Being human, and the price of a solitary life

"Just you and the wind. And the time just melts away."

I think whats so tricky sometimes talking about the lookout experience is your not talking to anybody about it. You more intuit it, you more experience it. . . you just find yourself sitting on the porch watching the world go by.

This video, this lifestyle, is radically intriguing to me - especially during times such as these. Life on mountain tops, rising with the sun, seems so simple, so beautiful, and so much more lovely, wrestling with the wind and rain and dooming snow, rather than with the ugliness of mankind. 

But it also seems so unbelievable selfish, lonely, and ultimately, unsatisfying. Because even though the mountains have a way, they can't teach us what it means to be human. 

Chris McCandless gave his life to pursue a life of solitude, only to find that "happiness is only real when shared" and I think that's true. But it's also incomplete. 

Because humans are meant for so much more.

The 2015 Templeton Prize Laureate, Jean Vanier, speaks on the Big Question: "What does it mean to be fully human?"

 : I'm a member of the huge human family :

 . . . To discover who I am is also to discover a unity between my head and my heart. The head we are called to grow, to understand, and to work through things. But the heart is something else. It is about concern by others. We are born into a relationship. And that relationship that we all lived is a relationship with our mom. We were so small. So weak. So fragile. And we heard the words which are the most important, and maybe the words we need to hear all our life: I love you as you are. You are my beloved son or my beloved daughter. And this is what gives consistency to people. They know they are loved. And that's what they're seeking, maybe for the rest of their lives . . .

The problem today is that many people are filled with fear. They are frightened of people, frightened of losing. And because people are filled with fear they can no longer be open to others. They're protecting themselves, protecting their class, protecting their group, protecting their religion. We're all in a state of protection (seeking isolation). To become fully human is to let down the barriers, to open up. And to discover that every person is beautiful. Under all the jobs they're doing, their responsibilities, there is you. And you, at the heart of who you are, you're somebody also crying out, "Does somebody love me not just for what I can do, but for who I am?"

So to be fully human is the development of the heart and the head, and then we can become one. One inside of us. Becoming one inside of us we can little by little let down the ego, the need to prove that I am better than you. And then I can begin to see in other people, other groups, other religions, other cultures, that people are wonderful. And then we can come and we can work for peace together.

Often, living a life of isolation is easier than dealing with who we are - fully fallible human beings. But living in isolation also robs us of the best of what life can offer: forgiveness, love, and the complete acceptance of who we are. Like family.

Something the wind, the porch, and the mountains can never be.

To be human is to be known, to share happiness and tragedy with those we love, and to sit together, hand in hand, as the world quickly and beautifully passes by.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Simple Living  :  Humanity  :  Why Chris Mccandless must die

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Why the solar eclipse will blow our minds

This kind of event puts you in contact with the cosmos; you can feel the motions of the heavenly bodies. We can feel how vast our solar system really is.

 

In 2016, Alaskan Airlines even adjusted flight #870, from Anchorage to Honolulu, so their passengers could watch the eclipse above the clouds. 

At 35,000 feet, it's hard not to get excited.  

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  The scale of our solar system  :  Cool stuff we've sent into space

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When 2+2 equals 5, it's time to stand

Sometimes, it's best not to believe what we're taught.

When I showed this to my students a few years back, I asked, "Why imaginary guns? Why not the real thing?"

"Because they're not killing him," a student responded, "but his mind. And his imagination."

Perhaps the same can be said for the mindless adherence to rules, ideas, and religion. 

Ethnic (or any) diversity is like fresh air: It benefits everybody who experiences it. By disrupting conformity it produces a public good. To step back from the goal of {diversity} would deprive {everyone}, regardless of their racial or ethnic background, of the opportunity to benefit from the improved cognitive performance that diversity promotes.

Because,

When surrounded by people “like ourselves,” we are easily influenced, more likely to fall for wrong ideas. Diversity prompts better, critical thinking. It contributes to error detection. It keeps us from drifting toward miscalculation (via).

Sadly, at times, it takes someone standing at the chalkboard or standing in front of a tank to remind us how far we've drifted. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Diversity  :  Heineken commercial - More than a drink  :  Dangers of a Single Story

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A 10-Minute Silent Song Is Climbing iTunes Charts

"Samir Mezrahi’s nine-minute-and-58-second-long track consisting of pure silence is quickly climbing up iTunes’ charts.

