Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Abandoned America: Haunting images of the crumbling schools, decaying churches and rusting prisons that have been lost to time
By SIMON TOMLINSON
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
These haunting photographs capture decaying elements of American society by documenting the factories, schools and churches abandoned over time.
Taken by Matthew Christopher, who lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the collection of pictures show a variety of empty buildings in various states of disrepair.
Some buildings appear untouched, with all of its furnishings absolute pristine, while others depict how nature has reclaimed the buildings and turned them into ruins.
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
These haunting photographs capture decaying elements of American society by documenting the factories, schools and churches abandoned over time.
Taken by Matthew Christopher, who lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the collection of pictures show a variety of empty buildings in various states of disrepair.
Some buildings appear untouched, with all of its furnishings absolute pristine, while others depict how nature has reclaimed the buildings and turned them into ruins.
Gathering rust: The derelict blast furnace of the Carrie Furnaces in Rankin, Pennsylvania, which have been left abandoned since they were shut down in 1982
Decaying: The Carries Furnace are among dozens of abandoned buildings documented by Philadelphia photographer Matthew Christopher
Doing time alone: The rusting cell blocks of Essex County Jail in Newark, New Jersey, which have been unused since the prison closed in 1970 when a new one was built
Ruins: A building of the Julia de Burgos Magnet Middle School in Philadelphia, which was left to deteriorate after systematic neglect before closing in 2002
Matthew, 35, began his journey to document abandoned sites a decade ago while researching the decline of the state hospital system.
Matthew said: 'I want to be able to convey the respect, appreciation and awe that I have for the locations I visit. Trying to tell someone about a place conveys so little compared to being able to show it to them.
'My favourite part of exploring ruins is that to me, it is peaceful. I can focus on what I am seeing and experiencing rather than being wrapped up in my thoughts all the time.
'Discovering new or intriguing places, finding something you know not many people have seen, or managing to get permission to somewhere you'd really like to see are also a lot of fun.
An undisclosed prison: Matthew says he likes discovering 'new or intriguing places, finding something you know not many people have seen'
Crumbling: Matthew's focus has broadened to include the ruins of American churches like this undisclosed one, schools, theatre, hospitals and hotels
Out of service: An organ sits among the debris inside the disused Church of the Assumption in Philadelphia
Mission statement: Realising that words alone could not adequately convey the condition of these buildings, Matthew embarked on a journey to photograph them
A cafeteria at undisclosed prison: Matthew says his job is sometimes scary, especially if a place is structurally unstable
'These places also help me appreciate the comforts of the waking world when I return to it.
Realising that words alone could not adequately convey the harsh realities of institutional care, Matthew embarked on a journey to visit and photograph the crumbling state schools and asylums all over the U.S.
Ten years later, Matthew's focus has broadened to include the ruins of American infrastructure, industry, churches, schools, theaters, hospitals, prisons, resorts and hotels.
He Added: 'The Baltimore Gas and Electric's Westport Power Station was a favourite of mine, but I love different things about each place I've visited.
Treading the (rotting) boards: The interior of an undisclosed theatre shows the wide variety of buildings and institutions that have been abandoned for various reasons
The show can't go on: This theatre appears in far better condition than others, suggesting it has only recently been emptied
Flaking: Matthew has gained international attention and is considered a leading expert on urban blight and efforts to preserve America's endangered architectural history
Hardly five-star: Flaking ceiling and peeling wallpaper inside a room at an abandoned hotel, whose identity has not been revealed
'Sometimes it can get scary, especially if a place is really structurally unstable, that would probably be my biggest concern. I also don't want to get murdered for my camera gear or arrested.
'There have been several occasions where I have had close calls with security and police, but thankfully nothing that has ever proven to be a long-term issue.
'I try to be very quiet and careful to avoid anybody when I am photographing a location, and if I do run into anyone am polite and respectful, I try to get across the fact that I am not vandalizing, damaging, or stealing anything. I have been lucky that so far that has been enough.
From Taunton State Hospital in Massachusetts to the US Air Force's aircraft graveyard in Tucson, Arizona, Matt's extensive collection of derelict sites is one of the largest ever amassed.
