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Monthly Archives: May 2013

History Rants

DFW: This Is Water


 

Learning how to think means learning how to have some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enought to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. If you cannot do this as an adult, you will be totally hosed.

And the so-called real world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving…. The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.
 
That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing.

David Foster Wallace, Kenyan College Commencement Speech, 2005.

 

UPDATE: The DFW trust has taken down the excellent video from The Glossary, so I’ve updated it with just a straight recording of the speech from youtube. Thanks Trustees!

History Politics Rants

Bike Lanes Boost Local Business

NYC study finds that bikes lanes boost local retail sales by almost 50%, at a time when average retail sales increased by 8%. Additionally, dedicated bike lanes reduced all injuries for all street users by over 30%.

NYCDOT_-_9th_Street
NYC_DOT_-_Pearl_St

Download the pdf here.

Also relevant:

Science Stuff Technology

Aquaduct Mini Planters

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3d printed hangable mini planters that funnel excess water down to the planters below. Buy a 10 pack at Shapeways.

Technology

oscillate

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oscillate-2

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Oscillate

My goal with “Oscillate” was to visualize waveform patterns that evolve from the fundamental sine wave to more complex patterns, creating a mesmerizing audio-visual experience in which sight and sound work in unison to capture the viewer’s attention.

by Daniel Sierra

Science

Watch a soap bubble freeze

-30C. Go figure.

History

A Rogues Gallery



Purported Picture Of Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday, Jesse James and Charlie Bowdre.

Jesse James, Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday were all in Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1879 which is when I believe this tintype photo was taken. The tintype depicts four deputised men, one wearing a badge and the other three wearing white bandanas hanging from their pockets representing that they are Peace Officers as the white flag is a symbol of truce.

Science Stuff Technology

Lotus Top by ThreeForm

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Lotus Top by ThreeForm on Shapeways.

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