You may not know it, but the last decade (or so) has seen this quiet revolution of innovation in origami going on while you’ve been doing other things. All these impressive paper folders doing incredible things with humble sheets of papyrus and turning a classic art on its head and pushing the envelope (pun intended ;-p). So, you gotta love this short, stop action animation of an origami rhino being unfolded. Lovely and very zen.
Really impressive post-apocalyptic animated short from Oddball Animation that the authors want to make into something feature length.
Not sure what might be holding them back, but if they’d Kickstarter this I’d absolutely fund it based on the strength of this short. Quite amazed at the quality of some of the shorts I’ve seen earlier, just hope it’s not isolated from a larger story they need to tell.
“The Universe is in us.” - Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson
We are the stuff of stars. Probably the most profound thing I’ve heard in, well… too long. Beautiful and inspiring.
And perhaps something we should remind ourselves of a little more often.
via Blame It On The Voices .
Apparently, the original pilot for the iconic Muppet Show was much, much different than what the series eventually ended up being. The pilot was originally aimed squarely at adults and pitched to parody the proliferation of ex and violence on TV. Kermit wasn’t even hosting!
So, check out this segment of the pilot as well as the pilot in its entirety over at Laughing Squid . Cool, but strangely unsettling in a familiar, non-threatening, muppet-esque kind of way.
And the end of economic growth.
Thought his point about our inaction keeping on going until it hits our economies was interesting, as well as how the crises will occur. And how crisis is necessary for us to react. Great TED talk. A bit terrifying but also surprisingly hopeful.
Kirby Ferguson has just posted the last of his brilliant four-part series on remix culture that we talked about here a few months back .
Insightful, interesting and food for thought. Enjoy the finale and make sure to see all four if you haven’t already checked them out.).
If you’re not across it, Vic Toews of the Conservatives is trying to ram a wide-ranging internet surveillance, domestic spying and wireless tapping bill through Canadian Parliament despite massive opposition to it using the old “you’re either with ‘us’ or with the child pornographers” argument.
Rick Mercer has a great rant on it. Sign the petition at AccessNow to oppose it.
Wow, Umair Haque does it again admonishing us to Create a Meaningful Life Through Meaningful Work and telling us to ask some of the really big questions about the stuff we’re doing day to day while reflecting on the tedious BS of the illustriati in Manhattan this week. I like his call to get lethally serious about stuff that matters.
So here’s a tiny hypothesis: maybe the real depression we’ve got to contend with isn’t merely one of how much economic output we’re generating — but what we’re putting out there, and why. Call it a depression of human potential, a tale of human significance being willfully squandered…
This is a contest near and dear to my heart since every year I’m always a little scandalized at “Most Livable” and “Best City” league tables from various organizations every year. Especially having lived in some fairly prominent world capitals and livable cities (Paris, London, Vancouver, Amsterdam, Sydney, Toronto etc.). I want to figure this out to an answer I can agree with from my own experience, since it might finally answer the question of where I should live definitively.
One of the big problems in charities these days is a simple lack of innovation. There are a lot of orgs out there all competing for your scarce attention and money and many just use the recycled tactics they’ve seen other organizations use or they’ve used in the past. And it causes donor fatigue for even the worthiest causes.
So, I really like it when someone comes up with something refreshingly new. Admittedly, the people at charitywater keep on impressing me both from a funding and creativity standpoint. Waterforward take the idea of paying it forward into the social media and personal giving realm (as well as social proof and inclusion.). Brilliant.