December 2007

Underground Restoration. “For a year from September 2005, under the nose of the Panthéon’s unsuspecting security officials, a group of intrepid ‘illegal restorers’ set up a secret workshop and lounge in a cavity under the building's famous dome. Under the supervision of group member Jean-Baptiste Viot, a professional clockmaker, they pieced apart and repaired the antique clock that had been left to rust in the building since the 1960s. Only when their clandestine revamp of the elaborate timepiece had been completed did they reveal themselves.”
>  29 December 2007 | LINK | Filed in , , ,
Radical Math. “A resource for educators interested in integrating issues of social and economic justice into their math classes and curriculum.... Access and download over 700 lesson plans, articles, charts, graphs, data sets, maps, books, and websites.”
>  23 December 2007 | LINK | Filed in ,

Atheism Cards

hotel_bible.jpg

Traveling for the holidays? It’s always disturbed me that U.S. hotel rooms always seem to stock a Holy Bible. Nevermind any other tradition, or say... The Englightenment. This year, I’m packing something of my own to leave behind: atheism cards! Each of these cards has a quote I think might sow a few seeds of dissent or perhaps start a long distance discourse. I plan to leave one inside the front cover of each bible I meet. Click the image below to download a printable PDF. Or make your own. There are plenty of choice quotes here and elsewhere.

Atheism Cards!

>  22 December 2007 | LINK | Filed in ,

Milton Glaser

Milton Glaser

At Designism 2.0. I’ll write up some notes shortly.

>  13 December 2007 | LINK | Filed in ,
Google Checkout for Non-Profit Organizations. Free, online donation processing until 2009. No monthly, setup or gateway fees.
>  5 December 2007 | LINK | Filed in , ,
CrashStat. Display pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities from 1995-2005 on a Google Map of New York City.
>  4 December 2007 | LINK | Filed in , , , , , , ,

Open Terminal

Gate 4 in Terminal 2 of Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, AZ is not meant to be used.

Behind the black stanchions, the roughly 50 x 50 foot space has no TV, no gift stand, no seats; just a row of outlets, a few windows, and a single column supporting the mostly uninterrupted, open space. Which of course makes it a perfect space for kids to wrestle and run, for strollers to park, and for bloggers to plugin their laptops and cellphones and lounge on the floor for a few restful minutes. It’s just a big, empty playroom — and a breath of fresh air, particularly after standing in line for an hour, when your departure gate is crammed, and you’re about to spend the next 5½ hours of your life hunched over your knees in steerage.

I suppose it only works because the space was relatively uncrowded — the black ropes keeping most out, but having no affect on those who toddle right under them, or the rest whose craving for free electricty overrides the risk of a stern talking to. The space probably would not have worked if this were an actual functioning departure gate. I suppose all the rigid rows of plastic seats are a good way of making sure luggage and bodies don’t collide.

But it seems like a fine idea — a sort of indoor, public park. I wish more places had uninterrupted, unstructured, uncommercialized open space. More airports should do this.

az2.jpg

az1.jpg

>  1 December 2007 | LINK | Filed in , ,


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