DigressEd

ericmortensen: Escape Your Search Engine Filter Bubble.

Mon, 28 May 2012 15:46:54 -0400

Escape Your Search Engine Filter Bubble.

Wedding during lunch. Dug this up today and forgot how much I...

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:01:29 -0400

Wedding during lunch.

Dug this up today and forgot how much I love this photo. from the day we got married in secret. We kept it from family for almost three weeks and from friends for a few days longer. Downtown Gainesville, April, 2009

dbreunig: James Fallows explains the significance of this...

Mon, 07 May 2012 12:06:16 -0400

dbreunig:

James Fallows explains the significance of this seemingly mundane picture, which was taken by a Chinese engineer visiting Florida on a business trip:

To the Chinese engineer, what was fascinating and significant about the picture was its orderliness. The yellow school bus stopped, turned on its “do not pass” flashers, and extended its Stop signs. And — the amazing part — all surrounding traffic actually obeyed. Even those who are fans of the excitement and passion of Chinese life will agree that such a scene is hard to imagine in a Chinese city. You’d have motorbikes cutting past on the sidewalk, cars veering into the opposite-direction lane to get around the obstacle, a cacophony of horns complaining about any vehicle that did slow down, and in general the creative-chaos that extends from many other parts of Chinese life to its roadways. (Where it can seem festive, but also dangerous: China’s traffic-death rate per active motorist and per mile driven is several times higher than in North America or Europe.)

To local authorities in Florida, what was notable about the situation was:

a foreigner

stopping to take pictures

of a bus

containing children.

If you see something, say something. So they detained the man for questioning.

Our world powers in a nutshell. (Via The Atlantic)

Football, dogfighting, and brain damage

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:49:55 -0400

Football, dogfighting, and brain damage:

Turley is six feet five. He is thirty-four years old, with a square jaw and blue eyes. For nine years, before he retired, in 2007, he was an offensive lineman in the National Football League. He knew all the stories about former football players. Mike Webster, the longtime Pittsburgh Steeler and one of the greatest players in N.F.L. history, ended his life a recluse, sleeping on the floor of the Pittsburgh Amtrak station. Another former Pittsburgh Steeler, Terry Long, drifted into chaos and killed himself four years ago by drinking antifreeze. Andre Waters, a former defensive back for the Philadelphia Eagles, sank into depression and pleaded with his girlfriend—“I need help, somebody help me”—before shooting himself in the head. There were men with aching knees and backs and hands, from all those years of playing football. But their real problem was with their heads, the one part of their body that got hit over and over again.

Charlie H. Meyer’s inspiration for his Bicyclette Bleue...

Wed, 02 May 2012 21:03:52 -0400

Charlie H. Meyer’s inspiration for his Bicyclette Bleue project, at the intersection of The Dreamers and CQ. Paris, February 2009.

think-progress: 31 Republican men voted against the Violence...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:13:23 -0400

think-progress:

31 Republican men voted against the Violence Against Women Act in the Senate today. All 5 Republican women voted for it.

Surprise.

Schloss Heidelberg. Feb, 2004.

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:00:59 -0400

Schloss Heidelberg. Feb, 2004.

"In the depths of my personal bout with Klout status anxiety, I installed a browser plug-in that..."

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:07:09 -0400

“

In the depths of my personal bout with Klout status anxiety, I installed a browser plug-in that allows me to see the Klout scores of everyone in my Twitter feed. At first, I marveled at the folks with scores soaring up into the seventies and eighties. These were the “important” people—big media personalities and pundits with trillions of followers. But after a while I noticed that they seemed stuck in an echo chamber that was swirling with comments about the few headline topics of the social media moment, be it the best zinger at the recent GOP debate or that nutty New York Times story everybody read over the weekend.

Over time, I found my eyes drifting to tweets from folks with the lowest Klout scores. They talked about things nobody else was talking about. Sitcoms in Haiti. Quirky museum exhibits. Strange movie-theater lobby cards from the 1970s. The un-Kloutiest’s thoughts, jokes, and bubbles of honest emotion felt rawer, more authentic, and blissfully oblivious to the herd. Like unloved TV shows, these people had low Nielsen ratings—no brand would ever bother to advertise on their channels. And yet, these were the people I paid the most attention to. They were unique and genuine. That may not matter to marketers, and it may not win them much Klout. But it makes them a lot more interesting.

”

- What Your Klout Score Really Means - Wired.com (via futuristgerd)

It’s not the data. It’s how you use it.

(via ericmortensen)

Looking down at the town from the castle. Schloss Heidelberg,...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:02:13 -0400

Looking down at the town from the castle. Schloss Heidelberg, February, 2004.

Recently, mom threw a hint about wanting an iPad so I finally...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:04:05 -0400

Recently, mom threw a hint about wanting an iPad so I finally went ahead and got them one. My dad has always been really good with art, having done pieces in cast, paper, drawings, and more. While in his teens in Colombia, he got paid to do botanical illustrations for books. It is definitely easy for him; well, at least more than it is for me.