Where time stands still: An abandoned clothing factory still with all the machinery on tables as if it were left yesterday
Forgotten over time: A building once owned by the Packard motor car company, which produced its last vehicle in 1958
End of an era: Packard was founded by James Ward Packard and his brother William Doud Packard in the city of Warren, Ohio, in 1899
An unnamed retirement home: Matthew says he is lucky to have a family that has been very supportive of his work all along
His work has gained international attention and he is considered a leading expert on urban blight and the efforts to preserve America's endangered architectural history.
'I do quite a bit of research about the locations to try to find them. I also get tips from people who follow my work, and network with others who have similar interests.
'I am very fortunate to have a fantastic family that has never discouraged me from doing what I do and has been very supportive of it all along.
A trolley graveyard: Matthew, 35, began his journey to document abandoned sites a decade ago while researching the decline of the state hospital system
Heritage hero: Matthew says his goal is to find new ways to makes sites more accessible and raise money for maintenance and restoration efforts
Looking at the bigger picture: Photographer Matthew Christopher (pictured) is trying to find ways to preserve America's decaying architecture
'Many of my friends are the same way, although there are certainly those that just don't find it interesting or follow it as much and we get along for other reasons.
'My current goal is figuring out new ways to make sites more accessible and raise funds for site maintenance or restoration efforts, as well as continuing to add to the amount of locations I photograph.
'I am typically pretty busy, always working out how to take things one step further and help people understand what is so important about them, both historically and in terms of their cultural significance to our own era.'
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The World’s Tallest Climbing Wall, 'The Excalibur'
By Loke Shi Ying
The Excalibur, situated within the Bjoeks Climb Center in Groningen, The Netherlands, is the world’s tallest climbing wall.
The wall is 121 feet and faces the rugged landscape of nature. A special feature of the wall is a sleek curve 36 feet from the base that creates an artificial overhang akin to climbing a real peak.
The sheer height and challenge of The Excalibur makes the climb all the more ferocious, and is definitely a challenge that thrill-seekers will enjoy.
[via GBlog]
The Excalibur, situated within the Bjoeks Climb Center in Groningen, The Netherlands, is the world’s tallest climbing wall.
The wall is 121 feet and faces the rugged landscape of nature. A special feature of the wall is a sleek curve 36 feet from the base that creates an artificial overhang akin to climbing a real peak.
The sheer height and challenge of The Excalibur makes the climb all the more ferocious, and is definitely a challenge that thrill-seekers will enjoy.
[via GBlog]
The Campaign For Real Monopoly
From: http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue10/CampaignRealMonopoly1.html
The Campaign For Real Monopoly |
Have you ever played Monopoly?
Of course you have. Everyone's played it at some time in their life. It's shared culture, a common element that weaves together our modern world.
But when was the last time you played it?
You can't remember, can you? We've all played it sometime, when we were kids; but never recently, and why?
Because it's crap. It takes ages to play, suffering long action-free periods in which the players endlessly circle the board in search of the streets they need to complete a set, and lacks the interaction between players that we look for in a game. In short, it's boring and lacks skill.
Except that it isn't crap. Actually. You just have to play it the way it was designed to be played.
You just have to read the fucking rules.
What Is Real Monopoly?
Real Monopoly is Monopoly played according to the actual rules. Now as you read this I can just imagine you shaking your head and saying, "Right... Because getting rid of free parking is so going to revolutionise the game!"
But I'm not talking about the rule changes that everyone knows are house-rules. I'm talking about the rules changes that everyone thinks are part of the original rules. I could waffle on, but it'll save a lot of your time and my typing if I just present you with the relevant section of the rules:
BUYING PROPERTY...Whenever you land on an unowned property you may buy that property from the Bank at its printed price. You receive the Title Deed card showing ownership; place it face up in front of you.
If you do not wish to buy the property, the Banker sells it at auction to the highest bidder. The buyer pays the Bank the amount of the bid in cash and receives the Title Deed card for that property. Any player, including the one who declined the option to buy it at the printed price, may bid. Bidding may start at any price.
Take your time. I imagine that 99% of you are at this point exclaiming something along the lines of, "The fuck? Since when was that how you're supposed to play Monopoly?"
