Unintended benefits of catching a bridge up. (at Venetian Causeway)

Beautiful biological construction.

awkwardsituationist:

“world of averages” - composite images culled from thousands of individual portraits resulting in symmetrical average faces. 

This is great stuff, and check the source - The Postnational Monitor: http://pmsol3.wordpress.com/

metroderp:

I’m sick of it. You’re sick of it. Metro has reached levels of critical disrepair. Constant offloads, door malfunctions, closed stations, skip-stop service, etc. have rendered Metro maddening during commutes and essentially useless on weekends and off-peak hours.

But you know what? We don’t have…

Be able to make a distinction between how things are, and how they could be, should be, etc - and, as a prerequisite to that, be able to see things as they are, not as you think they are/should be, and accept that they are such, while reserving the ability to work to change them.

Further, understand that your self and opinions are shaped by your unique experiences in life, and that the same goes for all others. 

And, finally, understand that you can not draw a box around any individual thing or system and entirely contain it. Everything is affected by everything else to a greater or lesser degree. 

Great little quiz to quickly get up to a generalized speed on ALL of the candidates stances, in comparison with your own feelings on the issues. Become a more informed voter, take part in your governance!

This GIF and the associated story, here, are amazing.

”This skewering of the Gangnam life can be easy to miss for non-Korean. Psy boasts that he’s a real man who drinks a whole cup of coffee in one gulp, for example, insisting he wants a women who drinks coffee. “I think some of you may be wondering why he’s making such a big deal out of coffee, but it’s not your ordinary coffee,” U.S.-based Korean blogger Jea Kim wrote at her site, My Dear Korea.

“In Korea, there’s a joke poking fun at women who eat 2,000-won (about $2) ramen for lunch and then spend 6,000 won on Starbucks coffee.” They’re called Doenjangnyeo, or “soybean paste women” for their propensity to crimp on essentials so they can over-spend on conspicuous luxuries, of which coffee is, believe it or not, one of the most common. “The number of coffee shops has gone up tremendously, particularly in Gangnam,” Hong said. “Coffee shops have become the place where people go to be seen and spend ridiculous amounts of money.” 

Eff fighting so hard trying to fix the government or my fellow citizen. While noble, valiant causes - I’m going to fix the economy, and thus its markets, and thus lifestyles and all the rest will either breathe a sigh of relief (notably, ecology) or be slowly, implacably forced to fix themselves anyhow. And, most importantly, at no point will choice be removed from the picture - in fact, more choice and freedom to choose will be added - but in ALL directions, and at the proper and fully accounted for cost and benefit. You want free market, open market? Try transparent market - the most common form of organic democracy. YO. Watch this space. Its coming.

If you’ve seen a photo/quote floating around stating “(Americans) are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist” - here is the well cited and summarized blog post that launched it, pulling directly from a report by the National Safety Council, among many, many other pertinent and also factual reports.

Please understand that this is on no way calling police the enemy - many police are fantastic people and citizens. This is calling out the culture of fear and its use to manipulate against everyone and everything’s best interests. The police force is just as marginalized by it as the rest of us. Join together around our commonly held aspirations and refuse to be manipulated to our detriment. Wake up.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/06/fear-of-terror-makes-people-stupid.html

It is really easy to get fired up about sudden small injustices when they pop up. What is harder is the sustained effort, the continual attention. But that is what it takes, especially when you’re moving as fast as we are these days, and we’ve veered off in some important directions as much as we have.

Today’s flash in the pan effort to save 22 Olive Trees along Brickell Bay Dr is of importance and value, but it is simply a symptom of a larger problem: The City’s Tree Ordinance and its general attitude towards trees and landscaping, and the importance of these things in the overall picture.

As the Urban Paradise Guild urges us:

”Protesting the removal before it becomes fait acompli is essential. 

Taking it the next step and establishing a wiser tree ordinance has been attempted, but it went nowhere. If you would like to see this happen, please provide vocal and active support for the City of Miami Tree Canopy Committee - or even participate in person. Contact me if you would like to be informed about meetings, and include your e-mail address.