Uniform Project

[via greenz.jp]

I never thought how sustainable "uniform" can be. Uniform has been such a disastrous thing for teenage girls with huge interest in fashion and love - I remember wearing them layering with all sorts of jumpers and under shirts to make it look different from the original (boring) style when I was in high school. On the other hand, I remember not buying so much clothes while in junior and high school. Only clothes I needed were ones I wear during the weekends, and usually even the weekends were taken by my sport club activities (which requires to wear another uniform!). I realised the fact my closet is pretty much empty when I got freed from the uniformed society. This (amazingly creative) girl, however, took this negative commonsense about the uniform as a challenge for her passion for fashion and social awareness. Now the project has started the year 2, which people voluntarily wear the same dress with fun twist everyday for a month to keep people's attention (and eyes entertained).

At last, uniform isn't bad at all, right?

before you bye-bye 2010

[via NYT]
It's Christmas eve. It means nothing really to me as a Japanese, but it does mean it's almost the end of the year. Looking back the year 2010 is probably a good idea - not to regret, but to think what needs to be done in 2011. Through the beautiful (and sometimes sad) images, I was thinking what 2010 was for me.

visualization of invisibles

Magnetic Movie from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

[from GOOD]
We live in such an amazing era of the history that we can visualize the world of invisible fantasy. We knew there are magnetic fields but we didn't know what it looks like - and we human tend to believe what we feel from the five senses (some do have the sixth, I guess). There are so many mysterious theories we understand but never able to trust. Once, I saw the blood cells flowing in my eye ball (I know, isn't that crazy/exciting or what?) at Exploratorium in San Francisco. By seeing the blood cells moving around in front of my eye (well, it is IN my eye actually), I realised how incredible the world and "to live" are. Seeing invisible things makes us remember the miracles in this world we are living.

tracking (toilet) water

[Image from psfk]

Have you ever thought of where the water goes after you take care of your business in the bathroom? You don't think that the water comes from nowhere and disappears as you flush, do you? Here is a pretty map shows where the dirty water flows into. I haven't personally tried yet since I live in outside their cool map range. Too bad, it is only available in UK, Ireland, South Africa, and Poland (what a random choice) - would be awesome to see/track in every urban area. This Flush Tracker will be not only a fun map for a map nerd like me, but also a good educational tool for young and old. By tracking the water, you will find some relations between your (self-centered) life and the natural environment (I think).