the grid

You could drive out there your whole life, de Ruijter realized, and not realize that certain stop signs and intersections exist not because of eccentric real estate deals, but because they are mathematical devices used to help planners wrap a rectilinear planning scheme onto the surface of a spherical planet.

this is fun.

what if the manhattan grid kept going.... extendNY.

hipster houseboats

The Off-Gridder from Yardena Schwartz on Vimeo.

Williamsburg lofts have apparently gone the way of the Misshapes; the new waterfront mecca for hipsters are houseboats on the Gowanus Canal. Undeterred by a warning from the EPA that merely falling into the canal can be toxic — perhaps due to raw sewage, PCBs, and gonorrhea found therein — a group of new bohemians have been living on four houseboats there for the past year. City agencies have yet to rule on the legality of the living arrangement, but that hasn't stopped twenty-somethings, docked behind a truck lot off President and Bond Streets, from calling it home sweet home. (via)