USS Enterprise reacts to Miley's Twerking

Because I want to watch this over and over again!

Learned Helplessness

From Boing Boing:

"Stuck in a bad situation, even when the prison doors are left wide open, we sometimes refuse to attempt escape. The evidence suggests that learned helplessness in people is connected to the pessimistic attributional style. In this episode, you’ll learn how it keeps people in bad jobs, poor health, terrible relationships, and awful circumstances despite how easy it might be to escape any one of those scenarios."

Home remedy for cracked heels

Try this home remedy for baby soft feet: 1 glass of white wine vinegar, 1 glass of mouthwash & 1 litre of tepid water. Soak feet for 15 minutes then gently scrub with a loofah. Repeat every two weeks.

How to Make Paper Bows Kirigami

Kirigami is Origami with some cutting. These bows are beautiful!!

Below is the first bow I made. Points to note - I used printed scrapbooking paper. Something lighter would be better. The square bit at the centre should have been a little bigger. Because it is so small, i had trouble inserting the points inside. So I had to glue them down.

 

If celestial bodies were closer!

I doubt I would be able to sleep at night. I would be out, star gazing even more than I already do!

Tag book

Many (at least 10 I think) years after I received a wonderful tag book from a friend, I decided to make one of my own. The book binding classes I took also helped. Everything, down to the paper used to cover the tag book, is handmade. It took me 3 weekends to finish but it was so good to be able to get back to crafting.

Connect Two

Apparently if you have two items of your clothing that match, you are on your way to dressing well.

Or something to that effect. 

Go on to this link for more details, photographs and shopping tips.

Refinery 29

Take care of that expensive book you just bought!

Actually doing all my reading on my Kindle but I buy classic leather bound books because I simply love books. And when I have the time I browse through the gilded pages, smell the paper, touch the leather covers, look at the beautiful illustrations. And so, for me, this tip, about how not to break the spine of a hard bound book, is brilliant!

17 Sites for Web Design Inspiration

17 Sites for Web Design Inspiration:

I never thought that I would need this, and yet in the last two years I gave input on the design of 4 websites! So yes, give these links a read. you never know ... :D


'via Blog this'

Grammatical Errors

Uh! Shakespeare just got more difficult!

I have trouble enough watching a play or reading a book in the original versions (adaptations and abridged versions are more my kind of thing) and now things just got more difficult for me! It appears that to be truly authentic, Shakespearean actors will have to speak in a "a cross between a contemporary Irish, Yorkshire and West Country accent" and "trippingly upon the tongue"

Check out some examples:

View from Space!

Mesmerizing video! Note especially the Aurora Borealis and also the thunderstorms - the lighning flashes to be precise.

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

The first four words ...

Look at the face below. The first four words that pop up apparently describe you. (Well, lets pretend they do - its a fun activity which serves no purpose). I am apparently patient (do not believe that), lovely (want to believe that), passionate (could almost believe that) and over-dramatic (definitely believe that!) LOL!

Life is ...

Can you guess who this is?

Amazing Hong Kong!

Little Big City - Hong Kong Tilt Shift from Fershad Irani on Vimeo.

Worst fight scene EVER!

Seriously!  I doubt you will ever see anything this bad in any film or TV footage.

Again the number 13 pops up!

The date: August 13th 2010
The time: 13:13
The players: One boy, 13 years old.

At this date, at this time the boy got struck by lightning.  Thankfully he is safe now.
(Link)

To Kill an American

I have not bothered to verify the authenticity of the story behind this little piece below because it is a wonderful collection of thoughts by itself - it does not make much difference why it was written (and I could not find the original publication to be able to give proper credit).Of course, we are all aware of the hatred that permeates the world today and anything that counteracts it will get my whole hearted support. So this is what I heard but have not checked out:

Sometime in the last week of July or the first week of August 2010 someone published an offer of payment, in a Pakistani newspaper, to anyone who killed an American - any American. In response to this an editorial was published by an Australian dentist on how to identify an American, making it easier to kill them. 

“An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.

In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.

The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americans welcome the best of everything…the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty , welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America.

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It’s been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So, you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place, they are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

World Record for speeding fines!!

I have always had a bone to pick with the Swiss authorities about their speeding checks and fines.  I have to watch the speedometer more often than the road to see where I am going.  And they are not forgiving of even the slightest infraction - ever!  Even a few kilometres over the limit and you can be sure to either get flagged down and taken to the nearest police station, or receive a love note in the mail.  Most surely the former if you are in a car from outside the country.

And then there was this Swede, 29 years old, who decided to stick his nose up at the Swiss road police.  He was caught speeding at 290 kph (180 mph) by some new fangled camera (trust the Swiss to have the latest equipment to catch the speed nuts).  And so he was fined - and what a fine!!  A world record of Euro 928.770,45. At today's exchange rate that would a cool US$ 1.2 million.  Niiiiceee!

So if you like to drive, enjoy the rush of speed and do not have a few million to toss in the wind, when in Switzerland use public transportation.  Or keep an eye on every damn speed limit sign!!  Bon Voyage!!

(Link)