This article was originally posted on Shoebox Dwelling in this post .

This conceptual daybed, called Holey Poley, is a thing of versatility. Its creator, Clinton Steward, is still a design student and developed this impressive concept as a part of a school project. The structure of the piece is based on the dynamic between poles and holes. The perforated upholstery pieces can be combined into various configurations and secured in place by the oak poles. Thus, you can easily create a traditional sofa, two chairs, a loveseat and more. Lovely idea!

This article was originally posted on Boing Boing in this post .

  About the OpenWatch Project from OpenWatch on Vimeo.   Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit wrote an essay for the Washington Examiner called "You have a right to record the police."

In an era when government feels free to record citizens whenever they’re out in public, government officials need to recognize that this recording business works both ways.  Want a surveillance society?  Be prepared to live in it. Of course, the efforts to intimidate citizens via prosecutions and arrests are doomed to fail in the long run.  Pretty much every cellphone now is a video camera, a still camera, and an audio recorder.   There are even smartphone apps specifically designed for recording police encounters and uploading them to the Web so that confiscating the phone doesn’t do any good. Tiny video cameras abound nowadays, including cameras that fit in the frames of sunglasses for added inconspicuousness.  And they keep getting smaller and cheaper. You can’t arrest everyone with a camera, especially when you don’t even know they’ve got a camera.  But that’s not really the issue. Technology may be winning, but the real problem is that America has a class of government workers who believe that they are above citizen scrutiny, and who are prepared to abuse their powers to avoid that scrutiny.  The only solution for this is to punish offenders severely enough that others learn their lesson.    

I did searched for smartphone apps "specifically designed for recording police encounters." I found OpenWatch, "mobile technology to enable public monitoring of authority figures." But it doesn't stream in real time to the Internet. It seems like you could use Ustream, Qik, or Justin.tv's smartphone apps to do that.   Glenn Reynolds: "You have a right to record the police" (Via The Agitator)

This article was originally posted on Freshome.com - Interior Design & Architecture Newsletter in this post .

Shared by hepaestus Expanded metal exterior building skin :

VDVT House was designed by Boetzkes | Helder and is located in  Arnhem, The Netherlands. The residence has a surprising exterior, displaying a rectangular, compact shape. The outer walls have a dark gray and black finish, making the building stand out. Another unusual detail is the expanding metal exterior. The “black box” features generous vertical windows which are exquisitely integrated in the overall design. Once inside, a potential visitor is welcomed by an elegant, minimalist design. The ground floor accommodates a living room with a sofa in the middle and stairs which seem to float towards the second level. The immaculate white walls are gently contrasted by the wooden floors, stairs and furniture. Complete harmony and good taste are the main “features” of this truly delightful home. [Photography by Merel van Beukering]

Minimalist Home With an Eye-Catching Expanding Metal Exterior

VDVT House was designed by Boetzkes | Helder and is located in  Arnhem, The Netherlands. The residence has a surprising exterior, displaying a rectangular, compact shape. The outer walls have a dark gray and black finish, making the building stand out. Another unusual detail is the expanding metal exterior. The “black box” features generous vertical windows which are exquisitely integrated in the overall design. Once inside, a potential visitor is welcomed by an elegant, minimalist design. The ground floor accommodates a living room with a sofa in the middle and stairs which seem to float towards the second level. The immaculate white walls are gently contrasted by the wooden floors, stairs and furniture. Complete harmony and good taste are the main “features” of this truly delightful home. [Photography by Merel van Beukering]

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from Freshome.com – Interior Design & Architecture Newsletter http://freshome.com/2011/09/09/minimalist-home-with-an-eye-catching-expanding-metal-exterior/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FreshInspirationForYourHome+%28Fresh+Inspiration+for+Your+Home%29

This article was originally posted on Serious Eats in this post .

From A Hamburger Today

[Photo: John M. Edwards]

You can't go to New Mexico without eating green chiles—so it's no surprise that the Green Chile Burger is the calling card at Blake's Lotaburger, a chain exclusive to New Mexico. When I surveyed some locals about chains in the are, Blake's was the first suggestion out of anyone's mouth. Consequently, a Green Chile Burger was the first thing in my mouth when I arrived.

Blake's burgers reminded me of In-N-Out, in scale and structure—the patties are thin and cooked to order. My patty was a little crisp on the outside, which I loved, and the meat is pretty loosely ground. One patty feels a little weak on the patty-to-bun ratio, so I recommend a double.

But the green chiles are the real draw, of course. Each chile chunk was warm and juicily popped open, hot and sturdy, under the teeth. And whereas many fast-food chains tone down their "spicy" creations for a mass market, these were the spiciest thing I've ever tasted on a fast food burger. Without the green chile, the burger is still better than McDonald's and Burger King, but the green chili really makes it a star. The Green Chile Lotaburger comes with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and mustard. None of the other toppings are spectacular, not that it matters much since you can barely anything beyond the green chile.

On top of that, at Blake's I found awesome service: The guys behind the counter could tell i'd just gotten off an airplane, and they gave me a water right away, as well as a few free pumps of cherry syrup to go with my Dr. Pepper. "It's really good, man," the cashier told me; "I do it all the time on my break." Really nice people, spartan yet clean restaurant, and a solid, spicy burger—not much more you can ask for from a fast food chain.

About the author: John M. Edwards, the fast-food bureau chief at Serious Eats, also writes about fast food and regional chains at fastfoodr.com. His day job relates to personal training and nutrition. (Seriously.) Follow him at @johnmedwards.

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This article was originally posted on The Awl in this post .

