How Buildings Learn--Stewart Brand, 1997, BBC, 6 Parts; Flow, The Low Road, Built For Change, Unreal Estate, The Romance of Maintenance, Shearing Layers. "What happens after buildings are built? Why do some buildings get better over time and others get demolished? Stewart Brand says architecture is a prediction, and all predictions are wrong, so the more monumental the architecture, the more wrong the building is. The buildings that thrive are those that can adapt to how people actually use them. The worst buildings for inhabitants are usually statement architecture -- buildings that look like art. The best buildings are often non-descript, and pick up character as they evolve. In other words they grow into art." Kevin Kelley
posted by vronsky at 6:52 PM Aug 27 2008 - 13 comments [32 favorites]

Ubiquity is a Mozilla Labs experiment into connecting the Web with language in an attempt to find new user interfaces that could make it possible for everyone to do common Web tasks more quickly and easily. Check out a video demonstration of Ubiquity. And here's a tutorial.
posted by sveskemus at 7:39 AM Aug 27 2008 - 69 comments [24 favorites]

Nine amazing bridges. (Via.)
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:01 PM Aug 27 2008 - 34 comments [11 favorites]

The Unofficial Stephen Jay Gould Archive, an online library dedicated to the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002). Includes an excellent selection of videos. And The Official Stephen Jay Gould Archive [still under development], which includes two of his books and his Harvard course online.
posted by nickyskye at 10:31 PM Aug 26 2008 - 37 comments [40 favorites]

Del Martin, with her partner Phyllis Lyon, were pioneers in so many fields that it's hard to do justice to all of it in one post.
posted by gingerbeer at 3:25 PM Aug 27 2008 - 71 comments [9 favorites]

Three summers ago, Pascal Bernabe strapped on a scuba tank, stepped off a boat and descended 330 meters into the Mediterranean. This is his account of the dive.
posted by jason's_planet at 12:09 PM Aug 27 2008 - 32 comments [9 favorites]

In Historic Vote, Obama Officially Claims Democratic Nomination (Washington Post) With a theatrical flourish, the roll call vote was rushed to allow Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to suspend the vote and "in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory," declare Obama the nominee by aclaimation. "Let's declare with one voice that Barack Obama is our candidate," Clinton said to thunderous applause.
posted by FlyingMonkey at 4:14 PM Aug 27 2008 - 159 comments [8 favorites]

Photos that Changed the World (more #1, more #2)
posted by blue_beetle at 7:18 PM Aug 26 2008 - 69 comments [26 favorites]

Two artists that paint humans so that they blend into their surroundings: Liu Bolin and Emma Hack (click 'body art' and then 'exhibitions' to get into the image galleries)
posted by Kattullus at 1:36 PM Aug 27 2008 - 16 comments [6 favorites]

Documentary about China's Wild West: an area on the west frontier of China's Gobi Desert named Xinjiang (New Land) by the Chinese, but populated by a Muslim minority known as Uighurs who believe they should be an independent Uighur nation.
posted by Surfin' Bird at 1:30 PM Aug 27 2008 - 5 comments [5 favorites]

In a recent Roundtable on Creative Capitalism hosted by TIME, CK Prahalad, author of "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" brings to our attention the insight that "the essence of poverty is the assymetry of information" and that this asymmetry was now changing due to the availability and affordability of mobile phones in developing nations. Jeffery Sachs supports him by pointing out that the digital divide was being closed by market forces not civic efforts. Global leader Nokia has already leapt into the breach by opening a Research Center in Nairobi, Kenya in order to develop concepts and products that are of value and relevance for those at the Base of the Pyarmid. The ubiquitious little cellphone has now been spotlighted as a key tool for poverty alleviation, although the debate continues. [previously]
posted by infini at 5:24 AM Aug 27 2008 - 57 comments [10 favorites]

Waffle Bike is a fully weaponized waffle-making machine. (SLYT)
posted by photoslob at 10:08 AM Aug 27 2008 - 47 comments [5 favorites]

Quebec clothing chain Simons has pulled its newest catalogue after getting hundreds of complaints that the models in it were too thin. The genesis of the complaints may have been a story about the catalogue (and complaints) on Radio-Canada (Canada's French-language national broadcaster) about a week ago.
posted by Shepherd at 12:47 PM Aug 27 2008 - 63 comments [5 favorites]

Last weekend, (22-24 August 2008) saw the fantastic Reading Festival take place (dodgy timeline). Emerging from the National Jazz Festival in 1961, it mutated into the National Jazz, Blues and Rock Festival festival in the 70s, and on into the eclectic festival it is today. My personal faves were 1989 and 1992, but the best moment was seeing Meatloaf bottled off stage in 1988! Due to the combined force of the BBC and the interwebs, most of this year's performances - many complete - are available online for your delictation...
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 3:18 PM Aug 27 2008 - 17 comments [5 favorites]

We all know that marijuana has some medical uses. It has been discussed on Mefi many times before. Earlier this month a group of pharmacists and chemists published a study in which they found that cannabis is a source of antibacterial chemicals for multidrug resistant bacteria. If you are a pharmacists or chemist here is the actual study. A synopsis of the study for everyone else.
posted by Mr_Zero at 1:55 PM Aug 27 2008 - 46 comments [4 favorites]

Scientists Repurpose Adult Cells - "Scientists have transformed one type of fully developed adult cell directly into another inside a living animal, a startling advance that could lead to cures for a variety of illnesses and sidestep the political and ethical quagmires associated with embryonic stem cell research." [nature abstract, nature writeup, audio announcement]
posted by kliuless at 7:51 PM Aug 27 2008 - 31 comments [4 favorites]

An important class action lawsuit was settled today when Target agreed to pay $6 million in damages to the plaintiffs (National Federation of the Blind, et al.) because these disabled users could not shop on the Target.com site. Here is a collection of legal mumbo jumbo materials.
posted by Ky at 7:29 PM Aug 27 2008 - 82 comments [4 favorites]

An interview with translator (and critic and literary historian) Gilbert Alter-Gilbert.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:54 AM Aug 28 2008 - 6 comments [4 favorites]

girls with large glasses, men with large glasses, school pictures, Sexy People (via)
posted by fleetmouse at 5:33 PM Aug 26 2008 - 78 comments [15 favorites]

RIP Bell Labs "After six Nobel Prizes, the invention of the transistor, laser and countless contributions to computer science and technology, it is the end of the road for Bell Labs' fundamental physics research lab."
posted by Eideteker at 4:20 AM Aug 28 2008 - 37 comments [4 favorites]