Video | Zaha Hadid – The Opus

Although I appreciate Zaha’s work, I can’t really say she isn’t lazily copy/pasting her old stuff a lot of the time, kind of suffering from the Gehry syndrome, if you will. But this time, I’ve gotta hand it to her, she’s definitely realized where her strengths lie and has shifted away from generic organic shapes on the outside to make better use of them in the core of the building. In one word, her new buildding in Dubai, The Opus, looks awesome, and the trailer below is nothing shy of hypnotic due to clever use of atmospheric music, smooth voice-over and good renders.  More info here.

Links: Zaha Hadid | The Opus | more Opus

(via: architectural videos*)

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Architecture | Construction Awards

I can’t tell if some of the images are photoshopped or not, but it’s still LOL funny:)

More here.

(via: Breda)

For more architecture you probably haven’t seen before subscribe to Geekofriendly.

Random stuff I found this week (cos I’m too lazy to post everything in separate posts)

USEFUL STUFF

• [IT] CNN’s telepresence debut (see how it works here, see what’s been done before CNN here)
• [Health] First complete cancer genome sequenced
• [Politics] What Happens when Countries Go Bankrupt?
• [Economy] 100,000 Chinese Factories Closing: Orders Off; Regulations Up
  
• [Man-made] Brain-only Computer Interfaces Becoming Reality (can’t wait till it gets mainstream)
• [Psychology] Think graphic design doesn’t matter? (an important point)

ENTERTAINMENT

• 9 of the Most Bizarre Animal Defense Mechanisms
• The Top Ten Reasons iTunes Sucks (bless you, Scott Gilbertson!)
• Unruly Children To Be Punished With ‘Innovative’ Foot Massages (too WTF not to post here)
• Russian Basso Profondo: The Lowest Voices (unearthly)
• A Flood collapses road in a few minutes
• TIME’s Best Inventions of 2008 (worth checking out for the diversity of inventions alone)
  

WEEKLY TRIBUTE
A small tribute to true pressure. It comes with added bonus sometimes…

My congrats to the man, but I refuse to make a big deal out of it. Hearing and reading about people who say they couldn’t believe a non-caucasian person would ever become president of a western nation makes me feel friggin shocked above all. Then sad…because for a split second I realize how right all these people actually were. Then happy…because we were all proven wrong. Then sad again…because its almost 2009 and we’re all applauding something that’s way over due…

(via: all the usual and unusual blogs and sites that I’ve got in Google Reader)

For more random stuff subscribe to Geekofriendly.

The future of designing buildings and other man-made structures

Oh its at least a couple of years away (mildly put) from becoming mainstream, but  the video after the jump gives a surprisingly detailed and thought-out idea of an efficient (again, mildly put) work environment and indisputably shows how technology can be an architect’s best friend. And an engineer’s, designers, you name it!

Hod do I know this? I just do…for I have been to the mountaintop:

On a lighter side, let’s look at it from a different, albeit still important perspective. A mirror of the not-so-distant future, if you willl…

Do you wanna be the I-have-a-serious-long-term-relationship-with-my-desktop-computer,-my-mouse-is-bigger-than-my-erect-penis-and-my-idea-of-exercise-is-opening-a-new-jar-of-mayonnaise bald fat fuck:

Or do you want to be the I’m-actually-psycho-but-still-take-care-of-myself-because-I-predominantly-do-my-work-standing-or-at-least-move-my-arms-and-upper-body-a-whole-lot wholesome, good looking guy like Tom Cruise:

I crossed the line with ‘wholesome’, but the question was rhetorical…or was it?

Further information on building Information modeling (BIM), especially the last paragraph of ‘BIM in the USA’.

For more ideas for the future subscribe to Geekofriendly.

It seems I’ve come across my first obstacle…

It was merely a week ago that I vigorously promoted Cradle to Cradle, and with it its founding father William McDonough (a household name in this blog), whom I’ve admired and respected since the first time I saw his inspirational TED Talk…it was him who convinced me that the Next Industrial Revolution is just around the corner, it was him who showed me that a great idea has answers and solutions to more than just one question or problem (an incredible and rare feat in every respect), and it was him who truly made me realize that a mindset like his is far more potent and productive than most dare dream of.

On a side-note, it was him who singlehandedly made me strive for the same causes…

That is why it saddens me deeply to have read the following article yesterday.

Arrogance, deception, hubris, voracity …need I go on?!

As it turns out (if the article stands on firm ground, that is), Mr. McDonough is his own worst enemy, meaning that his own actions have – on more than one occasion-  cost him business deals, potentially impressive credentials/references/networking and worst of all, have set him back from his goal to ‘cradelise’ the world for the better.

I leave you with the lengthy article, which you can find here (Diigoed), I am still slightly shaken-up and have a hard time coping with the conception that the man I look up to (notice the present tense) just might have some very serious problems of his own. There’s a saying you should never meet your heroes (for these very reasons, I suppose) and I’ve always considered it healthy advice. So how should this man therefore be worth my attention and respect? Well, because I still want to pursue a life where sustainability is obtained, controlled and in the end sustained, to the point of hopefully eradicating bad design and replacing it with good intent. Bill McDonough gave birth to that pursuit of mine.

(via: TreeHugger)

Random stuff I found this week (cos I’m too lazy to post everything in separate posts)

USEFUL STUFF

• [Eco] A green New Deal can tackle depression
• [Health] Scientists uncover new gene link to male pattern baldness
• [Health] TED Talks – Dr. Dean Ornish: Healing and other natural wonders
  
• [Economy] The End of Suburbia (worth a view, especially the last 5 minutes or so!)
• [Economy] ‘We need slaves to build monuments’ (Dubai is under a lot of fire lately, more here, here and here)
• [Man-made] Long Overdue GPS Upgrade Could Save Airlines $10 Billion a Year

ENTERTAINMENT

• The Indonesian Mimic Octopus
• The Sun (mesmerizing photography)
• Flesh Eating Mutant Fish Invades Nepal
• What Is The Sport Of Kiiking? (dedicated to my beloved Estonians)
• The Aquaduct Bicycle (brilliant idea!)
• Chinese deaf girls mystical dance (how the **** do you train deaf people anyways?)

