syn mirror

sunflower sunset [Hungary 2009]

sabine:

STRIKING the right balance between life and work can be tricky. Employees in European countries tend to have a better deal than most, enjoying more days off work than their counterparts in Asia or America. Workers in Finland, France and Brazil have the most generous statutory allowance, getting 30 days of holiday every year. Americans work longer hours: theirs is the only rich country that does not give any statutory paid holiday. (In practice, most workers get around 15 days off.) This work ethic may in turn help to explain Americans’ material wealth. Even adjusting for purchasing-power parity, America generates more wealth per person than all but a handful of mainly oil-rich economies such as Norway.

(via)

While it would seem that the amount of hours American workers are paying off — building more wealth per person than any other county — I wish the Economist would look at the sociological cost of working so many hours: from personal health to family relations. Is it any wonder that the most-worked nation is also the fattest in the world’s leading economies?

To make things worse, one-third of Americans don’t even use all of their vacation days. A survey by Expedia found that the average American didn’t use four of their allotted holiday time, putting $76 billion back into the pockets of their employers. (via)……….

At age 21, in 1976, Steve Jobs co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in Jobs’ family garage in Los Altos, Calif. Jobs’ father removed his car restoration equipment and brought home a wooden workbench that served as Apple’s first manufacturing base. Jobs returned to the empty garage in 1996 to be photographed for Fortune. (via FORTUNE)

Jobs with Next employees on the bus after a visit to the company’s unfinished factory in Fremont, Calif., in 1987. Next’s first computer is released a year later. (via  FORTUNE) Without the text one could think this is just some random singing cheering hippie bus ;)

best google doodle ever

synmirror: Alex MacLean’s aerial photography is really outstanding. Yes I am a big fan of aerial photography in general but what makes his pictures so good is the focus on human impact from a different perspective.

glynnis:

“Snowplow Stripe in Snow Covered Parking Lot, Taunton, Masaschusetts” by Alex MacLean

I clicked through his entire site and couldn’t stop looking.  MacLean works exclusively with aerial photography.  I would put him in the same class with Edward Burtynsky in that they both explore the impact that humans have on the Earth.  However, Burtynsky tends to explore much larger, dramatic settings (the Three Gorges Dam, huge ship yards, quarries, etc.), while MacLean seems more concerned with how daily activity, living and farming space, and the evolution of technology (the abandonment of obsolete models of cars, factories, housing) shape our immediate surroundings.  His work deals exclusively with America, and ranges from the mostly defunct steel industry of Birmingham’s industrial revolution to amusement parks in Florida to large-scale RV parks and housing developments across the country.  It’s especially frightening work to consider in light of climate change and its potential long-term effects on the settings he photographs (and the way of life that comes with them), especially considering the economic climate much of America finds itself in today.

Le Grand Bleu - Yamdrok Tso, Tibet (via crossbreed handa)

“Big Bird Google Doodle Sesame Street Turns Forty ”
(via mashable karenh)

Tofino Beach [2006]

“Michael Bierut” 26 Years, 85 Notebooks

On August 12, 1982, I took a 10 x 7 1/8 inch National Blank Book Company composition book from the supply closet of my then employer, Vignelli Associates. From that moment, I have never been without one.

More photos of covers, writings and doodlings here. (via suitep)

Movie Narrative Charts (Click to view full)

autumn berries [2007]