Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The World According to Americans
Although hopefully an overstated generalization, this cartoon map sums up many of the flawed and uneducated perspectives of (at least some) Americans. Put together, they do not create a very attractive picture of our country or our people, do they? If you are American, please do your part, especially when dealing with those from other cultures, not to act like a jackass. It reflects poorly on the rest of us.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Don't Be Afraid To Stand Out From Your Crowd
I've had this picture on my hard drive for a while; I don't even remember where I got it. Every time I see the thumbnail, I can't help but smile, or even laugh. Best I can tell, it's a legit, non-photoshopped family picture, probably snapped begrudgingly in the portrait studio at a Wal*Mart somewhere in southern Indiana. I can imagine that there is some pretty interesting drama in that family.
But you have to respect the second son. He knows who he is, and he knows who he is not. Despite the conformal pressure in his family unit, he's his own man, and probably always will be. I'm sure he will be an effective leader one day, and I respect his individuality.
Be true to yourself, regardless of who the system tells you you should be. Excel based on your achievements, not based on your appearance. If the system tries to program you for sweater vest and clip on bow-tie but your inner Axl Rose promises organ rejection, you know which way to go . . .
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Falling Artist Suspended In Time
Kerry Skarbakka photographs himself falling from trees, jumping off bridges and in the midst of fires – all in the name of art. Inspired by the helplessness he felt after the 9/11 attacks, Kerry's work captures him frozen in a moment of peril. This collection of 13 shots is compelling in it's combination of performance art and "in the moment" photography. I seriously hope he didn't have multiple takes for some of these shots.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
I Love You, Mr. Star Wars
Very cool compilation (2 and a half minutes) of quotes in movies where the star says the title of the movie. Would be a fave of Peter Griffin from Family Guy.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Internet Vices - Facebook is A Vodka/Cranberry,Twitter is Crack Cocaine,
Patrick Molberg has an Interesting comic strip perspective on many things, including the potentially detrimental impacts that our various social media addictions can have on our lives. Funny and spot on in many ways.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Mind Blowing Hyperrealistic Sculptures
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
China vs the US: Objects In Rear View Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
This staggering infographic illustrates on several axes the tremendous shift in global power between China and the US. The trade imbalance and Forex reserves alone are enough to give any US taxpayer or holder of American dollars significant trepidation. How can we maintain a symbiotic global balance between these two important global trading partners with this much shift in the center of gravity?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
50 Very Simple Ways That YOU Can Help the Planet
This clean and elegantly designed page from Wire&Twine offers you 50 great tips to help save the planet by living more more greenly on a daily basis. The list covers the whole gamut of simple daily habits from #2 turning off your computers at night to #11printing double-sided (my personal pet peeve) to #17 showering with your partner (another personal fave). I'm sure you are already practicing some or many of these behaviors, but I guarantee you that 60 seconds on this page will give you at least 2 - 3 new green habits, which you can begin practicing this week.
We will prolong the livability of our planet only by mass adoption of basic behavior modifications that have small impacts individually, but massive benefit collectively. Which of these do you commit to adopting, starting today?!?!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Google Wave: Theory vs Reality
I am relating to this after craving an invite for weeks and finally getting one last night, but not being able to find anyone to "Wave" with so that I can kick the tires on this potentially cool tool.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Timescapes Timelapse: Mountain Light
Tom's videos created from time-lapse photographs are stunning and ethereal. This short (2:38) sequence is from White Mountain in Yosemite and gives you a great panoramic feel for the sky, the Milky Way, the light and the terrain. Utterly Captivating. Please check out all his work at Timescapes.org.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Despicable: Dodge Viper Logo is an Upside-Down Daffy Duck.
If you drive a Dodge Viper and you ever unintentionally roll your car, make sure you roll it back over quickly so that the Warner Brothers lawyers don't come after you for trademark infringement.
Dodge -- You're Despicable!!!
A Year In The Life Of A Container: Lessons Learned as the Box returns
This interesting project sponsored by BBC News branded a normal 40ft shipping container (outfitted with GPS transmitter) and followed it's travels around the world for a year. Now back in the UK after more than a year, the detailed stories and informative 90 second videos give a good snapshot of how interconnected the global economies are. Cool idea and interesting project, visit the BBC Box site to learn more about the individual voyages.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
12 of the World's Coolest Packaging Designs
This collection of 12 cool and innovative packaging designs may give you the idea spark to make your next product ID concept pull away from the pack.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Totally Amazing Lego Art Sculptures by Nathan Sawaya
This guy quit his day job and amassed a stash of over 1.5 million LEGO blocks to create some very cool sculptures.
Very Small People In A Very Big World
This amazing collection of micro-montages creates tiny human drama in the un-noticed corners of our very large scale urban life. Please visit Do-While to enjoy this very creative collection.
