Adventurings

The ARCHIVE of all my past adventures (and there are many!) can be accessed at the bottom of the page.
Sat May 25
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Tue Apr 30
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Sat Apr 27
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Tue Oct 23
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Thu Aug 16
I don’t like this expression ‘First World problems.’ It is false and it is condescending. Yes, Nigerians struggle with floods or infant mortality. But these same Nigerians also deal with mundane and seemingly luxurious hassles. Connectivity issues on your BlackBerry, cost of car repair, how to sync your iPad, what brand of noodles to buy: Third World problems. All the silly stuff of life doesn’t disappear just because you’re black and live in a poorer country. People in the richer nations need a more robust sense of the lives being lived in the darker nations. Here’s a First World problem: the inability to see that others are as fully complex and as keen on technology and pleasure as you are. Teju Cole (via semperes)

(Source: thewhiskeypropagandist, via newsweek)

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Thu Aug 9
nprfreshair:

“I’m fortunate, I grew up, two parents, my dad was really into it, so just by osmosis, I’m just really into it. I never really looked at it as a chore or whatever. When I hear people talk about juggling, or the sacrifices they make for their children, I look at them like they’re crazy, because ‘sacrifice’ infers that there was something better to do than being with your children. And I’ve never been with my kids and gone, ‘Man I wish I was on my stage right now.’ I’ve never been with my kids and gone, ‘Man, it’d be so great if I was on a movie set right now.’ But I’ve been doing a movie and wished that I was with my kids, I’ve been on tour and wished that I was with my kids. Being with my kids is the best, most fun thing, it’s a privilege. It’s not something I call a sacrifice.”
—  Chris Rock on being a working father

nprfreshair:

“I’m fortunate, I grew up, two parents, my dad was really into it, so just by osmosis, I’m just really into it. I never really looked at it as a chore or whatever. When I hear people talk about juggling, or the sacrifices they make for their children, I look at them like they’re crazy, because ‘sacrifice’ infers that there was something better to do than being with your children. And I’ve never been with my kids and gone, ‘Man I wish I was on my stage right now.’ I’ve never been with my kids and gone, ‘Man, it’d be so great if I was on a movie set right now.’ But I’ve been doing a movie and wished that I was with my kids, I’ve been on tour and wished that I was with my kids. Being with my kids is the best, most fun thing, it’s a privilege. It’s not something I call a sacrifice.”

—  Chris Rock on being a working father

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Fri Jul 27
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Tue Mar 13
theatlantic:

6 Writing Tips From John Steinbeck

1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.
2. Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.
3. Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.
4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.
5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.
6. If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.
Read more. [Image: AP]

theatlantic:

6 Writing Tips From John Steinbeck

1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.

2. Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.

3. Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.

4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.

5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.

6. If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.

Read more. [Image: AP]

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Sat Jan 7
slaughterhouse90210:

“But nothing disturbs the feeling of specialness like the presence of other human beings feeling identically special.”― Jonathan Franzen, Freedom 

slaughterhouse90210:

“But nothing disturbs the feeling of specialness like the presence of other human beings feeling identically special.”
Jonathan Franzen, Freedom 

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Fri Dec 2

theatlanticvideo:

Death to Pennies

Did you know it costs the U.S. Mint about 1.8 cents to make one penny? This snappy YouTube video from C. G. P. Grey explains why pennies are bad for the economy and should be discontinued. What do you think?

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Tue Nov 22

(Source: jockohomo, via newsweek)

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Fri Nov 18
keepyourboehneroutofmyuterus:

womenoccupy:

Dorli Rainey 84, after being pepper sprayed at Occupy Seattle protest: Photo by Joshua Trujillo, SeattlePI.com
[via]

I have only posted about OWS one other time. I just can’t let this go by. 
This is what can happen to you and your body if you just show up, place your body somewhere that freaks out the establishment, and actively protest the problems inherent and rampant in the system. This type of over-reaction by the authorities is something that people of color and minorities face ALL THE TIME simply for being, let’s remember. But seriously, Holy Fuck.
We owe it to this woman to look in her eyes, to see her face, to SEE her. We owe it to her to hold her gaze, to not move our eyes away because it is hard to look. We need to keep looking at her specifically BECAUSE it is hard to look. 

keepyourboehneroutofmyuterus:

womenoccupy:

Dorli Rainey 84, after being pepper sprayed at Occupy Seattle protest: Photo by Joshua Trujillo, SeattlePI.com

[via]

I have only posted about OWS one other time. I just can’t let this go by. 

