I love desire paths. There’s something so wonderous about seeing an echo of humanity. Depending on it’s location, a desire path can mean so many different things.
In a city, like the pic above, they represent rebellion, and efficiency. The messiness of humanity. We like to imagine we’re oh so logical and neat so we design our cities to be logical and neat an then real humans literally trample on that idea. The ego required to think you can design something perfect that checks every box. Life is all about compromise and patching stuff when some new problem arises. Though people have certainly tried! Ohio state univeristy let students carve their desire paths, and then paved them over. It looks pretty artsy.
Some people will try to discourage desire paths, but this is almost always going to fail.
Eventually, people just have to accept them. Humans are too dang stubborn.
Certain desire paths are just adorable. A 0.5 second time saver. You just can’t design for maximum efficiency, humans will always find shortcuts!
Though on occasion a desire path can actually be the least efficient way…especially if you’re superstitious.
In a wilder area, such as below, they show us the curiosity of humans. A desire path somewhere natural often tells you there’s something interesting just ahead. (Though remember some ecosystems are fragile and will suffer if trampled! Stick to paths in these sorts of areas)
And how about desire stairs? I always think these look so cool. We get see humans determination to climb, to traverse every kind of terrain.
And for something really crazy…a desire path used for centuries will create a ‘holloway’
All of these pics are off the Desirepath subreddit, check them out for more examples! And many thanks to the users who submitted these photos.
Also even like. Economically. It’s better to give money to poor people. That’s basic Keynesian economics.
Give $600 to someone with no money and they will put it back into the economy, buying groceries, clothes, accommodations, maybe some small luxuries. Give $600 to a rich person and it goes into their bank accounts and just stays there being useless.
If you give a poor person $20, that same $20 will be spent easily 10x over, by 10 different people, in 10 different businesses- within a week.
1- poor guy buys groceries at a local bodega.
2- the bodega owner pays his employees from the cash in the register.
3- bodega employee goes to Starbucks and tips the barista in cash.
4- the barista owes their roommate from lunch last week and pays them back
5- roommate buys something from an indie creator on Etsy
6- Etsy creator splurges on takeout & tips in cash
7- the takeout delivery driver fills up on gas
8- gas station manager (who got paid from the register) takes their kid to the ice cream truck
9- Ice cream truck driver buys a new tire and gets an oil change
10- mechanic gets lunch on a shift
….and so on.
Giving money to poor people is the single best way to stimulate and energize the economy… because poor people do something with money that rich people don’t- THEY FUCKING SPEND IT.
Giving $600 to a poor person is like composting food scraps. It returns nutrients to the economic ecosystem and supports the livelihood of others.
Giving $600 to a rich person is like tossing plastic into the ocean. It’s added to a massive floating garbage patch of corporate wealth. It disrupts the balance of the economic ecosystem, leading to consequences like economic ecosystem collapse.
In a healthy economy, money continues to flow. Rich people are bloodclots.
Why are “naturally thin” and “born with a fast metabolism” totally acceptable explanations for weight, but “naturally fat” and “born with a slow metabolism” seen as “excuses” for “laziness/irresponsibility/greediness”?
I'm Jennie. I'm 20. I'm a second year university student. I cut.