Spontaneous Sand Paintings by Joe Mangrum

More HERE.

Gidget Retro Teardrop Pull-Out Camper

Time Lapse of Mt. Hood in Spring

from Tyler Hulett

Fun Time! The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga!

As a youngster, I loved animated cartoons (still do!) and Astro Boy was a real favorite. Kimba the White Lion and Speed Racer were also high on my list of "foreign films" that I watched every day.

My daughter-in-law is also a big fan, but more so of the comics. Recently I came across this on Kevin Kelly's Wink Books website (thanks, Kevin!) and thought it would make a nice present for her, so I purchased it through Amazon.

Osamu Tezuka was a Japanese cartoonist, animator, film producer, and washe creator of the comics series Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion.  Black Jack. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him the honor of being "the god of manga". He is considered to be the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney.

This gorgeous, sumptuous coffee table is just stunning, packed with examples of Tezuka's life work. When I received the first copy, I knew I had to have one for my own library, so I immediately ordered a second copy.

I don't often hawk products here, but if you enjoy animation and Japanese animation in particular, this wonderful book is a must-have.

Bonus Fun!: The book includes a DVD 45-minute DVD documentary covering Tezuka’s career, from his early manga characters to his later animation work!

Recycling is Dying

From the Washington Post...

"Once a profitable business for cities and private employers alike, recycling in recent years has become a money-sucking enterprise. The District, Baltimore and many counties in between are contributing millions annually to prop up one of the nation’s busiest facilities here in Elkridge, Md. — but it is still losing money. In fact, almost every facility like it in the country is running in the red. And Waste Management and other recyclers say that more than 2,000 municipalities are paying to dispose of their recyclables instead of the other way around."

Lower oil prices, lower demand for recycled materials, poor recycling habits (wrong items, unclean items) driving up the cost of the programs, all have contributed to huge economic losses in the recycling industry.

Read the article. It's time for us to figure this out before we are buried in out own detritus.

Lexus Creates a Hoverboard

It looks like companies are racing to create a hoverboard before Marty McFly arrives in the future on October 21 of this year. First, it was the Hendo Hoverboard. Now Lexus wants in the game.

From USA Today...

"Toyota's luxury brand Lexus said Wednesday it has created a hoverboard. Yes, a hoverboard -- as in something that looks like a skateboard without wheels that can hover above the ground like the character Marty McFly rode in the Back to the Future movie trilogy. 'It works. It's not a hoax,' says spokesman Moe Durand. Lexus says it won't be sold. It's for demonstration purposes. It operates using magnetic levitation, with liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and permanent magnets that 'combine to allow Lexus to create the impossible.' It says it is working with the world's leading experts in super-conductive technology."

I ask you, when was the last time a company created a technology that it didn't eventually sell?

Travel Photo of the Week

Adam's Peak, Sri Lanka

The Science of Incivility

Christine Porath has been studying the costs of incivility in the workplace for the last 20 years and the news isn't good. Her recent article in the New York Times posits that "how we treat one another at work matters. Insensitive interactions have a way of whittling away at people’s health, performance and souls."

She believes that mean bosses could have killed her father.

Robert M. Sapolsky, a Stanford professor and the author of “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers,” argues that when people experience intermittent stressors like incivility for too long or too often, their immune systems pay the price. We also may experience major health problems, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and ulcers.

This also hurts productivity and the bottom line. Employees subjected to this kind of behavior are much less productive and the turnover rates for businesses run by tyrants are much higher.

But it is also just possible that the rush of abusing others is just too great for the perpetrator to stop doing it.

Timelapse of Earth from International Space Station

ISS Symphony - Timelapse of Earth from International Space Station

Are We Really 99% Chimpanzee?