smile and think

2012-02-13T16:59:00.001-08:00

"The Legend of the Starfish"

2012-02-13T11:09:00.001-08:00

"A vacationing businessman was walking along a beach when he saw a young boy. Along the shore were many starfish that had been washed up by the tide and were sure to die before the tide returned. The boy was walking slowly along the shore and occasionally reached down and tossed the beached starfish back into the ocean.

The businessman, hoping to teach the boy a little lesson in common sense, walked up to the boy and said, “I have been watching what you are doing, son. You have a good heart, and I know you mean well, but do you realize how many beaches there are around here and how many starfish are dying on every beach every day. Surely such an industrious and kind hearted boy such as yourself could find something better to do with your time. Do you really think that what you are doing is going to make a difference?”

The boy looked up at the man, and then he looked down at a starfish by his feet. He picked up the starfish, and as he gently tossed it back into the ocean, he said, “It makes a difference to that one.”

Author Unknown

Arundhati Roy on Peace

2012-02-13T11:06:00.001-08:00

"What does peace mean in a world in which the combined wealth of the world's 587 billionaires exceeds the combined gross domestic product of the world's 135 poorest countries? Or when rich countries that pay farm subsidies of a billion dollars a day, try and force poor countries to drop their subsidies? What does peace mean to people in occupied Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, Tibet and Chechnya? Or to the aboriginal people of Australia? Or the Ogoni of Nigeria? Or the Kurds in Turkey? Or the Dalits and Adivasis of India? What does peace mean to non-muslims in Islamic countries, or to women in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan? What does it mean to the millions who are being uprooted from their lands by dams and development projects? What does peace mean to the poor who are being actively robbed of their resources and for whom everyday life is a grim battle for water, shelter, survival and, above all, some semblance of dignity? For them, peace is war."

- Arundhati Roy

2012-02-13T10:57:00.001-08:00

There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword.. The other is by debt. - John Adams 1826

Alan Watts: Adventure of Dreams

2012-02-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

Word of the day: Deadline

2012-02-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

Deadline, of course, is made up of dead and line and originally referred to the line around a prison beyond which a prisoner could expect to be shot.

via

PETE PHILLY - WHAT DO WE FIGHT FOR?

2012-02-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

Some hip hop from Amsterdam.

Wislawa Szymborska: Nothing Twice

2012-02-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

AIN'T NOBODY HERE BUT US CHICKENS

2012-02-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

Comedian Danny Lobell tells this story about the unintended consequences of bringing new residents to his Brooklyn neighborhood. Namely, a couple of chickens. (16 minutes)

via

Atmosphere - The Last To Say

2012-01-31T08:01:00.000-08:00

"Go get yourself a more better forever."

"You can't hold hands when they make fists."

wake up call...

2012-01-30T19:21:00.001-08:00

woody allen

2012-01-29T16:23:00.000-08:00

Hakim Bey - Poetic Terrorism

2012-01-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

Occupy Wall St - The Revolution Is Love

2012-01-26T21:05:00.001-08:00

Inuit Poem

2012-01-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

I think over again my small adventures,
My fears,
Those small ones that seemed so big,
For all the vital things
I had to get and to reach;
And yet there is only one great thing,
The only thing,
To live to see the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world.

Anonymous (Inuit, 19th century)

How do japanese multiply?

2012-01-22T17:55:00.001-08:00

so true!

2012-01-21T18:09:00.000-08:00

Thrive ~ Freedom of Speech

2012-01-18T14:49:00.001-08:00

Mad As Hell!

2012-01-18T14:43:00.000-08:00

450 words individually synced and animated to the famous monologue from the 1976 movie "Network" written by Paddy Chayefsky.

2012-01-18T14:42:00.000-08:00

Word of the day: Apocalypse

2012-01-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

An Apocalypse (Greek: ἀποκάλυψις apokálypsis; "lifting of the veil" or "revelation") is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception.

