Worth thinking about for our own space (digitally and otherwise). "It is important when you walk into any studio that you feel as much as see what is being built - the studio should crackle with creative energy. Specifically, I believe you can determine the health of any design studio simply by looking at its walls."

This is one of the most depressing charts you will see in the foreseeable future http://t.co/BlHNmufut0 http://t.co/utvG1squcQ

A hackathon for Explorable Explanations, hosted by *Carnegie Mellon*! http://t.co/anZRtOgzsq (May 1-3) So excited~ http://t.co/BOb0kOafZI

History podcast - might be a resource or might provide a fodder for a discussion about the differences between educational content and entertainment content

"Be deeply curious about the world around you. Become aware of your thoughts and learn to think about thinking. Practicing metacognition will help develop a sense for the tricks your mind plays, and how to overcome them. With this awareness, learn to overcome automatic processing. When confronted with something new or unfamiliar, withhold judgment; if you see something you don't understand in the negative space, go with it and see where it leads. Remember that impossible geometry exists, and your mind is constantly trying to force you to see things that you already know how to see. It's learning to see the unseen that makes this practice valuable! Be aware of the limitations of the labels that have been applied to the world. Keep in mind how small the grid of words is compared to the wordless plane. Opportunity exists where words don't exist, yet. Learn to sit with Keats in uncertainties, mysteries, and doubts without grasping for conventional explanations. Allow time to visit the fantastic and the unconventional, and become aware of the moments when you're avoiding staying in these contexts. Meditation can be essential here."

"The weird stellar winds of Eta Carinae are hard to visualize -- so astronomers used a Makerbot to create 3D models that they could hold in their hands. "

"It was 2:45 a.m. on a Thursday last April. Matthew Rognlie was still awake, like a lot of graduate students. He had just finished typing 459 words and a few equations. They totaled six paragraphs, which he posted to the comments section of a popular economics blog. Thus begins the unlikely story of, arguably, the most-influential critique of the most influential economics book of this century."

h/t David C.

Interesting to see different approaches to the same data and how people build compelling and understandable data visualizations.

A real store for items from a work of fiction. h/t Molly

h/t Michael Price

"Food Designer Chloé Rutzerveld believes 3D printing will revolutionize the food industry, and she is getting the ball rolling by developing a 3D printed cracker that consists of living organisms such as seeds, spores, and yeast. In three to four days, the seeds and spores sprout into a miniature salad that is said to be completely natural and healthy, demonstrating the potential the technology has to "make the [food] production chain very short," with less transportation and land requirements. "

"Deliberate rote memorization is an attempt to take a shortcut in the learning process… Instead of having people learn important facts by themselves through practice, we decide once and for all what the important facts are, we delay practice, and start with the memorization of the "important facts". "

To extend Friday's conversation even further . . . "The second type of busyness also results in health problems, but it is a sickness we bring on ourselves. Like voluntarily licking the door handle of a preschool bathroom or having a sweaty picnic in the Ball Pit at Chuck E. Cheese's. It's busyness we control. Self-created stress. Ever since my conversation a month ago, I realized that my busyness is this second type. Busyness we control. In fact, many times I create rush and worry where none exists. Any typical morning, you can find me riding my kids like a couple of three-dollar mules in a sea of marbles, begging them to move faster." h/t D'Arcy Norman

Derek Buff's next generation learning spaces summary

The entire article provides an interesting way to look at course design as well as ALT Lab website construction. "Grab the audience's attention visually. An enjoyable story offers a hook, a call to action, immediately, as soon as you open it."

"Now, nearly 35,000 people are subscribed to SuicideWatch. Related subreddit, or sub, StopSelfHarm has 4,500 members; MakeMeFeelBetter has 15,000; the depression sub, which shares some moderators with SuicideWatch, has more than 100,000 subscribers. "