acrobatic tendencies

Why is the burglary rate in Austria so high? Perhaps because of the great minimum security prisons. The outside of one particular prison is all glass like an Apple Store, the furniture is nicely designed, and the sports facilities are top-notch. (link)

Travelocity’s got a deal going on with H&R Block and offering the TaxCut software as a free download for Mac or Windows.

Looks like this is just TaxCut Premium Federal (not state), which sells for…

Mark Frauenfelder: It’s fun to watch these reverse videos of elaborate sandcastles exploding.

Here we go again! For the second year in a row, “Sand Blasters: The Extreme Sand Sculpting Championship” brings a one-of-a-kind competition to Travel Channel. Paired off into teams of two, 16 of the best sand sculptors from across America dig in to picturesque Pacific Beach in San Diego, California, for the chance to win their share of $15,000 in prize money. But there’s one obstacle standing in their way… Explosions! Over the course of this intense two-day competition, five of the eight sculptures are randomly selected for complete destruction by a Hollywood pyrotechnics crew. The ill-fated blast victims then have the remaining time to create another world-class work of art in order to contend for the title of Sand Blasters 2007 Extreme Sand Sculpting Champions.

Architecture, film, design, craft, painting, photography: In the early part of the 20th century, the modernist movement touched all of these art forms. Contemporary art and craft have been feeling the effects ever since.

“Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914-1939,” an exhibition opening at the Corcoran on Saturday, shows how a collection of artistic movements dedicated to the principle of — to borrow a phrase from Target — design-for-all took hold in Europe and made waves across the Atlantic.

Il Lee does abstract drawings using ballpoint pens. This video of Lee’s work is worth a look. (link)

Photographer George Lange compiled his favorite work from 2006 in a mesmerizing slide-show, well-worth a few minutes of your time.

compilation of ways to bypass censorship

Ballet Deviare is a NYC ballet company that fuses extreme heavy metal and contemporary ballet. Seriously. What exactly does that look like? Well, you can check out some stills in their gallery, or watch some video of them performing in support of technical death metal darlings, Arsis.