from the roses-are-red-/-violets-are-blue-/-showers-are-wet-/-and-this-poem-is-too dept.
Forecast: cloudy with a chance of poetry? Invisible verse sees the light of day during drizzly weather.
Street art adds spark and creativity to sometimes bleak urban environments; meanwhile, graffiti damages property and is a sign of blight to many. But what if you could leave your mark in invisible ink?
A public art project by Mass Poetry, in collaboration with The City of Boston, is doing just that. Launched in honor of National Poetry Month, "Raining Poetry" is a series of poems stenciled throughout the city's sidewalks. The spray used to write the poems is invisible; when the surrounding pavement is darkened by rain, the dry words emerge and treat pedestrians to the secret poems that quietly wait to be read.
Sounds like something that would appeal to the Geocaching crowd or the flash-drive dead-drop crowd (funny aside: the guy in that picture is Bre Pettis, co-founder of MakerBot).
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @07:37AM
Geocaching crowd
Idiots.
flash-drive dead-drop crowd
Malicious idiots.
MakerBot
Crap for idiots.
How soon before malicious idiots embed electronic crap into the sidewalks? Cameraphones equipped with image recognition to identify upskirt images and automatically upload them to social media? Yeah that's exactly the sort of "art" that millennial idiots would produce. Take a stroll with no panties and squat on the sidewalk for social!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @08:08AM
upskirt images and automatically upload [...] no panties
Mobilize all unshaven elderly fat ladies.
(Score: 3, Touché) by WizardFusion on Wednesday May 25 2016, @11:04AM
+1 Repulsive
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @09:02AM
Cameraphones equipped with image recognition to identify upskirt images and automatically upload them to social media?
Bit of a problem isn't it? I mean if the city is doing it on public property, hey, peachy.
But if anyone else is using public property, call out the hounds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic [wikipedia.org]
It's not that I'm opposed to art installations (Denver did a nice one of sounds coming from storm drains), it's that if anyone else were to do the EXACT same thing, it would be destruction of public property, secret terrorist messages, and a nice long stay in booking.
The fiefdom is complete.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Wednesday May 25 2016, @09:59AM
A single entity (say, the city) coordinating art installations makes sense. And going around that being punished also makes sense. Now, there seem to be right ways to do this (areas open for everyone as unregulated, an independent advisory board you can apply to to get a reserved space, coordination with private owners who plan on putting up art) and wrong ways (getting upset about political chalkings on campus, government designed art recreated in every neighborhood). I'll take the brave stance that we should do things the good way, and not do them the bad way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @10:22AM
A city using taxpayer monies to fund their vanity isn't quite what I would call a "good way". And punishing people who circumvent it, a la Banksy, is borderline idiotic.
So no, not brave, not good; just a further corruption of what public space means.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @01:06PM
Not everyone is Banksy (and even then). Not everyone's scribbles belong on the fridge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @01:39PM
There's always going to be good art and bad art, and as long as it is your fridge, no problems on what belongs there.
However, when you start discussing public space, people wrap themselves in the flag of "the public", which somehow always has the the same tastes and biases as you, as if it is an extension of their living room.
It is fine and good that other people should have to tolerate your predilections in public, but fuck everyone else who is also using the public space.
Hypocrisy at its finest.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 25 2016, @03:00PM
It is a mixed bag. But that's the agora [wikipedia.org]. Better that than a public space that is semi-privatized by monied interests, such as when film crews disrupt traffic and life on city streets [tribecacitizen.com], or developers appropriate public land and funds to build semi-private parks [curbed.com].
For me, as long as people do subversive stuff like guerilla art it's a sign that society is healthy, because the innate drive to assert freedom and expression is alive and well. If that stops, it means people have become sheep who have surrendered their free will.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 25 2016, @01:42PM
NYC has this sort of fleeting installation all the time. It's an enjoyable aspect of the city. Some of it I appreciate less than others. The cows they had around town [cowparade.com] 10 years ago were strange. But the houses that guy built out of twigs in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden [blogspot.com] were fun. The Gates [nyc.gov] that Christo did in Central Park were not bad.