La vie d'un chien (The Life of a Dog)

2012-01-12T17:01:00.000-08:00

Made me think!

via

Everlast - I Get By

2012-01-09T22:15:00.000-08:00

AMAZING SONG!

Sol - So Damn High

2012-01-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

NextLevel Squad "Zilla March" New York Flexing

2012-01-05T06:23:00.000-08:00

Flexing, or bone breaking, is a mix of street dancing and contortionist movements mostly specific to Brooklyn. This video in particular is mesmerizing, almost ritualistic with this group of shirtless guys in gas masks all dancing together in the subway. Other riders seem to either not notice them or look on in a trance.

AMON TOBIN ISAM Live Visual Experience 2011/projection mapping

2012-01-05T06:17:00.000-08:00

Visualizing ISAM from Leviathan on Vimeo.

AMO LA VIDA

2012-01-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

"Look what you have"

AMO LA VIDA from Nic Askew on Vimeo.

Charles Bradley - The World (Is Going Up In Flames)

2012-01-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures

2011-12-28T16:02:00.000-08:00

The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of notable social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience

‘Do as you’re told’.

The Stanley Milgram Experiment was created to explain some of the concentration camp-horrors of the World War 2, where Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Slavs and other enemies of the state were slaughtered by Nazis.

CONCLUSION - OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

Before the Stanley Milgram Experiment, experts thought that about 1-3 % of the subjects would not stop giving shocks. They thought that you’d have to be pathological or a psychopath to do so.

Still, 65 % never stopped giving shocks. None stopped when the learner said he had heart-trouble. How could that be? We now believe that it has to do with our almost innate behavior that we should do as told, especially from authority persons.

TEDxIowaCity - Dr. Terry Wahls - Minding Your Mitochondria

2011-12-26T18:24:00.000-08:00

Dr. Terry Wahls learned how to properly fuel her body. Using the lessons she learned at the subcellular level, she used diet to cure her MS and get out of her wheelchair.

George Carlin - Words from the genius

2011-12-26T17:14:00.001-08:00

New Banksy

2011-12-26T16:59:00.000-08:00

via

MACKLEMORE X RYAN LEWIS - OTHERSIDE REMIX FEAT. FENCES

2011-12-21T13:12:00.000-08:00

Amazing Music!!!!! love love it!

Pickin’ & Trimmin’ in a Down-Home North Carolina Barbershop: Award-Winning Short Film

2011-12-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

Pickin' & Trimmin' from Matt Morris Films on Vimeo.

Pickin’ & Trimmin’ is a documentary short film from 2008 profiling “The Barbershop” in Drexel, North Carolina, where Lawrence Anthony and David Shirley have barbered for decades, and where bluegrass musicians havejammed in the back room every weekend. Directed by Matt Morris, theaward-winning film showcases the people and atmosphere of a small community in rural America, perhaps better than anything you’ve seen before. And the music played in the back room is simply wonderful.

via

The Illusion of Choice

2011-12-16T13:14:00.002-08:00

Source: Frugal dad

2011-12-16T13:14:00.001-08:00

The future of local manufacturing

2011-12-14T16:34:00.000-08:00

Top Five Regrets of the Dying

2011-12-12T21:12:00.001-08:00

By Bronnie Ware

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learned never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me
This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honor at least some of your dreams along the way.

From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship.

Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier
This is a surprisingly common one.

Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice.

They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

via

Amazing, hilarious disenchanted series by Rodolfo Loaiza…

2011-12-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

VIA

I HAVE TO GET THIS TEE!

2011-12-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

Hero by Miguel Endara

2011-12-06T20:14:00.000-08:00

Hero from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.

Sekou Andrews and Steve Connell at TEDMED 2010

2011-12-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

Sekou & Steve deliver a powerful and memorable performance about the end of life. Watch and think.

