L’artiste japonaise Chiharu Shiota est à l’origine d’une nouvelle installation intitulée Uncertain Journey. Elle a souhaité représente à l’aide de très nombreux fils rouges qui se croisent et se recroisent, les connections entre les neurones dans le cerveau. Une installation immersive présentée du 17 Septembre au 12 Novembre à la galerie Blain | Southern à Berlin.
The third paragraph of a recent New York Times article about Donald Trump’s wavering public and private statements regarding a tax-cut plan for small businesses reads:
Call it the trillion-dollar lie: Both assertions cannot be true.
Today on NPR’s Morning Edition, the paper’s executive editor Dean Baquet discussed the paper’s recent decision to use that L-word terminology. In very short order, Minnesota Public Radio’s Bob Collins, on his NewsCut blog, was breaking down the conversation:
That was a fascinating segment on NPR’s Morning Edition today when an NPR host, who works for an organization that steadfastly refuses to say that Donald Trump lies, quizzed the boss of the country’s most influential newspaper, who works for an organization that has no such qualms.
“It would almost be illiterate to have not called the birther thing a lie,” Baquet told NPR’s Steve Inskeep.
Read between the lines on that one. That’s Baquet likely calling NPR “illiterate.”
Baquet had some equally interesting comments when Inskeep asked him if Hillary Clinton lies.
Sur son compte Instagram, As a Muse, Hélène, française résidant à Londres, a choisi de mettre a l’honneur le lien entre la mode et l’art. Elle représente les modèles habillés des créations des plus grands couturiers, avec en fond les oeuvres qui les ont inspirées, de Hokusai à Van Gogh. Des associations inspirantes à découvrir quotidiennement.
Order a copy today of Never Too Busy to Cure Clutter by Unclutterer’s Editor-in-Chief Erin Rooney Doland.
Unclutterer received an email from a reader who had a number of questions, many of which related to hiring people to help with various tasks. There are many reasons you might want to hire some help:
And sometimes you may want to hire someone for more than one of these reasons. The only ongoing help I have is with my yard. My gardener knows much more about plant care than I do. She can readily climb a ladder to trim tall plants while that would make me uncomfortable. And I just don’t enjoy most gardening work and tend to put it off until it becomes problematic.
How do you best go about hiring the help you need? The following are some suggestions.
Make sure your expectations are as clear as possible. This will mean writing things down, spending time explaining things verbally, or both. All the things you do by second nature will need to be specified. For example, when I hired household help I had to tell the person how my washing machine worked, what settings I used, how much detergent I used, etc.
Also determine what things you don’t care about. My home helper asked how I wanted my non-slip socks paired up and put away, and I told her to do it any way she liked.
If you make tasks as easy as possible for your helper, things will go more smoothly. When I sent my helper grocery shopping (with a list that included brand names and package sizes), it helped when I could tell her where in the store things were located, especially those that weren’t obvious. I also made sure she had my cell phone number so she could send me a text if she had any questions. If someone is going to unload your dishwasher, put away laundry, or otherwise tidy up, you may want to label the cabinets and closets indicating what goes where.
If someone is working on a project for you, make sure your communication expectations are clear. What kind of status updates do you want, and how often should they be provided? How quick of a response do you expect to calls, texts, or emails?
When relevant, be sure you’re clear about what supplies you’ll provide vs. what supplies the helper will provide. If the helper is providing things like cleaning supplies, do you have any restrictions on what products are used?
And be sure you’re clear about pricing and billing. If there’s an hourly or weekly rate, what’s included and what’s extra? Billing surprises are no fun for anyone!
Sometimes you may not know the specifics of what you need done, since you are hiring help to fill in for your lack of expertise. But even then you probably have some expectations you can define. For example, my gardener knows that I need to keep all plants from touching my house to minimize the risk of termites.
Nolo has a helpful article about hiring household help. As the article explains, you can hire a company, hire a worker through an agency, or hire an individual. I got my home helpers through a company, while I hired my gardener directly.
And be sure you understand the legal aspects of your hiring decisions, including tax and insurance issues. Again, Nolo explains the basics, and you can consult a lawyer for more information.
If you failed to specify some of your expectations (which can easily happen when you first set about hiring help) and now the work isn’t being done as you would like, talk with your helper about making changes. Sometimes just a tiny change can make a big difference.
If the change is too significant and you realize you and your helper are a mismatch, you may want to find someone better suited to your redefined needs. An ongoing mismatch may well make both you and your helper miserable, so ending the relationship can be best for all concerned.
Post written by Jeri Dansky
Self has revamped Self.com to be faster, cleaner and more easily packaged around one editorial theme.
The site’s relaunch content is focused on the many aspects of wellness and self-care.
