Fascinating chart of the Mariana trench, the lowest elevation on earth.

Paper clothes by Bea Sezenfeld.

A video interview with me over at Devries PR.

The flying toddler photo at the top of this post is winning.

The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

Hello, lover.

The Before I Die I Want to… Project collects polaroids of people as they state their wish, then asks them to write it down and send it in.

If you’d like to participate by sending in photos, you’ll find detailed information here.

(Thanks, Karen. You always send the best stuff my way.)

How Interpretation Works at the United Nations

“U.N. interpreters don’t need to know every official language. Rather, the U.N. hires interpreters who can translate into their native language from at least two other languages. A Russian interpreter, for example, might also know English and French. But he might not know Chinese. In that case, if the speaker is Chinese, the interpreters will use what’s called a “relay system.” The interpreters in the Chinese booth will translate the original speech into English or French, and the rest of the interpreters will translate that version into their own languages.”

The Infinite Jest Vocabulary Glossary (via @beksandro):

Anechoic (an·e·cho·ic) — Neither having nor producing echoes.

Regarding “Hell for Leather”:

“Hell for leather, in American vernacular, refers to an arduous walk that may have been strewn with difficulties and was a strain on footwear.”

The nicest things anyone has ever said to Antonia:

“I wish you were my mum.”

-Bill and Jane from My Parents Were Awesome

-Thoughts on thank you notes. (via Swiss Miss)

-Jason Kottke’s take on the FCC ruling for bloggers –see the footnotes for the post — are exactly what I’ve been thinking. (And congrats to True Ventures and Jen Bekman! Smashing.)

- Designer Erin Jang’s very sweet subway map made according to the interests of her three-year-old nephew. What a lovely gift. I originally thought Jason made this, but it turns out he just found it, and so.. (via Kottke)

(via Laura)

“You are hardly alone. If your friends and family aren’t in your house, pointing out every hapless decision you’re making, there are hundreds of strangers on the sidewalk with placards who are more than willing to leap into the fray. And for those times when you are utterly alone, you always have us, dear reader! We may not actually be physically present, but we’re right here in this web site, laughing at you—but quietly, so you can’t hear. That’s how much we want you to perceive that we care.”

Congratulations, ladies! It’s high time we had somewhere we could panic as a community.

-If my non-cremated body were shot into space, would it rot? If so, how much would a NASA-patch shroud slow the decomposition rate? If not, what are the mathematical odds my body would be discovered by alien life forms? Pretty slim, I’d think.

-Actually, I bet people use Power Point at funerals at lot.

-It seems like Purell would kill sperm, right? Someone has tried that out by now.

-Why do magicians dress like Dracula?

Artist Ariana Page Russell has a condition called Dermatographia, which means she can temporarily, and painlessly, alter the surface of her skin by scratching it lightly. She illustrates herself, and then photographs the results.

(via Peculiar Beauty)