Mini Mania

Hungry yet??

Too bad. Because these delectable offerings from French artisan, Stephanie, wouldn't be enough to fill you up even if they were real:

Yep, they're miniatures.  I can't imagine having the dexterity, not to mention the patience, to put something like this together - truly amazing.  If you feel the need to own some of these delicious minis, check out her Etsy store.  And don't worry, if you're past the playing with doll houses age, you can always wear your tasty treat.

Superhero Saturday

I had no idea that Havana was Gotham City...

Interesting photo series of Superheroes in History at RxFresh. The comments got a little intense.

Size Does Matter

This was pretty cool - art and the science combined.  Created by SumoScience and Aardman,

The animation was filed using a Nokia N8 smart phone equipped with a CellScope, a diagnostic-quality microscope that was invented by Daniel Fletcher at the University of California, Berkeley. The CellScope allows a doctor working anywhere there is a phone service to capture and transmit images of blood samples anywhere in the world. The technology could help diagnose disease in developing countries where medical doctors and labs are few and far between.
~ Discovery News

Be sure to watch the credits - they really bring the whole size issue into focus.

Thanks to Christopher for the link!

Superhero Saturday

He's such an expressive guy...

Rome Burns Part II

Rome is one of my all-time favorite cities. The art, the food, the people, the awesome sense of  history you get just from walking down the street...there is no place like the Eternal City.

And speaking of history, sometimes old is new: artists Thyra Hilden of Denmark and Pio Diaz of Argentina are planning to burn the coliseum next week...

The installation, titled “Coliseum on Fire,” is part of a wider project, City on Fire, to which the artists have devoted themselves to for some years, creating virtual fires in important institutions, monuments, museums, and churches throughout Europe.
~eternallycool

I think I hear fiddle music...

Read more about the project and see other monuments they would like to burn here.

Losing in the Wrong Place For the Wrong Reasons

From Joe Quinn via the Tom Ricks blog:
"Al Qaeda murdered my brother Jimmy nine years ago...My brother Jimmy worked on the 101st floor. Not a single remnant of my brother would be recovered.

...Due to my emotions (and engineering classes), I barely graduated West Point in the spring of 2002...Nine years after my brother's death..I am currently contributing to the fight here in Afghanistan.

I have recounted the last nine years of my life because my journey through these wars has been similar to yours. You were devastated by the events of 9/11. You wanted revenge, or at least some sort of justice, where you supported the invasion of Afghanistan. You were sidetracked by the Iraq War in 2003 and then again by the Iraq "Surge" in 2007. Nine years after 9/11, you are tired of war, but finally find your blood and treasure in Afghanistan.

My greatest fear is that we will lose the Afghan war because of the Iraq war. The American people are tired of war mostly due to the painful doldrums brought on by the Iraq campaign. Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) also siphoned resources and attention away from Afghanistan, allowing an insurgency to rise and for the U.S. to never fully realize a plan for winning. What is winning? Winning is achieving irreversible momentum towards a stable Afghanistan, free from Taliban control, which will never serve as a base for terrorism.

After nine years of neglecting the Afghan war, we finally have a plan for winning, with the right resources, the right leadership and the right programs. At the end of August, the last of the 30,000 additional U.S. troops are finally in place. Undoubtedly, these additional troops will clear and hold large swaths of Taliban strongholds.

In General Petraeus, we also have the right leadership to orchestrate the Afghan war. Saying that General Petraeus will not make a difference in Afghanistan is like saying Michael Jordan would not make a difference in Chicago after coming out of retirement in 1994. Eventually the team will improve.

The right programs in Afghanistan have only just begun. General Petraeus made an immediate impact by partnering with President Karzai to begin the Afghan Local Police (ALP) program that will leverage local Afghans to provide village-level security. The Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program (APRP) is another concept that has just been ratified, where the effects of the program will only truly be felt in the months ahead. The right resources, leadership and programs in Afghanistan have just begun. Winning the Afghan war has just begun.

So after nine years, why are we still in Afghanistan? For me it's still simple. The men that killed my brother on 9/11 were five of 20,000 terrorists trained by Al Qaeda in a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan will only embolden Al Qaeda even more to perpetrate terrorist attacks like on 9/11. It's easy to forget the connection between Afghanistan and 9/11 after all this time. For me, it's impossible to forget. Perhaps remembering is the luxury of my family's tragedy.

In the end, I do not want revenge anymore. The truth is that the perpetrators that murdered my brother died that same day. I now have a new goal: to leave Afghanistan. To leave Afghanistan as a stable country, free from Taliban control, which will never serve as a base for terrorism.

Joe Quinn currently works in Afghanistan as a Counterinsurgency Advisor for the International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF's) Counterinsurgency Assistance and Advisory Team (CAAT). He graduated in May from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government."


Ricks Foreign Policy

Superhero Saturday

The Spideycan...ha ha ha ha



And because Spiderman had such a swingin' theme song...

