January 27, 2012

good:

Patrick Joust clearly loves Baltimore as depicted through his art. A self-professed street photographer, he tries to convey a sense of place through his photos. 

Read more on GOOD and see Joust’s photographs on his website and blog.


January 26, 2012
(via FFFFOUND! | 317005_253588748020273_100001074487474_710131_755081584_n-700x500-700.jpg 700×322 pixels)

(via FFFFOUND! | 317005_253588748020273_100001074487474_710131_755081584_n-700x500-700.jpg 700×322 pixels)

January 26, 2012
"I don’t disagree some forms of conspicuous consumption are fading, but in the context of how we present ourselves online, I think we’ve entered a new era of hyper-conspicuous digital consumption. While the poor economy may be reducing our urge to buy an expensive car just to show we can, the new additions to our ever-growing arsenal of social-media tools are giving us new ways to show the world what kind of things we like, what clothing or jewelry we would wear (if we could), what kind of cars we would drive (if we could), what kind of homes we’d live in (if we could) and on and on. If there wasn’t a social element to Svpply or Pinterest (or Twitter or Facebook or blogs, for that matter) I think far fewer people would take the time to use these tools for personal organization. It is the overtly conspicuous nature of sharing the pretty things we find that makes these tools fun to use in the first place."

Can Pinterest and Svpply Help You *Reduce* Your Consumption? - Chris Tackett - Technology - The Atlantic

Here’s a bit of my theory for why people (myself included) are hooked on Pinterest and Svpply. There’s lots more to it, including how the behaviors these services are based around hunting and gathering, so please read the whole thing!

January 23, 2012
"

It is true that in the absence of a divine plan our lives have no externally determined purpose: an individual is not born for the purpose of becoming a physician or creating a spectacular work of art or digging a well in an arid corner of Africa. But are the sick less cured, the pleasure to the art-lover less intense, or the thirst of parched villagers less slaked, simply because a man sought his own purpose rather than following a diktat from on high? Do we really need a deity to tell us that a life spent curing cancer is more worthwhile than one spent drinking in the gutter?

Why should we not find satisfaction in alleviating suffering or injustice, just because we’re all going to die one day? The very fact that this life is all we have makes it even more important to do everything possible to reduce the suffering caused by poverty, disease, injustice and ignorance. To describe such attempts as meaningless is to say that avoidable suffering does not matter, hardly a moral stance.

"

‘How do atheists find meaning in life?’ - - The Washington Post

January 23, 2012
(via sneak peek: amanda orcutt of amandromeda | Design*Sponge)

(via sneak peek: amanda orcutt of amandromeda | Design*Sponge)

January 23, 2012
(via sneak peek: jason gnewikow   jeff madalena | Design*Sponge)

(via sneak peek: jason gnewikow jeff madalena | Design*Sponge)

January 23, 2012
(via sneak peek: jason gnewikow   jeff madalena | Design*Sponge)
Love the tile, but what caught my eye is this tub table made from a wooden slab. Great DIY project. The rosemary bush is also handy if you are wanting to marinate yourself.

(via sneak peek: jason gnewikow jeff madalena | Design*Sponge)

Love the tile, but what caught my eye is this tub table made from a wooden slab. Great DIY project. The rosemary bush is also handy if you are wanting to marinate yourself.

January 23, 2012
(via Floor 1997-2000, A Glass Floor Supported by 180,000 Plastic Figurines)

(via Floor 1997-2000, A Glass Floor Supported by 180,000 Plastic Figurines)

January 20, 2012
(via FFFFOUND! | The Bones of War: Haunting Skeleton Photography | Design   Ideas on WU)

(via FFFFOUND! | The Bones of War: Haunting Skeleton Photography | Design Ideas on WU)

January 19, 2012
Indian Chief (by mando maniac)

Indian Chief (by mando maniac)

January 19, 2012
"I was just buying a cup of coffee but my experience was suddenly, radically transformed when my attention was shifted through the lens of the science I had just learned. The breathless excitement that overwhelmed me (and I had not even touched the coffee yet) came because I felt as though I was seeing the invisible superstructure of the world laid before me even in the most humble of objects. Science—specifically the mathematical physics of elastic surfaces—made that experience of the sacred possible."

The Formulas Of Life - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast

January 19, 2012
"According to the Trades Union Congress, a federation of labor unions, more than 5.2 million U.K. employees worked 1,968 million unpaid overtime hours last year. If all these employees did all their overtime work at the beginning of the year, they would essentially work for free until February 24. And so the TUC has selected that date for its 10th annual Work Your Proper Hours Day. Employees are encouraged to observe the day by showing up to work on time (not before!), taking a full lunch break, and leaving on time."

Work Your Proper Hours: A Campaign Against Unpaid Overtime | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

I should try this some day.

January 19, 2012
"When a professor of history calls Barack Obama a “Food Stamp President,” it isn’t a mistake to be remedied through clarification; it is a statement of aggresion. And when a crowd of his admirers cheer him on, they are neither deluded, nor in need of forgiveness, nor absolution, nor acting against their interest. Racism is their interest. They are not your misguided friends. They are your fully intelligent adversaries, sporting the broad range of virtue and vice we see in humankind."

Real Racists Do Real Things - Ta-Nehisi Coates - Politics - The Atlantic

As usual, @tanehisi is on point. Read the whole thing.

January 18, 2012
(via Paper Vader)

(via Paper Vader)

January 18, 2012

thekidshouldseethis:

You’re made of carbon, you’re made of oxygen, there’s iron in your blood. All of those things had to be generated inside the core of a star. There’s no other way to get them. So when you think about star stuff, look around you. Everything that you’re made of, everything the world around you is made of had to come from the belly of a star that blew up a long time ago.

The last five minutes of Extreme Stars, an episode from the Discovery Channel’s How the Universe Works. (Can’t wait to watch all of these with the kids.)