Quarterly Co.™

We’ve all longed to time travel. But what happens when time itself travels? In her latest mindbending mailing, Liz Danzico gave a brief history of clocks on airplanes and other strange-but-true tales of horological relativity. Did you know that time passes at a different rate between your head and your toes? Liz did:

“In 2010, Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) demonstrated this sort of variation but at a more human scale: the difference in altitude between your head and your feet. As it turns out, time passes about 90 billionths of a second differently over an average lifespan. In other words, your head in the clouds ages at a different rate than your feet on the ground.”

Have you ever looked at a terrible website and thundered, “Where are the standards?!” OK, that’s a little dramatic. But that’s the effect ugly design can have. It’s enough to make you wish the Internet had some sort of design watchdog. Good news: It does, his name is Jeffrey Zeldman, and he’s our newest Quarterly contributor.

Deemed “King of Web Standards” by Business Week, Jeffrey literally wrote the book on the subject. And sleek design books are what he’ll be sending in his mailings——in his words, “visual stimulants in elegantly small packages.” 

If you want to impress your friends with a cooler kind of coffee-table book, or if you just want to learn from a true designer’s designer, give Jeffrey’s mailings a try.

Humans weren’t built for a lot of the things we do every day: sitting down at a desk and reading a blog post on a screen being just one example. In fact, we didn’t evolve for reading at all, a theme Joshua Foer explored in #JXF05:

“No hunter-gatherer’s survival ever depended on keeping a copy of War and Peace propped open at eye level. Which is why, when when we read today, most of us have to rest our books in our laps, or else read while reclining. Either way, we’re forced to crunch our necks and direct our gaze downward. What a pain in the neck!”

An unsolvable problem, right? We can’t exactly redesign ourselves. Or can we? Josh sent an ingenious 19th-century solution: prism spectacles, a fun contraption that changes your reading angle, allowing you to finally read comfortably in bed.

Josh calls these “an outsized solution to one of life’s minor annoyances”——and this is why he loves them. Curious about his next package? Grab #JXF06 before it closes.

We hope you’ve all now gotten the memo about the ‘Q’ mailings——our new series of packages curated in-house by the Quarterly team. Last month, we launched Food & Home and Travel & Adventure boxes. And today, we’re excited to announce our third in the series: Technology & Toys.

We’re really geeking out over this one, and we do mean that literally. #QTT is where you’ll get your gadget fix: Everything from weird science to ingenious gizmos will be eligible for these boxes. If you loved Mark Frauenfelder’s EL Wire, or Joshua Foer’s flower clock, or Liz Danzico’s Sugru, this is the mailing for you. 

Check out #QTT01 now!

Sometimes, you don’t ask to travel——the world just plucks you from your comfort zone. In #FAR02, Keenan and Jeremy of Wander helped subscribers prepare for disasters they hope will never strike. Their stylish survival kit featured a Luci inflatable solar lantern, an Acme shepherd’s mouth whistle, the classic U.S. Army Survival Field Manual, and——coolest of all——a Japanese pocket knife that was once banned for its role in an assassination.

Their box was a reminder that while disasters are no fun, disaster gear is pretty great. Here’s an excerpt from the letter, and some photos of the contents. Remember to grab #FAR03 before it closes! 

“Drafted in the 1970s and used by American G.I.’s all over the world, the 300-page manual is a guide to staying alive. It covers how to build a fire, weather a shipwreck, construct a makeshift shelter, and use camouflage to hide from any manner of enemies.”

Mark Frauenfelder’s mailings are some of the most delightful we send; they’re just always so surprising. In #MLF01, the Boing Boing founder sent humble everyday items that’ll blow your mind a little: Mexican jumping beans, a jelly watch, and more. And in #MLF02, he found a new way to surprise: He turned our sense of sight on its head.

This package featured 3 items to make you see the world a little differently: a microscopic microscope; an ultraviolet flashlight; and EL Wire, near-magical stuff that you should Google right now. Of course, you wouldn’t have to Google it if you had Mark’s letter. Which arrives on your doorstep when you’re subscribed to Mark. Which you should do right now (#MLF03 closes on 4/6/13).

Here’s an excerpt, plus some photos from the package:

“I don’t remember why I bought this tiny microscope a few years ago, but I use it at least once a month. It’s great for pinpointing splinters. My daughter loves looking at her freckles, leaves, coins, and paper money through it. Her mind was blown when she looked at a magazine photograph and saw that it was made of little colored dots.” 

If you could only follow one “lifehacker” blog, which would it be? Here at Quarterly, we’d cast our vote for Chris Guillebeau and his groundbreaking Art of Non-Conformity.

Chris’s site majors in travel and minors in smart work habits (the kind that let you spend time traveling). But it’s really about much bigger themes. Want to quit your job and be your own boss? No-one’s stopping you. Want to see the world on a dime? You can——and Chris’s tips will help. AONC is life-affirming and practical at the same time.

We’ve long thought Chris would make a perfect Quarterly contributor, and today we’re thrilled to announce his launch! His theme is ”quest: the art of pursuing purposeful adventure.” If you’d like to pet more tigers——or just hate your job less——give #CGQ01 a try. Your life will thank you.

If you’re Megan “Style Girlfriend” Collins, sending guys items to clean up their act, where do you begin? With literally cleaning up their act.

In #SGF01, Megan wrote about the “grooming product cemetery” that is a typical lad’s shower. And she sent a whole bunch of upgrades, plus a fresh dopp kit to hold them. 

But you know another great thing about Megan? She recapped all the good stuff herself. Head over to Style Girlfriend for more pictures and full details on the mailing. And once you’re done, sign up for #SGF02 before it closes.

The Internet is a seemingly bottomless jar of eye candy——provided you know where to look. Us? We don’t know where to look. So we let Christopher Jobson do that for us.

As editor of Colossal, Christopher tracks down the most arresting visuals, photography, and art on the web. As our newest Quarterly contributor, he won’t just put great designs on your screen——he’ll drop them right on your doorstep. 

We’re thrilled to welcome Christopher to the Quarterly roster. Take a look at his contributor page for some clues to what he might send. And seriously, If you haven’t seen Colossal, go check it out right now.

Scott Belsky’s subscribers know his two favorite terms: “productive” and “fascinating.” (The Behance founder’s mailings always feature items in each category.) This quarter, Scott announced a third word: “good.”

How do you put “good” in a box? Here’s Scott:

“For this mailing, I wanted to experiment with a “distributed act of generosity” among the hundreds of you (and me!). I’ve donated a portion of the budget to ‘Restore Red Hook,’ an organization founded to support small businesses in Brooklyn devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Together, we have all collaborated to make a material contribution to this cause.”

It was a very cool move——and typical of Scott——that got a big response. And “productive” and “fascinating” showed up, too; Scott also sent the self-setting rubber Sugru and a favorite book of essays.

Curious? Just a few days left to grab #SKB07…