Simon Høgsberg, 100 meters of existence

Very beautiful photograph by Simon Høgsberg, which really utilizes the new medium aspect of the internet and our contemporary viewing portals.

I would however love to see this stretched out in a gallery.

One T, Twiter Parking Space

First off, no I did not misspell Twitter in the title.
What I’m referring to is twiter.com, which I coincidentally did find because I misspelled Twitter (two t) in the address.

Twiter.com (one t) is what I like to call a Parking Space (I can’t imagine I’m the first person to use this term, but this is what I call it): a generic website used to hold a space where someone might like to park their website, or in this case, the claimed URL of a site spelled one letter off.

I noticed a funny thing when I visited the one t site; I was legitimately confused into thinking I was where I should be. I imagine this was for three reasons,

  1. I was expecting to go to Twitter
  2. I am used to twitter failing and reverting back to some less styled form of HTML and broken CSS
  3. The blatant use of an existing Twitter illustration in the middle of the page.

This raises an issue…

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One Year Closer to 30, No Good Deed Goes Unnoticed

So last week was my 29th birthday (May 9th for anyone keeping track for next year) and my loving partner in crime, (@bailey_v) and I went to Martha’s Vineyard to celebrate and visit our friend who lives on the island.

As a present (other than the wonderful time we had away from the city), Bailey orchestrated one of the coolest birthdays I’ve ever had (and continued to have days later), but only with the help of many a friend willing to do something nice. In lieu of any material gifts, Bailey asked a group of my friends to do a good deed in my honor, in an attempt to receive 29 good deed for my 29th birthday.

The following is a list of all the deeds done on and for my birthday:

  1. Bailey bought a box of joe and a bunch of munchkins for the front desk at the YMCA, which I guess went straight to the hands of the after school program.
  2. My dad made a visit with the church to help a family with no food, which he often does, but he gave the woman $20 extra from his own pocket to help her out
  3. My mom made a donation to charity too
  4. Maryellen tipped her waitress 25%
  5. Kathleen gave up a parking spot to an elderly woman
  6. Mo and Justin donated to Zumix (music programs for kids!)
  7. Dan and Marie planted seeds in their local public park (see the photo below)
  8. Kathy treated two girls in her office for lunch
  9. Mel cleaned her grandmothers house so when she gets home from 9 months in FL she can relax
  10. Tia paid the toll for the car behind her
  11. Kyle gave 5 to the old banjo player who she walks by all the time in her subway station
  12. Brendon and family donated some food
  13. Susie gave a little boy a new Red Sox shirt
  14. Jen L. baked for her roommates in design school who hadn’t slept in a week
  15. Martie bought a major league ball at the Sox game and walked to the upper bleachers to give it to a chubby little seven year old
  16. Jen H. picked up another dog’s poop off the sidewalk while walking her dog
  17. Ashley weeded Mrs Reilly’s flower beds and picked up garbage on the beach
  18. Kevin flashed his lights a guy so he wpuldn’t get a ticket and then volunteered to help some people fix docks.
  19. Jack put a penny in the American cancer fund jar… and then made an actual donation
  20. Anthony bought cheese at Pike Place Market before work, and secretly gave it to a coworker
  21. Andrew ran a 5k for charity in PA
  22. Dan K. tried to help people but they wouldn’t take his help… so he made a donation to charity instead
  23. Lauren paid double what she should have for a CD from a new music artist
  24. Nate fell asleep without doing his deed, but text me “I O U one random act of kindness,” So we’ll give it to him

    ***update*** Nate gave $20 to a homeless guy
  25. Paula helped an old lady at brunch get her purse untangled from her chair
  26. Jonah is helping a new friend by making him a website for his little manure business. it will be manure.com.ar (when it’s ready)
  27. Tim schooled fifteen, 7 and 8 year olds on the fundamentals of America’s pastime, little league baseball. They played through the rain, but fell valiantly 17-6 in a 5 inning game shortened by the newly instituted 2 1/2 hr. rule.
  28. Mauricio bought a sandwich for a man on the streets of Bogata Columbia while he was home visiting his family
  29. Mike and Erin tipped their cab driver $16 on a $4 cab ride
  30. Rosanna made it through the day without killing anyone… and if you knew the type of day she had including the car rental facility, and attempting to pay for the person’s toll behind her only to find she didn’t have money for her own toll… you’d be happy with no blood-shed

So coming in at an even 30, I have decided I need more friends in the upcoming years to keep up with the good deeds.
Dan and Marie, planting seeds
Photo: Dan and Marie, planting seeds

TED Talks: Louise Fresco, Value of Bread

This is a great presentation on the value of bread and how we often take modern agriculture for granted, especially as we desire a more sustainable future. Louise Fresco is a professor at the University of Amsterdam and has traveled the world to observe and work with rural agriculture.

This TED video and more are available at the TED website, www.ted.com, and on Twitter, @tedtalks.

(This video is long by web standards, 18 mins, but is well worth the watch.)

More Media

Coffee on the Grid

Coffee on the Grid

Yes, I am having one of those days…

What’s that?… No, not the spilled coffee on a piece of paper, that happened days ago.

One of those days where I would actually post a photo of said coffee stain on my blog.

Troubled Times

In times of trouble there are two outcomes, fall down, or persevere. Falling isn’t really an option, so one must always persevere. This takes patience, commitment, skill and understanding.

Remember that.