Noah Veltman created a fascinating interactive map of San Francisco that reveals the origins of many of the city’s street and landmark names, from (John W.) Geary Boulevard to the (José Antonio) Castro neighborhood. (via Interactive Map Reveals Origins of San Francisco Place Names)
But now that it’s over I have to justify myself. I read in Leviathan—all too conveniently, just in the very first pages—that Thomas Hobbes thought all imagining was decayed sense-input—that is, faded memories. His example: “After great distance of time, our imagination of the past is weak, and we lose (for example) of cities we have seen, many particular streets.” So misremembering cities is the essence of imagination. Sure, we can recombine memories, to produce fantasy—put a man on a horse and call it a centaur. Or, I’ve always lazily imagined the Hobbesian “state of nature,” which is so nasty, brutish, and short, as a combination Boy Scout camp and stage set for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (via Paris Review – Maps, Ben Lytal)
Special Issue: Memory and the West: Reflections on Place, Practice, and Performanc →
Guest editors: Eric Aoki, Greg Dickinson and Brian L. Ott
Brian Rose: In spite of all the concrete and steel, nature is always threatening to overtake the island. Stuff grows out of the rubble, either tamed in urban gardens or sprouting from cracks in the sidewalk. It’s ultimately a losing battle, but we keep up the pretense of winning. (via Lower East Sides - The Morning News)
‘The Hole’ was a bit of an open secret before a blog post by urban explorer and photographer Nathan Kensinger piqued the interest of documentary filmmakers Courtney Sell and Billy Feldman, who interviewed the few people still living in the area. Many residents of the surrounding metro area still don’t know it exists. It was a body dumping ground for the mafia for many years. (via Open Secret: The Ghost Town of New York City | WebUrbanist)
Replay My Day draws a cinematic map of your day’s explorations and throws all your photo’s, calender appointments, Tweets and Facebook posts on there, right where the event took place. You can also add personal notes to it, creating a rich visual record of your day. (via Replay My Day -)
