i’m a lineman for the county

It’s urgent and vital that Puerto Rico has its electricity and other essential utilities restored and made more robust and at the end of the day it does not matter who completes the task so long as it gets done, but unusually, as Super Punch reports, the lucrative contract has gone to a small company, only incorporated two years ago and having only two full-time staff members until very recently, rather than being farmed out to the already existing networks. The efficient and agile company has proven its mettle in challenging outages in the past and is willing to take the risk that the already bankrupt territory might default on its payments, and it also apparently helps to ascribe to the crony-capitalism that is at the regime’s core and to be from the same Montana small town as the Secretary of the Interior.

trick or treat

For those out there still harboring doubts that Dear Dotard’s regime was about anything other than personal enrichment and propelling a self-styled billionaire from his true status as a heavily leveraged economically and moral bankrupt individual, we present a festive Halloween baseball cap on offer as official presidential memorabilia whose hue compliments that monster’s hair and complexion. It’s becoming a serious challenge to imagine anything more terrifying than the banality of merchandising that betrays a blissful ignorance of the missives and message that it is sending.

gyuunyuuya

Via Present /&/ Correct, a blog updated frequently about all and sundry that’s always worth checking out, we learn that in Japan the milkman (ぎゅうにゅうや, gyuunyuuya) is still making his appointed rounds but instead of leaving the bottles on the stoop or porch, they go into a storage box hung near the doorstep. One can find a massive gallery at the links (the later would take a person functionally literate in Japanese to properly navigate but I am sure you’ll get your fill of these antique, distressed wooden boxes too at the former) and there are plenty still around—although newer models come in plastic with insulation.

under

The international architecture group Snøhetta (which is seeming rather busy these days) has released concept images for a new undertaking outside of Oslo at the southernmost point along the Norwegian coast, a monolithic submerged structure that’s more than an aquatic dining experience for patrons but also a unique marine research facility. The gourmet restaurant is to be named simply under (also Norsk for something that’s a wonder) and will have a panoramic view and an outer surface conducive to barnacles and other reef-dwellers sheltering there, making the structure part of the environment that is the subject of its study.

öffentlichen personennahverkehr

Big Think’s regular feature on the cartographic arts is showcasing this 1927 aesthetic marvel that illustrates not only the location of stations and stops for underground and surface trains (see more on metro maps here, here, here and here) in Berlin but also shows the volume of passengers by the relative thickness of the pastel coloured blocks. From a data visualisation perspective, it looks as if this sort of chart had the potential to become crowded rather quickly—like the high-traffic areas at the city centre and perhaps was rejected analysts as not the most effective means for imparting this sort of information—but nonetheless this sleek and clean map has an arresting quality. Be sure to check out Big Think for more on the map’s provenance and context plus other interesting and engrossing items.

hankering for a hunk of cheese

Turophiles in China can once again delight in stinky and soft cheeses from France and Italy and elsewhere after customs officials’ fears were allayed that the bacteria behind the smell was not potentially harmful to human health. After a two month embargo the decision was reverse and is now codified in an export agreement, which may preclude future disputes. Though Western-style dairy products are not traditionally part of the Chinese diet, taste for Roquefort, brie and mozzarella is on the rise with the Asian market-share having nearly doubled in the past year.

logography

Via the Awesomer, we’re introduced to the typographical stylings of Vinicius Araujo who has crafted a Helvetica letter sampler of electronic devices formed into the initial of their brand names. Visit the links up top to see the artist’s entire alphabet.