utnereader:

Gimme the Loot

What the long history of piracy tells us about intellectual property, copyright law, and the digital pirates of today.

archiemcphee:

Primrose Pete by Femke Hiemstra (previously featured here) 

Acrylic on found wood panel, 2012

This awesome painting, part of Femke Hiemstra’s Let the Devil Wear Black exhibition at the Roq la Rue Gallery here in Seattle, reminds us of our Tipsy Squirrel Water Bottle.

[via Hi-Fructose]

papermag:

Sorry, DIY Christmas tree. We’ll take the Louboutin Christmas tree instead.

utnereader:

Click Your Poison

Finding inner balance in the age of social media

In a November 1989 episode of The Cosby Show, Clair Huxtable sends Cliff to the store for some last-minute Thanksgiving groceries. When Cliff returns without the canned pumpkin, eggs, or nutmeg, she sends him out again. Wet leaves blow inside as he opens the door and, with a withering look, exits into the relentless storm outside. If you watched this episode when it aired, you might have laughed along with the live studio audience as Cliff returns a second time, still without eggs. But if you happened to catch a rerun in the past decade, you probably wondered—if only for a split second—why he didn’t just pull his cell phone out and call or text while he was still at the store to make sure he had everything.

We have become so connected, and so accustomed to being connected, that it is difficult to imagine a world without the technology that keeps us close. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram. If you haven’t taken to any of these, surely you text and email. Two decades ago, technological innovation centered around convenience and saving time. Now it is how we communicate.

As we build our virtual social networks, it’s easy to forget that we’re charting new territory. Certainly, a cell phone would have streamlined Cliff Huxtables’ grocery shopping that day. But has the ability to call, text, tap, or lurk any time, for as long as we want, made us happier overall? It’s a question worth asking, and Max Strom, personal transformation coach and author of the forthcoming book There Is No App for Happiness: How to Avoid a Near-Life Experience (April 2013), is looking for answers.

Read more …