Hot on the heels of this morning's medical fold-out shelf post, here's Chicago-based industrial designer Mark Kinsley's partially similar system, which looks a damn sight better thanks to graphics printed on the back of the shelves. For those who get bored with their homes, Kinsley's system provides a quick way to change the look of your wall; for those of us with light-fingered friends, it provides a quick way to hide the valuables and present them with a cool image.
Kinsley, who has designed everything from product to furniture to lighting, is currently dabbling with both self-manufacturing and working with an outside company. "Both," he says, "are not easy to do!"
Hit the jump to see more.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Mark Kinsley's killer fold-out shelving wall
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Rare Photographs of Now Extinct Beasts via@AmazingPics & environmentalgraffiti.com
Rare Photographs of Now Extinct Beasts
Last Thylacine yawning: Note the unusual extent to which it was able to open its jaws
Photo: Photographer unknownFrom panthers and pandas to rhinos and tigers, dwindling animal numbers speak of the need to step up conservation efforts – if it’s not already too late. As a kind of wake-up call, we decided to take a look at seven extinct megafauna species captured on camera. With modern photography having only been invented in the 1820s, these snapshots are visible testament to just how recently the creatures shown were wiped out – and a jarring reminder of the precarious situation for many species still left on the planet.
1. The Tarpan
Tarpan at the Moscow Zoo, published 1884
Photo: SchererThe last Tarpan died on a Ukrainian game preserve at Askania Nova in 1876. A prehistoric type of wild horse that once roamed from Southern France and Spain eastwards to central Russia, the Tarpan died out in the wild in the late 1800s. Reasons for its extinction include the destruction of its forest and steppe habitat to make room for people; hunting by farmers averse to their crops being eaten and mares stolen; and absorption into a growing domestic horse population. There have been various attempts to recreate the Tarpan through re-breeding, resulting in horses that do at least resemble their extinct forebears.
2. The Quagga
Quagga at London’s Regent’s Park Zoo, 1870
Photo: F. YorkAnother extinct equine beast – this time a subspecies of zebra – the last wild Quagga was probably shot in the late 1870s, while the last specimen in captivity died in 1883 at Artis Magistra Zoo in Amsterdam. Once abundant in southern Africa, the Quagga fell victim to ruthless hunting for its meat and hide, and because it was seen by settlers as a competitor to livestock like sheep. It was the coat of the Quagga that distinguished it best, with only the front part of its body showing the zebra’s vivid striped markings. As with the Tarpan, projects to breed back the Quagga have produced favourable results, visually at least.
3. The Javan Tiger
Live Javan Tiger, taken in 1938 at Ujung Kulon
Photo: A. HoogerwerfThe Javan Tiger was a subspecies of tiger found only on the Indonesian island of Java, until it died out as recently as the 1980s. In the early 19th century, the Javan Tiger was common all over the island, but rapid human population increase led to the destruction of its forest habitat. The Javan Tiger was also mercilessly hunted, so that by the 1950s it is thought fewer than 25 remained in the wild. Following in the tracks of the Bali Tiger, which was wiped out in the 1930s, the fate of the Javan Tiger speaks for the precarious position of the tiger species as a whole. Sightings of the subspecies persist but hopes for its survival are fading.
4. The Caspian Tiger
A captive Caspian Tiger in Berlin Zoo, 1899
Photo: Photographer unknownAnother tiger to vanish in the last century was the Caspian Tiger, the last confirmed reports of which date back to before the 1950s. Recent research suggests the Caspian Tiger was largely identical to the Siberian Tiger, but even if not a distinct subspecies, it yet had its own range and habitat. Found in the sparse forest and river basin corridors of Central and Western Asian, this big cat succumbed to intense hunting by the Russian army, who were told to exterminate it during a huge land reclamation programme in the early 1900s. Farmers followed, clearing forestland, and the loss of the Caspian Tiger’s primary prey, the boar, spelled its demise.
5. The Syrian Wild Ass
Syrian Wild Ass in London Zoo, 1872
Photo: Frederick YorkThe last member of this species died at Schönbrunn Zoo, Vienna in 1928. Formerly occupying the mountains, deserts and steppes between Palestine and Iraq, the Syrian Wild Ass disappeared from the Syrian desert during the 18th century, not helped by war between Palestine and Syria. It was eradicated in Northern Arabia during the 19th century, and then became most seriously threatened with World War I, when its remaining habitat was overrun with fighting forces. The rest is history. This smallest of all recent members of the horse family stood just over 3 feet high at the shoulder and was generally light in colour.
