The story of mankind is the story of technology and innovation. From the discovery of fire and the invention of the wheel to the earliest attempts at farming, humanity’s progress is indistinguishable from man’s uncanny ability to conquer nature (or at least move it around a bit easier). Harnessing and benefitting from the bounties of the material world is what “we” do best. It’s not just “how we live,” this process cannot be separated from the continuation of life itself. We must feed, shelter and transport an ever growing population, but manage and conserve our dwindling resources at the same time we seek out new ones, a tricky balancing act, both locally and globally. It’s all about mobility. And mobility is our business at the Ford Motor Company.

We’re already deep into the event horizon of a third stage of the industrial revolution where once-unthinkable levels of technology—like advanced computation, artificial intelligence and automation—will be part of everyday life, alongside more green space, more walkability, more renewable energy sources and more reliable ways to get where you need to go. If you already think things are changing fast, well just wait (but not for long!). The City of Tomorrow will be here sooner than you think.

Ask yourself: As a third industrial revolution is upon us with new modes of communication, new forms of energy and new ways to get around, what may change in the City of Tomorrow?

And what will the City of Tomorrow look like when there are flying cars, packages being delivered by airborne drones and our human habitats will require—in the words of economist Jeremy Rifkin—“a new infrastructure that fundamentally changes the way we manage, power, and move economic life”?

Driverless taxis. Wireless charging systems. Advanced transportation ecosystems with reconfigurable roads which will respond to traffic flow. Automobiles that are connected to each other and that interact with urban planning.

Have you ever thought about this stuff? It’s what we at the Ford Motor Company think about every day.

#CityOfTmrw
 

 

 
Gizmodo hipped me to this deep sea fisherman in Russia named, Roman Fedortsov. He posts his deep sea discoveries on Twitter and they’re pure nightmare fuel. I know “nightmare fuel” is wayyyyy overused in the blogosphere world, but I couldn’t think of any other way to describe these alien-like creatures. Oh my fucking God, what are these things?!

I have a huge fear of deep sea creatures to begin with—I can’t watch an underwater nature documentary without heavy sedatives—so it totally didn’t help when I checked out Fedortsov’s Twitter account. It’s like I couldn’t help myself. I just clicked on it and BAM! I felt queasy in my stomach. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Terrifying, terrifying stuff.

Всем удачного дня! pic.twitter.com/ScrNHdDM9c

— Роман Федорцов (@rfedortsov) November 1, 2016

Для вновь "прибывших" на борт-очередной подводный хищник #промысел #рыба #фото_с_борта_судна pic.twitter.com/o8j1EzTTRZ

— Роман Федорцов (@rfedortsov) December 16, 2016

К субботнему пиву рыбка не нужна? В прошлом рейсе на окуне попадались. #промысел #фото_с_борта_судна #рыба #улов #Гренландское_море pic.twitter.com/CcEMeQTMA0

— Роман Федорцов (@rfedortsov) December 17, 2016

 
More after the jump…

 
Well here’s something I didn’t know existed: A bucket filled with replica animal shit! Admittedly I laughed at first (because I’m juvenile) but I didn’t necessarily understand why someone would want to own a bucket filled with plastic animal shit, although several things rather unavoidably came to mind. I’m not proud of my imagination sometimes.

Truth be told, it’s actually quite useful! The “life form replica” Bucket of Scat is made by Nasco and it’s used for “nature studies and animal identification projects.” You can use it independently “or with animal tracks to better identify wildlife signs in nature.”

Each replica is a scat of a common North American animal. Includes 13 replica turds that kids can match with dookies found in the woods behind their homes. Collect ‘em all! Trade with your friends! Will not promote “pink eye.”

If you wanna a own a bucket of plastic animal scat—not judging—you can get it here for $49.53. Hand sanitizer sold separately.

via Nerdcore

Photo by Kate Humble, via chriswatson.net
 
Chris Watson is the coolest. He’s most famous as one of the three founding members of Cabaret Voltaire. Since leaving the Cabs in ‘81, he’s continued to make experimental music (see, for instance, his wonderful 2005 collaboration with KK Null and Z’EV), but he’s best known for his field recordings. BBC Radio 4 has a whole page dedicated to programs that feature Watson and his work; if you’re not careful, you can lose yourself for hours there listening to stories like “Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the crested tit.”

Richard H. Kirk is, of course, the longest-lasting (and sole remaining) member of Cabaret Voltaire, but I wonder if it’s significant that Watson’s name got top billing on the back cover of the Cabs’ first two albums. Watson’s attic was the band’s practice space from ‘74 to ‘78, and Kirk credits his distinctive guitar sound on the first records to a fuzzbox Watson, then a phone engineer, built for him. (Check out the Burroughsian news cut-up Watson contributed to a 1981 tape compilation released by Jhonn Balance.)
 

Photo by Mark McNulty, via McNulty Photography
 
When Watson quit Cabaret Voltaire in ‘81, it was to take a job with Tyne Tees Television, where, he says, his career in sound recording began. Since 1996’s Stepping into the Dark, a collection of recordings of “the atmospheres of special places” inspired by T.C. Lethbridge, Watson has released a total of six albums of his field recordings. Each is organized around an idea or story. El Tren Fantasma (“Ghost Train”) is an audio trip across Mexico on the old state-owned railroad, which no longer exists, thanks to the economic miracle that is privatization. His latest album, In St. Cuthbert’s Time, documents what Eadfrith of Lindisfarne would have heard while he was creating the Lindisfarne Gospels.

