December 2011
39 posts
“And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke (via frenchtwist)
“One cannot be expected to march full-bore into an interpersonal relationship...”
– Phil Roland Love In The Time Of Tumblr « Thought Catalog An extremely well-written discussion of identity, internet, performance and relationships in the age of Tumblr (via wambamashleyanne)
Fire in the Library →
givemesomethingtoread:
Once, we stored our photos and other mementos in shoeboxes in the attic; now we keep them online. That puts our stuff at the mercy of companies that could decide to throw it away—unless Jason Scott and the Archive Team can get there first.
(Thanks, Alex)
“I dreamt that a storm of ghostly numbers was the only thing left behind by...”
– Roberto Bolaño, A Journey Through Literature (via frenchtwist)
Discovering Autism: Unraveling An Epidemic →
givemesomethingtoread:
Rates of autism have exploded over the last 20 years. In exploring the phenomenon and its repercussions, Los Angeles Times staff writer Alan Zarembo interviewed dozens of clinicians, researchers, parents and educators and reviewed scores of scientific studies. Zarembo, along with Doug Smith and Sandra Poindexter of the Times data team, also analyzed autism rates and...
“Why force my body to change its place, when my soul travels so lightly and so...”
– Charles Baudelaire (via frenchtwist)
BBC News - Self-cleaning cotton nanoparticle... →
techspotlight:
Engineers have created a chemical coating that causes cotton materials to clean themselves of stains and remove odours when exposed to sunlight. The researchers say the treatment is cheap, non-toxic and ecologically friendly. Retail experts say the innovation could prove a hit with retailers thanks to a growing demand for “functional clothing”. The research was carried out by...
Say Hello To My Little Friend →
America’s fascination with “savages” and shrunken heads began in the early 1900s, with the publication of the first English-language Jívaro ethnographies and the arrival of the first tsantsas, as ceremonial heads are known, in U.S. museums. The fascination flourished throughout the first half of the 20th century. In the thirties and forties, self-styled “explorers” like Robert Ripley and Lewis...
All Things Made Light
viafrank:
From the sawtoothed shadows of an old Alder tree, to the lapping of water on the side of a boat, to the sound of an uproarious laugh leaping out of an agape mouth turned toward the sky: these moments are every kind of memory, past and upcoming—the strings that tie all of us to one another. All true to the touch, each bit illuminated, everything made light: a perfect fit that fills the...
“The desire to be connected with the cosmos reflects a profound reality, We are...”
– Carl Sagan (via cwnl
)
Out-of-Body Experience: Master of Illusion →
It is not every day that you are separated from your body and then stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife. But such experiences are routine in the lab of Henrik Ehrsson, a neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, who uses illusions to probe, stretch and displace people’s sense of self. Today, using little more than a video camera, goggles and two sticks, he has convinced me...
“A solution is not a solution if it doesn’t work for the people for whom it’s...”
– Cheryl Heller on SVA’s new Design for Social Innovation MFA
PopTech Board Chair Cheryl Heller is the Founding Chair of a new MFA program, Design for Social Innovation, at the School of Visual Arts in New York. As the founder of Heller Communications, she’s been working at the intersection of...
Why neuroscience may help save the oceans →
poptech:
Marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols believes we’re psychologically tethered to our primordial home, the ocean. Sound far-fetched? Then think for a moment about how you feel when you’re standing on a beach, looking out at the seemingly endless blue horizon, or when you pick up a seashell and “listen” to the sound of waves crashing ashore. There’s something about it, isn’t there? Nichols...
Out of Thin Air →
The lowest point of his career occurred at the highest point he raced. Mexico City is surrounded by mountains and is over 7,000 feet above sea level. That the altitude would have an impact on the Games was predicted. Clarke had raised concerns himself, but had been told by the Australian sports authorities that whingeing was bad sportsmanship. Since those Olympics, however, scientists have...
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: degrassé →
dictionaryofobscuresorrows:
adj. entranced and unsettled by the vastness of the universe, experienced in a jolt of recognition that the night sky is not just a wallpaper but a deeply foreign ocean whose currents are steadily carrying off all other castaways, who share our predicament but are already well out of…
“How bewitching the beauty of a human body composed not of paint or stone but of...”
– Thomas Mann, Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain), 1924 (via frenchtwist)
crooked indifference: Restore the Basic Bargain →
robertreich:
For most of the last century, the basic bargain at the heart of the American economy was that employers paid their workers enough to buy what American employers were selling.
That basic bargain created a virtuous cycle of higher living standards, more jobs, and better wages.
…
“As men, we very rarely, if ever, know what it’s like to face unwelcome comments...”
– Yashar Ali, “Men Will Never Truly Understand A Day In The Life of Women. But Shouldn’t We Try?” (via crookedindifference)
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong to each other.”
– Mother Teresa
via ginger-ninja (via frenchtwist)