Take a deep breath. I know I've just rearranged what seems like one of the fundamental pillars of the world, like the fact that you can't travel faster than light, or the fact that the Wright brothers were the first to achieve powered flight, or the fact that the Swedes do porn and the Dutch do drugs.
But you're just going to have to accept it.
Those are the actual rules of Monopoly. Go and look at the rules in your set if you don't believe me.
Why Is Real Monopoly Better?
Sending un-purchased properties to auction has a number of benefits.
Firstly, it speeds up the game, as it enables the quicker collection of a matched set of streets (and remember that it's only when players have collected sets, and can start building houses, that the game moves into its final phase).
Secondly, it makes the game much more interesting by massively increasing the interaction between players. Bluff appropriately and you could end up buying a property you really want for way below the market price - or trick another player into buying a property you don't want for way more than the market price.
Thirdly, it makes the game much more skilful, since it is now less dependent on luck, and more dependent on your ability to trick, bluff and manage the other players.
So Why Is It No-One Plays The Proper Rules?
Well this is really two questions.
The first question is why is everyone playing a variant of the actual rules without actually realising it. Well the answer here is that no-one ever actually reads the rules of Monopoly. Monopoly is something you learn through word-of-mouth in childhood, like riding a bike or tying your shoelaces. Your mother, who never read the rules but was instead taught them by her father, taught you, and one day you will teach your children, again without reading the rules first. She passed on broken rules to you and you'll pass them on to your kids.
So the set of rules we play by is the shared cultural set of rules passed down through the generations, and not the ones written on the booklet inside the box.
The second question, which is harder to answer, is how this come about. Why, when the game was first released in the 1930s, did people all over the world make an almost cooperative decision to drop the auction? (A decision that is especially puzzling given that it makes for a worse game).
Well I puzzled over this for a long time until my friend Becky - who along with her husband Darrell is something of a board games geek - supplied what I'm pretty sure is the answer. We, gamers as we are, might think a game featuring lots of inter-player shafting is superior to one without. But Monopoly is, and always was, played not by gamers, but by families; and inter-player shafting is liable to cause all sorts of upset.
Imagine you have a game being played by mum, dad, child one and child two. Child two needs Oxford Street (insert street name from your own regional edition) to complete a set. Child one lands on Oxford Street.
Now under the "shared cultural rules" there are only two outcomes here:
1) Child one decides to buy Oxford Street, making child two slightly unhappy.
2) Child one decides to pass on Oxford Street, meaning that child two still has the opportunity to buy it, which makes him slightly happy.
Now clearly, option one will cause upset to child two. But it is an upset that is more easily rationalised by a child's mind; it isn't like child one stole his property, simply that the dice favoured child one.
But now imagine that we're playing by the proper rules, and child one again lands on Oxford Street, a property that child two is looking to buy. We now have three typical outcomes:
1) Child one decides to buy Oxford Street, making child two slightly unhappy.
2) Child one decides to pass on Oxford Street, it goes to auction, and child two manages to buy it, which makes him very happy.
3) Child one decides to pass on Oxford Street, it goes to auction, and a vicious bidding war then erupts between child two and dad, which ends up with dad winning, child two bursting into tears, mum giving dad a "someone's not having any fun tonight look", and the game grinding to a halt amid tears and recriminations.
I think you can all see the picture. Somewhere along the line someone said, "Let's just leave out that stupid auction rule; we'll have much more fun that way."
Now if parents want to play a crippled game of Monopoly because they're too scared to teach their children how to deal with interpersonal conflict then fine, that's their prerogative.
But we're gamers; we don't have to descend to their level.
What You Can Do About It
You can spread the word. Every time you hear, or read, someone slagging Monopoly off as boring you can call them on it. Point them at this article if necessary.
Because Monopoly deserves to be played as it was meant to be played. And if little Junior can't take that then tough!
EDIT SEPTEMBER 2011: We've published a new issue of Critical Miss, which includes an article on The Night I Broke Monopoly.