To me it humanizes the city. Contrast that with a place like downtown Detroit, which is a dystopia.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @04:30PM
I like the implication that the only thing saving NYC from dystopia status is its penchant for fleeting art installations. How many crack parabanksies do we need to drop on Detroit to save that city?
(Score: 2) by b0ru on Wednesday May 25 2016, @09:13AM
How soon before malicious idiots embed electronic crap into the sidewalks?
I'm quite sure malicious idiots^W^Wgovernments have been doing that for quite some time.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday May 25 2016, @09:13AM
A woman could make good money with nothing more than a QR code shaved into her pubes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @01:13PM
You should go geocaching some time. You sound like you need to unwind a bit. Find a good sized recreational area or state park with some geocaches and enjoy the great outdoors once in a while. :)
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday May 25 2016, @06:48PM
Crap for idiots.
Hey, that'd make a half-decent marketing slogan for people who hate advertising.
Fuck You Baltimore! [youtube.com]
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 25 2016, @08:46PM
Malicious idiots DO NOT need to embed electronic crap into the sidewalks. Rather use this present technique that reveals PR0N when it rains.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 3, Interesting) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday May 25 2016, @07:41AM
(funny aside: the guy in that picture is Bre Pettis, co-founder of MakerBot).
I don't get it.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @07:49AM
OH GOD WHAT THE FUNNY IT'S NOT PHRASED AS A MEME I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO LAUGH ABOUT
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday May 25 2016, @08:15AM
How soon before malicious idiots embed electronic crap into the sidewalks?
Ask not for whom the sidewalk flashes, it flashes for thee.
John Walker
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 25 2016, @01:34PM
You do know that many words have more than one meaning, right?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by oldmac31310 on Wednesday May 25 2016, @03:15PM
Poor defense for a poor choice of word.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday May 25 2016, @03:30PM
Yes, which is exactly why you shouldn't use them where the meaning is difficult to discern from context.
So, assuming "funny aside" is meant in the same sense as "joking apart": "funny" as a noun (I think it's a nominalized adjective) is non-standard, "aside" is therefore ambiguous (adverb or noun), and it should have been followed by a comma, not a colon.
Lastly, the preceeding sentence is probably too true to be funny, which doesn't help.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by tangomargarine on Wednesday May 25 2016, @03:39PM
The commentary is supposed to be facetious? I still don't understand what the heck is going on.
Okay, so he's the founder of MakerBot. How is that relevant?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 25 2016, @04:34PM
Well, no, your interpretation is entirely intentional and individual. It's your thing. There is no stated rule in any text book of grammar or otherwise that supports your contention. Object when people mis-use "loose" and "impact" and "populous," and I'll join your intolerant army. But you don't. And so it seems personal and targeted. Turn your keen eye for precision on everyone, and I'll be your first officer per Strunk & White, but refrain, selectively as you have, and I'll call you out for your arbitrary-ness, as I have.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday May 25 2016, @07:26PM
Well, no, your interpretation is entirely intentional and individual.
It's not intentional at all. It's simply how I read it. I never interpreted it any other way, because the wording and punctuation were badly chosen and ambiguous.
There is no stated rule in any text book of grammar or otherwise that supports your contention.
The use of the colon is wrong. It connects the first two words forward into the next phrase, as if the former are describing the latter.
And so it seems personal and targeted.
I had absolutely no idea who had submitted the article. I never check. Maybe you just have a case of confirmation bias.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday May 26 2016, @01:36PM
Wait, did I miss something in this thread? Can one of you guys explain what the hell the joke is already? 'Cause I still don't get it either...