After the jump, three sinister selections from ‘Outside the Circle of Fire’

Teenagers getting out of their tree.
 
The great photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson said taking a good photograph is all about luck. The luck of the moment. The luck of the chance encounter. The luck of just being in the right place at the right time.

Marc St. Gil (1924-92) was in the right place at the right time when he met a bunch of teenagers on a day-out to the Frio Canyon River near Leakey, in Texas 1973. Marc was one of seventy freelance photographers hired by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to photograph America.

The EPA had been set up by President Nixon in 1970. One of its first assignments was Documerica a six-year project (1971-77) to document environmental issues, EPA activities and rural life in America during the seventies.

The youngsters Marc met were hanging out—chilling along the riverbank and smoking weed. With their permission, Marc photographed the youths. Two teenage girls sharing a joint. One older male lighting up a pipe. Marc was supposed to be photographing the effects of pollution on the river and landscape. Instead he photographed these carefree youngsters toking up and having fun.

One can’t help but wonder—what happened next? What happened to these carefree youngsters? Where are they now?
 

‘Teenage Girls Wading the Frio Canyon River near Leakey Texas, While on an Outing with Friends near San Antonio 05/1973.’
 

 
More of Marc St. Gil ‘s photographs of dope-smoking teens, after the jump…

 
Christian Nightmares hipped me to this new orchid species appropriately named Telipogon diabolicus which means “devil’s head.” The orchid—with its claw-like petals—is found in a small patch of land in Colombia. Apparently only 30 of the reddish to dark violet-maroon orchids have been discovered so far. The devilish flower is already a Critically Endangered species in the IUCN Red List.

Talk about a fleur du mal... I would love to grow some of these lil’ devils.
 

 

Image via 55chris on Instagram.

Here are some incredible photos of a wedge-tailed eagle attempting to carry off a 6-year-old boy in central Australia. Christine O’Connell from Horsham in Victoria state photographed the incident while at a wildlife show. Onlookers were shocked and terrified as the eagle tried to pick up the boy “like a small animal” with its large talons.

The park issued a statement after the attack:

“On Wednesday, 6 July, an incident occurred at the Alice Springs Desert Park where an eagle made contact with an audience member,” the park said in a statement.

“A thorough investigation regarding the circumstances behind this incident is under way and the eagle will be removed from the show while this investigation is ongoing.”

The boy was immediately rushed to the hospital following the incident and escaped with a few minor injuries. Glad he’s going to be okay. Whew!

Image via 55chris on Instagram.
 

Image via 55chris on Instagram.
 
via BBC News

 
Nature is weird. Case in point, this video of a snake coming out of a toad’s mouth to battle a cat. I’m going to assume that the snake was the toad’s dinner. Otherwise, I have no explanation for what’s going on here. That the snake still has some fight left in him while being actively consumed says a lot about this snake’s own will to survive.

Meanwhile, the cat has no idea what the fuck is going on.

Unfortunately, the video ends before we can see a clear winner. So. Many. Questions. But wow.
 

 
Wow am I happy I discovered Baltimore-based Ryan Grastorf AKA Mushroom Ninja’s Instagram which features insanely glorious-looking mushrooms. His photographs of color-drenched fungi are a sight to behold. I had no idea just how beautiful mushrooms can be. I thought they grew on shit. These ‘shrooms are like salt water fish. The peacocks of toadstools!

According to Grastorf, “As an effort to reduce stress in life, I just started hiking more.” He told Instagram Blog. “I found a mushroom, a very cool looking mushroom, and the rest is kind of history.”

Do yourself a favor and follow the Mushroom Ninja on Instagram here. You’ll be happy you did.

 

 

 
More after the jump…

Avenue C, Lower East Side.
 
The photographer and documentarian Camilo José Vergara uses photographs as “a means of discovery, as a tool with which to clarify visions and construct knowledge about a particular city or place.” Pictures, for Vergara, are the starting point in asking questions or linking to other images or investigating new territories and ideas.

Born in Santiago, Chile in 1944, Vergara started his career as a photographer after he arrived in New York City during the 1960s. He graduated with a B.A. in sociology from the University of Notre Dame, and went on to study an M.A. in sociology at Columbia University. It was while at Columbia that Vergara saw the potential in using photography to document the changes in the city’s urban environment and its influence on social behavior. This eventually led to Vergara’s work in rephotography—literally then and now photography—where he documents one location over a number of years or decades.

In 1970, Vergara began documenting New York street life capturing the children, families and communities living among the city’s urban decay. Vergara’s photographs showed parts of New York that looked like bombed-out war zones, deprived areas suffering the worst of both city and state indifference.

Since this early work in New York, Vergara has documented poor, minority communities in Chicago, Newark, Detroit, Los Angeles and sixteen other cities across the U.S.A. This work has produced an archive of over 14,000 color slides, numerous books, exhibitions and film documentaries. Vergara intends this enormous back catalog to form a basis for The Visual Encyclopedia of the American Ghetto to “visualize how ghettos change over time, understand the nature and meaning of social and economic inequality in urban America.”

For his photographic work, Vergara’s has won a MacArthur “Genius Grant” in 2002, the Berlin Prize in 2010 and the National Humanities Medal in 2013. The following is just a small selection of his photographs taken on the streets of New York during 1970.
 

Girls with Barbies, East Harlem.
 

Fifth Ave at 110th Street, East Harlem.
 

South Bronx.
 

South Bronx.
 
More of Vergara’s powerful photographs from New York 1970, after the jump…