Inspired by the frustration felt by anyone who has plugged their phone into a car radio only to hear the first alphabetically listed song in their music library blare over the speakers, “A a a a a Very Good Song” is designed to jump to the top of the list." (via).

And by doing so, Mezrahi is allowing ten minutes of silence to invade our otherwise loud and busy day, which, according to various studies, is exactly what we need.

 "In a loud and distracting world," the Huffington Post reports, "finding pockets of stillness can benefit your brain and body" (via).  

Here are four science-backed reasons why:

1. Silence relieves stress and tension. 
2. Silence replenishes our mental resources.
3. In silence, we can tap into the brain’s default mode network (daydreaming, meditating, fantasying, etc.)
4. Getting quiet can regenerate brain cells.

Being silent means more than just holding one's tongue. It means listening for the soft and subtle sounds of wind sweeping through the tall grass, of birds singing in the near distance, or the pure giggle of a child deep in play.

Silence also allows us a chance to hear our thoughts, and to chase them, over winding streams and wild lands; it allows our imaginations to run free rather than be caged by entertainment. 

In silence, we are available to the greatest songs of all, Life.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Music  :  Creativity

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The Tank Man : At the cost of life

Photo by Jeff Widener

There are several videos that capture this event, and a few with Jeff Widener describing the moments surrounding this iconic photo. They're all pretty good, but this one, the one without any music or explanation, is the best. Without the distractions, you can almost feel it. The crowd, the tanks, and the moment of a man who has finally had enough, and decides to do something about it.

Even at the cost of his life. 

No one knows what has happened to the Tank Man. He has never surfaced and no one has ever claimed him as a father, son, husband, or friend, but his actions have inspired countries and individuals around the world.

After yesterday's post on the Charlottesville shooting, remembering this event which occurred on June 5, 1989, seems most appropriate.

So does this quote, which was recently shared with me by a friend.

It reads,

We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.
- Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and the author of Night.

And this one, by Alan Patton: 

In the deserted harbour, there is yet water that laps against the quays. In the dark and silent forest there is a leaf that falls. Behind the polished panelling the white ant eats away the wood. Nothing is ever quiet, except for fools. - Cry, the Beloved Country

May we never be considered fools. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Humility  :  Tank Man Documentary

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Charlottesville: An up-close look at race and terror

This is perhaps the best on-the-ground view of what went down in Charlottesville over the weekend. It’s graphic in spots. Prepare to be angry and sad and frustrated and scared (via).

Because this, too, is America. 

On Saturday hundreds of white nationalists, alt-righters, and neo-Nazis traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia to participate in the “Unite the Right” rally. By Saturday evening three people were dead – one protester, and two police officers – and many more injured. 

“VICE News Tonight” correspondent Elle Reeve went behind the scenes with white nationalist leaders, including Christopher Cantwell, Robert Ray, David Duke, and Matthew Heimbach — as well as counter-protesters. VICE News Tonight also spoke with residents of Charlottesville, members of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Charlottesville Police.

From the neo-Nazi protests at Emancipation Park to Cantwell’s hideaway outside of Virginia, “VICE News Tonight” provides viewers with exclusive, up close and personal access inside the unrest (via).

In the face of such hatred, how do we forgive? How do we improve? 

Where do we go from here?

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Humanity  :  How to Forgive  :  Chris Paul forgives the men who killed his grandfather

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Bacon and God's Wrath : After 90 years, a Jewish woman eats bacon

I was recently asked by a friend who isn't exactly an atheist, "What if you're wrong?"

He didn't ask this in an arrogant or A-hole sort of way - the way many people do - but in a genuine, inquisitive sort of way; in a way that lead me to believe he has asked himself the same question many times, and, more importantly, will continue to do so. 

Since that day, which was almost three weeks ago now, I haven't been able to put the thought down. Even now, my mind hasn't found a conclusion yet, and I doubt it ever will. Which is a good, I think, because, what if I am wrong? And not just about my faith, but about a million other things I feel so certain about that, seemingly, have grave and everlasting (or not) consequences? What if I'm wrong not just on a few small things, but a few huge things?

About people?

And about Life?

"What if you're wrong" might be the hardest, most important question to answer because if we are, it means we have to admit it, and that we have to change. 

It means having to say we're sorry, which, at times, is harder than sliding a camel through the eye of a needle. 

You're torn between the safety of where you are and the loyalty to your parents. I can't help but wondering if it's somewhat that's part of the genes. Part of the brain pattern. I think that for me, this is the essential part of the documentary.

