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Going Viral: 10 Neat Gadgets for Germaphobic Geeks

Steve — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:00:56 +0000

Computer viruses aren’t the only infections you have to worry about, especially if you’re a geek, gamer and/or gadgeteer who lives in the scary, paranoid land of germaphobia. These 10 neat gadgets target both germaphobic geeks and the evil nano-beasties that torment them.

The Cole Cleaner

(images via: Switched and Nuka-Cola.com)

These pixels are making me thirsty! Join the club, friend, and crack open a cold one for yourself as well… but not before you annihilate any unseen pathogens that might be (ha!) lurking on the can. Leon Peng designed The Cole Cleaner just for you paranoid drinkers who can’t be bothered to go upstairs and get a glass from the kitchen.

(image via: Yanko Design)

The Cole Cleaner’s mission is to make the world safe from unwanted bacteria, one can at a time. Install your aluminum-encased beverage of choice into Peng’s sterilizer and watch (not too closely) your can get blasted wuth UV radiation, rendering it free from infectious organisms. Too bad it’s now going to touch your biohazard of a mouth.

Vioguard™ Self-Sanitizing Computer Keyboard

(images via: Vioguard.com and Geekwire)

It’s hard to imagine any piece of computer hardware that’s touched more than one’s keyboard – to use it is to touch it, basically. Wouldn’t it be nice to start each working (or playing) day with a brand new, clean-as-a-whistle keyboard? Now there’s the next best thing: the Vioguard™ Self-Sanitizing Computer Keyboard.

(images via: Vivalageek and InventorSpot)

The Vioguard Self-Sanitizing Keyboard is a self-disinfecting computer keyboard slides back into a specially designed sheaf after using, where germicidal UV-C ultraviolet light beams its way into those tiny nooks and crannies where infectious germs hide. It only takes a few seconds to eliminate those harmful microorganisms it took hours for you to put there.

Handheld Disinfectant Steam Cleaner

(images via: Amazon.com, HSN and Hoover.com)

“Give me steam, and how you feel to make it real, real as any place you’ve been…” That was Peter Gabriel, a dude who knows a bit about steam and what it can do for you, your desktop, your filthy electronic devices and the rest of your grubby lifestyle.

(image via: Red Ferret)

UV is cool and all, but when heat (203°F heat, to be exact) is required to wipe out viruses and mold as well as stubborn bacteria like E. Coli and Staphylococcus, the Hoover Handheld Disinfectant Steam Cleaner comes into its own. This handy device heats up in just 3 minutes and comes with two steam nozzles and a window squeegee… for cleaning windows, not Windows.

Shocking Thumb Wars

(images via: Firebox and Deviltronics)

Back in the days when kids walked 3 miles to school and back through raging blizzards and fashionable men wore onions on their belts, which was the style at the time, Thumb Wars was the game of games! Nowadays, however, no young OCD-afflicted whippersnapper wants to touch some other young OCD-afflicted whippersnapper’s thumb… and that’s why we have Shocking Thumb Wars.

(image via: Firebox)

Shocking Thumb Wars removes the actual hands-on warring of actual germ-infested thumbs in favor of digitized thumb-operated games titled 50/50, Rebound and Endurance. The latter variation is reminiscent of those weird CIA experiments in which some test subjects were allowed to shock other test subjects and were found to enjoy it. This is pretty much the home version.

Plane Clean Air Filter

(images via: Gizmodo, Plane Clean Air and Giz Wiz Search)

Germophobic types often have a fear of flying that has nothing to do with the plane crashing: it’s the air they’re worried about. Scaremongering headlines about supposedly sickness-inducing recycled air have got folks reaching for their… Plane Clean Air Filters!

(image via: Allergy One)

Just snap on of these blue babies over on of the the overhead air nozzles (also known as a “gasper nozzle”) and rest comfortably knowing the Plane Clean Air Filter is busily removing more than 99.5% of the airborne visuses, bacteria, allergens and other particulate matter from the air stream. AS for your cabin-mates, they’ll be slightly less comfortable as they wonder what the heck that blue thing is stuck to the overhead console.