2011-12-04T19:37:00.001-08:00

OWS Teach-In with Douglas Rushkoff

2011-12-02T14:43:00.000-08:00

A silent satire about ‘WE’

2011-11-30T17:31:00.000-08:00

2011-11-26T13:11:00.000-08:00

VIA

Killer Toys

2011-11-26T13:02:00.001-08:00

Killer Toys from Dongjie Zhu on Vimeo.

REMINDER TO SELF...

2011-11-26T12:50:00.000-08:00

2011-11-26T12:49:00.000-08:00

Mikado les enfants du piree

2011-11-26T12:08:00.001-08:00

Aimee Mullins - Legs and super powers

2011-11-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

Afghanistan - a remarkable video

2011-11-18T16:42:00.001-08:00

Afghanistan – touch down in flight from Augustin Pictures on Vimeo.

via

Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors

2011-11-16T07:02:00.000-08:00

Lower Manhattan’s 60 Hudson Street is one of the world’s most concentrated hubs of Internet connectivity. This short documentary peeks inside, offering a glimpse of the massive material infrastructure that makes the Internet possible.

Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors from Ben Mendelsohn on Vimeo.

I think Huxley got the better of Orwell!

2011-11-15T17:05:00.000-08:00

2011-11-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

2011-11-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

Learn to move on

2011-11-14T16:29:00.000-08:00

A wise man once sat in the audience and cracked a joke.

All laughed like crazy. After a moment he cracked the same joke again and a little less people laughed this time.

He cracked the same joke again and again, when there was no laughter in the crowd, he smiled and said, “When you can’t laugh on the same joke again and again, then why do you keep crying over the same thing over and over again”

Nappy Roots ft. Anthony Hamilton-Sick & Tired.

2011-11-13T21:07:00.000-08:00

Slow motion soda explosion by David Coiffier

2011-11-13T21:01:00.000-08:00

We fell in love so fast (ultra slow motion coke-mentos experiment) from David Coiffier on Vimeo.

Word as Image

2011-11-12T16:48:00.000-08:00

via

Louis C.K. Talks About Why He Hates Twitter

2011-11-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

Immortal Technique - The Martyr

2011-11-05T22:24:00.000-07:00

"The Purpose of life,

Is a life with a Purpose.

So I'd rather die for a cause,

Than live a life that is worthless.

I don't need a "Circus" or a day of "National Observance"

I need you to think for YOU and stop being a servant."~Immortal Technique

Immortal Technique - Rich Mans World (1%)

2011-11-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

A Murmuration

2011-11-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

Absolutely stunning!

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Origami Math Proving Pythagoras right with paper folding:

2011-11-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

Cool!

via

Phosphorescent - "A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise"

2011-11-03T10:43:00.001-07:00

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - I See a Darkness

2011-11-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

MADE ME SMILE

2011-11-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

George Kourounis "Why Being Afraid Makes You Live Longer"

2011-11-02T07:06:00.001-07:00

The Great Dictator - M83 remix

2011-11-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

Out Getting Ribs - Zoo Kid/King Krule

2011-10-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

Archy Marshall (born 1994) more commonly known by his stage name Zoo Kid is a British singer, songwriter and musician.

2011-10-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

"Visible Delight" by K. R.

Children Full of Life

2011-10-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

"In the award-winning documentary Children Full of Life, a fourth-grade class in a primary school in Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo, learn lessons about compassion from their homeroom teacher, Toshiro Kanamori. He instructs each to write their true inner feelings in a letter, and read it aloud in front of the class. By sharing their lives, the children begin to realize the importance of caring for their classmates."

It is only with the heart

that one can see rightly;

What is essential is

invisible to the eye.

~Antoine De Saint-Exupery, from 'The Little Prince'

TANSTAAFL:There's no such thing as a free lunch"

2011-10-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

In the old days the king called in his three wise men to tell them he’d become interested in economics. "But," he said, "it sounds confusing and complicated. I want you to go out and boil it down for me in a way that I can understand."

