Saturday, June 19, 2004

The Wisdom of Crowds I'm currently reading The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki, who also writes The Financial Page business column in The New Yorker. The key, he says, are four conditions. These crowds must be: diverse independent decentralized coordinated With examples ranging from traffic flow to NASA to sports betting lines, it's a fun read in the vein of fellow New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. 10:56:08 PM    comment []

The Notguchi Table Following instructions from ReadyMade, I'm building a coffee table based on the classic modern Noguchi Table. The design I'm using has a more angular base, but the same teardrop-shaped top. I cut the shape of both base pieces from two inch-thick pieces of plywood, then fit them together with two narrow metal rods where the sections cross. I stained the wood a dark walnut color, and will add the top in a couple of days. Here are a couple of photos of the work in progress. RAW PIECED FITTED TOGETHER AFTER APPLYING STAIN For those who can't get enough Noguchi, check out this series of stamps available from the US Postal Service.   8:56:21 PM    comment []