Twinsters
Imagine one day watching a video online, and seeing yourself, but it’s not yourself…. not too odd yet. Then you see yourself again and realize, this person looks a lot like me. Then fast forward a few months and realize you and that other person  have  a lot in common….only to find out later on, you two are actual twins separated at adoption.
Intriguing  documentary about this rather odd, happy,

via facebookstories

This is one bizarre, fascinating science phenomenon. Get yourself a long set of beads, put it in some container, drop it off, and watch the top form some floating magical science oddity…. no magic, just science. Anyhow, I bought myself a set and it works just like the video…. some might think its the beads themselves, but plain rope apparently works as well.  If you do try this, a bit of a secret is the higher up you are, the higher up the arch goes.

youtube

I was charmed yesterday over dinner outside when a piano painted over from local artist  had a sign that said “Play me, I’m Yours”, and within minutes a variety of pianist, singers, and groups formed around making music to everyones ears. The Street Piano Project is pretty simple. Touring pianos placed in public spaces inviting anyone to play as long, or short, and whatever they would like. Several videos are recorded and put on their site. Pretty amazing. Boston has the 1,000th placed piano though pianos have been placed globally over the past few years. Check it out, and see if a piano is visiting your city soon.

Street Piano Project
Videos from around the world. FInd your city and look at the videos.

By far one of my favorite talks this year at TED. Very truthful, deep, and well spoken…and illustrated! A must watch!!

“By turn hilarious and haunting, poet Shane Koyczan puts his finger on the pulse of what it’s like to be young and … different. “To This Day,” his spoken-word poem about bullying, captivated millions as a viral video (created, crowd-source style, by 80 animators). Here, he gives a glorious, live reprise with backstory and violin accompaniment by Hannah Epperson.

Shane Koyczan makes spoken-word poetry and music. His poem “To This Day” is a powerful story of bullying and survival, illustrated by animators from around the world.”

 

A very inspirational outgoing talk by Amanda Palmer at TED this year! Simply Awesome lady.

“Don’t make people pay for music, says Amanda Palmer: Let them. In a passionate talk that begins in her days as a street performer (drop a dollar in the hat for the Eight-Foot Bride!), she examines the new relationship between artist and fan.

Alt-rock icon Amanda Fucking Palmer believes we shouldn’t fight the fact that digital content is freely shareable — and suggests that artists can and should be directly supported by fans”

via TED

Perhaps one of my favorites talks this year at TED…Ron says it all. Plant Some Shit!

“Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA — in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs. Why? For fun, for defiance, for beauty and to offer some alternative to fast food in a community where “the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys.”

Ron Finley grows a nourishing food culture in South Central L.A.’s food desert by planting the seeds and tools for healthy eating.”

via TED

“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And it’s happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes — and his work so far shows — that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.”

Allen Savory via TED 


I’ll be in Hong Kong for the rest of the month. Upon 2013 I’ll have more to share, including why designverb has been posting much less…primarily due to my year long experiment to see what life is like without a laptop at home!
Happy Holidays and New Years ahead of time…and let me know if your in Hong Kong otherwise.