Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
These small businesses, which are often run out of someone's home, owned by a family who are also the only employees, are what distinguishes Japan from all other developed nations, making life in it a notch above the rest. While the most obvious of these are restaurants (izakayas, monjayaki-yas, soba-yas, etc.), others are focused on specialized cr... See more
Chris Arnade • In praise of Japanese small, Hokkaido as Wisconsin, and pachinko memories
The first thing to understand is that the public peace—the sidewalk and street peace—of cities is not kept primarily by the police, necessary as police are. It is kept primarily by an intricate, almost unconscious, network of voluntary controls and standards among the people themselves, and enforced by the people themselves. In some city areas—olde
... See moreJane Jacobs • The Death and Life of Great American Cities
As I lowered the beam from my headlamp, it struck me that people in SoHo go through a lot more toilet paper than those up in the Bronx.
Erling Kagge • Walking: One Step at a Time
Across the road from where she’s parked, aspens tumble down the basin toward Fish Lake, where five years earlier a Chinese refugee engineer took his three daughters camping on the way to visiting Yellowstone.