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday May 26 2016, @03:12PM
There is no joke, urza9814. Wonkey_monkey has a dry wit and often makes brilliant quips. He's also a resident grammar nazi and often skewers what he interprets as imprecision or error. It can occasionally be hard to discern what he is going for. In this case I used the word "funny" in the sense of "curious, odd" and he went after it as though "funny" can only mean "humorous," and so the word choice was misleading.
So it's a bit between two idiosyncratic Soylentils and of no importance. Apologies!
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Funny) by petecox on Wednesday May 25 2016, @08:35AM
Pub ejected
Yellow a-sprays
Pavement below
Message inspirational
Doth appear
(Score: 3, Funny) by Thexalon on Wednesday May 25 2016, @01:08PM
...
Burma Shave
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Wednesday May 25 2016, @09:41AM
"Street art adds spark and creativity to sometimes bleak urban environments; meanwhile, graffiti damages property and is a sign of blight to many."
This is, of course, the question. When someone spray paints a building, is it art or vandalism? Why is Banksy's grafitti considered a cultural treasure [google.com], while other grafitti isn't?
Most people enjoy street art, but few people like the graffiti sprayed on buildings and public transport qualifies. Certainly tagging is awful - it is literally the juvenile equivalent of dogs pissing on buildings to mark their territory. But even for the best street art: no one wants it painted on their house.
One aspect, maybe: keep it ephemeral. Chalk drawings disappear in the next rain. The product being used in TFA [rain.works] lasts a few months, meaning that you will probably still see traces after a year or two. Is that ephemeral enough?
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @10:23AM
Long time ago ( in the late 50's ), a classmate wrote an insult to a fellow student on the chalk board using some sort of special marker. You could not tell he had marked on the board.
But when the teacher erased the chalk board, the chalk particles stuck to his marked area and the message suddenly showed up. Much to the frustration of the teacher and the mirth of a prepubescent classroom full of kids.
It was a personal message about a fellow student's genitalia that got the whole classroom, sans one student, giggling.
Anyone remember how that prank was pulled off? I only saw the result in class, and only a rumor of which kid did it.
It came off with soap and water. But not with the eraser.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @12:46PM
Back when I was a kid and my older sister and I hated each other I used to write mean things about her on the bathroom mirror with a pencil eraser. The messages would show up in the fog when she took a shower.
Then she went to college and I started banging her sorority sisters when I came to visit for the weekend and it's all good now.
(Score: 2) by Bill Dimm on Wednesday May 25 2016, @12:54PM
Wouldn't this make the sidewalk slippery (especially when there is snow on it)?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Flyingmoose on Wednesday May 25 2016, @01:15PM
One time I spilled some tire shine spray on my driveway, and it did this every time it rained, even years later. This could be what they used.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @01:57PM
Might reveal Tim Robbins [youtube.com].
(Score: 1) by oldmac31310 on Wednesday May 25 2016, @03:13PM
Why am I here then?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2016, @04:38PM
I remember someone (or some company's marketing campaign) where stencils were used to clean the sidewalk to leave a message. This wasn't a hidden message waiting to be revealed, of course, but still an interesting way to put a message in a public space and probably not be illegal.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Zinho on Wednesday May 25 2016, @08:46PM
Legality depends on your jurisdiction. One artist in Saõ Paolo, Brazil, Alexandre Orion, [wired.com] averaged 5 police encounters a night, often hostile, despite there not being a city ordinance they could charge him with. Another artist in the UK, Paul Curtis (AKA "Moose") [inhabitat.com] was charged under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act for similar art installations.
What it comes down to is that adding an image to a public place riles up authority figures who want people to get permission for everything, and is perceived as vandalism and potentially trespassing. [landarchs.com] (apologies in advance for that last link, they don't like NoScript). Depending on the jurisdiction they may just make a law because it bugs them enough.
Kudos to the Saõ Paolo government, BTW, for cleaning the dirty tunnels where Alexandre Orion was washing skulls into the soot on the walls. Much healthier reaction than doctoring up laws to keep those pesky creative types in check :P
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin