ARVIN ALBA

blogsecret:

I wish I could be as disillusioned as my friends, life would be easier.

storyboard:

Fuck Yeah Fuckyeah Blogs

No one really knows why the “Fuck Yeah X” blog phenomenon became so popular — nor why it’s still going very strong in terms of raw numbers. As for ultimate beginnings, conventional wisdom points to the pop-culture longevity of “America, Fuck Yeah” from the soundtrack to Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s 2004 flick Team America: World Police, but there’s no real evidence beyond the circumstantial to support this conclusion. Only a few mainstream media outlets dared cover the trend due to the profanity in the name (may we suggest “fudge yeah” as a workaround?).

Coincidentally, the bloggers behind Fuck Yeah Menswear were yesterday (allegedly) prematurely revealed as Kevin Burrows and Lawrence Schlossman (the latter running the non-fuckyeah Tumblr How to Talk to Girls at Parties); they have a book releasing this fall. So on Tumblr, where did the fuckyeah blogs really come from, and what are people fuckyeahing about these days?

amprog:

12 maps of the world from 1955 until now show extreme temperature anomalies. So why are people still denying climate change?

(Source: theatlantic.com)

thisiscolossal:

Global rainbow is an ongoing light installation by Yvette Mattern consisting of seven parallel laser beams representing a rainbow that’s being projected over populated urban areas and is meant “to encompass geographical and social diversity in its reach and symbolise hope.” The installation was switched on in the UK for the first time last night over the North Tyneside coastline and will be making several additional stops over the next few weeks.

inhabitat:

While walking amidst white mountaintops and cozy ski lodges, Simon Beck creates enormous works of snow art that look like giant wintry crop circles. Believe it or not, the immense snow patterns are made entirely by foot - Beck creates them while he walks across the terrain in briquette snow shoes. The ephemeral art installations last only until the mountain winds blow them away across the valleys.

thisiscolossal:

Internationally recognized graffiti artist Tilt has just completed this eye-popping interior design work for the Au Vieux Panier hotel in Marseille, France. The hotel has just five rooms that are annually reconceptualized by commissioned artists and designer. For this space entitled Panic Room (which might aptly describe your mental state after a few nights in this Willy Wonkaesque environment) Tilt divided the room perfectly down the middle, one half covered entirely in his trademark vibrant and bubbly graffiti and the other half left stark white. See a sneak peek of all five concepts at Au Vieux Panier. Photography above by the Big Addict.

thisiscolossal:

As part of the recent Tokyo Hotaru Festival, 100,000 illuminated blue LEDs were released in the Sumida River. The massive installation of solar-powered spheres was meant to mimic a swarm of fireflies that twisted and bobbed along the river by moonlight. For those of you worried about pollution or safety, the lights were later caught downstream by giant nets.

“Taxing Jobs Out of Existence”

Notably out-of-touch wealthy fussbudget George F. Will thinks increasing taxes by a pitiful 2.3% on corporate profits — which are at the highest level they’ve been since World War II, seriously people, that is a true thing that is real — will not only kill jobs, but kill PEOPLE.

The most outlandish part of this article, to me, is the lede. He blathers about how so many great companies started in people’s garages and basements. If we tax companies any more, he posits, we’ll lose that kind of innovation. But those innovations were made by brilliant individuals, not by a room full of wealthy stockholders. So increasing revenue taxes will cost us those innovations… how, exactly? And he has the gall to suggest that without innovations in the medical field, PEOPLE WILL DIE, so we’d better not decrease CEO pay or stockholder profits in any way because DON’T YOU CARE ABOUT PEOPLE DYING???

Hey, George, what about all the people who will die without health insurance because their mega-profiting employer refuses to offer it? What about all the people who will die if Obamacare is underfunded because we maintain such low taxes on the wealthy? Are those people important? Yeah, didn’t fucking think so.

Oh, and what about funding the schools that educate and nurture the people who create life-saving innovations? And providing them with basic needs like food and shelter? What about decreasing tuition at colleges to allow young people to become tomorrow’s educated innovators? Lots of questions, George, and very few answers.

-Jess

(via stfuconservatives)

The stent was invented in 1978

Top tax rate in 1978: 70%

Ok, then.

(via stfupenguins)

I need to get “Reality has a liberal bias” tattooed to my right bicep. -Jess

A Ron Ulciny sculpture.

pisayforever:

Awesome physics teacher is awesome :D

From my favorite street artists from Iran, ICY and SOT.

thisiscolossal:

Italian installation artist Esther Stocker creates stunning geometric environments that can often be explored by the viewer. The construction of each piece appears to follow some type of strange equation, resulting in unusual linear patterns and planes that completely transform the physical pace.

ourafrica:

A church is not a building, it’s the people. 

This is Africa, our Africa

Disclaimer: I’m not much of a devout Christian, but this is just heartwarming.

thedailywhat:

Heartwarming Tearjerker of the Day: “It’s not the right thing to do, but I did it. If I were younger, maybe I’d be spending time in the hoosegow.”

So says Hyman Strachman, a 92-year-old, 5-foot-5 World War II vet who has spent the past eight years sending bootlegged copies of first-run movies to American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Known to soldiers as Big Hy, he has copied the movies — more than 300,000 — in his small Long Island apartment, then sent them overseas free of charge, and at a personal cost of about $30,000.

“It was pretty big stuff — it’s reconnecting you to everything you miss,” said Jenna Gordon, a specialist in the Army Reserve. “We’d tell people to take a bunch and pass them on.”

