Amazing mechanical device designed in 1890 mimics the sound of birdsong.
"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
This article is about José Mujica, the current president of Uruguay, who lives on a farm and gives away 90% of his income to charity every month; he only keeps $775 a month, which is less than I make at my part-time job.
President Mujica on consumption:
“Do we want the model of development and consumption of the rich countries? I ask you now: what would happen to this planet if Indians would have the same proportion of cars per household than Germans? How much oxygen would we have left? Does this planet have enough resources so seven or eight billion can have the same level of consumption and waste that today is seen in rich societies? It is this level of hyper-consumption that is harming our planet.”
Carson Ellis, on Tumblr
Easily one of my very favorite illustrators working today, Carson Ellis is on Tumblr now.
(Source: sosuperawesome)
Beard Tax Token, 1705
A beard tax is one of several taxes introduced throughout history on men who wear beards. In 1705, Emperor Peter I of Russia instituted a beard tax to modernize the society of Russia following European models. Those who paid the tax were required to carry a “beard token”. This was a copper or silver token with a Russian Eagle on one side and on the other, the lower part of a face with nose, mouth, whiskers, and beard. It was inscribed with two phrases: “the beard tax has been taken” and “the beard is a superfluous burden”.
However, Peter the Great was not the first ruler to impose a beard tax upon his subjects, in 1535, King Henry VIII of England, who wore a beard himself, introduced a tax on beards. The tax was a graduated tax, varying with the wearer’s social position. His daughter, Elizabeth I of England, reintroduced the beard tax, taxing every beard of more than two weeks’ growth.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Omnibus Kammarblåsare (Omnibus Wind Ensemble) performs their arrangement of “Heartbeats”, originally by The Knife.
- Skylar: Maybe we can go out for coffee sometime.
- Will: All right, yeah. Maybe we can just get together and eat a bunch of caramels.
- Skylar: What do you—?
- Will: When you think about it, it's as arbitrary as drinkin' coffee.
- - Good Will Hunting
"
“You’d better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.”
“What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?”
“You ask a glass of water.”
Arthur thought about this.
"— Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