Floaters

Thought these were interesting - A series of 15 images by French photographer Denis Darzacq called 'Hyper'.   If you've spent any time outside the major cities in France or Italy lately, you've likely run across the Hypermarts - think Tesco or Walmart on steroids.  

Darzacq decided to use these monstrosities that are slowly but inevitably doing what Walmarts do, as backdrops for his images.  His subjects, young street dancers, were told to jump or leap into the air, twisting  and twirling.  He used high shutter speed photography to capture the dancers in mid-air. Apparently there was no photo-shopping done to the images.

I really like these two - the one on top looks like the dancer was just hanging or floating around.  Imagine seeing that when you turned your cart at the end of the aisle...

I like the one below if only in admiration of the dancer's commitment to the project - unless she really can levitate, that is one painful landing on the way.

The exhibit was at Laurence Miller Gallery in New York earlier this year.

Come Sail Away

I’ve never been a big fan of boats – I get seasick in the bathtub. But this just confirms my decision to avoid the whole cruise vacation: apparently, the Pacific Sun encountered a serious storm north of New Zealand.






I guess that’s why they nail stuff down on Navy ships.

Via Tywkiwdbi

Labor Day

click to enlarge

Breaker boys in #9 Breaker, Pennsylvania Coal Company mine at Hughestown Borough near Pittston in January 1911.  Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine via Shorpy

From a commenter:

If I recall my mining knowledge correctly, I think the breaker house was where the larger chunks of coal were broken down into smaller, more manageable sizes. This was accomplished using a series of augers and large rollers. I've heard stories of breaker boys falling into the machinery and being mangled. The companies didn't care. Common business mentality was that workers were just cogs in the machine to be replaced when they were of no further use to the Companies.

I saw a poll recently that asked the question, "If time travel existed, was readily available, and you were guaranteed to return to the present, would you prefer to travel to the past or to the future?"

61% of respondents said they'd go back to the past. Why does everyone always think that the past was such a great place?

Happy Labor Day!

Superhero Saturday

The Flash finally makes it in Hollywood...

Illustration by Joao Fonte

Morning Coffee

Drinking your coffee in one of these might just make the morning go a little easier:

The Milk Cup from Pension fuer Produkte
I'm not sure I get this one - is it supposed to look like your cup has leaked milk?

The Cookie Cup from the coffee company Lavazza and Venezuelan designer Enrique Sardi via PACKAGING | UQAM. Yes, you can eat the cup when you're finished with your coffee...

The Angel Cup from Sami Rinne.

She  He does Bats, too...

The Zero Gravity cup - by XU54.  I have no idea who this is (couldn't translate the site) but he spends a lot of time looking at his coffee.

I Laughed

My other bike is a donkey.

I'm sure the kids around here are getting a fine education.

One of these things is not like the other...

One word: scary.

That Wasn't There a Second Ago...

Back in 1985, the Venezuelan government flooded the small village of Potosi to create the Uribante-Caparo water reservoir.  The only structure visible after the flooding was the steeple of the 82 foot church that stood in the center of the village. The image above was taken in January 2009.

Venezuela generates almost 70% of it's energy from hydroelectric power plants and this reservoir provided some of that power for the area.

Unfortunately, Venezuela has been experiencing a drought brought on by the effects of El Nino and Global warming. This is what the reservoir looked like in February 2010:

via National Geographic

A similar situation occurred in Spain in 2008:


Back in the 1960's, the town of Sant Roma in the Catalonia region was flooded to create a water reservoir. Severe drought drained the reservoir in 2008 and the region was forced to import drinking water from France. They are working to address the problem with a desalinization plant but the drought, and the lack of water, continues. Barcelona ran out of water earlier this year, resulting in the closing of all city fountains and the implementation of strict water usage requirements.

So at least 2 huge reservoirs, both full of water for the last 25 years (40 years in Spain), now completely dry. But that whole "Global Warming" theory?  Yeah, that's just a bunch of hooey.

Also via National Geographic

Superhero Saturday

Someone needs a membership to the gym...

Taking the Game to a Whole New Level

Be sure to have the sound on

Saw this video and was totally hooked by it - I have no idea why, but I've played the thing 8 times in the last 15 minutes. From what I can figure out, FreddieW (the guy who made it), mashed up a video of himself playing various instruments with the concept behind the video game Rock Band - you know, the game where the colored lights on the monitor tell you which keys to hit on the instrument in order to play a song.  (We're not very video game savvy here at the White House...)

Only Freddie overlays the lights from the game on top of the video - it looks like the signal lights have left the monitor and are connecting directly with the instruments, his vision of what the game might be like in the future.

Even more impressive, it seems like he wrote the music himself.  I would definitely listen to more of that song!

Things I Don't Understand

Because the mailman is height challenged?

Because the living room used to be a swimming pool?

Because the guys laying track were startled?

There's so much wrong with this photo that I just don't have the words...

Woodn't you like one in your house??

File these in the 'wish I could find room in my home' file.

Beautiful cabinet from Elisa Strozyk - a little hard to see from this perspective, but the front of the cabinet is multi-dimensional. Really lovely.

