Zadcat snapped this superb graffiti in Montreal's Chinatown -- snake-fire-escape!
Sssnake stairs
(Thanks, Zadcat!)
Previously:C graffiti - Boing Boing
Graffiti of giant people stuffed into small building - Boing Boing
Graffiti: "I Love Cops!" - Boing Boing
Graffiti of Koshi's Song... More.
The Swiss have voted to ban minarets. There's no mincing words over why: the measure is designed to curtail Islam. Hitherto held among the most liberal democracies, Switzerland now faces international condemnation for such a blatant (if superficial) suppression of religious freedom. The measure is a... More.
The Eigenharp, a crazy, science fiction instrument from Eigenlabs, comes on two forms, the "Alpha" ("Our professional level instrument allows the musician to play and improvise using a limitless range of sounds with virtuoso skill. It has 120 playing keys, 12 percussion keys, two strip controllers... More.
Here's a fascinating rumination on the Bitworking site about how much of the promise of RFID tags is being realized by charge-coupled devices (CCDs -- the sensor in your digital camera) instead. CCDs seems to be subject to Moore's Law, and are falling in price and increasing in capacity at an alarmi... More.
Professor Alexander's Botanical Vasculum - Steamed 300 watt Moss Terrarium from Etsy seller SteamedGlass is a beautiful blown-glass steampunk Rube Goldberg terrarium: "This is the largest of our "steamed" light bulb terrariums with a bulb measuring 3 3/4" x 7 3/4". It stands 10 1/4" tall as mount... More.
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I'm sorry. I couldn't find where to sign up for the gift registry.
This is such a great way to use re-claimed wood. I recently purchased 2 large slabs of bowling lanes such as this to make counter tops for a kitchen remodel. It was a small fraction of the cost of most other green building products and looks absolutely amazing when finished.
Oh, now this is fantastic. No sarcasm for miles, I really love it.
I just wish I had an abandoned Bowling Alley nearby.
I'd rather have the entire lane with the ball return track and pinsetter installed in my hallway. Fun city!
I bought an old gymnasium floor, and it's amazing. 1" thick (2.54 cm) solid maple tongue in groove. I've used about 1200sf of it but have about that much left. The hardest part is storing it!
Reuse!!! It's fun and exciting!
I forgot to mention the most amazing part: the high school my floor was out of was just throwing it away. About 2,000sf was reclaimed but the last 8,000sf ended up in a land fill. I cringe just thinking about it.
My wife's childhood dining room table was made from a bowling alley. On top of that awesomeness, it was hung from their ceiling by chains! That table is now in our basement as a craft table, although we put 3x3 cherry legs on it. Bowling alley is hella heavy, but really beautiful and functional.
I made a replacement front door for a bar in Vermont in 1973 out a candle pin bowling lane, 2-1/4" maple. No one ever kicked the door in again.
i was at a party in someones house here in Portland, Oregon this past weekend and they had a basement bar; the bar itself was made from part of an old bowling alley lane.
A friend of mine had a bowling alley's worth of this stuff, and boy did it make excellent tabletops and workbenches. I never was able to score any for myself, though.
I miss Tava Lanes. They just razed the place in the last couple years, it was still active until a year or two before that.
That table really ties the room together, man.
The Green Leafe Cafe in Williamsburg, VA's furniture is all made out of wood left over from a bowling alley that used to occupy the building about 30 years ago.
I'm pretty sure the owners were being frugal, rather than "sustainable," although it's pretty cool nonetheless, especially given that it's held up all these years.
I had a tiny designgasm when I saw this. It's wonderful.
They recycled a whole bowling alley here in Utah and furniture in the new office building is made from the old bowling alley.
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=8062583
It doesn't have to require the death of a bowling alley. With sustainable bowling ball lane harvesting, they can remove just parts of the bowling ball lane and let it grow back, enabling future generations to enjoy these magnificent beasts.
Or, in slightly less snarky terms, bowling ball lanes do eventually get worn to the point where they need to be replaced, and if you know the right people who know the right people you can find the leftovers even if the alley is staying open.
I had a workbench made out of the stuff. Apart from a dimple that I could never get flat (someone must've thrown a ball straight up, which is why that section needed to be replaced), it was the best workbench I've ever had.
Sigh. I miss that workbench.
The original owners of my house built it from scrap materials in the mid-50s. The floor is old basketball court, laid down randomly. Because they were installing carpet and linoleum over it, they didn't bother to sand off the old painted lines. We ripped out the over-flooring and happily showcase the random bits of half-court and what-not lines that decorate the floors. Beautiful, and for us, going "green" meant just keeping what we had.
Abandoned bowling alley, should have become bowling alley
does anyone have input for an environmentally friendly product to refinish and seal the old bowling alley with? We have turned 13 feet into a dining room table and have stripped the old varnish, but now want to seal and protect. Anyone have input from what they have tried and used?