Reddy Kilowatt & Willie Wirehand

via creativepro
“Electricity once had a perky little mascot, Reddy Kilowatt, with a light bulb nose, plugs for ears, and a body made of lightning bolts…There was even a Reddy Kilowatt typeface!”
Read the rest here.

And you can learn about Willie Wirehand and his 50th anniversary as the electric cooperative spokes-character here.

Inverted Art Made with Spools of Thread

via a friend
“Devorah Sperber is showing some fantastic works…What Sperber does is take multi-colored spools of thread and arranges them in a way so that they appear like pixels. Taken as a whole, the spools look like a hot mess, in other words, like your grandma went crazy and glue gunned her thread collection on a wall. Look through a viewing sphere (a small, transparent ball) that's conveniently placed in front of the piece, however, and get ready to be amazed. As Brooklyn Museum states, ‘Sperber deconstructs familiar images so that the brain can reconstruct them. Her framed crystal reproductions similarly address the way we think we see versus the way the brain processes visual information.’”
Read and see more here.

Handheld Printers

via printeresting
“If you can look past the cheesy corporate infomercialness of the youtube promo video, this handheld printer from EBS Ink-Jet Systems has crazy potential. It’s 2011, street artists. Hand-written tagging is so last decade! Around 2:35, the video clearly demonstrates how ridiculous hand-stenciling is so it’s time to toss away your spray cans and get with the program. The future is here…”
Watch it here.

Pouch Camp

Dark Shadows, © 2011 Nathan Kensinger

via Nathan Kensinger Photography
“There are many strange things in the Blood Root Valley. There is the half-abandoned tuberculosis hospital. There is a 260-foot mountain made by Robert Moses. And there is Pouch Camp, a hidden 143-acre oasis with a 68-year-old lake, mountain ponds, rustic cabins and 55 lean-tos. For over 60 years, Pouch Camp has been a secret haven for New York City's boy scouts. Each year, thousands of scouts learn to swim and camp within the boundaries this vast idyllic refuge. Located in the heart of Staten Island, Pouch Camp is so large it even has its own private island, which is difficult to reconcile with the fact that the camp is situated inside the most populous city in the United States. Located just 10 miles from Wall Street, Pouch Camp has somehow remained largely anonymous…”
Read the rest here.

Mimi and Eunice: Posting Art Online

via Nina Paley’s Mimi and Eunice

“There’s lots of insanely bad behavior online, but even more insanely good behavior. In particular, the gushing praise and encouragement people offer just about any creative effort posted online. Yes, there are trolls and savage critics, but far more people are kind than cruel. It’s no indication of quality, but it is very sweet…”
Find out more here.

The National Jukebox

via npr
“The National Jukebox is spinning tunes – and you don't have to drop any coin to get it to play. Today the Library of Congress and Sony Music Entertainment announced the launch of what's being billed as ‘the largest collection of historical recordings ever made publicly available online.’  The new website provides access to more than 10-thousand historical recordings for free on a streaming-only basis – no downloads. It covers the first quarter of the twentieth century and includes music, poetry, political speeches and other spoken word recordings...”
Read the rest here, and visit the National Jukebox here.

Luddites Unite!

via International Printing Museum

Learn more here and here. Makes me smile.

Treasure Wheels

via swissmiss
“Treasure Wheels™ is an urban dolly kit that fits in a satchel and is a must-have tool for urban scavengers. Treasure Wheels™ lets you wheel those urban treasures home. You simply attach the wheels to the artifact of your fancy, and get rolling...”
In the mid to late 1970s, I personally used a yellow fiberglass skateboard to help move items I scavenged.

The I-75 Project

via utne reader
Rewriting History With a Wink
“The typical U.S. historical marker, cast iron with raised lettering, usually raises more questions than it answers, and many of these signs are rife with errors and bias. Artist Norm Magnusson’s I-75 Project uses the form for a different sort of provocation. Magnusson hopes to install these signs at rest stops along the 1,775-mile Insterstate 75, which stretches from Michigan to Florida.

‘Are they real?’ is a question viewers frequently ask, meaning ‘are they state-sponsored?’  I love this confusion and hope to slip a message in while people are mulling it over. These markers are just the kind of public art I really enjoy: gently assertive and non-confrontational, firmly thought-provoking and pretty to look at and just a little bit subversive,’ says Magnusson.”

