Month: May 2011

Store Buy Out

Our buddy Kyle Macdonald (one red paper clip project) told us about a pretty radical project he had in mind a few weeks back, and guess what, now he’s done it. The idea was to walk into a store in nyc, and Buy Everything, then re-sell it all in a collective of units. Anyhow, check out the video above, and go to the new website StoreBuyOut.com.

Eating enough fruits and veggies: a visual cheat sheet

Hi folks, I’m Kevin, Tango’s friend.  I’ll be dropping by from time to time to post things about food and maybe some other neat stuff too.  Pleased to make your acquaintance.

I’m by no means a fan of the “food pyramid“, as designed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but it does it get some things right.  American’s as a whole should eat more fruits and vegetables.  But how much is enough?  Food blog CHOW‘s visual guide illustrates the varied forms a cup of fruits or vegetables can take.  Be sure to take this chart with a grain of salt, though (literally, if you’d like).  A cup of celery isn’t nutritionally the same as a cup of grapes, even if they occupy the same space in your stomach.

Jay Walker’s library of human imagination



I’ve been waiting to visit Jay Walker’s incredible “Library of Imagination” for several years now and in about 12 hours I’ll be inside pondering, wondering, imagining, and wishing I could take everyone along. I’d write more about it, but the 2008 TED video above or the Wired article will explain it best until after I return, though I’ll have no photos as this is not allowed during my visit. I’ll have to thank TEDMED for arranging this visit, which is also a must-go-to conference I highly recommend.

Paul Nicklen: Tales of ice-bound wonderlands

My favorite talk this year from TED:
“Diving under the Antarctic ice to get close to the much-feared leopard seal, photographer Paul Nicklen found an extraordinary new friend. Share his hilarious, passionate stories of the polar wonderlands, illustrated by glorious images of the animals who live on and under the ice.”

Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed Cathedral

One of my favorite talks this year:
“A future more beautiful? Architect Thomas Heatherwick shows five recent projects featuring ingenious bio-inspired designs. Some are remakes of the ordinary: a bus, a bridge, a power station … And one is an extraordinary pavilion, the Seed Cathedral, a celebration of growth and light.”

via tedtalks

Pendulum Waves

Mesmerizing video!!!

“Fifteen uncoupled simple pendulums of monotonically increasing lengths dance together to produce visual traveling waves, standing waves, beating, and (seemingly) random motion.

For more details see this link

The period of one complete cycle of the dance is 60 seconds. The length of the longest pendulum has been adjusted so that it executes 51 oscillations in this 60 second period. The length of each successive shorter pendulum is carefully adjusted so that it executes one additional oscillation in this period. Thus, the 15th pendulum (shortest) undergoes 65 oscillations.

Our apparatus was built from a design published by Richard Berg [Am J Phys 59(2), 186-187 (1991)] at the University of Maryland. The particular apparatus shown here was built by our own Nils Sorensen.”

via youtube

Lego-style apartment transforms into infinite spaces

Wow! Watch this video to learn how to make use of a tiny 258 square foot apartment though the spacious balcony helps out for sure.

“When Christian Schallert isn’t cooking, dressing, sleeping or eating, his 24 square meter (258 square feet) apartment looks like an empty cube. To use a piece of furniture, he has to build it.

Apartment designed by Barbara Appolloni.
Original story here.
Youtube video.

Located in Barcelona’s hip Born district, the tiny apartment is a remodeled pigeon loft. Christian says its design was inspired by the space-saving furniture aboard boats, as well as the clean lines of a small Japanese home.”