It's in stone, so it must be true...
It’s a little hard to read, so here’s the transcription:
There ain’t any answer,
there ain’t going to be any answer,
there never has been any answer,
that’s the answer.– Gertrude Stein, 1946
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From the category archives:
Image
Eggplant from the Portland Farmers' Market
I hope it delights the palate as much as the eyes…
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Bugs in lights, filmed with long exposures, reveal their true nature as abstract expressionists:
flight patterns from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.
via Andrew Sullivan
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Irrepressible
By fascists — with batons — this mark was made.
Her smile says: “Our resistance will not fade.”
Wishing the people of Iran all the best in your struggle for your human rights to freely express yourselves and be treated with dignity.
The world admires your courage.
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An unhelmeted stormtrooper finds sanctuary:
June 13: On the streets of Tehran
via Andrew Sullivan
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I’ve been following Tom Steinberg’s great work at establishing better communications channels and feedback loops between citizens and the UK government for a while now. You can find out more about these projects at the mySociety website.
In his latest newsletter, he featured a project that applies the HotOrNot meme (which is often judgmental, demeaning, humiliating and masochistic when rating people) to places in the UK:
“ScenicOrNot helps you to explore every corner of England, Scotland and Wales, all the while comparing your aesthetic judgements with fellow players.”
The site presents a photo, and prompts viewers to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, from not scenic to scenic.
One-dimensional assessments of anything are always dicey, but I can see many merits in this particular project:
- It’s interesting to learn how others perceive a place. Is there anything close to general agreement about what it means to be scenic? I rated a field of ripening barely a 7, 2.5 points above the average.
- Many of the photos used are not of touristy locations, so it may be the first time that a particular cattle-gate has been rated or thought about in these terms.
- Aggregating such opinions could have all sorts of uses, from finding attractive places you didn’t know about, to directing beautification efforts at blighted areas.
According to the same newsletter, mySociety is working on:
“A Really Great Secret Project that uses that scenicness data we’ve been gathering and which we think you’re going to Quite Like”
I can’t wait to see it.
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A street-performer in Mexico City
The Telegraph has a gallery of decorated face masks in Mexico City.
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In yesterday’s post, following the advice of Brian, I was looking at the bright side of life.
We are also a species that doesn’t know how to solve problems like this:
Chimneys in DPRK
The Boston Globe’s website has a collection of poignant yet beautiful photos of the effects of poverty and tyranny in North Korea.
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Architect Peter Kaschnig decided to paint every aspect of his home blue:
Peter Kaschnig's Blue Abode
From the Mirror:
Peter reckons the lack of contrast gives everything an exciting 3D effect. “It’s more vivid than any computer animation,” he says.
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The Guardian (and the BBC) report on the revival of a World War II-era poster:
Keep Calm And Carry On
So much for stiff upper lip. It sounds rather limp to me.
Whatever it might have meant to a population under the threat of Nazi invasion, does it apply to the current global economic downturn?
Matt Jones offers a worthy riposte:
The change of color reflects the difference in sentiments nicely, too.
via Merlin Mann
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Photographs of the Super-Kamiokande neutrino observatory in Japan:
The Ceiling
Across the Water
More photos available here, via gargantua & pantagruel.
Read more about the observatory on Wikipedia.
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Bre Prettis and Kio Stark have written a 13-point Cult of Done Manifesto. Examples:
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2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
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6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
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9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
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Here’s one of the visual depictions, by James Provost:
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Environmental Graffiti selected 15 Beautiful Microscopic Images from Inside the Human Body from the Wellcome Images collection:
This is how our bodies distribute oxygen:
Red Blood Cells
This is how we move:
Purkinje neurons
This is how we hear:
Stereocilia, inside the ear
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A Flickr user found these negatives amidst darkroom equipment at a garage sale, and is looking for clues about their identity.
It seems to me that anonymity enhances their beauty. I don’t think I want to know their names…
View the full set on Flickr.
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Nadya Vessey
“A prosthetic is a prosthetic, and your body has to be comfortable with it and you have to mentally make it part of yourself,” she said.
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