Entries Tagged 'Design' ↓
March 24th, 2009 — Design, Government, Money
“A million here, a million there….”—Lil Wayne, “A Milli”
“Let’s make it a billion….”—Jay-Z, “A Billi,” feat. Lil’ Wayne
“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”—attributed to late U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen (R-IL)
For the first time in U.S. history, it is not uncommon to hear politicians talk about trillions of dollars when discussing sums relevant to our national budget. For example, just yesterday, the Obama administration announced that, working with private institutions, the government would acquire over $1 trillion worth of toxic mortgage securities. The U.S. deficit is expected to hit $1.8 trillion this year. The price tag of the Iraq War has been estimated at $3 trillion. Over the next decade, President Obama’s deficits, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated, could total $9.3 trillion.
Most people have no idea whatsoever how much money these words represent, though. Some understand the basic math: A thousand dollars equals ten $100 bills, like the crisp note, above. A million bucks is a thousand bundles of a thousand dollars. (O.K., it’s starting to get fuzzy already….) A billion is a thousand millions. A trillion is a thousand billions.
But even these words do little to convey the size of the funds under consideration. I mean, even the best description I ever heard of how big a trillion dollars is—more than it’d cost to spend a million dollars every day since the birth of Christ—doesn’t really convey it. How long ago was Christ born? How big is a million? What does it feel like to live, let alone spend money, for centuries?
A picture, however, is still truly worth a thousand words, and the creator of the PageTutor article, “What does one TRILLION dollars look like?”, has literally performed a national service, answering that question in a way, I promise, you will never, ever forget.
He starts with a $100 bill, like the Benjamin, below.
Pretty much anyone who works can relate to this piece of currency. It neatly fits into our common spending and earning protocols. It is the largest U.S. bill being circulated.
Next, “A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2″ thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.”
Next, here’s what a million dollars in those $100 bills looks like, next to a white guy for both scale and relevance:
Now, feast your eyes on $100 million, set square upon a pallet.
You’d need more than seven of these to pay for one day of U.S. operations in Iraq.
A billion dollars has effectively been the common unit of spending for government purposes at least since the 1960s. As noted, above, Senator Dirksen is famed to have said as much in his “A billion here…there” quip.
Here’s what a billion dollars looks like at this scale, on ten $100 million pallets.
And finally, a trillion dollars, the new unit of government spending, after the jump:
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March 12th, 2009 — Automotive, Design, Pop Culture
Masa (he wouldn’t give his last name), the 48-year-old, Portugese-Japanese owner of this 1972 boattail Buick Riviera, above, posted this YouTube walkaround of it in a mall parking lot.
As you’ve, no doubt, already noted, the machine looks like it’s ready to wage war. The exterior bodywork has been completely blacked out. What little chrome remains has been re-plated, then shone to a mirror polish so high that, when you stare into it, you can practically see into the past. Inside, zebra-patterned seat covers throughout stoke the vehicle’s wild energy.
An optician/translator by trade, Masa says he was attracted to the car’s “form” and “useless size.” He bought it in California three years ago, spending over $28,000 both for the auto and getting it to Japan. Then, he took a year, and another $14,000, to restore it.
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March 2nd, 2009 — Design
A really amazing design, at first sight, should almost make your eyes water.
Oculus, above, is a great design.
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February 27th, 2009 — Automotive, Design
I really don’t know when it dawned on me, for the very first time, that auto manufacturers created certain cars with Negroes firmly in mind.
I can definitely tell you when I last had that thought, however: Wednesday, about 4:45 pm. That was shortly after I opened mentor Ray Winbush‘s e-mail, containing a sole line—”I want one of these…”—and a link to Conquest Vehicles web site. There, the Toronto-based firm was more than happy to tell a body everything they would possibly want to know about the marque’s $310,000-base priced, fully-armored Hummer humiliator, the Knight XV, above.
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February 11th, 2009 — Design, Fashion
Thirty-two-year-old Londoner Emily Cheetham, founder of handbag proprietor Cheet London, never studied design in school. As she says, on the excellent Handbag Designer 101 blog, “I worked in media & PR and studied Art History and Italian at university, so my skills are largely self-taught!”
