Further to my previous posts about the Grand Canyon skywalk, here's a brief video about the skywalk's construction.
I particularly like the part towards the end where the architect relates his experience of how people tend to react to walking on a glass surface: "First they tap the glass with their toe…"
Robert Brady noticed a nice example of traditional advertising, as practised in rural Japan:
[As...] we meandered down the narrow village road I saw a sugidama (sugi: cedar; dama: ball) hung outside the door of a local sake brewery I hadn't noticed before.
When sake is first set to brew, in accordance with the traditional manner a ball made of freshly cut green cedar branches is hung outside the door to signal to the community that the new batch of sake is now under way (traditionally, very important local news). As time passes and the cedar in the ball dries out and turns more and more brown, the further along the sake is toward completion, until at last the fully brown ball tells all the village and all passing along the road that the sake made and sold here is ready and available. Slow advertising.
Imagine that: months of fragrantly tantalizing tenterhook advertising, all without using even one picovolt of electricity. So natural. So elegant. So knowing – and of so many things – a tacit knowing in which all share. Without neon. Who now knows how soon cedar branches turn brown, and that that duration matches the time it takes for sake to become sake? Some elderly folks still know these things, in the small, emptying country towns…
This sugidama is still pretty green so I have to wait a while yet, but the flavor of new country sake will be worth it. Slo-o-o-o-o-w-w-w…
[Found via this more recent post lamenting the decline in the popularity of sake.]
Some (somewhat) seasonal images:
How do you get a moose 50 feet in the air by accident?
The workers believe the moose may have come across the sagging and swaying wires and decided to challenge the power line to a fight, as bull moose are known to do during the rut, or mating season.
"My guess is he was in full rut and probably seen that line moving out there," and decided to fight, said Marvin Pickens, line construction manager for City Electric in Anchorage.
Crews can lay up to five miles of line at a time before tightening it with a giant hydraulic winch, said Pickens.
The line is pulled through leaders on the crossties at the top of the power poles and then winched tight with as much as 5,000 pounds of pressure, he said.
"As you're pulling, it constantly droops up and down," said Pickens. "My guess is that he was right in the middle of one of the sections when it got pulled up."
20 Lines That Could Have Dramatically Changed The Lord of the Rings:
10. Gondorian beacon lighter #7: "Nah, don't worry, baby. I've been stationed here for twenty years, and they've never asked me to light that thing. We mostly just sit around playing cards. Nobody'll notice if I take the night off."
Edited to add a really good line from the ensuing comment thread:
Mark Tiedemann said,
December 9, 2006 at 2:37 pmActually, the line that would have changed everything completely:
Elrond: "Sorry, Isuldur, we've spilled too much blood for you to go muck it all up with a momentary fit of self-delusion. Either that ring goes into the fire or both of you do."
[Via James Nicoll]
I'm mildly underwhelmed by this list of the Top 5 2006 Movie Posters of 2006. I reckon only V for Vendetta and Little Miss Sunshine were worthy of a place in the top 5; I'd have promoted Hard Candy from the list of near-misses, but beyond that I'm at a loss: I can't think of many outstanding poster images this year. What am I forgetting?
The Book Covers Blog has a nice survey of unusual bookshelves.
I particularly like the look of the Etageres a livres, though I have to admit that I'd be a tad worried at the prospect of sitting next to a fully-laden example for any length of time.
At last, the truth about the iPhone:
[...] So where are we with the iPhone? In fact we've had the actual phone completed for months. And we've got all our carrier relationships ironed out. I've been using an iPhone since last summer. (White, natch, and just insanely beautiful.) So what's the hold-up? Well, it's packaging. Here at Apple we don't just put something in a box and ship it. We put as much thought, maybe more, into the packaging of the product as we do into the product itself. What we're looking to achieve is this magical sequence that takes place when you open the box. How does the box open? Is there a tongue? Two side slots? What color is the box? Which grade of cardboard do we use? How does it feel to your fingers? And what about inside? How is the iPhone itself presented to the customer when the box first opens? Does it lie flat? Is it tilted up? Is there plastic over it? Do we put a sticky thing over the screen that you have to peel off? Here, with packaging, we do the same process as with the iPhone itself, with round after round of prototypes, winnowing, meditation, non-thinking, and so forth. [...]
