Bestselling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society.
Very very interesting animated lectures from RSA
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Memorial crosses symbolizing what is lost due to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and oil spill stand in the front yard of a house in Grand Isle, Louisiana, Tuesday, June 1, 2010. “This is breaking people,” property owner Patrick Shay, not pictured, said of the spill’s effect on Grand Isle residents. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
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Summerhouse in Hardanger, Norway, by Todd Asunders and Tommie Wilhelmsen.
At that time a relatively new firm, started by two enthusiastic and experimental architects. While waiting for clients willing to take a chance with such young, enthusiatic achitects with limited experience, they went looking for plots, to build an experimental structure. Doing this, they could pursue their acrhitectural vision in line with their convictions: uncomprimising, original and respect for the landscape.
This vision resulted in this small hut by the Hardangerfjord in Norway.
The hut consist of two parts; one for food and sleep and a more flexible part for other purposes, tied together by a long, narrow outdoor-floor. The building is made by ecologic principles in every step of the process, for instance isolated by recycled newspaper. The whole construction is beautifully adapted to the landscape, by the same time as being a tender contrast to the dramatic surroundings.
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Most current models of crowd displacement assume the individuals to act independently, simply trying to reach their destination without collisions. Using video recordings in urban areas, the team of Guy Theraulaz (Research Center on Animal Cognition, CRCA, University of Toulouse/CNRS), in a straight collaboration with Dirk Helbing of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, showed the 50 to 70% of pedestrians do not move alone but in small groups of 2 to 4 people. The study of the spatial organisation within these groups reveals that they walk side by side as long as space allows it, but switch to more complex shapes when crowding increases, with the central persons waking behind the others. This leads ot V shapes in groups of three and U shapes in groups of 4. While these configurations facilitate the communication within the group, they slow down the whole group speed. These concave configurations simply make straight walking ahead more tedious and complicate avoidance manoeuvres. On the whole crowd scale this leads to a roughly 17% traffic reduction compared to a situation where pedestrians move independently. (via Pruned: Pedestrian Labyrinth)
it’s fascinating what scientist can study. this about walking you will find out by yourself eventually, but i’m sure it’s interesting for ones studying human (or animal) behavior to really dig into it
personally i like walking alone tho. i started questioning the theory or humans being pack animals long ago- it’s very individual isn’t it…
in the end, whatever we might think, we act out of egoistic reasons
This Would Be A Nice Place For A Tree stencil, Chinatown, NYC (via The Important Project)
yes it would
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Katie Holten - Paths of Desire
The issue for city design is that:
- Clients and people only want the above ground part of the tree
- Engineers are not aware of what is required underground to support the above ground portion of the tree
- Services are placed with no appreciation of the tree as a whole
- Trees are seen as a “beautification” item that break structure and increase maintenance. Where as they also do evaporative cooling of 8 to 10 degrees, mitigate heat load, shade streets, create place, provide habitat, and add “beautification”
- Don’t be scared of the “beautification” but don’t undersell the other benefits.
via iheartmyart
“Russian-born singer-songwriter Regina Spektor has lent her signature stripped-down piano and distinct vocal stylings to a cover of Radiohead’s “No Surprises.” The track is available exclusively at iTunes and 100 percent of proceeds will benefit the Doctors Without Borders’ Emergency Relief Fund.” (via SPIN)
It’s great seeing a talented artist like Regina Spektor doing this.
Check her out on MySpace Music and You Tube before going to the iTunes store to get her “No Surprises”-cover.
It’s devestating what happened to Haiti. Such a fragile country totally destroyed.
Thank goodness for MSF/Doctors Without Borders and other helping organizations.
Three months after the January 12 earthquake, MSF continues to develop and expand their services in response to still immense and evolving needs.
Why humans creates unrealistic images of the body BBC’s series “How Art Made The World” is worth a look even if you’re not the biggest art enthusiast. In the episode “More Human Than Human” they will let you know why the world of today is so dominated by unrealistic body images and in general, why we humans exaggerate and want more than reality. They start with Grotesque Obsessions (episode above) and the 25 000 year old Venus of Willendorf, to brain science and seagul-research, and end up with Greek Sculpture, giving you the answer to the ways of your mind, basically.
