-meal and flour of wheat, baking and kneading them, making noble cakes and loaves; these they will serve up on a mat of reeds or on clean leaves, themselves reclining the while upon beds strewn with yew or myrtle. And they and their children will feast, drinking of the wine which they have made, wearing garlands on their heads, and hymning the praises of the gods, in happy converse with one another. And they will take care that their families do not exceed their means; having an eye to poverty or war.

But, said Glaucon, interposing, you have not given them a relish to their meal.

True, I replied, I had forgotten; of course they must have a relish—salt, and olives, and cheese, and they will boil roots and herbs such as country people prepare; for a dessert we shall give them figs, and peas, and beans; and they will roast myrtle-berries and acorns at the fire, drinking in moderation. And with such a diet they may be expected to live in peace and health to a good old age, and bequeath a similar life to their children after them.

- Plato, The Republic

2010-05-24T23:23:00.001-07:00

Robert Rauschenberg Note on Painting 1963

I find it nearly impossible free ice to write about Jeepaxle my work. The concept I planetarium struggle to deal with ketchup is opposed to the logical community lift tab inherent in language horses and communication. My fascination with images open 24 hrs. is based on the complex interlocking if disparate visual facts heated pool that have no respect for grammar. The form then Denver 39 is second hand to nothing. The work then has a change to electric service become its own cliche. Luggage. This is the inevitable fate fair ground of any inanimate object freightways by this I mean anything that does not have inconsistency as a possibility built-in.

The outcome of a work is based icy ice on amount of intensity concentration and joy that is pursued roadcrossing the act of work. The character of the artist has to be responsive and lucky. Personally I have never been interested in a defensible reason post card for working achievement functionally is a delusion to do a needed work short changes art. It seems to me that a great part Indian moccasins of urgency in working lies with you real soon. U.S. postages stamps -- sanitarily packaged -- save a trip to post office shapes..files..cleans with key chain forget to bring it with you...to make something the need of which can only fishing 7 springs be determined after its existence and hat judgement subject to change at any moment. 15'18". It is extremely important that art be unjustifiable.

2010-05-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

gideon chase

2010-05-23T09:50:00.000-07:00

asako narahashi

2010-04-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

Pele's hair

Pele's tears

2010-04-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

poise

margo oberg

single fin pin tail / via serena mitnik-miller

2010-04-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

From this article:

Glitch, at its most basic, is a 2D Flash, Web-based, social MMO with a heavy puzzle-solving component. Or, as the team likes to call it, a "collaborative sim." Its back story centers on a great but very dark future, and a group of scientists who discover a path back in time to create the optimistic future everyone wants.

"The whole world was spun out of the imagination of 11 great giants," Butterfield, who often speaks in a soft, hard-to-hear voice, said. "So you have to go back into the past, into the world of the giants' imaginations and grow...the number of things in the world, grow it in terms of physical dimensions, to make sure the future actually happens. So all the game play takes place in the past inside the world of the giants' imagination."

Practically speaking, Glitch is a social game about learning how to find and nurture resources, identify and build community, and proselytize to those around you. It's not about epic, bloody battles. "Rather than you and me fighting each other with swords," Butterfield explained, "it could be you and me having rival religious factions battling each other for converts."

Along the way, players level up by completing quests, gaining skills, growing all manner of things, and making their way through a sometimes Mario-esque world of different artistic styles, each of which can be thought of as being inside an individual giant's memories.

2010-03-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

recently at the park

2010-03-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

ode to street view

via @diehlornodiehl

via @adamludwin

2010-03-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

Ordinary dweller.

Broom and Boom.

2010-03-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

1.) All the Dead Stars: A map of all the dead stars in the universe.
via seedmagazine

2.) Vija Celmins: Night Sky #12.

3.) The Hercules Cluster of Galaxies: 485,000,000 light years away. "At the time when the Hercules Cluster looked as we see it, the complex form of life on Earth was the trilobite."
via seedmagazine

4.) M13: A globular cluster in the armpit of the Hercules constellation. 25,000 light years away and sometimes visible with the naked eye.

