But it's still a cool as hell project. People need to do more things just because they want to, and to hell with what anyone else thinks.
If it serves the artist, it served a purpose.
Personally, I have an aluminium laptop stand which makes the laptop dockable but which isn't portable or makes screen/keyboard usable (secure for cats though) and I have a portable, foldable, lightweight plastic one [1].
I also do not enjoy the idea of using the bottom of a laptop on concrete. The latter material isn't nice for scratches (and every time it is put or leaves concrete is a potential mark).
So in this case, I believe a second monitor (or larger primary one) plus a vertical laptop stand would fit in the shown office.
You can get concrete pretty smooth. Look up what some people do with polished concrete floors. Epoxy is sometimes used on top as well. You can get it as shiny as a bowling alley, and smooth enough to slide around on in your socks.
Shouldn't the laptop have feet on the bottom to avoid this?
How else could your laptop echo the theme of "Urban decay?"
I am reminded by Mathilde µP's 'stone age computer' [1] which gave people a terminal in summer 1993 (at HeU 93 hacker conference) at a time where terminal access was more sparse. It served a purpose and gave a real feel through interfacing, but not ergonomic.
My smartphones have leather cases (not fake leather, real) and this gets interesting results with regards to scratches, grease and other wear and tear. My laptop case has the same (again: not fake leather, real). I could keep the laptop in the case if I use a hub to connect it. The heat goes up, and peripherals can connect. Put that in a vertical case and it fits in the shown office environment. Another option could be a wooden case for the laptop; these exist.
Even if they look similar, there’s a big difference between sour grapes ego boosting, and people with subject matter expertise pointing out common misconceptions. A major problem with Engineer’s Disease is mistaking the former for the latter based on maybe having read a few blog posts and falling down a research rabbit hole once two years prior.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Station_Radisson_Met...
These two come to mind:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Station_Radisson_Met...
I'll accept that I'm biased by living here though haha
Re: decay, I regret not taking more photos of the final days of the RBS "Ziggurat": https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/stark-ph... ; at the end it had plants growing from much of the upper levels, making it look extremely Horizon Zero Dawn.
Aircrete with a good sealant because obviously it would be even more porous than regular concrete https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4_GxPHwqkA
You could likely also pour something like this out of aircrete, which would make it a lot lighter even at the same thickness
My favorite map is ‘One Need Not Be a House’ by Robert Yang, which was inspired by Louis Kahn's "brick brutalism" masterpieces in Bangladesh and India, as well as contemporary level design like The Silent Cartographer. The artist writes about their process on their blog post, https://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2026/01/one-need-not-be...
The map jam is standalone and uses custom assets so you don’t need a copy of Quake to enjoy it. Check the website for the ‘standalone’ variant.
Sorry for derailing! Cool laptop stand!
Are these all single-player maps? Are there any that are designed for (or would at least be suitable for) 1-4 player deathmatch?
I do really like the fast pace of Doom Eternal and Dark Ages which you can see here I think
I've been looking and looking, but the best I can find is using a narrow keyboard with a separate number-pad only keyboard on the left. I'm in the US.
(It's better for your right shoulder to keep the mouse closer to your body like in the picture.)
I am indeed a right-handed user, which is why I want my mouse within reach on the right.
May be worth considering too, especially if you're looking for a good keyboard with eg magnetic switches vs shitty rubberdome
[1] https://www.posturite.co.uk/left-handed-mechanical-keyboard
(If I needed a numpad I would have it standing alone.. those are easy to find)
It's easier to adapt to than than putting the mouse in my left hand!
found this one as well, don't know the brand: https://www.bloodyusa.com/product.php?pid=11&id=166
> For a medium-sized piece like this, a vibrating dildo is actually the best thing to use. Just think of it like any other power tool.For a medium-sized piece like this, a vibrating dildo is actually the best thing to use. Just think of it like any other power tool.
I used work on foundations for warehouses, huge concrete blocks as anchor points and this is exactly how we got the bubbles out, we had a huge metal vibrator they call them high-frequency concrete pokers.
Concrete is simply the mass production medium of the time, many of the patterns and moulds used in Barbican for example feature pretty timber imprints, scalloping patterns, painstakingly pick-hammered textured panels, or pleasing swooping shapes.
Further there is always space for glass, brass, Terrazzo and lighting.
Sam's design does feel cold, unnatural and broken, definitely not what brutalist living is about.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/feb/22...
https://www.structuralrenovations.co.uk/portfolio/barbican-e...
https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk/barbican-story/construction...
AFAICT Sam is in the UK, and that is most British people's lived experience of Brutalist architecture in the UK.
Outside of a few notable examples like the Barbican, many towns and cities in the UK were saddled with ugly concrete behemoths that were poorly designed and poorly maintained.
Many of us actually find it very frustrating when people lionize brutalist principles and talk about 'real' brutalism. If a movement is what it does, rather than what it says it aims to do, then brutalism is a movement that left Britain looking dull(er), grey(er), water-stained and with plenty of dark corners and weird spaces that smelled of piss and were havens for petty crime.
Sam's brutalist laptop stand is entirely representative of brutalism as it really played out in many places across the country.
