April 2009
68 posts
There’s A Sale At Jenny’s! [daddy types]
It’s true, I am constitutionally incapable of passing up a chance to make an Airplane! reference.
It’s also true that Jenn from Minor Details is doing some major Spring Cleaning, which means clearing out her private hoard of vintage children’s furniture, toys, and design. Saturday and Sunday, April 25-6, at her DUMBO studio....
March 2009
122 posts
Brooklyn Artist Channels Seinfeld [gothamist]
A couple of years ago TBS made a collage so that hardcore fans of Seinfeld could test their knowledge on the show, which went off the air 11 years ago. But this Brooklyn-based artist’s is much more detailed and challenging. Can you be the master of this domain? Kiersten Essenpreis’s piece includes around 99 Seinfeld references—sit...
Bob Guskind Memorial [lost city]
There will be a memorial gathering to honor the memory of Robert Guskind, the late webmaster of the popular blog Gowanus Lounge, on April 4. The event will be held from 2 pm to 5 pm Saturday, April 4, at the Brooklyn Lyceum, on Fourth Avenue between Union and President Streets in Park Slope. I encourage everyone to attend. For more information, and to...
Tree House Built By Dad = Ultimate Office [geekdad]
Admit it. You’ve drooled over the cubicles and indoor cottages that the likes of Google and Pixar provide for their staff. I’ve done my time in cubicle farms and the idea of working in a pimped out version like those corporate gold standards used to be the stuff of dreams. No more…
When David Langdon e-mailed me about the...
Giganta The Playground Robot Automatically Produces Fun, Nightmares [daddy types]
Giganta is certainly not the creepiest piece of playground equipment on this list. But it definitely leads the Non-Russian Surrealism, Most Prison-Like, and Robots Will Enslave Us categories.
I’d love to see where these things were ever installed, if only to alert the human resistance forces.
DANGER...
Ryan: ‘Vox Pop Will Survive’ [ditmas park blog]
Official confirmation from Vox Pop’s Debi Ryan of what is, at this time, a rare good surprise:It is with great pleasure that we would like to announce that Vox Pop will survive. The community has come forward and purchased Vox Pop, allowing it to pay the fines and reopen. It truly is a community-owned community center. My heart is...
The demise of 3D viewers [The Economist] →
A PIECE of the American experience has faded away. Fisher-Price, the toy company that used to market them, has just eliminated almost all the View-Master titles that have been a staple of young lives for almost 70 years
Little People Go Old School [droolicious]
I love it when toys get all old school. There’s something touching about sharing the same toys you played with as a kid with your offspring. One of my favorite toys as a child? My Little People barn set. I took it everywhere. Elizabeth recently blogged about how the Little People are celebrating their 50th birthday with new releases of some of their...
Why Toddlers Don’t Do What They’re Told [yahoo news]
Are you listening to me? Didn’t I just tell you to get your coat? Helloooo! It’s cold out there…
A Good Sign: Hot Dogs [lost city]
I have passed this little bodega on 9th Street in Gowanus many times, but always at night on the B75 when it was shut. I assumed it had closed for good a long time ago. But recently a biked by midday and it was open. Inside, they sell the usual deli stuff. They just happen to also served hot dogs and make that their claim to fame. They’re not fantastic...
Turn Off Your Lights Tonight for Earth Hour [geekdad]
Earth Day isn’t for nearly a month, but tonight you’ve got an opportunity to help the environment by doing something very simple: turn off all the non-essential lights and appliances in your home for an hour, starting at 8:30pm local time.
Earth Hour began in Australia two years ago, and has since spread across the world,...
With The Flash Reborn, Who’s Next? [io9]
After being dead for twenty-three years, Barry Allen completes his journey back to life in next week’s The Flash: Rebirth. With death in comics long ago reduced to a minor inconvenience, who’ll be resurrected next? Barry Allen, the Flash of the Silver Age of comic books and generally considered the most iconic version of the character,...
Two Brooklyn Parks, Entering Stage Left... →
Closing Bell: Cyclone Roller Coaster Opening Day [brownstoner]
You can still make the trip to Coney Island this summer and enjoy what it has to offer. Cyclone, the famous roller coaster, kicks off its 2009 season on April 5th and the first 100 people in line will be treated to a free ride. The opening day festivities begin at noon with Miss Cyclone and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz...
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Big Deal: 20% Off iFrogz Tadpole Set With Headphones [droolicious]
Au courant Apple addicts have long since moved onto the iPhone, but anyone with kids and an iPod Classic (or the old-school video iPod) should check out the iFrogz Tadpole set. The set includes child-size headphones and a silicone case with sturdy handles, and screen and wheel-protecters that...
Brooklyn Nerd Herd Needs Your Help [gothamist]
Photo via WCBS
Yes, everyone is pinching pennies right now, but if you have any change to spare send it over to Brooklyn’s self-dubbed “Nerd Herd,” after all, the four lil’ geniuses could just be our future. The Daily News reports on the team of 12 to 14-year olds, who are currently on a mission to get to the Robotics...
Top Picks: NYC’s Best Hotel Terraces [gridskipper]
It may be rainy and dreary outdoors in NYC today, but come tomorrow the sun will shine and (according to my weather widget) temps will rise as high as 64 degrees. In other words: spring is just around the corner. Seeing as this has been an especially rough/long/irritating winter, it’s common sense that the second the sun comes out...
