Discovery.

The Americas, 1836.

Look at North America on this map. Considering this was made 175 years ago and that the world is 6 billion years old, it's obvious that the velocity of progress seen on Earth is staggering. Even more amazing: someone sat down and compiled data and firmly believed when they were creating this map that what they were drawing was fact. And even more people at the time looked at this and functioned as if it was, too.

I do love old maps like these because looking at them is a reminder that even when you think you know something enough to commit to it and present it as fact, you always have to be open to learn and stand corrected when faced with new information.

I must say I'm into the pretty funky shape of North America on that map above.

This end of the color spectrum.

More pics of this Chilean condominium complex here.

Jabuticaba!

The Jabuticaba tree grows fruit directly from it's trunk and branches. This is some freaky, alien looking shit, but it's so awesome! Brazilians eat them like grapes and sometimes they're mashed up and made into juice or jelly.

The Jabuticaba is native to South America. Which really sucks because North America needs more creepy, weird, freaky stuff. It's 2010, we're supposed to have flying cars, talking dogs and robots that make us dinner. Since that whole thing went down the drain, can't we at least have some freaky alien grape trees? Ugh.

Because they are so awesome, bonsai people have been training and growing them for a long time. Perhaps this is a somewhat reasonable solution to introducing some alien freakiness into our lives. Bonsai maintenance is A LOT of work though. I know someone who has a bunch of bonsai trees and it's basically like a full time job that requires a ton of patience and discipline.

If I ever get to Brazil, the first thing I am doing is finding a Jabuticaba tree, transplanting it into a HUGE pot, putting it on a freighter and bringing it back to my neighborhood. Christopher Columbus was to noodles what Zach Vitale will be to Jabuticaba.

Michael Wolf's The Transparent City

I love this series by Michael Wolf. My friend Bob told me about it a while ago and while walking to a job downtown the other day it was on the mind as I was looking up at the skyline. I really like how these aesthetically pleasing images flirt with being creepy and voyeuristic and at the same time provide a window (whether we choose to open it or leave it closed) into the type of society we've built and where we're headed.

The awesome thing about these is the sheer sense of scale and enormity of our surroundings that you get from the images. Everything about them is larger than life and then you see a tiny person in one of the windows, and it reinforces the fact that we're all tiny fish in a huge glass fishbowl. It also makes one consider what they want seen by others, what one wants to keep hidden, and how private our private lives actually are.

Besides the conceptual side of these I think they're really stunning architectural photographs that are worth checking out for their technical merit alone. There's something about straight lines, order, and the precision it takes to create a building that's so appealing and satisfying when rendered visually, and I think these pictures do it really well.

For more awesome pictures, visit Michael Wolf's website.

Chesterfield Cigarette Gloves

 

(via Found in Mom's Basement)