Carol.scoponi

If you’re journeying through Middle Earth without a cloak from the lands of Lothlorien, this fabulous scarf could help keep you warm. The design features the Fellowship of the Ring going up one side and down the other, and the group is bookended by the White Tree of Gondor. It was knitted by The Day is New on Tumblr and she came up with most of the pattern herself. She did an amazing job. She can make use of my knitting needles any day.

See some close ups of this wonderful creation after the break.

(The Day Was New via MAKE)

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Andrew Garfield took a little break from filming Spider-Man in Manhattan’s Chinatown and decided to relax by shooting some hoops. In his Spider-Man costume. With a bunch of random kids. Can you just imagine the story they’re going to have for their friends?

See the video after the break…

(via BuzzFeed)

(via Pinterest)

These fantastic Alice in Wonderland leggings are made-to-order from Black Milk. They feature an all-over print of Alice in a forest looking up at the Cheshire Cat where he sits grinning at her from high up in a tree.

See more pictures after the break…

Product Page ($75 AUD or $77 USD)

I remember being endlessly entertained by the adventures of my toys. Some days they died repeated, violent deaths, other days they traveled to space or discussed my swim lessons and how I absolutely should be allowed in the deep end of the pool, especially since I was such a talented doggy-paddler.


I didn't understand why it was fun for me, it just was.


But as I grew older, it became harder and harder to access that expansive imaginary space that made my toys fun. I remember looking at them and feeling sort of frustrated and confused that things weren't the same.


I played out all the same story lines that had been fun before, but the meaning had disappeared. Horse's Big Space Adventure transformed into holding a plastic horse in the air, hoping it would somehow be enjoyable for me. Prehistoric Crazy-Bus Death Ride was just smashing a toy bus full of dinosaurs into the wall while feeling sort of bored and unfulfilled.  I could no longer connect to my toys in a way that allowed me to participate in the experience.


Depression feels almost exactly like that, except about everything.

At first, though, the invulnerability that accompanied the detachment was exhilarating. At least as exhilarating as something can be without involving real emotions.


The beginning of my depression had been nothing but feelings, so the emotional deadening that followed was a welcome relief.  I had always wanted to not give a fuck about anything. I viewed feelings as a weakness — annoying obstacles on my quest for total power over myself. And I finally didn't have to feel them anymore.

But my experiences slowly flattened and blended together until it became obvious that there's a huge difference between not giving a fuck and not being able to give a fuck. Cognitively, you might know that different things are happening to you, but they don't feel very different.


Which leads to horrible, soul-decaying boredom.

I tried to get out more, but most fun activities just left me existentially confused or frustrated with my inability to enjoy them.


Months oozed by, and I gradually came to accept that maybe enjoyment was not a thing I got to feel anymore. I didn't want anyone to know, though. I was still sort of uncomfortable about how bored and detached I felt around other people, and I was still holding out hope that the whole thing would spontaneously work itself out. As long as I could manage to not alienate anyone, everything might be okay!

However, I could no longer rely on genuine emotion to generate facial expressions, and when you have to spend every social interaction consciously manipulating your face into shapes that are only approximately the right ones, alienating people is inevitable.


Everyone noticed.


It's weird for people who still have feelings to be around depressed people. They try to help you have feelings again so things can go back to normal, and it's frustrating for them when that doesn't happen. From their perspective, it seems like there has got to be some untapped source of happiness within you that you've simply lost track of, and if you could just see how beautiful things are...


At first, I'd try to explain that it's not really negativity or sadness anymore, it's more just this detached, meaningless fog where you can't feel anything about anything — even the things you love, even fun things — and you're horribly bored and lonely, but since you've lost your ability to connect with any of the things that would normally make you feel less bored and lonely, you're stuck in the boring, lonely, meaningless void without anything to distract you from how boring, lonely, and meaningless it is.


But people want to help. So they try harder to make you feel hopeful and positive about the situation. You explain it again, hoping they'll try a less hope-centric approach, but re-explaining your total inability to experience joy inevitably sounds kind of negative; like maybe you WANT to be depressed. The positivity starts coming out in a spray — a giant, desperate happiness sprinkler pointed directly at your face. And it keeps going like that until you're having this weird argument where you're trying to convince the person that you are far too hopeless for hope just so they'll give up on their optimism crusade and let you go back to feeling bored and lonely by yourself.


