Here’s a look at some of the original concept art Ralph McQuarrie made for the Star Wars films. It’s awesome to say the least.
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Is this real life?
Check out this set of art work by Alexander Khokhlov. This particular set of portraits deals with body paint. Pretty cool stuff
The essence of time
A moment can last as long as it needs to. Time really is defined by the circumstance. Photography may not seem like a big deal since the dawn of the camera-phone, let alone when instagram came on the scene. Pictures capture the moments we’d like to hold on to for a life time. This group has made it their mission to find and develop film that has yet to be seen by anyone, even the people that took the photos. Who knows what we may learn from looking back.
Undeveloped World War II Film Discovered from The Rescued Film Project on Vimeo.
For those on the hunt
Time for a visual treatment. Mark Wagner is a collage artist that puts a new spin on what we as a society love to chase.
Mark Wagner – Money is Material from The Avant/Garde Diaries on Vimeo.
What do you think about what he said? Do you agree?
One short story you have to read
A lot of times throughout our lives we tend to focus more on the destination than we do the journey. It’s always good to take a moment slow down and appreciate where you are and what you have. This story was exactly what I needed to read today. It put things into perspective again. I hope you get as much from it as I did…
For people born into great wealth, there is often a problem of perspective, particularly for the young. One such family, years ago, had come to be so insulated by the privilege passed down over generations that a tradition had developed centuries prior: before any child of the family had reached the age of fourteen, they were sent, accompanied by one of the adult servants, to live and work on a farm in one of the poorest areas of the country for a week. It was always arranged that the workers on the farm were made unaware of their visitors’ true status, so they were treated just the same as any other poor family passing through. The children, many of whom had been significantly entitled, insolent and troublesome prior to their trip, always returned with an entirely changed perspective – humbled and grateful for their wealth and terribly relieved to be free of the horrible conditions they had been trapped in for the week.
This particular year, the head of the great family was anxious to send his youngest boy off. The child was unlike any of his numerous siblings, nor any other member of the family that his father could recall. Though quite a nice boy – exceptionally intelligent, respectful and unusually understanding for his age – he had become increasingly isolated, unhappy and questioning in the last few years. Now almost twelve, he was bordering on the morose, a demeanor everyone in the family found unsettling for someone still so young. Upon his departure, the boy did his best to seem cheery and give his genuine well-wishes, but it was still quite apparent that he was feeling very depressed. Everyone was hopeful that a week of living amongst the country’s poorest would bring him out of it, finally.
To the family’s surprise, however, the servant they had sent him with, Edwina, returned in tears after the week was finished, minus the boy.
“He absolutely refused to come!” she cried. “I could not even drag him away, and the other farm-hands there only helped him! They want him to stay!”
The boy’s father was horrified and enraged. “How could this happen!” he hollered, ordering the other servants to begin preparation for their departure immediately.
Trembling, Edwina handed him a letter. “He told me to give you this.”
Dearest Father & Mother,
I love you. And I thank you for this wonderful gift. I know that you only want the best for me in life, which is why you sent me here, in order that I may appreciate the tremendous wealth our family possesses.
And I do, very much so.
Yet I also understand, quite clearly now, the difference between wealth and privilege. Never in my life have I known privilege until now. I am privileged to wake before dawn and sleep again only when the moon is high. I am privileged to share in the nourishment of our humble but hardy daily meals, made available to me only through the graciousness of our hosts. I am privileged to stand witness to the endless bounty of the earth and the animals that know her, and to understand finally what it means to be in service to that earth – even though it will often draw blood from my hands before the day is through.
And, more than anything else, I am privileged to know the beauty of simplicity. How everything is connected. Where our family has one dog, left to play and run on her own, this farm has four, together everyday. Where we have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden, they have a creek that has no end. Where we have the finest imported lanterns hanging in our garden at night, they have the stars, ancient and boundless. Where we have a piece of land that many consider large, they possess fields that travel beyond eyesight. Where we buy our food, they grow theirs, fresh from the same earth that they trod. Where we have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.