5.) Antony Gormly: Look closely. Then look closer.
via butdoesitfloat

6.) Music: Local Natives Airplanes

2010-03-07T22:19:00.000-08:00

Ocean Beach dunes

on a windy afternoon

2010-03-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

1.) Wind: (air movement). Makani
Variable wind, makani pālua. Fair wind, makani ʻoluʻolu, peawini. Wind puff, ahe lau makani, ʻōnini. Wind-borne, pā makani, māpu, lele, kūpani, kō. Icy wind, hauʻoki. Sound of wind, wī. Blowing of wind, pā, loku. Gust or draft of wind, hihio, kīkīao, kūhewa; limu (rare). Wind-resisting, kūmakani. Strong wind, makani ikaika, makani, pāhili. Increase or rising of wind, ulu, pehuea. Stormy wind, ʻena makani; puku kālina (poetical). To turn into the wind, hoʻopiʻi, kaʻaluna; kūpapaula (rare). Northeast trade wind, Moaʻa, Moaʻe Kū, Moaʻe Pehu, Moaʻe Lehua, Aʻe, Aʻe Loa, Kaiāulu, Kaomi, Noe. Southerly or leeward wind, Kona. Usual wind of a place, makani kamaʻāina. Goddess of winds, Laʻamaomao. See full entry.
via theshinysea

2.) Blinkity Blank: Norman McLaren's film about a bird in a cage.
via 2or3things

3.) Flags: "When a digital camera is placed close to a computer screen we can discover a new disharmony. The intersection of the limits of the devices - the camera’s zoom and the screen’s resolution - creates blurry images. Having world flags on the screen to which the camera moves too close reminds the problem of having physically distinct but politically blurry borders between nations." - Burak Arikan
via butdoesitfloat

4.) Notes from Tara Donovan talk 2/27/10: "I work more like a scientist or an architect"; forget unwieldy materials as you would forget "old boyfriends"; Donovan's assistants operate a sort of knitting circle (think opposite of Richard Serra); pieces are installed like a musical score or dance is performed; materials are not an environmental commentary; Greek vases used to be trash. Haze.

2010-02-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

1. Cosma Shalizi's Notebooks: "They're, well, notebooks --- things I find amusing, outrageous, strange or otherwise noteworthy; notes towards works-in-glacial-progress; hemi-demi-semi-rants; things I want to learn more about; lists of references; quotations from the Talking Heads where appropriate."

2. Voynich Manuscript: A mysterious manuscript. Cryptic illustrations and script. Author unknown. Apparently nobody really knows anything about this book.

3. Music: High Road by the Broken Bells

2010-02-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

"Curiosity has its own reason for existing."

-Albert Einstein

Drawings by Ernesto Cavaino

2010-02-04T09:43:00.001-08:00

Subdivision Surface

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Matt Shlian, pen

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Elisa Strozyk

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cloth simulation program

by Andrew Hoyer

2010-01-29T18:23:00.000-08:00

Touch

2010-01-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

this is me when I was 4

http://www.apple.com/ipad/#video

Mount Analogue

2010-01-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

by Leslie Shows

Pendulum

2010-01-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

Pendulum Spit Bite by Terry Fox, 1977

- - - - - - - - - -

"Inspired by a visit to the labyrinth at the Chartres Cathedral, Fox constructed a pendulum that slowly dripped acid as it swung above a metal printing plate, marking the arcing swirl of its movement."
- from placard at SFMoMA

- - - - - - - - - -

"A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face."
-Jorge Luis Borges (The Aleph and Other Stories)

2010-01-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

"The aesthetic act always precedes the social one."

-Barnett Newman

by Simon Evans

by Emily Prince

(incidentally, doesn't the left whale look like twitter's fail whale?)

my blippy feed

"on the cutting edge of boring"

-Stephen Colbert

SFMoMA 75th

2010-01-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

childhood photo of

his late wife Margaret

musical hull

matokie slaughter

Gems from Barry McGee's installation at the SFMoMA

The Alaia

2010-01-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

The Alaia

a non-toxic

and finless

surfboard

based on

the ancient

Hawaiian design

graceful once you figure out how to

ride/slide/glide

an acquired taste

The beauty in these boards is

the process of building it yourself,

surfing on it,

and iterating the shape

as you figure out how it rides.