This is what can happen to you and your body if you just show up, place your body somewhere that freaks out the establishment, and actively protest the problems inherent and rampant in the system. This type of over-reaction by the authorities is something that people of color and minorities face ALL THE TIME simply for being, let’s remember. But seriously, Holy Fuck.

We owe it to this woman to look in her eyes, to see her face, to SEE her. We owe it to her to hold her gaze, to not move our eyes away because it is hard to look. We need to keep looking at her specifically BECAUSE it is hard to look. 

(via newsweek)

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Sat Nov 12

theatlanticvideo:

A Montage of Astronauts Falling on the Moon

YouTube user SaturnApollo has compiled a blooper reel of astronauts tripping over Moon rocks and generally struggling to stay vertical, even though the Moon’s gravity is only about one-sixth as strong as Earth’s.

Via the Daily What.

(via theatlantic)

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Mon Sep 26
theatlantic:

One Downside to Bicycle Commuting: Biker’s Lung

If you bike to work, you’ve probably got pretty nice thighs. Your lungs, though, may not be in such great shape.
New research has found that bicycle commuters inhale more than twice the amount of black carbon particles as pedestrians making a comparable trip. That healthy bike ride to and from work might be getting you out of a car, but it’s not getting you out of the way of the automobile emissions.
The study, led by Professor Jonathan Grigg from Barts and the London School of Medicine, looked at bicycle and pedestrian commuters in London to determine whether different modes of travel exposed commuters to higher levels of black carbon. By comparing levels of carbon in the lungs of five healthy bicycle commuters to the levels of five healthy pedestrian commuters, the researchers found a large disparity. The bicycle commuters had 2.3 times more black carbon in their lungs. They claim that the probability of this happening by chance is less than one percent.

Read more at The Atlantic Cities

theatlantic:

One Downside to Bicycle Commuting: Biker’s Lung

If you bike to work, you’ve probably got pretty nice thighs. Your lungs, though, may not be in such great shape.

New research has found that bicycle commuters inhale more than twice the amount of black carbon particles as pedestrians making a comparable trip. That healthy bike ride to and from work might be getting you out of a car, but it’s not getting you out of the way of the automobile emissions.

The study, led by Professor Jonathan Grigg from Barts and the London School of Medicine, looked at bicycle and pedestrian commuters in London to determine whether different modes of travel exposed commuters to higher levels of black carbon. By comparing levels of carbon in the lungs of five healthy bicycle commuters to the levels of five healthy pedestrian commuters, the researchers found a large disparity. The bicycle commuters had 2.3 times more black carbon in their lungs. They claim that the probability of this happening by chance is less than one percent.

Read more at The Atlantic Cities

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Tue Sep 20
newsweek:

discoverynews:

Suicide by Roller Coaster
This is a hypothetic euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster,  engineered to humanely – with elegance and euphoria – take the life of a  human being.

The 3-minute ride involves a long, slow, climb — nearly a third of a  mile long — that lifts one up to a height of more than 1,600 feet,  followed by a massive fall and seven strategically sized and placed  loops. The final descent and series of loops take all of one minute. But  the 10g force from the spinning loops at 223 mph in that single minute  is lethal.

More

This is nuts. The creator, Designer/Artist Julijonas Urbonas, tells Discovery he doesn’t see his suicide machine as being about death, but as “an intellectual and artful departure from the  world.”

newsweek:

discoverynews:

Suicide by Roller Coaster

This is a hypothetic euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster, engineered to humanely – with elegance and euphoria – take the life of a human being.

The 3-minute ride involves a long, slow, climb — nearly a third of a mile long — that lifts one up to a height of more than 1,600 feet, followed by a massive fall and seven strategically sized and placed loops. The final descent and series of loops take all of one minute. But the 10g force from the spinning loops at 223 mph in that single minute is lethal.

More

This is nuts. The creator, Designer/Artist Julijonas Urbonas, tells Discovery he doesn’t see his suicide machine as being about death, but as “an intellectual and artful departure from the world.”

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