WEEKLY TRIBUTE
A small tribute to autumn.

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(via: all the usual and unusual blogs and sites that I’ve got in Google Reader)

For more random stuff subscribe to Geekofriendly.

Random stuff I found this week (cos I’m too lazy to post everything in separate posts)

USEFUL STUFF

• [Eco] It’s Not about Polar Bears Anymore
• [Nano] One small wall crawling step for a bottle of coke, one giant leap to Spiderman-like wall crawling
• [Future] Saving the World Through Game Design
• [Economy] Financial crisis simplified (a whiteboard presentation) (detailed info here)
• [Man-made] Robot suit for rent in Japan to help people walk
• [Astronomy] 50 Consumer Technologies Developed by NASA in the Last 50 Years

ENTERTAINMENT

• The Indonesian Mimic Octopus
• The Quietest Place on Earth – Orfield Labs
• MadTv – Kim Jong IL Crazy Parody
• Pictures Galore: 15 Epic Water and Ice Formations and Phenomena, 7 Spectacularly Skilled High-Speed Photographers, Fantastic Plastic: 20 Essential Works of LEGO Art
• The former President wants you to know exactly where he stands… (kind of old, but Clinton’s never looked more convincing:)
• Wacky human inventions from 1930’s (brilliant…ROFL’d through half of it)

WEEKLY TRIBUTE
A small tribute to priorities. On the top of my list is to graduate before my birthday next year and I’ve already noticed my interest in the last two weeks or so (when I started) has noticeably shifted from all the things that interest me to only (well…mostly, but it’s a start!) those that I’ll be needing to graduate.

My topic, in case you’re interested: a sustainable zero-energy – or if possible even plus-energy (and notice how informational the article is) – residential area in a city (probably and preferably Ljubljana). Why? Because I strongly believe that starting the next industrial revolution is the only (for the time being, at least:)) way to successfully maintain and continue our lifestyles without any serious consequences; both to the abundance of options we have at our disposal as humans, as to, of course, mother nature.

…and someday who knows, you’ll might even quote me on this;)

Till then, I’ll leave you with another quote, a brand new one as a matter of fact…not exactly the bedtime story I had in mind last week:

There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it’s only a hundred billion. It’s less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.
- Richard Feynman

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(via: all the usual and unusual blogs and sites that I’ve got in Google Reader)

Random stuff I found this week (cos I’m too lazy to post everything in separate posts)

USEFUL STUFF

• [IT] Sick of IKEA? Design Your Own Stuff, And Get Rich While You’re At It
• [IT] America’s Dilemma: Close Security Holes, or Exploit Them Ourselves
• [Eco] Earth is losing dirt at an alarming rate
• [Eco] [Economy] Deconstruction Grows in Popularity, Spawns New Businesses
• [Economy] Agflation: The real costs of rising food prices
• [Psychology] Larry Page on how to change the world

ENTERTAINMENT

• Men and their mothers. What’s it all about?
• A Collection Of Some Of The Most Shocking PSA’s Of All Time
• 7 (More!) Underground Wonders of the World: From Seed Vaults to Amazing Military Strongholds
• Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection
• Supersize sea monsters
• Gadget-Filled $2 Billion Home Makes Bill Gates’ House Look Like a Shack

WEEKLY TRIBUTE
A small tribute to Albert Hoffman (1906 – 2008), the guy who accidentally discovered the halucinogen drug that is LSD.

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(via: all the usual blogs and sites that I’ve got in Google Reader)

Random stuff I found this week (cos I’m too lazy to post everything in separate posts)

USEFUL STUFF
[IT] Dropsend (lets you email large files…up to 1GB, a vast improvement over drop.io)
http://www.dropsend.com/
[IT] Web 2.0.’s Top 1000 list (hooray for weekends, I got sucked in for many a hours already…open with caution:P)
http://www.web20searchengine.com/web20/web-2.0-list.htm
[IT] Manage your online reputation (anybody got any experience with this?)
http://lifehacker.com/357460/manage-your-online-reputation
[IT] iPod Shuffle hack (!!!iPod Shuffle only!!! – so you don’t have to use iTunes but can drag’n'drop .mp3’s from your regular music folders…SWEET!)
http://shuffle-db.sourceforge.net/
[Man-made] Remove car dents quickly and cheaply (the second video is pretty sweet)
http://www.wisebread.com/remove-car-dents-quickly-and-cheaply
[Man-made] Water ball ripple sink
http://gizmodo.com/361600/water-ball-ripple-sink-makes-me-want-to-tinkle

ENTERTAINMENT
A brief history of ska
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AesId12OKsY
Watch The Nametag Guy on 20/20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT97RtBG_8I&eurl=http://www.google.com/reader/view/?tab=my
EU fines Microsoft record $1.4bn
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7266629.stm
Future water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzc-46h27Yg&feature=related
Moment Of Truth Special Lauren Cleri Ruins Marriage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzZWqYWhdQw&eurl=http://www.google.com/reader/view/?tab=my
You’re psycho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JAcdbKFygg&eurl=http://www.google.com/reader/view/?tab=my

WEEKLY TRIBUTE
A small tribute to David “Elsewhere” Bernal (restecpa to this super slick plastic man who’s carved out quite a dancing niche for himself!)

Link: Click