atlas(t)

fucking, austria

people are so silly.

From the naughty toponyms archive comes the tale of a little town in Austria with a big problem keeping American tourists from stealing their street signs. Coming soon to a theater near you, it's Fucking, Austria!

The village is known to have existed as “Fucking” since at least 1070 and is named after a man from the 6th century called Focko. “Ing” is an old Germanic suffix meaning “people”; thus Fucking, in this case, means “place of Focko’s people”.

By the way:

Coincidentally there are two small municipalities just over the border in Bavaria, Germany called Petting and Kissing.

Here's the Wikipedia article, which I got to through a link to my Dildo, Newfoundland post on a Mercedesshop.com forum.

when traffic lights make us stop and think

speaking of manhole covers, I heard this NPR story on the way home from Thanksgiving in the mountains: When Traffic Lights Make Us Stop and Think.

The story was a plug for Brian Hayes, whose new book, Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape, I must get my hands on. Hayes is a, as far as I can tell, nosy amateur, who, stumped by his young daughter's questions about the world around them, decided to investigate. Most of the questions seemed to center around industrial infrastructure, hence the book.

Although I was annoyed by the hokey-jokey tone of the interviewer, who seemed to find curiosity about things inappropriate (curiosity about what people do in the privacy of their cars was another matter), I got to hear a lot of nifty things about: the fact that there are ventilation vents everywhere for all the underground tunnels; the stoplight control boxes; the fact that the crosswalk buttons are connected to something, and you only need to push them once; really nifty lane markers made of plastic, with glass beads embedded into them, etc.

There was also a segment where they went into a traffic control room. There was a wall of 36 (or some number with "6" in it) monitors, watched by a guy I hope to God was actually named Terrain Wiggins, although I doubt it:

VOICE OVER: Each monitor shows a different intersection, but the scenery is the same: traffic.

INTERVIEWER: Is it kinda like watching the paint dry?

MONITOR GUY: No, actually it's not. It's pretty interesting. I can see incidents as they happen. It's like catching lightning in a bottle actually seeing a traffic accident as it occurs.

INTERVIEWER: You ever see anything that maybe you figure you shouldn't be seeing?

MONITOR GUY: Nothing like that, no, we're not allowed to zoom in or anything like that.

You see what I mean about the annoying interviewer. I guess even traffic lights didn't make him stop and think.

Anyhoo, go to the site and give it a listen. And maybe buy the book and give it a read and then send it to me! The site also has Hayes' photos of manhole covers around the country and the world (see the one above, from New Orleans), and a Flickr group with mostly Hayes' photos of the "industriosphere."

japanese manhole covers

via Social Design Notes, a flickr group on Japanese manhole covers.

He didn't comment, and neither will I. No Comment.

Okay: dere pritty.

band name taxonomy

the Flint Journal -- yes, Flint, Michigan, as in Roger and Me -- that pillar of cultural commentary, has produced this taxonomy of band names.

Much like biological taxonomy and dichotomous key, various types of bands often will have common name traits with other bands of a similar sound or style, since names convey an attitude and image before a band ever plays a note.

Hence, that's why (sic) there aren't many heavy metal bands with names like Happy Johnny and The Smiley Faces.

And here's an example:

'The' bands

Examples: The Strokes, The Vines, The Hives, The Avatars, The Pulse

The most famous "the" bands were classic rockers The Doors and The Eagles, but The Animals and The Kinks were the bands that had the greatest influence on the early 2000s crop of bands that drew liberally from '60s garage rock and bubblegum pop. Fuzzy guitars, off-key vocals and a heavy backbeat for three-minute songs are the form's stock in trade.

Exceptions: The The and The Smiths - '80s British rockers who were more into mopey, atmospheric pop.

He forgot "The Commitments."

Did we know all this already, without it having to be noted? Well, yes, but somebody did finally note it in print, so ... well, we're noting the notation here. Hmmm ...

desire lines

Link.

via a link at Pruned, this lovely term, "desire lines":

Desire lines (or natural desire lines, as they're also called) are those well-worn ribbons of dirt that you see cutting across a patch of grass, often with nearby sidewalks — particularly those that offer a less direct route — ignored. In winter, desire lines appear spontaneously as tramped down paths in the snow. I love that these paths are never perfectly straight. Instead, like a river, they meander this way and that, as if to prove that desire itself isn't linear and (literally, in this case) straightforward.

