jmcmichael

Windowpane diagram of Japanese corporate cultures. from Shafuu...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:21:10 -0400

Windowpane diagram of Japanese corporate cultures.

from Shafuu 101–Choosing a company for the new generation

fireland: Lisa Gerrard

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:19:46 -0400

fireland:

Lisa Gerrard

"Whatever you possess possesses you in return. Everything that makes you into an owner adapts you to..."

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:23:42 -0400

“Whatever you possess possesses you in return. Everything that makes you into an owner adapts you to the order of things—makes you old. Time-which-slips-away is what fills the void created by the absence of the self. The harder you run after time, the faster time goes: this is the law of consumption. Try to stop it, and it will wear you out and age you all the more easily. Time has to be caught on the wing, in the present—but the present has yet to be constructed.”

- Raoul Vaneigem, “The Revolution of Everyday Life”

"Journalists try to win the argument not by having better arguments but by standing closer to a reality they get to define as more real than your reality."

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:27:12 -0400

"Journalists try to win the argument not by having better arguments but by standing closer to a reality they get to define as more real than your reality."

The Most Influential Sci-Fi Movie Never Made

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:28:53 -0400

The Most Influential Sci-Fi Movie Never Made:

“Lucas, Spielberg, Ridley Scott, these guys didn’t create the worlds they presented to us. They hired these 5 artists to create those worlds for them.”

If the price of oil goes much higher, many cities will start...

Sun, 16 May 2010 14:04:52 -0400

If the price of oil goes much higher, many cities will start looking like this around rush hour.

“The Technician” - A cable guy goes through drastic...

Sun, 09 May 2010 08:53:06 -0400

“The Technician” - A cable guy goes through drastic measures to fix a problem with the TV.

The dawn of product-service systems

Mon, 03 May 2010 13:36:42 -0400

The dawn of product-service systems:

“The product-service-system (or PSS) is a new term for an old idea: emphasizing access over ownership, it’s simply about sharing products among people, and recognizing that bright green systems are just as important as products. Since we already take part in them – video rentals, laundromats, libraries, gyms, and taxis being obvious examples – we only really talk about PSS with regard to things that many of us don’t usually share, like cars, appliances, tools, or clothing. Breaking past some of the cultural barriers that equate affluence with ownership may still be the greatest challenge, but what if alternative is cheaper, more sustainable, doesn’t clutter your home, and connects you with your neighbours?”

"The brain expects to see things and really just wants to confirm it now and again."

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 11:57:00 -0400

"The brain expects to see things and really just wants to confirm it now and again."

Can Anyone Pacify the World's Number One Narco-State? The Opium Wars in Afghanistan

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:32:23 -0400

Can Anyone Pacify the World's Number One Narco-State? The Opium Wars in Afghanistan:

Throughout all the shooting and shouting, American commanders seemed strangely unaware that Marja might qualify as the world’s heroin capital — with hundreds of laboratories, reputedly hidden inside the area’s mud-brick houses, regularly processing the local poppy crop into high-grade heroin. After all, the surrounding fields of Helmand Province produce a remarkable 40% of the world’s illicit opium supply, and much of this harvest has been traded in Marja. Rushing through those opium fields to attack the Taliban on day one of this offensive, the Marines missed their real enemy, the ultimate force behind the Taliban insurgency, as they pursued just the latest crop of peasant guerrillas whose guns and wages are funded by those poppy plants. “You can’t win this war,” said one U.S. Embassy official just back from inspecting these opium districts, “without taking on drug production in Helmand Province.”

The hands that wield the force of the US Government seem to be operating at cross purposes. The left hand (covert special/black ops) and the right hand (military action to ostensibly serve the interests of US citizens) have radically different interests and operations in Afghanistan, and this shows itself most clearly when one looks deeply into the region’s (the world’s, really) opium trade.

It’s relatively easy to discover that the Taliban receives most of its funding from US foreign aid programs. One needs to dig a bit to discover that the Army Corps of Engineers replaced a ferry with a bridge across the Panj River - an important route in the opium trade between Afghanistan and Tajikistan - which increased the route’s traffic from 40 to 1,000 trucks a day.

It’s gotten so bad that even the Russians are complaining about the inflow of drugs into their country via this bridge. More likely though, they’re disappointed with their cut of the profits and are applying public pressure to increase their share.

Even the British are trying to get in the action. A couple years ago they had planned to build a Taliban training camp - a little strange, but it gets stranger. These soldiers were to be taught farming, irrigation, and were provided satellite phones to keep in contact with their handlers. The satellite phones were presumably to invite them to dine on a particularly bountiful harvest of eggplant, hummus, and dates…?

It could be that what we’re witnessing here is the distant rumblings of an international turf war over the world’s opium trade.

TRON title sequence in the manner of Saul Bass.

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:05:00 -0400

TRON title sequence in the manner of Saul Bass.

“The White Cosmonaut”Jeremy Geddes

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:42:40 -0400

“The White Cosmonaut”
Jeremy Geddes

Yo Soy Locura and Un sarao de la Ciacona

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:41:55 -0400

Yo Soy Locura and Un sarao de la Ciacona

What if the world as we know it today isn't the end of history?

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:33:17 -0400

What if the world as we know it today isn't the end of history? :

“The idea that something new is possible is spreading. Most favorably, it is giving rise to a new type: the cultural entrepreneur.”

Obama Appoints Edward Tufte to Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:42:25 -0500

Obama Appoints Edward Tufte to Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board:

Now the process by which the finance sector pulled off their historic scam will be documented in diagrams that are approachable, comprehensible, information dense, and gorgeous.

Beaker deals with hecklers while performing Dust in the Wind

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:41:09 -0500

Beaker deals with hecklers while performing Dust in the Wind

Poster for Future Rock + Prepschool (Live PA) Some of these...

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:12:56 -0500

Poster for Future Rock + Prepschool (Live PA)

Some of these posters for events at 2720 Cherokee are amazing!

"If the GEO600 result is what I suspect it is, then we are all living in a giant cosmic hologram." - Craig Hogan, director of Fermi Lab

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:02:16 -0500

"If the GEO600 result is what I suspect it is, then we are all living in a giant cosmic hologram." - Craig Hogan, director of Fermi Lab

Flying Squirrel: “Wheeeeeeee!”Deer: “Jesus!...

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:22:32 -0500

Flying Squirrel: “Wheeeeeeee!”
Deer: “Jesus! What the f*ck?!”

From Field & Stream’s ‘Trail Cam Bloopers’

Leonardo da Vinci's Resumé

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:23:00 -0500

Leonardo da Vinci's Resumé:

“Most Illustrious Lord, Having now sufficiently considered the specimens of all those who proclaim themselves skilled contrivers of instruments of war, and that the invention and operation of the said instruments are nothing different from those in common use: I shall endeavor, without prejudice to any one else, to explain myself to your Excellency, showing your Lordship my secret, and then offering them to your best pleasure and approbation to work with effect at opportune moments on all those things which, in part, shall be briefly noted below.”