Saturday, November 27, 2010

Prunings LX

Matusevich Glacier

(The Matusevich Glacier in Antarctica. Image courtesy of NASA. Source.)



1)Dimensions takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are.” For instance, try the 2010 Pakistan floods, the Gulf Oil Spill and the Chernobyl Disaster.



2) Check out David Bowen's tele-present wind and mildly creepy fly drawing device.



3) In Chance Encounter on the Tiber, two American Academy in Rome Fellows, Lisa Bielawa and Robert Hammond, transformed “the walkway along the Tiber River in the center of Rome into a vibrant social open space by focusing on two simple means: movable seating and musical performance.” Their post-event summary of what worked and what didn't work is a good read. (Via Society of Fellows of the American Academy in Rome Weblog.)



4) “During the 1850s and 1860s engineers carried out a piecemeal raising of the level of central Chicago. Streets, sidewalks and buildings were either built up or else physically raised up on jacks.”



5) “You don’t expect to find a full murder investigation, rangers with rifles and warning signs, hikers trembling and looking anxiously around the corner of every trail. For the first time in the 72-year history of one of the nation’s most beloved national parks, a wild animal has fatally assaulted a human.” The killer is a goat.