Sit down man... tackles the curious landscape of the British railway , noting that the Beeching-era Brutalism saw 'the mutilation of the British Rail network only around 10 years before environmental research would make it plain that all those pointless little stations were in fact far more urgently needed than they probably were when feverish 1840s speculation got them built.' (see our earlier Beeching post). The history of the environmental movement is littered (sorry) with major events (Silent Spring, oil spills, gas leaks, nuclear worries), each of which fed back into all aspects of contemporary culture. Although we don't remember it at the time, there was a strong strand of environmentalism running children's books in the 70s, which appear quite radical with the benefit of hindsight. The message in the Barbapapa series, for example, and this little gem of a Ladybird, What on Earth are we doing? is surprisingly strong. According to this page, in 1976 the average Briton produced 159kg of rubbish a year. By 2004/05, that had risen to 517kg (page 6 of pdf). What on earth caused waste to triple in less than two decades?

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The Farnsworth House, afloat (pics at Steve's Basement, via loud paper - we like their 'boring' tag). The water sets off the design quite effectively (the site has flooded several times before, most notably - and expensively - in 1996) and for a brief few days, the house looking like something from Ballard's Drowned World. A fine set of Farnsworth House images (via Almale). More floating architecture at the 2005 Rotterdam Biennale / a true archived life, Rick McGrath's extensive site, which has a set of Richard M.Powers' cover art for Ballard's books, concert photos from the 70s, a collection of psychedelic postcards and, appropriately for today, an interview with Robert Plant from August 1971 / related, vaguely, Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8.

Modern Architecture and Design News, a weblog / Patent Pending Blog, on 'Patents and the History of Technology' / imagining the internet: the 'Radiated Library' (at kottke) / Yamazaki's Notebook, a weblog / the Eames Lounge Chair makes its debut in 1956 on NBC, at Today and Tomorrow / Suggested Donation, 'A blog about Museums, Archives, and Libraries: and the poor suffering lot who work in them.' / Japanese arcade game driving beetle extinction.

Ben Murphy's images of the UN Building in New York / sold then torn-down? The Paul Rudolph-designed house at 16 Minute Man Hill. Interesting discussion follows second link / more profiles and primers at Arbitat / Burning World brings back the spirit of the mix tape (see also Thurston Moore's Black Weeds, White Death) / PS3 not for casual gamers? / The Ladybird Series. Essential. posted by things at 21:33 / 0 comments