| Eschewing all those newfangled diet and fitness trends, Todd Levin tries |
[18 Jul 2008|06:42am] |
14:05 16.07.2008
Eschewing all those newfangled diet and fitness trends, Todd Levin tries
Eschewing all those newfangled diet and fitness trends, Todd Levin tries out Charles Atlas' Dynamic-Tension fitness course, which Atlas began marketing in 1922.
One thing I definitely hadn't counted on was Lesson 2: Nutrition. Here, Atlas outlines his mandatory dietary and lifestyle restrictions -- no caffeine; no refined sugar; no bleached flour; no white rice; no fatty meats; no pickles, mustards, vinegar or other acidic spices; no soft drinks, coffee or tea; no staying up past midnight, ever. Reading that chapter was like having Charles Atlas ask me to list all my favorite things in the world, then grab the list from my hands, crumple it up and toss it -- and some sand -- in my face. (Atlas does make one notable exception for candy: "If you must eat candy at times, be sure it is of the very highest quality." Sounds like someone can't live without his truffles.)
Neither did Levin exercise in the nude as Atlas advised. (link)
read more at kottke.org
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| A cross-country Amtrak travelogue. The trip is not without its charms |
[18 Jul 2008|06:42am] |
18:45 16.07.2008
A cross-country Amtrak travelogue. The trip is not without its charms
A cross-country Amtrak travelogue. The trip is not without its charms but overall sounds like torture.
A raspy-voiced woman in her 40s, one of the engineers, calls down from the cab and invites a few of us to come take a look. Without hesitation we clamber up. She tells us that they're off duty, as her partner, a mustachioed, red-faced man with faded tattoos, nods. When engineers hit their driving quota, apparently, they're done. It's an unbendable rule. "They knew, though," the woman says, speaking of Amtrak. "They should have had someone here." So this could've been prevented? "Oh yeah," the man says, "but leave it to them and they'll fuck it up." And so we wait, in the middle of nowhere, for new engineers. After a couple of hours a truck pulls up with the new drivers.
(link)
read more at kottke.org
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| ● The most beautiful suicide |
[18 Jul 2008|06:42am] |
19:49 16.07.2008
● The most beautiful suicide
On May 1, 1947, Evelyn McHale leapt to her death from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Photographer Robert Wiles took a photo of McHale a few minutes after her death.
The photo ran a couple of weeks later in Life magazine accompanied by the following caption:
On May Day, just after leaving her fiancé, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale wrote a note. 'He is much better off without me ... I wouldn't make a good wife for anybody,' ... Then she crossed it out. She went to the observation platform of the Empire State Building. Through the mist she gazed at the street, 86 floors below. Then she jumped. In her desperate determination she leaped clear of the setbacks and hit a United Nations limousine parked at the curb. Across the street photography student Robert Wiles heard an explosive crash. Just four minutes after Evelyn McHale's death Wiles got this picture of death's violence and its composure.
From McHale's NY Times obituary, Empire State Ends Life of Girl, 20:
At 10:40 A. M., Patrolman John Morrissey of Traffic C, directing traffic at Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, noticed a swirling white scarf floating down from the upper floors of the Empire State. A moment later he heard a crash that sounded like an explosion. He saw a crowd converge in Thirty-third Street. Two hundred feet west of Fifth Avenue, Miss McHale's body landed atop the car. The impact stove in the metal roof and shattered the car's windows. The driver was in a near-by drug store, thereby escaping death or serious injury. On the observation deck, Detective Frank Murray of the West Thirtieth Street station, found Miss McHale's gray cloth coat, her pocketbook with several dollars and the note, and a make-up kit filled with family pictures.
The serenity of McHale's body amidst the crumpled wreckage it caused is astounding. Years later, Andy Warhol appropriated Wiles' photography for a print called Suicide (Fallen Body), but I can't find a copy of it anywhere online. Anyone?
Update: A not-so-great representation of Warhol's version of this photograph is available at Google Books. (thx, ruben)
Update: Here's a better photo of Warhol's print. (thx, lots of people)
read more at kottke.org
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| That string of typographic symbols that substitute for swearing in cartoons? |
[18 Jul 2008|06:42am] |
20:54 16.07.2008
That string of typographic symbols that substitute for swearing in cartoons?
That string of typographic symbols that substitute for swearing in cartoons? It's called a grawlix.
The term is grawlix, and it looks to have been coined by Beetle Bailey cartoonist Mort Walker around 1964. Though it's yet to gain admission to the Oxford English Dictionary, OED Editor-at-Large Jesse Sheidlower describes it as "undeniably useful, certainly a word, and one that I'd love to see used more."
Well, @#$%&?!, that's cool. (link)
read more at kottke.org
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| The NYC subway system's unlimited-ride MetroCard turned ten years old this |
[18 Jul 2008|06:42am] |
22:06 16.07.2008
The NYC subway system's unlimited-ride MetroCard turned ten years old this
The NYC subway system's unlimited-ride MetroCard turned ten years old this month.
"I think it's absolutely changed travel habits in the New York region, and it's been a boon for the economy as well," said Andrew Albert, who represents transit riders on the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. "Where once you might have used it more sparingly because you had a finite number of trips, you're more likely to take a trip during your lunch break, go shopping perhaps or go to dinner somewhere," he said.
On average, unlimited-ride MetroCard users take 56 trips per month (~$1.45 per trip), although some take many more or less. (via buzzfeed)
Update: Mike Frumin notes that the Times excluded from their graph an important piece of information: the break-even point of the 30-day MetroCard. I used to get a monthly card but now pay by the ride because I don't take the subway everyday anymore and would therefore find myself in Frumin's "losing $$$$$" zone. (link)
read more at kottke.org
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| Make new stuff look old with the Making Memories Distressing Kit. |
[18 Jul 2008|06:42am] |
17:36 17.07.2008
Make new stuff look old with the Making Memories Distressing Kit.
Make new stuff look old with the Making Memories Distressing Kit.
Designed to use on everything from paper to embellishments this distressing kit is the first and only of its kind. Kit includes: sanding block with three grits steel wool-2 pads emery board-3 boards each with different grit stipple brush foam brushes 1 and 2 wide chalk-3 colors ink sponges-3 colors exclusive edge scraper bone folder aging dye-2 single use pouches paint comb pounce wheel chalk brushes-3 sandpaper-3 sheets (1 each of fine medium and coarse grit). It's compact portable and stocked to the hilt with all the tools you'll need to sand scrape stipple and sponge your way to shabby chicness.
Jessica Helfand has some thoughts on making the new look old. (link)
read more at kottke.org
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| How Do You Walk the Line Between Work and Home? Share Your Best Practices With ALA |
[18 Jul 2008|02:01pm] |
03:08 11.07.2008
How Do You Walk the Line Between Work and Home? Share Your Best Practices With ALA
Tell us how you overcome isolation, distractions, and temptation. How you deal with kids and deadlines. How you walk the blurry line between work and home. Share your best practices on working from home so we can present them in an upcoming issue of A List Apart.
Hide Your Shame: The A List Apart Store and T-Shirt Emporium is back. Hot new designs! Old favorites remixed! S, M, L, XL. Come shop with us!
read more at A List Apart
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