And that's the most frustrating thing about depression. It isn't always something you can fight back against with hope. It isn't even something — it's nothing. And you can't combat nothing. You can't fill it up. You can't cover it. It's just there, pulling the meaning out of everything. That being the case, all the hopeful, proactive solutions start to sound completely insane in contrast to the scope of the problem.

It would be like having a bunch of dead fish, but no one around you will acknowledge that the fish are dead. Instead, they offer to help you look for the fish or try to help you figure out why they disappeared.


The problem might not even have a solution. But you aren't necessarily looking for solutions. You're maybe just looking for someone to say "sorry about how dead your fish are" or "wow, those are super dead. I still like you, though."


I started spending more time alone.


Perhaps it was because I lacked the emotional depth necessary to panic, or maybe my predicament didn't feel dramatic enough to make me suspicious, but I somehow managed to convince myself that everything was still under my control right up until I noticed myself wishing that nothing loved me so I wouldn't feel obligated to keep existing.


It's a strange moment when you realize that you don't want to be alive anymore. If I had feelings, I'm sure I would have felt surprised. I have spent the vast majority of my life actively attempting to survive. Ever since my most distant single-celled ancestor squiggled into existence, there has been an unbroken chain of things that wanted to stick around.


Yet there I was, casually wishing that I could stop existing in the same way you'd want to leave an empty room or mute an unbearably repetitive noise.


That wasn't the worst part, though. The worst part was deciding to keep going.


When I say that deciding to not kill myself was the worst part, I should clarify that I don't mean it in a retrospective sense. From where I am now, it seems like a solid enough decision. But at the time, it felt like I had been dragging myself through the most miserable, endless wasteland, and — far in the distance — I had seen the promising glimmer of a slightly less miserable wasteland. And for just a moment, I thought maybe I'd be able to stop and rest. But as soon as I arrived at the border of the less miserable wasteland, I found out that I'd have to turn around and walk back the other way.


Soon afterward, I discovered that there's no tactful or comfortable way to inform other people that you might be suicidal. And there's definitely no way to ask for help casually.


I didn't want it to be a big deal. However, it's an alarming subject. Trying to be nonchalant about it just makes it weird for everyone.


I was also extremely ill-prepared for the position of comforting people. The things that seemed reassuring at the time weren't necessarily comforting for others.

I had so very few feelings, and everyone else had so many, and it felt like they were having all of them in front of me at once. I didn't really know what to do, so I agreed to see a doctor so that everyone would stop having all of their feelings at me.


The next few weeks were a haze of talking to relentlessly hopeful people about my feelings that didn't exist so I could be prescribed medication that might help me have them again.


And every direction was bullshit for a really long time, especially up. The absurdity of working so hard to continue doing something you don't like can be overwhelming. And the longer it takes to feel different, the more it starts to seem like everything might actually be hopeless bullshit.


My feelings did start to return eventually. But not all of them came back, and they didn't arrive symmetrically.

I had not been able to care for a very long time, and when I finally started being able to care about things again, I HATED them. But hatred is technically a feeling, and my brain latched onto it like a child learning a new word.


Hating everything made all the positivity and hope feel even more unpalatable. The syrupy, over-simplified optimism started to feel almost offensive.


Thankfully, I rediscovered crying just before I got sick of hating things.  I call this emotion "crying" and not "sadness" because that's all it really was. Just crying for the sake of crying. My brain had partially learned how to be sad again, but it took the feeling out for a joy ride before it had learned how to use the brakes or steer.


At some point during this phase, I was crying on the kitchen floor for no reason. As was common practice during bouts of floor-crying, I was staring straight ahead at nothing in particular and feeling sort of weird about myself. Then, through the film of tears and nothingness, I spotted a tiny, shriveled piece of corn under the refrigerator.


I don't claim to know why this happened, but when I saw the piece of corn, something snapped. And then that thing twisted through a few permutations of logic that I don't understand, and produced the most confusing bout of uncontrollable, debilitating laughter that I have ever experienced.


I had absolutely no idea what was going on.


My brain had apparently been storing every unfelt scrap of happiness from the last nineteen months, and it had impulsively decided to unleash all of it at once in what would appear to be an act of vengeance.