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Clearly Cool: 15 Amazing Glasses, Sunglasses & Frames

Steve — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:00:31 +0000

Now see here! The ayes may have it but now you can too, thanks to these amazing eyeglass and frame designs that cornea the market on out-of-this-world eyewear. It’s a pity, really, that you only have two eyes with which to make a spectacle of yourself but at least there are other options for living a life made in the shades.

Ketevane Maissaia Eyewear

(images via: Cherry Gal Blossoming, Slamxhype and Fresh Train)

Who is Ketevane Maissaia, and why is he/she foisting these maximalist eyeglasses on us? According to HypeBeast, the concept for the sunglasses was “inspired by Soviet architecture”… which tells you just about everything you need to know. Oh, you can pick up a pair (don’t strain your back) at the Think Silly Store in Hong Kong.

Pierced Bridge Frameless Specs

(images via: ChooseUrFun and AnswerBag)

Tired of eyeglasses constantly sliding off the bridge of your nose? Sure you are, but wanting to screw the darned things on and actually doing it are two different things – both of them kinda nutty. This “edgy” implanted eyeglasses mounting may look like a clever, creepy photoshop but as much as you’d like to believe that, pierced bridge glasses are as real as the pain of installation.

(image via: All About Colored Contacts)

The concept was originated by James Sooy working with Oliver Gibson. Tiny magnets in the frames attach to flat areas on the bridge implant for a secure and exact fit. They aren’t available to paying customers just yet but one thing is certain: people will want it done if only for the shock value.

Staffan Preutz “SP” Temple Glasses

(images via: Jeremiah Owyang, JoselinMane and Polaris Eyewear)

Staffan Preutz “SP” rimless frames don’t actually monitor one’s brainwaves via implanted electrodes, they just look that way.

(image via: Only Ideal)

The unusual design relies instead on an ultra-lightweight (2.2 grams) springy titanium alloy frame that grasps the temples by way of a soft pad on either side. Borg nanoprobes not included.

Stix Eyeware Chopsticks Glasses

(images via: UberReview and Yanko Design)

“Don’t leave home without it,” cautioned Karl Malden in those old American Express ads, and if you’re on your way to a swanky Japanese restaurant for dinner you don’t want to forget your eyeglasses or chopsticks either. What to do? Wear a pair of Stix Eyeware, of course! Brad Gressel‘s curious combination of glasses and chopsticks melds the best features of both, solving your little problem in one fell swoop… unless you forget to wear them, I guess, thereby doubling your trouble.

Ann-Sofie Back’s Dripping Sunglasses

(images via: Anna Ter Haar and Incredible Things)

These “dripping” sunglasses look like the product of a glassblower in a hurry but not to worry, they’re not all that hot… and we mean that in a good way.

(image via: Your Vogue Glasses)

Debuting on models strutting high-end fashion runways back in 2009, the ghoulish & gothic sunglasses originally designed by Anna Ter Haar were subsequently made mass-marketable by designer Ann-Sofie Back, and are now available in your choice of Smoke or Red… more like Smoke or Fire, hmm?

Linda Farrow’s Beak Sunglasses

(images via: Sunglasses Fashion and Trendhunter)

Say hello to my leetle friend with the beak sunglasses… and thank fashion designer Linda Farrow for these and other eye-popping (sorry) designs favored by Lady Gaga and the like. Of course, the Poker Face hitmaker (gah, can’t believe I wrote that) can get away with wearing oddball eyeball covers while you most likely can’t.

(images via: BapeTalk)

One exception is (are?) the Beak Sunglasses above, which are ideal for sunbathing and beach-combing as they sport a built-in nose shade. The hoi polloi can use zinc oxide.

Black Bars Sunglasses

(images via: Stupididiotic and StuffToTweet)

What was unseen, cannot be seen… or something like that. Seize your very own day of infamy with Black Bars, the censor bar privacy specs (dis)approved by paparazzi everywhere.

(images via: Art-Of-Noise and I Hate Your Fashion)

Stupididiotic Black Bars (that’s their name, not our judgement) will, in the words of the ad copy, make you “immediately popular with the “IN” crowd” and are “great for webcams and MySpace photos”… not to mention, they coordinate perfectly with a Three Wolf Moon t-shirt.

