Jordan: Massive Quake Unleashes Tsunami on Japan

All thoughts are with Japan right now after the mind-bogglingly extreme 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit this morning. While the NY Times reports that the country's building codes prepped them to handle the natural disaster(s, including tsunami), it is still an overwhelmingly scary scene.

Diana: Discovery Walkway by Sturgess Architecture

Canadian firm Sturgess Architecture was just selected to build a viewing platform over icefields in Alberta's Jasper National Park. The renderings of the cantilevered structure look very Jurassic Park—so cool!

Aaron: Blue Note Shirts at Uniqlo

In the event you left your porkpie hat and horn-rimmed specs in Rudy Van Gelder's office, you can still show your jazzcat cool with these t-shirts from Uniqlo. Not only do they serve as a great homage to some classic album covers, they're contemporary enough not to feel like arcana. Hip stuff indeed.

Sam: The Content Farm

What with all the hubbub this week between Bill Keller and Arianna Huffington, why don't the rest of us take a time out to see where the future of writing and editing may lie. The good folks over at The Content Farm are on their way!

Jaime: L'Edito

When I was at Maison & Objet the other month, one of my favorite discoveries was L'Edito, a French company its owners described as a "crowd-funding system": designers submit their project proposal online–an object or piece of furniture made of plywood–and web users put money down on the projects they think are the best. When a threshold is reached, the piece goes into production and the financial contributors get a percentage of royalties on sales. Among the pieces produced so far are a chest of drawers, a desk, an iPad holder, and the shelf pictured here. It's a clever concept–and a mind-expanding take on the potential of plywood.

Amy: Aimee Mullins: The Opportunity of Adversity

I find Ted Talks endlessly amazing to watch. Little brilliant pieces of information I might not otherwise get. While browsing through this week I came upon Aimee Mullins, Paralympian, activist for women and double amputee. Not to get all sappy, but her take on adversity and possibility is pretty inspiring.

Dakota: Found Footage Fest

Last weekend I was able to see the dudes behind Found Footage Fest show their latest release, Found Footage Vol. 5, at the Red Vic theater here in SF. Since 2004, Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher have been editing and releasing hilarious and often bizarre VHS footage that they have been collecting since the early 90's. They scour yard sales and thrift stores to find VHS gems; it's sort of like the best of youtube before youtube but better because these were created without the promise of internet notoriety. You can watch snippets of many of movies on their website—may I suggest Jingle Cats? If you catch them on tour this go round, you'll also have the pleasure of viewing Heavy Metal Parking Lot.

Amanda: Alexander Graham Bell's sketchbooks

The Atlantic presents a terrific slideshow of images taken from Alexander Graham Bell's personal sketchbooks, which the Library of Congress digitized and made available to the public. It's an amazing insight into the mind of a genius.

Michele: "Tsunami" in EmeryvilleThese are the views from my friend's office in Emeryville.

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Friday Finds 3.11.11