That piece of corn is the funniest thing I have ever seen, and I cannot explain to anyone why it's funny. I don't even know why. If someone ever asks me "what was the exact moment where things started to feel slightly less shitty?" instead of telling a nice, heartwarming story about the support of the people who loved and believed in me, I'm going to have to tell them about the piece of corn. And then I'm going to have to try to explain that no, really, it was funny. Because, see, the way the corn was sitting on the floor... it was so alone... and it was just sitting there! And no matter how I explain it, I'll get the same, confused look. So maybe I'll try to show them the piece of corn - to see if they get it. They won't. Things will get even weirder.


Anyway, I wanted to end this on a hopeful, positive note, but, seeing as how my sense of hope and positivity is still shrouded in a thick layer of feeling like hope and positivity are bullshit, I'll just say this: Nobody can guarantee that it's going to be okay, but — and I don't know if this will be comforting to anyone else — the possibility exists that there's a piece of corn on a floor somewhere that will make you just as confused about why you are laughing as you have ever been about why you are depressed. And even if everything still seems like hopeless bullshit, maybe it's just pointless bullshit or weird bullshit or possibly not even bullshit.

I was wrong.

One year ago I left the internet. I thought it was making me unproductive. I thought it lacked meaning. I thought it was "corrupting my soul."

It's a been a year now since I "surfed the web" or "checked my email" or "liked" anything with a figurative rather than literal thumbs up. I've managed to stay disconnected, just like I planned. I'm internet free.

And now I'm supposed to tell you how it solved all my problems. I'm supposed to be enlightened. I'm supposed to be more "real," now. More perfect.

But instead it's 8PM and I just woke up. I slept all day, woke with eight voicemails on my phone from friends and coworkers. I went to my coffee shop to consume dinner, the Knicks game, my two newspapers, and a copy of...

