Interactive Oil Spill Map

Another New York Times article, this one tracking the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico since the oil rig sank April 22.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/01/us/20100501-oil-spill-tracker.html?hp

The War on Powerpoint

A PowerPoint diagram meant to portray the complexity of the American strategy in Afghanistan has become a clear representation that the military probably doesn't know what they are doing. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html?emc=eta1

NJ DEP Mapping Contest

This past week the Rutgers LA class of 2011 received 1st Place for Best Software Integration and 2nd Place for Newbie of the Year at the 23rd annual NJDEP Mapping Contest. The board wesubmitted represented the final inventory and analysis we completed last semester for design exploration concerning climate change and sea level rise in Cape May County, NJ. Congrats to everyone in the class we did a great job.

CAD Relaxation Techniques

Late night CAD work requires a break every now and then and there is nothing better than a massage line.

Snow Ball Fun 2

The Snow Balls made front page. I'm sure the students must be excited. This was a great temporary art display that is still being enjoyed.









Caption reads:

"Above: Rutgers students play on a massive green snowball near Passion Puddle on the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences campus on Friday in New Brunswick."

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day.

Snow Ball Fun

A few students from the Rutgers Landscape Architecture Program along with some other friends helped put together a large public art display during yesterdays "blizzard" at Cook Campus' Passion Puddle. The students gathered and put together the large snowballs, ranging between7-10 feet, which they then dyed different colors. This gave the puddle a beautiful hint of color as the sun set over New Brunswick.
The next day the snowballs turned into an attraction for the students returning to classes. Whether to just admire from afar or get right next to and climb the snow balls had a great impact. For more photos check out James Brosius's Facebook.

Photos taken by James Brosius.

Facebook Map

This map acquired data on 210 million facebook profiles and represented the information by location, with connections drawn between places that share friends. The connections created some interesting patterns that the map maker then used to divide the US into 7 different parts. For a break down of each part check out the site here: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2010/02/how-to-split-up-the-us.html The map reminds me of the flight pattern maps some of my studio classmates have been experimenting with. Very appealing and cool looking maps. The possibilities of mapping all types of data continues.


The flight pattern maps were created by, Aaron Koblin an artist specializing in data visualization.

Green Metropolis

ASLA - the Dirt

"I Have a Dream"

Watch close, listen well, great speech.

Portfolios

For all those working or plan to work on their portfolios check out this one I came across. Click on his undergraduate work to see that portfolio as well. The work from sophomore more year looks familiar.

http://www.alexhogrefe.com/

GeoEye

Google Offers Satellite Images of Haiti, Post-Earthquake
"In a post just published by Googlers Dylan Lorimer and Jessica Pfund, they write, "We hope that Google Map Maker can also play a role in disaster relief efforts...Today, we have made this Map Maker data for Haiti available to the UN in its raw form for the earthquake relief efforts."

Climate Change

A study completed by the Center for Remote Sensing in Boston University has revealed that at a 1 meter sea level rise 7 million people (8.5% of the countries current population) could be forced to evacuate and about a third of the Nile Delta would be engulfed by water. The study also revealed that in a possible 5 meter rise 58% of the Nile Delta, 10 major cities, and 14% of the countries population (11.5 people) would be threatened. In Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, the local government is spending $300 million to build concrete walls to protect the cities beaches. Egypt, it appears, would be the most affected Arab country.

Source: "Bikya Masr"

Design - Dezine

For some reason today I had been thinking about "silent letters". Words like know, debt, psychology, rhyme, what, etc. Now why, or should I spell it "y", do they even exist, is it just so we can misspell them? They neglect the conventional way of sounding out to spell a word and confuse young children just learning how to spell. In my search I came across the concept known as "etymology", the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time. Silent letters serve as clues revealing the history and origin of the word, relating them back to their Latin ancestors. I knew that certain words had Latin roots, but I didn't know all silent letters were related to that idea. I'm not sure who thought of this idea but as annoying as it can be at times, it is interesting to witness the evolution of words. This brings to light the continual transformation of words today. The "txt" that has developed online and in cell phone messages continues to take over. Cyber words such as "googling" and "lol" have become popular phrases in song and conversation. Many of the other words we use online or when texting ignore silent letters and it becomes more about speed than proper spelling. I wonder how today's society will lead to a deeper morphing of the English language. Linguistics proves to be a wide and interesting subject and especially since "words" are among our most powerful weapons.

Here is one guy that is also curious about silent letters. Warning offensive Language.

Burj Dubai

Today marks the grand opening of the $1.5 billion dollar Burj Dubai, total height of 2,684 ft. Dubai overcame its $26 billion dollar debt, completed construction, now 90% of the building space has already been sold. Meanwhile the skilled laborers and construction workers took home between $4-$8 dollars an hour. The $217 million musical fountain, largest in the world (completed April 2009), led the grand opening for the worlds tallest building. The fountain was designed by WET Design and the Burj was designed by SOM Architects.


Fountains remind me of a scene out of a Disney movie.

Sigh of Relief?

US News has listed Landscape Architecture as one of the 50 best jobs for 2010 with an expected increase over the next 10 years. sounds good to me, but this part of the article seems wrong -

Stress level:
Reasonable. The hours are pretty regular.

By regular do they mean regular for an insomniac.

New Year Reflection

What better way to start the new year than with a post. The blog hasn't been as active as it should have been and I apologize to the 4 or 5 committed viewers who have been complaining.

The start of the new year is a great time for reflection. What changes to lifestyle will be your New Year's Resolution? How long until you break the commitment? We must all learn to self reflect to understand and examine our decisions and actions. We must know where our weaknesses lie and how we can strengthen them. Setting goals, practicing, and positive thought can all assist.
Here are a few resolutions that seem like great suggestions for students.

This is the only time your allowed to break a resolution.