Look Left Glasses

(images via: Robot Nine)

“BokitoKijker” glasses can’t be bought; they’re free with your paid admission to the Rotterdam Zoo’s gorilla exhibit. It seems that the great apes get anxious, annoyed and angry when rude humans stare directly at them… and they respond by jumping over the wall and attacking the tactless onlookers. OK, only ONE gorilla (a silverback named Bokito) attacked a visitor but that was more than enough to get the point across.

(images via: Urkobold and Circus No Spin)

The glasses are designed not to offend the gorillas, while still allowing humans to gawk at their leisure without the fear of sudden onset ape attack syndrome – SOAAS, for short. Perhaps they should distribute them to the gorillas as well so everyone involved can just chill out.

Unibrow Shades

(image via: I Hate Your Fashion)

Back in the day, folks imagined a future where men shaved their heads and wore strange, inscrutable, single-lensed sunglasses. Now that the world of tomorrow is here today, men do indeed depiliate their noggins. Those psycho hipster shades, on the other hand, just didn’t pan out… and someone forgot to tell the dude above.

Sexy Legs Sunglasses

(images via: Goggles and Glasses and Freaking News)

Sexy Legs Sunglasses are said to be inspired by the Can Can Girls of Paris. Funny, I never noticed any of the Can Can Girls wearing glasses but then, I didn’t notice if they have eyes. In any case, these novelty shades are ideal for parties where you want to get a leg (or two) up on your fellow partygoers… or just want to look like Bono.

Pixel Frames

(images via: Dzmitry Samal Eyewears)

I see your 20/20 vision and I raise you… eight bit frames! Inspired by the early days of video arcade games and the primitive digital imagery of our misspent youth, Dzmitry Samal‘s pixel frames add a dash of nostalgia to any eyeglass-wearing experience. That’s Dzmitry himself above top, doing some self-promotion.

(image via: Dzmitry Samal Eyewears)

Samal’s choice of contrasting colors for the lens holders and earpieces serves to enhance the retro look. Pixel frames can be used with prescription clear or color-changing lenses, tinted lenses for sunglasses, or just wear the empty frames if you don’t actually need eyeglasses and are only out to make a fashion statement.

Slanties Eyewear

(images via: StyleKandi, Trendhunter and NNSL)

When you’re trudging across the permafrost and need to watch out where the huskies go, do what the Inuit do: whip out your trusty pair of Slanties!

(images via: eStrip/Paul, Johns Hopkins News-Letter and Farmland City)

This ancient, tundra-tested sunlight dimmer amounted to a technological breakthrough north of 60 so it’s sad that the no-nonsense design of Slanties (a questionable term, btw) has lately been co-opted by hipsters. The modern version is reinforced with fiberglass to ensure they won’t snap, shatter or splinter (ouch!) on your next PBR run.

Silhouette Futura 570 Shades

(image via: BapeTalk)

Sick and tired of those “Hey four-eyes!” taunts? Cut ‘em down to size by wearing a pair of Silhouette Futura 570 shades. This rare tour de force of 1970s design provides the ultimate in UV eye protection, which is saying something since “UV eye protection” wasn’t on anyone’s agenda 40-odd years ago.

(images via: Silhouette, Luxury Vintage Sunglasses and Adventures and Ramblings)

Style being subjective and all, the odd “treye-ball” design of Silhouette Futura 570 sunglasses has aged remarkably well regardless of their suddenly fashionable UV-fighting prowess… or maybe it’s just that the deeply tinted wraparound design was a forerunner to those deeply tinted wraparound sunglasses favored by today’s senior citizens.

“YURI” Sunglasses from Mykita Eyewear

(images via: High Snobiety, ThisNext and If It’s Hip, It’s Here)

Inspired by the late Soviet cosmonaut and space pioneer Yuri Gagarin, Mykita Eyewear’s “YURI” Sunglasses were designed by Romain Kremer to protect the wearer… from alien attack, perhaps? If you’re not convinced these sunglasses are weird, look who’s wearing them: yep, Lady Gaga (again). Now you too can emulate the newsworthy pop star or look like an interplanetary insect queen, or both!

