roclar.net

The Geography of a Recession

roclar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:00:45 +0000

Latoya Egwuekwe created an interactive map as a graduate student at American University which shows the impact the economy has had on the jobless rate by county. The map is a time lapse from January 2007 until September of 2009. The most recent unemployment rate for the US is 10.2% (boing-boing Referer).

Daring Fireball Referrer
Link

Theme Park Maps

roclar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:10:22 +0000

In honor of a very wet couple of days and the power bouncing up and down, here is a site that contains a number of theme park maps dating from 1931 to the present. The only theme park I have been to recently is Busch Gardens Williamsburg for which the site has maps from 1976, 1978, 1987, 1997, and 2001-2003.

boing-boing Referrer
Link

17 Biggest Buddhas on Earth

roclar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:00:09 +0000

Environmental Graffiti posted the 17 Biggest Buddhas on Earth listing the various statues in increasing height ranging from 169 feet to the proposed 500 foot tall Maitreya Buddha that will be build in Uttar Pradesh, India. Pictured to the left is the Great Standing Maitreya Buddha which resides near Beipu at Emei Lake in Hsinchu County of Taiwan. The statue is 236 feet tall took was under construction from October 2002 to July 2006.

digg Referrer
Link

The World’s 18 Strangest Bridges

roclar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:00:15 +0000

Popular Mechanics ran an article today containing the world’s 18 strangest bridges. All of the bridges are interesting for one reason or another. Pictured to the left is the Henderson Waves which is a pedestrian bridge in Singapore’s Southern Ridges national park that connects Mount Faber Park and Telok Blangah Hill Park. The bridge is 900 feet long and is 120 feet above Henderson Road making it the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. Structure Hub has a write up on the bridge and links to SabineInSingapore’s photo set which contains more pictures of the bridge.

digg Referrer
Link

Happy Cloud

roclar — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:00:15 +0000

An artist, Stuart Semple, released 2,000 pink smiley faces into the air over London today outside the Tate Modern gallery. The Happy Clouds were composed of helium, soap and vegetable dye. The artist wanted to “make a piece of work that would cheer people up a bit.” The pictures look poorly Photoshopped, but I don’t care so much if it didn’t actually happen or not it still made me smile.

Fark Referrer
Metro.co.uk Article
Link

Lighted Garden Nozzle

roclar — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:00:21 +0000

For your after hours gardening needs, Restoration Hardware has a Lighted Garden Nozzle. It features a universal-fit pistol grip rain sprayer lit with an LED bulb. The light is powered by two AA batteries which are not included. I don’t really enjoy gardening when the sun is out, I cannot imagine I would like it any more when it is dark outside. I also thought that power and water didn’t interact very well. The Lighted Garden Nozzle is available from Restoration Hardware on sale for $9.

OhGizmo! Referrer
Link

5 x 5 Rubik’s Professor Cube

roclar — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:00:47 +0000

I haven’t ever tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube. I do recognize that it is a classic, and changes to the venerable cube interest me. I am not sure why anybody save the most hardcore cube fans would be interested in upping the difficulty to 5 x 5 x 5. There is also a 4 x 4 x 4 version. The Rubik’s Professor Cube 5 x 5 is on sale at Amazon for $19.

Tech E Blog Referrer
Link

Survival Straps

roclar — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:00:27 +0000

Survival Straps makes a variety of different products out of wound 550 pound paracord including bracelets, watch straps, dog collars, and even rifle slings. In a pinch, the bracelets can be unwound for eight feet of paracord if you order the full cord version. Most of the products can come in either solid or two of the thirty or so colors. The bracelets and anklets are available directly from the Survival Straps web site from $15 to $19. I might be interested when the paracord belts become available.

OhGizmo! Referrer
Link

Casio Calculator Watch In Purty Colors

roclar — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:00:54 +0000

Remember the old school calculator watches from back in the 80s? If you need a refresher, PocketCalculatorShow.com has a Nerd Watch Museum for your perusal. Casio has recently added color to their pocket calculators in its Databank 32 series. The watch itself features a eight digit calculator and a stopwatch accurate to 1/100th of a second. It is powered by a CR2025 battery. Pictured are the neon green and orange models which retail for $59. There is also a black version which is more expensive in keeping with Apple’s Mac Book tradition costing $70. All three models are available at Casio’s MyCasio Online Shopping.

OhGizmo! Referrer
Gizmodo Referrer
bb Gadgets Referrer
Übergizmo Referrer
Link

BBC Box

roclar — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:10:52 +0000

BBC News decided to follow a shipping container around the world for the period of a year to “tell the stories of globalisation and the world economy”. Referred to as “The Box” the container is painted with the BBC News logo and the URL of the container’s web page. Thus far the Box has traveld from the UK, to Singapore and then to New York, New York.

boing-boing Referrer
Link