Faithful readers of tinselman are fond of all things diminutive. And of course, nothing can be more impressive that a gigantic city, rendered in miniature form. This is why I have gone to incalculable trouble seeking out these scaled down wonders and bringing them together in this handy archive. For your tinselistic enjoyment!
If you know of other any other decent cities for our archives, let me know. I’ll add it to the ever increasing list (as long as it’s a half-decent photo).
a simple animated geographical visualization that shows the relative impact different countries have on climate change. different icons represent the statistical time-varying data of all countries (i.e. birth rate, death rate & carbon dioxide emission), which are ’simulated’ in real time.
see also interactive worldmap & 3d data world & gapminder & worldmapper & world processor.
“Singing Sculpture documents one of Gilbert & George’s most famous “living sculpture” pieces.
Covered in multicolored bronze paint, the artists sing and interchange parts of the English
music hall standard “Underneath the Arches.” Through their stylized performance,
Gilbert & George deliberately blur the lines between life and art, reality and contrivance.
This ambiguity does not rely on a transformation from living to sculptural form. On the contrary,
they have merged the two in order to obliterate, rather than emphasize, the distinctions between life and art.” - Walker Art Center
from Video Data Bank
Originally by doron golan from DVblog on September 15, 2006, 11:00pm
These two videos by Donna Kuhn were made in circumstances of terrible
personal loss: the death of her son & then later that of a close friend.
Astonishing then, their delicacy & richness & the sheer dexterity of
handling & making, particularly in I don’t fix a word which
is a jewel, a small masterpiece.
Originally by michael szpakowski from DVblog on September 13, 2006, 11:00pm
“another remix of the sex pistols piece you posted a while ago.
i had been working on it awhile ago then i went on vacation… and when
i saw the valdez piece, i felt someone had been searching my harddrive.
then i saw the piece (which is great) and realized that they’re quite
different, even though they tread in the same arena… i don’t know why so many
of us have been attracted to redoing the same clip (remember jimpunk did
another remix), but here is my mine.”
from Antonio Mendoza - Mr. Tamale.
Originally by doron golan from DVblog on September 17, 2006, 11:00pm
This has gotten passed around a bit over the last few months, so forgive me if you’ve seen it already. It’s the incredible animated video for “Remind Me,” a 2002 track by Röyksopp, the brilliant electronic duo from Norway. In the past year I’ve listened to Röyksopp’s The Understanding more than any other album. They’re kind of like Air except more electronic and dancey—and not quite so French. They’re also a bit Boards of Canada-ish at times.
The guest singer on this track is Erlend Øye, one half of another great Norwegian group, the folk-pop duo Kings of Convenience. Do you like good music? Of course you do! So go buy the 2001 debut album by Kings of Convenience, Quiet Is the New Loud. It’s perfect.
Weblog LifeDev describes how the road to getting more done is sometimes paved with less time to work.
In the author’s case, that meant imposing a ban on computer usage after 6PM. The result of the ban was that time at the computer before the fast began was much more precious, causing him to use it much more wisely. In the end, the author found that he was more productive not only in his work, but also in his personal life.
I know how hard it can be to impose limits on computer use, but I also know all-too-well how a running computer can always beckon you to do more work. I’m curious how our readers deal with the separation of work and play, so why don’t you tell us how you manage to place barriers between your work time and your free time in the comments. — Adam Pash
The very popular Google Homepage has just added the ability to add and personalize your own tabs.
The tabs are actually very cool. After clicking the “Add a tab” link, you can name your new tab, then drag and drop any of your Google Homepage modules back and forth between any of your tabs (you can’t reorder your tabs, unfortunately). This control lets you organize and compartmentalize homepage components in very useful ways, and should also allow you to add or try out a lot more modules. I don’t personally use Google Homepage, but I know that a lot of our readers do. Then again, it’s features like this that make a service much more tempting to pick up. Let us know about your Google Homepage use in the comments. — Adam Pash
The Success Begins Today blog suggests working in 48-minute increments with a 12 minute break each hour.