Schwarzenegger Gives California Legislature The (Subtle) Finger
On a par with "Marble Cake, Also The Game", you have to really appreciate the thought and planning that went into the Governator's tersely worded rejection of Bill 1176. He, (or some devious member of his admin staff) apparently has a mastery of vocabulary and font kerning that goes beyond that of mere mortals.
I'm big on transparency (and embedded subliminal messaging) in Government. I'm Lovin' It!!
Confused About Which Religion to Follow? Use This Simple Tool
I'm sorry, I realize that this flowchart will manage to offend just about anyone who takes it seriously, but it's funny. So don't take it seriously.
Staggering Photographic Evidence Of Man's Impact On The Ecosystem
This gut-wrenching collection of photos from the Midway Atoll documents dead albatross chicks who have been fed plastic trash by their parents. Every day, their parents fly out over the polluted Pacific and bring back colorful plastic, which they think is food. Every year, tens of thousands of albatross die this way on tiny Midway Atoll. Midway is over 2000 miles away from the nearest continent. None of these photos have been manipulated in any way. Protect the ocean, don't throw trash overboard, don't let your trash blow into the ocean. Join the Surfrider foundation if you are not already a member.
Throw Away Conventional Economics: YouTube’s Bandwidth Bill Is Zero.
This interesting article from WIRED puts practical context around the arguments made in Chris Anderson's thought provoking book "Free" and explains how Google is leveraging global server farm consolidation and intelligent purchase and subsequent barter of Dark Fiber to make YouTube's bandwidth bill negligible. The macroeconomics you learned in college no longer apply.
A Global View Of The Housing Bubble
This interesting graph from McKinsey highlights the tremendous run up in home prices on inflation adjusted terms over the last 40 years since 1970. This runup reversed abruptly last year, with the US shedding 10% of value and the remainder of the global economies losing in aggregate around 4%. This slide equates to nearly $3.5 trillion dollars of personal wealth evaporation. Considering the immense mortgage leverage overhang on many of these homes and the chance that any appreciation will be slow to come, this global housing bubble will certainly dampen growth in consumption and global economic recovery.
McSaturation of The Continental United States
This map uses geolocatiion data to plot the density of the 13,000 US McDonald's franchise locations and color to represent the distance to the nearest outlet. It is interesting to see that the Eastern US is fully saturated and that in many locale's the outlets are nearly right on top of each other. The most McRemote location in the US is in South Dakota, 145miles by car from the nearest Mickey D's.
I'm Lovin' It!!
1 Million Spiders Make Golden Silk for Rare Cloth | Wired Science
This interesting article explains how an amazing number of golden orb spiders were collected from telephone poles in Madagascar to produce enough Spider Silk fiber to weave this 11 foot x 4 foot textile.
Spider Silk has higher tensile strength than Kevlar or Steel and over 40% tensile elongation, which would make it an extremely interesting fiber for ballistics, aerospace, and other composites applications.
Unfortunately, over 14,000 spiders are required to generate one ounce of silk. (This fabric weighs over 2.6 pounds, meaning that over 1 million female spiders were silked in the process.) To date no one has been successful at generating a synthetic process which duplicates the transformation which goes in in the spider's spinnerets, where physical force is used to transform liquid protein into solid silk.
I need to get our AGY scientists right on this one!!
Birds on the Wires
Amazingly beautiful music created by transcriptions from patterns of birds "randomly" sitting on wires.
t2nejckd57
Benjamin Franklin’s Daily Schedule
I came across this posting on Sci-Fi Hi-Fi and it sparked me to ponder my daily scheduling mechanisms.
I'm not sure if Ben's actual schedule was any closer to his planned schedule than mine typically are, but I am impressed by the way he built work / personal life balance, daily planning and reflection into his daily rhythm.
Is your daily schedule "all about work", or does it keep you complete and allow sufficient time for planning and reflection?
The Longest Way 1.0 - one year / 4646km time lapse walk through China
This guy's story is amazing, and his time lapse video does a great job of cataloging his journey and facial hair development. Please visit Chris Rehage's site thelongestway.com.
Very inspiring.
The Bear - Amazing Natural Action Film by Jean-Jacques Annaud
This amazing trailer is certain to get your heart pumping. Watch full screen with sound turned up. I'm not sure exactly how it was shot, but it is amazing.
I assumed there were some computer animation techniques used, but upon further research on Wikipedia , it turns out that this film is from 1988!! Wow I will have to hunt this down.
Nerd Venn Diagram
This tells me a lot about myself, more so than Myers Briggs. I guess that I'm a Geek.
New Ecofriendly Travel Netbook desk
I spotted this innovative new netbook travel desk in the Detroit Delta Crown Room on my last trip to China and found it somehow oxymoronic.