(images via: If It’s Hip, It’s Here)

When asked the reason for the unusual styling, Romain Kremer explained the sunglasses are “made to protect the 3rd eye and the brain, reinforcing the idea of a new type of man, with a sci-fi warrior touch.” Alrighty then! The ultra-oversized frames come in your choice of black or red-orange, and they’re a limited edition item so you’d best order early and often.

Kim Jong-Il’s Vintage Courreges Sunglasses

(images via: Louis Marino and Zone7style)

The late and lamented (in his country) Kim Jong-Il was North Korea’s “Dear Leader”; was it asking too much for him to be a fashion leader as well? KJ wore a variety of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses but his favorites appear to have been a pair of vintage Courreges Sunglasses straight outta the Eighties.

(images via: Huffington Post and Linde Gallery)

Kim Jong-Il left North Korea to his son but, more importantly, did he leave him his outsized shades as well? Kim Jong-Un has yet to be spied sporting any eyewear but as the weather warms he may find the Courreges to try on a pair. Junior had best be advised, however, that should a new pair (or pairs) be required, he’ll find them priced at €445.00 each at Linde Gallery’s Women’s Wear page… ooh, awkward.

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Trash Hits: 11 Scent-sational Concept Garbage Trucks

Steve — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:00:58 +0000

Seeing art is one thing, but have you smelled it lately? These 11 scent-sational concept garbage trucks trash traditional artistic sensibilities while maintaining the “can”-do spirit today’s waste management demands.

Dirty Jobs Garbage Truck

(images via: Paweena Prachanronarong)

You see advertising plastered all over city buses these days, why not city garbage trucks? OK, some advertisers might object to seeing their budget go to waste, so to speak, but not the Discovery Channel! The TV network that hosts “Dirty Jobs” featuring the comedic and non-germaphobic Mike Rowe thought garbage trucks were the ideal medium for hosting a guerrilla ad campaign to promote the show.

Philly’s Frilly Garbage Trucks

(images via: 2DayBlog)

You might wrap your trash but the City of Brotherly Love does one better: it wraps its garbage trucks. The frillified Philly fleet boasts gorgeous graphics inspired by historic textile patterns. The trucks might still smell bad but they definitely look better.

(images via: Urban Places and Spaces and 2DayBlog)

Philadelphia’s garbage truck beautification program got off the ground in the spring of 2009 when city authorities prompted the Mural Arts Program to hook up with The Design Center at Philadelphia University. The resulting textile patterns were transferred to mylar and a total of 10 garbage trucks got wrapped. It’s likely that Philly’s program was inspired by the amazing Bonkers Yonkers garbage trucks – a case of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.

Garbage Truck Concept by ~Stepdesign

(images via: ~Stepdesign)

This retro-futuristic garbage truck concept by ~stepdesign displays hints of GM’s massive Motorama buses of the 1950s while looking ahead to the practical waste management concerns of today – and tomorrow.

(images via: ~Stepdesign)

The concept envisions a single driver occupying the front cab, who would be responsible for navigating the truck through urban and suburban living labyrinths. The pick-up crew rides at the very back. As for the trash, it’s stored in capacious clamshell side bins.

RV Garbage Truck

(images via: Apartment Therapy)

You don’t have to be a real-life Oscar the Grouch to live in a garbage truck… and really, it’s hard not to crack a smile at the sheer wonder inside the Unicat‘s all-business exterior. A custom kitchen, hardwood floors and a cozy sectional sofa fit snugly inside the Unicat, providing the driver/homeowner with a veritable palace on wheels with which to navigate post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested highways.

(images via: Apartment Therapy)

You might know a bachelor or two who lives in a virtual garbage dump; the Unicat is the polar opposite as it’s a garbage truck that looks like a bachelor pad – one seen in the pages of GQ, Ask Men or Playboy. One very cool feature of the Unicat involves the windows: the rear portion of the truck extends vertically to expose them. Hmm, I wonder where they load the garbage…

Double-Decker Garbage Truck

(image via: Artsology)

Taken a trashy tour of the Big Apple lately? This very rough concept seems to hold out the possibility of seeing New Amsterdam the way its sanitation engineers do – street by street, can by can. We’re not sure why the precarious contraption above was on display in an NYC shop window but give the designer some credit, he/she had the foresight to route the semi-tractor’s exhaust stacks to the rear of the truck… the better to take in the sights, sounds and smells of Olde New Yorke!

