somewhere else to be

E. — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:30:49 +0000

by Sam Brown

to see in the dark

E. — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:06:15 +0000

Wonderful images by BENEDETTA BONICHI:
To See In The Dark

facebook world connections map

E. — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:10:58 +0000

Analysis done by an engineer intern working at facebook in 2010.

(Click for high resolution)

edvard munch on ‘the scream’

E. — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 02:18:10 +0000

“I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous, infinite scream of nature.”
[...]
“For several years I was almost mad … You know my picture, ‘The Scream?’ I was stretched to the limit—nature was screaming in my blood … After that I gave up hope ever of being able to love again.”

I wonder if he ever met Vigeland.

emotionally vague

E. — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:50:51 +0000

Orlagh O’Brien did some amazing emotion research in 2006 and 2007, called Emotionally Vague. He asked a sample of people different questions regarding emotions.

Q2: How do you feel these emotions in your body? Draw anything you wish.

This image was averaged over all participants of the study.

O’Brien also worked with colors (not unlike the color survey of information is beautiful) and words.

Highly recommendable.

weekly news yet again

E. — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:56:38 +0000

(1) Why pirates save the environment
The pirate raids in the seas east of Africa have had a significant impact on the environment: international trawlers that were illegally fishing there for years have apparently been avoiding the shores, which led to a dramatic increase in fish stock. In Mogadishu (capital of Somalia), the growing supply has led to decreasing prices, thus people who live there can actually afford to eat fish for the first time in many years. So far, most of the fish was exported.
(Source: sz-online.de)

(2) Why there is beauty in architecture
I have not seen anything like that before … take yourself 12 minutes, relax, get a cup of tea and a blanket, and watch this. Please.
And after you realize that this is nearly 100% rendered (this is not filmed, it was created with a computer), I hope you’re as amazed as I am.

(3) Why the FDP reduces hotel taxes
Germany has financial problems – like most other countries really. We started doing better until the big recession hit us a couple of months ago. I don’t want to go into the details very much, but the point is: there is an ongoing debate whether to make more debt and spend lots of money in order to get the economy going again, or whether we have to save money because our debts are already fairly high. The FDP (the “liberal” party), currently governing Germany together with the Christian Parties (CDU & CSU), had a clear message before the election: they wanted to simplify the system by erasing exceptions, especially regarding the tax system.
What they did – together with the Christian Parties – a couple of weeks back left nearly all Germans flabbergasted: the taxes for hotels in Germany were reduced from 19% to 7%. This had not been discussed previously, was simply decided upon, and is nothing else than introducing a new exception to the tax system.
A couple of weeks later, we know now that the FDP received a donation of 1.100.000 Euro in the year 2009 by “Substantia AG”. This company is owned by August Baron von Finck, one of the richest Germans – and his familiy is heavily involved in “Mövenpick Group”, a company which runs 14 hotels in Germany.
By the way: it was the biggest sum ever donated to the FDP.
EDIT: Oh well, the CSU (part of the Christian Coalition, situated only in Bavaria) also received a donation from Substantia AG, shortly before the election in Bavaria 2008. The sum was 820.000 Euro. And it also turns out: FDP and CSU were the ones pushing the bill.
EDIT: Right … the CDU also received money, around 100.000 Euro. Same donator, obviously.
(Source: Spiegel.de)

(4) Why we don’t believe in change
NYTimes reported on a decision of a federal appeals court panel last Tuesday:

[the court] … strongly backed the powers of the government to hold Guantánamo detainees and other noncitizens suspected of committing terrorist acts. In a sweeping opinion, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the presidential war power to detain those suspected of terrorism is not limited even by international law of war.