Images

Amazing photo of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s final launch…

theatlantic:

newsweek:

joshsternberg:

skibinskipedia:

The Space Shuttle Endeavour’s Final Launch seen from a commercial plane window, captured by Stefanie Gordon.

Stunning.

This is just insanely perfect. 

One for the history books.

bookoasis: A book and a cup of coffee are two of life’s greatest pleasures. (Photo by meadbh metrustry)

powells:

Amen.

When it becomes unseasonably warm, I remind myself of days like these…

npr: It’s rare in the “modern” world that we can feel forces greater than ourselves.  When we think of grand powers unbound, we call to mind images of nuclear weapons — mushroom clouds rising high on nuclear energies released at our bidding. In this age of petroleum-fueled miracles we seem, most of the time, to have vaulted past natural limitations. Most of the time, our airplanes can lift off even as thunderheads fill the skies. Most of the time, our ships can punch through waves even when they form canyons of storm-driven ocean.  Most of the time, the intricate systems we depend upon for commerce, for travel, for food and for energy manage to function. And they do so in spite of churnings of the planet’s own internal systems of atmosphere, hydrosphere and exosphere.

And then, out of the blue, the planet’s hidden powers are revealed.  We see the scale of its forces and its energies.  There is a particular lesson in that vision for our particular moment in history. 

-Posted by wrightbryan3, from Adam Frank’s “A Metropolis Stilled: Lessons From A Storm.”

hopicecream:

Today is the Big Love Fest! If you have the chance, support unchained and independent business in Asheville!

Poem: Azaleas blossom white

Poetrio – 3 poets at 3 PM – May 1, 2011

armanidishwash:

This is a pretty accurate representation of my current internship in brazil, the work one needs to be really minimal though.

szymon: Pantone color chip cookies from Kim Neill

typewriterblues:

Picture of me taken by Sable for the Spring 2011 issue of Proxart Magazine

Which you should check out (Free PDF of Proxart Winter 2010)

(via projectedendlessly)

waltercuthbertblythe:

fine little day

calvinnhobbes:

By Bill Watterson

Published on 3rd December 1991

gregmelander:

EXPERIENCE DESIGN PYRAMID

This may seem a bit academic but for me it is pretty fundamental to remember when doing experience design.  I put this checklist together to remind me why some experiences fail. Usually they are missing one or more parts of this experience design pyramid.  Do all 6 and your experience is like magic!

R. Buckminster Fuller at Black Mountain College by Nancy Newhall ca. 1948 Color Transparency (via adamferriss)

Dorothy Parker, 1937. (via americanchickens)

jaredbkeller:

Before The Aircraft Carrier: The Union Army Balloon Corp

Beginning in 1861, the Union Army had an active balloon corp. The Union Army Balloon Corp, led by presidential appointee Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, consisted of seven vessels, the largest at 32,000 cubic feet, used primarily for reconnaissance and surveilling Confederate troops. Most of these units were launched from ground bases; seaborne balloons had only been utilized once before, in 1849, when an Austrian vessel, Vulcano, launched a failed attempt to bomb Venice with manned hot air balloons.

The Union did not utilize a maritime vessel as a staging area until August of 1961. Lowe, with the assistance of fellow aeronaut John LaMountain, directed the construction of the first real aircraft carrier. The two rebuilt a coal barge, the George Washington Parke Custis, gutting the deck of its rigging to accommodate gas generators and a flight deck superstructure. TheCustis was part of its own battle group, towed by the Stepping Stone and accompanying sloop Wachusett, the gunboats Tioga and Port Royal, and the armed transport Delaware during the course of its operational lifespan.

Read the full article here.

theatlantic: YES.

ben:

MoMA purchased some fonts recently (23 to be exact), most of which having some sort of historical significance.

One of these typefaces was OCR-A by American Type Founders, which is probably best known as the font used for routing numbers on checks. It’s used in other business contexts as well because it was designed to be perfectly readable by computers. The characters are distinct enough that individual characters won’t get mistaken for other ones.