The Fruits of Our Labor

Get Outside Already

Images via IKEA

I think Texas is thumbing its nose at me, as despite all my earlier whining about hating the heat, blah, blah, blah, we've had glorious weather lately -- all sunny and cool and just pretty darn blissful. This pocket of perfect weather (and these dreamy outdoor shots on the IKEA site) inspired us to take it up a notch on the "summarizing" of our back patio, and as such we spent most of last weekend planting and sweeping and basically just prettying-up the place. I also managed to set aside my previously documented issues with IKEA and popped over on my lunch break yesterday to grab a couple of pillows for our patio couch.

I suppose I sometimes just have to eat my words a bit... Sorry Texas. Sorry IKEA.

Human Snake

A human recreation of snakes. Visit http://www.get-out-and-play.com to play a human version of breakout (bricks, arkanoid), watch the behind the scenes clip and learn more.

Johan Lorbeer’s Still Life Performance and its Secret

Johan Lorbeer is a German street performer. He became famous in the past few years because of his “Still-Life” Performances, which took place in the public area. His installations includes “Proletarian Mural” and “Tarzan”, which are famous in Germany. Several of these performances feature Lorbeer in an apparently impossible position.

With his still-life performances, this German artist seems to unhinge the laws of gravity. For hours on time, he remains, as a living work of art, in physically impossible positions. Elevated or reduced to the state of a sculpture, he interacts with the bewildered and irritated audience, whose appetite for communication rises as time goes by, often culminating in the wish to touch the artist in his superhuman, angelic appearance in order to participate in his abilities.

Is it magic or does Johan really have superhuman ability? Check out Johan’s little secret at the end of the page.





























Secret of Johan Lorbeer Still-Life Performance Tarzan:
Here’s a little clue on the trick; His arm is the supporting bar, and his real arm is hide inside his cloth.

Johan Lorbeer Official Site

It's Back...

via remodelista

My "pantry"/kitchen fixation has reared its head again...

Audrey Loves Cake

In fact I don't think it's an exaggeration at all to say, she really, really loves cake...

A Bridge Too High

The issue over the Buffalo Peace Bridge Expansion Project provides an excellent example of how science can be distorted by politicians to fit an agenda and sway public opinion. Apparently, no political party is immune from employing this sort of tactic.

After a thorough review by the Federal Highway Administration, it was determined that the planned height of a new two-tower cable stay bridge would have an unacceptable impact on migratory birds, including the locally threatened Common Tern. Other groups expressing concern over the design included NY Department of Environmental Conservation, US Fish & Wildlife Service, US Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Canada, New York Audubon and the Baird Foundation.

And who thinks they know better than all these smart people? Our elected public officials! Despite an April 23rd announcement by Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority to drop the 567 foot high two-tower cable stay design in favor of a lower profile bridge, politicians want to salvage the original signature design (above photograph). Appreciate the smoothness and simplicity in which bird impact concerns are summarily dismissed. Citing a 2002 scientific review indicating bird crashes into tall structures, including bridges, accounted for less than .02% of all bird deaths, Rep. Brian Higgens (D)-Buffalo concluded:

"This data calls into question the whole thesis that birds are crashing into any structures in any great numbers — birds apparently have the good sense to fly around obstructions, just as pedestrians tend not to walk into light poles on sidewalks."

How does the science weigh in? U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that bird collisions with tall, lighted communications towers, and their guy wires result in 4 to 10 million bird deaths a year. If you examine statistics and estimates on all of the ways birds are being killed via human causes, the number potentially crosses over a billion individuals annually. When expressed as a percentage, the number of deaths by collision structures may seem comparatively small, but this is a far cry from what Higgens suggests with his empty-headed rhetoric. Also note that collisions with windows (on structures) accounts for the highest cause of bird mortality apart from habitat loss and fragmentation - over 100 million birds annually. Higgens is wrong.

Next, behold the brilliant ornithological mind of Senator Charles Schumer:

"The common tern is not much different than a sea gull and it's hardly an endangered species."

The senator from New York entirely misses the point that the common tern, though locally threatened and declining, isn't the only migratory bird species adversely affected by the structure in its original planned form. I can only surmise that his ignorant attempt to lump the common tern with sea gulls [sic] is to have us associate large gull populations with mythical proportionate and sustainable common tern numbers, or perhaps that they won't even be missed if ultimately extirpated.

It's such an elegant bridge design, though. Who really cares about a few birds, anyway? A few birds here, a few birds there, pretty soon, everywhere, there will be fewer birds.

Link: Peace Bridge Expansion Project

Link: Fatal Light Awareness Program

Link: New York EC - Common Tern Status

Link: Higgins asks reconsideration of Bridge plan

Link: New Bridge Not Dead in Water?

Image courtesy of Buffalo and Fort Erie PBA.

Speaking of Dream Jobs

My brilliant, lovely, talented friend Amy is having a trunk show this Thursday at LFT (one of my favorite shops in Dallas) to show off her insanely pretty, handcrafted jewelry.

Amy is one of those people that you might be tempted to be jealous of (not only does she have a dream job, but she lives with her awesome hubby and uber cute daughter Ellie in beautiful, beautiful Sausalito...), but you can't because she's so completely down-to-earth and witty and kind and has lived such a purposeful and deliberate life that you aren't surprised at all that she's doing what she's doing today.

Although I am (still) a little jealous of the fact that she consistently creamed me at Super Mario Brothers when we were 13, but that's another story altogether.

If you are in Dallas, please do come meet Amy and see her work. And if you aren't, you can ogle it here and buy it here.

It's Never Too Late -- Part Two

A round-up of rooms I wish I had designed...

Room via Ellen Hanson Designs

Room by Barrie Benson via Domino

Room by Julianne Moore via Domino

via Domino
via Domino

I suppose it wasn't very fair of me to recount my conversation with Audrey and not disclose what I told her I wanted to be when I grow up, was it?

My favorite dinner party pastime is to go around the table and ask everyone what they thought they'd be in college (I majored in English and minored in Art History, so logically I thought I'd either be an English teacher or work in an art gallery or museum, but alas, I didn't end up doing either of those things...) and what they would do if they could do anything they wanted. The fun of the "game" is that the answers don't have to reflect something you're actually good at, just something you'd really like to do but for whatever reason aren't.

As for me, if I could do anything I wanted (besides of course my actual job, which I actually very much enjoy), I would be an interior designer. But I'm not so interested in just decorating a series of blank slates or creating multiple versions of my ideal room for other people...no, what really intrigues me is the process of working hand-in-hand with others as they uncover how they really want to live -- to help them discover what their ideal home would feel like and then working alongside them to create it.

I think most folks have a pretty good idea of how they want their homes to feel, they just don't know how to get there... helping them get there would be a really cool job.

Ok... now you have to play. What would you be if you could do anything?