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
NVIDEA SHIELD: And now, a handheld Xbox
Because it's 2013 and you should be able to play the hottest videogames anywhere you damn please, the NVIDIA SHIELD's a slick handheld Xbox-esque gaming system that dropped jaws when it was revealed at CES earlier this year. And now, it can be yours.
Boasting an Xbox 360-style, console-grade controller attached to a flip-open 720p retinal multi-touch screen, it's WiFi-enabled, has integrated high-qual speakers, and runs on Android, meaning that in addition to access to a whole run of games optimized for the device, you'll also be free to use apps and watch shows.
The 9 things you'll need to win grilling season
THE BBQ BREAKDOWNBy Joe McGauleyFrom: http://www.thrillist.com/
It's easy to get stuck in a BBQ rut, grilling the same old cuts on your same old Weber, suffering from the same old meat sweats. So, to help you mix things up this Summer, here's a roundup of the nine tools and accessories that'll take your outdoor cooking skills to a whole new level.
Make money renting your car while you travel
Like Airbnb for cars, FC's a peer-to-peer auto-sharing service from a trio of college dropouts (MIT, Harvard, and, ugh, Princeton) that lets you rent your car (and score free parking at Logan!!) while away on vacation, or on business, or at your cousin's graduation from ITT Tech.
Here's how it works:
Option 1: "List Your Awesome Car"
After listing your ride and relevant specs on their site (it must be a 1999 or newer model w/ fewer than 150k miles -- and not worth more than $60 grand), call while en route before dropping it at their East Boston lot. After chauffeuring you to the terminal and potentially providing a goodbye hug, they'll wash your wheels and try to rent 'em. If somebody bites on your '04 Neon with a "fitful" transmission, well, consider yourself the proud winner of $10 a day in gas cards. If not, well, then you just scored gratis parking (at $27 a day) for the duration of your trip to Cancun. Win. Win.
After listing your ride and relevant specs on their site (it must be a 1999 or newer model w/ fewer than 150k miles -- and not worth more than $60 grand), call while en route before dropping it at their East Boston lot. After chauffeuring you to the terminal and potentially providing a goodbye hug, they'll wash your wheels and try to rent 'em. If somebody bites on your '04 Neon with a "fitful" transmission, well, consider yourself the proud winner of $10 a day in gas cards. If not, well, then you just scored gratis parking (at $27 a day) for the duration of your trip to Cancun. Win. Win.
Option 2: "Rent a Sweet Ride"
Or... headed to the Cape this weekend and not down with Enterprise's sometimes-kind-of-over-the-top enthusiastic customer service? Understandable. Then rent the Taurus of some dude who's away in Cancun and score up to half-off what you'd pay for a standard rental. Only difference: a) you can be 18 (!!), b) they do a three-year check of your driving record, and c) you only get 90mi a day. But... they do throw in a free insurance, GPS, and 24/7 roadside assistance.
Now, do you enjoy watching narrated promotional videos that explain how things work using fun graphics & catchy music? Yes? Good -- then pull up a chair next to your sweet, sweet Neon and make with the watching.
Dominos Pizza Makes Smell-O-Vision a Reality | FoodbeastFoodbeast
Dominos Pizza Makes Smell-O-Vision a Reality
By: Ashley Khawsy
By: Ashley Khawsy
It’s official. 2013 will forever be known as the year smell-o-vision became a reality, and to think it wasn’t some fancy scientist who figured it out. It was a freaking pizza place.
Dominos Brazil teamed up with local video rental stores to devise a genius advertising strategy: When the DVDs are placed into the player they look like your average movie disk. The secret lies in the thermal ink that activates as your movie plays. As the temperature of the disk increases throughout your movie of choice, the ink starts to create an image and releases a pizza aroma.
When the disk is ejected, the disc has magically transformed into a “mini pizza” baked up hot and fresh in your player. (Although, don’t try to eat it — it’s still a DVD in disguise.) There’s even a friendly message on the disk encouraging movie fans to pair their next showing with a Dominos pizza.
“Did you enjoy the movie? The next one will be even better with a hot and delicious Domino’s Pizza.”
Even if you’re not a fan of Dominos, you have to give them props for coming up with such an “out of the box idea.” Heh heh.
Check out a video of the whole process below:
H/T + PicThx HuffPo