Setting a world record?

Firefox is hoping (planning, really) to set a world record tomorrow. You can participate.

Beatrix Farrand's campus at Princeton

The campus of Princeton University is simply awesome. Even the new Frank Gehry building can't change that. But the University walks a fine line as they try to grow and innovate and stay current all while protecting the original intent and concepts of Beatrix Farrand and preserving the sense of place that their alums ('54 or '73 or '89) all think was the perfect time for the campus. A recent issue of the Alumni Newletter provided a surprisingly detailed perspective on their campus as a dynamic example of landscape architecture.

New York's Best Gardens

GridSkipper has posted both a list and Google Map Hack of their list of 7 best gardens in New York. Of course, their photos were taken on much nicer days than mine.

DIY Fonts

The hot thing is to design your own font and give it away for free. You just need to download FontStruct to get started. But since you are probably to busy to create your own, you can just go to DaFont to look at some great ones. (h/t Slate)

PS - Please don't let Johnny know about this.

Is the GPS industry at risk?

Slate asks whether the new G3 iPhone threatens to kill the GPS industry. I don't think they understand the full scale of the industry - they'd probably be surprised to see the ancient handheld GPS receiver at the Smithsonian (below). But then Slate qualifies it as the "portable GPS" industry. Isn't pretty much all GPS portable these days? What good is GPS on a tripod? What they really mean is that they think that the navigational units are at risk. As they point out, the GPS industry has gotten big enough to take sriously:

Portable GPS devices have quickly gone from high-end curiosities to mass-market devices. In-car location trackers were the hot Christmas gift of 2007, and research firms estimated late last year that revenue would hit $50 billion in 2008 and $100 billion in five years. So far, the main benefactor has been Garmin, a GPS manufacturer that by most estimates commands more than 50 percent of the industry's American market share. The company posted record revenues in 2007.

The iPhone won't destroy this industry. It will make it ubiquitous. Garmin and TomTom will just find a new way to beat each other up and they'll do it using someone else's hardware. That is all.

The Gap

No, not the clothing store. This is the Delaware Water Gap. The NY Times says you should go. While you are at it, they suggest visiting Grey Towers:

Farther north still, the Grey Towers National Historic Site is the preserved home of Gifford Pinchot, an immense figure in the early 20th century atop the United States Forest Service; his sprawling home and surrounding landscape provide an excellent opportunity to learn about one of the nation’s most important conservationists in a place that inspired him. “By George,” he once said, “I’d like to come back 100 years from now and see my trees.” Judging by the girth of the specimens on the property, it seems likely he’d feel good about them.

As you can see, it was very cool.

No Street View for you

North Oaks, MN has demanded that Google Maps take down it Street View images of the town. What right do they have telling people that they can't take pictures of public streets? Well, it turns out that their streets are private.

CORRECTION on Phone Tracking

In an earlier posting we talked about a cell phone tracking project. The AP version of the story left a strong impression that the project had not undergone any ethics review. The AP has now corrected that story, as you can see on the comments at the previous page, where Cesifoti posted these links:

Here is AP taking back its story
http://www.pr-inside.com/correction-cell-phone-study-got-review-r629994.htm

And a statement from Northeastern University
http://www.neu.edu/nupr/news/0508/Ethics_Barabasi_Rese.html

As if research weren't hard enough already, you have to deal with reckless bloggers who treat the AP as if it were a reliable news source. It says that the project did undergo a Navy ethics review which determined there were no human subjects. Somehow I suspect that the AP still doesn't have all of the facts lined up just right. Oh well, move along.

3D Disney in Google Earth

Why visit Orlando when you can simply take a virtual stroll through Disney World? Disney has created some highly textured 3d buildings for the many of their properties. Not only do they include buildings, but they also include some pretty sharp looking trees. And you can click on some buildings and rides and get videos further detailing the experience.
The MGM Studios have been constructed in a similar manner.
The Epcot model is realistic, complete with the uncrowded streets.
The Tree of Life from the Animal Kingdom seemed like the ultimate symbol of how far Disney took their efforts.
Until I saw the resorts. Disney modeled their resort properties. Here is Michael Graves' Dolphin and Swan.
At Port Orleans you not only have the buildings, but you have the wrought iron of the French Quarter.
For comparison, take a look at this less detailed Radisson Hotel nearby. If more people used Google Earth, you could imagine the detailed models attracting more virtual visits and ultimately more reservations. Or not.
But with gas prices going up, maybe these virtual visits will become the hot new trend.

