basicspace

Hey, this is Lyle from way back. I remember listening to your panda podcast in high school and...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:04:00 -0500

Hey, this is Lyle from way back. I remember listening to your panda podcast in high school and loving it. I’m loading up your newest playlist to listen to tomorrow on the bus. I’m so glad everytime I check up on your blog you’re still up to something and posting some new music to share. Hope you’re doing well.

Lyle

_{WHAT!? omg, Lyle! how are you? i’m doing good, even though i’m studying up for exams. haha yeah, i like to make playlists and share ‘em. can’t seem to shake off that habit. goodness, awesome to hear from you. hope you’re doing good too.}

i think i'm gonna invest in a netbook in the future.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:20:55 -0500

macs have higher sunk cost. so fucking expensive to fix.

"I don’t think she’s a fashion sage, I think she’s a novelty and I think she’s going to be used as a..."

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:06:13 -0500

“I don’t think she’s a fashion sage, I think she’s a novelty and I think she’s going to be used as a marketing device as a novelty.”

- Huffington Post’s longtime contributing style editor Lesley M. M. Blume on 13 yr old fashion blogger Tavi, via “Editors Like Tavi But Don’t Take Her Fashion Advice Seriously” at The Cut.

Although, how a blog that started in 2005 can really have a “longtime contributing” style editor is beyond me.

(via somethingchanged)

kateoplis:stever: Tumblr as a Vintage Paperback Rétrofuturs...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:04:30 -0500

kateoplis:stever:

Tumblr as a Vintage Paperback

Rétrofuturs (Hulk4598)/Stéphane Massa-Bidal has created a set of popular websites as paperbacks. Sadly, he hasn’t done one for Vimeo.

szymon: bald memo pad (part of Pantogar adv)

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:15:30 -0500

szymon:

bald memo pad (part of Pantogar adv)

szymon: Animal Toothpaste Heads

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:02:59 -0500

szymon:

Animal Toothpaste Heads

Vincent Fournier’s Space Project 1

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:11:00 -0500

Vincent Fournier’s Space Project 1

(Rah² Ah³) Roma² Ma x Gaga (Ooh La²)

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:37:42 -0500

doom-gloom:fuckyeahladygaga:(via multigrainfishsticks)

Mixtape#6: Adrift, or something's link is now fixed.

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:30:05 -0500

Mixtape#6: Adrift, or something's link is now fixed.:

it previously went to mixtape#5’s download link. haha, cause i was copy and pasting the tracklist format.

@mello-beth: aw, much thanks!! glad to know my time ain't all wasted. haha.

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:13:22 -0500

Japanese accessory maker Green House today announced its...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:08:26 -0500

Japanese accessory maker Green House today announced its GH-ERC-PIG series [JP], earphones shaped like little pigs.

artwork by Mark Weaver Mixtape#6 - Adrift, or something i need...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:45:00 -0500

_{artwork by Mark Weaver}

Mixtape#6 - Adrift, or something

i need to get this thing off my chest, so it’s quite short. hope you like. feel free to comment via formspring. get all previous mixtapes here.

St. Vincent - The Party
Beach House- Gila
Bon Iver & St. Vincent - Roslyn
Grouper - Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping
Grizzly Bear - Shift (Alternate Version)
Department of Eagles - The Piano in the Bathtub
Radiohead - Nude (sayCet Remix)

~29mins/51.83MB, download

trmw: Oliver Jeffers (via If You Could)

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:07:53 -0500

trmw:

Oliver Jeffers (via If You Could)

John Lennon said a lot of great things: “I am the...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:27:00 -0500

John Lennon said a lot of great things: “I am the Walrus,” “All you need is love,” and “The people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, just rattle your jewelry” are all high on the list.

And so is “War Is Over.” For the 29th anniversary of John’s assassination, Yoko has translated their famous “War Is Over” poster into 47 languages and put them all up on Flickr.

Pot Plants = Tomato Plants

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:19:00 -0500

DBB:

A British prisoner convinced guards his marijuana plants were tomato plants — and they even allowed him to decorate one as a Christmas tree, a source said. Mohamed Jalloh, 28, of Brent, North London, grew his pot plants at Verne Prison in Portland, Dorset, in southern England, and for five months, guards admired his gardening, The Sun reported Saturday.

