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November 29, 2009
R.I.P. Guerrilla Art Masterpiece
This is my all-time favorite LA car-culture story. I guess 8 years is a pretty impressive lifespan for a piece of guerilla art that's probably been seen by more people than just about anything in LACMA.
Caltrans has quietly installed new directional signs over the northbound 110 freeway out of Downtown, in the process taking down one of Los Angeles' all-time great guerilla art installations. In 2001, in broad daylight, artist Richard Ankrom (wearing Caltrans garb) installed a marker on the overhead freeway sign that for the first time alerted northbound drivers to the upcoming turnoff to Interstate 5.Nobody complained or even officially noticed for nine months, until the Downtown News broke the story. Caltrans left Ankrom's marker in place, but with the new sign going up this week its whereabouts are now unclear. Michael Schneider tells the whole story at Franklin Avenue, and here's Ankrom's web page about the original installation, which he called "guerrilla public service."
Guerrilla '5 North' sign replaced (LA Observed)
November 22, 2009
Attention fellow science/rhetoric nerds!
Here's a great conversation about denialism (particularly of science) between Michael Specter and Chris Mooney.
November 13, 2009
Owl in a box!
While driving to work last week we found a large, great horned owl on the side of the freeway next to a tall concrete wall. He could fly, but not very well (he looked like he may have gotten clipped by a car).We caught him in mid-flight before it got out in traffic and I somehow managed to not get bitten or ripped open by his claws.
We were on the way to work so we had to bring him with us.
owl in box (reynen on livejournal)
Via The Fine Lady.
November 10, 2009
Forest puddle stomped to death by rampaging youth.
Yes, elk calf, I am your pawn.
You win this round. Congratulations.
November 7, 2009
Pity the nude bear.
New fuel for your nightmares:
Three spectacled bears in Leipzig Zoo are in various states of baldness, with the worst being hairless all over.
Zoo curator Gerd Noetzhold said he had discovered that zoos throughout Europe and further afield had encountered the same problem, but no-one knew why.
One expert suggested it could be caused by climate and the diet of the bears, whose native habitat is South America...
Gerard Baars, director of the International Bear Foundation, said he had never seen such a condition before.
"I could hardly believe it is a bear although I have been dealing with bears all my life," he told the BBC's Europe Today programme.
Three bald bears perplex experts (BBC News)
I do not wish to Snuggle™ with these bears.