Japanese Musical Garbage Truck

(images via: MrJapanMan and Dark Roasted Blend)

Everything’s cute in Japan, and Japanese garbage trucks are no exception. The cherry blossom special above patrols the streets of Osaka, picking up carefully sorted trash while luring unsuspecting children with a little happy musical repartee. Check out this short video of the pink patrol doing their cheery rounds:

Osaka Garbage Truck, via MrJapanMan

(images via: Pan-O and Facts and Details)

Imagine being a kid in Japan, hungry and overheated on a blistering summer’s day, and what to your wondering ears should appear but those cloying, tinkling, dulcet tones that could only mean… the garbage truck?? Good humor, Osaka waste management trucks don’t haz it.

Patrick Ehlers’ Garbage Truck

(images via: Sidequesting)

If Thunderdome had a garbage pickup service, Patrick Ehlers’ Garbage Truck would do the picking up – hey, you thought The Toecutter was a neat freak? This trash terminator concept was crafted by Ehlers for Sidequesting’s 2011 Dystopia Competition and as a mobile waste grabber, it’s outstanding in a very messy field.

Garbage Truck: The Movie

(image via: Adrian Lazar)

Got a mania for garbage trucks? Then get your trash to Romania and watch Garbage Truck, the Movie… actually “Trei Fratzi de Belea” in Romanian, which translates to “Three Loony Brothers”. IMDB just about blew a sprocket trying to find this 2006 flick but we’re sure it was as big in Bucharest as Ceau?escu’s pompadour.

(images via: Adrian Lazar)

Adrian Lazar‘s concept Garbage Truck art is the true highlight of the film – at least, it’s the only part relevant to today’s topic. Now that’s some mean machine there… with a dash of goofiness tossed in. Just what you want rattling your cans at five in the morning.

Saudi Garbage Truck Funny Car

(images via: AutoBlog and Jalopnik)

Who says Saudi Arabia’s dull, boring and rigidly policed? OK, everyone, but fun can be found if you look hard enough. A garbage truck cruising around on two wheels? I’d walk a mile for a cam, er, to see that. The driver of this dashing Jeddah drifter is unknown and as for the music, we suggest a switch to Tone Loc’s Funky Cold Medina. Watch Saudi Arabia’s version of NASCAR meets Demolition Derby right here:

Garbage truck drifting in two wheels, via ArabMotorsTV

Garbage Truck Rocket Launcher

(images via: Snopes)

Unfortunately, not all Middle Eastern garbage trucks are deployed for distraction; some have been modified to deal in destruction. The Gaza garbage truck above was captured by Israeli forces and its “interesting” modifications (to fire up to 9 Qassam rockets) are being displayed. That note on the driver’s door reads “In case of traffic violations, please contact The Palestinian Authority.” Would that be road traffic or air traffic?

Space Junk Recycling Garbage Truck

(images via: MTV Geek and Funkmaster Flex)

Design student Vaughan Ling’s orbiting garbage truck concept is useful, practical and awesome! Ling envisions all sorts of space junk being snagged, stored and recycled by this flying one-stop-shop. The latter function involves salvaging valuable rare earth metals from burnt-out satellites. NASA should build and launch this space-sweeper soon… before the orbiting garbage patch over our heads makes it impossible to do so!

(image via: Freaking News)

Wherever humans may go, garbage will follow and if the Space Shuttle was America’s “space truck”, then somebody (besides Deep Purple) is going to be space garbage truckin’.

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Road Work: 10 Pointed Examples Of Traffic Cone Art

Steve — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 18:01:11 +0000

When it comes to ubiquitous utility in the service of street safety, orange traffic cones stand alone… except when they stand together and someone deigns to call the result Art. Traffic cone art goes far beyond what the designers of these plastic pyramids planned on but you’ve gotta admit, cones alone or in an artistic assemblage succeed equally in attracting our attention.

