itineraria

Maps Mania directs us to a clever application that helps one create custom, emblematic metropolitan street map posters as a scalable vector format (SVG)—which admittedly has a level of flexibility and versatility in programming and dynamic displays that I did not appreciate until this introductory tutorial.
Admittedly too it’s a bit out of my league as well but the coding is not a necessity to play around with the tool and appreciate the patterns of traffic management and civil engineering, especially where it intersects with olden and ancient places. I encircled the Altstadt of Wiesbaden, around the Rathaus and Stadtschloss that houses the state parliament. Give Maptime a try and show us what you create as an icon of your city.

digital first

In a move similar to the investor malfeasance behind the ultimate demise of Sears and many high street anchor stores—rather than the narrative we’ve been sold about the pivot to online retail, an aggressive real estate operation is behind at least some of the rampant dissolution of the press and local media outlets.
The predatory firm is picking off already distressed newsrooms and redeveloping their property footprint—scaling back staff and encouraging tele-work (wrecking cohesion) in order to free up office space, either converted and sold on or retrofitted as a co-working venue. The title (not the same as the management group) refers to the idea in communication theory that breaking news should be channelled through new media (social platforms that direct to a web presence) rather than traditional formats—for the sake of expediency, though polish and rigour are often sacrificed in the process to have a scoop.

vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas

Lush and indulgent, via Things Magazine, we are introduced to the portfolio and gallery showings of artist Andy Dixon, whose paintings are not only homages to classical conceits on the subject of impermanence but are also quite regularly commissions of the houses and tastes of patrons, teasing out the inflection point between wealth and art, as a store of the former and as a ostentatious and conspicuous display of the former.

achievement unlocked

In a move that makes the Olympics seem a little more relevant and meaningful—rather than an expensive showcase whose benefits are very, very fleeting for the venue—the always brilliant Nag on the Lake informs that for the 2020 Tokyo Games, in order to make a bold statement about sustainability and what we toss away with our mounting trash heaps of electronic waste, athlete’s medals will be sourced essentially fully from recovered precious metal. The symbolic recycling reflects Japan’s growing more conscience of the impact that such rampant consumption has for the planet and will hopeful influence more not just to prospect but to reduce buying what’s disposable and apt to be superannuated in the first place.