SEPULVEDA UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY (THE ONION) 9550 Haskell Avenue
Frank Ehrenthal (1964) The Sepulveda Unitarian Universalist Society sanctuary, widely known asThe Onion for its unique, bulbous shape, was designed by Frank Ehrenthal, a student of Richard Neutra. The contoured wood beam building features a circular shape with a flat point at the highest peak of the roof, resembling the tapered end of a giant onion. In February, 1966 The Grateful Dead along with Ken Kesey and various Merry Pranksters staged an Acid Test here !
 

 
KNOLLWOOD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 12121 Balboa Boulevard
Hal C. Whittenmore (1966) The ultra-modern Knollwood United Methodist Church is defined by its swooping, asymmetrical white walls, including a soaring fin-like tower that evokes a traditional Mediterranean campanile (bell tower).
 

 
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF NORTHRIDGE 9659 Balboa Boulevard
A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons (1962) Built as a pyramid, this church’s sanctuary appears infinitely solid on the outside yet equally light and airy inside. The interior’s exposed beams soar to a skylight at the apex, while hanging cylindrical light fixtures float throughout. Walls of glass integrate outdoor gardens with plantings along the inside perimeter. A below-grade entrance and garden wall minimize street noise. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the building was deemed one of the safest in the San Fernando Valley.
 
(thanks L.J.Williamson !)

 
Why oh why does this exist?  From Gizmodo:

Researchers from the Machine Perception Laboratory at UCSD have developed this baby robot to simulate the development of a 1-year-old. And clearly, they’ve become somewhat attached to the little automaton with a gigantic head.

The robot baby is named Diego-San, and aside from joy, he’s bundled with a high resolution camera and 6-axis accelerometer. And while his coordination is limited to standing from a chair and holding a bottle, Diego-San’s face has 20 moving parts to convey emotion without speaking?

 
Consider this a bookend to last week’s adventure in tattooing!  Oh wait—adventures!

UPDATED: It appears this may be a bit of viral advertising for RayBans.  You got to hand it to ‘em, though.  I imagine they made the guy’s tat just off enough from a real pair of RayBans to make it look more plausible/less suspicious. 

 
(via Gawker)

 
“I do not have a single constructive proposal.”

This is hilarious. It’s poetry, too. This man is a genius. Give him his own TV show!

Here’s what it says about him on WIkipedia:

Koichi Toyama (?

 
Here’s a Japanese television reenactment of a Usain Bolt running victory.  Watch and try to not have your head explode as you tease out the possible cultural meanings of the “runner up’s” wearing of what appears to be a Michael Jackson mask.

 
(via JapanProbe)

Second installment of a two-part, in-depth conversation with cultural engineer Genesis Breyer P-Orridge on the occasion of the publication of THEE PSYCHICK BIBLE: A New Testameant, a compendium of Gen’s writing on magick, the occult and sexuality. Part one is here.

 
This is one of the most insane things I’ve ever heard. Talk about bravery! (To say nothing of a steady hand). In 1961, a Soviet surgeon named Leonid Rogozov, then 27-years-old, and a member of the party of the 6th Soviet Antarctic expedition felt lower abdominal pain. What happened next is probably fairly obvious from the photograph!

In 1959 Leonid Rogozov graduated from the Institute and was immediately accepted to the surgery clinical residency. However, his studies at the residency were broken off for some time due to Leonid’s trip to Antarctica in September, 1960 as a doctor of the 6th Soviet Antarctic expedition to Novolazarevskaya station.

During this expedition there happened an event that made a 27-year old surgeon world-famous.

In the 4th month of the wintering, in April, 29th, 1961, Leonid showed disturbing symptoms: weakness, nausea, fever and pain in a right iliac region. The following day his temperature got even higher. Being the only doctor in the expedition consisting of 13 people, Leonid diagnosed himself: acute appendicitis. There were no planes at any of the nearest stations, besides, adverse weather conditions would not allow to fly to Novolazarevskaya anyway. In order to save the sick member of a polar expedition there was needed an urgent operation on site. And the only way out was to operate on himself.

At night, on the 30th of April, 1961, the surgeon was being helped by a mechanical engineer and a meteorologist who were giving him the medical instruments and holding a small mirror at his belly. Lying half bent on the left side, the doctor made a local anesthesia with novocaine solution and made a 12cm incision in the right iliac region with a scalpel. Either watching in the mirror or by touch he removed an inflamed appendix and injected antibiotic in the abdominal cavity. In 30 or 40 minutes from the beginning of the operation there developed a faint and giddiness and the surgeon had to make pauses for some rest. Nevertheless, by midnight the operation lasting 1 hour and 45 minutes was over. In five days the temperature normalized, in two days more – the stitches were taken out.

You think you’re tough? You ain’t tough!

Via English-Russia

 
Crowd-sourced surrealists Improv Everywhere are holding their second annual LA No Pants Mission starting with a “pants-less” subway ride in Los Angeles on Sunday before everyone ends up at the Hollywood and Highland complex. They’re being joined by members of the GuerilLA and other urban pranksters. Details below, but the subtext here is worth pointing out: while the rest of the country is freezing its collective ass off, we here in the great city of Los Angeles can go outside without our pants on! It was around 74 degrees here yesterday. Gorgeous.

To quote Randy Newman, “I love L.A.”

WHAT: 2nd Annual No Pants Metro Ride
WHEN: Sunday, January 10th, 2010 at 2:00 PM
WHERE: Metro System
BRING: $5 for Metro Day Pass, pants you can easily take off, something in which to keep them

This mission is pretty self-explanatory: we ride the subway just as anyone would on any given normal day, just without pants. (Note that this is NO PANTS, not NO UNDERWEAR day. Wouldn?

Happy 2010! We’re starting off the new decade right with the first installment of a two-part, in-depth conversation with cultural engineer Genesis Breyer P-Orridge on the occasion of the publication of THEE PSYCHICK BIBLE: A New Testameant, a compendium of Gen’s writing on magick, the occult and sexuality. Part two will be posted next week.