Scale is everything when dealing with visual display.  In Population:One every pixel in the illustration equals one person on earth.  Use the right scroll arrow at first then drag the horizontal scroll bar to reach the end of the illustration. Daunting.

I have always had a difficult time determining local time in other parts of the world. I can never quite remember what world cities are in which GMT time zones. With a quick Google search you can find out in a jiffy.

time Shanghai

Back from the holiday weekend. It was refreshing visiting with family and friends; well half of the crew anyways. Although the weather was not stellar we managed to enjoy ourselves at Beckett’s tailgate. Prior to kickoff big red smokies and MLite were abound. The Buckeyes played a respectable game against Northern Illinois winning 35 to 12. The southstand seats were better than I expected. From the high vantage point on one end of the stadium I felt as if I was playing Madden on my PSP.

I spent Monday cleaning up Mother’s garage and car. A fresh coat of wax on the 6 really makes that car shine. I love the look of black car all carnaubaed up with Zymöl. My car fever is in full swing as my sister provoked me by displaying a new BWM 3 series coupe. The styling of the new 335i is striking while the power increase is just plan ridiculous. This staggering increase in horsepower makes me wonder what the Germans will put in the new M3. A new bimmer is not in my immediate future but a boy can dream.

Posting has been slow and sporadic at best the last two weeks. Much of my time has been spent working on the house. Painting a spiral staircase is a major pain in the ass. Contorting one’s body to get a paint brush to cover all cracks and crevasses can be a real challenge.

I have not spent enough time tweaking this new-ish site design. I actually just realized how shitty the new pages look in Internet Explorer. I need to recommit myself to whipping this half-assed website back into shape.

The wife and I are heading back to C-bus to visit family, friends and cheer on our beloved Buckeyes. Hopefully our high perch in the southstands will be an enjoyable vantage point to watch the game. GO BUCKS!

View Suspended is a stunning art installation created from the thousands of parts that make up a Honda Racing F1 car.The amazing display was created especially for the event by Dutch artist Paul Veroude. Each of the 3200 parts of the Formula 1 car are suspended on fine wires to produce a 3D ‘exploded diagram’ that allows race fans the chance to get closer than ever to the engineering secrets of the world’s most technically-advanced sport. (more…)

The duck liver delicacy is banned in Chicago as of today. Many restaurants that normally do not serve foie gras were adding it to their menus going as far as deep-dish foie gras pizza at Connie’s Pizza’s on Archer Avenue.

“We’ve never served foie gras in 20 years,” said Grant DePorter, president of Harry Caray’s. “But this ordinance is making Chicago into a national joke, at least in food circles. That’s why we’re doing it.”

While I am all for the animals, there is not room in our political system for legislation to determine what is appropriate for me to eat, less the humans of course. This city ordinance illustrates who we, the citizens of Chicago, have voted into Alderman office and how easily their pathetic brains are persuaded. I just hope some serious campaign donations were at play.

Update: Michael Ruhlman rants entensively on the subject at hand and check out Bourdain’s comment.

I have no idea why I find this so funny. Could come in handy some day.

It does not surprise me in the least that the CTA would produce 3000 signs with Belmont spelled incorrectly.

Count down to a New Brown has reopened two of the first stations to be rehabed. Notice the note on this image of another CTA mistake in signage.

Update: Too bad the CTA does not put this kind of effort into their stations.

As much as I disapprove of Sony for their corporate antics and atrocious handling of DRM issues they do have a great marketing crew. I have been researching a new bedroom television for a while when a friend, who happens to be an expert in this area, recommended the Sony Bravia. While doing my research I stumbled across a great advert.

I am such a geek. I am so excited to have my new (read old school) Hewlett Packard 12c financial calculator in hand. Ever since my TI BA-II+ was lifted from desk at my previous place of employment I have been completely reliant upon Excel for my complex calculations. I was incapable of producing on-the-fly calcs during meetings which bothered me greatly. Now I have an RPN masterpiece; essentially unchanged since 1981.

If you are as much of geek as I am then you will most certainly want to get your HP 12c 25^th anniversary desktop wallpaper.

I am little surprised the Oregon State student’s Firefox crop circle did not make it in the Wired list. These are an enthusiastic bunch of kids. Keep up the good work.

Update:Looks like the FF crop circle made it into Google Earth.

(via: Sporadic Nonsense)

As a child I use to immerse myself in Legos. In fact I still have a duffle bag full of them at my mothers. I should break those out and see if I still have any of the creativity that use to pour out of me into the tiny pieces. Anyways, this is one of the best print adverts I have seen created by FCB, Johannesburg.

P.S. Click the image. I started messing around with Lightbox.

I am turning into my father. I actually set my alarm now to ensure I get a cup of coffee in hand and to catch CBS New Sunday Morning and the poetic Charles Osgood. The reports are longer, smarter, and more varied, done almost in 60 Minutes style, but the best parts comes at the very end, when the talking stops and the camera shifts to the great out-of-doors for a minute of tranquil scenery.

I was not sure if it was the summer heat warping time in my head but the CTA trains have appeared to be crawling lately. I am glad to report it was not my head; the trains are moving more slowly this summer season. Worse yet, the fact that the Countdown to a new Brown is really going to screw commute times up when construction affects the rails at Fullerton. And worse yet, the close of the Diversey stop is really going to piss me off when in the dead of winter I am required to walk to another, more distant station. Hopefully this Brown Line capacity expansion will actually improve efficiency and it is not justified by the CTA spending money so their budget does not get cut.