This can often be the actual experience of it, though. Part of why it's so divisive. Personally I'm on the "looks great, wouldn't want to actually live there" side.
The Barbican is an example of how good it can be when properly maintained by a community. There are plenty of less prestigious examples where the community cheered their demolition.
There are burtalism structures that were intended to be beautiful and last. They do that well (well beauty is in the eye of the beholder), but the majority was quick and cheap above all else.
Imo brutalism is monolithic and unyielding. This is opposite, with the sturdy concrete yielding into plant overgrowth and exposed rebar.
EDIT: https://store.steampowered.com/app/870780/Control_Ultimate_E...
The maze level on the original game has to be an all-time best level design.
the sequel trailer got me into the first game, actually :)) and I'm already sold on these recursive pigeons. is it multiplicative resonance?
> all-time best level design
well, the only worthy contenders are DEATHLOOP and Dishonored 2 :>
but yeah, Remedy does deserve every award they got with Control
You need a proper Soviet-esque workstation of a laptop to sit on that concrete block - go get yourself a nice, chunky ThinkPad T530.
I think a "clean" and "contemporary" version of this would look amazing as well:
Along the lines of: https://www.modustrialmaker.com/blog/2018/8/14/making-an-imp...
Maybe with: (for weight) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foam_concrete (there are plenty of DIY versions of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4_GxPHwqkA
I appreciate++ the design except for the too-perfect rebar and the exposed wire directly _in_ the concrete. Pros would use a conduit methinks.
Thanks for the inspiration.
I see things like this and remind myself that I have free will.
It's not clear what the change is, whether it is curation by hand or some other metrics, but it's a positive change, the old Show HN was getting flooded, as recently discussed. ( Although I can't work out how to find that discussion. )
Thanks again to you and tomhow for all your stellar work on keeping the site as close to its original intent as practical these days
But I love the hacker feel of it.
It's wonderful and I love that someone else loves it. The care put into it is fantastic. Vive la différence.
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vive_la_diff%C3%A9rence for those who may not recognize that phrase.)
you'll only know when you find out the hard way
I've always wanted to build a computer like the iMac G4, with the half sphere, the arm and the monitor. In my street there was a pebble/rock (the size of a rugby ball, pretty smooth surface) laying around near a tree, and I thought of taking it with me as the base for this computer. It's beautiful stone. I should have grabbed it, because now it's gone.
But it required a lot of grinding and sanding to make it ready. I think pouring concrete is a better option for my idea.
Thanks for the inspiration!
A sudden desire to have a concrete monitor stand appears in my mind.
Practical considerations: I feel like simply adding some cork to the underside of most things would increase compatibility between plastic/alum and the hardness of concrete.
Its quite surreal. Very much in-your-face concrete exposure. Yet, to walk and experience it with your eyes is a study of contrasts: a giant, comparitively modern, greenhouse, has a glass roof open to the sky and yet many floors have no light or windows at all. And in the outdoor spaces, like the fountain/canal running through the complex the concrete will sort of be in the background and lets you focus on everything else: the water, the swans and the people around.
Juxtapose that to low hanging exposed concrete roofs and walls in closed passages could make one feel constrained/claustrophobic/yearning for light.
There are also lots of post modern elements. For example, the columns of the girl’s school have pyramids at the top to resemble pencils.
The south bank has more buildings that are a purer expression of brutalism.
Well, there were people that made light concrete on the 20th century too. But not it's accessible to anybody.
Just the execution of making it is impressive. Have you worked in concrete before? Or were you just like youtubing it the whole way?
[1] https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1227026/concrete-stereo-...
(Did you really immure a power strip in cement? The MOVs in those are wearing items, you know, and can though rarely do fail short circuit...)
Loved the brutalist movie, this actually seems quite nice assthetically.
Kudos to the creativity and no offense to the author. Partly running off a-priori risk model for internet content.
Curious to see if my prediction holds up.
That's debatable, but it's a moot point; it's pastiche, so it doesn't have the same goals or motivations as the original.
https://techaeris.com/2020/11/01/hyperstand-review-solid-por...
It's perfect: nice looking, highly functional, beautifully designed, and collapsible.
$29.99.
Alas, discontinued.
Perhaps eBay?
Edit: I just found a tricked-out version on eBay here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/226769239456?_skw=Hyper+HyperStand+...
If I sell a Monitor With Really Tall Monitor Stand and then you lightly bump your desk and break your monitor, you might want a replacement and call my stand "an unstable PoS".
If I sell you a Monitor and you stack books under it and your monitor falls... well... dummy, tall stuff falls over. Time to buy a new monitor.
Brits build their homes around the sockets, not the other way around.
This is one of those things where someone does something incredibly simple, but dresses it up in pretty language and even some totally irrelevant chemistry equations (because they r so smrt) to make it look like more than it is. Which LLM did you paste the equation from?
And of course those who also have no idea how anything is made are unbelievably impressed. You can tell by the amount of exclamation points in all of the toxically positive reactions. Good work in that respect!
But hey, I guess it's not another vibe coded project with an LLM writeup. Progress.
http://johnsalvatier.org/blog/2017/reality-has-a-surprising-...
This project is not to my personal taste but I respect the work which went in to it, and I'm glad its creator got what he wanted.