Your Daily Insight as told by Whitney Houston

I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow--if I fail, or if I succeed at least I did as I believe.

Exploring NYC's Abandoned Underground, From Grand Central To Bushwick Sewers

In it's 100+ year history, New York's subway system has accumulated over 800 miles of track, but it didn't become the massive network that we know today without some hiccups, balks and bad ideas.

Last month, WNYC dug into the history of the city's many underground tunnels, highlighting its eerie abandoned stations and unfinished lines. Stream the story below and check out their cool interactive map of the Big Apple's lost subway lines and empty platforms, from an unrealized underwater route from Brooklyn to Staten Island and a secret station under Grand Central Terminal that is said to have been used by FDR.

"The MTA doesn't want people exploring the abandoned or lost station stops," WNYC says, but that hasn't stopped intrepid souls like urban explorer Steven Duncan and filmmaker Andrew Wonder. We loved their film Undercity, and more recently they've been exploring other subterranean spaces in a video series for Gothamist and MyBlockNYC. Check out their trip into the Knickerbocker sewer extension, which was built in the late 19th century to carry wastewater from Bushwick's thriving breweries to the East River (and even made the cover of Scientific American):

We'll leave you with a requisite disclaimer: don't try this at home.

-- John Ruscher

Your Daily Insight as told by Mark Twain

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Lost and Found With Coworking Member Nickerson Hill

Stop to talk with anyone in our ever-buzzing coworking space, and you'll surely find a fascinating story. You might encounter an awesome science writer, an e-book entrepreneur, an award-winning web designer/music maker, or, as you'll see right now, a licensed social worker who's found a second calling helping people find things they've lost. All while she's applying to public health PhD programs. Meet Nickerson Hill (and get to know her more after the jump).

3rd Ward's John Ruscher: So you work for Foundit! Tell us a little bit about that.

Nickerson Hill: Essentially, FoundIt! is an automated (fast, safe & easy) lost and found system. We believe that people generally want to do the right thing, including returning things they find. Lost and founds are full of good intentions. Stats say that 70% of items turned into lost and founds never make it back to their owner. Sometimes stuff isn't returned because it may seem difficult or time consuming.  FoundIt! eliminates these barriers by making it easy and quick for people to do the right thing and return things they find.

JR: How does it work exactly?

NH: Our members each have a unique FoundIt! ID, which is printed on super-durable stickers and tags and they affix these stickers/tags to things they might lose. When a member misplaces something they labeled with their FoundIt! ID, the Finder simply enters the info into FoundIt!'s secure system via text or on our website. Our member then receives an instant FoundIt! Alert via text and email sharing the Finder’s contact information and/or message. Many of our members have reported getting a FoundIt! Alert even before knowing anything was missing!

I'm also excited about our next generation of stickers, which include QR codes as yet another, even faster way to make a FoundIt! report. When scanned, a FoundIt! QR will automatically send the SMS message of the Member's FoundIt! ID to our system.

JR: So how did FoundIt! find you?

NH: FoundIt! was originally conceived of by a close childhood friend of mine and my father (the two of them are close, as well). I initially got involved with the business just talking with them and the (small) staff, as I had some thoughts on FoundIt!'s marketing and branding. As a licensed social worker and academic, I didn't necessarily plan on joining in an official capacity, but the more I worked with them, the more excited I got about the prospect of being involved. This past fall I decided to apply to PhD programs and so I found myself job searching for a 1-2 year position. At the same time, FoundIt! was looking to hire a second full-time person (the initial 2 founders/idea men are still involved, but have other projects). As I was already involved, I was a good fit & ended up joining the FoundIt! team. The timing was just right and I feel like I kind of got lucky. I have always had a personal interest in technology, marketing, design and small businesses, but I saw this as a rare opportunity to explore this kind of work before venturing farther (possibly crossing the Rubicon?) into the world of academia.

JR: Could you tell us about that side of your life?