"I've tried to find a

new modernity, a new elegance.

It's not easy because people

seem to want to be shocked.

They want explosive fashion.

I try to avoid that

because explosions don't last;

they disappear immediately

and leave nothing but ashes."

-Giorgio Armani

on Tom Wegener's website

The Remains of a Sphere

2010-01-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

from flickr

by tara donovan

Antarctica

2009-12-29T16:17:00.000-08:00

plastic bags are forever

Antarctica in a Bag

via data is nature

styrofoam cups

by Tara Donovan

I hate photoshop

Dreamy seascapes of broken glass

Encounters at the End of the World

(where humans

are stranger

than the

Antarctic)

"When one tries to rise above Nature

one is liable to fall below it."

-Sherlock Holmes

Links

2009-12-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

1. Ron Elliot is the only sea urchin diver at the Farallon Islands, the outermost point of the red triangle, where he shares the water with great white sharks. The islands are also known as the Devil's Teeth.

2. A flickr photo set showcasing 486 Temari.

3. I heard Ira Glass speak recently at Berkeley. He said, "Great stories happen to people who can tell them." Watch Ira Glass on storytelling Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Ray of Light

2009-12-25T10:42:00.000-08:00

"A single ray of light from a distant star falling upon the eye of a tyrant in bygone times, may have altered the course of his life, may have changed the destiny of nations, may have transformed the surface of the globe, so intricate, so inconceivably complex are the processes of nature."

-Nikola Tesla

Degenerative/Generative

2009-12-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

"time-space

ordering

these

canyons is

nothing

more than

an immensely

long and complex

hydro-dynamic

computer program."

the slot valleys of antelope canyon

via dataisnature

augustin lesage

via but does it float

louise despont

via but does it float

Cubes

2009-12-22T08:42:00.000-08:00

"mock the invisible world with its own shadows"

-Frankenstein

http://www.jaakkomattila.fi/works/paper

2009-12-18T08:35:00.001-08:00

1. A project (from the fabulous blog Letters of Note) where artist G C Haymes sent out 500 requests, along with return postcards, to Describe the Sky.

2. This is perfect Ocean Beach.

3. Guerilla Gardening finding unexpected ways and places to grow living beautiful plants.

4. What a World! "Facts about our planet, written by an author who does not allow facts to be obscured or overshadowed by politics." A book review by Freeman Dyson.

5. Some impressive technology proving that there are indeed sharks out there. Especially here in the Red Triangle.

6. Whitney Biennial 2010 artists are announced.

Free

2009-12-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

San Francisco

by Josef Hoflehner

via Wooster Collective

dancing on Yosemite's

Glacier Point

Garden Jewel

2009-12-15T17:03:00.000-08:00

Dear Sir or Mamm,

Please be aware that crimes of opportunity can happen to you, even here at Mira Costa's San Elijo campus, the Garden Jewel of the North coast. :)

If you need assistance securing your oversized property (ie surfboard) in the future, please feel free to contact one of our officers, seek assistance at A&R, or call 795-6640 (MCPD dispatch).

Thank you! The more you take care to safeguard your own property, the more you contribute to our shared goal of making San Elijo a crime free campus.

Have a great day!

J. Stapleton, #10

Police Officer

Mira Costa Police Department

Ocean Beach Glass

2009-12-14T22:46:00.001-08:00

from here

Joan of Arc

2009-12-13T13:47:00.000-08:00

O God that madest this beautiful earth,

when will it be ready to receive thy Saints?

How long, O Lord, how long?

from the play

Saint Joan

by George Bernard Shaw

Footage from

Lessons of Darkness

by Werner Herzog

Ernst Haeckel

2009-12-08T09:37:00.001-08:00

Take an object.
Do something to it.
Do something else to it.