That connectedness. It was more than I ever got from going to synagogue.

It's courageous to choose to the truth, even if that means abandoning what we know.

At the root of all humanity, there is doubt. We all doubt, even though we speak of absolutes and act with deep certainty, at the depths of us all, there is doubt. And because so, it should be something that unites us, not divides. Knowing that all of us are without absolutely certainty should fill us with compassion and patience, not arrogance and piety. 

At least, that's what Philip Seymour Hoffman says.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  On playing Devil's Advocate  :  Where Ideas come from  :  On Empathy

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11 GIFs that explain (seemingly) simple things

These may or may not help in the advancement of life, but I bet you can't stop watching them. 

 

How popcorn is made:

Huh. 

How a cheetah runs and uses its tail for stability:

Now that is cool. Kinda makes me wish I had a tail. 

How locks work: 

Or, just pound screw driver in. 

How a dandelion spreads its seeds:

Question. Does this happen in a single day? Because the sky never changes. 

How a sowing machine works:

I've sincerely always wondered about this. 

How a dog drinks water:

And this.

How vines find support:

For some reason, this is super cool to me.

How a trumpet works:

So simple. Yet, Miles Davis makes it seem so incredibly complicated. 

How the Pythagorean Theorem works:

Oh . . . I still don't get it.

How to visualize and explain the value of pi

Finally. Math makes a little bit of sense.

How the gladiator spider hunts:

This is quite simply the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. Ever. Thank the Lord spiders don't fly, or hunt in packs, or scream wildly whenever they catch their prey. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  The Magic of Making Sound  : Japanese Fish Makes Ocean Art  :  They Shyness of Trees

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Monica Lewinsky: The Price of Shame

At the age of 22, I fell in love with my boss. At the age of 24, I learned the devastating consequences. Not a day goes by that I'm not reminded of my mistake. And I regret that mistake deeply. In 1998, after being swept up in an improbable romance, I was then swept up into the eye of a political, legal, and media maelstrom like we had never seen before. It was the first time the traditional news was usurped by the internet for a major news story. A click that reverberated around the world. What that meant for me personally was that overnight, I went from a complete private figure, to a publicly humiliated one. Worldwide.

A few months ago I listened to Monica Lewinsky share her story on the podcast To Endure, by TED Radio Hour. The whole hour is worth listening to but Ms. Lewinsky's story, starting at minute marker 30:56, is truly inspiring, and revealing, and I strongly encourage you listen to the the interview. I thought it better than the TED Talk because, like she says from the TED stage, "It was easy to forget that that woman was dimensional." And she's right. This interview provided, perhaps for the first time in my life, empathy towards her and her plight. 

I was only fifteen-ish when the story broke, but my understanding of her then and up until I listened to her story was most certainly, one dimensional. Because it was easy. And because, if I'm honest, I didn't really care that much to change it. Now, I'm eager to.

Here is another dimension of Monica Lewinsky.

We need to return to being a culture of compassion. Compassion and empathy.

Since the scandal of '98, Monica Lewinsky went on to receive a Masters in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 2014, she released an essay for Vanity Fair named "Shame and Survival," which was nominated for a National Magazine Award. She's currently involved with anti-bullying projects in the U.S. and U.K. (via). 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Dangers of a Single Story  :  Humanity  :  TED Talks

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"Former enemies, now friends" : WWII Vets reunite with Japanese soldiers

"An Oregon couple is providing closure to the descendants of Japanese soldiers killed in World War II by repatriating the "good luck" flags they carried into battle, which were acquired by American GIs. Lee Cowan talks to veterans and their families about a respectful and emotional return - and of a bond born of war and strengthened in peace" (via).

At age 95, Bud still doesn't take lightly. "I provided all the ammunition that killed all these folks. And I'm not exactly, totally happy that I did that. But at the time, that was my job. I couldn't question that.

Why is it important to return the flags now?

"It's a closer. You can't keep hating people."

"It wasn't some souvenir. It was their father come home."

This generation will soon be gone, and so will their stories, their lessons, and their pain. The oldest living WWII Vet is 109 years old. WWII wasn't good, but they had to go. And, more times then often, they represent the best of us. 

World War II veterans visited Iwo Jima for the 70th anniversary of one most iconic battles of World War II, March 21, 2015.

