Simian Design

These are my delicious links for November 20th:

• The Muppet Show's 10 Weirdest Moments – I love the Muppet Show. It's brilliance. Here are it's 10 oddest and weirdest moments.
• Library Porn – A collection of beautiful libraries. Really beautiful places.

These are my delicious links for November 1st:

• Night Battle – Photos from a recent Russian Army War Games.
• Top Reverse Photo Bombs – A photo bomb is "Any time the background of a picture hijacks the original focus."
• Crown of the Wire – The purpose of this blog is to do the impossible: determine the "best" character on the Wire. We have set up an NCAA tournament-style bracket (found here) with 65 Wire characters divided into 2 regions: the Law and the Street. It _should_ end up with the finals being McNulty vs. Omar.

These are my delicious links for July 23rd through July 24th:

• Rhonda Forever 2003-2009 – The hands on the screen belong to James Paterson. He is using "Rhonda", a 3D drawing tool developed by Amit Pitaru circa 2003.

  The first half of the video shows James doing a drawing start to finish. In the second part James is cycling through various previous drawings, created between 2004 and 2005.

  For the last several years Rhonda has been shown in galleries, museums, festivals and conferences. We are excited to finally release this video online (about time!).

• Illustrations of characters from The Wire –
• Everest revealed from above in British balloonist's breathtaking … – This awe-inspiring photograph captures the majesty of Mount Everest as you've never seen it before – from more than a mile above.
  The spectacular panorama shows the breathtaking landscape of the Himalayas from six miles above sea level.
  It was shot by an intrepid British photographer wearing breathing apparatus in -56C temperatures 36,000 feet up.
  It is believed to be the highest panoramic picture taken by hand from a balloon, and was described by mountaineer Reinhold Messner as the 'best snap on earth'.

  Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201090/Everest-revealed-British-balloonists-breathtaking-panoramic-shot-worlds-highest-peaks.html#ixzz0MBRd2DU7

• 500 Internal Server Error – 500 Internal Server Error

These are my delicious links for March 11th through March 12th:

• "I Look Straight into Linus' Weasel Eyes…" – Charlie Brown, as done by Frank Miller. brilliant.
• Ski Dump Bathroom. – Now THATS a bathroom. And of course when we're talking about wacky bathrooms, we're talking about one nation, right? Right. A Japanese coffee company, Goeorgia Max Coffee, modified the bathrooms of ski areas around Japan to promote their coffee energy drinks. This is definitely a high-octane bathroom.
• edith zimmerman plays with her food. – Edith has some fantastic photos of her food sculptures. The mantis and tangerine are really good.
• Approximate Conversion from Points to Pixels – I was being lazy this morning, and needed a quick way to convert some points into the appropriate EM size. Viola'. This chart helps out immensely.
• New York Architecture Images- black and white new york – Amazing collection of images of early New York. From 1894 on, just a real solid trip down history.
• 100 Free Useful Applications for Mac, Part I | Tools – A nice list, maybe a bit over-the-top, of useful Mac Tools. Some are obvious (Quicksilver, etc,) but there are some hidden gems in there.
• Floorplans of Sit-Com Houses. – By the same guy that brought us the Trilogy Meter, we are treated with another brilliant piece of charting and infographics. This time he's laid out, painstakingly I might add, the floor plans of many sit-com houses.
• Vintage air raid defense posters – In 1938, the Japanese Red Cross worked with government authorities to create a series of posters to teach the public about the new Anti-Aircraft Defense Law, which was enacted in seeming anticipation of air strikes following the outbreak of the Japan-China War (1937-1945). Among other things, the new law required citizens to take protective measures against gas attacks and prepare for disinfection, evacuation and relief.

  These AWESOME posters are the result.

These are my delicious links for February 11th through February 13th:

• Petzal: The Rules of Gunfighting | Field & Stream – 1. Forget about knives, bats and fists. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns. Bring four times the ammunition you think you could ever need.

  2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammunition is cheap – life is expensive. If you shoot inside, buckshot is your friend. A new wall is cheap – funerals are expensive

• Star Trek Inspired Corset – Wow. Now I need myself a Capt. Kirk outfit to complete the role-playing experience this will entail. But certainly the most fun you can have playing Star Trek, I can guarantee you that.
• Shuron Eyewear – These are some eyeware frames I can get behind. There are about 5 I'm seriously looking at. The retro feel of them just appeals to me.
• Paper-Based Visualization Competition: The Winner and More … – Winners chosen for the Paper-Based Visualization. Some very nice entries, worth browsing.
• Mindfuck Movies – "Some movies inform. Some movies entertain. And some pry open your skull and punch you in the brain."
• Japanese Bladesmiths – A unique behind-the-scenes visit of the crafstmen who hammer out the best and most expensive kitchen knives in the world in the city of Sakai, Japan.
• BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | 'Arctic unicorns' in icy display – Nice video of these Narwhal. They're just odd. The BBC filmed the whales during their summer migration, as they navigated through cracks in the melting Arctic sea ice.

