#state of the glasses

[fancoloredglasses]

State of the Glasses IX: I hate reruns

No cute video here. I'm too depressed.

For those in the US, yesterday was Election Day. If you've been anywhere near a TV, computer, or smartphone anywhere in the world, you likely know the result.

Now, I don't wear my politics on my sleeve, but anyone who's been reading my reviews for a while should be able to figure them out, so let me just say...

Hopefully, our nation survives the next four years and we actually have a new President after that.

I'm sorry to pull the curtain this far back. This is supposed to be a fun hobby for me about revisiting things I saw when I was younger. I shouldn't use it as a soap box for real events, but I felt I should say something.

On a side note, I had written a review of an episode of a show set in 2020 that featured a woman of color (I made a joke or two that the show was a few years early for that). Now I am seriously considering pulling the review because I feel it may be too depressing (It's scheduled to be posted in January. Yes, I write that far in advance)

Please let me know your thoughts on said episode (I won't say what series the episode is from unless you REALLY want to know, but you'll know it when you see it)

Now back to our regularly scheduled frivolity.

[aestum]

(by Clay Banks)

[tricksterontheweb]

Digitized plates of solar eclipses from the United States Naval Observatory Library & Archives

Locations and years of eclipses:

Pinehurst, North Carolina. May 28, 1900

Limerick, Maine. August 31, 1932

Iloilo, The Philippines. May 9, 1929

Guelma, Algeria. August 30, 1905

Fort De Kock, Sumatra. May 17, 1901

Barnesville, Georgia. May 28, 1900

[makanidotdot]

[reasonsforhope]

"Chicago’s 82-story Aqua Tower appears to flutter with the wind. Its unusual, undulating facade has made it one of the most unique features of Chicago’s skyline, distinct from the many right-angled glass towers that surround it.

In designing it, the architect Jeanne Gang thought not only about how humans would see it, dancing against the sky, but also how it would look to the birds who fly past. The irregularity of the building’s face allows birds to see it more clearly and avoid fatal collisions. “It’s kind of designed to work for both humans and birds,” she said.

As many as 1 billion birds in the US die in building collisions each year. And Chicago, which sits along the Mississippi Flyway, one of the four major north-south migration routes, is among the riskiest places for birds. This year, at least 1,000 birds died in one day from colliding with a single glass-covered building. In New York, which lies along the Atlantic Flyway, hundreds of species traverse the skyline and tens of thousands die each year.

As awareness grows of the dangers posed by glistening towers and bright lights, architects are starting to reimagine city skylines to design buildings that are both aesthetically daring and bird-safe.

Pictured: Chicago's Aqua Tower was designed with birds in mind.

Some are experimenting with new types of patterned or coated glass that birds can see. Others are rethinking glass towers entirely, experimenting with exteriors that use wood, concrete or steel rods. Blurring lines between the indoors and outdoors, some architects are creating green roofs and facades, inviting birds to nest within the building.

“Many people think about bird-friendly design as yet another limitation on buildings, yet another requirement,” said Dan Piselli, director of sustainability at the New York-based architecture firm FXCollaborative. “But there are so many design-forward buildings that perfectly exemplify that this doesn’t have to limit your design, your freedom.”

How modern buildings put birds in danger

For Deborah Laurel, principal in the firm Prendergast Laurel Architects, the realization came a couple of decades ago. She was up for an award for her firm’s renovation of the Staten Island Children’s Museum when the museum’s director mentioned to her that a number of birds had been crashing into the new addition. “I was horrified,” she said.

She embarked on a frenzy of research to learn more about bird collisions. After several years of investigation, she found there was little in the way of practical tips for architects, and she teamed up with the conservation group NYC Audubon, to develop a bird-safe building guide.

The issue, she discovered, was that technological and architectural advancements over the last half-century had in some ways transformed New York City – and most other US skylines and suburbs – into death traps for birds...

At certain times of day, tall glass towers almost blend into the sky. At other times, windows appear so pristinely clear that they are imperceptible to birds, who might try to fly though them. During the day, trees and greenery reflected on shiny building facades can trick birds, whereas at night, brightly lit buildings can confuse and bewilder them...

Pictured: A green roof on the Javits Convention Center serves as a sanctuary for birds.

The changes that could save avian lives

About a decade ago, Piselli’s firm worked on a half-billion-dollar renovation of New York’s Jacob K Javits Convention Center, a gleaming glass-clad space frame structure that was killing 4,000-5,000 birds a year. “The building was this black Death Star in the urban landscape,” Piselli said.

To make it more bird friendly, FXCollaborative (which was then called FXFowle) reduced the amount of glass and replaced the rest of it with fritted glass, which has a ceramic pattern baked into it. Tiny, textured dots on the glass are barely perceptible to people – but birds can see them. The fritted glass can also help reduce heat from the sun, keeping the building cooler and lowering air conditioning costs. “This became kind of the poster child for bird-friendly design in the last decade,” Piselli said.

The renovation also included a green roof, monitored by the NYC Audubon. The roof now serves as a sanctuary for several species of birds, including a colony of herring gulls. Living roofs have since become popular in New York and other major cities, in an inversion of the decades-long practice of fortifying buildings with anti-bird spikes. In the Netherlands, the facade of the World Wildlife Fund headquarters, a futuristic structure that looks like an undulating blob of mercury, contains nest boxes and spaces for birds and bats to live.