I totally missed this bit of thinking from the other day by open source enthusiast Douglas Rushkoff. He's living in the Singularity already, so he can say that "on a very fundamental level, we have pretty much everything we need"—and we're just distributing it wrong, and "we don't have enough ways for people to work and prove that they deserve this stuff." So why do we all want jobs, he wants to know! Why are we all yapping about unemployment? On... a certain level, this is technically true! Even as a world-wide community, we probably have enough "things" (rice, couches, water, fabric) for everyone. Rushkoff seems a little baffled that we're just not earning/sharing correctly. Because maybe he has never met people. But the best part is this:

Jobs, as such, are a relatively new concept. People may have always worked, but until the advent of the corporation in the early Renaissance, most people just worked for themselves. They made shoes, plucked chickens, or created value in some way for other people, who then traded or paid for those goods and services. By the late Middle Ages, most of Europe was thriving under this arrangement. 

Thriving! Most! Setting aside historical issues of "land-owning," which still are a central organizing force in who "has" and who doesn't have, that's pretty cheap and easy to define your thoughts to "Europe." Still, while there are at least 850 million people living there now, there were maybe 50 million people in all of Europe in 1450—and that includes Russia, Sweden and all of 3 million people in the British Isles. (Current population of the British Isles: 67 million.) Systems don't expand and contract stably to population sizes—which brings us back to land. (Ask Stalin!) But yes, the gloried late Middle Ages! Plucking chickens! Because the Crusades had recently ended. And the Mongols had been at war from Korea to Vietnam all the way to Poland and Baghdad for 200 years. Oh and at least 1/3rd—maybe a full half— of Europe's population had just dropped dead. That would be an amazing economic boom for our times, totally promoting class fluidity and abundance, if half the population totally died! Anyone someone should totally try that theory out for a TED Talk. Yes, sure. The central point is sort of correct? No one wants dumb jobs. No one should have dumb jobs! But there's just no other way to squeeze $8 an hour out of the people who hold the money and the land. (Although, ask Stalin about that too.)

This article was originally posted on ArchDaily in this post .

Architects: Verstas Architects Location: Lauttasaari, Finland Project Area: 14 sqm Photographs: Andreas Meichsner It is well-known that Finns love to spend time in a cottage and amidst nature. So much so, that spending time in a cottage is possible even in the center of Helsinki. A 14 sqm cottage for the 4-person Palva architect family was recently built in Lauttasaari, only two kilometres from the family home and the parents’ work place. “This is a way of life”, says Jussi Palva, “We wanted a place that would be easy to go to, and if necessary we could go home to take a shower or deal with urgent matters. Because our home is so close by, it’s also possible to leave unnecessary stuff at home and bring things to the cottage only when necessary.” A way of life that preserves nature has, during the last few years, become a trend in the Helsinki region among young families with children; a 14 sqm city cottage is “ecological vacationing” at its best. “Because the cottage is small, its building costs are reasonable and the use of electricity is so sufficiently low that it can operate with solar energy, even though the cottage is suited for winter use” explains Jussi Palva. “And of course a localized lifestyle where you don’t use a car or fly away on holidays is also ecological. It’s typical for Finnish cities that there are camping areas also within the city limits. When this is combined with the fact that the cottage tradition plays a central role in our lifestyle, you discover that preserving and increasing the number of city cottage areas in Finnish cities is wise town planning.” In Jussi Palva’s opinion, a lot is achieved by including areas for this kind of use in the town plan: the environmental burden caused by the cottages decreases and the social control in park areas increases. This makes urban parks safer places for everyone. When spending time at the Palva family cottage, you don’t get the feeling at all that you’re in the city. There’s a path leading to the sheltered cottage site that goes past a small sandy beach and there’s a view over the sea from inside the cottage. The intention is that the family will spend a generous amount of time at the cottage: a sign of this is that the kitchen can be turned into a homework space for the children. “Family members can come here on their own, too, to relax and be close to nature” Jussi Palva further explains. As there is only 14 sqm for the 4-person family, the space has to be divided carefully. It’s divided into an entrance and kitchen combination, from where there’s a small step – in the Japanese fashion – to the living space and sleeping level. At the design stage the spatial arrangements of boats and caravans were carefully studied; 14 sqm is a large space if it’s furnished with fixed furniture in a similar way as in sailing boats intended for family use. The sofas along the back wall of the cottage can easily be turned into sleeping places for three persons; the fourth sleeping place is in the loft space. There’s storage space in built-in cupboards in different areas as well as under the raised floor.

This article was originally posted on but does it float in this post .

New paintings by Carly Waito Title: Baudrillard Previous Carly Waito feature Further reading: Carly Waito interview Folkert

This article was originally posted on The Consumerist in this post .

At some currently unspecified point down the road, you'll be able to go through airport security without taking your shoes or belt off. The policy easement was announced by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano during a forum hosted by Politico Playbook in DC. Perhaps the news was intended to be some kind of 9/11 10th anniversary gift? Limits on the amount of liquids travelers can bring on board will remain, Napolitano said, because screening technology can't tell the difference between, say, nitroglycerin and Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Shampoo with Orchid and Coconut Milk. (How I tell the difference? One leaves my hair silky smooth, the other, plastified to my skull). Later this year, the TSA will launch its "Known Traveler" program which lets those who give additional personal information keep their shoes on and their laptops in their bags. The US started making passengers take their shoes off in 2001 after al-Qaeda member Richard Reed boarded a flight from Paris to Miami and tried to light a fuse with a match that connected to plastic explosives hidden in the hollowed-out bottoms of his boots. Air Travel Shoes-Off Screening Rule to Be Eased in Future, Napolitano Says [Bloomberg] (Thanks to Todd!)

This article was originally posted on but does it float in this post .

Sculptures by Ron Gilad Title: Paul Klee Atley