Silo City, Washington's Forgotten Water Treatment Facility

All you designers out there, get your thinking caps on!  The mysterious McMillan site in Washington DC (on Michigan Avenue between Howard University and The Catholic University of America) has been re-discovered and it's possible that there will be a future for it beyond being a large fenced-off silo city.

A carbon copy of an Albany, NY water treatment facility, this may be the last of its kind, though not functioning.  With 20 silos and underground vaults that are sand-filled to treat water.  Algae was grown purposefully to purify the water and the sand filtered out sediment to be pumped out to to the households and businesses of DC until it was replaced by chemical and mechanical treatment by the US Engineer Corp.

A fascinating space whose future is still unknown is a great source of fascination with what was, an interest in what is, and an inspiration for what could be!

Check out the PBS mini-documentary here.

What to do with your withering pumpkin...

(or you can just go out and buy puree...whatever works).

It's almost Thanksgiving, why not make the most out of these last few weeks of fall and try homemade pumpkin icecream: Easy and delicious!  

Enjoy!

The Grand Design...

The Grand Design...

Sometimes a design needs to be turned inside out and upside-down.  It needs to be molded and crushed and added to and subtracted from.  It must be completely demolished and distorted so from its original self that it is almost completely foreign in order to become what it is capable of being.  

Don't believe me?  Ask nature...or Cynthia Occelli...or both.

Ever Wonder How You Look When You Dance?

Silly?  Flawless?  Usher-esque?

Well, there's a new invention out there that can show just how you dance...and I'll bet you'll find that your dancing is a lot more awesome than you could have imagined!

The invention is called an E-Trace.  It is a mechanism that you can attach to your shoes (in this case, your ballet slipper), where your movements are converted into lines, like paint on the canvas that is your world!

The images produced by ballet dancers have been compared to calligraphy and symbol-art.  I imagine you can paint with your feet, or just dance and see what happens!  Either way, this creation is truly a design worth discussing, and I'd suggest that you check out the original article to see the video of how it works, by clicking here!

Music Magic

Peaceful Pool...Pond...Pool-Pond!

I love DIY projects!

Here's one that you can do in your own backyard, with one idea, a bit of money, and a lot of time!  They completed their backyard haven over the course of about 2 or 3 years, but it looks like it was totally worth it.  Check out the article and the play-by-play with pictures.

Design of the Mind...Telepathy and Dreams

I suppose that the grand design of the human mind is as good as any to discuss here...

Dreams have constantly mesmerized humanity...What do they mean?  Where do they come from?  Are they reflections of our past?  our fears?  our emotions?  Or are they a look into the future?

Have you ever considered the connections between our interest in the subconscious, dreaming, mind and the study of telepathy?  Telepathy is essentially the power to transfer information from one person to another without use of written, spoken, or acted language - at a distance, for example.  It has been said that this could be both conscious and subconscious.  In some studies, for example, a  group or individual is asked to think about a certain object, song, etc and another subject is told to tell an observer what he or she has come to mind at the same time that the other is "sending" the messages via thought.  In other accounts, people who are praying, or asking for help subconsciously, are "heard" by someone either known or unknown.  For this reason, some investigative agencies do not rule out telepathy as a means for finding missing people or discovering clues to unsolved crimes.

It's an interesting concept: combining dreams with telepathy...two things that are said to be powers of our own minds, yet, not altogether in our control.  It's as fascinating as either of the two topics on their own.  Now, there is said to be evidence of their connection.  Take a look, and consider the design of something you own but that you do not necessarily control...or do you?