That bookcase is hilarious. Have you considered designing airplanes?

Apparently the X at the back was entirely useless. I just took it out. Hooray. Much cleaner-looking.

X-less.

I hear you can buy bookcases that even stand on their own. Bunch of miracle workers at Ikea.

As of now it does stand on its own, hooker.

Your response reminds me of what someone to whom I was describing the plan said to me: "why not just use nails?". What would be the point of that?

5.2: Arguably, structural integrity.

There's an appealing ingenuousness to your use of helices, though.

The X provides structural stability. Being a philosopher, I don't know exactly the term, but it ensures that the basic frame of your bookcase won't twist under the weight of the books.

I like the lamp. And one day, I will own things that do not come from IKEA! But first, I must graduate.

I already thought of twisting.

7: I imagine the wires will slacken long before anything too serious happens to the frame per se.

Don't crush my hopes, Sifu.

Wires can be tightened. Hopes cannot be uncrushed.

Believe, Ben, believe!

I wouldn't have thought it possible to make ogged's homage to the Lost in Space robot seem a success, but you've managed it. Kudos, w-lfs-n.

You don't need to take a shop class, all you need to remember for basic DIY construction is:

1) Triangles are good, squares and rectangles are bad.

2) Superglue isn't super, it will betray when it can do the most damage.

3) Don't solder wires while naked, the shouts wake the kids.

4) Do NOT attempt any plumbing task while the hardware stores are closed.

14.1): Rhomboids can be okay. Non-square parallelograms are probably a bad plan.

Avoid shapes not susceptible to linear analysis.

Also, Biohazard, you're saying this to a guy who decided to build a bookshelf supported solely by wire helices under tension. Full camp-based reëducation may be needed.

Don't take woodshop, Ben; it'll only corrupt the purity of your vision. Helices, man.

By the time Ben gets to the dissertation stage, he'll be up to building a solar-heated straw bale house or something.

A wood-fired ultralight.

Was Nighthawks not discussed in that thread about posters that every college student has and which therefore justifis a negative evaluation of the person who posted it?

You can tell the poster's not mine because all of my posters are in frames I made.

As my eyes skimmed over this post, I saw "I made a lamp" and the German names and thought you were referring to fallout over having made some ill-considered Holocaust joke.

...incompetently.

wow, "justifis."

perhaps then I would actually have thought through my other bookcase-related plans and not made something that, in its first incarnation, collapsed immediately on being raised upright, and in its second manages to stay together only in virtue of (a) one small length of pipe at the bottom center and (b) being against a wall through which it cannot fall further.

Well, nominally, I'd say that neither Wittgenstein nor wood shop would help. (I'm keeping that sentence.) When your attempt at a bookholder fails to shelf, you have what is known as bad engineering.

Then I looked at the picture and I'm thinking the problem here is that evidently you believe yourself to be the successor to Christo. Which means is that it isn't a failure as a bookshelf, it's a failure as a sculpture. It needs some spinners, and some randomly-draped bright-colored fabric and maybe a funny hat... and more wires, way more wires and it needs to be outside, so it can be admired by the fuckin' avant-garde.

All the above implies that you simply didn't know what the hell you were tryin' to do: sculpture. Your brain was thinkin' bookcase, but clearly you have the soul of an arteest!

m, it has to be, there's no way in hell you can convince me you intended to build a bookshelf

See, Max, Wittgenstein was an engineer.

I am pained by my inability to think of an amusing sentence ending in "... is that which is the bookcase."

Speaking of a particular culture's expertise, those darn Perisians made me spend a load of money. Darn those rug makers!!!!

I thought that the house W. made for his sister looked horrible, but that may have been the very point of it. The house now belongs to the Bulgarian government (!)

Damn Parisians.

I would be happier with this... if the cord were both longer (it's barely reaching the plug) and less obtrusive.

Um. Ben - there are objects out there to ameliorate the first of those drawbacks. They are called "extension cords". There are also lovely things called cord covers that will solve the upstart cord situation.

You could explain to skeptical observers that your inspiration was Paul Wittgenstein, and that you're compiling your designs into a collection, 'Home Furnishing Projects for Left Hand.'

Or you could wrap everything you see in plastic and see what works.

And afterwards, blame the austrians, who have so far got an undeserved free ride: friedrich, freud, kafka, schrodinger, klimt, hitler, schiele,etc....

That bookcase is awesome. I hope it's not near your bed in case of earthquake.

The word Cala is looking for is "shear".

Looking at the lamp, I think you need one of these, Ben.

You might like this lamp too.
One question: Why, oh why is the cord for the lamp black? Seriously, replace it with a white one (that is long enough) and joy+harmony will be yours.
Am i the only one who is disturbed by the glove on the wall?

Hey! That lamp is awesome! Excellent dimensions.

Re: the bookshelf; were you thinking of tensegrity structures?

Vaguely, but I know enough about them to know that I didn't make one.

Speaking of decorating questions, does anyone know of any good books that help people to think about paint colors. I am not very good at analyzing what I like in particular color schemes and could use some help. Too many people leave their walls white which is stark and boring. Suggestions?

Stanford's website doesn't mention an advanced degree in woodshop. Is it one of those under-the-table Ph.D.s?

Am i the only one who is disturbed by the glove on the wall?

No.

It's not just a glove; it's a glove with wood strips coming out of the thumb and pinky. There used to be a curvy table leg underneath it but it kept falling down, more's the pity.

I don't see what's so disturbing about it. Alameida understands, I bet.

I dont know. It just gives off a really bad bad no good vibe. Was that what you were looking for?

Surely it's not as disturbing as this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pharc/108349310/

Sorry I don't embed the link. Running back and forth to food on the stove.