Read the rest here, and discover more on the I-75 Project here.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Hut

via retronaut
“Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s hut has survived almost untouched – except by the occasional passing explorer – for 100 years. It still houses 10,000 items left behind by the ill-fated 1910-12 expedition, many of them in remarkable condition. It has effectively been frozen in time.”
See more here.

When I saw the image [posted above], I thought that the stack of trays looked like photographer’s developer trays. I was thrilled to discover that they are!  “Apart from Scott himself, the only member of the 25-man team with his own space was expedition photographer Herbert Ponting, whose darkroom-cum-bedroom is still intact. Scott was the first explorer to realise the importance of photography in wooing the newly emerging newspaper industry.”

Image of the Day: Morel

Thanks to trueindigo for taking this wonderful shot!

DIY Platen Press

via letterology
“Built with steel, oak, bamboo, cork, rope, ink, a small barrel and a great deal of ingenuity by Oakland artist and craftsman Shawn HibmaCronan. Commissioned by Compass Books, The Press will sit in their bookstore at Terminal 2 in the San Francisco Airport until 2021.”
Read more about it here, and here.

91 Visual Phenomena & Optical Illusions

via oliver sacks
“These pages demonstrate visual phenomena, and optical or visual illusions. The latter is more appropriate, because most effects have their basis in the visual pathway, not in the optics of the eye…”
Discover them here.

Developer Trays

via swissmiss
A series of photographs by John Cyr documenting photographer’s developer trays is simply beautiful.
See more on the project here.

We Are All Cylons

via wired
“Sci-fi franchises from Star Trek to Stargate have inspired legions of rabid fans over the years, but in new indie documentary We Are All Cylons, some fans’ love of Battlestar Galactica goes further than simple devotion to a TV show. The documentary, which premiered Monday at the Sci-Fi-London film festival, shows how Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series actually has the ability to transform some fans’ identities….”
Read the rest here.

How to Shoot Underwater Photos with a Vintage Camera

via photojojo
Read the rest here.

U-Socket USB Wall Charger

via thatsright
USB charging station for your iPad, iPhone and iPod within a standard power outlet.
Find out more here.

Some Things Are Scary

via designstroy
From a vintage coloring book, this is scary.

Image of the Day: No. 3 Lock

Grotesk Love Affair Posters

via design you trust
“So to all the people that voted for their favourite Grotesk font, the results are now out and on the posters, along with all the names of the people that voted.
These posters are available for down load here. 

A Matter of Perspective

The design above is from a work in progress of a rubber stamp I was going to carve, but lost both steam and motivation to finish it. I still like the concept, though the ambigram of the word perspective is tough to read, and the half full / half empty glass artwork doesn’t looks correct when the artwork is above of the word.

. . .

It is sometimes very hard to stay motivated and believe in what you are doing when those around you — at work, within a group you are / were a part of, friends, former friends, acquaintances, total strangers, newspaper and radio headlines, talking heads on TV, etc. — are stressing the negatives of life constantly and continually. In fact, they celebrate and revel in the negatives.

I have a pretty good life. I feel very fortunate that I do have a job, and it is one that I love doing. It has changed over the years, but that isn’t a bad thing. The key is to find a balance, and if there isn’t one, then create one somehow.

. . .

Below are some quotes from A. A. Milne’s character Eyore:

“Oh bother, what does it matter they are going to do what they want anyways.”

”Eeyore,” said Owl, “Christopher Robin is giving a party.”
“Very interesting,” said Eeyore. “I suppose they will be sending me down the odd bits which got trodden on. Kind and Thoughtful. Not at all, don't mention it.”

“Good morning, Pooh Bear,” said Eeyore gloomily. “If it is a good morning,” he said. “Which I doubt,” said he.
“Why, what's the matter?”
“Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can't all, and some of us don't. That's all there is to it.”
“Can't all what?” said Pooh, rubbing his nose.
“Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush.”

. . .

So how does one handle oneself around people that feel that they absolutely deserve and entitled to something just for being, and not that they need to make positive events happen for themselves, but rather complain and gossip to everyone they come in contact with, and take no personal responsibility?

How does one maintain the perspective that your glass is never half empty?

. . .

A few days after I started this post, I came across this identity by Helms Workshop. Very simply, nicely handled.