6. The Bubal Hartebeest
Female Bubal Hartebeest that lived in London Zoo from 1883 until 1897
Photo: Lewis MedlandThe Bubal Hartebeest was a species of antelope that became extinct in 1923, when a captive female died in Jardin des Plantes in Paris. It was once found over much of North Africa, at least as far east as Egypt, where it was a mythological and sacrificial beast. However, by the 1900s its range was limited to Algeria and the Moroccan High Atlas mountains. Hunting throughout the 19th century drastically reduced the Bubal Hartebeest’s numbers, sealing its fate. A fawn-coloured animal that stood almost 4 feet at the shoulder, the Bubal Hartebeest was characterised by lyre-shaped horns that almost touched at the base. A beautiful beast, sadly missed.
7. The Thylacine
Thylacinus in Washington D.C. National Zoo, c. 1906
Photo: E.J. KellerIt was 1936 when the last Thylacine took its final breath in Hobart Zoo, Tasmania. Or so we think. Extremely rare if not extinct on the Australian mainland by the time of European colonisation, the Thylacine survived on the island of Tasmania alongside close cousins like the Tasmanian Devil. There, this distinctive, large-jawed beast found itself with a price on its head, as settlers blamed it for attacks on their sheep. The Thylacine was hunted to extinction by bounty hunters and farmers, though other factors such as disease, the introduction of wild dogs, and human encroachment into its habitat may have also played a part in the tragedy.
Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) photographed in a cage with a chicken
Photo: Henry BurrellAlthough commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger or Tasmanian Wolf, the Thylacine was neither feline nor canine: while striped like a tiger and sharing various features with large dogs, this marsupial carnivore was wholly unrelated – and with the pouch to prove it. A favourite in cryptozoological circles, there have been numerous sightings of the Thylacine since 1936 – which continue to this day – though none have yet been confirmed. It will be a rare coup for Mother Nature if another Thylacine is ever discovered; otherwise its most vivid memory will sadly survive in little more than photographic form – another dead hero of the natural world.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Karl Fabricius - who has written 165 posts on Environmental Graffiti.
Karl was raised in Wales and currently lives in Bristol, though his family tree branches to both sides of the Atlantic. Besides holding an English MA, he’s made a documentary on grassroots boxing, played drums in punk rock bands, and traveled some lush parts of the globe. Back from copywriting in Dubai’s desert, he’s thirsty to get scribbling about things worth scribbling about – especially the environment.
I found these pictures so fascinating.
Fake Newspaper laptop case guards against uneducated thieves
There is indeed a way to argue against the so-called "death of print" while simultaneously keeping your digital goodies safe thanks to the Laptop Case for Macbook Pro Against Crime. Despite its unwieldy long name, the case is actually a stroke of genius that covers your laptop in what appears to be a foreign newspaper.
Constructed from heavy duty plastic, with a metal zipper and handle, the convincing newspaper-meets-laptop case is perfect for international travelers hoping to avoid the attention of sticky-fingered laptop thieves. You can pick up your own anti-theft laptop case for just 60 euros ($85) here.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Octopus Cable Charges 10 Devices for Just 10 Dollars
There are USB cords and there are USB cords...and there are USB cords with like 10 different adapters coming out. But rarely are such monstrosities this cheap.
The $10 Octopus USB Cable has 10 different tentacles (ignore the fact that octopi usually have 8) to charge pretty much any mobile device you could own—most probably at a rate of 1 at a time. Specifically, that mix includes:
• Nokia 2.06mm (or 2mm)
• Nokia 3.5mm
• Sony PSP
• Motorola (V3 series) & HTC and other phones using USB Mini 5 pin as a charging port
• Micro USB (for Motorola V8…)
• LG
• Samsung (20P (s))
• Samsung (20P (M))
• Sony Ericsson Fast Port
• iPhone / iPod (for charging and data)
Now why you'd ever be carrying around all of these devices at once, we cannot explain. And on a side note, wasn't it a bitch that the iPhone/iPod plug was last on the list? I was like, "BUT WILL IT WORK WITH MY FREAKIN' I-ok, nevermind."