For all of these reasons, and many more that are beyond words, this past week has been the greatest education of my life. I understand that I cannot stay. I understand that you will come for me, and that you are surely very angry. Please don’t blame Edwina. I made it impossible for her to bring me back. It is no fault of hers. I only wanted but one more day in this place, and even though it tortures me to leave, I look forward to seeing you. Please know that I will no longer be any trouble at home, for I understand so much more now than I ever have before.
Many thanks to the people at widsompills for the story of inspiration!
For your own sake
For most people, wherever they work at they get exposed to some sort of chemical. It could be cleaning materials, printer ink, etc. Not many people take into consideration the airborne aspect of these chemicals. Sure whenever we smell something in the air our inner alarms start going off, but what about those gasses that we can’t detect? We would be going about our day not knowing that we are slowly destroying ourselves by exposure to these airborne pollutants.
What happens?
Think about your own home and work place. Are there any plants in the vicinity? Now not just any plants. Certain plants have been shown in numerous studies to clean the air around them. They are the solution to the worldwide epidemic of sick building syndrome. Most of you can feel it as soon as you walk in the building. Something about it makes you feel a little different. It could be the environment itself, but in most cases the symptoms are caused simply by an abundance of chemicals in a confined space. It could be in a conference room, or the reception area. A lot of times people may think that the symptoms they are feeling is simply due to the night before, a simple headache from the ride over or something like that; taking an aspirin to alleviate the problem when the problem is sitting 10 feet away on a desk. Granted that the way you feel and how you are affected by the chemicals completely depends on the amount of exposure, how long you were exposed and the kind of exposure.
What to do next.
NASA came out with a chart that shows some of the best air filtering houseplants and what airborne pollutants they take care of. They mention that for maximum effect you want to have one plant per 100 square feet. There are a lot of companies that have already taken note of this and have taken steps to
resolve the issue. If there aren’t many plants in the area that you work you may want to bring this up to management. At least having one plant in every room will help. Take out the fake tree or plastic flowers or anything like that. Put some real plants in. You will benefit tremendously by placing plants around the house to help you breathe better. The plants work better if they’re alive so be sure to keep an eye on that.
Ask around your office if the company or whomever is in charge can start getting plants in. It really is a win win for everyone.
One way we can all save the planet without doing anything.
Here we go
I wasn’t really sure what to start writing about for my first post. Only when I was driving down the highway one day did I think of what to say. Given that this topic is one that influences every single person on this planet I thought it would be good to help spread some information. I know the title is a pretty bold statement as to what I actually mean. No doubt there will be some work to be done but compared to the benefits we will gain, doing this is a no-brainer.
Credit image – Markley Boyer / The Mannahatta Project / Wildlife Conservation Society
What we have to focus on is moving the human species forward; we need to change the way society goes about its everyday activities. One of the biggest obstacle we have to overcome is the monopolistic hold the oil industry has on how we conduct our daily lives. The technology is already in place to stop burning fossil fuels as a source of power. It’s no argument that to create what we need in our modern lives we must destroy in the process. Not always, but even to the smallest degree everything that we use has a trail of destruction behind it. Let alone the nuclear front. Fukushima comes to mind anyone? Why are we wasting our time and energy, let alone our planet on techniques that can turn around and backfire? We are already running out of oil. What happens after that? Why not start implementing new technology and ideas now, so whenever we completely exhaust our resources we can still function as if nothing really happened.
Drum roll please…
I present to you Solar Roadways. There are currently 4.09 million miles of roads in the United States alone. Just imagine if every square inch of those roads can capture sunlight and send electricity to the cities around it. Add on sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, you name it; we can turn our own way of life into a self-sustaining green machine. We could potentially power our global grid just off the sun alone. The roads are doing nothing but sitting in the sun anyways, so why not make use of that. Not only does it power the grid, it has so many different functions and features that there is no reason why if enough people find out about this it’ll change the world. The creators of this technology are a husband and wife team from Idaho that have found a way to make what I feel is a tool for the future of mankind’s survival and presence on this planet. Check out the video.
Thanks to Julie and Scott Brusaw we have a perfectly feasible option to move us a step closer to a brighter future.
What do you feel about this? Is this something you would want in your city/ house?
Mystinal 