Economist, June 15, 2013

choi

(1) Phone boxes | A New Calling; A neglected piece of public furniture gains a new lease of life.  
http://www.economist.com/news/in ... se-life-new-calling
(the cachet of Britain’s cast-iron models)

Note:
(a) "a new calling"
Calling (n)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calling
(b) phone booths (what Americans call them) "as pinboards for prostitutes"

pinboard (n): "a board covered with cork and fixed to a wall so that messages and pictures can be pinned on to it for display"
Oxford Dictionaries
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pinboard

(c) "In Japan an art group called Kingyobu (goldfish club) has turned some kiosks in Osaka into aquariums."
(i) Kin-gyobu  金魚部
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/kingyobu
(ii) kin-gyo 金魚 【きんぎょ】 (n): "goldfish"

(d) "The New Museum, in New York City, converted 5,000 disused payphones into time portals. Passers-by could lift the receivers and hear the recollections of nurses, actors and porn stars from 1993.
(i) New Museum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Museum
(ii) Recalling 1993; Hear what every neighnorhood was like 20 years ago from any pay phone in Manhattan
http://www.recalling1993.com/
(1-[855]-FOR-1993)

"Recalling 1993" is part of the New Museum's “NYC 1993″ exhibition of this year.
(f) The [photo caption is "Speakeasy."

speakeasy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speakeasy%20
(section 1.1 Etymology)


(2) Lifts and skyscrapers |  The other mile-high club; A new lightweight lift cable will let buildings soar ever upward.
http://www.economist.com/news/sc ... r-ever-upward-other
("The problem with steel cables (or 'ropes' as they are known in the trade) is that they are heavy. * * * Carbon fibres are both stronger and lighter than steel")