Now, with the wars waning and soldiers returning home, Strachman’s shameless violation of domestic copyright laws is winding down, as his chance of being prosecuted. In fact, Howard Gantman, with the Motion Picture Association of America, hinted that Strachman might never have been on Hollywood’s radar at all: “We are grateful that the entertainment we produce can bring some enjoyment to them while they are away from home.”

[nyt]

Skywalking. Russia’s answer to planking. I so want to attempt this.

thegerzone:

New portraits of teachers. Probably the best job in the world.

If ever I got rich and decide to get a tattoo, it will be by Peter Aurisch in Berlin. His tattoos are insane, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. His Facebook profile has more (wish it was an FB page or had a subscribe button).

No, we’re not completely disregarding the UNCLOS. You are correct that this is not our main argument regarding claims to the Scarborough Shoal. But this does not mean that this treaty does not apply in the Scarborough Shoal’s case. It is just one among the many arguments we have that solidifies our claim to the shoal.

Our main, and arguably strongest argument in our claim to this shoal is continued usage. As you may very well notice, the shoal has an english name; this attests to the fact that we are aware and have been using this shoal since the time when the Americans still rule this country. This is well before the 9-dash map the Republic of China formalized during the 1940s. Lesser knows is its Spanish name, Bajo de Masinloc. The existence of this Spanish name, as well as numerous maps dating from the Spanish period, attests to continues usage of these rocks since during the Spanish rule of the Philippines. We have been using this shoal as fishing grounds and safe harbor since the 1500s. It is also likely that we have been using this shoal well before the Spanish arrived; the Filipinos, after all, have long been people of the sea. The fact that Scarborough Shoal has been thoroughly used by my people, much more than yours do, even to the point where we actually had a lighthouse constructed on these rocks, and used the said rocks for weapons testing, clearly solidifies our rightful claim to sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal. Laying claim to Scarborough Shoal is as absurd as claiming any of the uninhabited islands in Batanes or Tawi-tawi. In one of the rulings of the ITLOS, the court decided that the Dutch have the proper claim to islands being reclaimed by Spain. In this case, Spain argued that sovereignty of the islands have not passed on to the Dutch; the Dutch claimed that the islands are already being used by the Dutch since their liberation, and thus, sovereignty to the islands rightly belongs to the Netherlands.

Also, regarding you historical claim, please be reminded that during the time of the claim, China was also laying claim to the islands that comprise the Philippines. Does this mean that you have the rightful sovereignty over Luzon, that the Philippines is simply a renegade province? That is absurd. Do you know that about the same time as when China made the claim, the Malays were exploring the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as Madagascar? Does this mean that Malaysia and Indonesia should lay claim to the numerous small islands that dot the same ocean? I would like to point out that historical your claim may be, it is outdated. Your historical claim is as absurd as the Philippine claim to Sabah, and even then, the latter claim is much more solid. Also, your nine-dash claim is absurd and expansionist, and you come off as jealous that the United States have far flung territories like Palau.

P.S. It was rude of you to hack the website of the University of the Philippines. We were in the middle of enrollment, and the lack of access has been frustrating to us students.

Nirvana Video Casting

held4ransom:

artist unknownVisual Temperature — Sofa by Cao Hui

Mixed Materials of Resin, Fibre / 2008

via Bloodmilk (artist credit provided by Melissa Thurman - thank you!)

Hong Kong Car Park Proposal by Interface Studio Architects

THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING THING TO EVER COME OUT OF THE INTERNET. 8-year-old Juliet’s first hardcore heavy metal song. :))

washingtonpoststyle:

Today, in one image.

Cain. Colbert. God bless America.

Photo by Jason Reed (Reuters)

fattributes:

(via How to Make Meatballs | From Away)

autostream:

Because Ferrari.

Street Art by Pavel Puhov via Colossal

Riusuke Fukahori, inspired by his pet goldfish, paints among the most exquisite of paintings in the world. He uses acrylic on clear resin, giving a much more lifelike vitality to his work.

Best Eat Bulaga episode ever! Jose Manalo as Willie Revillame.

kari-shma:

Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri’s latest installation titled ‘Life is Beautiful’, was created using hundreds of knives stabbed directly into a gallery wall. The use of everyday objects, which on occasion can become lethal weapons, reveals the underlying sarcastic ambiguity of Farhad’s statement.

Lamborghini Ankonian. Concept by Slavche Tanevsky. Damn so sexy.

A police pad, tablets issued to the police force of that small Caucasian country of Georgia to assist them in such tasks as paperwork and communication. Here, an employee demonstrates one in a factory where the police pads are assembled, located in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.

Say hello to the world’s largest Swiss Army knife, courtesy of Wenger. 87 tools, 141 functions. Kudos to those who can name them all.

The chromatic typewriter, courtesy of Tyree Callahan.

The first self-healing iPhone case, the Scratch Shield, brought to you, uncannily enough, by among the world’s largest automotive companies. Design-wise, it’s completely ugly, but it’s ability to mend itself from scratches is a big plus.

Nissan explains:

The outer ‘paint’ is made from polyrotaxane, which means that when damage occurs to the coating in the form of a fine scratch, the chemical structure is able to react to change back to its original shape and fill the gap – ‘healing’ the blemish.

This is former Facebook engineer Evan Priestley’s Pinterest board featuring about 30 common Facebook bugs, showcasing his gripes against Facebook’s engineering quality. I’ve seen several of these bugs before, but I used to blame them mostly on either slow internet, or the buggy Safari on OS X Lion.