Friday, April 29, 2005

Gotham III scooter rally

Update: check out the NY Times story on the rally here.


The Gotham III rally is in town with a full schedule of events running from Thursday, April 28 to Sunday, May 1. For times and dates see this schedule, and also check out this birds eye video of the ride leaving Vespa Soho earlier today.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Hammond's Ferry


Hammond's Ferry
Uploaded by jeanphony on 25 Apr '05, 8.49am PST.

New development in the town where I grew up... it's been a long time coming. The site is a beautiful area, just adjacent to the Savannah River in North Augusta, SC. The firm responsible for the planning is Dover, Kohl & Partners. Conceptual sketches of the "new" North Augusta can be downloaded from their site here. More information can be found on the Hammond's Ferry marketing site that the developer, Leyland Alliance, has created. Here's the schpiel from the Winter 2004 newsletter of Augusta Tomorrow, an organization claiming to be a champion of downtown (re)development.
The City of North Augusta, in partnership with Leyland Alliance of Tuxedo, New York and Civitas of Charleston, South Carolina, is preparing to commence work in 2004 on the redevelopment of 200 acres along the Savannah River in an organized and well-designed effort to re-link the city with its river-front. Hammond’s Ferry, named for the ferry operated by LeRoy and John Hammond in the mid-1700’s linking South Carolina to Georgia, effectively is a simple extension ofthe existing downtown street net-work of North Augusta. It will offer a mixed-use traditional scaled residential and town center of over 800 single-familyhomes, condominiums and apartments with awide range of affordability. The riverfront portion, extending approximately one mile from the Thirteenth Street Bridge west, will encompass a riverfront park, open to the entire area, and linked by the existing North Augusta Greenway Trail system. Conceived with vernacular historical architecture, Hammond’s Ferry will seamlessly connect the city to its roots along the Savannah River. This extraordinary endeavor will link to the city via the existing streets laid out more than 100 years ago.

This is truly disturbing


A plastic replica of an 12 week old fetus holding a firearm. The "ornament" is encased in a translucent plastic globe and features a yellow ribbon on top. It is for sale via Miss Poppy. Via Daddy Types.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Pyramid or Pie?

Update: see a parody of this at MyPyramid.org.


The U.S. Department of Agriculture has introduced a revised food pyramid. This $2.5 million cornucopia of mixed visual metaphors is described as a "customized, interactive food guidance system." Nice. Check this NY Times article for more or My Pyramid to find the flavor that's right for you. Via Dad Talk.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Smash a piece of history


IIT is hosting an eBay auction... the winner gets to break a window out of S.R. Crown Hall, one of the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe- designed National Historic Landmark building on IIT's campus. The May 17, 2005 “Smash Bash” is part of the kickoff for the historic renovation of the building and coincides with the launch of its 50th anniversary celebration. Seems like a good way to take out your frustration with modernism in general, or with IIT in particular. See the auction here.

Stolen Recovered

Update: It has been recovered! Much thanks to Nicholas at BrooklynBretta!


Vespa
Uploaded by jeanphony on 19 Apr '05, 11.26am PST.

My scoot was stolen on Sunday in BROAD DAYLIGHT.

The thieves were spotted cutting the lock off with a torch Sunday afternoon between 3:00pm and 4:00pm in front of the Olde Goode Things Antique store at 400 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Three guys and a welding truck. The main thief talked to the people in the store. The thief said he'd been "away at school" and he was "really glad his bike was still there."

More info posted at scoot.net/stolen.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

I want it I bought it

Update 2: I couldn't wait until June, so I broke down and bought the D70 kit on sale from One Call.

Update 1: It's been officially announced! The U.S. release date is early June. Via Gizmodo


The rumored Nikon D 50 is being released on April 20 (according to this awkward translation of an Italian Digital Photography site). Read it here. Via Engadget.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Struwwelpeter


I'm going to see Shockheaded Peter on Thursday night, the 14th. I was blown away by the Tiger Lillies in concert at Mass Moca on Halloween 2003, so I'm really looking forward to the full-on stage production. I'll write more about it afterwards, but for now, read this review. Picture via Nothing is True.

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Homesick


Not that I'm a golfer, but watching the Master's Tournament makes me a little homesick for Augusta every year. See more, including lots of lovely pictures like the one above (taken by Jon McGaha, Westford, MA) in the patron photo archive on Augusta.com's site for the 2005 Master's Tournament.

Friday, April 08, 2005

Memory maps


Weaverville
Uploaded by jeanphony on 17 Apr '05, 6.33am PST.

The latest trend on Flickr, kicked into high gear by the creation of a new group pool called Memory Maps, is to capture a Google Map satellite overlay of a place from your past and annotate the image with personal stories. Cool, huh? My contributions, the image above and a revision of the Terraserver neighborhood image, Belvedere, that I originally posted in November. Sharing is caring. Via Pixies.ca and Caterina Fake.

Update: Now Wired has a story on Surprising things in Satellite Imagery, here.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Our buddy, Matt... The futurist.


"Matt Marcus, head of the consulting firm Segue in Chicago, lists "experience forecasting" among his services, and yet he also dislikes being known as a futurist. "It connotes that you know something that others don't about what's going to happen," he says. "And when is it that you decide you're a futurist—do you wake up one day and feel it?" See more here.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Radioactive Waste Storage?


Three Mile Island
Uploaded by jeanphony on 7 Nov '04, 4.29pm PST.

Between the Lines, an alternative news magazine web site, is using my photo of Three Mile Island (above) to illustrate a story on Radioactive Waste Storage at Power Plants. Read the full story, Critics Question Safety of Radioactive Waste Storage at Power Plants and Proposed Repositories. (scroll down)

Funny and sad


Definitely the geekiest thing I've seen in quite a while. See more here.