  The team believes this aerial footage, which forms part of the BBC Natural History Unit's new series Nature's Great Events, is the first of its kind.

• A House that Takes Outside/Inside to the Extreme | Design & Innovation … – I like this (in the proper climate). California architects of the 1970s were a big force in popularizing the idea of indoor/outdoor living, with houses that featured huge patios and glass-walled living rooms. But a new villa in Germany pushes the idea to its logical extreme.
• Phantom Corsair from 1938 – Boing Boing – Wow. Why don't they build cars like this? This is super-mega-fantatically-awesome. Seriously. Build this and jetpacks, so I can die happy.
• Surprising stories behind 20 Muppet characters – CNN.com – Fascinating. Did you know Oscar the Grouch was originally an alarming shade of orange. In Pakistan, his name is Akhtar and he lives in an oil barrel. In Turkey, he is Kirpik and lives in a basket. And in Israel, it's not Oscar at all — it's his cousin, Moishe Oofnik, who lives in an old car.

These are my delicious links for January 21st through January 22nd:

• Fifty Years of Exploration – NatGeo has a fantastic zoomable map showing the past paths of exploration that we've taken. Gorgeous detail, fantastic fun.
• Robot Tattoos – I don't have any tattoos, but if I were to ink up, a robot tattoo would probably be at the top of my list. There is one really fake photo in here, but the rest look legit.
• Layers | Screen forensics – A $15 OS X app that takes a screenshot of your current desktop. The catch? The screenshot is saved as a PSD with layers for each application, window and desktop icon. (via shauninman)
• The Inauguration of President Barack Obama – The Big Picture – Boston.com – The Big Picture comes through again with this excellent series of photos from the Inauguration.
• Gaius Baltar, Six, Starbuck, and Morbo from Battlestar Galactica in Lego – Neatorama provides us this fantastic link to a very accurate representation of some BSG characters in Lego.
• Ninja Tacks. – Ninja Tacks are injection molded ABS with a Chrome Plated finish. Each individual web order consists of 3 Ninja Tacks in a padded mailer. It's cheaper than mailing the retail packaging. Feel free to buy me some.

Ultimate House is a tv show produced for Discovery.  It follows the story of two projects, one self-build and one restoration that are have high aspirations.  Through the series they will take you inside some extraordinary homes they could find. 

The real gem is in the gallery.  While I like the design, it’s not super-clear on how to get to the static images of the amazing spaces.  Click on the main top graphic to go to the image gallery.

The Villa Kaleidoscope treehouse, the lighthouse, the house of spiritual retreat, bow wow japan are just a few stunning examples that are to be found in here.

Looks like the show might be worth checking out.

These are my delicious links for November 25th through December 2nd:

• Top Book Covers of 2008. – I love these sort of lists. I wish there were actually more book covers to see. My personal favorite out of this list is Maps and Legends, by Chabon. It's a breathtaking cover of a book, in three layers. If you ever see it in the store, take a look, it's well worth it.
• 45 Vintage Space Age' Illustrations – I want my jetpack. I want my flying car and robot maid. I want my talking house. Until then, here are 45 fantastic vintage illustrations of those promises of tomorrow.

  I'm not joking about my jetpack. I really want it.

• The Original Winnie the Pooh drawings. – I love these drawings. So simple, so clean, so evocative.
• Foodscapes: amazing food art by Carl Warner – Anyone who can create a believable sea of salmon has my vote. Great photos.
• Top 14 Top Gear Moments – Top Gear is a brilliant show you really should be watching. Here are 14 clips of some favorite moments.
• The International Space Station turns 10 – The Big Picture – Boston.com – As usual, The Big Picture comes through with a gorgeous set of photos of the ISS.
• Alien-like Squid Filmed at Ultra-Deep Oil-Drilling Site – WOW. This is really amazing, in a creepy way. What a freaky looking squid.

Volkswagen: Enjoy the Everyday.  This is another commercial (can’t embed directly) that is totally worth watching.

Brilliant commercial. Just brilliant.