Hurricane Katrina, Three Years Later.

'It’s the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. For new readers who may not have followed this blog from the beginning, Life Without Buildings was conceived in a French Quarter alley and born on a Garden District Balcony into the depressing heat of a New Orleans summer and post-architecture school ennui. Then came Hurricane Katrina and for a while it became a rarely-udpated travelogue of evacuation, the end result of which was an apartment in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury neighborhood. Leaving New Orleans might have been the hardest decision I’ve ever made and not one single day has passed where I haven’t wondered if I chose wrong.'




EyesCoffee: Nepal.

Black and white photographs of Nepal and its people.




300 Love Letters.




A Brief History of Female Robots.




Cigarette Cards: ABCs.

'Nearly 600 series (totaling thousands of individual cards) whose titles begin with the first three letters of the alphabet, from before 1900 to the mid-20th century. Viewable front and back.'




The Aurora Borealis Photo Pool.




Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae: 16th Century Engravings of Rome and Roman Antiquities.

'In 1540 Antonio Lafreri, a native of Besançon transplanted to Rome, began publishing maps and other printed images that depicted major monuments and antiquities in Rome. These images were calculated to appeal to the taste for classical antiquity that fueled the cultural event we call the Renaissance. After Lafreri published a title page in the mid-1570s, collections of these prints came to be known as the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, the "Mirror of Roman Magnificence." Tourists and other collectors who bought prints from Lafreri made their own selections and had them individually bound. Over time, Lafreri's title page served as starting point for large and eclectic compilations, expanded and rearranged by generations of collectors...'




Gorgeous Guitar Art and Decoration.




Photos of an Anti-Ballistic Missile Complex in North Dakota.

'Significance: It is believed that the plans for deployment and initiation of construction of this facility were instrumental in obtaining Soviet agreement to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and a subsequent decline in Cold War hostilities between the Superpowers.'




Neo-Ruins: Lithographs of Post-Apocalyptic Tokyo.

'Hisaharu Motoda’s “Neo-Ruins” series of lithographs depict the cityscape of a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, where familiar streets lie deserted, the buildings are crumbling and weeds grow from the broken pavement. The antique look of the lithographic medium effectively amps up the eeriness of the futuristic setting. “In Neo-Ruins I wanted to capture both a sense of the world’s past and of the world’s future,” says Motoda on his website. '




Historic Chess Games.

Click through, with light commentary.



Querying the Hive Mind.


'What online shopping experiences have left you absolutely delighted? As in "I laughed with delight when I opened the box?" I want to start building a list of *great* places to buy gifts for my friends/family, and I'm sure some of you know some great places.'


'What is the most awesome, smile inducing, envy inspiring thing I can hang on my cubicle wall? '


'What science fiction films are there, iyho, that really measure up to the best of written work in that genre?'


'I want to read more novels about women descending into madness and then getting well again. Any suggestions?'


'I'm pregnant, and having a horrible time coming to terms with this new maternal identity. I know having a baby changes everything, etc., etc., but is it possible to become a mom and still stay, well, yourself?'




Sculpture Photoset.




Wisconsin Decorative Arts.

'The Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database is a new online resource for the study of craft traditions, manufacturing, state and local history, and material culture. This searchable archive brings together examples of furniture, ceramics, textiles, and other 19th and early 20th century material culture artifacts from the collections of museums and historic sites across Wisconsin.'