NH: I have a masters in social work (MSW) & a masters in the history & ethics of public health (MPH), and I am hoping to begin a PhD program in the next year or two.  My work is interdisciplinary, involving histories of mental health/psychiatry, transgender health & rights, critical race & gender theory, eugenics & human classification, activist rhetoric, radical feminisms, nostalgia & technology, public health ethics, privacy, young philanthropy, and social justice movements (I know that is a lot, but it actually comes together...).  Recently, I have been revising a few papers for publication, focusing on the history of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the evolution and revision process of gender and sexuality diagnoses and activists concerned with these revisions.

JR: Sounds amazing! How do you like coworking at 3rd Ward?

NH: I certainly benefit from having access to this space. Most of my work is otherwise done from home (FoundIt! is based in Seattle), so it is extremely helpful to have an alternative, quiet workspace. The main things that stand out are the amount of light in the coworking space—those windows are amazing—and how focused everybody is. Of course, people do have conversations and speak on the phone in the shared space, but I always feel able to concentrate. The free coffee doesn't hurt, either.

JR: Absolutely. Anything else on the horizon?

NH: The big event I am looking forward to with FoundIt! is SXSW. We are participating in SXswag and will be running a few events during SXSWi, so it should be great exposure (in addition to being fun).

I also recently started playing around with Arduino, so who knows what will come of that.

Nickerson has also kindly offered a discount on Foundit! membership for her fellow 3rd Ward members! Use the code "3RDWARD" to get 25% off.

-- John Ruscher

Help 'Baker Movie' Bring the Culinary Olympics to the Big Screen

Maybe you caught wind of 3rd Ward's upcoming, new location--as in: our very own Culinary Incubator.

It may be a little way's off, but any time we think about it, our hunger drive starts to redline. Which is why the campaign to fund the documentary Baker Movie has particularly struck our fancy.

When the folks behind the Baker Movie Kickstarter campaign describe the Coupe de Monde de la Boulangerie as the World Cup of baking, they're being modest. It's an international, invitational artisan baking competition held only every three to four years, which makes it more like the baking Olympics. Teams from twelve countries must move up the ranks in regionals to be considered for an invitation to face off against the world's best bakers. Each team is made up of three members who specialize in Baguettes & Specialty Breads, Artistic Design and Viennoiserie, sweet, puffy, buttery goodies that fall somewhere between bread and pastries (think croissants, brioches and beignets). There's also a fourth category, Savory Selection, for which members must team up to create a sandwich.

Yes, we're salivating now too. But we're also a bit curious: With all the cook-offs and cake wars created for reality TV--what's a real-life, bonafide and insanely high-level baking competition like? If you want to know what it takes to bake the world's tastiest, crustiest baguette or the flakiest pain au chocolat, then go ahead and support Baker Movie on Kickstarter. The film will follow Mike Zakowski, a member of Bread Bakers Guild Team USA in the Baguette & Specialty Breads category. The actual Coupe de Monde de la Boulangerie's website is one of the most underwhelming we've seen in a while (have they never heard of food porn?!). So,if you want to get an inside look at some high stakes butter and yeast action (and clearly, we do), then you know what to do: support Baker Movie and then we can all try not to eat the movie screen together.

-- Perrin Drumm

Your Daily Insight as told by Steve Case

If you believe that some day it’s going to happen, some day it probably will happen. You just have to make sure you’re there when it’s happening, and ideally you’re at the front of the parade, and the principle beneficiary of when it happens, but it’s not a kind of thing where you just sort of sit back and wait.

The Artist's Way: Now Officially An App (Which We'll Review For You Now)

Based on "The Artist's Way," the best-selling book by Julia Cameron, The Artist's Toolkit is an app designed to "unlock your creativity" and keep you "inspired all year long." (Yes, the implications of your smartphone doing this is eye-roll-worthy.) But before we roll them right out of our heads, let's lay what this app is all about. First, you create your customized artist's notebook, which basically means choosing the gridded paper or antiqued theme option for your notebook background. This is where you will "trace your creative process" as you "unblock your creativity." 

You start each morning with your Daily Meditation, designed to get you into that special, creative space. Each day you will receive Inspirations and Affirmations (their capitalization, not ours) and each week you'll be sent Artist's Date ideas. You can share your Daily Inspirations with your friends, listen to Creative Soundbites or do a few exercises, which are prompts like "If you have five other lives to lead, what would you do in each of them?"