Nine months later they came back and reported they had completed the job. They said they had condensed all of economics into a single book of 200 pages. The king said, "That’s too long. I don’t have time to read that much."

He had the chairman beheaded, and told the other two: "Now I want it boiled down."

They came back in 30 days and said they had economics boiled down into a single chapter of 20 pages. The king said, "That’s too long. I don’t have time for it." He had the chairman beheaded, and turned to the remaining wise man: "You know your job. Now, boil it down."

"Yes sir, Mr. King!"

This wise man came back in three days: "Mr. King, I think I have it. I have boiled down the entire subject of economics into a single sentence of eight words."

The king said, "That’s fine. I have time for that. What is it?" "There’s no such thing as a free lunch."

The "free lunch" referred to in the acronym relates back to the once-common tradition of saloons in the United States providing a "free" lunch to patrons who had purchased at least one drink. All the foods on offer were high in salt (e.g. ham, cheese and salted crackers) so those who ate them ended up buying a lot of beer.

TANSTAAFL, on the other hand, indicates an acknowledgment that in reality a person or a society cannot get "something for nothing". Even if something appears to be free, there is always a cost to the person or to society as a whole even though that cost may be hidden or distributed.

In the sciences, TANSTAAFL means that the universe as a whole is ultimately a closed system—there is no magic source of matter, energy, light, or indeed lunch, that does not draw resources from something else, and will not eventually be exhausted.

via

2011-10-25T16:17:00.000-07:00

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (Buckshot LeFonque,Branford Marsalis & Maya Angelou)

2011-10-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

Posting this song again, so great!

And Still I Rise-Maya Angelou

2011-10-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong

2011-10-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, NY went toe to toe with the New York Police Department.

2011-10-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

"This is not a warzone. These are unarmed people, it doesn't make you tough to hurt these people."

"If you wanna go fight, go to Iraq and Afghanistan."

"Where's that in the contract?"

"They are US citizens!"

"There is NO HONOR in harming unarmed civilians"

"How do you sleep at night doing this to people?!"

"You are here to protect them! Protect them!"

Spike Jonze: Mourir Auprès de Toi

2011-10-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Spike Jonze: Mourir Auprès de Toi on Nowness.com.

Spike Jonze: Mourir Auprès de Toi

The Celebrated Filmmaker and Designer Olympia Le-Tan Co-create a Tale to Pierce the Heart

Designer Olympia Le-Tan's embroidered clutch-bags spring to life in director Spike Jonze’s tragicomic stop-motion animationMourir Auprès de Toi (To Die By Your Side). On a shelf in famed Parisian bookstore Shakespeare and Company, the star-crossed love story of a klutzy skeleton and his flame-haired amour plays out amidst Le-Tan’s illustrations of iconic first-edition book covers. "It's such a beautiful and romantic place,” offers Le-Tan of the antiquarian bookstore. "The perfect setting for our story!” The project started after Jonze asked for a Catcher in the Rye embroidery to put on his wall and the plucky Le-Tan asked for a film in return. Enlisting French filmmaker Simon Cahn to co-direct, the team wrote the script between Los Angeles and Paris over a six month period, before working night and day animating the 3,000 pieces of felt Le-Tan had cut by hand. “I love getting performances from, telling stories about and humanizing things that aren’t human,” said Jonze of working with Le-Tan’s characters. After spending five years adapting Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, Jonze’s recent shorts include robot love story I’m Here and an inspired G.I. Joe-starring video for The Beastie Boys. “A short is like a sketch,” he says. “You can have an idea or a feeling and just go and do it.” Here the iconic director reveals his creative process to writer Maryam L'Ange.

How did the film come about?
I met Olympia in Paris through friends of mine. She was just starting to make the bags for her friends. She had a bunch of the scraps in her bag, all of the cut-out pieces of felt. I just loved it. I loved all the artwork she picked, the texture of it, the stitching of the felt. We joked about making a film and just went for it. It was this thing with no schedule, no pressure and no real reason to be—other than just that we thought it would be fun.

