and the occasional rant.
Enjoy!
I'm Mark. Older than you imagine, pescetarian, husband, father, professional parent & pedant.
I post some original stuff and a bunch of other things that I like. If you own the rights to something you see here and you're not happy about me sharing it, let me know.
Possibly the most frustrating table you’ll ever see.
I want one. I may even NEED one.
Awesome design & flawless execution by Lee Sanghyok, via Dezeen.
My retirement dream (well, one of them at least).
Picture courtesy of Peter Legge Associates, via designboom
Italian design company Diesel has partnered with award-winning bicycle manufacturer Pinarello to create ‘only the brave’, a single speed city bicycle.
My on-off love affair with Alfa Romeo is definitely back on.
My head says “Don’t”.
My heart says “Where can I get one? Can I afford it? Does it even matter? Iwantitnow!”
Click the picture or visit designboom for more.
Tagliente by Plasma Studio and ewo
OK, I guess that street lighting isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Indeed, I admit it’s not normally something that floats my boat, but this, this is something different.
Tagliente means ‘sharp’ in Italian, which suits this beautifully. The lamp has a faceted surface, twisting from the vertical pole to the horizontal, LED light source. Plasma started from the conceptual diagram of a street lamp as a combination of vertical shaft and horizontal light-emitting beam. Using birds and flowers for reference, they developed Tagliente as a fluid transition between the vertical and horizontal directions.
Click the picture or visit Dezeen for more.
Spinnaker Tower, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, UK.
This was Portsmouth’s contribution to the Millennium celebrations. It’s a superbly designed structure with viewing platforms at 100m, 105m, and 110m. On a clear day, you can see for up to 23 miles. It also boasts the highest glass floor in Europe. That’s the dark rectangle you can see in this shot. Standing on the glass, you’re looking straight down for 100m to the ground. It never fails to amaze me how many folks won’t do it.
Yesterday, the maintenance guys were doing something on the outside of the tower. Two guys are looking over the rails from 115m at their mate who’s abseiling about 90m off the deck. I want his job.
Can’t help it. I saw this a while ago, and saved it for some obscure reason. I like to tell myself it’s the engineering, which is more than neat, it’s a thing of beauty. And then I think no, it’s not just that. My Princess bought a new bike recently. It has a flip-flop hub and thus the potential to be a fixie.
I remember riding a fixed wheel cycle years ago - at a travelling funfair, which had a “Crazy Cycle” stall. All the bikes were re-engineered to give a weird ride; one went backwards when you pedalled forwards, one went up and down because the hubs were eccentric, another steered left when you turned the bars right, and one had no brakes. Yes, it was a straight up fixie with no free wheel hub; you stopped pedalling, you fell off.
Now, they juxtapose fixation and fashion accessory. Granted, there’s a connection twixt rider and machine that transcends almost any other form of cycling, perhaps because it’s inherently dangerous. So this set-up has a calming effect on my old and frayed nerves. At least with this, she still has the ability to stop in an emergency. Now all I need is someone who can tell me how to get one.