-Jasper Johns

Molluscs by Ernst Haeckel

Urchins
by Jen Maestre on Etsy

Accession 2

by Eva Hesse

Knots

2009-12-02T22:27:00.000-08:00

Simple and functional knots:

Decorative knots:

A bygone art

created by sailors in their idle time

from Fair Winds Nautical

(look for "The Rope Speaks")

Model of a knot:

by Professor Carlo H. Sequin

from the Art and Math Conference of 1998

The Thistlethwaite Link Table

(where, if you are brave, you can

see everything all at once)

and the Rolfsen Knot Table

in one big mosaic

I'm glad somebody keeps track of this stuff.

Lifeboat

2009-12-02T22:05:00.000-08:00

Captivated by Maira Kalman's blog this week.

I saw the Cockamie Contraption and wanted to find out more.

I found Gravel and Gold,

where I watched Mickey Murch making the contraption

which he calls a lifeboat

and beekeeping in New Zealand.

The Literary Map of San Francisco

2009-11-27T11:23:00.000-08:00

from strange maps

Based on a similar map of St Petersburg by Vera Evstafieva and Andrew Biliter, this one places city-relevant quotes on a San Francisco map, where possible on the district the quote relates to. San Francisco Bay, cable cars, the Mission, the Tenderloin District and Chinatown are all name-checked in this map, which quotes following authors:

Alice Adams (Second Chances – 1988)
Isabel Allende (Daughter of Fortune – 1999)
Maya Angelou (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – 1969)
Gertrude Atherton (The House of Lee – 1940)
Albert Benard de Russailh (Last Adventure – 1851)
Ambrose Bierce (The Death of Halpin Frayser – 1891)
Herb Caen (Herb Caen’s San Francisco – 1957)
Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – 1968)
Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – 2000)
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Dog – 1958)
Allen Ginsberg (Sunflower Sutra – 1956)
Andrew Sean Greer (The Confessions of Max Tivoli – 2004)
Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon – 1930)
Robert Hass (Bookbuying in the Tenderloin – 1967)
Bob Kaufman (No More Jazz at Alcatraz)
Maxine Hong Kingston (China Men – 1980)
Jack Kerouac (On the Road – 1957)
Gus Lee (China Boy – 1991)
Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City – 1978)
Czeslaw Milosz (Visions From San Francisco Bay – 1975)
Alejandro Murguia (The Medicine of Memory – 2002)
Frank Norris (McTeague – 1899)
Thomas Pynchon (The Crying of Lot 49 – 1968)
Ishmael Reed (Earthquake Blues – 1988)
William Saroyan (The Living and the Dead – 1936)
John Steinbeck (Travels with Charley – 1961)
George Sterling (The Cool, Grey City of Love – 1920)
Robert Louis Stevenson (Arriving in San Francisco – 1879)
Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club – 1989)
Michelle Tea (Valencia – 2000)
Hunter S. Thompson (The Great Shark Hunt – 1964)
Mark Twain (Early Rising, As Regards Excursions to the Cliff House – 1864)
Sean Wilsley (On the Glory of It All – 2005)

Birth of a Flower (1910)

2009-11-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a8BN5Q4ewg

Via 2 or 3 things I know.

Mountain of Storms

2009-11-26T00:36:00.001-08:00

My mother was lucky enough to grow up in Patagonia. I was lucky enough to grow up in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Wanting to get in a van and connect the dots.

Best Halloween Costume Ever Created

2009-11-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

By this video game designer dude.

Turing's Cathedral

2009-11-20T10:31:00.000-08:00

Romanticized and compelling connection between Gothic cathedrals and artificial intelligence:

My visit to Google? Despite the whimsical furniture and other toys, I felt I was entering a 14th-century cathedral — not in the 14th century but in the 12th century, while it was being built. Everyone was busy carving one stone here and another stone there, with some invisible architect getting everything to fit. The mood was playful, yet there was a palpable reverence in the air. "We are not scanning all those books to be read by people," explained one of my hosts after my talk. "We are scanning them to be read by an AI."

When I returned to highway 101, I found myself recollecting the words of Alan Turing, in his seminal paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence, a founding document in the quest for true AI. "In attempting to construct such machines we should not be irreverently usurping His power of creating souls, any more than we are in the procreation of children," Turing had advised. "Rather we are, in either case, instruments of His will providing mansions for the souls that He creates."

