NJS[BLOG]

These whimsical sculptures made from books have been appearing without much explanation in Edinburgh, Scotland this year.  Kate tipped me off to a blog post about the phenomenon and I have to say I’m going to be much more prone to looking in obscure corners of the libraries I visit from here on out just in case such a treasure lurks there, too.

The mixing of my email (emailnick) with those of other Nicks expands to the UK where a second email.nick has been losing messages to my inbox courtesy of Google.

See missive to Nick Burgess and his sister after receiving a scanned copy of his birth certificate:

Hello.

I’m not sure how to say this, but I think Google is somehow mixing our mail.  You see, I’m emailnick@gmail.com  and I’ve been receiving emails for email.nick@gmail.com  - mostly from Jessops.com  following an order confirmation from there sometime last year.  It’s not the first time this has happened to me, either:

http://www.nicholasjsmerker.info/2010/03/06/my-australian-email-mystery/
http://www.nicholasjsmerker.info/2010/04/01/australian-mum-writes-again/
http://www.nicholasjsmerker.info/2010/10/14/word-from-australia/

I haven’t got a clue as to what it is that Google might be getting wrong to confuse our email (and I hope it’s not a two way street – my apologies if you are getting my messages, too).  Just thought you might want to be aware.

Best,

Nick

I almost immediately got a reply – as tends to happen when one sends a birth certificate and it ends up in the wrong hands by accident:

Thank you for your honesty I will let my brother know

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

I couldn’t make this up if I tried.  Now, how exactly does one get in touch with Google about their email?  I’d really prefer that my inbox not be eating the mail of every other Nick in the world.

Should this perfectly preserved, weirdly still-stocked 1988 Canadian BMW dealer ever open its doors to the public – and, more importantly, its storage area – I will be taking at least three days off work to embark on a pilgrimage.  We can call it a religious obligation.

(Autoblog)

[iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WwLhXmnbtTM" width="560" height="349"]

This video footage of a mirage over a Chinese river may be one of the most remarkable examples of the surprises the world keeps up its sleeve. Totally reminds me of the potpourri videos Amélie watches in her apartment.

If you’ve ever found something strange – or strangely unexpected – on Google’s Street View, then 9-eyes.com is for you.  Its curator, Jon Rafman, collects some of the most arresting images that that the overmind of G has captured accidentally as it roves the land.  You could easily lose hours on this blog, so be warned.

(Autoblog)

“Desenrascanço (loosely translatable as “disentanglement”) is a Portuguese word used, in common language, to express an ability to solve a problem without having the knowledge or the adequate tools to do so, by use of imaginative resources or by applying knowledge to new situations. Achieved when resulting in a hypothetical good-enough solution.

(Wiktionary)

64 million empty apartments. An entirely customer-less shopping mall with 1500 stores. It’s all vaguely creepy and completely Stephensonian. I kind of want to go live in one of these abandoned never-occupied cities.

(io9)

Not to be confused with Soylent Green or Ubik, Product 19 is a cereal from Kellogg’s that was conceived in the 1960s as a healthy competitor for Total. Apparently the copywriter had one of the largest “fuck it” moments in the history of his trade and named the 19th product pushed through his office in 1967 exactly that. No, really. Though still being produced, Product 19 is being discontinued by grocers, thus providing the scifi/surreal (ce-real?) cart you see above.

Areas affected by the hovering area comprised the entire “Other” demographic in the 2010 Census, exceeding every socio-economic grouping for highest suicide rates. This means whoever is unlucky enough to stumble upon this 12” x 12” area will almost certainly commit suicide (though will be privy, some say, to unreasonably clear WiFi reception before dying).

Amber sent me the most amazing link this evening. Entitled “Most Depressing WiFi Hotspots in Baltimore, MD“, it is the most sublime bit of inexplicable writing.  Go read now!

(Thought Catalog)