Amazing Worlds in Miniature.

Acceptable losses
Mixed media
16 x 13.5 inches diameter
2008

The above piece entitled “Acceptable losses” is the amazing miniature work of Thomas Doyle. He creates beautiful little worlds sculpted in 1:43 scale and smaller. From the statement on his site:

The pieces’ radically reduced scales evoke feelings of omnipotence—as well as the visceral sensation of unbidden memory recall. Hovering above the glass, the viewer approaches these worlds as an all-seeing eye, looking down upon landscapes that dwarf and threaten the figures within.

Conversely, the private intensity of moments rendered in such a small scale draws the viewer in, allowing for the intimacy one might feel peering into a museum display case or dollhouse. Though surrounded by chaos, hazard, and longing, the figures’ faces betray little emotion, inviting viewers to lose themselves in these crucibles—and in the jumble of feelings and memories they elicit.

The glass itself contains and compresses the world within it, seeming to suspend time itself—with all its accompanying anguish, fear, and bliss. By sealing the works in this fashion, I hope to distill the debris of human experience down to single, fragile moments. Like blackboxes bobbing in the flotsam, these works wait for discovery, each an indelible record of human memory.

Word clouds

Jonathan Feinberg is the mastermind behind Wordle.net – a fun way to weave word clouds. The cloud creation is quite simple. You can either add words via an online editor or you can add an RSS feed to automatically generate a word cloud. Just like any word cloud, prominance is given to the frequency the word appears.

The fun part is tweaking the clouds. At your disposal are different fonts as well as a myriad of layouts and color schemes. The final images can be printed out and placed in a frame.  Bam! instant artwork for typographically challenged.  The clouds can also be saved to a public gallery so others can enjoy your handwork.

The word cloud above was generated via Mashable.com’s RSS feed

Create your own word clouds at wordle.net.

The world’s tallest buildings

Did you ever wonder where you can see the world’s tallest buildings side by side? Wonder no more. Simply head over to skyscraperpage.com. This site is chock-full of amazing facts and renderings.

Before I die I want to …

The basic premise at “before I die I want to.org” is to say exactly what it is you want to do before you die. Here are just three examples of the many postings:

I hope you’re still alive when they carry you out.

Sounds to me like you’re ready to go at any moment

We have no clue who you are. You’re a total mystery. Since YOU know who you are, WHAM, you just solved your first mystery!

Here are the official rules:

To submit your own “Before I die I want to…” Polaroid to this project,
please follow these steps:

1. Think about what you want to do before you die.

2. Have someone take a Polaroid photo of you AS you are stating what it is you want to do before you die.

3. In your own handwriting in the large white area of the Polaroid under the photo, write down with a BLACK sharpie marker what you just said you want to do before you die, starting with the words “Before I die I want to…”

Preview kids books before buying

Lookybook.com is a cool site which allows parents flip through kid’s books before buying them. You get to see the whole book showcased in a clever page turning flash app. Other sites like Amazon allow you to preview the first couple of pages but that’s about it.

Click the eyes on the top right of the book box above for a larger version.

Skateboards + blue suits = one insane ride!

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

These guys are crazy! What’s crazier? Skating down a incline or shooting video while skating down an incline. Passing the camera back and forth was very cool and risky. As it turns out, they’re both pretty decent shooters… And you gotta love the blue suits!

Watch closely at the beginning of the video –  you can see a Beatles and Che Guevara poster on the wall. Influences I guess…

Striking age map photos

Fascinating and eerie photos of people spliced together from different time periods of their life. Check out more age map photos at Bobby Neel Adams Web site.

The Joker sentenced to 1 day in jail

   

 

Here’s a fantastic feat pulled off by another wanna be joker. Another wanna be Joker? Are there any other wanna be Jokers? Here’s the rest of the story:
 

CENTREVILLE, Mich. – A man accused of trying to steal a large Batman movie poster from a cinema lobby while dressed as the Joker has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of malicious destruction of property.

Twenty-year-old Spencer Taylor entered the plea Wednesday in St. Joseph County District Court.

A judge ordered him to serve one day in jail, perform 16 hours of community service and pay $685 in fines.

Charges of attempted larceny in a building and using a mask to conceal his identity during the commission of a crime were dismissed as part of Taylor’s plea agreement.

Three Rivers police say he was wearing a purple suit, green wig and face paint when they arrested him on July 27.

Wow! I’m so impressed. I can’t wait until you dress up as the Hulk and run around terrorizing towns folk with your purple shorts. Ah yes. That will be a glorious day.

Can the Pickens plan save us from our dependence on energy imports?

Billionaire oilman, philanthropist T. Bone Pickens has a plan to wean us our dependence on energy imports. He plans on building the worlds largest wind farm. It’s a far more detailed plan than either presidential candidate has laid out. But then again, the best plans always rise from the private sector.

From Forbes:

At 80 the oilman and financier is healthy and having some of his best years in business. “Of all the taxes I’ve paid, 90% of them were after I was 70,” says Pickens, who forwarded $200 million of his capital gains to the U.S. Treasury last year. Worth $3 billion at last count, he’s still drilling for oil and buying water rights. His Mesa Energy in May bought 667 wind turbines from GE and has spent $2 billion so far developing a 4-gigawatt wind farm, the world’s biggest, in the Texas panhandle.

From Cleantechnica:

When one of Texas’s richest oil men bets big on wind energy, it gets attention. Yesterday NPR’s Living on Earth broadcast an interview with Mr. Pickens, who shared the salient facts about his planned wind project:

• It will be the largest in the world, he reckons, at 4,000 megawatts
• It will provide enough power for 1,300,000 homes
• It’s a $10 billion dollar project from which he plans a 15%-25% profit

Asked why he is investing in wind now, Pickens replied:

“For a number of years I’ve watched the wind turbines develop — and I feel like it’s time for it. I think that oil has peaked at 85 million barrels in the world. We’ve got to develop other forms of energy — wind, I think solar will be next, and I hope I’m still around to be in the solar deal.” (Pickens is 80 years old.

So Pickens has a plan. Sounds like a good one. I applaud this man for stepping up and doing something with his brain and his money.