Quote
May 27, 2012
1 note
"A certain critic—for such men, I regret to say, do exist—made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained “all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.” He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy."

— P.G. Wodehouse, as quoted in this excellent essay. (via)

Tags: books critics P.G. Wodehouse bears

Photo
May 17, 2012
The Descriptive Camera takes word pictures instead of picture-pictures. (via)

The Descriptive Camera takes word pictures instead of picture-pictures. (via)

Tags: photography technology descriptions of things

Photo
May 09, 2012
1,101 notes
cat-creates: NASA Langley Tweetup - November 8th, 2011 So - this photo might be what an astronaut will see while falling asleep on Mars.  It’s a picture I took. It’s really interesting, so I wanted to revisit and explain. It’s a photo of an inflatable airlock living space being tested by NASA. The ceiling of it. It was a small room with a thick door on either end - your ears pop when they seal it off. This is just a beginning prototype, but inflatable technology might be used to keep humans on Mars, or the moon, for extended periods of time in the future. “Like living inside a basketball,” they said.  What an astronaut will see while falling asleep on Mars.

cat-creates:

NASA Langley Tweetup - November 8th, 2011

So - this photo might be what an astronaut will see while falling asleep on Mars. 

It’s a picture I took. It’s really interesting, so I wanted to revisit and explain. It’s a photo of an inflatable airlock living space being tested by NASA. The ceiling of it. It was a small room with a thick door on either end - your ears pop when they seal it off.

This is just a beginning prototype, but inflatable technology might be used to keep humans on Mars, or the moon, for extended periods of time in the future. “Like living inside a basketball,” they said. 

What an astronaut will see while falling asleep on Mars.

(via theatlantic)

Tags: science space astronauts

Photo
May 08, 2012
426 notes
classifiedhumanity: May 16th, 1979

classifiedhumanity:

May 16th, 1979

(via questionableadvice)

Tags: miss manners sex ed

Photo
May 03, 2012
200 notes
kqedscience: Photos of people living off-the-grid in the United States “Eric Valli spent 3 years taking photos of people in the United States who have “decided to live light on the earth.” The photographs are terrific. It looks like Valli spent time with two clans: a frontier/settler type group, and another group that look almost like cave people. I wish he had included more information about them!”

kqedscience:

Photos of people living off-the-grid in the United States

“Eric Valli spent 3 years taking photos of people in the United States who have “decided to live light on the earth.” The photographs are terrific. It looks like Valli spent time with two clans: a frontier/settler type group, and another group that look almost like cave people. I wish he had included more information about them!”

Photo
April 29, 2012
2,479 notes

(Source: blazeberg, via megavikingman)

Quote
April 26, 2012
23 notes
"The night is even more richly colored than the day…If only one pays attention to it, one sees that certain stars are citron yellow, while others have a pink glow or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. And without my expiating on this theme, it should be clear that putting little white dots on a blue-black surface is not enough."

— Vincent van Gogh (quoted in The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton)

Tags: art reality van gogh

Photoset
April 24, 2012

1.4 billion people live without electricity. Photographer Peter DiCampo takes gorgeous portraits of some of these people using flashlights or firelight. See his work here.

Tags: photography poverty

Photo
April 24, 2012
144 notes
theatlantic: alexleo: Most highlighted passage of all time on the Kindle via @laurenleto File under: “Things you don’t expect”

theatlantic:

alexleo:

Most highlighted passage of all time on the Kindle via @laurenleto

File under: “Things you don’t expect”

Tags: books kindle sad things

Link
April 23, 2012
9 notes
Another Night to Remember

When the Costa Concordia, a floating pleasure palace carrying 4,200 people, hit a rock off the Italian coast on January 13, it became the largest passenger ship ever wrecked, supplanting the Titanic in maritime history. From the moments when the captain made the first in a series of incredible blunders, through a harrowing night of mindless panic and deadly peril, in which rescuers and passengers improvised a massive evacuation and ordinary men emerged as heroes, Bryan Burrough reconstructs an epic fight for survival—in which all too many would perish.

Highly recommended. Stunning. Will break your heart. 

(via the-feature)

Tags: longreads costa concordia