Travel
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Tokyo runs 13 billion passenger trips each year, making its train stations some of the busiest in the world. Using sound design and various other psychological nudges, rail stations are able to bring some order to the chaos. One of the most effective tactics has been its use of blue LED mood lighting to prevent suicide…
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‘Time is to clock as mind is to brain’ 🕰️
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1 min read
Time is to clock as mind is to brain. The clock or watch somehow contains the time. And yet time refuses to be bottled up like a genie stuffed in a lamp. Whether it flows as sand or turns on wheels within wheels, time escapes irretrievably, while we watch. Even when the bulbs of the…
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Anthony Bourdain’s tip for aspiring travelers
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1 min read
No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach (Amazon) was Bourdain’s sixth book. In it, he offered this sage advice to ambitious world travelers. “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves mark…
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If you were the next Forest Gump and wanted to walk Earth in a straight line without hitting the water, here’s your guide. The path starts east in China and ends in Liberia. Lace up those walking shoes, we’ve got a project for you. An intrepid cartographer has, with the help of Google Earth, tracked down the…
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Airbus Beluga XL 🐳👨✈️
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1 min read
Loving the whale-inspired design of the Airbus BelugaXL, due to launch in 2019. According to the plane’s official photographer on Twitter, the aircraft is currently on its 17th test flight. You can read more about the plane’s “whale-inspired eyes and enthusiastic grin” here.
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Advertising on the Eiffel Tower (1925 – 1934)
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1 min read
The dawn of ubiquitous advertising found itself on a Paris landmark before World War II. Between 1925 and 1934, the Eiffel Tower served as a huge illuminated advertisement for Citroën. Darran Anderson
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Deceiving GPS 📍
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1 min read
“The map is not the territory.” Alfred Korzybski
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Underground bicycle parking systems in Japan
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1 min read
The robotic system, called the Eco Cycle, stores bikes 36 feet underground. It can store 204 bikes at a time. To use it, you need to attach a chip to the front wheel of your bike that links to your Eco Cycle parking account. When you pull up to the Eco Cycle, it will recognize…
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Not all those who wander are lost ✈️ 🗺️
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1 min read
Scratch (off) the world
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Golden Gate City: San Francisco (1939)
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1 min read
A few weeks ago, I blogged about a trip through New York City in 1911. This week’s archival videos goes back in time to San Francisco, 1939. Some observations: The cable cars ran on cables because the city’s hills were so steep. They also required ‘turntables’ (first time I’ve heard the term not in reference…
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Artist converts beach rock into a great white shark
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1 min read
When mixed media artist Jimmy Swift traveled to India in March 2015, he saw a jagged rock on the beach. He immediately knew what to do with it. “When I first saw this rock it looked like a perfect place for a great white. It’s truly amazing how mother nature can carve out such a…