|Friday-esque Web Round-up

Movement + Adventure

• Would You Ride a Bike Superhighway? (Elisha Hartwig, Mashable)
• Cargo Bikes: The New Station Wagon (TOM VANDERBILT, Wall St Journal)
• Edgerunner Xtracycle (video)
• Ultimate Adventure Bucket List 2013 (National Geographic)
• Detroit Bike City - Slow Roll
• Now THAT is a fast bike (104-tooth chainring)! (Michael Graham Richard, Treehugger)
• The big benefits of walking to work (Chad Brooks, Mother Nature Network)
• Riding lessons for U.S. cities from one of Europe’s bike capitals (Greg Hanscom, Grist)
• Disposable Man (Three Mystic Apes)
• Richie Parker (Three Mystic Apes)
• Detroit Bike City — Slow Roll (Three Mystic Apes)

Food + Gardening

• Start a 1-Acre, Self-Sufficient Homestead (John Seymour, Mother Earth News)
• Designing Ecological Backyard Gardens: An Interview with Jessi Bloom (Utne)

Psychology

• 6 Unconventional, But Scientific Ways To Be The Happiest Person On Earth (Dumb Little Man)

Science + Industry

• What goes on when you are not there! (Three Mystic Apes)
• True Facts About The Owl. (Three Mystic Apes)
• Mariachi Band in Connecticut Serenades a Beluga Whale (Three Mystic Apes)
• NASA: Sun Getting Ready For A 'Field Flip' (Scott Neuman)
• Let's All Stop Obsessing About the 'Next Great Thing' in Urban Transportation (Eric Jaffe, The Atlantic)
• Making it: That ticking sound isn't just a watch; small manufacturing in gear in Detroit (Amy Haimerl, Crain's Detroit Business)

Religion

• Fox News, Reza Aslan, and the Historical Jesus (Utne)

Health

• Additional Benefits of Eating Organic (Jeff Boyd, A Better World)

Art

• Baltimore Vacants (Three Mystic Apes) 

BONUS

• List 1: Christian Social Ethics & Action
• List 2: Peace & Justice

|The Power of Less

Today I finished reading The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life (Leo Babauta, 2009). Leo is also the author of the Zen Habits blog.

The book was insightful and easy to read. I appreciated that rather than motivating people to shoe-horn more into their schedules or to do more with their hours, Babauta encourages readers to focus doing less, but making each thing purposeful. From macro to micro decisions, he calls the reader to find the essential--what is important and makes a real impact. He takes the 80-20 rule very seriously.

What I will remember: Set limits. Simplify by choosing the essential (determined by values, goals, importance, impact, and love) and learning to say no to the rest. Focus. Make small, incremental changes--one at a time. Be mindful of how I spend time and the demands that commitments make on my time.

He covers much more in the book, and fleshes these themes out in multiple ways, but that is the core of what I'm likely to remember a month from now. (Maybe that means I should read it again at that point.)

Leo's theme of getting down to the essential (e.g., "How do you carve a statue of an elephant? Just chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant," p. 17) reminded me of the final section in Rob Bell's book Drops Like Stars--"The Art of Elimination."Bell begins:

Great artists know that it isn't just about what you add; sometimes the most important work is knowing what to take away. Removing clutter, excess, all the superfluous elements--and finding out in the process what's been in there the whole time. (p. 74)

But he doesn't leave it at the theoretical level; instead he moves in for the punch to the gut with a bit of reality:

When you talk with people who have just received news that they have a life-threatening illness, what do they say?
"Now I must get those hedges trimmed!"
"I've been putting that plastic surgery off long enough."
"It's finally time to join that online poker club."
No, of course not.
They talk about family and friends.
They gather those they love as close as possible.
They reflect on any amends that need to be made with anybody.
That talk about what matters most.
Suffering does that.
It compels us to eliminate the unnecessary, the trivial, the superficial.
There is greatness in you. Courage. Desire. Integrity. Virtue. Compassion. Dignity. Loyalty. Love. It's in there--somewhere. And sometimes it takes suffering to get at it. (pp. 90-91)

Leo Babauta is trying to help us get to this essential element now, not someday when we get the bad word from the doctor.

Do I have the courage to cut away the nonessential so I can say yes to what is essential today?

|Dance

I first saw AscenDance at Climbing Magazine. You can find more at AscenDance's website.

Both links have videos.

|Hamburger Eyes VIP

I like this photography at Hamburger Eyes, which eventually links to these.

|Photography with a Message

For the Long Haul

Stop Motion | The Long Haul from DUMAIS on Vimeo.

Post Secret -- Frank Warren

It's possible that I'm the last person in the U.S. to become familiar with Warren's postcard project. Amazing.

http://www.postsecretcommunity.com/video
http://postsecretarchive.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostSecret

|Trash is Art

Okay, last one for today. Found this while working on a design at work:

http://barkingrabbits.blogspot.com/2007/10/well-yes-actually-it-is-art.html

|To Travis

I dedicate this picture from ThereIFixedIt.com to the Travinator.

Thanks for sharing, Dad.

|Boone Speed's Photography

I like Boone's work:

• 21 Questions with Boone Speed (Luke Laeser, Climbing Magazine)
• Feature Shoot

|Banksy

Right now, this Banksy (homepage) picture is my monitor's wallpaper:













I also really like these:


And the Palestinian/Israeli Wall Series is amazing. For example:

|Sheep

Thanks, Kristina. Unbelievable!

|Peace, A Story of Lies

Interesting discussion of the origins of this symbol:

-- The Peace Symbol
-- Peace Symbols (Wikipedia)
-- Peace Symbols (Design Boom)

Semaphoric signal for N & D (nuclear disarmament)? Occult sign? Nero's imprint?

Hard to say. Kind of like the origins of certain cuss-like swearing-ish words.