Lots of old photographs of Boston on an urban planning website. (via MeFi)
Belligerent packaging
Did you know… Fears of food tampering predate even Snow White and the wicked Queen with her apple. No, really! Yes, so with a title of “But the Dang Thing Won’t Open,” of course it’s going to be at least partially a tounge-in-cheek article. The article–on the trials and tribulations of product packaging–is, if not […]
Posted by Ben on July 22, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/belligerent-packaging/
Ah… TV (only four more miles…)
It’s like one of those friction-operated flashlights, where you have to squeeze to get light. Except for the fact that the light is television, and that instead of squeezing, you have to walk. It’s a prototype pair of shoes that bestows upon the wearer one minute of TV time for every 100 steps taken. (New […]
Posted by Ben on July 18, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/ah-tv-only-four-more-miles/
Most Unwired Cities
Intel ranks cities for the availability of wireless internet access, listing the top 100. Here are the top 10: Seattle-Bellevue-Everett-Tacoma, Wash. San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, Calif. Austin-San Marcos, Tex. Portland, Oregon – Vancouver, Wash. Toledo, Ohio Atlanta, Ga. Denver, Colo. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. Orange County, Calif. (via PLANETizen)
Posted by Ben on July 18, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/most-unwired-cities/
OEDILFicious
The OEDILF (Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form) is an attempt to put all definitions into, yes, limerick form. Right now you’re out of luck if you want a limerick-ified definition for, say, bottle, or (heavens!) zebra. But there are 23* definitions for aardvark, so it’s not all bad. * some of which are still […]
Posted by Ben on July 13, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/oedilficious/
Most Sustainable Cities
US city rankings by SustainLane. In addition to having a logical color-coded system, SustainLane has a fairly comprehensive break-down of sustainability issues for each city, with individual rankings for everything from concrete things, like air quality and transportation, to less obvious things, like city innovation and knowledge base. The rankings include info for the top […]
Posted by Ben on July 6, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/most-sustainable-cities/
Tallest, highest, best
Using a formula that relies mostly on the floor count of a cities skyscrapers, skycrapers.com (AKA Emporis) ranks the cities of the world by the impressiveness of their skylines. Fun, utterly useless and irrelevant (and also debatable) trivia. (Pittsburgh weighs in at #60, Philly at #35, and Boston at #43 [nestled in between Montréal and […]
Posted by Ben on June 23, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/tallest-highest-best/
Astounding new scientific advantages
Maggots. They may not ever be the life of the party, but now they are qualified by the FDA for use in medical treatments. (via BoingBoing) Time travel. …is now okay. Which is to say that researchers have finally gotten around to speculating that, in the event of time travel at any point in the […]
Posted by Ben on June 20, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/astounding-new-scientific-advantages/
Eco-Tools
Check the facts on power generation with EPA’s eGRID database. Get info on regions, states, individual power plants, etc. Find out the mix of power generation (i.e., wind power [ha!] vs. nuclear vs. coal, etc.). Find out how dirty the plants are. And all sorts of other useful info. (via Gristmill)
Posted by Ben on June 19, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/eco-tools/
Shhh! Tell.
PostSecret collects people’s secrets. People with secrets, who seem to be curiously artistic. Have secrets? Mail in yours today!
Posted by Ben on June 6, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/shhh-tell/