Dance Writer

via the dailyheller
“Typotheque, a type foundry and design studio run by Peter and Johanna Biľak, has released Dance Writer as an iPhone/ iPad app that converts text into a choreographed sequence of poses based on the shapes of the letters, enabling users to send animated messages to their friends via email, or just enjoy the graceful movement in full Retina-quality resolution on their own displays…”


Read the rest here. For more about this and other Typotheque projects go here. For the typeface, "Body Type," which turns bodies into a usable type system, go here. 

Periodically

via death by kerning
Another take on type and periodic tables. Makes me smile.

Marge Piercy’s The Tao of Touch

via The Writer's Almanac

What magic does touch create
that we crave it so. That babies
do not thrive without it. That
the nurse who cuts tough nails
and sands calluses on the elderly
tells me sometimes men weep
as she rubs lotion on their feet.

Yet the touch of a stranger
the bumping or predatory thrust
in the subway is like a slap.
We long for the familiar, the open
palm of love, its tender fingers.
It is our hands that tamed cats
into pets, not our food.

The widow looks in the mirror
thinking, no one will ever touch
me again, never. Not hold me.
Not caress the softness of my
breasts, my inner thighs, the swell
of my belly. Do I still live
if no one knows my body?

We touch each other so many
ways, in curiosity, in anger,
to command attention, to soothe,
to quiet, to rouse, to cure.
Touch is our first language
and often, our last as the breath
ebbs and a hand closes our eyes.

"The tao of touch" by Marge Piercy, from The Hunger Moon: New & Selected Poems, 1980-2010. (c) Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.

USB Film Roll

via Photojojo
Your typical film roll will hold 12, 24, or a whopping 36 exposures. What if we told you we managed to get 1,000 photos all onto one roll? True story! The USB Film Roll is a 4GB USB drive cleverly dressed up in a recycled film canister.
Find out more here and here.

Graphic Arts Merit Badge

via The International Printing Museum
Makes me smile

Savage Chickens: Cat Adventures Episode 7

via savage chickens
Makes me smile

Homage to New York’s Subway Signage

via imprint
“For decades the School of Visual Arts in New York City has been famous for the unstinting excellence of its promotional efforts. The most visible of these works have been subway posters notable for their blend of memorable copywriting and arresting imagery. The latest example is an eye-catching simulation of the mosaics that are virtually synonymous with the subway and thus with the city itself. The poster is the work of Louise Fili Ltd. Louise Fili not only designed it but also wrote its copy.

Fili chose to base the letters of the poster on those of the oldest portion of the subway system, the IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit) lines. Although IRT stations—which date as far back as 1904—have mosaic sans serif as well as serif letters she felt that the seriffed capitals were “much more classical and elegant, especially in light of how much copy there was.” To the non-New Yorker, they are definitely more recognizable as the letters of the subway. But they are also more complicated to replicate…”
Read the rest here.

Hong Kong Graffiti Challenges Chinese Artist's Arrest

via npr
“Hong Kong police are investigating criminal damage charges against artist Tangerine for graffiti of detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, which could carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail.”
Read, and listen, to the rest here. More on guerilla art can be found here.

Americhrome

via imprint
“Did you know the United States has an official color palette? True story. It does. There’s a swatch system representing every irritating, boring color you see in official capacity, from the brown of a rest area to the green of a street sign to the brown of the military uniforms.
Read more at the Morning News.

TED: 9/11 healing: The mothers who found forgiveness, friendship

via TED
“Phyllis Rodriguez and Aicha el-Wafi have a powerful friendship born of unthinkable loss. Rodriguez’ son was killed in the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001; el-Wafi’s son Zacarias Moussaoui was convicted of a role in those attacks and is serving a life sentence. In hoping to find peace, these two moms have come to understand and respect one another.”
Watch it here. More on the Forgiveness Project here.

Image of the Day: Nestle® For Men

While recently touring in Russia, my son picked up these two chocolate bars — a dazed baby and the Nestle For Men bars. My wife and I tried both milk chocolate bars, but the name ”For Men” really is crazy; why only for men, does it have testosterone as an ingredient . . .?

After a brief search online, I found this translated write-up about the campaign: “...The idea of this product creation, intended only for men, is based on deep understanding of a modern man psychology. ‘The role of woman in a society is more and more increasing. A distinction between a woman and a man is gradually drawn. So much the men would like to have things, which will belong only to them. Considering this need, Nestle company developed a key idea of ‘untouchable man’s property,’ which was laid in the basis of Nestle Classic for Men strategic concept,’ Aleksandra Tarasinkevich, senior manager of trademarks of confectionery products department of Nestle company says... No tears, no sentiments... Men are not such as women, therefore they like everything big, weighty, and brutal that will not be lost [in the] palm [of their hand].”

