The photo above is of the 38th President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford, greeting a troupe of mimes in the White House. Turns out, this group from the Claude Kipnis Mime Theatre was hired for a performance at a state dinner to entertain esteemed guests from Poland. While the circumstances for the picture are not so odd, the image is a reminder that strange stuff happens in the White House almost daily. The Tumblr Our Presidents, run by the National Archives, collects some of the lesser seen moments of Presidential life, including Richard Nixon's last meal in the White House (below), and a speech prepared in case Apollo astronauts were unable to leave the Moon (also below).
Follow Our Presidents on Tumblr for a feed of more serious moments in history, too.
Just in case you managed to forget the Internet is a massive, all encompassing, and terrifyingly huge thing over the weekend, One Second will serve as a quick reminder. The site graphically displays the volume of activity happening every second on the Internet on social networking sites and services like Google and YouTube, by displaying a list of each service's icon to correspond to one post, like, or vote.
As you scroll through the ridiculous list of logos (Facebook took a minute to load) a counter at the top of the page and at the top of each section shows how many posts have happened since you've been on the site. Make sure to click the "And then there's emails per second…" for an added thrill before you leave. 
The canvas tote bag has a dead simple design. While that simplicity makes it the best option for tasks like transporting flat stuff like records or books, the bag isn't suited for changing uses. The CarryAll from Portland's Blank Brand is a modified tote that uses clever strap design and durable fabric to convert from a tote to a briefcase or a messenger bag without any clips or knots.
Blank Brand started in 2004 when designer Matt Geiger made a bag for his wife as a gift. Since then the company has expanded to his full-time gig, with all products manufactured in Portland, OR in a factory with the delightful name of Spooltown.
As art history books show, it’s typical of great artists to find greater success posthumously. However, Van Gogh, El Greco, and Vermeer have nothing on Andy Warhol’s latest gig. In celebration of the artist's life, the Andy Warhol Museum, located in Pittsburgh, has made a live video stream of Warhol’s gravesite available 24/7 on its website. The video stream project, entitled “Figment,” was launched on the anniversary of Warhol’s birth, August 6, 1928. The camera holds a steady view of the artist's tombstone, and can often be seen surrounded by Campbell's soup cans and other tokens of appreciation from visitors.
Sure, for some of us, the video stream may be a bit creepy, especially when observed late at night. Yet the stream does an excellent job of reinforcing Warhol’s pop culture vision, which the artist would surely have loved.
You can watch the live stream of Andy Warhol’s gravesite on The Andy Warhol Museum website now.
Herschel Supply Co. and New Balance follow up their Spring 2013 series with a new fall collection. The small line features New Balance’s 420 and H710 silhouettes in ripstop nylon and suede. The collaborative kicks are available in grey, burgundy, and fatigue green and lined with Herschel’s signature paisley print.
In addition, the two companies are introducing the Heritage Backpack—a sizable pack that includes a built-in side shoe pocket to store your footwear. A perfect bag for city life or a weekend hike in the woods. Take a look at a few choice shots from the Herschel Supply Co. and New Balance fall lookbook below.
View the complete lookbook and shop the collection now at Herschel Supply Co.
Recent infographic projects published by the data team at WNYC have revealed some interesting trends about behaviors in the New York Metro area. Everything from marital happiness, to what people name their dogs, and more serious topics like flooding patterns.
Last week the team published a new interactive map plotting in which NYC neighborhoods people just don't vote. Although much of Brooklyn's non-voting tendencies remain a mystery, it's interesting to compare the map with their New New Yorkers map, which may explain why newcomers on Manhattan's West Side don't make it to the polls.
Check out a few of their recent maps embedded below.
Enlisting Werner Herzog to direct a short-film-length PSA for ShareATT on the topic of texting while driving and its effect on society was a stroke of brilliance. The director brings a weight and consequence to the tragic topic often absent from didatic or smarmy PSAs. His subjects, as always, are afforded a level of humanity and dignity that transcends the topic at hand. Herzog frames the issue as a grave miscalculation in our cosmic bargain. As one subject says, "It's life. You get one chance and you live with the choices you make." Choosing to text while operating a vehicle, if it isn't obvious from Herzog's short film, isn't just selfish and stupid; it's a crime against nature.
Nicholas of Hollows Leather is a busy fellow. The one-man leather operation out of Minneapolis has just restocked his webstore with an impressive range of handcrafted leather goods. Expect to find some triple wrap bracelets, key reins, belt loop keychains, mid-length wallets, and leather coasters. We particularly like Hollows Leather’s standard belts—now available in black and burgundy Latigo in addition to the natural veg tan. Each belt is custom-sized and handmade at 1.5” wide, from 9 oz. leather with your choice of hardware.
Visit Hollows Leather to shop the new stock. Standard belts are priced at $60.
Los Angeles-based filmmakers Focus Creeps have a way with bringing out the raw charisma in Brit rock's most magnetic stars—witness their Arctic Monkey's "R U Mine?" driving vid. For the impossibly young King Krule (18-year-old Archie Marshall, who sometimes goes by the moniker Zoo Kid), the Creeps have shot the singer/guitarist roaming around London, taking trains and hanging on rooftops. The atmospheric piece finds Marshall walking the fine line between youth and grown-up, still holding a cricket bat like the teenager that he is.
King Krule's new album 6 Feet Beneath the Moon is due out August 24. Read Pitchfork's recent King Krule interview.
Dina Goldstein's "Fallen Princesses" photo series was conceived as a response to two near simultaneous developments in the lives of two women in her life, her mother and her daughter. Just as her daughter started to show an interest in princess-based fairy tales, she recalls that her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. The series started with the image of Rapunzel losing her hair after chemo treatment, and progressed to include a depressed looking Snow White in a not-great marriage, and a lonely cat lady version of Pocahontas.
See the rest of the series at Cargo.