Continue reading…

"QUANTUM SHOT" #829 Link - article by Simon Rose and Avi Abrams Under Pressure - and Enjoying It This time, we thought we’d take an in-depth look at diving suits, those strange looking costumes that many of us have seen before, on TV, in movies or maybe even in real life. The diving suits known as standard diving dress had a metallic helmet, made of brass, bronze or copper, an airline or hose supplying air from the surface, a canvas diving suit, weighted boots and were equipped with a knife, just in case. The suits had other lead weights too, usually fitted on the chest or back, to help the diver descend to the required depth. These types of suits aren’t used that often these days, but although they are the diving suits that most people are familiar with, they weren’t the first ones to be developed. (image credit: Musée Fédéric Dumas Sanary sur Mer) ------- This diving suit (see below) was designed way back in 1715 by Pierre Remy de Beauve. The suit’s iron corset protected the diver’s chest from excessive water pressure and a leather jacket was supposed to make the whole thing waterproof. Two pipes linked the helmet to the surface, from where air was pumped using bellows. The suit also featured weighted shoes, to assist the diver with his submarine explorations: (images credit: Musée Fédéric Dumas Sanary sur Mer) ------- For this suit from 1797, the air would have been pumped down through the weighted air tubes from a turret on the surface. The diver also didn’t wear the weighted boots that became a standard feature of later suits, but appears to have carried a few weights with him, just to keep him from floating back to the surface too early. Still, let’s hope he didn’t step on anything sharp in those bare feet: (image credit: Avi Abrams) ------- Here’s a good selection (left) of some of the early designs, showing something of the evolution of the diving suit. However, at the bottom of the picture, the unsuspecting diver on the left could perhaps be facing an imminent attack from his more robotic counterpart, approaching from the other side. This suit on the right dates from the 1870s and was probably the latest fashion in its day for the professional deep-sea explorer. It certainly seems to have attracted the attention of the two people in the background: (images via) ------- This is the front cover illustration of The Illustrated London News from February 6, 1873 and shows divers preparing to descend to a recently wrecked ship called the Northfleet. The rather bizarre diving suit on the right is from the 1870s too. I can only assume, that the designers assumed, in their wisdom, that there’d be so much for the diver to see under the waves that he wouldn’t know where to look first, hence the helmet’s multiple viewing windows. Either that or this isn’t diving attire at all, but rather a spacesuit, rescued from the wreck of a craft flown by an alien species with multiple eyeballs: (images via 1, 2) ------- In 1906, de Pluvy created one of the very first atmospheric diving suits. He claimed to have completed a number of dives to depths of up to 100 meters. The joints were apparently made of leather and rubber, but the suit does seem to have worked, even it does resemble a robot from a 1950s science fiction movie. This one on the right is also from the early 1900s and seems to be the famous William Walker, who heroically saved Winchester Cathedral from collapsing in 1905 - read the full story here. (images credit: Historical Diving Society, Italy, via; right image: via) ------- Here’s American silent movie comedian Buster Keaton (1895-1966), wearing a diving suit for a scene from The Navigator, released in 1924. Keaton even wears his distinctive hat on top of the helmet, just in case he didn’t stand out enough from the other members of the cast. The Neufeldt-Kuhnke diving suit from 1923 (right) could withstand pressure at depths of 160 meters. The suit’s breathing apparatus was operated in a closed circuit and the diver even had a telephone to stay connected with the surface. Makes you wonder though how he’d make or answer calls with those claws and I wonder where he kept the phone itself? - (images via 1, 2) ------- In 1935, J. Peress’ dive suit, Tritonia, (left) explored the wreck of the Lusitania, which was sunk by a German U-Boat off the coast of Ireland in 1915. Peress’ chief diver was Jim Jarrett, who descended to 95 meters. The suit he used was a forerunner of the JIM suit, which was named after him (see later in article). The two divers on the right look to be either preparing for, or maybe recovering from, an undersea mission of their own. (images via 1, 2) ------- U.S. Navy divers wore the Mark V suit from 1918 right up to the mid 1980s. This suit allowed divers to work at much greater depths than before and was mostly used for deep sea and salvage diving missions. The rubberized-canvas suits protected the diver from cold, contaminated water and when they were working in hazardous environments: (images credit: Maritime Exchange Museum, Carl Purcell) Navy diver George W. McCullough (left) waits to start his dive wearing a Mark V suit. The wrist cuffs and a rubber seal at the neck made everything watertight, and in case you were wondering, wool undergarments layered beneath the suit kept the diver warm and cozy while he was busy beneath the waves. The helmet on the right