Image description: In 1817, Karl Drais, a young inventor in Baden, Germany, designed and built a two-wheeled, wooden vehicle that was straddled and propelled by walking swiftly. Drais called it the laufmaschine or “running machine.”
By 1818, the draisine craze reached the United States, but the high cost of the vehicle, combined with its lack of practical value, made it little more than an expensive toy. The two-wheeled vehicle would not become sustained until pedals were added in the late 1800s.
Photo from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History
(via wnyc)
China Says no to Artist’s Self-Surveillance
On Tuesday, Ai Weiwei, a Chinese artist and activist, set up five surveillance cameras in his studio and streamed the footage to Weiweicam.com. The goal was to let friends and fans know how we was doing on the one year anniversary of his last arrest.
It was also to let authorities check in on him.
Via the Guardian:
“It is the exact day, one year ago, that I went missing for 81 days. All my family and friends and everyone who cared were wondering where this guy was. So on the anniversary I think people may have worries. It’s a gift to them: I’m here and you can see me,” he said…
…”This is also a gift to public security because they follow me, tap my phone and do what is necessary to get ‘secrets’ from me. I don’t have secrets,” Ai said, poiting out there were now 15 surveillance cameras within a 100m stretch of road outside his home, making it the most-watched area of Beijing.
Today, Weiweicam.com is down after authorities objected to the live feed.
“There was no clear explanation, but there was no clear explanation of why I was detained for 81 days, so it would be ridiculous to ask them,” Ai tells the Guardian. “When I turned the cameras on myself and on to my privacy — which is exactly what they did to me when I was in detention — they got scared and didn’t know how to handle it.”
Image: Marble Surveillance Camera, by Ai Weiwei. The 2010 sculpture mocks the 15 surveillance cameras outside his home. Via Minimal Exposition.
(via wnyc)
wnyc:
The Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit gave a live performance in the Soundcheck studios. (P.S. Their dad is the sound guy.)
by and submitted by Neil See, San Francisco.
That cat has to be related to Murphy.
(via wnyc)
by John Bulmer, Graveyard, Wakefield (1964).
Marilyn Monroe ♥’s Abraham Lincoln
(via ponyremark)
A model wearing glasses, 1950. Photo by Walter Blum.
Today a family friend died. Him and my mother had a falling out a couple of years ago and out of respect for her I have kept my distance. I was planning on inviting him to my graduation this spring, meaning to share my gratitude for the many kind things he has done for me throughout my life. He was in the hospital since January. I wish I had known. If only I had taken the time to call last week, in anticipation of graduation. If only. The fact that I’m in his will has only tripled my grief, my guilt.
What matters is not what you photograph, but why and how you photograph it. Even the most controversial subject, if depicted by a sensitive photographer with honesty, symphathy, and understanding, can be transformed into an emotionally rewarding experience.”
— Andreas Feininger
(Source: life)
James Dean catches a nap.
life:
Happy Birthday FDR — “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Those words, so frequently repeated and even parodied since originally uttered, might have lost a bit of their power over the decades. But when first broadcast in 1933, they stirred a nation — not least because the man who spoke them, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, led by example, fearlessly facing down soul-crushing personal adversity and formidable enemies to guide America through two of the darkest crises of the 20th century.
(read more — 20 Legends Who Shook the World)
