Here You Go

So imagine you are walking down the streets of Pittsburgh, it is pouring rain, you are about to become soaking wet... when some kind stranger hands you an umbrella. A random act of kindness... yes, but there is one string attached. The umbrella comes with a note that says you are now responsible for paying forward an additional act of kindness. When you are done, you are instructed to share your story via a prepaid postcard. You can read all the postcards on the Here You Go blog.

My favorite part of this is that most of the postcards are all wet, as if people were inspired to go out and do their good deeds immediately.

Obsessive Consumption Book

When I got home from work I was happy to find Kate Bingaman-Burt's book Obsessive Consumption on my doorstep. I opened it to check out a few sketches, but ended up completely enthralled and reading it cover to cover. The book is based on Kate's blog of the same name, where she keeps sketches of objects that she a has bought. The purchases documented range from a hairclip for grandma ($5.95) (and one of my favorite purchases in the book) to a faux Eames Lounger ($50.00). The purchase patterns themselves are very interesting as they span an number of years and life stages (student, marriage, dog, etc) which make you reminisce about your own levels of financial freedoms, or lack there of, over time. The best part, to me, is the little notes that accompany a lot of the drawings. A four colour click pen itself is not a very interesting purchase, but when accompanied by the fact that it was purchased to pay bills, it actually becomes very entertaining. I adored the book, and the journey that it took me on.

Bank Notes

Ken Habarta has just written a book about the notes that people use to rob banks. He has been posting daily examples of the notes on the blog Bank Notes. Each note is accompanied by a picture of the robber and an icon indicating if the robbery was successful or not. The website is searchable, in case you are only interested in robberies involving polite notes (search for the word "thanks" and "please"). From what I can gather, there is not much of an art to writing a robbery note. The website even has a random bank note generator... in case you are in a hurry.

The F*cking Word of the Day

Are you interested in learning new words, but the regular Word-of-the-Day websites just aren't doing it for you? Maybe try The F*cking Word of the Day (also @thefuckingword on Twitter). Their twist on expanding your vocabulary is to use the words in a sentence that involves sex, drugs or swearing. Ha! Simple, brilliant, and ridiculously effective.

100 French Kisses

Yang Ya-Ching is a Taiwanese student who is trying to fully embrace Paris. She is doing so by finding 100 French strangers on the streets of Paris and kissing them. Each kiss is photographed and documented in her blog. So far, it looks like she is getting to know Paris very well.