dates from the 1940s: (image credit: Naval Undersea Museum, Greatest Collectibles) ------- Cool Recent Developments Atmospheric Diving Suits (ADS) were first used in the oil industry then later developed by the Navy for submarine rescue missions. The pressure inside ADS is the same as it is on the surface. This allows divers wearing ADS to work at extreme depths without having to decompress on their return to dry land. The JIM atmospheric diving suit is named after Jim Jarrett, the chief diver of the suit’s designer, J. Peress. The JIM was developed in the late 1960s and was basically a one-person submarine. Divers no longer had to experience freezing water, complex gas mixtures, and potential decompression sickness. They could breath normal air, return to the surface quickly and even dress casually inside the suit, with most divers choosing to wear a thick wool sweater. The JIM was first used in 1974 by the oil industry in the Canary Islands. In 1976, divers used the JIM at an oil well in the Arctic, working for six hours at a depth of 275 meters. In 1979, Sylvia Earle set a world record in the JIM. She descended to 381 meters and walked around on the sea floor for two and a half hours, a record that has never been bettered, so far. The JIMs were still in use during the 1980s, before being surpassed by the WASP suit. (images credit: Naval Undersea Museum, 2) The WASP one atmosphere diving system from Oceaneering (left) allows divers to work for long periods at depths of 700 meters. The manned suit is used to inspect and repair facilities located in deep ocean environments. One of the most recent developments in deep sea diving was Nuytco Research’s launch of the Exosuit (right), designed to be the next generation of atmospheric diving suits: (image credit: Oceaneering, Nuytco Research Ltd.) ------- Deep Diving Media Circus (left: scuba diver with an umbrella, Paris, 1949 via) Imagine if you saw this guy (left image below) emerging from the waves, while you were quietly relaxing on the beach? He almost looks like he’s taking a call too, presumably on his shell phone. And who says those old bulky, cumbersome diving suits were uncomfortable? Here on the right is one of the people involved in the making of Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1952, taking an underwater nap during a break in filming. I wonder if this could be referred to as relaxing on the seabed? - (image credit: left: Peter Harris; right: Peter Stockpole for LIFE Magazine, see it bigger) At the International Exposition of Surrealism in 1938 (left), the always guaranteed to be outlandish Salvador Dali decided to appear dressed a little differently to his fellow artists. Can you guess which one he is? Decades later, perhaps in homage to that earlier surreal diving suit incident, this chauffeur wearing a diver’s helmet (right) is on display at the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg Florida. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure if I’d feel too safe with this guy driving me around: (images credit: Donald Pittenger, 2) Tintin, a heroic Belgian reporter (left) who has had many exciting adventures, first appeared in print in 1929. Tintin was created by Georges Remi (1907-1983), who wrote under the pen name Herge. This modern figurine is based on the Tintin story Red Rackham’s Treasure. With his faithful dog Snowy at his side, Tintin prepares to dive down to explore the wreck of The Unicorn. The August 1933 issue of Modern Mechanix and Inventions also featured undersea treasure hunting, with the hero’s very striking red gear guaranteed to make him stand out amongst the other residents of the ocean floor. (images credit: Big Bad Toy Store, Modern Mechanix 1933 cover) Ever wondered how to meet girls and get dates? According to these pictures, all you need is a trendy diving suit and the rest will follow, although the initial kiss may present something of a challenge. On the right, this was actually part of a campaign by the British Lifeboat Institution to raise funds for important sea rescue missions. Still, the suit certainly attracted attention from young ladies, as shown here on the streets of London. Maybe there’s something to that diving suit dating idea after all? - (right image credit: Modern Mechanix) Diver Dan’s adventures were shown on children’s television in the early 60s. This is the DVD cover (left) from a few years ago, bringing Dan to a whole new audience. I don’t think Dan ever conducted his exciting nautical adventures on a bicycle (right). Still, who knows, it might have been his preferred mode of transportation to travel to the set every day? (right image credit: Rob Jan) ------- Diving deeper as it gets... weirder Maybe these types of designs will be the wave of the future for the well-dressed diver? Characters in the BioShock video game series wear these formidable-looking suits: (images via) This one on the left also looks somewhat futuristic, but is in fact on display at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. And finally, how about this inflatable diving suit? Not sure I want to consider what kind of gas might be used to inflate the suit though: (image credit: Glenn D, 2) Article by Simon Rose and Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend. CONTINUE TO "AMAZING SUBMARINE CONCEPTS" -> READ THE REST OF OUR POPULAR "BOATS & SHIPS" CATEGORY ->