She taught herself well, indeed: Her $175 Wallace Clutch, above, fashioned irresistibly in mint from lambs nappa, catches the eye with chroma, only to soothe it with classic styling and details. Perfect for the lady—or perhaps the First Lady!—in your life…wouldn’t you say?
February 9th, 2009 — Advertising, Design, Politics
As Moth said on Missbehave, “There is something really familiar about the new Pepsi logo,” left, “but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”
Me, either, but every time I see it, I wanna run for President.
February 4th, 2009 — Design, Fashion
Devi Kroell’s “Bubble in Shiny Mango with Gold Bubbles” shoe, above, adds a freaky, dreamlike psychological element—gilt champagne bubbles ascending the back of its heel—to an already sexily teetering pair of platforms.
Working extensively in python, the Austrian-born designer, right, also fashions boots, like the one below, and handbags, a lot of them in styles that, like these designs, are completely inappropriate for the office, but that definitely let ’em know whatcha workin’ wit’ up to a light-year in any direction.
Says her bio,
As the daughter of an ambassador father, Kroell 
spent her childhood in Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Israel, France, and Italy, among other locales. As a result, her signature styles are easily suited to a variety of backdrops and tastes.From her original python hobo bag to her crystal-studded wooden clutches and avant-garde heels, all of Kroell’s impeccably crafted designs feature sleek, effortless shapes fused with lush, tactile elements.
Tactile, yes. I’d like to touch that.
[via Handbag Designer 101]
January 27th, 2009 — Design, Satire, Science
Grad school can be tough enough without you having to pull rank. But when you absolutely have to do so—like, say your semester’s final joint term paper is due, and you need to let your chemistry lab partner know whose really running thangs—pimp slap them while wearing one of these Periodic Rings from It’s No Name.
Done up with each ring’s metal’s corresponding insignia from the famed table of elements, they’re available in silver ($280), gold, above ($2,350), and, for future Nobel prize winners only, platinum ($6,600). Aaahhhh, yeah: Sumn’s ’bout to go down, and it’s exothermic.
January 26th, 2009 — Art, Design, Mathematics, Pop Culture
Burlington, VT freelance graphic designer Jess Bachman’s Wallstats.com: The Art of Information blog converts statistical facts about American culture into picturesque visualizations. This piece, above, makes comprehensible the quantity of suds gulped down each year by thirsty USA-ers—50 billion pints, more per capita than any nation on Earth. I mean, check out the size of that Boeing 747, in comparison. Hey, Sully: Try landing your plane on this.
January 14th, 2009 — Design, Food
I feel your pain: You’re driving through the glorious Mountain State of West Virginia, and you ask yourself: If I stop for a hot dog, will they offer slaw as a topping, or look at me funny if I ask for it?
Wonder no longer: Thanks to the people at Strange Maps blog, this color-coded display will tell you what hot dog joints (HDJ) in which counties offer slaw, usually offer slaw, or don’t offer it at all. Apparently, if you’re a slaw-lover, it’s best to stay in the central, pastel green part of the state, while avoiding the extreme red north and northeast counties of Hancock, Brooke, Jefferson, Berkeley, and the like.
If you’re not from West Virginny, though, right now you’re probably thinking, Slaw? You mean, cole slaw? On a hot dog?
No jokes, folks. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, there’s a definite and longstanding
Southern preference for coleslaw as a hot dog topping (imaginatively dubbed ‘dragged through the garden’). This also happens to be an essential ingredient of the West Virginia Hot Dog (WVHD), as described by wvhotdogs.com: “A true WVHD is a heavenly creation that begins with a wiener on a bun. Add mustard, a chili-like sauce and top it off with coleslaw and chopped onions (…) Different parts of West Virginia have variations on the theme but the common elements are sweet, creamy coleslaw and chili. Anything else is just not a true WVHD!”
Gettin’ hungry just reading it. Road trip, anybody?
