“What’s also interesting about the kids’ language is that people — mostly academics — have been trying to introduce a gender-neutral singular pronoun into the English language for about 200 years, with very little success. And then a group of kids in Baltimore just make one up and start using it.”
(via count-vulvula)
Mark Ronson is creating a new kind of soundtrack for the Olympics by recording and mixing athletes’ sounds and noises, a fine addition to these great projects creating music in unusual ways.
(via apoplecticskeptic)
Early Bird Special: From the David Tennant-narrated BBC nature series Earthflight, stunning footage of common cranes flying over Venice.
[towleroad.]
a) David Tennant.
b) David Tennant’s actual Scottish accent.
c) BBC nature series.
MORE REASONS TO LIVE.
NOUN
a person who is from 70 to 79 years old.
ORIGIN
late 18th century: from Latin septuagenarius (based on septuaginta [seventy]) + -an.
The Walls Notebook is a notebook that, in lieue of blank pages, is filled with photos of blank New York City walls.
The Walls Notebook is by Sherwood Forlee and Mihoko Ouchi of a design studio called “the”.
Notebook Contains Photos of NYC Walls Rather Than Blank Pages
This is so cool.
Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Map is the only flat map of the entire surface of the Earth which reveals our planet as one island in one ocean, without any visually obvious distortion of the relative shapes and sizes of the land areas, and without splitting any continents.
Traditional world maps reinforce the elements that separate humanity and fail to highlight the patterns and relationships emerging from the ever evolving and accelerating process of globalization. Instead of serving as “a precise means for seeing the world from the dynamic, cosmic and comprehensive viewpoint,” the maps we use still cause humanity to “appear inherently disassociated, remote, self-interestedly preoccupied with the political concept of its got to be you or me; there is not enough for both.”
Fuller’s view was that given a way to visualize the whole planet with greater accuracy, we humans will be better equipped to address challenges as we face our common future aboard Spaceship Earth.
from Wikipedia:
More unusually, the Dymaxion map does not have any “right way up”. Fuller argued frequently that in the universe there is no “up” and “down”, or “north” and “south”: only “in” and “out”. Gravitational forces of the stars and planets created “in”, meaning ‘towards the gravitational center’, and “out”, meaning “away from the gravitational center”. He attributed the north-up-superior/south-down-inferior presentation of most other world maps to cultural bias.
Former researcher Bob Ingersoll on the chimp Nim Chimpsky: “He actually signed ‘stone smoke time now’ to us first. We were shocked. Although we were familiar with chimpanzees that did thing like drinking and smoke cigarettes and that sort of thing, I’d never had a chimpanzee request weed from me. That was an eye-opener.”
[complete interview with James Marsh, Ingersoll, and Jenny Lee here]
Putting on plays or other types of performances in the classroom? The Speech Accent Archive is an excellent resource for students to access when they want to learn an accent for a part they may be playing. Students can listen to a huge variety of accents. The site is very easy to navigate. Browse by speaker, atlas or inventory.
This find via Ana Christina Pratas’ Digital Discoveries (using scoop.it)
You have no idea how much I love accents. I’m not even joking—this site just became my weekend.
Social Change, Gender Roles, and Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever
click thru. very interesting!
(via world-shaker)
Pedestrians in the city often find themselves walking in deep thought. A routine trip can prompt reflections on everything from future goals to last night’s dinner conversation. Sidewalk Psychiatry encourages self-evaluation in transit by posing critical questions on the pavements of New York City with stencils and temporary spray chalk. Now your daily ponderings and emotional problems can be prodded and treated on the go – and, best of all, it’s free of charge!
(via durablegrandma)
EXCUSE ME WHAT
A. I have always considered Nick Offerman and Ron Swanson two completely different people, so this doesn’t phase me.
B. Can we talk about how sexy Zack Galifianakis and Abe Lincoln are sans-facial hair?
Oh my god. Zach Galifianakis is sexy. And Louis C.K. is a dweeby bald man. So weird. I love this article.
I’m not sure how I came across this site, but at some point today I found organicbeauty.com and have been reading the shit out of their articles. I very much want to make my own shampoo/conditioner/etc and stop wasting money on ridiculous products, and this is clearly a great resource for that.
This article in particular made me more excited about life (and hair):
Santa Monica hairstylist Frederic States embraced the organic movement years ahead of the curve. States incorporated the organic movement into his work as part of an overall organic philosophy which extols the many benefits of a whole health and beauty philosophy. This philosophy is all about keeping everything that comes into contact with you and your body as pure and natural as possible, not only in terms of what one puts into one’s body but also what products one puts on one’s body and the hair.