Mapping the European Championship

Google Earth is getting into soccer football.

What No-One is Telling You About the Future of New Jersey

[I got this announcement pretty late and didn't have time to clean it up or paraphrase. Since it is dated material, I thought I'd just better post it while I could.]

Plan Smart New Jersey Conference "What No-One is Telling You About the Future of New Jersey" - Hyatt Regency, 2 Albany Street, New Brunswick, Friday, June 13th, 8:30AM to 4PM. Registration for Non-Profits, $45.00 Web site www.plansmartnj.org

This statewide conference will offer a cutting-edge, worldwide perspective on New Jersey's economic, environmental, and social justice challenges and opportunities. Nationally and state known speakers will speak frankly about New Jersey's economic, environmental, and social future. Governor Jon Corzine will close the Conference with an address on his vision through a Master Energy Plan.

Rutgers University Professor Jim Miller, a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Sound Science Initiative, will kick off the day's presentations and discussions with the results of the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment, focusing on the Garden State. A panel of respondents (Ken Parker, CEO of Atlantic City Electric; Richard Dovey, president of the Atlantic County Utility Authority; and Christopher Zeppie, director of Environmental Policy at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) will discuss the implications
of the effects of global warming for the state's goal of a sustainable future.

Later presenters include Geoff Anderson, president of Smart Growth America, and Roland Anglin, of the Initiative for Regional and Community Transformation (IRCT). Governor Jon Corzine will close the conference with remarks on New Jersey's leadership and planning for a world that includes economic limits on global warming pollution—including the Energy Master Plan, infrastructure investment and housing, social, and fiscal reform. This vision is
consistent with the goals of PlanSmart NJ's Smart Growth Economy Project.

Complete information about the conference and on-line registration is available at PlanSmart NJ's website. (609) 393-9434

Rose Day

Saturday is Rose Day at Van Der Goot Gardens.

Water photos

The Boston Globe has some amazing large news photos of water. The first is from Ivanhoe, CA and shows them trying to cover their water with little blacks balls to keep the water from releasing carcinogens.

Call for Papers: Terra Cognita

As an extension of Semantic Web research comes the spatial meeting, Terra Cognita 2008, meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany. The Call for Papers has been posted for scholars who have something new to offer and have a little travel money.

The goal of this workshop is to bring together researchers in a growing field of Semantic Web research: the intersection between Semantic Web data and geospatial data and applications. This workshop follows the Terra Cognita 2006 Workshop at ISWC 2006. Increased interactions between the geospatial and Semantic Web communities are likely to contribute to solving some important spatial data problems within the Semantic Web and to providing indispensable formalizations for upper-level and domain ontologies.

Even trees are embarrassed by crocheted clothes

A woman in Ohio crochets clothes for her trees. The other trees make fun of them.

Plants: We are family

Researchers have found that some plants respect family; they can distinguish between those that are related to it and those that are not. According the the NY TImes, it comes down to a fairly simple response:

If the sea rocket detects unrelated plants growing in the ground with it, the plant aggressively sprouts nutrient-grabbing roots. But if it detects family, it politely restrains itself.

Dismal Swamp

Despite New Jersey's strong home rule tradition, there has been a slow trickle of special protection areas that have been created by the state forcing municipal planning and zoning to take a back seat to some larger topic or issue. First there was the Meadowlands, then the Pinelands, the D&R Canal, and most recently the Highlands.

Now, there is a proposal to create a Dismal Swamp Conservation Area across three towns. This is a relatively small area considered to the Highlands or Pinelands, but it is a place that deserves some heightened attention and shows how, when we focus locally, nearly everyone has something worth preserving:

"Middlesex County has spent most of its open space funding on saving land in the southern half of the county, and it is time that the northern half of Middlesex County receives the preservation it needs before it is completely built out,'' said Spiegel. "These three projects are intermixed with areas that are already preserved. They're looking to build either warehousing, another wants to put a Jehovah's Witness hall and single-family homes and another one is where they want to put 17 homes.

Still more buffalos

The NYTimes' Sunday Travel section featured the Buffalo Commons travel plan.

Subway gallery

Wired has posted a gallery of photos from the 10 most impressive subways in the world. I knew that London's subway was called the Underground. I did not know that 55% of the Underground was above the ground.

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

New York is the kind of City where you so regularly see unique things and no one even seems to notice.

Today you could conceivably see a father walking with his son in Harlem and hear the son ask, "Dad what is that thing coming down the street at us?" He could rather simply explain, "Oh, that is just Alexander Hamilton's house."