Coffee table from Josh Finkle - bringing the forest to your living room.

The Molly desk and Wishbone Chair from Toby Howes. More art than furniture. Now that I think about it, I'm sure I can find room for the Molly desk somewhere...

Superhero Saturday

I know that 'Superhero' is a big internet meme.  Not a day goes by that I don't see an image or video or story that references one of the Superheroes. 

And why not?  Superheroes are a good thing.  Most of them are fighting for truth, justice and the American Way...

So I've decided (for now), that Saturday will be Superhero Day here at the White House blog.  Once a week, I'll post an image or video clip that caught my eye or made me laugh. 

And to start us off, I'd like to introduce you to Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. That's right, now those of you in the NYC area can find all your Superhero accessories in one convenient location:

You'll find everything from costume help (capes, tights, masks) to crime fighting paraphernalia like Evil Blob Containment Capsules and Anti-Gravity lotion.  I particularly like the signs, so helpful:

And for those of you who don't live in the NYC metropolitan area, never fear, the internet is here: Brooklyn Superhero Supply.

via Artsytime

For the Birds

The White House cats don't like birds much - all that twittering and flying about is so annoying. Not to mention sitting on the balcony railing like they own the place!

You better believe they wouldn't be so cocky if there wasn't a screen between them and the kids...

Maybe they wouldn't be hanging out on our balcony, taunting the cats if they had one of these fabulous bird houses to go home to.

By Luke Bartels and Jeff Canham for the Curiosity Shoppe in San Francisco. Btw, if you've ever been to SF, you'll know that the Condor actually exists. And yes, it's a strip club.

via You Might Like This

Land of the Giants

By now I'm sure you've seen these electricity generating windmills - they seem to be all over the place these days. Popping up wherever there's a stretch of empty rural land, like majestic alien sentinels. I kind of like them. In addition to the 'alternative energy' perspective, I think they look cool.

Of course, I don't have to live next to them. Although I like they way they look, I can see how folks might feel that they spoil the scenery on the wide open range or the cosy family farm.

Imagine the response to these guys:

From Choi + Shine Architects, these one hundred fifty foot tall electricity pylons were designed for use in Iceland. The towers can be configured to respond to their environment, arms up for height, in a crouch to get low, side by side or in single file.

Regardless of configuration, these pylons would definitely add something to the scenery.

See more at Choi + Shine

via Dezeen

Spots V Stripes

I really like the Cadbury ads - the one a couple years ago with the two kids was priceless so when I saw this on YouTube I was all prepared for something really good. Take a look, I'll wait. (audio isn't required but it does add to the video)

OK, do you have any idea what is going on here?? I know that Cadbury's is an English company and that I am probably not the target market, but it was only after I clicked on the link at the end of the video that I understood.

It seems that Cadbury's has just been named the Official Treat Provider* of the 2012 Olympic Games being held in London. And this is part of the ad campaign they are using in the lead up to the games. I think the video is very well done and I liked it better the second time around. But I'm not sure it works unless you #1 know that its by Cadbury and #2 know that they are now an Olympic sponsor. Like I said, I'm probably not the target market.


*I think Official Telephone Sanitizers is next...

Floating Dinner

Image: School of Fish Foundation

Now this is a restaurant that I'd like to try: The Plastic Dining Room, a temporary outdoor dining room on the False Creek in Vancouver, BC.

Developed by the The Goodweather Collective, the structure floats on approximately 1,700 recycled 2 liter pop bottles.

The project was built for The School of Fish Foundation, which was co-founded by Shannon Ronalds and Chef Robert Clark of C Restaurant in Vancouver. The Foundation is dedicated to persuading culinary schools throughout the world to include a comprehensive sustainable seafood course as a requirement prior to graduation.

Image: Goodweather Design

The Plastic Dining Room is also a fundraiser - every night between July 21st and September 30th, 12 guests will enjoy a multicourse sustainable seafood dinner, complete with matching wines, as designed by Chef Robert Clark.  The seats are going for $215 - not bad for a fabulous dinner in a unique setting.

I would love to see something like this on the Chicago River.  I can see the menu now - Asian Carp six ways...

via DesignBoom

What's in your bookbag?

I like books, I usually read them.

The Slovakian artist Matej Kren does something different with his books...he stacks them. His latest project is Scanner, a tower of stacked books at MAMbo, the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna, Italy.

The narrow inside space, multiplied and complicated by mirrors, evoke a sensation of sublime terror, an alteration referring to a puzzling infinity itself created to destabilize conventional spatial habits. Mirrors become an instrument to create illusion and, at the same time, to unmask it. Since the public can easily see themselves reflected in a false infinite – thus discovering the illusion – the problem becomes the latency of perception.
~MAMbo

I'm not sure if it's the translation or the really profound artsy description, but I have no idea what that means. I do, however, think it's pretty cool.

I'm also pretty sure I have enough books to build my own igloo, or maybe a teepee?

via Inhabitat