Set a timer for 48 minutes. Close out all distractions and work continuously for 48 minutes. When the timer goes off, get up and stretch, get coffee, use the restroom etc, in the following 12 minutes. Repeat as necessary. Don reports that this technique repeated four times a day allowed him to write a 200 page book in just two weeks.
Timer-based work blocks is the only way I get through big projects; however, having just finished writing a book, I can say that even this effective technique won’t help most mere mortals (at least this one) produce 200 pages in two weeks. But over the course of a few months? Absolutely. — Gina Trapani
Mac OS X only: Merlin Mann (you know him) details how he uses a Mail.app add-on called Mail Act-On to process email with revolutionary speed.
Mail Act-On is a very clever Mail.app plugin that lets you create key commands that execute Rules you’ve generated in your Preferences. Sounds pretty dull, right? Absolutely. Until you start putting this stuff into action and learn how painfully slow all that draggy mc drag drag business is.
Mann details how he uses Mail Act-On to delegate email to archive, to respond, and to respond sometime folders with quick, simple keyboard shortcuts (he even recommends remapping your Caps Lock key to Control to make executing your shortcuts even easier). While not exactly the same, the Mail Act-On plugin reminds me a lot of how I use Gmail Macrosto label, archive, and navigate email in Gmail. If you’re a Mail.app user, this looks like a must-have. — Adam Pash
Veerle’s blog offers a helpful tutorial on creating a grunge look in an image in Photoshop, like the one pictured above with the grungy corner.
As someone equally amazed by the capabilities of Photoshop - and those who know how to use them - can I just say, “so THAT’S how you’d do that.” Good stuff for adding some interestingness to your blog header image or any photo. — Gina Trapani
We’ve written a lot about the 100-mile diet before (see links at the end of this post), but it is the first time that we hear about Powel River’s local-eating adventure. That small British Columbia town (pop. 13,000) can now claim the title of “local-eating capital of North America” thanks to an initiative by Lyn Adamson. “Adamson, a key organizer for the challenge, had originally hoped to get 50 people eating food grown or raised within 50 miles for five weeks. [but as of August] there are more than 250 people signed up”. Citizens pledged to eat locally at various levels, from 25% to 95% (many not going 100% to allow for coffee). But what makes this project even more impressive is that they went the extra mile, or rather, they didn’t; instead of eating food produced within 100 miles, they are limiting themselves to a 50-mile radius.
(This post continues on the site please click the title)
After suffering through a pesticide poisoning in her garden, American photographer, Laurie Tumer was determined to show the omnipresence and danger of chemicals in our lives. She took innocent images- childrens’ booties, a can of Coke, and flowers as examples and revealed how easily noxious pesticides can infiltrate the most intimate places in the home. Her exhibit is called Glowing Evidence. ::Grist
(This post continues on the site please click the title)
This beautiful and functional chair is made by a Cornwall-based group of design school graduates who were determined to keep on working together. They transform wood into sculptural objects by using a unique steam technique that bends it into 3D shapes. Steam bending has been around for a long time, however the designers have adapted the machines and the process so that they could twist the wood into more complex and creative shapes using their own ideas. They use locally sourced, unseasoned (green) timber. Because they want to be ethically and environmentally responsible, the wood is from renewable sources and there are no resins or sealants used. All of the work is done in their studio so that they have complete quality control over the furniture and other products. They also make curly lampshades and chandeliers which look luminous when the light comes through the natural grain. A tree seat was made by bending the wood around the limbs of the tree. Watch out for them, they have already won the Laurent-Perrier Design Award and are showing in The London Design Festival. :: Sixixis via :: Vogue Magazine
wi, the journal of the Mobile Digital Commons Network (MDCN), publishes the latest in Canadian mobilities research, encompassing disciplines such as design, engineering, computer science, communications and media studies.
