fistful of links

Map of the deforestation of Bolivia, via Earth As Art (a NASA initiative).

My life's love, architecture, absorbed my week – seven days of preparing for the AA. Not posting frustrated me, and worse, I fear that in the future this love, love will tear us apart. Again.

By contrast, the links will bond us back together: some news.

"Maybe now I'll get the respect I so richly deserve", says Wayne White. He also recently told Esquire to "Run down the road to your mamma's house and tell her I'm back." In a swine-flu fuelled rage Cairo slaughtered all its pigs and is now paying the porcine price. Not related: Norman Foster is forced to work on space-architecture in a bid to find a low-gravity solution to the immense weight of his own ego. Related, How Many People Are In Space Right Now? Not related: the CNN/FOX debate heightens with a poorly acted piece of drivel: shame on both of you. Further distanced still: after all this time Carl Jung's Red Book is going to be published.

Iran was having some UFO problems earlier in the week, but they now confirm that fortunately they managed to shoot them down. The Telegraph asks whether it might not have been ET tourism? Talking of alien technology: Tomy's talking dog collars (via Designboom) allow you to have a conversation with your dog – puts me in mind of the new one from Pixar. Also techy (but in a geeky way) Microsoft have launched a tupperware party spin-off to introduce people to Windows 7. Why can't they just go back to copying mac like they used to?

A video thats doing the rounds: TED & Bjarke (another BIG ego, also apparently with a big.dk) Related: Nouvel gets his icon chopped off (hopefully soon I will stop including a Jean link in every bunch). Not related: apparently religious piety = teen pregnancies. Although I have suspected this for some time, ever since I found out that medieval pilgrimages were mostly excuses for crazy orgies – in Middle English the expression "Going to Jerasulem" meant getting pregnant while unmarried. In design news, Hermes have designed a yacht, but its really a floating building. Unrelated: National Geographic do a special on the Geoducks who look a lot like something out of Dune – the formers' wiki entry here.

Other blogs getting a nod this week: What We Do Is Secret (they went off for a bit, but they're now back on form with top archi-porn); Landezine, a landscape architecture weblog; old powerstations (part 1; part 2) over at beloved Dark Roasted Blend; some amazing Feral Houses (via Architecture My Ninja Please); Sweet Juniper! Worst themepark in the world!



The net is almost as awash with images as Sydney is with dust – the city is shrouded by a red cloud of desert particles. Drought and wind is thought to blame. Makes sense. Many are comparing the atmosphere to Mars, but I heard it wasn't always that way. The amazing way news travels to London: facebook updates only narrowly beat Dan Hill's tweet (City of Sound), both well in advance of the mainstream media (NY Times, BBC, New Scientist). The SMH had some pretty great pics, and there are some roundups on flickr. By chance, I spotted Godzilla making an appearance, over at the Japanese Scientists. Related, if somewhat less spectacular, one of my favourite artists Olafur Eliasson installs some Yellow Fog.

Finally,

Via Vintage Ads.