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"QUANTUM SHOT" #829 Link - article by Simon Rose and Avi Abrams Under Pressure - and Enjoying It This time, we thought we’d take an in-depth look at diving suits, those strange looking costumes that many of us have seen before, on TV, in movies or maybe even in real life. The diving suits known as standard diving dress had a metallic helmet, made of brass, bronze or copper, an airline or hose supplying air from the surface, a canvas diving suit, weighted boots and were equipped with a knife, just in case. The suits had other lead weights too, usually fitted on the chest or back, to help the diver descend to the required depth. These types of suits aren’t used that often these days, but although they are the diving suits that most people are familiar with, they weren’t the first ones to be developed. (image credit: Musée Fédéric Dumas Sanary sur Mer) ------- This diving suit (see below) was designed way back in 1715 by Pierre Remy de Beauve. The suit’s iron corset protected the diver’s chest from excessive water pressure and a leather jacket was supposed to make the whole thing waterproof. Two pipes linked the helmet to the surface, from where air was pumped using bellows. The suit also featured weighted shoes, to assist the diver with his submarine explorations: (images credit: Musée Fédéric Dumas Sanary sur Mer) ------- For this suit from 1797, the air would have been pumped down through the weighted air tubes from a turret on the surface. The diver also didn’t wear the weighted boots that became a standard feature of later suits, but appears to have carried a few weights with him, just to keep him from floating back to the surface too early. Still, let’s hope he didn’t step on anything sharp in those bare feet: (image credit: Avi Abrams) ------- Here’s a good selection (left) of some of the early designs, showing something of the evolution of the diving suit. However, at the bottom of the picture, the unsuspecting diver on the left could perhaps be facing an imminent attack from his more robotic counterpart, approaching from the other side. This suit on the right dates from the 1870s and was probably the latest fashion in its day for the professional deep-sea explorer. It certainly seems to have attracted the attention of the two people in the background: (images via) ------- This is the front cover illustration of The Illustrated London News from February 6, 1873 and shows divers preparing to descend to a recently wrecked ship called the Northfleet. The rather bizarre diving suit on the right is from the 1870s too. I can only assume, that the designers assumed, in their wisdom, that there’d be so much for the diver to see under the waves that he wouldn’t know where to look first, hence the helmet’s multiple viewing windows. Either that or this isn’t diving attire at all, but rather a spacesuit, rescued from the wreck of a craft flown by an alien species with multiple eyeballs: (images via 1, 2) ------- In 1906, de Pluvy created one of the very first atmospheric diving suits. He claimed to have completed a number of dives to depths of up to 100 meters. The joints were apparently made of leather and rubber, but the suit does seem to have worked, even it does resemble a robot from a 1950s science fiction movie. This one on the right is also from the early 1900s and seems to be the famous William Walker, who heroically saved Winchester Cathedral from collapsing in 1905 - read the full story here. (images credit: Historical Diving Society, Italy, via; right image: via) ------- Here’s American silent movie comedian Buster Keaton (1895-1966), wearing a diving suit for a scene from The Navigator, released in 1924. Keaton even wears his distinctive hat on top of the helmet, just in case he didn’t stand out enough from the other members of the cast. The Neufeldt-Kuhnke diving suit from 1923 (right) could withstand pressure at depths of 160 meters. The suit’s breathing apparatus was operated in a closed circuit and the diver even had a telephone to stay connected with the surface. Makes you wonder though how he’d make or answer calls with those claws and I wonder where he kept the phone itself? - (images via 1, 2) ------- In 1935, J. Peress’ dive suit, Tritonia, (left) explored the wreck of the Lusitania, which was sunk by a German U-Boat off the coast of Ireland in 1915. Peress’ chief diver was Jim Jarrett, who descended to 95 meters. The suit he used was a forerunner of the JIM suit, which was named after him (see later in article). The two divers on the right look to be either preparing for, or maybe recovering from, an undersea mission of their own. (images via 1, 2) ------- U.S. Navy divers wore the Mark V suit from 1918 right up to the mid 1980s. This suit allowed divers to work at much greater depths than before and was mostly used for deep sea and salvage diving missions. The rubberized-canvas suits protected the diver from cold, contaminated water and when they were working in hazardous environments: (images credit: Maritime Exchange Museum, Carl Purcell) Navy diver George W. McCullough (left) waits to start his dive wearing a Mark V suit. The wrist cuffs and a rubber seal at the neck made everything watertight, and in case you were wondering, wool undergarments layered beneath the suit kept the diver warm and cozy while he was busy beneath the waves. The helmet on the right dates from the 1940s: (image credit: Naval Undersea Museum, Greatest Collectibles) ------- Cool Recent Developments Atmospheric Diving Suits (ADS) were first used in the oil industry then later developed by the Navy for submarine rescue missions. The pressure inside ADS is the same as it is on the surface. This allows divers wearing ADS to work at extreme depths without having to decompress on their return to dry land. The JIM atmospheric diving suit is named after Jim Jarrett, the chief diver of the suit’s designer, J. Peress. The JIM was developed in the late 1960s and was basically a one-person submarine. Divers no longer had to experience freezing water, complex gas mixtures, and potential decompression sickness. They could breath normal air, return to the surface quickly and even dress casually inside the suit, with most divers choosing to wear a thick wool sweater. The JIM was first used in 1974 by the oil industry in the Canary Islands. In 1976, divers used the JIM at an oil well in the Arctic, working for six hours at a depth of 275 meters. In 1979, Sylvia Earle set a world record in the JIM. She descended to 381 meters and walked around on the sea floor for two and a half hours, a record that has never been bettered, so far. The JIMs were still in use during the 1980s, before being surpassed by the WASP suit. (images credit: Naval Undersea Museum, 2) The WASP one atmosphere diving system from Oceaneering (left) allows divers to work for long periods at depths of 700 meters. The manned suit is used to inspect and repair facilities located in deep ocean environments. One of the most recent developments in deep sea diving was Nuytco Research’s launch of the Exosuit (right), designed to be the next generation of atmospheric diving suits: (image credit: Oceaneering, Nuytco Research Ltd.) ------- Deep Diving Media Circus (left: scuba diver with an umbrella, Paris, 1949 via) Imagine if you saw this guy (left image below) emerging from the waves, while you were quietly relaxing on the beach? He almost looks like he’s taking a call too, presumably on his shell phone. And who says those old bulky, cumbersome diving suits were uncomfortable? Here on the right is one of the people involved in the making of Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1952, taking an underwater nap during a break in filming. I wonder if this could be referred to as relaxing on the seabed? - (image credit: left: Peter Harris; right: Peter Stockpole for LIFE Magazine, see it bigger) At the International Exposition of Surrealism in 1938 (left), the always guaranteed to be outlandish Salvador Dali decided to appear dressed a little differently to his fellow artists. Can you guess which one he is? Decades later, perhaps in homage to that earlier surreal diving suit incident, this chauffeur wearing a diver’s helmet (right) is on display at the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg Florida. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure if I’d feel too safe with this guy driving me around: (images credit: Donald Pittenger, 2) Tintin, a heroic Belgian reporter (left) who has had many exciting adventures, first appeared in print in 1929. Tintin was created by Georges Remi (1907-1983), who wrote under the pen name Herge. This modern figurine is based on the Tintin story Red Rackham’s Treasure. With his faithful dog Snowy at his side, Tintin prepares to dive down to explore the wreck of The Unicorn. The August 1933 issue of Modern Mechanix and Inventions also featured undersea treasure hunting, with the hero’s very striking red gear guaranteed to make him stand out amongst the other residents of the ocean floor. (images credit: Big Bad Toy Store, Modern Mechanix 1933 cover) Ever wondered how to meet girls and get dates? According to these pictures, all you need is a trendy diving suit and the rest will follow, although the initial kiss may present something of a challenge. On the right, this was actually part of a campaign by the British Lifeboat Institution to raise funds for important sea rescue missions. Still, the suit certainly attracted attention from young ladies, as shown here on the streets of London. Maybe there’s something to that diving suit dating idea after all? - (right image credit: Modern Mechanix) Diver Dan’s adventures were shown on children’s television in the early 60s. This is the DVD cover (left) from a few years ago, bringing Dan to a whole new audience. I don’t think Dan ever conducted his exciting nautical adventures on a bicycle (right). Still, who knows, it might have been his preferred mode of transportation to travel to the set every day? (right image credit: Rob Jan) ------- Diving deeper as it gets... weirder Maybe these types of designs will be the wave of the future for the well-dressed diver? Characters in the BioShock video game series wear these formidable-looking suits: (images via) This one on the left also looks somewhat futuristic, but is in fact on display at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. And finally, how about this inflatable diving suit? Not sure I want to consider what kind of gas might be used to inflate the suit though: (image credit: Glenn D, 2) Article by Simon Rose and Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend. CONTINUE TO "AMAZING SUBMARINE CONCEPTS" -> READ THE REST OF OUR POPULAR "BOATS & SHIPS" CATEGORY ->

