James Fallows explains the significance of this seemingly mundane picture, which was taken by a Chinese engineer visiting Florida on a business trip:
To the Chinese engineer, what was fascinating and significant about the picture was its orderliness. The yellow school bus stopped, turned on its “do not pass” flashers, and extended its Stop signs. And — the amazing part — all surrounding traffic actually obeyed. Even those who are fans of the excitement and passion of Chinese life will agree that such a scene is hard to imagine in a Chinese city. You’d have motorbikes cutting past on the sidewalk, cars veering into the opposite-direction lane to get around the obstacle, a cacophony of horns complaining about any vehicle that did slow down, and in general the creative-chaos that extends from many other parts of Chinese life to its roadways. (Where it can seem festive, but also dangerous: China’s traffic-death rate per active motorist and per mile driven is several times higher than in North America or Europe.)
To local authorities in Florida, what was notable about the situation was:
- a foreigner
- stopping to take pictures
- of a bus
- containing children.
If you see something, say something. So they detained the man for questioning.
Our world powers in a nutshell. (Via The Atlantic)
slides for adults are just amazing.
my scientist boyfriend is always going on about how he wants a discovery slide going out the window of the lab… in ad agency land that would translate to a new business win slide. no matter how you look at it, going down a slide and running outside into the world to celebrate would just makes life’s victories even better.
Slide at Maison Martin Margiela Beijing
(via architectureblog)
Time Magazine - Person of the year
The Protester
I couldn’t agree more.
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”
Albert Camus
It is only in our decisions that we are important.
really feeling the absurdity of “modern” society lately. so i read this.
zadig and l’ingenu - voltaire 1767
You know it’s very hard to maintain a theory in the face of life that comes crashing about you.
this is so fucking inspirational. i get the feeling he tells u he has cancer from the start, so you are not jealous of how amazingly well he shaped his life. this man really achieved what he wanted - it’s so just rare. his story is something to learn from.
bill cunningham.
We must not allow ourselves to become like the system we oppose.
We’re brought up in a culture that tells us, “you are what you do.” When people say, “Tell me about yourself”, we immediately talk about career, as if that is a complete and perfect definition of who and what we are.
I'm a digital planner at JWT and these are a few web wonders, cultural curiosities, and things I just love.
Originally from the NYC area, once found myself living in Sydney and Tokyo, and now I am planted in London.
I'll show you a selection of the great (and trivial) things I've encountered.
Show some love and drop me a comment here or get in touch @JenBonhomme.