Traffic Cone Lamp

(images via: W. Holman Design and Instructables)

Yours truly actually had a Traffic Cone Lamp, handed down to me by my child-of-the-sixties cousin. Used with a 40-watt incandescent light bulb (not recommended, by the way), the Tangerine Triangle cast a warm glow eerily complementary to the complex chords of progressive rock… ah, misspent youth!

(image via: W. Holman Design)

It’s a cone, it’s a lamp, but is it art? Who knows, who cares, who can be troubled with materialistic labels, man, when it’s always sunset (or sunrise) in your happy place.

Traffic Cone Art Camp at Burning Man

(images via: Forensic Genealogy and Mister W)

The Traffic Cone Art Camp on the Playa appeared at Burning Man in 2002, 2004, 2005 and perhaps more. Some call the cone-encrusted dome a Traffic Cone Urchin but c’mon… sea urchins in the middle of the Nevada desert?

(image via: Buzznet)

See that glow? Looks (and smells) like they used incandescent light bulbs. Now remember y’all, Burning Man is an eco-friendly festival that encourages players to play nice on the playa. That means LNT of your visit, leave no MOOP and take comfort in knowing what happens at BRC, stays at BRC.

Yianni Nomiko’s Classical City Cones

(images via: Art Forms
by Yianni Nomiko and Venice Clay Artists)

Scenes of city life play out on and around a series of orange traffic cones, an oddly ideal medium if there ever was. Yianni Nomiko gives us these… dare I say “iconic” vistas using little more than some blackout paint and a considerable dose of creative imagination.

(image via: Art Forms by Yianni Nomiko)

They may be 2,500 years removed in time, but Nomiko’s unique creations uncannily resemble the renowned Red-figure Vases of Classical Greece. Must we wait a further two and a half millenia for the former to eclipse the value of the latter?

Candy Corn Cones

(images via: Diabetik and Laughing Squid)

Does naming oneself “Diabetik” for artistic pursuits somehow conflict with creating traffic cones that look like Candy Corn? Perhaps, but just imagine the sugar shock drivers in the Washington DC metro area sustained when they encountered his work around Halloween of 2009.

(image via: Diabetik)

Candy corn traffic cones… a tasteful concept to be sure. In related news, kids building city scenes from LEGO are decorating their urban brick blocks with actual Candy Corn candies acting as traffic cones.

King Cone

(images via: Kay and Kevin Rolfes, BizarreRecords and Cxune)

This art cone car is a larger than life example of car cone art, or vice versa. Emblazoned with “COH” for “City Of Houston”, the so-called “King Cone” was Emily Sloan’s entry in the 2008 Houston Art Car Parade. I’d say it stopped traffic but that would be redundant.

(image via: Emily Sloan)

Sloan describes her comical, er, conical creation as being “a monument to the traffic cone.” Actually it’s a monument AND a traffic cone, an inanimate testament to the old adage that everything’s bigger in Texas.

Teddy Cruz’s “Cultural Traffic”

(images via: MAXXI and Byus71)

Guatemala-born architect Teddy Cruz has crossed the street, figuratively speaking, once or twice to indulge in non-architectural artistic pursuits, and perhaps the most notable of these are his curious traffic cone constructions. Cruz uses his art to comment on issues pertaining to the southern U.S. border and the human cost it exacts. The spiny donut of traffic cones above is titled “Cultural Traffic: from the Global Border to the Border Neighbourhood.”

(image via: Kunst-Stoff)

Cruz also offers us another way of looking at traffic cones: from the inside out. His “Cone Room” combines a warm and welcoming, softly glowing orange interior with a sharp, pointed, exclusionary exterior.

‘On The Road’ Breakfast Set

(images via: Lushlee and Coroflot)

So you’re getting your three squares, good for you! Take time out for a triangle, courtesy of Pierre Lescop and his whimsical “On The Road” ceramic breakfast set. You’re not likely to see it at the local drive-thru but that’s fine: this is one cone you want to encounter before you hit the road, not after.

(image via: Pierrelescop.com)

“On The Road” is made entirely of white and orange ceramic with different solid color sections forming an espresso cup, juice glass, tea cup, bowl and plate. Basically it’s all you need for the preparation of a full breakfast. When washed and dried, the segments reassemble into a remarkably space-saving configuration.