I recently passed a man in a local grocery store who was wearing a "WW II Veteran" hat. I walked past, in the traditional silence I pass most people in a grocery store. Later, I wish I had said stopped him and said, "thank you." Watching films like this affirms the need to do this in the future. To say thank you for going, thank you for shouldering the burden of coming home, and thank you for loving us all - the many men and women whom you'll never know - so much.

Our lives, our freedoms, are because of you. 

Thank you. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Real People  :  Humanity

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Double King Explained!

I've posted some of Felix Colgrave's works before and probably will again. He's pretty fricken cool. 

However, I'm posting this more for my AP students who spent an entire class trying to dissect and interpret, but who, like myself, struggled to truly make sense of it. 

This guys interpretation my not be perfect, but it still helps quite a bit. 

Check out more of Felix Colgrave's works, click here. And if you have any further insights or opinions on this or any of his works, please, share your thoughts!

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Short Films  :  Art

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Privileged America, your table is ready

This morning, after listening to the podcast "State vs Johnson," by Malcolm Gladwell I was uncomfortable. No, that's not right. I was angry - pissed even - because I just hate stories like these. It's about a colored man accused of raping a white woman during the Jim Crow era. He didn't do it, but that didn't matter. She said he did.

The podcast ended about seven minutes before the walk was over so I had time to try and digest it a bit. It was a bit like trying to swallow a much too large piece of apple. After forcing it down with a giant chin-to-chest gulp, it scraped all the way down, leaving my chest soar and bruised for the rest of the day. Suddenly, simple eating becomes a painful chore. 

Around noon, I grabbed a beer and tried to sort out my thoughts. I drank coffee instead.

A few nights earlier, I wasted too much time watching Louis C.K. videos because a good friend of mine, Eric Trauger, always talks about him, and for good reason: Louis C.K. is brilliant - in a hysterically difficult to watch sort of way - because, well, he nails us. Right on the head. And it's super uncomfortable.

Especially if you're privileged white. 

In "State vs Johnson," Gladwell points out the parallel between Johnson's case and that described in To Kill a Mockingbird. The only difference being, Johnson didn't have Atticus Finch. He had a drunk who didn't understand the constitution, or the rights of all men.

(As a side note, I absolutely, with all that I know and am, disagree with Gladwell's assessment of Atticus' motive of persuasion).

Soon after the podcast ended, one thought that came to mind was on the idea of rights. After the trial, where Johnson was unsurprisingly found guilty, a new lawyer, Vernon Jordan, stepped in to try and rectify the verdict on the basis of violated Amendment rights - the fourteenth specifically- which says that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws (via)." 

Johnson, a born citizen of the United States, had certain unalienable rights. But because of the color of his skin and because of the egregious actions he was assumed to have done, his rights were tossed aside, like crumbs on a picnic table. 

Suddenly, inherent rights, seam so fickle, so fragile, only as strong as the men and women who ensure them. 

The twin brother to rights is deserve, and in our American culture, we use them interchangeably. He or she deserves or has the right to do this or that, we feel the freedom to buy or do as we please because we deserve it, and please, feel the freedom to speak up and speak out because it is our First Amendment right, any high schooler knows that.

These ideas of complete independence and freedom are rooted in the declarations of our constitution, that all men are created equal and with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As Americans, we understand these truths, and we hold them to be self-evident.

But, what if they're not? What if we don't actually deserve anything? What if we, really, have absolutely no right to demand any rights at all?

What if, like Atticus Finch, all we really have is the weight of responsibility. 

None of us chose anything about our birth, we just showed up, involuntarily. Louis C.K. hits on this when he says, "If it were an option, I would re-up (on being white) every year." 

That's a pretty important "if" because it emphasis the point that none of us had a choice in anything about how we came into this world. Not who are parents are, their nationality, or ethnicity they are or decided to have sex with. We didn't decide any of it. We had not a single bit of input. Even after we were born, our opinions didn't count. If our parents lived on a farm, we lived on a farm. If they moved to the city, we went along - kicking and screaming or otherwise. From the beginning, we had no say, none, on some of the most deciding factors of life. 

We didn't even have a say if we wanted to be born at all.

However, overtime, we begin to expect, demand even, what we are so confident think we deserve. 

Yet, these men and women, without rights and without privilege, shaped the course of America.

We know America is what we make of it. That, "the Tuskegee Airman, and the Navajo Code Talkers, and the Japanese Americans who fought for this country even as their own liberty (a right or privilege) had been denied" taught and lived out for us a great lesson on what it means to be American, and what it means to be human.

