Hot to Build your Creative Confidence

How to Build Your Creative Confidence by David Kelley.

Really interesting talk. I watched this and then felt I should hug my parents for keeping every single piece of art we ever made, even that one weird little dinosaur I didn't actually make, I won for making the best art piece in 3rd grade.

How We Spend Our Money

..Nothing new, but still interesting to see side by side.

Mississippi

"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among stones." -Charlotte Brontë

..via Steve. Unfortunately, growing up in Texas, seeing people like this throughout my life, it makes me more angry than sad.

I'm a Runner

When I run barefoot, I put my shoes on my hands. Running around with shoe-hands looks a little weird.

Cool. Cool, cool, cool.

Exercise Will Change Your Life

In surveys, a consistent 30 to 35 percent of people report moderate to vigorous levels of physical activity. But in the past few years, researchers have begun to outfit study participants with devices that record movement, and the truth has come out: Fewer than 5 percent of adults are doing the recommended level of activity.

...

The moral of the story is, you can choose to get old before your time.

Jesus Popcicles

"Each piece is a personal interpretation of some aspect of American life, be it celebratory, critical or simply observational. The exhibition intends to question what the American life is, whether real or perceived," according to a news release from the gallery.

His frozen cocktails stand as a symbol, he said, an invitation to "drink the Kool-Aid" that he feels so many religious zealots are stirring up. He hopes the Popsicles will remind the gallery's visitors to take their religions - whatever they may be - a little less seriously.

The Way We Live: Drowning in Stuff

What the researchers gleaned was an unflinching view of the American family, with all its stresses and joys on display. They’ve organized their findings into a book, scheduled to be available next week, called “Life at Home in the 21st Century.” It’s full of intriguing data points about the number of possessions the families owned (literally, thousands), much of it children’s toys. Women’s stress-hormone levels spiked when confronted with family clutter; the men’s, not so much. Finally, there was a direct relationship between the amount of magnets on refrigerators and the amount of stuff in a household.

I have 32 magnets on my fridge, I also own a lot of craft supplies, books, and too many clothes. I'd be interested in seeing a large scale study on that point alone.

Vainest Cities in the US

We added up each city's rates for cosmetic procedures (American Society of Plastic Surgeons), Botox users, folks who go for dye jobs, and people who will spend anything to look younger (Experian Marketing Services). We also tallied sales of at-home hair dyes, teeth whiteners, and shapewear (SimplyMap), as well as per-capita rates of cosmetic dentists, plastic surgeons, and tanning salons (American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, AMA, and SimplyMap). Finally, Foursquare told us where people check into those salons most often.

Most vain:

1. Tampa, FL
2. Plano, TX
3. Atlanta, GA
4. Las Vegas, NV
5. Dallas, TX
6. Pittsburgh, PA
7. Houston, TX
8. Miami, FL
9. San Francisco, CA
10. Providence, RI

Seriously....every other block is a plastic surgery center in west Plano.

ISS Star Trails

Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit relayed some information about photographic techniques used to achieve the images: “My star trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes. However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.”

Because, really, how many people have the opportunity to take long exposure pictures from space?

IVF

Indeed, the woman's mouth had been essentially inseminated.

This really seems like the ultimate revenge by the squid for getting eaten.