We’ve previously covered On My Desk, a blog which shows creative workspaces. Now there’s a Flickr group that takes the concept further — The Items We Carry features photos of what’s in members’ pockets (or in their pocketses, if you will). Here’s an example:

It’s a little odd how highly organized and well-annotated most of the photos are — people seem to want to organize their pocket-contents in the photos…though I did find one messy photo. It’s also fun to judge people based on their pocket contents: I believe that some people just carry way too much stuff. I only found one photo that looked like what I carry.

So…what do you carry?

(Via the always-excellent Daring Fireball.)

Several people* asked to see more pictures of my pet rock, whose potential removal I wrote about Tuesday. With all the talk about a possible zen garden transformation, the idea of keeping the rock was growing on me. Then I took some pictures and zoomed in.

These photos are skeeving me out.

(more…)

I move a lot. Can’t tell you why — bad luck, maybe, or a naturally nomadic disposition. Either way, when I do pick up roots, I think very carefully about where I’m about to plunk them down again, and one of my A#1 considerations is walkability. Not because I hate my car, or am trying to debunk the nobody-walks-in-LA myth single-handedly, but because being able to walk to grab coffee or dinner or see a movie rather than spending an equivalent amount of time driving to do those things just make me feel good, like I’m interacting with my community on some basic level — or that I have a community to interact with.

In any case, I wish walkscore.com had existed last time I moved — it would’ve made things a heckuva lot easier. It’s a particularly useful Google Maps mashup, which looks at how far away nearby stores, restaurants, schools etc are from your address, and gives your house a walkability rating. My current place got a pretty sweet 89 out of 100: very walkable. The uber-suburban house where I grew up, on the other hand, got a seriously lousy 14: you definitely need a car. I find walkability to be a close cousin to liveability, and walkscore an uncannily accurate barometer of both. How walkable is your house? Do you agree with your score?

You may know that Apple was founded by two Steves (Wozniak and Jobs). But do you know which of them is a Stephen and which is a Steven? What about the author King and the comedian Wright? Are they “PH” or are they “V”?

Take our 10-question PhV quiz and find out if you have what it takes to become a Doctor of Steveology. (Mom would be proud!)

Because we’re still up to our ears in boxes in our new home, with half the kitchen still MIA (note to self: when moving next time, be a little more liberal when labeling boxes. “Downstairs sh*t” doesn’t help much when trying to locate the remote controls or extension cords), my wife and I find ourselves making a lot of little, quick, easy meals.

Lately my favorite has been an avocado/cheese melt. To make it, all you need is a tortilla (I prefer flour over corn), half an avocado and a slice or two of your fav cheese (I like provolone). Mash up the avocado, spread it on the tortilla, slap the cheese over it and heat. Once the cheese melts, take it out and dash on some red hot-sauce. It’s delicious and takes a whopping 5 minutes to prepare.

The New York Times had a long list of 101 quick meals in their Dining/Wine section the other day. Here are the top ten, all of which sound rather easy except #5. Mussels just don’t belong in any recipe with the words easy or quick if you want my opinion. What about you all? Have a quick, easy dish I can make in less than 10 minutes? (sans microwave, if possible)

1. Make six-minute eggs: simmer gently, run under cold water until cool, then peel. Serve over steamed asparagus.
2. Toss a cup of chopped mixed herbs with a few tablespoons of olive oil in a hot pan. Serve over angel-hair pasta, diluting the sauce if necessary with pasta cooking water. (more…)

I’ve always been transfixed by anyone with the surname Blood, and Benjamin Paul Blood (1832-1919) is no exception. A contemporary of William James, he was similarly obsessed with the spectrum of religious experiences. He was particulary fascinated by the study of consciousness and how it was affected by artificial trances, e.g. nitrous oxide and other analgesic gases. In one of his pamphlets he writes about the revelations one can expect to experience upon awakening from the drugged state:

I think most persons who shall have tested it [i.e. waking up from laughing gas, ether, et al.] will accept this as the central point of the illumination: [i] that sanity is not the basic quality of intelligence, but is a mere condition which is variable, and like the humming of a wheel, goes up or down the musical gamut according to a physical activity; [ii] and that only in sanity is formal or contrasting thought, while the naked life is realized only outside of sanity altogether; [iii] and it is the instant contrast of this ‘tasteless water of souls’ with formal thought as we “come to,” that leaves in the patient an astonishment that the awful mystery of Life is at last but a homely and a common thing, and that aside from mere formality the majestic and the absurd are of equal dignity.