The Cone Construction

(images via: BIG Art and Daily Life)

Lilian Bourgeat likes to scale up everyday objects and what could be more “everyday” than the humble orange traffic cone? “Le cône de chantier” (The Cone Construction) sat around the campus of the INSA de Lyon, Frances foremost school of engineering, in the summer of 2010.

(image via: Paris Côte d’Azur)

One wonders how many standard-size traffic cones could be cast if Bourgeat’s cone of cones was melted down? Put another way, how many standard-size traffic cones would have to be melted down to create a duplicate to Bourgeat’s cone of cones? Let’s leave that nugget with the engineering students at the INSA de Lyon, who think they’re so smart.

The Duke’s Hat

(images via: Ed O’Keeffe Photography, SeeGlasgow.com and Weird Green Place)

Visit the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art and check out the bronze equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington by Carlo Marochetti just outside on Queen Street… yes, that IS an orange traffic cone the Iron Duke’s sporting so casually. It may not be capital-A Art but it’s now an app: Glasgow Cone Challenge, the downloadable “mobile game which challenges players to score points by throwing traffic cones onto the Duke of Wellington’s head.”

(image via: Marco Ferrari/Panoramio)

What began as a (likely drunken) prank back in 1980 has gradually grown into a tradition though it’s rare the Duke’s horse is similarly honored. Glasgow police no longer bother removing the cones though they have issued a plea for citizens to refrain from placing them there – both for their own protection and for that of the A-listed, 160-year-old statue. What the heck, guv’ner, it’s better than pigeons wot?

Paprika Shakes it Up

(images via: V2.com)

Thinking of adding some spice to your art? Start with Paprika, who is/are responsible for the above massive accumulation of traffic cones displayed at the World Summit and Congress of Architecture at the Design Expo in Taipei. We’re not sure exactly how many traffic cones Paprika “co-opted” for use in their display but suffice to say, road construction in Taipei pretty much ground to a halt during the Expo.

(image via: CartoonStock)

Traffic cones are almost omnipresent in today’s constantly changing urban environment and although they may show slight variations in design, they remain one of the most universal cogs in our engine of construction, demolition and reconstruction. No surprise, therefore, that traffic cones have emerged as an evocative way to express modern themes of progress, alienation and urban culture. Now if only they came upside-down, with ice cream on top.

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Global Warning: The Arctic’s Abandoned DEW Line Stations

Steve — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:00:58 +0000

Back in the 1950s, Cold War tensions ran high and so did the DEW Line: high above the Arctic Circle, that is. Though many of the original 63 radar stations have been re-purposed or dismantled, many still remain in place, remarkably preserved by some of the coldest temperatures found outside Antarctica.

How DEW You Do?

(images via: Tundra Daisy and 50before50)

The Cold War didn’t get much colder than the chain of 63 lonely radar stations strung across the 69th parallel, roughly 200 miles (300 kilometers) above the Arctic Circle. Ironically, the DEW Line was meant to function as a sort of “trip wire”, providing us with a Distant Early Warning of an impending Soviet nuclear airstrike.

(images via: Tundra Daisy and 50before50)

Though the DEW Line was rendered mainly obsolete by the mid-1960s when speedy Soviet ICBMs supplanted slow bomber aircraft, the stations were officially kept in operation from April 15th, 1957 through to July 15th, 1993. Some of the stations were then incorporated into the DEW Line’s successor, the North Warning System or NWS; many others were left to slowly decay beneath drifting snow, howling winds and the ghostly aurora borealis.

(images via: DEWLine Adventures)

One significant DEW Line station isn’t located quite as far north as the others: northern Illinois, to be exact. A prototype station was set up in a cornfield outside Streator, Illinois, where technical functions of the radar equipment could be tested and human operators were sent to be trained. Above are views of the facility in its heyday and just below, the current remnants.