Steampunk Tinkerbell cosplay created by Firefly Path.

(via Epbot)

Voici des clichés de formations rocheuses aux couleurs incroyables appelées « Zhangye Danxia », situées dans la province de Gansu en Chine. Résultant de couches de sédiments de couleurs différentes accumulées depuis plus de 20 millions d’années, ces photographies de paysages fabuleux sont à découvrir dans la suite.

L’artiste américain John Foster nous invite à découvrir « Sparkle Palace Geometric Table », une création de verre avec de multiples réflexions de lumières. La table, pensée sur la base d’une pyramide inversée composée de cristaux de verre colorés propose un rendu coloré des plus réussis à découvrir dans la suite.

Desde pequenos somos treinados para respeitar os mais velhos. Seja obedecendo o papai, seja não respondendo a mamãe, não gritando com a vovó ou apenas não fazendo perguntas sobre quem são aqueles caras que toda madrugada entram com duas caixas de isopor, uma fantasia de garibaldo e sete pistolas d’água no quarto da titia, somos basicamente doutrinados a acreditar no adulto– ou genericamente no “mais velho” – como o repositório máximo de autoridade e poder, seja ele um familiar, um professor ou apenas o segurança do shopping que insiste em pontuar que precisamos fazer aquela haste mecânica efetivamente segurar o brinde e não vale tentar apenas enfiar o braço logo naquela caixa de vidro pra tirar o ursinho, isso é ilegal e vou chamar seu pai.

