Value of Architecture

The original Pennsylvania Station was razed in 1963. (Collection of the New-York Historical Society, negative number 59044)

A passionate NYTimes article addressing the calamity that is Penn Station:

“To pass through Grand Central Terminal, one of New York’s exalted public spaces, is an ennobling experience, a gift. To commute via the bowels of Penn Station, just a few blocks away, is a humiliation.

What is the value of architecture? It can be measured, culturally, humanely and historically, in the gulf between these two places.”

Restore a Gateway to Dignity, by Michael Kimmelman

(via @kbAndersen)

Social Media Explained

Instagram by Douglas Wray

I tweeted this a few days ago. Made me smile.

Christopher Payne

Linen Closets, Traverse City State Hospital, Michigan

Patient Toothbrushes, Hudson River State Hospital, New York

Bathtub, Fairfield State Hospital, Connecticut

Autopsy Theater, St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Washington, DC

I just spent way too much time on Christopher Payne’s site, staring at photos of abandoned asylums and hospitals. Fascinating.

(Thank you Sarah)

EUScreen

The EUScreen site is an astounding digital archive aiming to preserve Europe’s television heritage, 1900-present.

(via @dwell)

Marks + Dinnerware

Here’s a useful post over on Apartment Therapy on how to get rid of those gray scratch marks on plates.

The Single Sentence Email Project

In my desperation of finding a solution to my guilt-inducing-email-problem I am considering The Single Sentence Email Project:

“Respond to emails with as few words as possible. Aim for a sentence, but if just a word will do, use it.* It will take practice, and some might dislike it. I argue that this is a fair trade for getting more time to work (and live) productively.”

But I of course fear that my short reply will come across as rude. What is better: Getting a brief reply or none at all? Maybe Five Sentences is a good middle ground.

Real or Just a Ride?

The above video is embedded in a fantastic post on work-life balance over on Deliberatism.

(via @Aarron)

Kaleidoism

Kaleidoism turns your browser into customizable Kaleidoscope! #somuchfun


Little tip, after the image is loaded, click on it and move your mouse around and mouse hover the bottom of the browser window to bring the controls back.

(Thank you Tony)

DIY Horse

Lovely Melissa Easton has an entire post dedicated to creating vintage 3 dimensional shapes out of paper. I found Le Cheval (The Horse) particularly charming, in a very analog way. She found them over at the amazing Agence Eureka.

5 Regrets

Top five regrets of the dying:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Taken from this Guardian Article, via Jay Parkinson.

How Long Do Animals Live?

This is quite an impressive chart on animal longevity. Go turtles!

(via Maria)

sherpaa

Jay Parkinson and his team just launched Sherpaa, an around the clock email and phone access to friendly, NYC-based doctors (or Guides as they call them). Whenever you have a health question or concern, they’re here for you. And they play nicely with the insurance you’ve got.

For now, they’re focusing on working exclusively with tumblr employees but will soon be signing up other NYC-based companies. If you’re interested in joining Sherpaa, let them know. I am!

Jay gave an interesting CreativeMornings talk in 2010, in which he explains how he wants to change health care with help of technology and design. Worth watching.

tardiness

“When my correspondents reproach me for tardiness, I can only say that I give as much atten­tion to a letter as I do to anything I write, and I work at least six and sometimes sixteen hours a day.”
~ William S. Burroughs

(via Brain Pickings)

Finding Duplicate Files

I saw my friend Chris Glass tweet about his project of finding duplicate files on his computer over the weekend. Being the queen of multiple backups and duplicates I reached out and asked for more info.

Here’s a LONG REPLY tweet he just sent my way. He compared 3 applications to tackle the issue: dupeGuru, Araxis Find Duplicates Files and TidyUp2.

He ended up liking dupeGuru the best. Here are his findings.

Valentines Day Pixel-y Popup Card

How seriously cool is this Pixel-y Pop-Up Card? Click here for Full instructions and printable templates! See full instructions over at Mini Eco.

On Surprise e-Intros

I have currently 6 guilt-inducing e-introductions sitting in my inbox, flagged of course. While I am extremely grateful for being introduced to interesting folks, I do not appreciate surprise-introductions. I don’t want to be that person that doesn’t reply, or simply doesn’t have time to meet up for coffee or to have lunch. I know, that all of these introductions are meant well, I would just simply appreciate to be asked first, if an introduction is ok.

I fully agree with Fred Wilson’s post from 2009 on email intro etiquette:

“When introducing two people who don’t know each other, ask each of them to opt-in to the introduction before making it.” – Fred Wilson

The Double Opt-In Introduction

(thanks Cameron)

Brooklyn Beta

This Brooklyn Beta video made my day. Thank you @boltron!

Brooklyn Beta is a fantastic conference organized by my studiomates Cameron and Chris. Brooklyn Beta is my twitter stream come to live. A small group of incredibly talented, smart and *friendly* folks.

♥ / A Book Apart

A big thank you to A Book Apart for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed!

A Book Apart publishes highly detailed and meticulously edited examinations of single topics. We produce brief books of about 100 pages—the perfect size in terms of subject depth and coverage for topics like HTML5, CSS3, content strategy, responsive web design, and more. The goal of every title in our catalog is to shed clear light on a tricky subject, and do it fast, so you can get back to work. Look for Mike Monteiro’s much-anticipated book, Design Is a Job, this April.

(Interested in sponsoring a week of my RSS feed, learn more here.)

Age and Muscles

I find this MRI cross section of leg muscles utterly fascinating (and sobering).

(via JayParkinson)

Nerd Valentine

It’s that time of the year again: Nerd Valentine! YES!

StartupBus

Aboard the New York City Startup Bus.

Imagine this: You and a team of strangers, on a bus, traveling at 60 miles per hour, have 72 hours to conceive, build and launch a startup. That’s StartupBus in a nutshell.

StartupBus began life as a joke, a roadtrip starting in San Francisco with friends, but with the twist of launching a startup on arrival in Austin in time for the SxSW technology conference. Somehow though, people thought Elias Bizannes (the founder) was actually serious. A few unexpected blog articles and many emails later, he was stuck with having to now make good on his pub night promise.

StartupBus has since evolved into a competition and grew six-fold with buses departing from San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, and Miami. In 2011, an impressive 156 ‘buspreneurs’ participated who produced 38 different products.

Talk about turning an experiment into an international community! I can’t help but chuckle at the term Buspreneur. To become one, apply to the StartupBus.

StartupBus – what a refreshing and charming concept! Hat tip!

An Important Time for Design

“If we want to really show what design is and what it can do, we need to get design elevated to the partner level. Partners have major equity stakes, real decision-making power, and are involved in product development from the beginning.” – Cameron Kozcon

A quote I keep coming back to. Taken from an A List Apart post written by my studiomate and friend Cameron Kozcon: An Important Time for Design.

Three Primary Colors

Three Primary Colors is a collaboration between OK Go and Sesame Street explaining the basics of color theory in stop-motion. Try to watch this without smiling.

(via Brain Pickings)

hi. postcards. ok.

There are *a lot* of people that would have every reason to send me that first card, on the left, ‘hi. i sent you an email. ok‘.

(via found it loved it)