States has advised his clients to go with naturally organic products for their hair his entire career and in fact he uses only non-toxic plant based products on his clientele. States’ respect for natural products translates into his philosophy of a woman’s beauty. “When a client comes to me with a Pamela Anderson photo and says this is how they want me to do their hair, I talk to them about them. I show them their eye color, I show them their skin color, I put color swatches up against their skin.” States said, “I sort of talk them out of that and into what I think will be a much better result for them.”
States is known for retraining women on how they see themselves. He reconnects a client with what they really look like. Not a media driven image of phony beauty but each woman’s individually distinct and true beauty. “When women come to me wanting highlights, I always take them back to the color they were as a child. Your hair color when you were a child is the hair color your highlights should be. You always want to take yourself back to your childhood to find the right tones,” States explained.
…
“Starting with the shampoo, make sure its detergent free. Detergent strips and dries the hair. Look for a water based product with no detergent in it. The first ingredient should be water. Also, make sure it’s a hydrating product. If you can’t afford to buy a $35.00 bottle of shampoo for hydrating hair, I’d rather you shampoo your hair with baby shampoo. It has no detergent, no sodium sulfate, none of the harsh ingredients that will strip your hair color.” States continued. “If you can’t afford the high end shampoos, shampoo your hair with baby shampoo or use a product for color treated hair; generally they will be less harsh. Remember that there are only so many ways that to make shampoo. They may add a few ingredients here or there but it’s pretty basic.”
Click above to read the rest, yo.
Let’s make better mistakes tomorrow. Let’s scratch our heads and give up and wake up and try it again. Let’s fail at digging the well the first three times to get it right the fourth. Let’s build faster horses, and then strap rocket ships onto them. Let’s start a company, let’s watch it fail, and then let’s start another one. Let’s be the boss. Let’s take the boss down. Let’s order too much of something just to see where our limits are. Let’s take a chance precisely because it might fail. Let’s take the hard way out. Let’s go to the moon. Fuck it; let’s go to the moon again. Let’s quit our jobs. Let’s work at being better at what we do by fucking up faster, not less. Let’s fuck up really fast. Let’s wrestle sharks, fight monsters, and disagree with the board. Let’s borrow so much money it becomes someone else’s problem. Let’s start a 10-hour drive by announcing “I’m not into you anymore.” Let’s dump everything out of the garage onto the sidewalk and build something really cool in that space. Let’s start out to build a better mousetrap, and halfway there let’s decide to jump on the mice’s team. Let’s bet on a longshot. Let’s buy her a drink. Let’s start baking bread in our cubicle. Let’s try bringing fresh water to distant villages precisely because we have no idea how to do it. Let’s pool our money. Let’s take their money. Let’s solve that hard problem. You know that one that keeps you up at night? Let’s tackle that bastard. Let it kick our ass a few times, and then finally get it right. Let’s find out what’s at the bottom of the ocean. Let’s tame the Kraken. Let’s just fucking tell people we’ve read Infinite Jest and move on. Let’s forgive our parents. Let’s do something with the goddamned planet. Let’s rent an electric generator and open a food cart that sells nothing but frosted PopTarts, but makes a lot of fucking noise. Let’s have a breakthrough. Let’s have a breakdown. Let’s agree that bruises fade, bones heal, hearts mend, and that tomorrow we’re right back on that horse and that this time, THIS TIME! we’ve at least got a rocket strapped to its back. — Mike Monteiro
A Chinese farmer has made his own solar-powered water heater out of beer bottles and hosepipes.
“I invented this for my mother. I wanted her to shower comfortably,” says Ma Yanjun, of Qiqiao village, Shaanxi province.
Ma’s invention features 66 beer bottles attached to a board. The bottles are connected to each other so that water flows through them.
Sunlight heats the water as is passes slowly through the bottles before flowing into the bathroom as hot water, reports China Economy Network.
Ma says it provides enough hot water for all three members of his family to have a shower every day.
And more than 10 families in the village have already followed suit and installed their own versions of Ma’s invention.
“Currently, the best evidence for a supermassive black hole comes from the center of our own Milky Way.”
WHOA.
![NOUNa person who is from 70 to 79 years old.
ORIGINlate 18th century: from Latin septuagenarius (based on septuaginta [seventy]) + -an.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxa8rdtl8f1qzat77o1_400.png)
![nprfreshair:
Former researcher Bob Ingersoll on the chimp Nim Chimpsky: “He actually signed ‘stone smoke time now’ to us first. We were shocked. Although we were familiar with chimpanzees that did thing like drinking and smoke cigarettes and that sort of thing, I’d never had a chimpanzee request weed from me. That was an eye-opener.”
[complete interview with James Marsh, Ingersoll, and Jenny Lee here]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lon2zhlbtO1qd9dz2o1_500.jpg)
