The artsy folks at “Rebar”:http://www.rebargroup.org/ recently converted a 2-hour parking space in San Francisco into a “temporary urban park”:http://www.rebargroup.org/projects/parking/ complete with grass, tree, and park bench. The reason:

bq. One of the more critical issues facing outdoor urban human habitat is the increasing paucity of space for humans to rest, relax, or just do nothing.

bq. For example, more than 70% of San Francisco’s downtown outdoor space is dedicated to the private vehicle, while only a fraction of that space is allocated to the public realm.

Sounds good to me. I’ll be sure to put some change in the meter if I happen past one of these.

The Library of Congress is running an “exhibit of color photographs from the 1900s”:http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/ reconstructed from three-color glass plates taken by a Russian experimental photographer. The “process”:http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/making.html is fascinating, but the photos themselves are truly extraordinary. My favorite is “View of the Nilova Monastery”, which looks like more a fairytale castle photo from a 1960s Disney adventure film than pre-revolution Russia.

[Thanks to Patrick for pointing this out to me.]

I know Karen will like this: Make, the blog/zine about making keen stuff, has just started up a “craft sub-blog”:http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/crafts/ to focus on craft projects with a geeky edge.

I heard the “most wonderful thing”:http://fafblog.blogspot.com/2005/06/now-he-belongs-to-ages-whatever.html on Fafblog today. “Jeff Coleman”:http://tippytoe.multicasttech.com/somewhereoutwest/ has turned a “great ol’ rambling post”:http://fafblog.blogspot.com/2004/08/legend-of-benjamin-healy-whatever.html into a “great ol’ rambling song”:http://tippytoe.multicasttech.com/somewhereoutwest/music/Jeff_Coleman_The_Ballad_Of_Benjamin_Healy.mp3 and posted same for the world to hear.

This is for anyone interested in gay square dancing. I came across it and felt that I had to make it known, just in case.