Tragedies often sound a clarion call that get people to band together and be their best selves.
But how long will the good behavior last? Like exercise or showers, while it is good to do ... it is better to repeat.
It is time to take an honest look at ourselves ... and take appropriate action.
The 3 minute video below highlights some tough issues. The hard truth is that progress starts with honesty.
Do you think this painted an accurate picture of the current United States?
International Space Station astronaut Don Pettit lived on the station for about a year, and took many pictures while up there. The results of his innovative photographic work and passion have changed the way we see earth from space.
Next, astrophotographer Christoph Malin took thousands of Pettit's individual photos and animated them, adding clips of Pettit giving a talk about his stay aboard the ISS and his photography there. He also set it to music, creating a simply stunning time-lapse video.
The result is certainly worth watching. So, set aside 16 minutes of your busy day, sit back, and soak this in: “The ISS Image Frontier”.
"Making the invisible visible" - the ISS Image Frontier from Christoph Malin on Vimeo.
The video presents an interesting perspective of our planet.
Many astronauts, even from back in the Apollo days, talk about an incredible feeling they get after a few days in space. As they gaze on the Earth from above, they lose their feeling of borders and nationality. The Saudi astronaut Sultan bin Salman Al-Saud, who flew on the Space Shuttle in 1985, commented on this, saying , “The first day or so we all pointed to our countries. The third or fourth day we were pointing to our continents. By the fifth day, we were aware of only one Earth.”
On a different note, the technique where they create a composite view of a visual time series is facinating. It makes the invisible visible ... and has many uses in the big data space as well. Very cool!
Whether you think you can ... or you think you can't ... you're right.
~ Henry Ford
Slack-Lining is kind of like tight-rope walking (except the line isn't as taut ... so it moves and bounces around). The image to the right is of me trying it less than six inches off the ground.
It was harder than you might guess ... Perhaps fear of falling contributed to the heart racing and muscle tension that went along with it.
Josh Beaudoin (the guy trying to steady me) claims that slack-lining is not an adrenaline sport. It is about being composed in the moment. It is about finding the confidence to face your fear and the power to manage your emotions.
Listen to some wisdom as you watch an awesome video by Josh. It was shot in Rock Canyon near Provo, UT.
Imagine the experience of being up there ... and what we do down here doesn’t seem risky.
To see something else a little crazy. Check out this link about Fire-Walking.
It is kind of the opposite of one of those old Kung Fu movies where the dubbed words you hear aren't synched with the mouth movement.
Here it looks like they are saying what you hear ... it's just that someone changed the words. You could call it "So THAT'S what they were saying ..."
via YouTube
Oh well ... crazy how fast time flies. Hopefully 2012 was good for you.
Here is JibJab's take on what happened.
Long Live 2013.
Gangnam Style has about a billion views, recently surpassing Justin Bieber to become the number one most-viewed YouTube video of all time.
So, of course, JibJab got in the game. They’ve launched a Gangnam Style video that you can personalize with your face (or a friend’s face). Here's what it looks like.
Hope you are having a happy and fun holiday season.
It that time of year again. Wow, how time flies.
To my Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah.
As a gift to all of you, here is "The Chanukah Song," performed by comedian Adam Sandler on Saturday Night Live. It became an instant classic, since he first performed it in 1994.
Here is the video.
Here is the Wikipedia post about the Chanukah Song.
He has updated it since then. Here is Sandler's Version 2.
And, here is Sandler's Version 3. Hope you enjoy them ... and best wishes for a happy holiday season.
Squeak, I am your father. Disney just bought LucasFilms for $4 Billion.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
There is no escaping "Gangnam Style," the meteoric dance craze performed by South Korean rapper Psy.
OK, it has a catchy tune and fun dance moves ... but how do you explain the incredible global response to "Gangnam Style," a song that's almost entirely in Korean?
Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading
It was cool that they found the bombers so fast. Yet, I have mixed feelings about what that implies about the 'surveillance society' we live in.
Sometimes things just don't seem to make sense ... other times they do.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
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