RandomlyHaphazard

awkwardsituationist: 98 year old dobri dobrev, a man who lost...

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:55:53 -0400

98 year old dobri dobrev, a man who lost his hearing in the second world war, walks 10 kilometers from his village in his homemade clothes and leather shoes to the city of sofia, where he spends the day begging for money.

though a well recognized fixture around several of the city’s chruches, known for his prostrations of thanks to all donors, it was only recently discovered that he has donated every penny he has collected — over 40,000 euros — towards the restoration of decaying bulgarian monasteries and churches and the utility bills of orphanages, living entirely off his monthly state pension of 80 euros and the kindness of others.

nevver: Remembering Futurism

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:26:51 -0400

grant snider

grant snider

grant snider

grant snider

nevver:

Remembering Futurism

Make bad art.

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:50:04 -0400

austinkleon:

Neil Gaiman has released a book of his great commencement address, Make Good Art.

When things get tough, this is what you should do: Make good art. I’m serious. Husband runs off with a politician — make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by a mutated boa constrictor — make good art. IRS on your trail — make good art. Cat exploded — make good art. Someone on the Internet thinks what you’re doing is stupid or evil or it’s all been done before — make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, eventually time will take the sting away, and that doesn’t even matter. Do what only you can do best: Make good art. Make it on the bad days, make it on the good days, too.

I love Gaiman’s message, but I also want to make a plug for something else: when the going gets rough, make bad art, too.

When 9/11 and Katrina hit and she lost a bunch of her close friends, Lynda Barry got really depressed, and all she could do is doodle:

I found myself compelled, like this weird, shameful compulsion to draw cute animals. That was all I could stand to draw. You know, just cry and draw cute animals…dancing dogs with crowns on, you know? And, like, really friendly ducks. But I found this monkey, this meditating monkey, and I found that once - when I drew that monkey, it’s not that it fixed the problem. But it did shift it a little bit, or provide me some kind of relief. And that’s when I started to think, maybe that’s what images do, because I believe in all my - with all my heart they have an absolute biological function…

“Good” can be a stifling word, a word that makes you hesitate and stare at a blank page and second-guess yourself and throw stuff in the trash. What’s important is to get your hands moving and let the images come. Whether it’s good or bad is beside the point. Make art.

A little Tumblr history from Marco

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:29:17 -0400

A little Tumblr history from Marco:

fishingboatproceeds:

david:

:’)

My life is much better now that I am following David Karp on the thing that he made. (And also my life is so much better because he made it.)

bookriot: Set your dials to jaw-dropping for The Library of...

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:19:03 -0400

bookriot:

Set your dials to jaw-dropping for The Library of Parliament in Canada.

This is a place I want to go to.

sircle: “You want kids to come in your class, you want them to...

Sun, 12 May 2013 12:57:57 -0400

sircle:

“You want kids to come in your class, you want them to get excited for this,” yells Bliss to Ms. Phung. “You gotta come in here and make ‘em excited.”

#FutureStatus

Priceonomics Blog: Why is Science Behind a Paywall?

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:26:40 -0400

Priceonomics Blog: Why is Science Behind a Paywall?:

priceonomics:

Scientists’ work follows a consistent pattern. They apply for grants, perform their research, and publish the results in a journal. The process is so routine it almost seems inevitable. But what if it’s not the best way to do science?

Although the act of publishing seems to entail sharing your research with the world, most published papers sit behind paywalls. The journals that publish them charge thousands of dollars per subscription, putting access out of reach to all but the most minted universities. Subscription costs have risen dramatically over the past generation. According to critics of the publishers, those increases are the result of the consolidation of journals by private companies who unduly profit off their market share of scientific knowledge.

Read More

edwardspoonhands: Google Earth Engine is a joint project...

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:18:01 -0400

edwardspoonhands:

Google Earth Engine is a joint project between Google and NASA that allows anyone access to a 30 year time-lapse of the surface of the earth. I made a video about how amazing, terrifying, and important it is.

sortiarius: my head is on fire, but my legs are fine… after...

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:29:17 -0400

sortiarius:

my head is on fire, but my legs are fine… after all they are mine.

/screams into the night

awkwardsituationist: high tide and low tide in great britain....

Sat, 04 May 2013 22:05:18 -0400

awkwardsituationist:

high tide and low tide in great britain. photographs by michael marten

There’s a good metaphor in here.

smile-182: girl-on-wire: gifcraft: Source: Aging Face...

Sat, 04 May 2013 21:36:19 -0400

smile-182:

girl-on-wire:

gifcraft:

Source: Aging Face Transformation

love

This is so beautiful.

edwardspoonhands: Joe Homes is smart and this video is REALLY...

Sat, 04 May 2013 16:54:40 -0400

edwardspoonhands:

Joe Homes is smart and this video is REALLY INTERESTING.

“If our values don’t make our lives better…then they’re not that valuable.”

Sometimes I value completion and the rewards of success more than I value emotional stability and happiness, and that’s backwards. It’s hard to fight your own brain, but you have to do it.

Mythbusters 10th anniversary

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:26:33 -0400

Mythbusters 10th anniversary

littleprincessvegan: headandstomachached: What Would You Do?:...

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:57:59 -0400

littleprincessvegan:

headandstomachached:

What Would You Do?: A transgender woman is insulted by a man at a diner. This is a really great segment they did where a trans woman, played by a real trans woman, is insulted and ridiculed by a man (played by an actor, of course) while she serves him at a diner. You’d be surprised at how many people butted in to defend her.

So much faith in humanity restored.

Fucking great how they supported her.

Heartwarming, but I wonder if there were any takes where no one did anything.

And I find it interesting that it was only men who stood up for the girl. It touched on it in the video, but being ready to defend someone and actually doing it are very different things. I think that could say something interesting about women-women relationships (also considering women-women relationships in the workplace).

Or maybe the women actually realized it was acting, I don’t know.

Feminism in video games

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:29:03 -0400

7nights:

This is the Sorceress from Vanillaware’s Dragon’s Crown. Lately, this character has been getting a lot of heat, becoming the new icon of sexism in video games. Are you offended by this character? Do you find it sexist? Well guess what, it’s not.

Read More

I’m a changed man

Wed, 01 May 2013 08:06:10 -0400

I’m a changed man

humansofnewyork: “What’s the best day you’ve ever spent...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:26:46 -0400

humansofnewyork:

“What’s the best day you’ve ever spent together?”
“Probably that day on the Ponts des Arts.”
“What’d you do?”
“Just held hands.”

futurescope: ‘Quantum Internet’: Towards realization of...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:29:02 -0400

futurescope:

‘Quantum Internet’: Towards realization of solid-state quantum network

From physorg:

Researchers at TU Delft in the Netherlands have managed to bring two electrons, three meters from each other, into a quantum- entangled state. This result marks a major step towards realizing a quantum network that can be used to connect future quantum computers and to send information in a completely secure way by means of ‘teleportation’. The results have been published online on April 24 in Nature.

[Read more] [paper]

I’m excited.

droo216: Avatar: The Last Airbender → live action and as it...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 23:31:45 -0400

droo216:

Avatar: The Last Airbender → live action and as it should have been

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony. Then everything changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished…

baddie: Mmmmmmanara. First time I scrolled past this I was...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 23:02:54 -0400

baddie:

Mmmmmmanara.

First time I scrolled past this I was like, “Cool! A really intricate historical/cultural thingy.”

Second time, “Oh…”