The label open and flat.

The no-women symbol enlarged from the label.

Thank goodness this sexist campaign, with its poor attempt at humor, wouldn’t be shown in the United States. But this is a very much appreciated eye-opening world culture lesson in marketing in Russia!

The Royal Family Name, the House of Windsor, and Mountbatten-Windsor

via the British Monarchy Website
“People often ask whether members of the Royal Family have a surname, and, if so, what it is. Members of the Royal Family can be known both by the name of the Royal house, and by a surname, which are not always the same. And often they do not use a surname at all. Before 1917, members of the British Royal Family had no surname, but only the name of the house or dynasty to which they belonged…”

Read the rest here, and a bit more here. DaBraLady had the answer again!

Earth Confessions

via liquid treat
“Grist has been a proud provider of environmental news and commentary with a wry twist since 1999, and so the Seattle-based nonprofit greets each Earth Day with some eye rolling. This year, the organization is calling out the nonsense with Earth Confessions. The new site offers the opportunity to confess your sins against the Earth and swear off your evil ways forever. Those not comfortable airing their dirty laundry in public can peruse the Sin Gallery…”

Visit the site here, and view the prayer cards here.

World’s Last Typewriter Factory

via a friend

“As ubiquitous as iPads may be, the typewriter is ‘far from dead,’ says Ed Michael, General Manager of Sales at Moonachie, NJ-based Swintec… ”

Read the rest here.

Bare Memorial Electric Fountain

I bought this hand-colored postcard a few ago at a flea market, intending to do a bit of research to see if the fountain still existed, and to visit it some day.

The reverse side of the postcard.

After a 4-mile run this morning, we decided to go on an adventure try to find the fountain. A bit of Google® searching turned up a good map, and a description of the fountain and park.

From Wikipedia:

“…The civic center of the borough is the borough park with its duck pond and fountain designed around the Big Spring. The present park, which [Daniel] Bare set aside for public use, is the result of successive improvement projects started in the 1870s and continuing through the early 20th century. A stone arch, counted as a contributing structure, was built in 1874 to channel the spring, and a breast dam was added in 1876 to impound the spring water into a pond; the first dam was replaced by the present steel and cement dam, a noncontributing structure, in 1958. Sometime in the 1920s to 1930s, the pond was further contained by a concrete basin. In 1937, the Bare Memorial Fountain, counted as a second contributing structure, with its oscillating streams [which rise to 25 feet] and colored lights was added.” 

Read the rest here.

It was raining lightly when we arrived. Notice, the curved supporting structures of the fountain have been removed.

We crossed the street to look in the windows of The Roaring Spring Blank Book Company.

Roaring Spring Paper Products History

“In 1887 Daniel M. Bare founded the Roaring Spring Blank Book Company to produce ledgers, journals, etc., hence the name 'Blank Book'. Today the company has grown from a 20 person operation in a small two story brick building to over 330 employees in a 400,000 square foot modern facility that manufactures a variety of school and office paper products.”

An etched logo on the front door. Inside were large book bindery machines.

Part of the park was under construction, and we were not able to walk around the entire perimeter, but it didn’t dampen our spirits.

Image of the Day: Blue Bunny & Fondue

During the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of my in-laws, a Peeps® marshmallow blue bunny gets dipped into one of the chocolate fondues. 

The FD&C Color Palette

via idsn

“As designers, we know color is important. But when food is your medium, color can be powerful enough to influence taste—and affect health. Say hello to Blue No. 1, Yellow No. 5, and Red No. 40. These numbers make up part of an artificial color palette approved by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration. First introduced in 1906, the FDA’s Pure Food and Drug Act (and later the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) was put in place to ensure the safety and wholesomeness of food products. Before this, more than eighty dyes were used to color food, without regulation—the same dye could be used to color both clothing and candy. Currently, the FD&C color palette features seven colors that can be used in the production of food, along with two additional colors for limited use. . . ”

Read the rest here.

Mac vs. PC

via hunch blog
“Our latest data project was to analyze how self-described Mac and PC people are different. The infographic [here], designed by the talented folks at Column Five Media, breaks it down. Keep reading after the Infographic for more background and analysis, including some comparisons to findings from 18 months ago when we first looked at this issue.”