June 21, 2014
Steve/Bucky
Architecture for One
Mountain Lab: An Interview With Scott McGuire
"As a form of minor architecture," the resulting short article explained, "tents are strangely overlooked. They are portable, temporary, and designed to withstand even the most extreme conditions, but they are usually viewed as simple sporting goods. They are something between a large backpack and outdoor lifestyle gear—certainly not small buildings. But what might an architect learn from the structure and design of a well-made tent?" Amongst the group of people we spoke with that day was outdoor equipment strategist Scott McGuire, an intense, articulate, and highly focused advocate for all things outdoors.
The Faded Smile: The Life and Death of Eddie Griffin
Grantland's longform piece on former Philadelphia high school basketball superstar Eddie Griffin, whose brief career and life ended in 2007 when he crashed his SUV into a train. [more inside]
Please don't give me that look.
“It’s depressing,..We were definitely depressed,” he repeated
I DON’T WANT TO BE RIGHT: why do people persist in believing things that just aren't true? The New Yorker asks. Alternatively, a BBC Future author offers up some beguiling and subtle solutions in The best way to win an argument.
Skeet surfin', it's alright!
Those Three Are On My Mind
James Chaney. Andrew Goodman. Michael Schwerner. Murdered by the KKK 50 years ago today, in one of the galvanizing events of the struggle for civil rights in the South. (previously 1, 2, 3) [more inside]
Lou Reed Lou Reed
Capital Knows no Border
On Thursday, Wikileaks (previously) released the text (wikileaks) of a 19-page, international trade agreement being drafted "in secret" in Geneva by representatives of more than 50 countries, entitled the Trade in Services Agreement. [more inside]
A hue angle of 270 degrees, a saturation of 50% and a lightness of 40%
Eric Meyer is an expert on the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) system used to control the appearance of web documents. He's the author of multiple books on CSS, and the "chaperone" of the css-discuss mailing list. His daughter, Rebecca, passed away, and her family asked that those attending memorial services wear purple, her favorite color. Dominique Hazaël-Massieux requested that a purple be added to the CSS color list be named "Becca Purple" in her memory. Eric suggested that it be named
rebeccapurple because his daughter wanted everyone to call her Rebecca after she turned six, and she was six for almost twelve hours. Today, a co-chair of the CSS Working Group announced approval of the change. From now on, rebeccapurple means #663399. Following your heart is another tolerable option
The Trooper, an interpretation.
Service with a Swipe
Chili's Has Installed More Than 45,000 Tablets in Its Restaurants — When your server is a screen, you spend more money. Hungry? No human server in sight? With a flick of your wrist, you can instantly order more appetizers and drinks, indulge your whim for Baby Back Ribs, let the kids play games, read the news, pay your check (with a default tip), and get done faster. Be sure to save room for some Cinnamon Molten Cake: doesn't it look tasty?
Ever seen a Sinclair ZX music video?
Camouflage! In 1983, Chris Sievey, the man who would be Frank Sidebottom released a single whose b-side contained three programmes for the ZX81, one of which was a music video to be played whilst listening to the record. This was an incredibly difficult thing to do. Now we can all watch it.
A Triumph of the Wet-Plate, Among Other Things
The Photographic History of the Civil War (10 vols.; 1911) offered context for thousands of striking images from the American Civil War: 1 - The Opening Battles; 2 - Two Years of Grim War; 3 - The Decisive Battles; 4 - The Cavalry; 5 - Forts and Artillery; 6 - The Navies; 7 - Prisons and Hospitals; 8 - Soldier Life / Secret Service; 9 - Poetry and Eloquence of Blue and Gray; 10 - Armies and Leaders. It was also a capstone in the intriguing career of a little-known popular historian and silent era filmmaker. [more inside]
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