Let me Google that for you
For when you want to help in a condescending way.
Blendor
it’s like hitting a piñata filled with exciting blog postsVision for all
Inventor’s 2020 vision: to help 1bn of the world’s poorest see better:
Silver has devised a pair of glasses which rely on the principle that the fatter a lens the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device’s tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to a small syringe attached to either arm of the spectacles.
The wearer adjusts a dial on the syringe to add or reduce amount of fluid in the membrane, thus changing the power of the lens. When the wearer is happy with the strength of each lens the membrane is sealed by twisting a small screw, and the syringes removed. The principle is so simple, the team has discovered, that with very little guidance people are perfectly capable of creating glasses to their own prescription.
Such an amazing idea. With self-adjustable glasses cheap enough, and with the right distribution networks, sight could be restored to massive numbers of poor people in the world.
So this is Christmas
I hope everyone has a great break, enjoys time with family, eats delicious food, and gets lots of presents. Things are going well this side of the pond; I’m out for break and spending time with family. My brother’s over, and I’ve been trying to show him a good time in London - apparently Shoreditch and Camden are the places to be. Oh, and Portobello market is awesome, especially on Saturdays. I took these the other day in Southampton. If we don’t have a white Christmas here, at least I think we’ll have a foggy one.
Nabokov interview and Lolita reading
So, so awesome (in 5 chapters). Did I mention he reads lines from Lolita? (via.) Chapter One:
He also describes Freud as “crude” and “medieval.” He doesn’t want an “elderly gentleman from Vienna…with an umbrella…inflicting his views” upon him. Take that, Freud!
Someone Once Told Me
Such a cool idea for a photo project:
What SOTM actually means is that people are asked, sometimes by appointment and sometimes randomly, to hold up a large piece of paper, upon which they write something that someone once told them. Or emailed. Or texted. Basically something that’s been communicated to them. But told, preferably.
Check out Someone Once Told Me. Here’s a video of the project:
Yeah, Bill, we can hang
Bill Murray has taken to just dropping in at parties and chilling with random kids. Apparently he’s not being particularly creepy, just hanging out, having a drink, dancing a bit, sharing conversations. It’s an interesting story in the Post that finishes with a funny uban legend:
Then again, perhaps he’s just toying with us all. There’s an urban legend that’s gone round until no one is sure who it happened to, or if it happened at all. It was late one night, a few years ago, when a young man was walking through Union Square Park. He suddenly felt someone behind him, their hands over his eyes. When he turned in surprise, there was Bill Murray, his creased face leaning in close. Bill whispered, “No one is ever going to believe you,” and then just walked away.
Merry nostalgic Christmas!
I was just watching a BetaMaXmas - an 80s TV with remote and TV Guide, filled with holiday specials and commercials - and I realized something. I want Drakkar Noir for Christmas. I’m bringing it back. Oh, gotta go - Designing Women is on. Suzanne Sugarbaker just got a pig for Christmas.
Julian Röder
Julian Röder takes amazing photos (via). I’m really curious what his primary camera is; most of the shots have a vintagey 35mm look to them. If it’s a new digital, then he’s doing some really excellent (and consistent) digital processing. Regardless, the style, content and composition are eye-catching. Take these two from his The Summits, for example:
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Meet the new boss
To summarize: the members of Obama’s Transition Economic Advisory Board are too old, too uninspiring and too much part of the problem to deliver the change America needs and to keep alive the hope that Obama may have inspired through his election. A wasted opportunity.
(From FT.com | Willem Buiter’s Maverecon.) That sucks, but I can’t say I’m surprised. I’m prepared for more of the same in other political arenas, albeit with a flashier presentation than we’re used to. Buiter does overstep a bit in dismissing all lawyers outright, but in general he’s right that there aren’t enough serious economists on the team - especially given the significance of today’s crisis. And the number of protectionists on the board seems at odds with a need for a Bretton Woods III, as John B. Judis puts it. (I highly recommend this last article; it puts aspects of global economics of the last century into sharp perspective.)
White Denim on the tele
I just saw Austin band White Denim on UK Channel 4’s 4 music. Pretty cool.
Oh, it was this video: