(This is, after all, what IBM's Smart Cities campaign looks like when translated into real life...cheesy soundtrack and all.)

Larfs.

A dollar short, a day late, disingenuous about his own newsroom's role in e.g. cheerleading for the invasion of Iraq...but nice to see anyway. Via Mia.

Yes.

Camilo José Vergara's astonishing series of photographs on post-industrial cities. Awful interaction design, but worth it for things like, particularly, this image of trees growing inside Camden's dilapidated Carnegie Library: http://viennasecession.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/6_warrencentertreevergara.jpg

On the one hand: OMGWTF. On the other: Entirely predictable, and — I might add, with some justice — that in fact I called this one from twenty miles off. Via Tom Carden.

Interesting primarily for the metaphor bleed (excuse me: "exaptation") from the NFL to the conduct of warfare.

Extraordinary.

Good for Alex, beginning to move toward the recognition that more will be called for than "bright green" environmentalism - much more.

Via Eric. Comment: "And what if in that picture you were standing with someone or near some one that your partner doesn’t like….and then your partner beats you up for it. That’s the tenderloin. That stuff happens. You cant just take someones picture there and post it up. In the “language of the tenderloin” it means something to stand on golden gate and leavenworth or on turk and polk, those blocks mean certain things, where you can find certain people and where you can buy certain things. You take a picture of someone standing on a certain block, you are saying something about that person."

Via EthanZ: John Sexton's untimely, probably doomed plan to transplant an NYU seedling to (wait for it) Abu Dhabi.

"Retrofitting Suburbia."

The "anti-democracy truck" (!). Its natural markets, according to its manufacturer? "Israel, America or France." Rather reminded me of "Soylent Green."

Implosion urbanism.

While I take no satisfaction in saying so, this article only reiterates everything I've been saying about Dubai for the last five years. Also: "Suddenly our cards stopped working. We had nothing. We were thrown out of our apartment."

I've seen references to this for a month or two now, but seeing the picture is absolutely surreal. Something horrendous has happened in Detroit - practically Russian levels of nihilism here.

The camp condition.

The new hotness. Also, I am now apparently an adjective. ABOUT TIME. /hooah.

WARNING SERIOUS UNCANNY VALLEY GROSSNESS. No prize for guessing where it comes from. (A friendly reminder to the design staff: DON'T DATE ROBOTS!)

Microsoft's vision for 2019: Clean, attractive people in clean, attractive environments using clean, attractive interfaces. Aspirational much?

If anything, not worded strongly enough. The Emirates may have met their Kunstler.

Oh, Kazys - of *course* Florida's gonna hammer his moribund thesis. "Bread and butter" doesn't begin to account for its centrality to his output.

And a hearty HOOAH to that. Again: thank god for Karl Lagerfeld. Via Bruce.

Wonderful, thoughtful, incisive piece here from Kazys, and I bet he's on the money about a lot of this. This CCCPArch thing at Columbia sounds *very* interesting.

Shit and civilization. Again.

Or: "Why Finland's Looking Pretty Good To Me."

Alex was kind enough to pick up my Palin piece for Worldchanging.

From http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2008/07/17/festooning-the-tree-of-life/

Somebody tell me this is an elaborate joke. Please. For the sake of my city.

Mission Accomplished; we can now power down the Intarwebs. This may even trump Kasparov's dildocopter.

We use this all the time, it's true. Via teh Slavin.

Never have the words "wake up and smell the coffee" seemed more appropriate.

Interesting hints of the coming Chinese car-assemblage. Anhui's Jan and Dean can't be far behind.

"A Brief History of Robotics in Physical Security."

Fascinating stuff: "But we had a loss over the course of like three days that was like a ten-sigma event, meaning, you know, it should never happen based on the statistical models that underlie it."

"Ad nets, social nets, and minigames won't change the DNA of the economic system. Let me put it more sharply. I think we have two choices. Help fix things, and get rich, or just get blown up along with everyone else." Via migurski.

School bullying, 21st century-style: Facebook groups, cameraphone-recorded beatdowns, hopes the school bus surveillance camera will vindicate you...

Basically, yes.

Something actually useful from Y! Tech. Huh.

Again, who the hell *are* these people, and wtf is their problem?

Humanity must have a death wish, is all I'm going to say about this.

Looks a lot like the onset of turbulence, ne?

Not sure a few asocial dudes make a trend. And it's far from a Japan-only thing - haven't they ever heard of Real Dolls? Nevertheless, watch out if these go animatronic. Called that a long time ago.

Profound and important. For that other project.

I have this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. Apparently I am not alone in this.