where the wild thing is

retail therapy

fast company says:

Barcodes grace almost every product for sale. Given how much package real estate they command, why shouldn’t they look cool?

Since 2005, D-Barcode has been creating custom barcodes for a mostly Japanese clientele. They’ve even begun selling their wares to anyone who wants to license them, starting at $1,500 for the design, and $200 a year for licensing. A custom or exclusive use code will run upwards of $4,000—but given that companies spend millions on designing a single package, why don’t we see more detailed thinking like this? Middle managers spend weeks arguing about kerning—it’d be better if they spent more time rethinking every inch of such highly prized real estate.

[[ via fast company | accessed f.11.30.09.15:59 ]]

the ampersand poster

swissmiss says:

Did you know: The ampersand was first seen in the 1st century AD and this short text in Irish and English charts its history and role in the English language.

[[ via conor & david | accessed f.11.20.09.15:58 ]]

can do!

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for the entire can do collection, click.

[[ via maira kalman | accessed f.11.20.09.15:54 ]]

procrasti. nation.

[[ via swissmiss | accessed f.11.20.09.15:09 ]]

save our ship

[[ via pitter | accessed f.11.13.09.13:19 ]]

life

[[ via pitter | accessed f.11.13.09.12:50 ]]

MUST SEE: bad romance

one day, we will all give in gaga-land. and this is hard evidence.

[[ via nsolomon | accessed f.11.13.09.12:48 ]]

trece

but really, it’s friday. the below doesn’t apply. MUAHAHAHA

[[ via pitter | accessed f.11.13.09.12:33 ]]

a hot mess fo sho

nymag says:

At the beginning of October, the Times ran the numbers and reported that if you’re gay, the cost of settling down and raising a family will be somewhere between $28,595 and $211,993 more expensive than if you went the regular Dick and Jane route. Everything from preparing one’s taxes to having a child to getting health insurance for you and yours is more expensive if you’re gay. A hot mess to be sure. In the interest of drilling down further, the Times has launched a series on its Bucks blog to peel back the financial realities of being gay, starting with the high price of … gay divorce.

check out nyt’s interactive calculations on gaydom here.

[[ via nymag & nytimes | accessed f.11.13.09.12:24 ]]

we ♥ stupid people

[[ via pitter | accessed f.11.13.09.12:10 ]]

global gender gap report 2009

woot. gender gap report out. extra extra read all about it.

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Iceland (1) has claimed the top spot of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2009 from Norway (3) which slipped to third position behind Finland (2). Sweden (4) completed the Nordic countries’ continued dominance of the top four. The report’s Index assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources and opportunities. South Africa and Lesotho made great strides in closing their gender gaps to enter the top 10, at sixth and 10th position respectively. The Philippines (9) lost ground for the first time in four years but remains the leading Asian country in the rankings.

Out of the 115 countries covered in the report since 2006, more than two-thirds have posted gains in overall index scores, indicating that the world in general has made progress towards equality between men and women, although there are countries that continue to lose ground.

full PDF report here.

[[ via world economic forum | accessed f.11.13.09.11:53 ]]

guerilla girls

Art museums average 15% women in curated exhibits, women of color .003%, and 4% of museum acquisitions are of work by women artists.

[[ via guerilla girls | accessed f.11.13.09.11:18 ]]

resurrection

you should go.we found it thoroughly overwhelming.

About Journey

The aim of Journey is to bring the reality of the sex trafficking industry to the forefront of social consciousness and empower people to take action.

Shackles bind perpetrators to victims, and victims to the punters who exploit them. The links extend to every level of society even to the organisations that care for the victims. They extend down the halls of government who pledge to act and pass laws to stamp out trafficking. The links form an invisible chain that binds us all together. It is the chain of modern day slavery.

New York’s Mayor Bloomberg, Oscar winning actor and human rights campaigner Emma Thompson, guest artists and curators are launching a provocative installation depicting the “Journey” of trafficked women across the globe into the sex industry.

Journey will be located on Washington Place, at Washington Square East and open to the public from Tuesday 10 November to Friday 13 November 12-8pm, Saturday 14 November 11-7pm and Sunday 15 November 10-3pm. Entrance is free but restricted to those aged 17 and over.

The installation will be hosted by Emma Thompson, Sam Roddick, Helen Bamber OBE, and other members of the Journey team.

Journey’s arrival in Manhattan is a major stop on its world tour against human trafficking.

Journey brings together creativity and the art of survival to show what it means to be bought and sold. It demonstrates how one woman’s story can help us understand a subject that is as painful as it is incomprehensible. Trafficking is a crime without borders. Trafficked people become illegal, stigmatized and invisible. The state of New York is a major entry and transit hub, but authorities and agencies are pouring huge resources into supporting victims and prosecuting traffickers.

Visitors to Journey will walk through seven shipping containers that tell the story of Elena who was trafficked into sexual slavery. It evokes the seven stages of a trafficked woman’s experience:

1. Hope
– Oscar winning film designer Michael Howells

2. Journey
– sound engineer and music producer Mick Martin

3. Uniform
– Oscar winning costume designer Sandy Powell

4. Bedroom
– Coco de Mer founder Sam Roddick and Trevor Robinson
of Quiet Storm Films

5. Customer
– playwright Simon Stephens, photographer James Ostrer

6. Stigma
– Turner Prize winning sculptor Anish Kapoor

7. Resurrection
– Oscar winning actor Emma Thompson, Royal Designer Mike Dempsey
and V&A prize winning illustrator Laura Carlin

Exterior paintings by Antony Micallef and Mode 2

hope

journey

uniform

bedroom

customer

stigma

resurrection

[[ via helen bamber foundation & mike dempsey | accessed f.11.13.09.10:43 ]]

jilling off

interesting post on feministing yesterday, originally posted on feministing community.

I just read another post in this community about conflict between being a feminist yet not feeling like a feminist because of self-esteem issues. (And I apologize if I am putting my words into her mouth…) I have the same feelings, but dealing with a different issue.

I can’t masturbate.

Well, physically I can, but it takes a lot of nerve for some reason and I can’t actually enjoy it. No one ever told me it was wrong. No one told me about it period. I have older sisters and drunkenly asked them one day if they had ever masturbated. They hadn’t. One is 10 years older than myself, but never has.

When looking inward, I note that I feel ashamed of that part of my body. It’s foreign to me and uncomfortable to think about. The one time I actively masturbated, I didn’t get anything out of it.

I feel silly admitting this, but I didn’t know where my clitoris was until I was out of college. I don’t remember any of my sex ed classes ever mentioning that and no boyfriend deemed it worthy of attention either.

I’m not ashamed of my body anymore, but I’m also not comfortable with it. I’ve come to realize that I like my body because the man in my life likes my body. He is reassuring and loving and very comfortable with his body. Yet during sex I have never orgasmed. And since I’ve never successfully masturbated, that means I’ve never ever orgasmed.

I own a vibrator but never worked up the nerve to use it. Sex feels good, but stimulation is so full of sensation it hurts. I honestly don’t blame my husband for me not orgasming, because if I can’t relax to give myself one, an outside force is not the answer. I’m not sure if this post means I’m looking for answers or that I’m just trying to write down what I’ve been feeling for years now. Any response is welcome. Even while writing this, I’m still confused about what, if anything, is wrong.

no commentary. we just thought it was notable and noted. and something to ponder while we’re in the shower…

[[ via feministing | accessed f.11.13.09.10:36 ]]