The Mind of an Independent

50924741163

“
Every other time I go out to eat with a group, be it family, friends, or acquaintances of whatever age, conversation routinely plunges into a discussion of when it is appropriate to pull out a phone. People boast about their self-control over not checking their device, and the table usually reaches a self-congratulatory consensus that we should all just keep it in our pants. The pinnacle of such abstinence-only smartphone education is a game that is popular to talk about (though I’ve never actually seen it played) wherein the first person at the dinner table to pull out their device has to pay the tab. Everyone usually agrees this is awesome.

What a ridiculous state of affairs this is.
”

The IRL Fetish – The New Inquiry (via s-m-i)

I am building something that potentially capitalizes on this fetishization. Then again, the fetish may actually get us to reconsider the balance and while the temporary state of affairs is absurd, the long term realignment is probably a good thing.

50909729037

A proper reading room.

50814430107

brutalgeneration:

By Børge Wahl

50655266497

Google Glass and Gargoyles

Compare these two quotes. The first from Nick Bilton. He’s remarking on the Google I/O experience. The second is from Neal Stephenson’s third novel “Snowcrash.” The parallels are surprising and possibly terrifying:

“Everywhere I looked at the conference, people were wearing Google Glass. Hundreds of them. Maybe more than a thousand! They were on the escalator. At the coffee stations. Press lounges. Lingering in the hallways like gangs of super nerds. They looked like real people as they nibbled on M&M’s and nuts at the snack bars. Except they weren’t; these “humans” were able to take pictures with their eyes and then post them to the Internet.”

-Nick Bilton

Gargoyles represent the embarrassing side of the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of using laptops, they wear their computers on their bodies, broken up into separate modules that hang on the waist, on the back, on the headset. They serve as human surveillance devices, recording everything that happens around them. Nothing looks stupider; these getups are the modern-day equivalent of the slide-rule scabbard or the calculator pouch on the belt, marking the user as belonging to a class that is at once above and far below human society. They are a boon to Hiro because they embody the worst stereotype of the CIC stringer. They draw all the attention. The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time, and gather intelligence all the time.

-Neal Stephenson

(Source: The New York Times)

50604078669

“I’ll go to the bookshop in town, grab three or four books of poetry, sit in the coffee shop, and read those for a while. It’s like loosening up your muscles before a workout.”

Thom Yorke Interview - Thom Yorke Quotes - Esquire (via pieratt)

(via pieratt)

50580475315

“Slow down.
Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.”

Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

Bruce Mau’s 43 lessons (and growing) are remarkable. We felt this was particularly relevant to the work we do at Blackstrap on behalf of our readers.

(via blackstrapping)

A big reason why we made Blackstrap. Stated simply.

(via blackstrapping)

50579060531

mmmmarginalia:

a picture, Ruben Aubrecht (2004)

A Picture breaks down a digital photo into its component parts, the source code. The entire body of information contained in the now indecipherable picture is bound into a book. (via ruben aubrecht - work)

Love this.

50578900973

Tomorrow is Bike to Work Day in NYC. Why not give it a shot.

50445284199

Well this is a bomb of musical awesomeness. Kind of M83ish and I like it quite a bit.

50367573078

laughingsquid:

Breathtaking GoPro Video Shows Installation of Final Section of One World Trade Center Spire

Wow. Just wow.

(Source: derekg)

50366663817

lovesouthkorea:

If you want to experience a miracle during your time in Korea, then pay a visit to the Jindo Miracle Sea Festival, which runs from April 7 to April 9. Once a year in Jindo, a tidal phenomenon occurs and the sea miraculously “parts”. This phenomenon is caused due to the difference in high tides and low tides, which creates a 2.8-kilometer-long road measuring 40 to 60 meters in width. The spectacular sight of the waves parting is widely known and many people travel to Korea from all over the world just to witness this amazing event.

(via subtlemag)

50361178450

“According to our still deeply-embedded forager sensibilities, identities are supposed to be formed via informal interactions between apparently equal allies who share basic values.”

Robin Hanson

Perhaps this is why social media works so well.

50360723483

“Years ago, 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues was a pokey Midtown cross street. The Modern, smaller yet somehow more distinctive, was tucked into the middle of the block with an entrance that, from the front doors, looked straight through the garden to the town houses on West 54th Street: a view from the city back into it. The Modern was in and of the urban fabric. Its ethos was embedded in the street grid, its architecture dovetailing with the art inside, so much of it consonant with the syncopated rhythms and complex geometry of New York.”

Defending the Former American Folk Art Museum Building

It’s an awfully pretentious comment and typical of a New Yorker. Then again as someone who has been here now 12 years, it’s true. MoMA is worse than it used to be. There is an intimacy lost. In fact, more and more of Manhattan seems to have lost a bit of intimacy. I know change is inevitable, but cities thrive on fostering intimacy. To lose that feeling is to lose something essential.

50356683547

outofreception:

I just posted a gear guide of the things i use while living in my van on A Restless Transplant here.

Daydreaming.

(via patagonia)

50346654504

whitneymcn:

Kurt Vile - Shame Chamber

Nothing on Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze has jumped up and grabbed me, but the record as a whole carries me along from start to finish nicely.

After a Sunday spent hiking to the top of Bear Mountain, I’ve got a little bit of a sunny day hangover happening, and Kurt Vile’s loose, rolling grooves are just what the doctor ordered. This doesn’t cure the hangover, but helps blur the lines between yesterday’s rock scrambles and today’s conference rooms.

Because I can’t stop listening to Kurt Vile, I figured I would encourage my readers to do the same.

The Mind of an Independent

Google Glass and Gargoyles

Blogs I follow