“Self is a wellness brand, and our ultimate goal is to help you feel great,” wrote Self executive digital director Carolyn Kylstra, in a post. “We’re known for our expertise in fitness and nutrition, and providing trusted guidance on how to achieve your goals. But wellness is such an enormous category that expands so far beyond workouts and healthy eating. And we’re acutely aware that wellness, and self-care specifically, looks different to everyone.”
While most fans of Danish Modern or mid-century modern furniture are aware of Hans Wegner, Arne Jacobsen, the Eameses et. al., Louis van Teeffelen’s name may not ring a bell. Which is a shame as the Dutch designer created furniture every bit as striking as the work of his contemporaries.
Along with sometime collaborator Jaap Ravelli, van Teeffelen put Dutch furniture company WéBé on the map in the 1950s, becoming their head of design in 1955.
Van Teeffelen designed chairs, sideboards, desks, coffee tables, dining tables, storage units and more.
WéBé’s furniture became so popular throughout the 1950s and ’60s that they amassed their own shipping fleet.
Shortly after van Teeffelen left the company in the late ’60s, WéBé went into a decline from which it never recovered. Sales slumped through the ’70s and ’80s, and the company was shuttered for good in the ’90s.
Today van Teeffelen’s pieces are sought after on the secondhand market.
As those in the Northern Hemisphere start thinking about sweater weather, long-lost items like scarves and beanies start being remembered. Maison Kitsuné’s simple ribbed beanie (available in burgundy or navy) is one way to enjoy winter a little more……
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by Karen Day
Do you know what a serpent chandelier sounds like? Or, perhaps more importantly, did you know that a serpent chandelier is a tuba-esque wind instrument? It’s surprising encounters like these that make exploring Brussels’ Musical Instruments……
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Light is unbelievably versatile. No, I’m not drunk… I’m making quite a revelatory point. It’s used to help our most powerful sense operate. We use it to illuminate, to highlight, to give signals, to guide, to warn. Light is one of the most instinctive things we respond to… and the absence of it can be very discomforting. The Smartflare, LED Combo light puts as much meaning into its lamp as possible. The lamp gives off 360° ambient light, a directional light, and warning lights. This small handheld device comes with white and red LEDs, allowing you to choose which way you want to use it. It even comes with a magnet at the base, which means you can easily mount it on your car while travelling, or maybe on your tent pole so you have a makeshift lighting device on the inside. And you get two in a kit, which just makes things easier when you’re out of batteries!
Designer: Marche Design Studio
Buy It Here: $17.00 $25.00
San Francisco studio New Deal Design has devised a small copper-coloured device that allows users to make purchases by swiping its textured surface, as “a modern replacement for cash” (+ slideshow).
Scrip is a conceptual handheld metal “token” that could be used to make digital payments.
It was conceived by the studio led by designer Gadi Amit – creator of the widely popular Fitbit activity tracker – to bring back physical actions that are disappearing as financial transactions become increasingly cashless.
“Scrip is a device that brings physicality back to money by replicating the positives of a cash transaction – such as the flipping and selecting of notes, and the weight of a hefty wallet,” said the studio. “Scrip is a modern replacement for cash.”
It would feature a tactile surface made up of tiny diamond-shaped sections that rise and fall during use.
Users would transfer money onto the device, and make swiping movements designed to mimic the handing over of cash to pay for items.
Video showing how the Scrip digital payment device would work
Other possible transactions would also include the withdrawal of funds from banks, currency exchange in foreign countries and passing money between individuals.
“The societal transition from gold bars, to coins, to notes, to now a touch of a credit card, or the brush of a finger, has left our financial exchanges without value,” said New Deal Design.
“As we increasingly spend through contactless and automatic methods, we are left with little time to think about what we are spending, and derive any sense of pleasure or pain from the transaction.”
The device would use Bluetooth to authenticate the user’s identity, by pairing with their mobile device. Once activated, an illuminated display at the top of the rounded token would show their balance.
Related story: “Apple Pay will forever change the way we buy” says Tim Cook
Paying for an item using Scrip would require a vendor’s contactless payment system, which would prompts the device to display the amount owed.
Transactions would be completed in bill amounts, with denominations similar to cash notes ranging up to 50.
During payment, the amount of each “bill” would form a pattern across the surface, and the shopper would be required to “push” the money into the till by swiping their thumb up the device.
New Deal Design also suggests that Scrip could help users better manage their spending.
Their intention was to “create a device that evokes not only the nostalgia of a cash exchange, but also eliminates the poor spending habits that are caused by digital transaction”, such as overspending on credit cards.
New Deal Design specialises in internet-connected products, with past projects including a children’s thermometer that links with a parent’s smartphone and wearable technology for dogs.
In a 2014 interview with Dezeen, Amit said wearable technology that ignores emotional needs is a “major error”.
He also said the people will soon have up to ten miniature devices on their bodies and clothes that will monitor their health and organise their social lives.
The post New Deal Design’s Scrip device brings tactility to digital payments appeared first on Dezeen.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
