Auf www.weeklyfilet.com findet sich ab sofort das neue Zuhause meines Newsletters, das ich mit meinen bescheidenen Webdesign- und noch bescheideneren Programmierkenntnissen in den letzten Tagen gebaut habe. Besonders erwähnenswert ist das Archiv, mit dem nun alle bisherigen Empfehlungen leicht zugänglich sind – sowohl über eine Suchfunktion als auch themen-und wochenbezogene Filter.

Der Umzug bedeutet auch, dass ich ab sofort keine weiteren Ausgaben des Weekly Filet auf dieser meiner Website veröffentlichen werde. Das nächste Weekly Filet erscheint diesen Freitag auf der Website des Weekly Filet.

This week’s top recommendation

Make no mistake, I’m telling you to go to Paris just to see one piece of art. It’s one heck of a piece, though. Both in size and effect. Famed Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor has filled the Grand Palais with a gigantic bubble-ish object meant “to create an aesthetic and physical shock, an experience of colour that is simultaneously poetic, thoughtful and formidable”. It’s called Leviathan, which represented a monster in mythology and the state in Hobbes’ philosophy – to me it’s quite simply the most impressive piece of art I’ve ever encountered. Leviathan is exhibited until June 23, so hurry up or regret. I’m serious.

• Leviathan by Anish Kapoor (Visuall)

You might also like

• Our data, ourselves (The Boston Globe)

We all create vast amounts of data as we go through our lives, both on- and offline. All this data should be public, argues a Brooklyn law professor.

• John Cleese on Creativity (The Inspiration)

Ideas come from the unconscious, says someone who knows: John Cleese of Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, you name it.

• How’s Life, Switzerland? (OECD Better Life Initiative)

A report on how happy people in OECD-countries are with their lives. Tons of data, beautifully visualised.

• List of Phobias (Wikipedia)

On a lighter note: Here’s a exhaustive list of all the things people are afraid of. Will make you feel better about your own little phobias.

Want more of this?

If you like my recommendations, here’s the good news: I’m posting them every week to treat you to a nice start into the weekend (here’s all the info you’ll ever need about it). Here’s how you can make sure you never miss one:

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This week’s top recommendation

How desperate a situation do you need to be in to consider killing and eating your friend to survive? Read this article and you will know. This a captivating and gruelling story of three teenagers who were lost in the Pacific Ocean for an incredible 51 days. A travel to the abysses of humanity that started with a bottle of Vodka.

• Here Be Monsters (GQ)

You might also like

• 15-M movement grows despite ban (El País, translated)

Now it’s in Spain that young people are taking to the streets to protest against their political leaders. What is this movement about? El País has answers.

• Hype Radio turns blogs into mobile radio stations (Hypemachine)

Music aggregator Hypemachine has released a great iPhone app that lets you listen to all the music currently featured on music blogs around the world. It’s $2.99 and it’s worth it.

• Swiss Scientists Design a Turbine to Fit in Human Arteries (ieee Spectrum)

We’re living in times where science fiction doesn’t stay fiction for long. Here’s the mini power generator to fit in your blood vessels.

• “We Are Crossing the Boundary Between Knowledge and Belief” (The European)

Interesting interview with the Director General of CERN, on how physics answers philosophical questions for good, yet needs philosophy to find answers to its own questions.

Want more of this?

If you like my recommendations, here’s the good news: I’m posting them every week to treat you to a nice start into the weekend (here’s all the info you’ll ever need about it). Here’s how you can make sure you never miss one:

• Subscribe to the newsletter and get your Weekly Filet in your inbox every Friday
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• Grab yourself the RSS-Feed for the Weekly Filet
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This week’s top recommendation

This is a must read for anyone who – in a broad sense – creates. To create meaning: turning ideas into reality. Austin Kleon, who made himself known for his brilliant Newspaper Blackout Poems, is providing us with a list, that he claims is essentially “me talking to a previous version of myself”. 10 things he wished he knew when we was younger. My favourite: “Fake it ‘til you make it”. I gladly repeat myself: this is a must read.

• How To Steal Like An Artist (Austin Kleon)

You might also like

• Beauty, Charm, and Strangeness: Science as Metaphor (Science)

Thought provoking essay, surprisingly living up to its bold thesis that “art and science are so nearly alike as to be indistinguishable”.

• The Filter Bubble (Brain Pickings)

Let’s talk personalisation, not privacy. Perhaps the real issue is not how much the world gets to know about us, but about how little we get to learn about the world.

• How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet (The Sunday Times, 1999)

Truth is: Technology has evolved massively since 1999, our general understanding of it hasn’t.

• The People vs. Goldman Sachs (Rolling Stone)

A frist class crime story. The end of which is still unwritten.

Want more of this?