I’d been curious as to how he’d do with something like Paper on the iPad so I sat with him last night, opened a canvas and within minutes he sketched this. Some things he still didn’t grasp though: sometimes more than one finger would touch triggering the “Rewind” feature; other times he would complain it wasn’t drawing right, because the line wasn’t getting drawn where it was expected; when trying to choose a color, he was rubbing it as you would rub a brush against the colors in the palette; also, he kept rubbing and looking at his finger as if it had ink / oil on it, so that was pretty funny.

I need to look at other painting apps to see if there’s something easier for him.

the (liberal) floridian: University of Florida moves to cut CISE (Computer, Information Science and Engineering Department)

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:23:52 -0400

the (liberal) floridian: University of Florida moves to cut CISE (Computer, Information Science and Engineering Department):

erinnn:

UF’s Dean of the College of Engineering, Cammy Abernathy, has proposed to move the computer engineering programs and about half of the faculty from CISE into other departments within the college. Teaching assistants, research funding and other forms of support would no longer exist for CISE…

As a UF CISE grad, this continues to infuriate me to no end.

"Immature people falling in love destroy each other’s freedom, create a bondage, make a prison...."

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 21:12:40 -0400

“Immature people falling in love destroy each other’s freedom, create a bondage, make a prison. Mature persons in love help each other to be free; they help each other to destroy all sorts of bondages. And when love flows with freedom there is beauty. When love flows with dependence there is ugliness.

A mature person does not fall in love, he or she rises in love. Only immature people fall; they stumble and fall down in love. Somehow they were managing and standing. Now they cannot manage and they cannot stand. They were always ready to fall on the ground and to creep. They don’t have the backbone, the spine; they don’t have the integrity to stand alone.

A mature person has the integrity to stand alone. And when a mature person gives love, he or she gives without any strings attached to it. When two mature persons are in love, one of the great paradoxes of life happens, one of the most beautiful phenomena: they are together and yet tremendously alone. They are together so much that they are almost one. Two mature persons in love help each other to become more free. There is no politics involved, no diplomacy, no effort to dominate. Only freedom and love.”

- Osho (via nirvikalpa)

I so want to go…

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 23:29:31 -0400

I so want to go…

Mosaic at La Grande Mosquée. Paris, 2009.

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:03:25 -0400

Mosaic at La Grande Mosquée. Paris, 2009.

Trying out hats. Marché de la Convention, Paris XVème. Feb,...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:00:52 -0400

Trying out hats. Marché de la Convention, Paris XVème. Feb, 2009.

erinnn: Yeah! Go bikes! theatlantic: Why Young Americans Are...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:35:03 -0400

erinnn:

Yeah! Go bikes!

theatlantic:

Why Young Americans Are Driving So Much Less Than Their Parents

Young people are also making more use of transit, bikes, and foot power to get around. In 2009, 16 to 34-year-olds took 24 percent more bike trips than they took in 2001. They walked to their destinations 16 percent more often, while their passenger miles on transit jumped by 40 percent.

Part of the reason for this shift is financial. The report calculates the average cost of owning and operating a car as north of $8,700 dollars a year, and that was before gasoline passed $4.00 per gallon. In the wake of the financial crisis, many underemployed young people have decided that they either can’t afford a car or would rather spend their money on other things. The report cites a Zipcar/KRC Research survey, which found that 80 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds stated that the high cost of gasoline, parking, and maintenance made owning a car difficult.

But money doesn’t explain everything. Sixteen to 34-year-olds in households with incomes of more than $70,000 per year are increasingly choosing not to drive as well, according to the report. They have increased their use of public transit by 100 percent, biking by 122 percent, and walking by 37 percent.

The shift away from the car is part and parcel of a new way of life being embraced by young Americans, which places less emphasis on big cars or big houses as status symbols or life’s essentials.

Read more at The Atlantic Cities. [Image: Shutterstock]

Hot Banditos. Gleierbrück, Germany. May, 2009.

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:03:11 -0400

Hot Banditos. Gleierbrück, Germany. May, 2009.

Father and son, Pirámide del Sol behind them. Teotihuacán,...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:02:11 -0400

Father and son, Pirámide del Sol behind them. Teotihuacán, México. July, 2008.

Antena en el Pico de Veleta. Sierra Nevada, España. Abril, 2010.

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:58:43 -0400

Antena en el Pico de Veleta. Sierra Nevada, España. Abril, 2010.

Can’t we just take off and nuke the whole 80’s era...

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:49:00 -0400

Can’t we just take off and nuke the whole 80’s era from orbit?

It’s the only way to be sure.

ericmortensen:

Trent Reznor doing his best hip hop Skinny Puppy imitation in 1989 or 1990.

themattsmith:

nprmusic:

Girls in shoulder pads doing the Running Man to Nine Inch Nails on the late ’80s/early ’90s teeny-bopper show Dance Party USA. My day is made. - Lars

[p4k]

Oh man.

@1:13 is pure perfection.