Gimp Monkeys: 'We are climbers first, disabled second. If you're a climber, you want to climb El Capitan.' (SLV)
posted by growabrain
on Oct 30, 2012 -
8 comments
"Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day. Civility, respect, kindness, character. You're too good for schadenfreude, you're too good for gossip and snark, you're too good for intolerance—and since you're walking into the middle of a presidential election, it's worth mentioning that you're too good to think people who disagree with you are your enemy.... Don't ever forget that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world. It's the only thing that ever has."
On May 13th, Aaron Sorkin
gave the commencement address to the graduating class at Syracuse University, a speech that
has been mildly criticized for recycling some lines from his shows
West Wing and
Sports Night.
Video. (
Via.)
posted by zarq
on May 19, 2012 -
50 comments
"their purposes are entirely opaque to me, as are the purposes of so many others" was the first (eerily self-descriptive) 'card' I got in
Strategies, a bot in the tradition of Brian Eno's
Oblique Strategies but with most content fed from
horse_ebooks. Although, I think that is a quote from a terrifying Cronenberg student film,
Crimes of the Future. The 'purpose' of this bot, according to the description is "for use when you're lacking inspiration, or make your own game of it."
posted by aretesophist
on Apr 4, 2012 -
25 comments
"It’s been nearly 6 years since the series finale of The West Wing, and more than 12 since the one-hour drama, which [Aaron] Sorkin created and largely wrote, first walked and talked its way through NBC’s Wednesday-night lineup; and yet you might think the series never ended, given the currency it still seems to enjoy in Washington, the frequency with which it comes up in D.C. conversations and is quoted or referenced on political blogs.
In part this is because the smart, nerdy—they might prefer “precocious”—kids who grew up in the early part of the last decade worshipping the cool, technocratic charm of Sorkin’s characters have today matured into the young policy prodigies and press operatives who advise, brief, and excuse the behavior of the most powerful people in the country."
posted by zarq
on Mar 11, 2012 -
134 comments
Beautiful Type is a patchwork of photos and illustrations having a relationship with typography.
AisleOne is focused on graphic design, typography, grid systems, minimalism and modernism.
iABC is a collection of beautiful letters.
Inspiration Bit has a nice archive of articles about web typography.
Nicetype is about fonts, logos, posters and software.
Twenty-Six Types celebrates the beautiful letters.
Typenuts is type-themed iPhone and desktop wallpapers.
Typoretum is about typography, letterpress and printing history. Enjoy.
posted by netbros
on Nov 6, 2011 -
5 comments
Anatomy of a Writer. "Like the protagonist of 1984, who risked his life to purchase a notebook and signed it away by filling it with words, writers sometimes find themselves huddled in a corner, crouching onto their guilty pleasure protectively, hoping that their spouse, or friends won’t catch them at it."
posted by Phire
on Jun 26, 2011 -
13 comments
How Genius Works. The Atlantic asks artists like T.C. Boyle, Tim Burton, Paul Simon, and Frank Gehry (and others who aren't so well-known) to describe their creative process.
posted by helloknitty
on Apr 22, 2011 -
68 comments
Towering over New Hampshire at a height of 6,288 feet,
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States. It has been ascended by countless hikers from all walks of life, including (for the first time ever)
a paralyzed dog.
[more inside]
posted by dhammond
on Sep 22, 2010 -
41 comments
J. Tithonus Pednaud herein presents for your edification and enlightenment a
curious collection of human marvels. You may call them oddities, freaks or monstrosities—whatever you will—but I call them incredible, persevering, resourceful and marvelous human beings. I chronicle their inspirational stories of triumph over nature, fate and the judgment of man.
[Previously seen here. See also.]
posted by parudox
on Jan 3, 2009 -
9 comments
The
Academy of Achievement brings students face-to-face with the extraordinary leaders, thinkers and pioneers who have shaped our world. Through profiles, biographies, and interviews Achievers in
The Arts,
Business,
Public Service,
Science, and
Sports teach us how the Academy's core values of
passion,
vision,
preparation,
courage,
perseverance, and
integrity can, and will, lead to success.
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Jan 1, 2009 -
6 comments
Randy Pausch,
Barbara Kingsolver,
Barack Obama, and
J.K. Rowling inspired the hell out of Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Wesleyan, and Harvard graduates this year.
If you're a big fan of pomp and circumstance, you'll also want to check out these:
Chuck Norris at Liberty University,
Samantha Power at Pitzer College, and
Michelle Nijhuis at Reed College.
[more inside]
posted by anotherpanacea
on Jun 8, 2008 -
36 comments
R.I.P Paul B. MacCready Paul MacCready, inventor of the
Gossamer Condor, the first human powered heavier-than-air aircraft, and the
Gossamer Albatross, the first human powered aircraft to cross the English Channel, has died, according to
AeroVironment, the company he founded.
"You can do all kinds of things if you just plunge ahead," he said in an interview with Science in 1986. "It doesn't mean you're any good at them, but you can be good enough."
posted by paulsc
on Sep 1, 2007 -
13 comments
Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.
It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk.
Quite possibly one of the most inspirational stories that I've ever encountered --
Team Hoyt.
posted by purephase
on Oct 19, 2006 -
20 comments
Alexander Selkirk, born in 1676 in
Lower Largo,
Fife, Scotland, was the unruly seventh son of a cobbler. In 1703, having grown tired of life in his village, he was able to convince successful buccaneer
William Dampier that he was the man to navigate Dampier’s next
privateering expedition to South America. After a dispute with the young captain of the ship on which he served as sailing master, Selkirk was left behind on a small island
418 miles west of Valparaiso, Chile. Rescued four years later, he was the subject of
several contemporary accounts of his ordeal, and likely served as one of
Daniel Defoe's primary inspirations for
Robinson Crusoe.
posted by killdevil
on Apr 25, 2006 -
10 comments
Italo Calvino's
Invisible Cities is so called because it asserts that what makes up a city is not so much its physical structure but the impression it imparts upon its visitors, the way its inhabitants move within, something unseen that hums between the cracks. This, however, has in no way dissuaded people from attempting to give form to his
works. One such example is the
Hotel Tressants, a building in Menorca, Spain containing 8 rooms named after and
inspired by various cities from the novel. Meanwhile, artists offer illustrations
1,2,3, installations
1,2,3,4,5, music
1,2,3,4,5,6 and
dance, hypertexts
1,2, computer
programs and
animations, even View-Master
slides, while intellectuals offer readings and commentary
1,2, lectures
1,2, and critical texts
1,2,3 sparked by the man and his writings. It has been dubbed "The
Calvino Effect". Do you know of any more?
posted by Lush
on May 20, 2005 -
37 comments
Word It is your opportunity to express in as many words, and as many other graphic elements as you need, what best describes each monthly topic. Each month we will choose a specific topic, idea or theme. For example: the first theme was
“inspiration.” So you would go home, or do it at work, and find words, images, artwork, whatever that best describes what inspiration means to you. It could be anything: music, cats, chocolate, museum, love, laundry. Anything that reflects what inspiration is to you. You can do whatever you want to it: vectorize it, photoshop it, scan it or build it and then send it to us.
posted by ColdChef
on Aug 11, 2004 -
4 comments