If you like my recommendations, here’s the good news: I’m posting them every week to treat you to a nice start into the weekend (here’s all the info you’ll ever need about it). Here’s how you can make sure you never miss one:

• Subscribe to the newsletter and get your Weekly Filet in your inbox every Friday
• Like the Weekly Filet on Facebook to get it in your news feed every Friday.
• Grab yourself the RSS-Feed for the Weekly Filet
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This week’s top recommendation

Shortly after Osama Bin Laden’s death had been announced, public attention turned to two photographs. One seen (Situation Room), one (yet) unseen (Bin Laden’s body). Both have already been described as iconic documents of history, in the case of the later mainly as an argument for the photo to be released. Let us put them into perspective. Quora, which is sort of a Wikipedia for opinions, has a brilliant thread in search of the most epic photograph ever taken. I’ve added my favourite (one by Don McCullin), what is yours?

• What’s the most epic photo ever taken? (Quora)

You might also like

• The Death of a Terrorist: A Turning Point? (New York Times)

The New York Times has found an interesting way to show how people feel about Osama Bin Laden’s death, mapping their feelings along two axes.

• The Possibilian (The New Yorker)

Here’s a neuroscientist with a broken wristwatch, trying to make sense of our perception of time, tackling issues from why time seemingly slows down when people fear for their lives to whether drummers are different from ordinary humans.

• Today (Jonathan Harris)

Video recap of an amazing photography project. The idea: Hold on to your past by attaching stories to one image per day.

• Are You Sure You Want To Quit The World? (GQ)

A disturbing story about a man who, in online forums, was befriending people contemplating suicide – and pushing them to go through with it.

Want more of this?

If you like my recommendations, here’s the good news: I’m posting them every week to treat you to a nice start into the weekend (here’s all the info you’ll ever need about it). Here’s how you can make sure you never miss one:

• Subscribe to the newsletter and get your Weekly Filet in your inbox every Friday
• Like the Weekly Filet on Facebook to get it in your news feed every Friday.
• Grab yourself the RSS-Feed for the Weekly Filet
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This week’s top recommendation

As media attention on Fukushima is fading quickly, it’s time for some real analyses. This comment by Tokio-based Swiss web designer Oliver Reichenstein, a friend of mine, is one of the sharpest I’ve read on the matter. Not because he’s an expert in the field, but because he is not. He takes a unique approach, combining what he knows about designing for the web with key learnings from ancient Greek philosophy, to really add something of substance to the debate. Key statements: “Good technology is technology that doesn’t rely on perfection”; “Giving technology in the hands of people that…don’t know that they don’t know is where things started to get really dangerous.”

• A Web Designer on Fukushima (Information Architects)

You might also like

• The Really Smart Phone (Wall Street Journal)

While everybody is worrying that Apple might know where we’ve been, these MIT-scientists know with 93.6% accuracy where you will be. And that’s only a fraction of what they learn from Smartphones.

• Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present (Flickr Album)

Emotions laid bare. People’s faces as they sit opposite motionless performance artist Maria Abramović at Moma.

• Guantanamo Files: Lives In An American Limbo (New York Times)

Wikileaks’ latest leak offers a concise and disturbing inside view of the workings around Guantanamo.

• The Hourglass (Vimeo)

A must watch: Impressive and absolutely beautiful short documentary on the making of hand-crafted top end hourglasses in Basel.

Want more of this?

If you like my recommendations, here’s the good news: I’m posting them every week to treat you to a nice start into the weekend (here’s all the info you’ll ever need about it). Here’s how you can make sure you never miss one:

• Subscribe to the newsletter and get your Weekly Filet in your inbox every Friday
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• Grab yourself the RSS-Feed for the Weekly Filet
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This week’s top recommendation

This Wednesday, British war photographer Tim Hetherington was killed in Misurata, Libya. He was one of the best, having won a World Press Photo Award and being nominated for an Oscar for his documentary film “Restrepo”. He was one of the bravest, too, having covered some of the worst conflict regions in the world. I met him once for an interview three years ago. An inspiring journalist and a fine man, neither cynical nor proud of his courage. I remember him saying: “I don’t really care about photography. It’s my means to make people talk about things that happen in the world.” He died in besieged Libya, trying to find yet another image that will make people talk. May his images subsist.

• Diary 2010 (Tim Hetherington on Vimeo)
• In Memoriam: Tim Hetherington (The New Yorker)

You might also like

• Take Care, Take Care, Take Care (Explosions In The Sky)

Texan post-rock band Explosions In The Sky have released their latest record. A stunning piece of sheer beauty and great atmospheric density.

• The Bugger, Bugged (New Statesman)

Hugh Grant, who made a career of playing himself, in his best role yet. After learning his phone had been hacked by a tabloid paper, he is having a chat with one of their reporters, secretly taping it all.

• Anatomy of an Afghan war tragedy (LA Times)

As the US are sending Predator drones to Libya, it’s probably good to know more about this preverse combat by camera and joystick.

• Magnum Pleasure Hunt

A jump-and-run game across the world wide web. Clever and very elaborate – and fun – interactive ad.

Want more of this?