-George Dyson on edge.org

via qualitypeoples.com

Details over portal statuary at Chartres

Gargoyles at Chartres

Chartres Cathedral

Writing Without Words

2009-11-04T21:56:00.000-08:00

"The structure of Part One of On The Road visualised using a simple tree structure that has been worked with manually in order to give it a more organic feel. Here, Part One divides into chapters, chapters divide into paragraphs, paragraphs divide into sentences, and sentences divide into words. Everything is colour-coded according to key themes in On the Road."

By Stefanie Posavec of http://www.itsbeenreal.co.uk/

Startup Art

2009-10-14T17:45:00.000-07:00

I work at a startup and draw silly pictures for my coworkers.

Lead Balloon:

Liberated:

Commented Out:

Nonsensical Infographics

2009-09-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

by Chad Hagen

Command Drawing

2009-09-05T19:13:00.000-07:00

Follow the simple syntax to create your own command drawings:

http://shapevent.com/projects/command_drawing/

Siftables

2009-08-23T21:00:00.001-07:00

European Junior Indoorcycling Championships

2009-08-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

via @adamludwin

Solace of the Eyes

2009-08-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

When I first learned about the great heroine, Qurratu’l-‘Ayn, I was a young girl. I was gratified to hear Dr. Abbas Milani (director of Iranian Studio at Stanford University) revere this heroine in his recent address to supporters of the Baha'is in Iran at the Herbst theater in San Francisco:

"There is an Iran different from the zealotry, bigotry, and brutality of its current rulers--an Iran of Neda Agha Sultans and Qurratu’l-‘Ayns, the 19th century early convert to Bab, a great poet and scholar and the first woman to lift her veil and give a public lecture in Iran."

Qurratu’l-‘Ayn, meaning "Solace of the Eyes", and Tahirih, meaning "The Pure One", are the titles of Fátimih Baraghání. Qurratu’l-‘Ayn expounded subtle theological truths, invoked the word of Muhammad to remind corrupt governors of how "unbelievers" like her ought to be treated, and removed her veil in a public meeting eloquently proclaiming "this is the day on which the fetters of the past are burst asunder".

Reading Saving the World's Women in the New York Times this week, I marveled at Qurratu’l-‘Ayn's contribution to the world-wide emancipation of women. Indeed, where there is terrorism, political unrest, or economic strife, women are usually marginalized. Their emancipation brings greater social and economic prosperity.

Qurratu’l-‘Ayn was strangled and executed with her own veil in August of 1852. Her last words were, “You can kill me, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.”

Baha'u'llah, founder of the Baha'i Faith, wrote that the reins of mankind fall into the hands of the foolish and ignorant and begged the question:

"What oppression is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it?"

As women like Qurratu’l-‘Ayn are being written back into history, oppressed women around the world and especially in Iran have a legacy to prop them up and carry them forward.

The British orientalist Edward Granville Browne wrote:

"The appearance of such a woman as Qurratu'l-'Ayn is in any country and any age a rare phenomenon, but in such a country as Persia it is a prodigy -- nay, almost a miracle. Alike in virtue of her marvellous beauty, her rare intellectual gifts, her fervid eloquence her fearless devotion, and her glorious martyrdom, she stands forth incomparable and immortal amidst her countrywomen."

"An Evening in Support of the Baha'is in Iran" at the Herbst Theater In San Francisco

19th Century Persian woman's indoor dress

19th Century Persian woman's public dress

E.G. Browne

Nate and Shay's map of Half Dome's Regular Northwest Face

2009-08-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of summers ago, my friends Nate and Shay climbed the Northwest Face of Half Dome. They used a climber's map, or topo, as their guide. I love the way they combined a photo slideshow with a climber's topo. Interact with the topo on their website:

Climber topos are remarkable to begin with because they condense information on thousands of feet of vertical terrain to a single pocket sized page.

Information is Beautiful

2009-08-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

Data visualizations to please the eye:

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net

How to Look at Modern Art in America

2009-08-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

by Ad Reinhardt

Impressionante

2009-08-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

My cousin May posted this on her blog. I love it.