"We are all called to do something. We are all called, to play a role," not simply sit about, demanding our rights and privileges, but to live a life of deep responsibility, like Sojourner Truth, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Atticus Finch

Many of those men and women who walked that bridge, including that southern baptist preacher who had a dream, didn't look to the Constitution for strength to stand up and do something, they looked to their responsibility, their role within the time, and they made something of it. They were men and women of integrity, not entitlement. And they, along with many others both past and present, are what have helped make America great. Not their rights. 

But we're not finished. In fact, if we look around, I think it's clear to say we are far from it.

May we, especially those of us born into undeserved privilege, live in a similar way and with like conviction and embrace the roles we are called to play - to make our homes, our communities, our country and our world great, not simply ourselves. To live, not with selfish and ambition, but with a sense of urgent responsibility, to use our gifts and talents and rights for the benefit of others, not merely ourselves. And to love. Good God may we learn to love and think of each others as more important than ourselves. 

Then, and only then, will We be great. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Humanity  :  History  :  The Misunderstood Black Panther Party

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Music : Illusion and Mastery

I wasn't going to watch this one even though it kept popping up on various websites and even though I love soundtracks. I don't know why, I just didn't want to watch it.

Then, it popped up again. So I watched it.

I'm glad I did. I think you will be too.

Afterward, I was lead to this one of John Bonham, the drummer for Led Zeppelin. 

 For almost 20 years now, I've maintained a steady level of less-than-mediocre drumming skills - which is pretty impressive, if I do say so myself - so have always been drawn to really, really good drummers.

Even though I can't read music, the pictures really helped and I can now say with confidence, this guy is brilliant. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Movies Without Soundtracks  :  The Story Behind Soundtracks

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Danny Macaskill : The Ridge

Sometimes, people amaze me.

Born December 23, 1985, Danny MacAskill is a Scottish trials cyclist, from Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. He works professionally as a street trials pro rider for Inspired Bicycles Ltd and is one helluva crazy dude. 

You can read more about Danny on his website and watch his new video, Wee Day Out where he explores the rural landscape around Edinburgh. The film "sets out to capture the simple fun of a ride in the country with moments of incredible riding and a touch of humor. Danny pulls off never-seen-before tricks, most of which would normally be assumed impossible on a mountain bike, like leaping onto a single train track, turning a hay bale into a giant unicycle, riding over a cottage, and disappearing into a 6ft puddle."

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :   Other Guys who will make your palms sweat  :  Great Wall Adventures

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President Bush : in search of atonement

George W. Bush is painting portraits of soldiers, and they're pretty amazing.

"In his book, 'Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors'" Peter Schjeldahl writes, "President Bush has painted ninety-eight portraits of "physically and/or mentally wounded Armed Forces veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars" (via).

The quality of the art is astonishingly high for someone who—because he “felt antsy” in retirement, he writes, after “I had been an art-agnostic all my life”—took up painting from a standing stop, four years ago, at the age of sixty-six. Bush’s eye and hand have improved drastically since hacked images of a couple of clumsy, apparently nude self-portraits in a bathroom surfaced, in 2013. (He made those, he said, to shock his painting tutor—the first of three plainly crackerjack ones whom he acknowledges in the book.)

Bush now commands a style, generic but efficient, of thick, summary brushwork that aims to capture expression as well as physiognomy. There’s a remoteness in the use of photographs. The subjects aren’t present to the artist. They’re elsewhere. But they look honestly observed and persuasively alive.

I love this acknowledgement because it highlights the closeness, the intimate connection, President Bush has with these men and women - even if they're not physically present. He isn't painting their portraits as a publicity stunt or to merely "be liked" by a country that criticized him so often. He's doing it because his heart and mind are wrestling through the immense responsibility of being a President, of sending people he didn't know into war, while he stays behind.

A responsibility and weight we'll will never understand. 

President Bush sent these men and women into harm’s way, and they came back harmed—often minus limbs from I.E.D. and mine explosions—and, in all cases, traumatized to some degree. Ex-President Bush met them in the course of running a charity, the George W. Bush Institute’s Military Service Initiative, which he set up to honor and aid veterans.

Bush’s portraits are accompanied in the book by upbeat tales of recovery . . . the book’s tone isn’t self-congratulatory. It’s self-comforting, rather, in its exercise of Bush’s never-doubted sincerity and humility—virtues that were maddeningly futile when he governed, and that now shine brighter, in contrast with Trump, than may be merited.