Related terms I got from the same site (Wordspy.com):

• gerbil tube: A glass-enclosed pedestrian overpass connecting two buildings.
• green skeleton: The parkland, gardens, playing fields, and recreation areas that course through a city or region.
• street furniture: Street features such as lampposts, traffic lights, benches, bus shelters, garbage cans, and public toilets.

and my favorite:

• meanderthal: A person who walks particularly slowly and aimlessly.

writing and other distractions from blogging

so sorry for the disappeary!

I know I keep doing it, but my life is in flux and I cain't get regular (and no, I'm not talking about my bowel movements!) Well, maybe I am talking about bowel movements of a sort, because, you see, I've started a new novel.

I'd been wanting to do National Novel Writing Month, which is in November, for years, but never managed. In fact, I'm not really doing it now, because you have to start on Nov. 1 and register and everything, and I didn't get it together in time. However, I thought, why not just do an Individual Novel Writing Month? Which means: I write a novel in a month, by hacking out (and I do mean "hack") 1500 to 2000 words a day for thirty days (for a total of 50,000 words, which in itself constitutes novel length.)

So as not to shoot myself in the foot, I chose a Young Adult fantasy novel idea to pursue in my crazy month's pursuit of publishy goodness. Being a YA fantasy, it involves a hero's journey, which is manifested in a literal journey across the fantasy landscape. Today is my fourth day writing (I already have ten thousand words and am on Chapter Four), and I'm already getting confused as to where we are, and whether we are traveling east or west ... or what.

So I drew myself a map (above). Yay! My first map! This will not be the definitive map. This is just by way of notetaking so that I can keep track of my landscape. Ain't it cool? No?

In other news, I have several posts coming up (they've been coming up for awhile) whenever I can find the time away from my 2000 words a day:

1. a review of Trevor Paglen and A.C. Thompson's Torture Taxi
2. a further omnibus posting about the class hierarchy of transit vehicle types
3. a final omnibus posting about how I was attacked on MUNI (yes! again!)

Don't hold your breath, though.

emotional mapquest

via Gwenda Bond, a new mapping application: Emotional Mapquest.

ORIGIN: CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

DESTINATION: EXISTENTIAL DESPAIR

From CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM go approximately 10.5 miles thinking about the day's obligations until you arrive at CREEPING APPREHENSION.

From CREEPING APPREHENSION advance 40 miles until you see the first signs of FREE-FLOATING ANXIETY.

From FREE-FLOATING ANXIETY, allow 6 centimeter detour into SHAMELESS FANTASY.

Return from SHAMELESS FANTASY after a brief 30-foot stab at HYSTERICAL SELF-DELUSION.

Descend slowly 45 FEET from SELF-DELUSION into GLUM SELF-PITY.

mikey arcega has a website ...

... as well as a posse.

Of course, the photos could be a little (well ... a lot) larger, and he could've included some details. Grumble, grumble.

Let's just celebrate the fact that one of my favorite artists has a webs presences. Here 'tis.

And here's my blog post on 'im.

modern forms of omnibus

Transrapid at the Emsland test facility in Germany. Maglev (magnetic levitation) trains are a favorite of sci-fi writers.

from the wikipedia article on public transportation, a listing of modern forms of public transport. (Check out the list itself, which has a link to each form on it):

Road

1. Bush taxi


2. Share taxi including minibus and maxi-taxi


3. Auto rickshaw


4. Bus normally serving a regular fixed route but could include a variable route, divert-on-demand service.


5. Bush taxi of West and Central Africa


6. Trolleybus


7. Jitney or Songthaew


8. Limousine


9. Matatu, of East Africa


10. Motor coach


11. Paratransit


12. Rickshaw


13. Taxicab


14. Transit bus


15. Vanpool


16. Vehicle for hire


17. Velotaxi


18. Community bicycle programs

Rail

1. Automated guideway transit (AGT), also called Peoplemover


2. Cable car on rails, used in cities, a streetcar (tram} pulled by a cable


3. Cable car on rails, used in mountains.


4. Cable car suspended from a cable.


5. Rack railway (or rack and pinion railway)


6. Elevated railroad, such as the Chicago 'L'


7. Light rail a tram-like system with no significant sections of the route shared with cars or pedestrians, such as the San Diego Trolley or the St. Louis, MO Metrolink


8. Magnetic levitation train (Maglev)


9. Metro (also known as 'subway' or 'underground')


10. Rubber-tired metro


11. Advanced Rapid Transit


12. Monorail


13. Train, including commuter train and high-speed rail


14. Tram (or tramway, trolley, streetcar)

Water

1. Ferry, including hydrofoil, catamaran and hovercraft


2. Water taxi

Air

1. Airliner


2. Helicopter

(Only in some countries. For all intents and purposes, in deregulated countries air travel is private transportation. Governments do not control pricing, routes, aircraft or schedules.)

