something something something

awkwardsituationist:

98 year old dobri dobrev, a man who lost his hearing in the second world war, walks 10 kilometers from his village in his homemade clothes and leather shoes to the city of sofia, where he spends the day begging for money.

though a well recognized fixture around several of the city’s chruches, known for his prostrations of thanks to all donors, it was only recently discovered that he has donated every penny he has collected — over 40,000 euros — towards the restoration of decaying bulgarian monasteries and churches and the utility bills of orphanages, living entirely off his monthly state pension of 80 euros and the kindness of others.

(via awkwardsituationist)

fastcompany:

Infographic: Foursquare’s New Tool Maps Your Check-Ins

As we amass more and more data about ourselves, the big challenge will be creating tools that help us put it to use in productive, positive ways. A quantified self is not necessarily an improved one. In the meantime, though, some personalized eye-candy can’t hurt.

Foursquare launched its own visualization tool last week, letting users view their last 12 months of activity in a few different ways. In each, check-ins are represented by colorful little badges. You can sort them by date or by category, which line the badges up into orderly little rows. The latter will probably just confirm what you already know: you go out for coffee way too often.

A circular “connections” view is a little more insightful, showing all the different places you went throughout the year after checking in at a certain location. Here, you might get confirmation of things you already knew deep down but never really liked to acknowledge. You’ll be able to see, say, where you tend to check-in after sessions at the gym. Take-out food joints? Oh well, you’ve earned it, or something.

As the company wrote in a blog post accompanying the release, the tool is “just our small way of saying, ‘Thanks! We think you’re awesome.’” Also a small way of saying think how much cooler these would look if you used Foursquare more often.

Try it out for yourself here.

[Hat tip: Gizmodo]

preservearchives:

Government Printing Office Visit

Senior Conservator Jana Dambrogio was invited to the bindery of the Government Printing Office (GPO) to capture impressions of their early brass decorative finishing tools. Dambrogio documented over 379 tools (69 brass rolls and over 310 stamps, gouges, and fillets) used by the bindery since before the civil war to the present day. Many of the tool’s marks are found on hand-made bindings that were fabricated by the GPO bindery for many federal agencies.  These bindings have been subsequently deposited in the holdings of the National Archives.

(via todaysdocument)

(via frickyeah1990s)