Having obliviously made murderous errors, Bush now obliviously atones for them. What do you do with someone like that? (via)

I love that concluding question, and I love that a New Yorker journalist asked it because a journalist of such caliber is supposed to answer questions, relieve doubt and confusion, and articulate a way we should and want to think. 

But he doesn't. Which makes it a perfect ending. Because it leaves it up to us - we are responsible for figuring it out - for concluding his thoughts. 

What do you do with someone like that?

Well, we Forgive,  empathize, and allow him to live outside of our constructed single story. We allow him to be a human who lived out his humanity on the grandest of stages, for everyone to see. And we allow him, and learn from, his attempts to seek amends. Because that's what heroes do.

And, if Michelle Obama can take to the former president, despite their vast differences, I think we all can.

I just love this photo and all that it represents. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :   Humanity  :  History of the "President"  :  A Mapping of US Presidents

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How to Forgive.

What more needs to be said?

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Nat Geo's Travel Photos of the Year

"The results of the 2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest are now in, with grand-prize winner Sergio Tapiro Velasco set to receive a 10-day trip for two to the Galápagos Archipelago with National Geographic Expeditions, for his incredible shot of lightning striking the erupting Colima Volcano in Mexico (below). National Geographic was kind enough to allow {ALAN TAYLOR} to share the winners and honorable mentions with us here, from three categories: Nature, Cities, and People. The photos and captions were written by the photographers, and lightly edited for style" (via)

The Power of Nature - Grand Prize and 1st Prize Nature Category. Powerful eruption of Colima Volcano in Mexico on December 13th, 2015. That night, the weather was dry and cold, friction of ash particles generated a big lightning rod of about 600 meters that connected ash and volcano, illuminating the dark scene. In last part of 2015, this volcano showed a lot of eruptive activity with ash explosions that raised 2-3 km above the crater. Most of the night explosions produced incandescent rock falls and lightning not bigger than 100 meters in average

Al Ain - Honorable mention, Cities. New city on the desert.

The Man’s Stare - Honorable mention, People. The photo was taken on July 23rd 2016 at Tongi Railway Station in Gazipur, Bangladesh. I was there taking photos and waiting for a moment. A train from Dhaka toward another district stopped at the platform for 5 minutes for lifting passengers. It was raining a lot. Suddenly I found a pair of curious eyes looking at me through the window and on his left an umbrella has been put to protect from the rain. I got the moment.

Interesting Moment - 2nd Place, People. Museum visitors curiously watching Rembrandt's painting "Syndics of the Drapers' Guild" where it gave the illusion that the people on the paintings too are curiously watching the visitors.

My favorite is "The Man's Stare." What a captured moment. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :   Amazing Photos :  Nat Geo 2016 Year in Photos  :  Portrait Photography of Martin Schoeller

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Advice from Lord Birthday

Lord Birthday was created in the summer of 2015, on a train from Vancouver to Portland, but Chad, the man behind Lord Birthday, didn't want anyone to know it was him. Nobody. Not his colleagues at Oregon State University, not his parents, not his friends. 

Only his wife could know that Chad - super clean, extremely shy, sink-in-the-corner Chad - had another side to his otherwise boring personality.

It wasn't until this episode, True You, produced by Invisibilia, that Chad told the world who he truly was. 

And he was terrified. Because for him, Chad getting "too involved" with Lord Birthday would, sorta, kill Lord Birthday. Because, suddenly, Lord Birthday would be censored - there would be a double take. "What will my parents think?"

Chad/Lord Birthday has a book deal in the makings and can be followed on instagram and GoComics (if you just keep pressing the "random" button under each picture, you'll be entertained for hours). 

So far, Lord Birthday isn't dead.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :   Chalk Art  :  Art

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Shrinking of humanity

Five boys, middle school aged boys, just walked into the Starbucks I've been sitting at for the past hour. They rode their bikes here, dropping them outside the door, asked for free water, then huddled together and pulled out their phones. All of them. 

"Should I post this to my story?" one asks, passing around his phone. One friend says no; the rest yes. He posts, and they all laugh.

They chat, giggle, and, generally, act like a small pack of middle school boys: loud, and fully self absorbed. Just like I did when I was their age. 

However, they are also fully different from what I remember because, my friends and I never had phones or social media. In high school, we had pagers. In middle school, Juno. We were pretty sheltered.

Yet, how quickly we've all adapted. And how quickly we've all bought into the lie.