Currently focusing on the research work of MDCN projects, wi aims to expand its purview in the coming months to include other national and international scholarship, artistic productions and design research on mobility, wireless technologies, and digital media. In this issue:
:: Letter from our Editors-in-Chief (Barbara Crow, York University & Kim Sawchuk, Concordia University) :: Mapping the Mobile Digital Commons Network (Michael Longford, Concordia University) :: p2P: Cityspeak’s Reconfiguration of Public Media Space (Marrousia Levesque, Lucie Belanger & Jason Lewis, Concordia University) :: The Liminal Magic Circle: Boundaries, Frames, and Participation in Pervasive Mobile Games (Alison Harvey, Concordia University) :: The Persistence of Surveillance: The Panoptic Potential of Locative Media (Andrea Zeffiro, Concordia University) :: Learning From Commercial Mobile Games (Janice Leung, York University) :: Iterative and Digital: The Use of Blogs and Wikis in Social Science Research (Neil Barratt, Concordia University) :: Editor’s Choice (Top Links on Mobility Related Websites) :: Comments/Suggestions: Contact us at editors[at]wi-not.ca
LoVid create artwork using homemade video synthesizers that remind me a little of Peter Blassers audio synths. The use of patchwork fabric enclosures give the devices a weird kids-toy quality kind of like Chumby. Lovid will be performing tomorrow (9/18) on south street seaport in the speigeltent, then will present at iEAR in Troy New York next week.
Philips Design has prototyped two garments that demonstrate how electronics can be incorporated into fabrics and clothes to express the emotions and personality of the wearer.
Bubelle, the “blushing dress” comprises two layers, the inner one is equipped with sensors that respond to changes in the wearer’s emotions and projects them onto the outer textile. It behaves differently depending on who is wearing it. The other prototype is Frison, a body suit that reacts to being blown on by igniting a private constellation of tiny LEDs. Both measure skin signals and change light emission through biometric sensing technology.
These garments were developed as part of the SKIN research project, which challenges the notion that our lives are automatically better because they are more digital. It looks at more ‘analog’ phenomena like emotional sensing and explores technologies that are ’sensitive’ rather than ‘intelligent’.
According to Clive van Heerden, at Philips Design, the SKIN probe has a much wider context than just garments. “As our media becomes progressively more virtual, it is quite possible in long term future that we will no longer have objects like DVD players, or music contained on disks, or books that are actually printed. An opportunity is therefore emerging for us to completely rethink our interaction with products and content.”
Philips wasn’t the first to explore emotion and fashion. Lisa Stead’ s Emotional Wardrobe is a collection of garments that change their aesthetic display in response to the emotions of the wearer or the presence of a viewer; Scentient Beings by Jenny Tillotson created a fabric that interacts with human emotions and emits a selection of scents depending on your mood; Closer: Wearables for a distant society, by Alison Lewis aims at creating wearable interactive art which reinforces values of kindness, fun and play through touch, etc.
A recent project by Seattle artist Caleb Larsen harnesses RSS feeds to document the news media’s cynical exploitation of readers’ lust for tragedy. Titled after a newsroom cliche, ‘Monument (If it Bleeds It Leads)’ scans a Google News feed for the word ‘killed’ and accompanying statistics about the number of dead. The figure is sent to a toy that shoots brightly colored plastic pellets from the ceiling of a gallery space, dispensing a pellet for every death reported. Sometimes the pellets come one at a time, sometimes 1,500 are fired. As one waits for the next wave to fall, the anticipation associated with viewing kinetic sculpture becomes a metaphor for a fascination with bloody news stories. In the sculpture, actual tragedy is eclipsed by a desire for an aesthetic experience in the same way that tragedy vanishes behind the spectacle of a gristly headline. But far from simply moralizing about media cynicism and public bloodlust, as the pellets pile up, the project becomes a sobering memorial. Once it hits home that each yellow sphere represents an actual life lost, the project creates an occasion to reflect on deaths that had once become sensational abstractions streaming over the Web. - Bill Hanley
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After suffering through a pesticide poisoning in her garden, American photographer, 
