An Absurd Look at Technology

This hilarious video speaks to pretty much anyone who has ever used a computer (or helped someone else with a computer issue). It shows a medieval guy asking for help with using a book for the first time. Talk about "user issues"!



thanks to michael g for the link

Good idea: "Tray table book"

Ever been looking out the window of a plane and wondered what the heck you were looking at? well, this book solves that problem. They point out all the major aerial landmarks on the most-traveled US air routes.

It comes with a CD so you don't have to lug the book around on business trips where you have to bring your laptop anyway -- sure beats editing that Excel spreadsheet.


"America From the Air reveals dozens of geological, agricultural, and man-made curios you'd never know to look for, let alone identify"
via Wired

Monster Engine makes "real" paintings from kids' art

this is AMAZING stuff. Dave Devries takes kids' drawings and turns them into "real" fleshed-out ones. It's great because kids' imaginations are so amazing but their skill level doesn't always translate into a drawing that conveys the idea as well as someone like Dave could.

He's also got a book out.

check it out >

A World Without Us....New York without New Yorkers wouldn't quite be the same

Fascinating idea for a book -- Alan Weisman follows the ecological evolution of the city if all the people were gone. He describes all the processes that lead to the city becoming a forest again. A good read for fans of the Apocalypse, archaeology, or members of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.

There's a great article in the New York Times -- "The World Without New Yorkers (No Cockroaches or Rats, Either)" By Sewell Chan

"Manhattan Island kind of epitomizes urbanity. The thought of all this concrete and steel reverting to forest is unthinkable, and yet it turns out there was a forest there before. My question when I went to New York – and it’s a question I posed to civil engineers, architects, climatologists, botanists and biologists — was: Could the city ever revert to a forest again? And the unanimous conclusion was: Absolutely. Not only would it, but it will."

be sure to check out the multimedia section of the book's website, it has some cool slideshows and more about the book itself.


thanks to Lia for the link