But after another inmate told guards what the plants really were, they checked out photos of marijuana plants on the Internet, and the jig was up.

All the Lonely People

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:51:00 -0500

All the Lonely People:

Why is the contagion of loneliness and the shunning response important news? For starters, because we know Americans are already lonelier than they have ever been. Studies show that we move in smaller social circles and have fewer confidants than we used to. Add to this the probability of loneliness contagion and you get a snowball effect. And there’s more. Because the rest of us shun the lonely, we’ve got a prescription for deep divides and levels of isolation that could threaten the cohesion required for any society to function.

The spread of individual loneliness has mass social consequences, and among them are insidious effects on democratic values. We’re all aware that associations and affiliations — which socialize us into democratic life — are at the heart of democracy. The more lonely, divided and isolated we become, the less we participate and associate. The fewer people who participate actively in democracy, the more everyone is at the mercy of the loudmouthed extremists and demagogues who do engage.

We should think of loneliness, then, not just as a sad condition haunting some of us but as a seed of political disunity. Not only does growing social isolation undermine the social contract, it leaves the public grasping for new ways to connect. Indeed, as society becomes more atomized, the electorate might very well become more susceptible to calls for dangerous forms of solidarity — be they national, religious, ethnic or partisan. Research already suggests that social isolation leaves individuals more willing to embrace the abstract certainties of rigid ideologies.

My Brain on My Mind

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:32:00 -0500

My Brain on My Mind:

Walter Long was a writer and he was my grandfather. He was courteous, charming, chivalrous, handsome, well-spoken, well-shaven, well-dressed, and completely senile. His mental decline began when I was a girl. In the end he didn’t know me, and he didn’t know his own son, my father. He was born in 1884. He wrote for four or five decades until, starting sometime in the 1950s, dementia destroyed his writing process. We have a photo of Granddad writing with a dip pen at a slant-top writing table. He was a tall, thin man with a high forehead and a classic, almost Grecian, nose. He was a metropolitan reporter for Philadelphia’s leading newspaper, The Philadelphia Bulletin, before the era of regular bylines. What remains of his five decades of reportage? Nothing. His words have been obliterated, eradicated, annihilated. And what do we know about his brain? About his neurons, or ex-neurons? Almost nothing. Before me, my grandfather was the writer in the family. This abecedarium is dedicated to him. To his memory.

Advanced prosthetic arms are an active area of research, as...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:17:21 -0500

Advanced prosthetic arms are an active area of research, as scientists and doctors try to find ways to replicate the functionality of the human arm. The human hand is difficult to create artificially, because it is not just about movement. The hand also offers feedback about the texture and nature of the object. Conventional prosthetic arms have been little more than hooks with fingers that are fused together.

Touch Bionic’s ProDigits fingers help solve one part of the problem. For some patients, not having fingers or opposable thumbs makes small tasks such as holding a fork or a cup difficult and frustrating. ProDigits’ artificial fingers can wiggle independently or come together to form a fist.

Each of the bionic fingers is custom-built. The sockets are designed and fabricated to suit each patient’s specific needs, says the company.

ProDigits are activated either by myoelectric sensors that register muscle signals from the residual finger or palm, or by a pressure-sensitive switch input in the form of a touchpad. The fingers also have a feature that detects when they have closed around an object.

9-Year-Olds Remeber the 2000s They can’t recognize the...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:09:17 -0500

9-Year-Olds Remeber the 2000s

They can’t recognize the sound of dial-up, they hear “Baby One More Time” and say “It’s the song from ‘Robots’,” but they know about climate change and how to download music to their cell phones. Yes, they are 9-year-olds just coming to understand the absurd decade they were born into. What makes these kids’ explanations so adorable? Just after talking about terrorism and global warming, they go on to list their biggest fears as Bigfoot, murderous dolls and The Jersey Devil, among others. Kids will be kids!

(via Flavorwire)

exams are lame

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:55:35 -0500