Italian artist Moneyless, known for his 3D geometric installations constructed from yarn and string, was in San Francisco recently for the Linear Empires show at White Walls Gallery. Evidently he took some time to ramble around the Bay Area and craft some uncommissioned works in the great outdoors. The angular sculptures consist of straight clean lines arranged in spatially organized webs that......read more
Earlier in August, a group of protestors descended on a rice field in the Bicol region of the Philippines, smashing down the fence surrounding it before uprooting the crop. Their target: "Golden Rice," so-called because its yellow tint belies the presence of beta carotene, which it has been genetically engineered to produce. Beta carotene is a precursor to Vitamin A, deficiencies of which are......read more
Oh you think you bad, huh? You bad enough for this beast? Because the mighty Hand-Forged Nata Hatchet, a collaborative effort from Bridgetown Forge and Hand-Eye Supply, is on some Paul Bunyan business. (A nata, for those that don't know, is a traditional Japanese hatchet with a square blade and a slightly curved handle.) Each Bridgetown nata is forged by hand in Portland, OR by......read more
Flecked with bits of fossilized stone, this palm-size piece from Creel and Gow, one of New York’s most interesting curiosity shops, is delicate and lovely but also quite versatile: at home on a vanity or coffee table, holding small treasures or nothing at all....read more
California has imposed statewide water-use regulations for the first time as its three-year drought worsens. Yesterday, state regulators approved stringent new measures limiting outdoor water, which include $500 fines for using an outdoor hose without a shut-off nozzle. Meanwhile, hopes that the drought would break by autumn have been tempered. The National Weather Service’s Climate......read more
Lydia O'Connor for the Huffington Post: California installed more megawatts of solar energy in 2013 than it did in the last 30 years combined, the California Solar Energy Industries Association reported. "It took California over 30 years to build 1,000 MW of rooftop solar, hitting that landmark in early 2013. Today, California is closing out the year with more than 2,000 MW of rooftop solar......read more
We're suckers for good time-lapse photography. And when the subject is our home state, well, we can't not post it. Husband and wife team Ryan and Sheri Killackey spent more than a year shooting over 10,000 photos of locations around California, then wove them together to create this stunning ode to the Golden State. Only a month after uploading it to Vimeo, it already has 675,000 views. Asked by......read more
This charming video for indie pop champs The Whitest Boy Alive (a side project of Erlend Oye from Kings of Convenience) is an oldie but an amazing-y. Released in 2008 (i.e. ten thousand years ago in internet time), the video features drawings by L.A.-based graphic designer/artist Geoff McFetridge, who tries hand at animation – and wins. Previously featured on SHFT: McFetridge's......read more
The big dude with the tattoos and a bad case of five o’clock shadow served up a plate of roasted kabocha squash, organic brussels sprouts, and free-range chicken breast. None of this would have been worth noting had the dish been just another locavore delicacy, prepared by just another hipster chef, during just another lunch hour here among the food-obsessed in Palo Alto,......read more
The US Department of Energy's new Research Support Facility at the National Renewable Energy Campus in Golden, Colorado is taking green construction to a new level. The building, which is 222,000 square feet and will house 800 employees, is zero-energy, meaning that it will create as much energy as it uses. Once finished, it will be awarded LEED Platinum certification. Using smart design......read more