Did you write the story together?
Yeah we did. We would look at all the artwork over lunch whenever we would be in the same city, noting any ideas that would just make us smile. It was done like that, with no real plans.

What’s your creative process?
You just start with what the feeling is. For this one the feeling definitely started with the handmade aesthetic and charm of Olympia’s work. Instantly I had the idea of doing it in a bookstore after-hours, imagining the lights coming down and these guys off their books. Me and Olympia both wanted to make a love story, and it was fun to do it with these characters. It evolved naturally and it all just started with the feeling. From there you entertain yourself with ideas that excite you.

Do you go with your gut instinct?
If it cracks me up. We were talking about the skeleton coming off his book and the girl in the Dracula book waving at him. Olympia is someone who is just absurd, she’s used to just saying anything. She just started making the blowjob gesture as a joke to make us laugh but I was like, “We’ve got to do that.” It’s about taking things that could just be a joke while brainstorming and actually going for it and using it.

What inspires you?
People inspire me. Humberto Leon and Carol Lim [from Opening Ceremony] and the confidence and creativity in how they run their business. Pixar’s really inspiring, they make films in the best possible way. They’re always focused on story. I could list a million people that inspire me all the time. David Bowie’s music, Charlie Kauffman, David Russell. A lot of people that I work with too, just conversations I have with them about what we want to do.

via

Belief

2011-10-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small ropetied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for somereason, they did not.

I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” he said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to breakfree.”

I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were. Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

New York 6:19

2011-10-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

Taken with instangram

The Power of Conformity

2011-10-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

This vintage stunt from a 1962 episode of Candid Camera makes for a good laugh. But it also captures something important about human psychology — something that social psychologist Philip Zimbardo, famous for hisStanford Prison Experiment, describes on a website related to his 2007 book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. He writes:

One of the most popular scenarios in the long history of Alan Funt’s ingenious Candid Camera programs is “Face The Rear.” An elevator is rigged so that after an unsuspecting person enters, four Candid Camera staff enter, and one by one they all face the rear. The doors close and then reopen; now revealing that the passenger had conformed and is now also facing the rear. Doors close and reopen, and everyone is facing sideways, and then face the other way. We laugh that these people are manipulated like puppets on invisible strings, but this scenario makes us aware of the number of situations in which we mindlessly follow the dictates of group norms and situational forces.

Often times, the mindless submission to group norms has entirely innocuous results. But, in other cases, it can lead to “good people engaging in evil actions.” Witness what happened within the controlled environment of the Stanford Prison Experiment. Or, worse, the devastating abuses at Abu Ghraib, which brought otherwise average people to commit atrocious acts. For more read The Lucifer Effect.

VIA

Ai Weiwei and the Seeds of Freedom

2011-10-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

In the state-controlled propaganda art of revolutionary China, sunflowers carried a blunt symbolism: Mao Zedong was the sun and the Chinese people were the sunflowers, all facing one direction to receive the nourishing rays.

A generation later, in the work of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, the symbolism is a bit more subversive. In 2010 Ai launched a show called Sunflower Seeds, where a riot of individual porcelain seeds–more than a hundred million of them, all hand-painted–were spread across the floor of a large hall at the Tate Modern in London. Ai wanted visitors to move freely across the installation, picking the seeds up, moving them around, doing whatever they wanted — all shown in the video above.

As a champion of freedom and an outspoken critic of China’s human rights record, Ai has come under heavy pressure from the Chinese regime. Early this year his Shanghai studio was demolished and he was later arrested and detained at secret locations for 81 days. Now he is forbidden from giving interviews or using the Internet. But before he was arrested, Ai was able to send a videotaped speech to the TED conference, outlining his views. You can watch it below. To learn more about the extraordinary Sunflower Seeds2010 exhibit, you can watch the “TateShots” film above.

via