The lie that everyone around us is as happy as they claim and post, and the lie that we need the likes and hearts and approval from others to feel good about our selves, and our (often) fake lives.

A couple has just walked in - they look to be maybe in their late teens, perhaps early twenties. She opened the door first, placing her sunglasses on her head full of curly brown hair. He soon followed, his face absorbed in his phone. She held the door for him and they both disappeared behind the wall to order their drinks. 

When I watch, when I really look around at the people in line at the grocery store, at those shopping, those eating or even driving, I notice that most, and close to all, have their screens out and on. Hardly any of them are sitting there, talking, without their little device of distraction.

Including me.

I met a friend for brunch this morning and the family of three sitting across from us sat in silence. The husband watched the TV in the corner while the mom and son scanned their phones. In almost 45 minutes, they said hardly a word to each other. Even after the food arrived.

The couple has just left. She carried both drinks; he carried his phone, about a foot from his face. (I swear, I'm not making this up).

Several years ago, I remember reading a few stories of a man and a woman being stabbed in city streets, only to find that no one would stop and help them. But they would take pictures. 

This video, suddenly, doesn't seem too far off. Even if it is a bit disturbing. 

Middle school boys, boyfriends, or families out for lunch, on their cellphones, doesn't mean they will overlook a stabbing - that's a pretty far jump. 

But it does start somewhere. Or rather, it isn't controlled somewhere. 

And the easiest, most appropriate place to start, is probably the home. 

Our humanity is shrinking.

We no longer have natural "stopping cues" - the ending of a book or news paper or TV show that moves us on to something different, or even, that it's okay and appropriate to put down our phones and see the world, the people, that surrounds us.

So we need to create them on our own. 

Alter offers dinner as a possible stopping cue, which I fully accept and agree with, but also struggle with a bit because phones have never been allowed at the table. Ever. So it doesn't really help.

So I am interested in what other have done, how others have consciously protected their home, their family, and their pursuit of conversation. 

Screens are miraculous - I too feel that it's true - but they are also dangerous. And they are thieves. They steal the color, the richness, and the interesting from life, and they, ironically, steal the human connection with other humans. They create a distance. And they install a dullness. But only if abused and misused. 

If you have a suggestions on how to create natural (or unnatural) stopping cues for screen life, please, share them. I'm sure we would all appreciate a little more sand between our toes and ocean on our feet. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :   #eattogether  :  On Living  :  Humanity

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The Best Road Trip, according to Science

A while ago, Tracy Staedter from Discovery News proposed an interesting idea to Randy Olson, a Senior Data Scientist at the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Biomedical Informatics: use the same algorithm from his Where’s Waldo article to compute the optimal road trip across every state in the U.S.

 So he did.

"One of the hardest parts of planning a road trip," Olson writes, "is deciding where to stop along the way. Given how large and diverse the U.S. is, it’s especially difficult to make a road trip that will appeal to everyone. To stand a chance at making an interesting road trip, Tracy and I laid out a few rules from the beginning:

1. The trip must make at least one stop in all 48 states in the contiguous U.S.
2. The trip would only make stops at National Natural Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Parks, or National Monuments.
3. The trip must be taken by car and never leave the U.S.

With those objectives in mind, Tracy compiled a list of 50 major U.S. landmarks — one in each state excluding Alaska/Hawaii and including D.C., and two in California" (via)

The result is an epic itinerary "with a mix of inner city exploration, must-see historical sites, and beautiful natural landscapes."

"All that was left was to figure out the path that would minimize our time spent driving and maximize our time spent enjoying the landmarks."

Click here for the interactive version

Assuming no traffic, this road trip will take about 224 hours (9.33 days) of driving in total, so it’s truly an epic undertaking that will take at least 2-3 months to complete. The best part is that this road trip is designed so that you can start anywhere on the route as long as you follow it from then on. You’ll hit every major area in the U.S. on this trip, and as an added bonus, you won’t spend too long driving through the endless corn fields of Nebraska.

Here’s the Google Maps of the route: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

(Note that Google maps itself only allows 10 waypoints to be routed at a time, hence why there’s multiple Maps links.)

