Check Out Some New People: The
Human Library is an innovative method designed to promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and encourage understanding.The main characteristics of the project are to be found in its simplicity and positive approach. Started in Copenhagen, Denmark 12 years ago, it has since
Spread, and new libraries continue to pop-up
All Over the
Place.
posted by Blake
on Jan 26, 2012 -
6 comments
Click the photo at the top of the linked page to view
The Voyagers, a rumination on the universe, love, a golden record and two small space probes.
posted by Brandon Blatcher
on Dec 26, 2011 -
4 comments
Photographer Irna Werning's project, '
Back to the Future' recreates classic childhood snapshots 20-40 years later, using the same settings, subjects, and clothing. Zefrank's
Young Me Now Me (
previously) is a much more extensive crowdsourced version of the same concept.
(via BB. One photo very slightly NSFW)
posted by schmod
on Feb 15, 2011 -
15 comments
"Every day there are untold millions of comments, texts, and online interactions. Millions. And each one says, I am here and I extend my consciousness to there. There might have been a time when humans were content to sit and simply be, like the goat I saw yesterday sitting contently in a patch of sunshine at the Lincoln Park Zoo. That time was long ago. We want the news. We want to chatter and gossip. We want to say "I am alive" in a billion billion different ways. And now here is internet, providing such an easy, easy way to do
that."
posted by nomadicink
on Nov 19, 2010 -
35 comments
Istanbul Photos If you love Istanbul like I do, and can't visit often enough, this is a fine place to get a virtual glimpse of all of it.
posted by sandrach
on Nov 15, 2010 -
9 comments
Feeling like you need something to balance the scent of sandalwood and musk after reading this list of
famous man caves (including Jefferson's study, Douglass' office, Edison's library, and Roosevelt's trophy room)? If so, you may be interested in seeing the inner sanctums of some of history's most influential women. Check out Eleanor Roosevelt's living room (
picture/
info), Marie Curie's laboratory (
picture/
info), Margaret Mead's room in Samoa (
picture/
info), Maya Angelou's parlor (
picture/
info), Susan B. Anthony's
study and
bedroom (
more pictures and info), Georgia O'Keefe's sitting room (
picture,
info), Helen Keller's childhood bedroom (
picture,
info), and Frida Kahlo's studio (
picture 1,
picture 2/
info).
[more inside]
posted by emilyd22222
on Jul 28, 2010 -
23 comments
Assimilate book-ism to webism and the book looks like nothing so much as an unreadably long, out of date, & non-interactive blog post. . . Web 2.0 has been revelatory in lots of ways—user-generated naked photos, for one—but the torrent of writing from ordinary folks has certainly been one of the most transfixing. Over the past five years the great American public has blogged and Tweeted and commented up a storm and fulfilled a great modernist dream: the inclusion, the reproduction, the self-representation of the masses.
posted by four panels
on May 4, 2010 -
15 comments
"Questioning the modern world in which we are living and trying to break this individualism and the anonymity of the big city. By going into “Non-lieux” (no existing places) (subways, malls, and crowded streets at rush hours …;) and by talking to people to take photos, I break the usual way this modern world works for a few instants. I make real these “non-lieux” by creating an event that the stranger will remember." Welcome to the
moving,
inspiring and always
beautiful world of Benoit Paille's
Stranger Project. [some links NSFW]
posted by fight or flight
on Apr 7, 2010 -
11 comments
"she talked to me for a long time. she shared stories of staying in london and paris and that wonderful feeling that accompanies being there. she talked of gardening and music and even stress. we hit it off like old friends." .... Joshua Langlais spends a couple of hours every day looking for a stranger to talk with and photograph. He's done this every day since September 8, 2008. The results of his work can be seen at
I ♥ Strangers.
[more inside]
posted by bdragon
on Mar 25, 2010 -
20 comments
Asia Snapshots "is a blog that examines topics in Asia through the perspectives of interesting people interviewed by a group of bloggers in Mainland China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and more." Meet
Gao Qingrong and family, who along with seven other households are part of
an organic farm co-op in Anlong Village, Sichuan. Or there's
the tale of how one of the bloggers met Jun Jun, a male prostitute in Beijing; an encounter with
Silang Laji, a road maintenance worker in Kham, a Tibetan region of China; and
Gege, an enterprising journalist in Chengdu.
Via
posted by Abiezer
on Feb 28, 2010 -
4 comments
One in 8 Million "New York is a city of characters. On the subway and in its streets, from the intensity of Midtown to the intimacy of neighborhood blocks, is a 305-square-mile parade of people with something to say. This is a collection of a few of their passions and problems, relationships and routines, vocations and obsessions. A new story will be added weekly."
A photo and audio series from the
New York Times.
[more inside]
posted by ocherdraco
on Aug 22, 2009 -
53 comments
"
I photograph people who skirt the edges of things; people whose connection to the broader flow is murky or obscured. Mistaken as more, less or different than they are; they aren’t really seen and don’t really
belong. That’s everyone sometimes; but
some more often. I try to establish a line for a moment. I hope to connect. And I see the most
beautiful and the most
heartbreaking things."
posted by parudox
on May 10, 2009 -
34 comments
How To Clean Stuff. From kitchen and bath, to flooring and carpets. Indoors, outdoors, your car, dog, colon and bong. More than 800 cleaning tips in all. Submit your best ideas. Each one that gets published, the site will contribute to the
Clean Water Fund.
posted by netbros
on May 29, 2008 -
5 comments
Fake terror. The Banana theory of terrorism. While I'm at it,
fake Lutheran Ascetecism,
fake bread,
fake gay sex,
fake DIY,
fake beer (fur der Deutsch),
fake punk petition,
fake shopping,
fake yogurt, and
fake cops.
posted by parmanparman
on Feb 16, 2008 -
20 comments
Hollywood Midget Movie Stars. They started as
popular vaudevillians. (From a
review: "The chief feature, however, was the ten scenes in which the Singer Midgets appeared. The Midget strong man, the Midget conjurer, the Midget "Cleopatra" with the winning ways--these and many more were there.") They stormed the
New York stage. They were members of
The Lollipop Guild (YouTube link), as well as playing other
Munchkins. They were suspected of being
German sympathizers. But they may be best remembered for starring in the world's first
all-midget musical western. Now available for your viewing pleasure from YouTube: Part
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7.
posted by Astro Zombie
on Jan 21, 2008 -
32 comments
Study: Internet Not Dumbing Down Kids, Who Were Stupid Anyway. Full report! (warning: PDF)
The information literacy of young people, has not
improved with the widening access to technology:
in fact, their apparent facility with computers
disguises some worrying problems. Young people have unsophisticated mental maps of what the internet is, often failing to appreciate that it is a collection of networked resources from different providers. (Like tubes!)
posted by parmanparman
on Jan 20, 2008 -
43 comments
