Vincent van Gogh – Prisoners’ Round (after Gustave Doré) (1890)


Shuffling the deck…
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The photograph was taken in 1892 at the Michigan Carbon Works near Detroit. Two men stand among a mountain of bison skulls, one at its base and the other near its summit. They appear very small. The dead animals do not appear small at all.
Only a few decades earlier, tens of millions of bison had moved across the Great Plains. Their herds could darken the ground to the horizon. They fed and clothed Indigenous nations, provided tools and shelter, and occupied a central place in ceremonies and stories that had endured for generations.
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A surprising amount of what we do every day isn’t actually required—we just do it because that’s what everyone else seems to do. From answering the door and tolerating other people’s nonsense to finishing a terrible book simply because you started it, sometimes watching someone ignore an unwritten rule is all it takes to realize you can too. Here are 32 things people discovered were completely optional.
[Read more…] about 32 “Rules” People Realized They Could Simply Ignore
Setting up the ladder…
daily

There are few moments more intimate than sitting on a public toilet and accidentally making eye contact with a stranger through the one-inch gap beside the door.
Neither of you wanted this. Neither of you will acknowledge it. But for one terrible second, you have seen each other more honestly than most married couples ever will.
[Read more…] about Why Do American Bathroom Stalls Have Gaps?
