There is a saying that goes something like: “When you come upon this world, others laugh while you cry. Live your life such that when you die, others cry while you smile.” Apparently Mrs Vanni didn’t have such a blessed life to have this message carved in memory of her.
This is a photograph of Earth. Yes. If you look very carefully and closely, you will see it. Just below the center of the picture, on the right side, bathed in sunbeam. Yes, it’s that speck of dust.
“We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.
The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity — in all this vastness — there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
This photo was taken by Voyager 1 in 1990 as it was returning from a space mission. The photo itself would not have been remarkable without the inspiring quote from Carl Sagan (an astronomer), that reminds us of how small we are, even though some times we think that we are the center of the universe, or even, the universe.
[via Big Sky Astronomy Club]
[For other interesting tidbits, check out the rest of the posts on this blog.
The Leander baby crib is a fantastic blend of simplicity and beauty. There are furniture designs that goes for simplicity (Scandinavian furniture come to mind), portraying a sense of minimalist neatness and cleanliness.
This one is special, however, because it manages to look and feel rich instead of merely clean or sterile. Your kids would probably imagine themselves to be in a boat, a throne, etc. as they play and sleep in it. And it grows and converts with your kid!
[via swissmiss]
All the city lights of Reykjavik will be turned off the 28th of September 2006 from 10:00 – 10:30 PM. A renowned astronomer will talk about the stars on national broadcast radio, everyone is invited.Lights off – Stars on is a grand scale happening that marks the opening of the Reykjavik International Film Festival. The City Council of Reykjavik and its neighboring municipalities have agreed to turn off all the city lights in the capital area for half an hour while a renowned astronomer talks about the stars and the constellations on national radio.
This is an idea by Andri Snær Magnason, an Icelandic writer of poetry, children’s books, plays and novels. Þorsteinn Sæmundsson PhD astronomer will talk about the stars.
What a romantic idea! I do hope it’d gently nudge people out of their routines and houses to lay out their deck chairs, pour some wine, and have a chilling good time while admiring the sky – something that perhaps have been overlooked or ignored in the hustle of daily lives – while listening to the astronomer (hopefully with a baritone, magnetic voice) talk about the constellations. It’d perhaps inject some sensitivity, perspective and gratitude to wind down and appreciate our nature and ourselves.
via AndriSnaer
When I first saw the Hotel Marqués De Riscal architecture, the thought of a Gehry-copycat came to my mind. Turned out that it was Gehry who did this. Brutally put, I think Gehry has lost his touch. Guggenheim Bilbao was great because it was a breakthrough against the literally brick-and-mortar architecture mold. The curves were elegant and flowing – unlike this jumbled mess-tangle. While certainly iconic – I love the purple – it doesn’t quite remind one of the beautiful vineyard, the rolling hills that it sites in.
Maybe I’m just not geared to see the beauty in Gehry’s imagined slimy fish scales in his architecture. And I don’t dig his chair either.
Icaro Doria is a Brazilian artist who has used the national flags of some countries to put an interesting twist to national statistics. While I’m not sure if the statistics are in fact accurate/proportional to the areas in the flag, this does smack one back in the head – behind the flag (often only flown in glorious masts) are true people living in what are often much worse conditions than us.
Here for more examples.
If you’ve been given a very tight design brief where the client specified everything – size, material, color, etc., and are whining that there is no scope for innovation or design, this TROFE mug from IKEA may inspire you a little. The tiniest of detail – a little gap in the base of the cup that helps drain the excess water after you wash the cup and turn it upside down.
This is great design, in my opinion. You can always still be clever in every space and every detail.
After watching this video, decide if 25/5 is 5 or if it is 14.
Everybody already knows what happens when you mix Mentos with Diet Coke.
This video, “Nobody’s Watching Diet Coke & Mentos”, is a funny spoof of that video:
The gem, however, is that the two guys in the video above are not actually just any other two amateur cam-whores. They are, in fact, part of a Warner Brother’s mockumentary show (a produced show pretending to be a reality/documentary in nature).
The show centers around two friends from Ohio named Derrick (Taran Killam) and Will (Paul Campbell), who send in a home video of themselves to every network claiming that they can produce a better sitcom than the ones currently being broadcasted by the networks. In the show, The WB takes them up on this offer, and offers them both an opportunity to create their own sitcom.
So basically, WB hired people to pretend that they’re amateurs who contacted WB and got an agreement to produce a reality show. In other words, it’s a staged show pretending to be a reality-ish show in which the two participant produces a sitcom (called Nobody’s Watching). Wikipedia explains it here. Haha, if you’re confused, you’re not alone. Test audiences were simliarly confused, and that’s why Warner Brothers didn’t air it.
The clips, however, found their way into Youtube, and were met with positive responses, and so now they’re considering putting it onto TV. If you’re all confused, well, just sit tight and watch these videos (3-parts of the test Pilot Episode). They’re really good and funny!
After seeing the Hanging Cars post, a friend reminded me of a Honda advertisement (indeed, one of the greatest ever produced!). The components that made up a Honda lined up in an interesting array of domino effects – and apparently there were no visual tricks (like CG). The director was adamant that the whole thing be real, and they actually did the thing over and over again so that every part is perfect.
Another great, but perhaps a little less well-known Honda Ad, is the Choral Honda Ad for the launch of Honda Civic in the UK. The idea was to find out how driving a Honda sounds like – from the moment the engine is ignited, to how the windshield viper rubs against the glass; drops of rain hitting the car roof; autumn leaves crumpling as the wheel rolls over…etc. And then, to emulate this with the human voice through choir. Simply fascinating if you ask me.
The Honda Civic UK Choral Ad:
