If the UK is so small, how come I haven't seen it ALL?

These postcards are brilliant illustrations of how small the UK landmass is in relation to Australia. No world map has explained to me quite so well, why it is that many Australians and North Americans think nothing of 'doing' the whole of Europe in a few weeks. Thank you Anna Chlebinska and Strange Maps: "Sometimes a picture is more eloquent than a thousand words ... That's two thousand words right here." 

Mesmerising Graphics

Wow ... you know when you get drawn in by graphics? You find yourself staring at the image ... you turn your head to the left, lean to the right ... stand on your head ... and then realise that there are words going on ... well that's how the latest offering from Information is Beautiful got me.

And, to me, these are words worth reading. They have created an interactive infrographic which will be updated as the findings change - especially handy when studies change information - in this case the values of dietry supplements.

Hooray for these people - information isn't restricted to a row of tower blocks and a pie chart any more.

A good read ... and isn't it beautiful? More Green Tea please.

Have you seen?

This award winning short was also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Short Film category at the 2009 Academy Awards. If you haven't seen it - spend a few moments with Oktapodi

Sexy Orange

The sun. A glorious ball of vibrant orange. Warms the cockles of our hearts. Take a moment to enjoy. Orange is sexy.

Ah its such a mood lifting sight. Everyone seams to smile more with the suns out. But today it isn't out. It's hidden behind prolific rain clouds and the predominate colours are black and grey. Grey skies, black and grey fashions and a lot of black umbrellas. 
Short of starting a craze for big orange umbrellas ... now there's a thought ... 

Don't you love the internet?! There's always someone with a similar thought. Different voices, same thoughts ... Well until everyone decides they do want to carry round an orange umbrella we can benefit from seeking out some orange to concentrate on.


Designers' colour theory mood wheels and chakra charts both illustrate similar strengths for each colour.

So why is orange sexy? Well it feeds the sexual organs area for a start, but it's more than that. Sexy = vibrancy, energy, joy de vivre, mojo, creativity and vitality. A sexy creative is an unblocked creative. 


Feed on orange and the rest follows. We would all benefit from more orange. Smell it, eat it, breathe it but most of all be aware of it and absorb it.

Today I Learnt

Today I learnt:

Why a ripened banana skin can be used to polish stuff - it's all about the ethene (used in the production of detergents) apparently. THAT'S why we shouldn't store bananas with other fruit.  Fuck Yeah Chemistry you rock.

Image: Retrofuturs (Hulk4598) / Stéphane Massa-Bidal

Safety in Numbers with Creative Block

Image: Scott Hansen

Back in the day, a creative woke the left side of their brain with a flick through a favourite mag and maybe the arts pages of a newspaper. Now, we have the internet and instant access to blogs. Hooray for blogs and the trouble so many go to to share their inspirations.

However, sometimes the ideas still refuse to come and we realise we have spent two hours rearranging paint brushes / building a paper clip snake / cleaning the keyboard with cotton buds or reading the gossip sites "to check the fashions".

Scott Hansen gives us a reassuringly laid back piece in the tone of:  Yeh it happens, so this is what a few of us do about it. If your work place isn't your home, the pasta cooking may not be helpful but how the writer ends that piece would work in most places of work! Thank you Scott.

So do we think this guy may have creative block?


This pic is on the Unhappy Hipsters site, who credits this photo to Dwell, with the caption:

"With the shelves finally ordered by size, function, and smell, he got to work separating the pine needles from the sawdust on the terrace." 


And there are many more like that one . . .

Part 1 of Apes I Would Like To Meet

Courtesy of the National Geographic Channel

Do not give your mind over to a teacher

This is one of those photos that could have so many captions. What springs to your mind?

In London there is an area in Hyde Park called Speakers Corner. You may of heard of it, it's the hotspot for exercising our right to free speech (to a point ... there are a few who are quietly asked to move on). 

It's is where I would go if I wanted a jolly good rant. I'm not a practicing ranter. Years of spiritual practice, breathing exercises and meditation have sorted me out pretty well. Also I've reached the age where I've seen or experienced some real horrors, so the little annoyances really aren't worth worrying about. 

The other thing the meditation has done, it's taught me how to stand back from a situation and see the other's point of view, which is scarily effective. I may not agree with them but I can understand where they're coming from, in most things.

So why would I would I want to rant if I'm so chilled? Surely I float serenely through life, humming to myself? Well sometimes, yes, but sometimes I march from A to B with a furrowed brow, with the best of them. The one hundred thoughts, currently deemed important that day, churn through my head constantly - but I do know how to put them into perspective now.

Which is why I know when I have a bugbear. Such a bugbear that I fantasise about ranting about it at Speakers Corner.

"Ladies and Gentleman - Do not give your mind over to a teacher"

We've all seen it, the impressionable student at school who is so enthralled by a tutor, that their eyes glaze over in adoration as they absorb every word their teacher gives them, as their own. 

And so it goes on. Charismatic bosses, politicians, spiritual and religious leaders (and that's without the crushes on actors and musicians).

As some seem programmed to inspire, some must be programmed to adore. 

But my mission, as I stand on that soap-box, would be to ask everyone to adore themselves and learn to trust their own gut feeling. 

"Learn all you want from each wonderful teacher but the moment you loose your own opinion, is the moment to step aside. Find another mentor, read another book, listen to another's view. Become your own guru." Which will probably be when the audience will tire and move on to the next soap-box.

It was the guru word that did it, wasn't it? 

Club Nirvana Sketch

Love this video. This sketch, from Goodness Gracious Me, made me smile. The extreme of the, not so spiritually, driven elements many of us have witnessed at some stage! Bless em.