Well, then. This seems a cross section rife with potential dissent. What do you think of Mr. Blood’s musings…Is sanity a “mere condition” or a “basic quality” of intelligence? And what of the equality of the majestic and absurd?

Today I shall share one of my favorite little-known links: the De-Garfed Community on LiveJournal. The principle here is to take real Garfield cartoons and remove Garfield’s thought bubbles. This simple game leads to a much weirder, deeper, and usually funnier cartoon strip. Here are some examples:

It’s a simple concept, but so full of joy. Check out De-Garfed and make your own! (And I hereby tag fellow blogger Ransom to chime in with the story of how we used to re-caption Family Circus cartoons in middle school.)

Further Garfield tidbits for today: Is Garfield Dead? (warning: plays a song!), discussion of whether Garfield is dead, and more on the death-strips from Wikipedia. These last few links are via Your Daily Awesome.

How To Is Now 100% Desert Island-Free!

YOU WILL NEED
Fortitude
A strong desire to get out of the rat race
A beard (guys only!)

Step 1: Learn The Difference Between Amish and Mennonite
You’re never going to endear yourself to your new neighbors if you can’t tell one apart from their theological cousins down the road. Historically the older of the two sects, Mennonites believed in plain, unadorned living and adult baptism, making them not all that different from the other Christian groups that popped up in Germany and Switzerland in the 17th century. But, around 1693, one of their members, a guy named Jakob Amman, started to get a little rowdy. Amman traveled around the countryside preaching a more hard-line version of Mennonism that called for, among other things, a return to traditional clothing, avoidance of worldly grooming trends like moustaches, mandatory un-cut beards, and the public shunning of excommunicated church members. Taking their name from Amman’s, his new followers called themselves “Amish.”

Over the next few hundred years, both groups did their fair share of theological off-shooting. Today, there are numerous sub-groups of both Mennonite and Amish, making it difficult to pin them down with generalities. However, in most cases, the easiest way to tell the two apart is to look for a family car—most Mennonites drive them, most Amish don’t. But, just because they enjoy a faster mode of travel doesn’t mean the Mennonites are ostentatious about their automobiles. In fact, it’s common practice to cover any Detroit-installed chrome with black paint, just to let the world know they aren’t trying to be flashy.
(more…)

Under the guise of conducting important research for a project, a co-worker and I have been watching Rube Goldberg-inspired videos on YouTube.

Before I pass along a few of the clips we’ve been sending back and forth, a little Rube trivia:

• Reuben Garret L. Goldberg grew up in San Francisco and earned a degree in engineering from UC-Berkeley in 1904. I don’t know what the L stands for.
• His first job after college was with the City of San Francisco Water and Sewers Department.
• Six months later, he took an office boy job with the San Francisco Chronicle. According to Toonopedia, “At first he mostly tidied the place up (and allegedly, while emptying wastebaskets, figured out what had happened to his own earlier cartoon submissions), but soon became one of the Chronicle‘s sports cartoonists.”
• He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his political cartoons in 1948.
• In 1995, he was featured on a 32-cent stamp as part of the Comic Strip Classics series.

A better way to spend time in the office than watching Rube Goldberg videos.
(more…)

You think you don’t know the brilliant jazz musician, pianist and songwriter, Bob Dorough, but you’re wrong. Remember all those funky School House Rock songs? Well guess who wrote about 50 of them?

Born in Cherry Hill, Arkansas, Bob was a product of the G.I. Bill and wound up in NYC taking classes at Columbia and soaking in the jazz scene. Eventually he was approached by School House creator David B. McCall, who came up with the idea for the TV show when he noted that his son couldn’t grasp multiplication tables but had memorized Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix lyrics.

Being a word-nut, “Conjunction Junction” has always been my fav. (Though, my hero is still Zero, naturally.)

You guys have a favorite School House song/memory? Is there one in particular that you still find yourself singing in the shower when you’re alone and feeling nostalgic?
Listen to an excerpt of “Conjunction Junction” here