Here’s the full list of landmarks in order:

1. Grand Canyon, AZ
2. Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
3. Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID
4. Yellowstone National Park, WY
5. Pikes Peak, CO
6. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM
7. The Alamo, TX
8. The Platt Historic District, OK
9. Toltec Mounds, AR
10. Elvis Presley’s Graceland, TN
11. Vicksburg National Military Park, MS
12. French Quarter, New Orleans, LA
13. USS Alabama, AL
14. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL
15. Okefenokee Swamp Park, GA
16. Fort Sumter National Monument, SC
17. Lost World Caverns, WV
18. Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center, NC
19. Mount Vernon, VA
20. White House, Washington, DC
21. Colonial Annapolis Historic District, MD
22. New Castle Historic District, Delaware
23. Cape May Historic District, NJ
24. Liberty Bell, PA
25. Statue of Liberty, NY
26. The Mark Twain House & Museum, CT
27. The Breakers, RI
28. USS Constitution, MA
29. Acadia National Park, ME
30. Mount Washington Hotel, NH
31. Shelburne Farms, VT
32. Fox Theater, Detroit, MI
33. Spring Grove Cemetery, OH
34. Mammoth Cave National Park, KY
35. West Baden Springs Hotel, IN
36. Abraham Lincoln’s Home, IL
37. Gateway Arch, MO
38. C. W. Parker Carousel Museum, KS
39. Terrace Hill Governor’s Mansion, IA
40. Taliesin, WI
41. Fort Snelling, MN
42. Ashfall Fossil Bed, NE
43. Mount Rushmore, SD
44. Fort Union Trading Post, ND
45. Glacier National Park, MT
46. Hanford Site, WA
47. Columbia River Highway, OR
48. San Francisco Cable Cars, CA
49. San Andreas Fault, CA
50. Hoover Dam, NV

(For some entertainment candy, read through the comments on his blog post . . . people are pretty opinionated on what was chosen and what was not. Especially people from WA. It's a waste of time, but fully worth it.)

Bonus: Road trip stopping at popular U.S. cities

"If you’re more of a city slicker, the road trip above may not look very appealing to you because it involves spending a lot of time outdoors. But worry not, for I created a second road trip just for you! The road trip below stops at the TripAdvisor-rated Best City to Visit in every contiguous U.S. state.

Note: Again, there’s an extra stop in Cleveland to force the route between New Hampshire and Michigan to stay in the U.S. rather than go through Canada. If you’re able to drive through Canada without issue, then take the direct route through Canada instead. But really, Cleveland is a nice city to stop in (ranked #53 on TripAdvisor)."

Click here for the interactive version

"This road trip will more-or-less follow the same path as the major U.S. landmarks trip, covering a slightly shorter 12,290 mile (19,780 km) route around the U.S. Some larger states — like California and Texas — may have multiple cities you’d like to visit, so it’s probably worthwhile to stop at other larger cities along the route.

You may note that cities from North Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia are missing. Out of the top 400 recommended cities to visit on TripAdvisor, none were from North Dakota, Vermont, nor West Virginia. This is especially interesting because TripAdvisor reviewers recommend cities like Flint, MI — the 7th most crime-ridden city in the U.S. — over any city in North Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia. I’ll leave the interpretation of that fact to the reader."

Here’s the Google Maps of the route: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Here’s the full list of cities in order:

1. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
2. Wichita, Kansas
3. Denver, Colorado
4. Albuquerque, New Mexico
5. Phoenix, Arizona
6. Las Vegas, Nevada
7. San Francisco, California
8. Portland, Oregon
9. Seattle, Washington
10. Boise, Idaho
11. Park City, Utah
12. Jackson, Wyoming
13. Billings, Montana
14. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
15. Omaha, Nebraska
16. Des Moines, Iowa
17. Minneapolis, Minnesota
18. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
19. Chicago, Illinois
20. Indianapolis, Indiana
21. Louisville, Kentucky
22. Columbus, Ohio
23. Detroit, Michigan
24. Cleveland, Ohio
25. Manchester, New Hampshire
26. Portland, Maine
27. Boston, Massachusetts
28. Providence, Rhode Island
29. New Haven, Connecticut
30. New York City, New York
31. Ocean City, New Jersey
32. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
33. Wilmington, Delaware
34. Baltimore, Maryland
35. Washington, D.C.
36. Virginia Beach, Virginia
37. Charlotte, North Carolina
38. Charleston, South Carolina
39. Orlando, Florida
40. Atlanta, Georgia
41. Nashville, Tennessee
42. Birmingham, Alabama
43. Jackson, Mississippi
44. New Orleans, Louisiana
45. Houston, Texas
46. Little Rock, Arkansas
47. Branson, Missouri

Happy Traveling!

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :   Getting Out More  :  Old Road Signs  :  Cycling to the tip of South America

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