The basic thesis is that between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of time — 0.1s — acquired a weirdly powerful role at the heart of science, and indirectly, in the shaping of all modernity.
The tldr of the book might even be: the failure to come to terms with the 0.1s limit in human cognition gave birth to modernity, with all its inherent tensions, via a set of parallel crises.
An ongoing series of vibrant river and delta images from North America and other parts of the world. The images are constructed using high-resolution elevation data. To learn more about the rivers and to download the 4K-resolution versions, use the links at the bottom of the page.
Source: Dan Coe Carto – 4K Rivers
I’ve been fascinated with pen plotters for a long time now and I’ve owned several of them – but for some reason never posted any of my explorations or findings online. Until now, at least. You might wonder what’s so special about pen plotters? Well, let me tell you. Pen plotters are friendly robots
Source: An intro to Pen Plotters — Hej.
“Iran’s sympathetic response to the American tragedy has been exceptional for a country under US economic siege for two decades. Only hours after the Sept. 11 attack, President Muhammad…
Donnacha Costello’s ‘Color Series’ first debuted on his own label ‘Minimise’ in 2004 and over the next year or so, evolved into ten releases which to this day remain some of my favourite vinyl records. With influences ranging from Aphex Twin, Plastikman, Autechre, Model 500 and Farley Jackmaster Funk, Donnacha reached into new territory with this series, combining his love of synths, techno music and in many instances, ambient music, to produce a collectable and sought after series of vinyl, and a defining style of music for many of today’s producers.
Source: Donnacha Costello – Ten Years Later — A STRANGELY ISOLATED PLACE
A large, semi-sovereign, largely ungoverned urban enclave inside of Hon Kong, Kowloon Walled City was one of the most densely populated plots of land on the planet. Largely build in an ad-hoc, accretive manner over the years before it was finally torn down in 1994. Luckily for those of us who weren’t able to visit before it was destroyed, a group of Japanese researchers scoured the place, creating beautiful dense maps and diagrams of the city published in a book several years later, as well as enough detail to produce a 3D model of the city.
The images speak for themselves:
Note: no James Earl Jones voiceover, nor John Williams soundtrack. Still, must have made an impression!
Incredible article from The Guardian, information rich, compelling, beautiful, technologically advanced, and telling one of the most important stories of our age: NSA Decoded
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.
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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!
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%.
Also relevant:
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