New York Times: Abstract City Blog
By Christoph Niemann
“During the cold and dark Berlin winter days, I spend a lot of time with my boys in their room. And as I look at the toys scattered on the floor, my mind inevitably wanders back to New York….”
(Niemann creates a series of highly-imaginative NYC-related items using legos. [...]

I’ve always loved reading and have over the years accumulated more books than I really know what to do with–meaning that I’ve run out of bookshelf space. And yes, I have seriously considered buying an e-book device, but I’m still not sold on any of the major brands on the market today.
The [...]

Carter Doctrine (1980): “Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force…”
Anyone who’s heard [...]

(You won’t get the title unless you read the blog post referenced) There was a time about six years back when I was completely obsessed with personality types — I tend to delve into these sorts of obsessions for a day, a week, a month then set them aside for years and revisit them [...]

The 2008 Toyako G8 Summit (hosted by Japan in Hokkaido) came and went without incident, but what else is to be expected of an archaic Cold War institution whose members reflect a late 20th century balance of power and whose non-binding statements don’t even hold the signatories accountable for the agreements reached? The Economist, [...]

I stumbled across another one of those pointless but nonetheless fantastic Japanese inventions: the Rolly by Sony. The video above shows the device in action, the video below is mostly an interview with one of its creators. I’d first heard about the Rolly concept about a year ago and though to myself, ‘Why [...]

Two DC-related but otherwise completely different topics for today: The National Cathedral Greenhouse and Spa World.
If you haven’t heard the recent news, the National Cathedral has, to the dismay of many long-time locals, decided to close its greenhouse. Of course, I oppose the decision. Do I ever shop at the greenhouse? …well, [...]

Things Younger Than McCain: Well, perhaps the site’s a little tongue-in-cheek (not that that’s a bad thing), but I think the whole thing says at least a few things about this year’s presidential race and American society at large. The most obvious is that our country has changed quite a lot over the past [...]

I discovered on YouTube the other day a fusion of two of my favorite things — V for Vendetta and typography. Huh?, you might ask — what an odd combination. But yes, see it and love it.

According to a recent Washington Post article, SUV and truck sales across the US have plummeted year-on-year. With average gas prices at $3.603 nationwide and as high as $3.892 (CA) or $3.747 (NY) in some states, this is hardly a surprise. The same article notes that Toyota Motors’ car sales rose 12% this [...]

The internet is a vast, mostly unexplored jungle that’s expanding rapidly with each passing day. Users all around the world go online to send email, chat, meet other people, watch multimedia, play games, catch up on the latest news, etc. But although the internet itself is global and its content (baring censorship) is [...]

You may or may not have noticed that, due to factors beyond my control, this site has been down for the better part of a month. Additionally, it is quite possible that I have lost as much as a third of its archives for good (I suppose that’s what I get for not adequately backing-up [...]

Toyota goes ultra-compact. In today’s reality of high fuel costs (though I always say, compare your gallon of gas to a gallon of Starbucks coffee), the market for sub-compact cars continues to grow. Already popular in Europe and Japan, they’re even starting to migrate over to the States–aka hummerland.

Here is Toyota’s [...]

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways… Or in terminology you’ll recognize if you, too, listen to WAMU, public radio is my source of random information. I especially enjoy hearing about random 21st century terminology (not necessarily for the terminology itself but rather for the concepts they describe). [...]

I put up the Christmas tree today (maybe I’ll get around to decorations tomorrow), and with holiday music playing in the background, warm winter food simmering on the stove, and “light snow possible midweek,” it truly feels like the season is underway. Now if only all those dead leaves still clinging to the trees [...]