✱ 5ives 013

1. Breathing City - Manhattan's at Work and Home Population by Hour

Inspired by John Nelson’s breathing earth and Conveyal’s aggregate-disser post, I wondered if I could make a breathing city. Manhattan looks somewhat lung-like, so it seemed natural. Should be a fun, quick project. How naive I was.

2. Massimo Vignelli, 1931-2014

Michael Beirut: It was Massimo who taught me one of the simplest things in the world: that if you do good work, you get more good work to do, and conversely bad work brings more bad work. It sounds simple, but it’s remarkable, in a lifetime of pragmatics and compromises, how easy it is to forget: the only way to do good work is simply to do good work. Massimo did good work.

3. someone ought to…

If you find yourself in a situation where someone is at the table or at the water cooler or whatever and they’re going off with the proverbial “you know someone ought to…”, ask them why don’t they do that very thing? If nothing else their reaction will be amusing.

4. When the Earth Had Two Moons

Not one moon but two? A celestial impact that produces a landslide instead of a catastrophe? Yeah, let us get back to you on that.

5. Death at 19,000 Feet - Sherpas, Fate and the Dangerous Business of Everest

For decades, climbers from across the globe have hired Sherpas, an ethnic group settled in the high Himalayan valleys of Nepal, to help them reach Everest's brutal 29,000-foot summit, the pinnacle of so many adventurers' aspirations. And for nearly as long—with the innumerable perils of high-altitude mountaineering—Sherpas have tempted fate for their clients' goals and the survival of their families.

And a quote for the weekend:

There are two games you can play with someone else's balloon. Chase it around and keep it aloft, or pop it with a pin. Choose wisely.

--ze frank