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Author Archives: Matthew Tiessen

Spaceships, Electric Drills, and Photography

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A recent Metafilter post points us to the spacegeek-inspired ingenuity of astronauts trying to bring their cameras (and long exposures) into focus…
Cities at Night, an Orbital Tour Around the World was made when astronauts added stabilizers to the cameras on the orbital space station, allowing them to get sharp, crisp nighttime images.
And here is the [...]

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Neo-Geo and the Mapping of Non-Motorized Transport

Sunday, March 9, 2008

When we cyclists leave it to urban planners to determine where in the city we should and shouldn’t ride our bikes we tend to find ourselves mingling uncomfortably with SUVs, pedestrians, not-so-efficient-routes, and dead-ends. How often, here in Edmonton for example, has the “bike lane” I’ve so naively pursued stopped short, sending me headlong into [...]

Filed in Cities & urbanism, Citizenship & publics, Mapping, Mobilities | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

Segways No Longer Dorkiest!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

In a piece entitled “Powerbocks Steal Dork Prize From Segways” Wired columnist Lore Sjöberg directs our attention to the latest form of upward mobility: powerbocking. Patented by Mr. Bock in 2003 it seems that powerbocks — of which there are numerous brands — could become an indispensable tool for enhancing parkour escapades.

YouTube: Freestyle Powerizer Stilts
However, [...]

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Sub-Prime and Suburbia

Friday, February 22, 2008

As the “sub-prime” mortgage crisis winds its way across the United States (and impacts the lives of everyone else) we are left wondering how this real estate tsunami will affect the future of home-buying, suburbia, and urbanism. The Atlantic.com suggests that the shuttering of the suburban dream is being fiscally hastened by financial crises, and [...]

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When Parkour and Soccer Converge….

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

We’re all familiar with parkour, the urban-assault-a-la-Spiderman phenomenon from France.

So what happens when parkour is paired with le football? (Assuming the video is not some sort of computer-graphics-enhanced mashup….)

– Matthew

Filed in Cities & urbanism, Embodiment & performance, Europe, Everyday life | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)