Richard Dattner’s Habitot, The Ur-PlayCubes [daddy types]
Wow, awesome. While poking around a bit more on urban planner/architect/playground designer Richard Dattner’s PlayCubes concept—which, according to the 2000 monograph of Dattner’s work, seems to be doing just fine, thanks—I found this: Habitots.
And this is what we know so far about Habitots: a single...
Brooklyn preK is tougher to get into than Harvard... →
Stacking Chair Game [droolicious]
Stacking games are a huge hit in my house. The Chair Game is a stacking game that involves stacking the miniature plastic chairs as demonstrated in the picture above. The Chair Game comes in a tin with twenty four chairs for stackable fun. The first person to knock the tower over loses!
Check the Chair Game out at the MoMaStore.
Permalink | Leave a...
Dinosaur Discovery Week Introduces the Largest and Smallest Predators Known to Exist [geekdad]
Discovery of a new dinosaur is always an exciting event. So last week was packed full of double-excitement as paleontologists on two separate digs announced what could very well be the largest — and smallest — known predators found to date.
Predator X
This marine reptile was huge,...
George Weber murder work of 16-year-old -... →
Disturbing outcome…
Free Dan Zanes Greatest Hits Album [Zooglobble] →
Smile Smile Smile, including:
1. Catch That Train 2. House Party Time 3. Colas 4. Pay Me My Money Down 5. Smile Smile Smile 6. Down In The Valley 7. Hello
La Dolce Video [NYTimes.com] →
What’s to become of the Kim’s video collection in it’s new home in Italy?
Plans under way include what is described as a Never-ending Festival — a 24-hour projection of up to 10 films at once for the foreseeable future. The town also plans a relationship with the Venice Biennale, a collaboration with the University of Palermo and a professional translation company to subtitle the...
Brooklyn’s ‘Toxic Preschool’ Owner Is Opening Up a Summer Camp [mcbrooklyn]
If at first you don’t succeed … Andy Lewis, the guy who ran the “toxic” preschool on Dean Street in Boerum Hill (left) — and was subsequently indicted for defrauding the National Child Food Program of more than $500,000 — is opening up a summer camp in Fort Greene....
More details in George Weber murder [cobble hill blog]
After a day of investigations at the home of George Weber at 561 Henry Street, more details have been revealed about his death.
NY Times: An autopsy was performed on Monday, and the police said that Mr. Weber had been stabbed in his head, his neck, the front and rear of his torso, his arms and his hands, which appeared to have defensive...
Cross-Promotion: The Recession and the New Fatherhood [rebel dad]For those of you not reading me at the washingtonpost.com, I wanted to flag my piece from last Thursday, which calls into question the recent spate of “poor-him” reporting on dads forced home by the recession. I called for some perspective on this:
My wife and I have passed the primary-breadwinner baton between us a...
Clay Shirky on Crowd-Sourcing Brooklyn [Brooklyn... →
Brooklynite and new media thinker on how tech culture has changed life in Brooklyn
“I feel sorry for the old ladies of Carroll Gardens. The minute any of them gets...”
– Excerpt from “Gimme Shelter,” by Mary Elizabeth Williams [Salon]
ABC Radio Reporter George Weber Found Dead in... →
…colleagues had become worried on Saturday when Mr. Weber did not show up for his shift. The police found him dead on Sunday morning when they searched his ground-floor apartment on Henry Street in Carroll Gardens, where he lived alone.
Watch Little Red Riding Hood, the Animated Infographic Story [Flowing Data]
Since Cheaper Ones Are Already Unsafe, Your Dropside Crib Will Probably Become Illegal [daddy types]
A tipster phoned this in yesterday, and I when I went to look up the Consumers’ Union expert’s phone number to get confirmation—hello!—it was already on their safety blog.
The Baby Industrial Complex panel that works with the CPSC to set crib safety standards just voted...
icons [minor details]
The Chop Shop have taken some kid friendly icons and placed them on toddler and kid sized shirts.
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-3-22) →
David Weinstone (24)
Devendra Banhart (16)
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Matt Sweeney (11)
The Beatles (9)
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (4)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by …
A Girl Named Sipu
Daddy Makes: Just Some Jetty, Happens To Be Spiral [daddy types]
I’ve had this image in my head for a long time, and I thought, with proper steps to assure a transformative work exemption under fair use law, it’d make a great t-shirt for the kids. And sure enough, it did.
I began with the Google Map image of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, and thought I’d manipulate it...
The beautiful subway station you may never see [ephemeral new york]
This glittery postcard, mailed with a one-cent stamp in 1906, celebrates the loop at the City Hall subway station, the first station ever built.
Because the station couldn’t be expanded to fit the longer trains needed to accommodate more passengers, it was closed in 1945. Closed but not totally abandoned. The Transit Museum...
2008 Recap: The Year In Music For Kids (And... →
2008 was one of the best years for kids’ music in recent memory, including many new releases from artists with feet firmly in both kid-friendly and adult-oriented worlds…
Google Maps, The Way Robert Moses Intended [curbed]
Here we have a Google Map of Soho and the lovely Lower Manhattan Expressway (LoMEx) slicing through it, just as Robert Moses always dreamed. Wait, whaaaaaa? Yep, the retro mashup is the genius work of blogger Vanshnookenraggen, who created not only this Soho vision (check the larger version here) but a Google Map of Midtown incorporating the...