After cruising around this app for a while (you can take a virtual tour) it seems best for those who've always wanted to try their hand at poetry but have never gotten around to it, or those looking for a guided, journaling experience--or those who've hit rock bottom and are desperate enough to try anything to crawl their way out again. Of course, all these daily tidbits of wisdom and the ability to organize your Post-It notes (aka Fleeting Moments of Creativity) don't come free. Yes, the app itself is free, but to actually use it you have to sign up for a $4.99/month membership.

Final say: Grab yourself a blank notebook, we think it just might do the trick.

Future Nostalgia with Illustrator Ryan Gillett

Ryan Gillett has a simple goal. "I want my illustrations to cheer people up," he says. Like the rest of his work, his latest project, a "Little Poster/Book" called "The French Alphabet," easily does just that. The illustrations are simple, but by no means simplistic. Gillett has a talent for mixing bright colors and stylistic forms with the typography of a bygone era that is as immediate as it is delightful. We wanted to know more about his approach (his accurate though exceptionally brief bio "I am a cheerful chap who loves to draw" left us wanting more) so we got in touch for a quick chat:

3rd Ward's Perrin Drumm: Have you always been drawing, or is this something you discovered later in life?

Ryan Gillett: The first experience of drawing that I can remember was at the age of seven when my dad drew an aeroplane, and since then I've always drawn. At first it was just random doodles and sketches, but as I got older I decided to take my drawing more seriously. I went to art college, and that's when I began to develop my own personal style of illustration. 

PD: How would you describe the style of your drawings?

RG: I don't like my drawings to be over complicated or fussy. Instead I like to draw cheerful things in a cheerful way, using bright, simple colours. Technically my drawings are created using pencil crayons and stippling brushes and put together in layers much like a screen print. 

PD: Tell us about the "Little Poster/book?" And why call it "The French Alphabet" if it's in English? 

RG: I knew I wanted to make a little screen printed book to send to people to promote my illustrations. I started doodling a few ideas and for some reason I thought the illustrations looked quite French. Because the colours are that of the French flag,  I decided to call that particular drawing "The French Alphabet."

PD: Can we buy it online?

RG: I made just fifty of these booklets as I wanted to send them to blogs (Ed. note: It worked!), to share some of my drawings. So no, I'm afraid they are not for sale. However, I hope to make some more screen printed booklets in the future to sell, so keep an eye out.

-- Perrin Drumm

Your Daily Insight // As Told By: David Lynch

When you're an artist, you pick up on certain things that are in the air. You just feel it. It's not like you're sitting down, thinking, "What can I do to really mess things up?" You're getting ideas, and then the ideas feed into a story, and the story takes shape. And if you're honest about it and you're thinking about characters and what they do, you now see that your ideas are about trouble. You're feeling more depth, and you're describing something that is going on in some way.

Kickstarter Spotlight // Molly and Olly: Tasty, Aromatic Internet Robots

Like it or really, really hate it, tweeting has become a legitimate part of doing business. While tweeting and re-tweeting and adding followers can provide some bizarre form of gratification, you may be feeling like all your hard tweeting is going unappreciated. Well, no longer.  In this week's Kickstarter Spotlight--an ongoing series in which we highlight some of the most innovative campaigns brought to our attention--we bring you a truly strange (though possibly brilliant?), Pavlovian take on social media: Molly and Olly.

See, Molly and Olly is your very own personal Internet reward system. Molly is a "module that turns your tweets into sweets by counting how many times you get retweeted, then releasing a tasty candy when a number you've set it reached." While Olly, which can be stacked on top of Molly, is a web-connected robot "that turns your online notifications into smells." You can fill it with any scent--your girlfriend's perfume, an essential oil maybe--and sync that scent to specific notifications, say, every time your business gets a "like" on Facebook or someone buys something from your e-commerce site. 

If you want your office to be filled with the sweet smell (and taste) of success, consider hopping on board Molly and Olly's Kickstarter campaign. The project has quite a ways to go to meet its goal in just three days. Though just think: Help them out by tweeting this into the digital universe and you'll be warming up for all the sugar-fueled, aromatic goodness Molly & Olly can bring.

-- Perrin Drumm