Well, Seafair is in high gear so it’s sure to be a crazy weekend here in Seattle. Stay on top of traffic impacts over at our other blog – On the Move.
Grist, via Phillip Bump, discovered this fantastic cartoon from 1956. Commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute, “Destination Earth” sings the praises of earth-mobiles, highways, and the wonders of the oil industry. Clearly, there is nothing petroleum and capitalism can’t do!
Other crazy ideas from around the web this week:
The Habitable Bridge, Resurrected
“Unlike most single-use spans and green freeway decks (which can indirectly increase nearby property values), the I-670 cap and its kin are designed to be profitable investments. In Columbus, developer Jack Lucks, chairman of Continental Real Estate Cos., spent about $7.5 million on the buildings, while the city and state paid just $1.9 million for the bridge. If other cities replicate the Columbus model, the habitable bridge could shift the task of mending the urban fabric toward the private sector.”
Sorry, Steve McQueen: This is the Craziest Drive Through San Francisco Ever
“On the blocked-off and empty streets of the city on a four-day set of somehow sunny days, Block and a video crew terrorized San Francisco with this high-speed, tire-burning, seatbelt-testing Tasmanian devil-spin through the streets of San Francisco.”
In Commuters’ Daily Gamble, Dashing to Victory, or Despair
“Every morning, during peak commuting periods, two trains often arrive at about the same time. Sometimes the express leaves first. Sometimes it is the local. Sometimes at least two local trains will depart before a single express does. Sometimes they move together. And virtually every time there is a decision to be made, riders scamper across the platform, groping for a competitive travel advantage even as they are unsure why they have made their choice.”
How Traffic Jams Became a Common Movie Trope
“Why are storytellers so interested in highway gridlock? To know for sure, of course, you’d have to ask each one. But the appeal is understandable: Being stuck in gridlock is a uniting, miserable feature of the human experience.”
Timelapse of the Day: A Trip Around Paris
“It is at once the easiest and the hardest thing, to photograph Paris. Easy to access its beauty; easy to shake the layers of history and culture from the landmarks and rustle the viewer’s web of associations. Hard – so hard – to pry something new and original from a city whose visual landscape is famous both for its relentless documentation and resistance to change.”
These trees on wheels double as wifi hotspots
“It’s a tree, parked like a car! Also it has a USB charger and lights the street at night.”
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