Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm – The Santa Barbara Independent McFadden disagreed sharply with what the university has described as “Charlie’s Vision” for the benefits of a “close-knit” living experience. “An ample body of documented evidence shows that interior environments with access to natural light, air, and views to nature improve both the physical and mental wellbeing of occupants,” he wrote. “The Munger Hall design ignores this evidence and seems to take the position that it doesn’t matter.” So far, McFadden continued, the university has not offered any research or data to justify the unprecedented departure from normal student housing standards, historical trends, and basic sustainability principles. “Rather,” he said, “as the ‘vision’ of a single donor, the building is a social and psychological experiment with an unknown impact on the lives and personal development of the undergraduates the university serves.” Wikipedia doesn’t give VIPs the special treatment they expect – The Washington Post “Seriously?,” Eastman replied. “The youtube source I cited was the actual speech in which I specifically stated what was being asked of the Vice President. How is the actual statement not a more reliable source than an anonymous source cited by the NY Times?” SundayClose answered, exasperated: “Yes seriously. This is Wikipedia, not your personal soapbox,” adding, for good measure, “Just because you say […]

The Massively Friendly World of Competitive Giant Pumpkin Growing – Atlas Obscura “We’re to the point where we pass out seeds, hand out information, invite everybody to come to our meetings and tell them everything we know,” Jutras says. “If people want to do the work, I hope they do and grow a personal best … We have a saying: ‘You don’t grow these from the couch.’” —–is it when ideas get separated from additional work that people get secretive and weird? h/t Jon Becker Daydream Labs: Accessibility in VR . So we’ve been exploring how spatial audio cues can be used for navigating and interacting with virtual environments. This Light Bulb Confuses Smartphone Cameras To Protect | Co.Design Researchers have developed a new light that can protect locker rooms and stage performances from omnipresent smartphone surveillance. — world is going to get stranger and stranger as machines fight and cooperate with one another in ways we can’t see/hear (that whole umwelt thing) -andre bergs- Protanopia is a digital comic for Ipad and Iphone. Created as an experiment into the possibilities of digital comics. Using elements from 3D and 2D animation in a realtime game engine, it creates an unique visual style, whilst still having a familiar feeling. Amazon to end virtual textbook contract with UMass The university received its […]

The Sound of Data (a gentle introduction to sonification for historians) | Programming HistorianSonification is the practice of mapping aspects of the data to produce sound signals. The North Face used Wikipedia to climb to the top of Google search results | AdAgeThe brand and agency took pictures of athletes wearing the brand while trekking to famous locations around the world, including Brazil’s Guarita State Park and Farol do Mampimptuba, Cuillin in Scotland and Peru’s Huayna Picchu. They then updated the Wikipedia images in the articles for those locations so that now, the brand would appear in the top of Google image search results when consumers researched any of those locations—all done for a budget of zero dollars.