The PEN Story from PENStory on Vimeo.

2009-07-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

40 years ago, on July 20th 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.

15 years ago, I went skiing in Sun Valley with my family. We used walkie talkies to communicate with each other on the slopes.

One morning, my mother and I jumped on a ski lift with an older couple we did not know.

On the long ride to the summit, in between "roger thats" and "10-4s" with the cousins and grandparents waiting in the lodge, we made friends with the couple next to us.

Just as my mother finished explaining to them how she could talk with her twin sister all the way on the other side of the mountain, the woman said, very politely, "Oh yes, well, this is my husband Buzz Aldrin. He's used one of those before."

Swimming Lessons

2009-07-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

Mottos can be cheesy - but sometimes they work. Here's a sampling of some mottos from around my office:

Smooth Criminal with a US Patent

2009-06-26T16:01:00.001-07:00

My friend Adam Ludwin pointed out that Michael Jackson had a US Patent on the shoe that allowed him to do that iconic lean in Smooth Criminal.

Solar Eclipse

2009-05-06T17:54:00.001-07:00

Whenever you see spots of sunlight under a shady tree, you are actually seeing an image of the sun.

Proof? Above is an image of the ground under a shady tree during a solar eclipse.

The little holes between the leaves actually act like a pinhole camera and cast an image of the sun on the ground.

In a sense, any light around a shadow is an image of the sun.

Crocheted Coral Reef

2009-04-22T19:03:00.001-07:00

Geogreeting

2009-04-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

(click on image to create your own)

Radiohead's House of Cards

2009-04-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

Rendered using data points, not cameras.

Manipulate the data
Download and create your own visualization
View other visualizations
Making Of

Penmanship via Martha Stewart

2009-04-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

I've developed a terrible habit of visiting the crafts section at marthastewart.com - there's some really good stuff there!:

See more at http://www.marthastewart.com/penmanship

The End

2009-04-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Tree Relief Print

2009-04-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

by Brian Nash Gill

Visualization Lab

2009-04-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

DIY:
1.) Go to vizlab.nytimes.com
2.) Click on visualize button to visualize Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address.
3.) Select a word tree data visualization
4.) Search for "war" and press enter
5.) Publish
6.) Share and embed
7.) Read the full speech

James Earl Jones Alphabet

2009-04-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

I use this blog to post mostly handmade or computer generated graphics and objects. I love ABC3D as an example of a magical work of alphabet design and bookmaking. But I ran across this alphabet performed by James Earl Jones and saw it as a sort of oral typography. Who else could recite the alphabet in such a compelling way?

Time-Space Storytelling

2009-03-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

Published in 1869, Charles Minard's eloquent graphic story is peculiarly relevant in an age of geotagging our own personal data.

Minard's graph of Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812:

Through a sort of flow chart imposed on a map, Minard tells a story of time and space, gracefully documenting multiple variables:

The army's location in Russia
The direction and path the army traveled
Where units spun off and rejoined
The declining size of the army
The low temperatures during the retreat (retreat shown in black)
The dates

Look what happened when the army crossed the Berezina river. In France, the word "berezina" is synonymous with the word "disastre". For another data "berezina", check out this horrifying government PPT slide - they could use a few tips from Minard.

Ambigram Bands

2009-03-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

Poet on a Mountaintop

2009-03-24T15:35:00.000-07:00

by Chinese literati painter Chen Zhou 1427-1509

White clouds sash-like

wrap mountain waists,

The rock terrace flies in space,

distant, a narrow path.

Leaning on a bramble staff,

far and free I gaze,

To the warble of valley brook

I will reply, whistling.

Iraq: Indications and Warnings of Civil Conflict

2009-03-23T14:47:00.001-07:00

This is a PPT slide produced by United States Central Command.

Peace=Unorganized spontaneous mass civil conflict

Chaos=Low level violence motivated by sectarian differences

The persuasive power of badly cluttered design.