If you like my recommendations, here’s the good news: I’m posting them every week to treat you to a nice start into the weekend (here’s all the info you’ll ever need about it). Here’s how you can make sure you never miss one:

• Subscribe to the newsletter and get your Weekly Filet in your inbox every Friday
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• Grab yourself the RSS-Feed for the Weekly Filet
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This week’s top recommendation

I was expecting a good laugh, when I clicked on the headline “Bruce Lee’s Top 20 Tips for Living a Successful Life”. Turns out, that Chinese guy was not only good at hitting people on the head, but also nails when it comes to, well, living a successful life. All you have to do is compile his quotes to a meaningful set of advices. My favourite: Don’t think outside of the box, kill the box.

• Bruce Lee’s Top 20 Tips for Living a Successful Life (Wake Up Cloud)

You might also like

• The World’s Largest Refugee Camp Turns 20 (In Focus)

Not much to celebrate, really. Compelling images from a refugee camp almost as big as the city of Zurich.

• The Information Essay (n+1 Magazine)

This is a tough one, but worth the brain power. Key quote: Much of the time, intellectually and politically, knowledge is powerlessness.

• Birth of a Word (TED)

Fascinating field study that lets you follow how the word “water” gets formed in the mouth of an infant over the course of months, starting at “gaaaa”.

• Richie Jackson – And Now Transworld Skateboarding (YouTube)

He looks like Jesus and skates like his father. Don’t be fooled by the somewhat boring-ish first 30 seconds.

Want more of this?

If you like my recommendations, here’s the good news: I’m posting them every week to treat you to a nice start into the weekend (here’s all the info you’ll ever need about it). Here’s how you can make sure you never miss one:

• Subscribe to the newsletter and get your Weekly Filet in your inbox every Friday
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This week’s top recommendation

Listening to those warm tunes that breathe spring in their every note, you wouldn’t believe that they are played by two drummers. Two drummers on a melodic hiatus, that is. Programmatically called The Legendary Lightness from Zurich have just released their debut record “Ancient Greek Breakfast Club”. And while summer has only just glanced round the corner, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume that this will be one of the best pieces of pop music under this year’s summer sun.

• Ancient Greek Breakfast Club (The Legendary Lightness)

You might also like

• Venice Backstage: How Does Venice Work? (Vimeo)

Beautiful and insightful short documentary on how Venice manages to stay on top of the water.

• Why You Should Care About Cricket (ESPN)

This is not about sports, but about understanding India through their obsession with Cricket. You have no clue about Cricket? Nevermind. When the author of this excellent piece headed to India, he had a book in his bag: “Cricket for Dummies”.

• Timeline: Cote d’Ivoire (Al Jazeera)

It’s about time we draw our attention to the terrible conflict in Ivory Coast. Al Jazeera has a good timeline that helps understand how the current situation came to be. From there, head to their dossier “Conflict in Cote d’Ivoire”.

• 100+ Guerilla Marketing Examples (Total Identity)

This will make you smile, grin, froan and sometimes puzzle for a few instants. Exhaustive collection of over one hundred guerilla marketing stunts.

Want more of this?

If you like my recommendations, here’s the good news: I’m posting them every week to treat you to a nice start into the weekend (here’s all the info you’ll ever need about it). Here’s how you can make sure you never miss one:

• Subscribe to the newsletter and get your Weekly Filet in your inbox every Friday
• Like the Weekly Filet on Facebook to get it in your news feed every Friday.
• Grab yourself the RSS-Feed for the Weekly Filet
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This week’s top recommendation

With notably rare exceptions, the voyage of the Titanic was uneventful. – Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve and one of the faces of the 2008 financial crisis, was pretty serious when he wrote this in a column in the Financial Times. Well, not exactly this, but something similar: “With notably rare exceptions, the global ‘invisible hand’ has created relatively stable exchange rates, interest rates, prices, and wage rates.” His statement is now mimiced in hundreds, making for a great laugh. My favourite so far: With notably rare exceptions, Mrs. Lincoln enjoyed the play.

• “With Notably Rare Exceptions” (Crooked Timber)

You might also like

• Win or Lose (The New Yorker)

Let us suppose you’d be given the chance to create a new voting system for your country, an “ideal one”. What would you opt for? Here’s a fascinating tour d’horizon of voting systems around the globe and through history. An unexpectedly great read.

• A brief history of time zones (BBC News)

So you switched your clock to summer time, right? I bet you’ll learn quite a bit about time zones that you didn’t know in this well executed interactive feature by the BBC.

• Beautiful monsters from the White Sea (Behance Network)

Absolutely stunning images of creatures living in the depths of the White Sea north of Russia. Beautiful monsters indeed they are.

• Street Art View (Red Bull)

Clever use of Google Street View: This site lets you spot Street Art around the globe.

Want more of this?

If you like my recommendations, here’s the good news: I’m posting them every week to treat you to a nice start into the weekend (here’s all the info you’ll ever need about it). Here’s how you can make sure you never miss one:

• Subscribe to the newsletter and get your Weekly Filet in your inbox every Friday
• Like the Weekly Filet on Facebook to get it in your news feed every Friday.
• Grab yourself the RSS-Feed for the Weekly Filet
• Follow me on Twitter