The use of fritted glass has also become more common as a way to save the birds and energy.

Earlier this year, Azadeh Omidfar Sawyer, an assistant professor in building technology in the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture, working with student researchers, used open-source software to help designers create bespoke, bird-friendly glass patterns. A book of 50 patterns that Sawyer published recently includes intricate geometric lattices and abstract arrays of lines and blobs. “Any architect can pick up this book and choose a pattern they like, or they can customize it,” she said.

Pictured: The fritted glass used in Studio Gang’s expansion of Kresge College at the University of California, Santa Cruz, depicts the animals in the local ecosystem.

Builders have also been experimenting with UV-printed patterns, which are invisible to humans but perceptible to most birds. At night, conservationists and architects are encouraging buildings turn off lights, especially during migration season, when the bright glow of a city skyline can disorient birds.

And architects are increasingly integrating screens or grates that provide shade as well as visibility for birds. The 52-floor New York Times building, for example, uses fritted glass clad with ceramic rods. The spacing between the rods increases toward the top of the building, to give the impression that the building is dissolving into the sky.

Gang’s work has incorporated structures that can also serve as blinds for birders, or perches from which to observe nature. A theater she designed in Glencoe, Illinois, for example, is surrounded by a walking path made of a wood lattice, where visitors can feel like they’re up in the canopy of trees.

Pictured: The Writers Theatre, designed by Studio Gang, includes a walking path encased in wood lattice.

Rejecting the idea of the iridescent, entirely mirrored-glass building, “where you can’t tell the difference between the habitat and the sky”, Gang aims for the opposite. “I always tried to make the buildings more visible with light and shadow and geometry, to have more of a solid presence,” she said.

Gang has been experimenting with adding bird feeders around her own home in an effort to reduce collisions with windows, and she encourages other homeowners to do the same.

“I’ve found that birds slow down and stop at feeders instead of trying to fly through the glass,” she said.

While high-rise buildings and massive urban projects receive the most attention, homes and low-rise buildings account for most bird collision deaths. “The huge challenge is that glass is everywhere.” said Christine Sheppard, who directs the glass collisions program at the American Bird Conservancy (ABC). “It’s hard to know what I know and not cringe when I look at it.”

Tips for improving your own home include using stained glass or patterned decals that can help birds see a window, she said. ABC has compiled a list of window treatments and materials, ranked by how bird-safe they are.

Whether they’re large or small, the challenge of designing buildings that are safe for birds can be “liberating”, said Gang, who has become an avid birdwatcher and now carries a pair of binoculars on her morning jogs. “It gives you another dimension to try to imagine.”"

-via The Guardian, December 27, 2023

[beastwhimsy]

pretty janky gif but I wanted to compare my simon design to my ice king design. behold! old person

[katabay]

so. around the start of august, I decided to make a story to work on when I wanted to just kind of turn my brain off for a minute. you know, everything is so much all the time, let's lower the stakes and draw some ancient greeks wrestling.

unfortunately for ME, I thought: well what if we explored the peloponnesian war through the sword and sandals genre and throw in a splash of horror for seasoning! then I thought: well it wouldn't be fun for me if I didn't do some reading on the history of it all. what I do I know about ancient greece. I have a fistful of pocket lint and loose change in that department.

folks. there is so much reading. my reading list is only a handful of books, but each of those books is a fucking brick.

anyway, it's still primarily a For Fun story I do in my spare time, so some wrestling sketches, and some other kind of scene :)

⭐the one with the beard is klaudios, the one with the longer hair is damonikos!

[cyber-corp]

Adrian Andrews is the most tragic Ace Attorney because she presumably has to pay thousands of dollars in prescription fees for every time her glasses break from shock

[mossgoblins]

I have a surprise deadline on the 23rd so I will have to disappear for a bit but let me tell you I am having a great time and literally cannot wait to get back to it.

[awesomecooperlove]

🔥🔥🔥DIRECT ENERGY WEAPONS 🔥🔥🔥

✖️✖️✖️

[sketchncanto]

My fav Madrigal duo everrrr!! ⏳🐆

I couldn’t decide which version I liked better so here’s BOTH ✨

Disney please give Bruno some uncle glasses PLEASE

He has the perfect nose bridge for them!! They’d never slide off!! MUST BE NICE

Also bonus incorrect quote boards that I had to draw bc the scenario was too freaking cute 🥲

[fancoloredglasses]

State of the Glasses VIII-bit graphics

(Thanks to LanzeMazukie)

It has been some time since I’ve done one of these (the last was in August of last year)

I’d been making reviews with links to my early reviews. However, many of these earlier reviews have broken links or videos that have been taken down. Therefore, I’m going to once again start doing RERUNs of these reviews (also to allow some of my newer readers to see how badly I wrote those early reviews…not that my humor has improved much since then)

I will be starting with my first reviews (that have not already been RERUN) from over 5 years ago (have I really been doing this that long?! I need to get a life!) and move forward. Much like the last time, I’ll be doing them about once a month.

Those who have seen my early reviews that would like to see a review updated, please let me know and I’ll work it in earlier.

[mihotose]

[liauditore]

[asmr boyfriend voice] woof woof bark bark

[buqbite]

keep your guard up, buddy

[filmap]

Love Lies Bleeding Rose Glass. 2024

Underpass 2052 Commercial St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102, USA See in map

See in imdb