Suggestion: Chat via Current iTunes status message

2009-03-18T10:06:00.003-07:00

me: haha
that would be an interesting idea...
have a conversation with someone with song titles
Blake's new status message - The Girl And The Robot - Röyksopp 7:39 AM
Blake: starting now

Art on NY Library Walls

2009-03-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/03/13/arts/design/03142009-mural-slideshow_index.html

What happens when you deactivate facebook:

2009-02-16T23:41:00.001-08:00

A warning that Aunt Leslye, my mother, my aunt Angelique, a climbing friend, and my climbing partner will miss me. This is how social networks become a moral obligation.

Crayon Physics

2009-01-13T21:16:00.001-08:00

Crayon Physics Deluxe from Petri Purho on Vimeo.

Crayon Physics Deluxe trailer 2 from Petri Purho on Vimeo.

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

2009-01-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

via swissmiss

Change

2009-01-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

Pollock's art won acclaim as art that transcended commercialism:

But here is one of his paintings used as the backdrop for a Vogue fashion shoot:

So what are we to make of this?

The List (or how I spent my free time at Stanford)

2008-12-30T15:34:00.001-08:00

Sometime in 2003 or 2004 Abby and I sat at a the SF MoMA Cafe and wrote on the back of a postcard the things we wanted to do in our spare time:

Herbivore and walking on Haight
Alice's
Muir Woods
Beaching
Mill Valley
Creamery
Hobbies
Tapestry
Pizza Party
Apple crisp obsession
Lost Coast
Marin Headlands
Picnic in the hills
Secret playground
Lamp art
Hiking Mt. Tamalpais
Make chocolate covered fresas
Valentines night of love
Bike to Whole Foods in the sun
Coldstones
Go to the [machine] shop (& make stuff)

OMG what?

2008-12-24T22:04:00.000-08:00

The greatest thing ever:

http://psd2cssonline.com/

css from psd files? All I have to do is name the layers?

Les Concerts a Emporter

2008-12-22T15:10:00.000-08:00

Soy Un Caballo - La raison du plus fort
by lablogotheque

#45.3 - Andrew Bird - Spare-Oh
by lablogotheque

Sprinklers on a Cold Night

2008-12-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

photos by friend Kristi Kass

Talkative Snowflakes

2008-12-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

translation = love

translation = happy holidays

translation = joy

I haven't posted in a while, I guess I've been rockclimbing too much. But now that I'm stuck on a couch with a sprained ankle, I've had some time to fiddle around in Illustrator. Here are some holiday snowflakes.

Professor Applebaum

2008-11-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

Here's what it sounds like.

From Stanford Magazine.

Helvetica (The Movie)

2008-09-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

A 50th birthday celebration of the typeface designed to clean up and clarify our visual world. One of the best documentaries I've seen in a long time.

Explores the beautiful, boring, poetic, and informative sides of Helvetica.

You'll never look at type the same way again!

Rent on iTunes.

Eddie and Farrah

2008-09-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

A vector drawing I made for my friends Eddie and Farrah. Their wedding vow.

You like it? Get married and I'll give you one.

Here's another version for Tom and Claudet:

Woven Ink

2008-09-19T11:51:00.001-07:00

I made this out of thread and paper. I don't really like this at all, but it gave me some other ideas so...

... I deleted the picture from this blog.

Fortune Cookie

2008-08-13T18:10:00.001-07:00

Some lettering I drew, copying a fortune cookie fortune word for word. It reads "Keep your plans secret for now."

2008-08-12T13:40:00.001-07:00

I like this drawing. I think I'll make a painting out of it now. I haven't decided what words to put in the scrolls... any ideas?

trash-e

2008-08-10T21:41:00.000-07:00

I was completely entranced by Wall-e and bought the toy. A few questions came to mind as I opened the packaging today:

1.) Why did I get a little emotional as I freed Wall-e from the packaging wires?

2.) Isn't Wall-e supposed to be tirelessly working to consolidate mounds of waste on planet Earth?

3.) Why does my toy Wall-e come wrapped in more trash than he himself could compact?

Presto Digiotagione

2008-07-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

A short Pixar film at the beginning of Wall-e. A single weird word can inspire other creative titles.