(images via: Paul Malon and WIX.com)

In late 1954 the USAF contracted the design and construction of the DEW Line stations to Western Electric, who were given until July 1957 to build 63 separate stations stretching from northwestern Alaska to the east coast of Greenland – a distance of over 6,200 miles (10,000 km). Against all odds and despite the challenge of constructing sensitive electronic installations in mostly uninhabited, prohibitively cold and nearly inaccessible locations, Western Electric handed the “keys” to the DEW Line over to the Air Force almost three months ahead of schedule.

The (Polar) Bear Necessities

(images via: Yvon from Ottawa, WFNS and Zone Interdite)

Not all 63 stations were identical in appearance, functionality, number of on-site staff or all of the above. Some of the Auxiliary (“AUX”) and Intermediate (“I”) sites had as little as a half-dozen staff while the keystone MAIN stations housed dozens.

(images via: Hallbeach.com, DEW Line History and The Kraalspace)

The locations of the DEW Line stations are also evocative of the High Arctic: Icy Cape, Cold Bay, Storm Hills and of course, Point Lonely. On the other hand, Hall Beach (above, top) sounds positively summery but don’t bother bringing a surfboard.

(images via: Idlewild Expedition, UT Systems Ecology Lab and Wikipedia)

The Air Force’s relative lack of experience in arctic warfare didn’t impact on the design of the DEW Line stations, which ended up being remarkably low-maintenance facilities regardless of the main problem: drifting snow.

(images via: Przystanek Grenlandia and Radar-Junk)

The average DEW Line station consisted of two long rows of connected metal huts for equipment and staff. The rows were laid out along the direction of the prevailing winds and parallel to one another. They were connected by a raised “bridge”, making the station itself take on the appearance of a spindly letter H.

(image via: Seldon’s Gate)

Inside one of the H’s three-sided courtyards was a round, geodesic radome that housed and protected a pair of radar dishes mounted back to back. The radome was mounted of steel stilts that raised it as much as 50 feet off the permafrost. The stations also featured other radar dishes and reflectors that facilitated communications with neighboring stations and also to command and control centers hundreds of miles to the south.

Drawing a Line in the Snow

(images via: Wild-A, Roclar.net and Paul B Jones)

DEW Line installations were built to last; environmental concerns came last, for the most part. Asbestos insulation kept the manned modules warm, PCB lubricants ensured the radar dishes spun easily in the cold, and lead-based paint kept rust at bay. All well and good until the stations were decommissioned and their components left to decay or worse: be salvaged by local Inuit for building materials.

(image via: BS Keyhole.com)

Getting equipment OUT of the High Arctic can be just as difficult, time-consuming and expensive as getting it there in the first place. How’d you like to be the guy whose job it is to dismantle the main radar station at Cape Dyer, on the rugged (to say the least: above) eastern shore of Baffin Island?

(images via: Radar-Junk, Polar Star and Ruud Leeuw)

Other original DEW Line sites are more accessible but have their own issues. Take the LIZ-3 DEW Auxiliary site at Wainwright, Alaska, closed in 2007 due to soil erosion. Unlike some of the northern Canadian and Greenland sites, Wainwright can be TOO warm at times leading to subsidence of the permafrost and severe shoreline erosion unhindered by ice-free seas.

(images via: Tundra Daisy)

Without the preservation afforded by sub-zero temperatures, structures and equipment can decay and corrode alarmingly quickly – that’s a typewriter above right (or at least, it was). Corrosion exacerbates pollution problems as well. Most of those 55-gallon oil drums typically dumped in rusty mounds contain residual fuel and lubricants that can (and do) leach into the soil, contaminating groundwater.

(images via: J P Newell and Polar Star)

Cleanup costs skyrocketed when the realities of arctic environmental remediation became apparent and the cleanup completion date has been extended from 2011 to 2018.

(images via: ThisBlogIsMyBlog and Dew Line History)

The DEW Line served a noble purpose in its heyday, drawing a line in the snow against Soviet aggression that was never crossed in anger. In doing so, the long and lonely chain of isolated radar stations forced both Americans and Canadians to see their far northern territories in a different light. With post-Soviet Russia taking a greater interest in the real roof of the world these days and Global Warming setting the stage for a scramble for arctic resources tomorrow, our erstwhile line in the snow north of 69 degrees may have been the shape of things to come.