Future Library

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Future Library is a public art project by Scottish artist Katie Paterson, which will slowly unfold over the next 100 years in the city of Oslo, Norway.A thousand trees have been planted in Normarka, a forest just outside Oslo. It will be 100 years before the trees are cut down to provide the paper for an anthology of books – a Future Library for the city of Oslo – to be read for the first time in 2114.

Every year from 2014 to 2114, a writer will be commissioned to contribute a new text to a growing collection of unpublished, unread manuscripts held in trust in a specially designed room in the Deichmanske Public Library in Bjørvika, Oslo until their publication in 2114.

The initial author to contribute a text for Future Library will be announced in September 2014, with the delivery of the first manuscript marked by a ceremony one year later. In this digital age, this is a tenaciously analog art project.

 

 

 

 

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North Atlantic Skies

There is something soothing about this very neat short 3D visualization of planes crossing the North Atlantic during a 24 hour period. The video was produced by NATS—a provider of air traffic control services in Europe.

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Lost Tracks

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I’m a dewy-eyed sentimentalist when it comes to old fashioned steam trains, but photographer Matthew Malkiewicz has an enduring passion for the historic locomotives of the 19th and 20th centuries. He travels North America in his spare time capturing the disappearing glory of vintage trains. If like me you share his ardor for these great machines, you can follow his travels on his blog “Lost Tracks of Time”.

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Sirens of the Lambs

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First seen on the streets of New York City last year, Banksy’s moving piece “Sirens of the Lambs” has surfaced this week at England’s famous Glastonbury Festival. According to the anonymous street artist, the recreated version—the original was impounded by the NYPD—features “25% more terror”. Does this mean that the reclusive Banksy is an animal rights activist?

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Thank You For Flying…

Warning: NSFW, language and violence (really)

H/T to reader K.Singh

This way over the top video is a sharp parody of flying today. It’s a biting spoof on the bitter realities of air travel, with a mix of universal truths on contemporary aviation and heavy handed stereotypes of Indian travelers. The film is in English and Hindi, but you can turn on English captions for full effect.

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Murakami, more is not enough

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Suzanne Dean, the Creative Director of Random House in London, designed the new book jacket for Haruki Murakami’s new novel Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, which includes a sheet of stickers so readers can redesign their own book covers. Five Japanese illustrators were asked to create a set of stickers to reflect individual characters in the novel.

The English language version will be out in August.

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Travel In Comfort

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When I’m on the road I like to dress casually and comfortably, but this dude has taken it to a new level. The anonymous guy, known only as “Mr. Bathrobe Crusader”, has been visiting the sights around Europe for the past month clad in a comfy blue bathrobe and slippers. He has invited us all to follow his wanderings on his Instagram page.

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Couchsurfing

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My friends and I were couchsurfing long before the term was coined—we just called it crashing. But it’s exciting to see how the internet has made it possible for people to people connections throughout the world. Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti’s wonderful photo series simply titled “Couchsurfing” captures his amazing adventure crashing with strangers in dozens of countries on five continents over a year of travel. Galimberti made his homestay connections through couchsurfing.org, which encompasses a vast community of 7 million folks in more than 100,000 cities and towns around the globe.

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All images © Gabriele Galimberti

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Dublin Just Got Cheaper

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It just became a lot less expensive and much simpler for visitors to get around Dublin, Ireland. Tourists can purchase the new Leap Card for visitors that offers 72 hours of travel on the LUAS tram network, DART trains, short hop buses and the Dublin Bus system for just €19.50. At the moment, the Leap3770220810_fbbb2be432_m Card can only be purchased at Dublin Airport, but it also includes round trip airport transportation on the AirLink Bus, which costs €10 if purchased separately. That leaves a cost of just €3 per day for unlimited travel.

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About Murakami

New York psychologist, writer and animator Ilana Simons created this terrific short animated film called “About Haruki Murakami” to celebrate everyone’s favorite Japanese writer. Well, he’s my favorite, any way.

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