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General Entertainment

The waiting game

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2012 has become the year of nautical tracking, it would seem:  my new favorite pastime is tracking the progress of Wallenius-Wilhelmsen ship Don Juan as it makes its way through the North Sea and eventually on to Nova Scotia, New York and Baltimore.  Why, you ask?  Because my new car is aboard and having its VIN allows me to do so!  The folks over at the Swedespeed Volvo forum have put together a comprehensive thread on the subject of tracking custom orders.

You’d better believe I’ll be checking in with the Southampton radar information when it will be catching a view of Don Juan on Sunday.  As I said to Kate, GPS and the internet would have made the pirate’s life so much easier…

11 for ’11

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You know, I don’t like putting albums in any particular order since each one is listened to at different times for different reasons and can be, depending on the moment, the exact right choice for me then. So instead of my tried and true list of top albums for 2011, I thought I’d make the task more interesting – and less daunting – than the last three years by going with a different approach. You can view videos of my favorite tracks from the 11 albums I enjoyed most in 2011 by using the YouTube playlist above. Or, learn more about each album by clicking its cover art below! (Choices are in for 2012, you see.)

 

China, we have to talk

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This is a brand new, absolutely jaw-droppingly beautiful museum designed by some truly phenomenal architects in the middle of Ordos, a city in China…with a population of zero people.  Did I mention it’s also in the heart of the Gobi dessert?

China, dear, what are you doing?

I would also like to point out that it’s basically a set from the Charlize Theron reboot of Æon Flux, a fact that I have no problem with but still merits mentioning.

Come to think of it, though, if you were to construct the last city on Earth, you couldn’t really do much better than the Gobi, right?

(io9)

Drive-by observations

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As you know, I spend quite a bit of time on the highways of the Pennsylvania (and highway-ish roads of Maryland).  This affords me an opportunity to notice trends about travel – and lots of time to ponder them.  One thing that I’ve been seeing more and more are aerodynamic attachments to tractor trailers.  For instance:

The little flap under the trailer?  There to keep air flowing more smoothly and thereby make the truck more efficient (and less costly for its operator).  These are also taking the form of winglets on the backs of trailers and other coverings for the gaps between the actual truck and its cargo.

All of this got me thinking about the eccentric German inventor, Luigi Colani.  Who knows when ago, I watched a documentary on the future of travel on the Discovery channel and remember being floored by the crazy looking tractor trailer concept that Luigi had come up with:

At the time, I can remember the show’s host joking about how strange it would be to see such an odd looking vehicle on the roadways.  Now, I’m not so sure that kooky Colani wasn’t on to something…

New PKD adaptation

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Earth is trapped in the crossfire of an unwinnable war between two alien civilizations. Its leader is perpetually on the verge of death. And on top of it all, a new drug has just entered circulation a drug that whips its users back and forth across time.

io9 has news about the latest Philip K. Dick adaptation, Now Wait for Last Year.  Also in the report:  absurd hats are pondered and I’m reminded of the impending Gondry-fication of Ubik.  Hoorah!

Orderin’ time

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Tomorrow sees me traveling to Pittsburgh to offer a workshop at one of my campuses, which is very exciting. However, the real excitement for the day will come after class when I swing by Bill Gray Volvo before heading back home for the evening. The reason for my stop will be to order what you see above you: a 2012 Volvo S60 T5 in Vibrant Copper. I am excited to see how the ordering process goes with Volvo as compared to Audi back in 2009 – and, of course, to start driving the new leased ride!

Things you learn

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This:

Might look familiar to you if you are a Mac user, as it is – and has been for years – the Command key icon.  Did you know what it actually represents?

A castle as seen from above.  It was apparently widely used to mark points of interest in Swedish campgrounds.

You can learn more fun facts like the one above by reading Steve Silberman’s article on the icons Susan Kare designed for the Mac nearly three decades ago.  It even includes some fun original sketches as she was brainstorming the visual language of the revolutionary little computer.