It's funny because it's true…
[Via Dan Sandler]
I think I saw one of these images of the cast of Battlestar Galactica reimagined as Matt Groening-style cartoons earlier this year, but I can only assume that it must have been before I started watching the show on DVD or surely I'd have posted about them here before now.
The only problem I have is that I'm now going to feel terribly let down if the forthcoming season of Futurama fails to include a crossover with neo-Galactica. I feel sure that Zapp Brannigan would get along famously with Bill Adama, and I definitely want to see Bender encounter a Cylon centurion.
[Neo-Galactica cartoons via The Sideshow, interview with David X Cohen via Anita's LOL]
More than a year ago now I posted about the Grand Canyon Skywalk.
It so happens that Snopes has an update on the project, as well as some photographs of the skywalk under construction:
Grand Canyon West, a destination owned and operated by the Hualapai Tribe at the Grand Canyon's western rim, announces March 28, 2007 as the official public opening date of The Skywalk. The Skywalk will be the first-ever cantilever shaped glass walkway to suspend more than 4,000 feet above the canyon's floor and extend 70 feet from the canyon's rim.
[...]
Prior to the public opening in March, Grand Canyon West will host a "First Walk" event for media and VIPs. The name of the first public figure to step on The Skywalk will be announced closer to the opening.
I do hope they let the general public vote on who gets to take the First Walk, preferably via an internet poll. I wonder who the Colbert Nation would vote for…
The Daily Good Word for 3 December 2006:
drainchild
Pronunciation: drayn-chaild
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: An innovative idea that would be a brainchild except that it drains funds or other resources from where they could otherwise be useful or, as one wag put it, "a tiresome nagging brainless idea that sucks money out of a corporation".
[Via Away With Words]
A Charlie Brown Christmas, performed by the cast of Scrubs. A couple of years old, but none the worse for all that.
The Calamity Carolers of Doom present The 12 isms of Christmas. (NB: audio Not Safe For Work.)
After singing together for 15 years, the Calamity Carolers of Doom reunite for their first New York City performance! The satirical review, (Don't Go) Home For the Holidays! follows the Carolers as they travel door-to-door, bringing their unique brand of rioutous songs, dances, and general mayhem to each recipient. By accident, the Carolers end up singing Christmas tunes in a Jewish household! But no matter; thanks to several Jewish-themed numbers and a painstakingly inclusive Christmas Pageant, a mirthful time is had by all…even atheists! Enjoy such "Calamity Classics" as: Oy Vey! Maria, I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus (in Texas), and Angels We Have Seen While High as well as special visits from the spooky "Sexes" of Christmas past, present, and future!
Sounds like fun.
[Via Making Light (Particles)]
Crazy Girl On Wii is far and away the most appealing Wii-related video I've seen so far.
[Via Viral Video Chart]
Fly Me To The Moon… A Visual Love Poem For Nico:
Yesterday, Nico woke up in his flat in Split Croatia. On his closet door was a map created by his girlfriend, Andrea. The map showed different places for Nico to look as his took his usual route from his apartment to the academy where he studies. [...]
So good.
[Via frangipani]
I know talking about Borat is so November 2006, but I didn't get round to reading George Saunders' 'Borat': The Memo until this week:
Dear Ken:
Got your note, deeply honored. Being new to the company, really appreciate opportunity to outline some ideas for "Borat" DVD. As Josh mentioned, we do indeed have a wealth of footage that could be put to good use as DVD extras. In other cases, have taken liberty of suggesting some reshoots:
[...]
RODEO NATIONAL ANTHEM SECTION: Would be great if we had a series of shots where we see hundreds of people in the rodeo audience driving home, in their "pickups" or whatever, troubled at the thought that hundreds of other people in the audience continued to cheer even after the "Bush drinking blood" line. We could focus on one particular couple who have had complicated feelings about the war in Iraq from the beginning, even though they (1) live in the South and (2) enjoy rodeo. (Although too unbelievable?) A nice touch might be: This family sees Borat hitchhiking, picks him up, he sits in back seat of car with kids, takes shit in back seat, then pretends to be humping the family dog, and we see, from their reaction, that they really are rednecks after all.
Mark Pilgrim's REST for toddlers is good, geeky fun:
301 Moved Permanently
"That's Mommy's job now."[...]
304 Not Modified
"The same as the last time you asked me."[...]
402 Payment Required
Reserved for future use. ("If you're not out of this house by your 18th birthday, we're charging you rent.")