video

I admit to being smitten by this modular storage concept, the brainchild of Spanish industrial designer Antxon Salvador. A BrickBox is solidly constructed from layered birch plywood. They come in a couple of sizes, lock neatly together, and can be stacked to form large bookcases, room dividers, and furniture. Need to move? The disassembled boxes are their own packing containers.

BrickBoxes are not inexpensive. A row or two of the large size (ten units) would set you back about $500, if they were for sale in the US. Then again, so would a quality shelf, which lacks the flexibility of the BrickBox system. Salvador hopes to have a North American sales agent soon.

[Hat tip to fellow GPlusser Sasa Vignjevic]

post

Reports of my Google+ death are somewhat exaggerated

26 May, 2012 by

I learned of my demise via the little red Google+ notification button:

A post by Teresa Edgar on Google+: And on another note -Looks like we lost Chris Baskind - He is showing up as an email person who is not yet using Google+

A brief Sixth Sense moment ensued before I realized that if I’d inadvertently deleted my account and made myself a cyberghost, I wouldn’t be reading about it on a limited (non-public) Google+ posting. I went and checked my settings, anyway.

While I was gone, several people jumped in, expressing surprise. Though I was fairly active on Twitter and Facebook before Google+, most of the folks I talk to there are new acquaintances. They’ve also become people I pay attention to, and it’s good to know that if I suddenly disappeared, someone might notice.

Google+ has become the social network I care about. I joined early, with a new-deleted Gmail account. Teresa probably had both my old and new accounts circled, mistaking my spectral doppelganger for my current +Self. In any event, reports of my Google+ death seem premature, at least from my vantage point.

[Read more...]

audio

link

And speaking of Bicycling magazine, they seem to have thrown in the towel on bikes and gotten into the car review business.

post

The terror of cycling in Arkansas

4 March, 2012 by

Arkansas tourism ad with bikeAnd then again, we have this full-page ad from the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism, which graces the rear cover of Bicycling magazine’s 2012 Buyer’s Guide.

Arkansas is a beautiful place. When I lived in Memphis, we’d take long road trips out west: Brunch in Little Rock, followed by an afternoon exploring stony little river valleys in the Ozarks.

It’s probably a good thing we weren’t on bikes, given the hellish state of cycling depicted in this ad. Here’s a fit, healthy young woman who feels compelled not only to wear a helmet, but also elbow and knee pads. On a separated roadway, no less — the Two Rivers Trail. That’s a pedestrian-only bridge behind her. Must be some mighty rowdy power walkers on that path.

You’d think someone in the Bicycling editorial department might ask Arkansas’ PR wizards what hazard on a flat, paved multi-use trail would prompt a cyclist to dress for a roller derby. Then again, they were probably engrossed in choosing which $8,000 full-aero, full-carbon racing machine would grace the opposite cover. And we wonder why folks roll their eyes and chuckle “Lance Armstrong!” anytime cycling is mentioned.