E ainda que essa visão do mais velho como representante da autoridade e do poder seja muito válida quando somos crianças – até os sete anos eu não sabia amarrar cadarços e achava que salsicha era um vegetal e isso já diz muito sobre meu preparo pra lidar sozinho com o mundo – é a continuidade e o exagero desse tipo de mentalidade do “mais velho como dono da verdade” que muitas vezes, quando aplicado na relação profissional ou pessoal entre adultos gera situações injustas, absurdas ou apenas desconfortáveis.

Não, não estou falando dos idosos folgados do Flamengo que assediam garotas, furam filas de restaurantes, ou moram no apartamento debaixo do seu e assim que acontece algum tipo de vazamento começam a preparar tocaias na porta sua casa às sete horas da manhã pra gritar com você e te chamar de moleque ou mesmo das senhoras que ficam na sua frente na fila reclamando durante horas que não existe um caixa especial para idosos e assim que esse caixa abre e você indica que seria interessante pra ela ir pra lá te retrucam com um “como assim, garoto? você tá me chamando de velha?”.

Não, nada disso. Afinal, eu sinceramente entendo que após décadas de serviços prestados à sociedade uma pessoa já adquiriu o capital moral necessário para ter certas vantagens e certos descontos e eu sempre vou tentar respeitar idosos mesmo quando eles começam a explicar que boa era a ditadura, presidente legal era o Geisel e essa minha barba me deixa com cara de comunista cubano. É o jeito deles, eu tento entender.

O grande problema, ou o grande problema que eu consigo notar, é o das pessoas que, por estarem em algum estado mais avançado da vida adulta, seja por 2 ou por 20 anos, acham que adquiriram algum nível de capital moral ou intelectual que permite que eles apenas tratem com descaso ou superioridade a opinião de uma pessoa mais nova, como se o simples fato de alguém existir por mais tempo garantisse a essa pessoa algum tipo de sabedoria ou capital moral que é apenas inalcançável para alguém mais novo, por mais esperta que essa pessoa possa ser.

E isso acontece no trabalho, quando o gerente de 50 anos acredita que você por ter menos de 30 não tem a mesma capacidade que ele, acontece nos eventos de família quando suas tias de 60 que ainda vivem de favor com seus avós acham que podem dar conselhos pra você que com 25 já ganha mais do que elas, acontece na internet onde você com 28 acha que sabe mais da vida do que o garoto de 16 porque ele gosta de justin bieber, sendo que você já gostou de limp bizkit e no final ninguém sabe usar as calças na altura certa, se você for pensar.

Por que a verdade é que ser mais velho por si só não garante nenhum tipo de sabedoria ou mesmo de experiência inerente. Uma pessoa pode viver por muito tempo sem aprender praticamente nada ou pode, em bem menos tempo, conseguir ter uma compreensão bem maior e mais profunda do mundo em torno dela, comprovando que ter 20, 50 ou 100 anos não serve de premissa pra analisar o quando uma pessoa está preparada pra resolver problemas ou tomar decisões. E eu sei bem disso, porque ainda me lembro que com uns dez anos eu disse pro meu pai que aquela coisa de Encol não tava com uma cara boa e ele me respondeu um “junior, deixa com seu velho, ele sabe o que ele tá fazendo”.

Filed under: é como as coisas são, crise de meia meia idade, Desocupações, situações limite, teorias, Vacilo Tagged: a gente hoje teria um apartamento de três quartos e eu não dividiria beliche quando vou em minas, bairro do flamengo, conflitos, conflitos de gerações, ditadura da cronologia, dramas da vida real, eu gosto de idosas e tenho até duas avós que são, gente de idade, idade, idosas, mal estar no ocidente e na fila do mercado, possivelmente estou usando termos com um significado distorcido, problemas, realidades, sigo usando pretextos e indiretas para tratar de traumas de infância, teorias

For talented artists, the sky is the limit. For French artist Thomas Lamadieu (AKA Roots Art), the sky is a canvas. Literally! He turns the skies in photographs of buildings around town into an artboard for whimsical doodles. The results are fantastic: Link

View more at Lamadieu's website: Link

Une superbe série photographique « Neon Waterfalls » de la part de Sean Lenz et Kristoffer Abildgaard qui ont placé dans des cascades et chutes d’eaux en Californie des bâtons lumineux. Une utilisation brillante de la longue exposition, pour capturer l’univers et la lumière. Plus d’images de ce projet dans la suite de l’article.