Sloped or vertical

1. Aerial tramway also called cable car or cableway, vehicle suspended from aerial cables


2. Chairlift


3. Conveyor transport (term includes escalators and horizontal or slightly inclined moving sidewalk - "Travolator")


4. Escalator


5. Elevator or lift


6. Funicular, used in mountains, tram-like vehicle on rails pulled by a cable up and down a very steep slope.


7. Gondola lift

Some of these types are often not for use by the general public, e.g. elevators in offices and apartment buildings, buses for personnel or school children, etc.

Emerging transportation technologies

1. Group rapid transit


2. Dual mode transit


3. Personal rapid transit


4. Automated highway systems


5. Bus rapid transit


6. Maglev rapid transit

anna von mertens

Influence, 2003

the flight patterns video from last week reminded me of the quilt work of artist Anna von Mertens, which I saw at Southern Exposure gallery in 2001 or thereabouts and wanted desperately for the atlas(t) exhibition (alas, it didn't work out).

The piece was a quilt of solid dark blue, with dark blue stitching. The stitching depicted the pattern of bird migrations in North America. It was stunning, and so very subtle that I won't bother showing you the image from her website. You can't see it properly. To the left I've pasted a detail from a related piece (Glacial Blue/ Bird Migration Patterns of the Arctic, 2001), which is a little easier to see, but not nearly as high impact as the real thing.

The artist has remained consistent with the quilting thing between 1999 and last year, producing bed-sized quilts which she displays horizontally on hard bed-frames on the floor of the galleries where she shows. Her most recent work (bottom) is proportioned differently and displayed on the wall, but still consists of quilts. Her quilts are made of hand-dyed cloth, with colors she mixed herself, and hand stitched in hand-dyed contrasting or same-color thread. The stitching patterns and colors always have one meaning, the color of the cloth and pattern of the cloth pieces another. These meanings complement and converse with each other. Her projects always chart or diagram something using the cloth patterns or colors; and then chart or diagram something else using the stitching patterns and/or thread colors. The two diagrams form a counterpoint, layering the commentary and creating resonance. It is a simple concept with infinite and profound variations.

Right about here I'd normally start analyzing the artist's body of work and talking about its cultural implications. But to be honest, I really don't feel like it. This is just beautiful work of the sort that we, down atlas(t) way, love to geek out about, and I just want to present some of the work here now. Of course, you must understand immediately that the images are completely inadequate to convey the real experience of the work, so if you're around the Bay Area and ever get a chance to see her work, you must go do it in the flesh (or in the cloth).

An early piece that exemplifies both the self-obsession and female-body-obsession of student work, and the special, smart qualities of Mertens' work, Self-Portrait (at right), displays a white thread on white cloth stitching pattern that follows a topographic schema made of the quilt with the artist's body underneath. The inevitable red square represents both menstruation and deflowering.

The piece depicted at top (Influence) is the first in an installation of five quilts, which, together with a floor schema, comprise the installation Suggested North Points from 2003. The piece at top is a black-on-black image of the map of the continental United States, picked out by contrasting diagonal bars (in case you can't see the image well enough. Her documentation is really rather abominable). The other four quilt "sculptures" (as she calls them) are of the four directions, or the four quadrants of the country: North, East, South, and West. Each direction is a design of stripes of colors that represent the stereotype of that part of the country, "while their stitch patterns illustrate the use, exhaustion, and regeneration of energy in the cosmos and the human body."

And the final piece here (directly below), which represents a departure from her "sculptural" display style and bedspread dimensions, is one of a series of quilts depicting the trajectory of stars directly overhead the site of important historical events for the duration of the events. The title makes them self-explanatory.

2:45 am until sunrise on Tet, the Lunar New Year, January 31, 1968, U.S. Embassy, Saigon, Vietnam (looking north), 2006