Thursday, March 9, 2017

Drawings by Zoe Keller Zoe Keller is an illustrator seeking a... crss





















Drawings by Zoe Keller

Zoe Keller is an illustrator seeking a deeper understanding of nature through drawing. Since graduating from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland she has explored the many lakes of Minneapolis, the rocky coast of eastern Maine, New York’s sleepy Hudson Valley and the shores of Lake Michigan. Zoe uses graphite and ink to create highly detailed drawings that blend hints of narrative with images from the natural world. 

Follow her on http://ift.tt/2mmZmxl


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posted by Margaret

crss

Park that turns into a lake for half the year



A rare natural phenomenon turns one of Austria’s most beautiful hiking trails into a 10 meter-deep lake, for half the year.

Located at the foot of the Hochschwab Mountains, in Tragoess, Styria, Green Lake is one of the most bizarre natural phenomena in the world. During the cold winter months, this place is almost completely dry, and used as a country park where hikers love to come and spend some time away from urban chaos. But as soon as temperatures rise, the snow and ice covering the mountaintops begin to melt, and the water pours down, filling the basin below with crystal-clear water.

Water levels go from one-two meters at most, to over 10 meters, in the early summer. The waters of Green Lake are highest in June, when this extraordinary place is invaded by divers, curious to see what a mountain park looks like underwater. Fish swimming over wooden benches, a grass-covered bottom, trees, roads, roads and even bridges create a surreal setting that feels like it belongs on dry ground. That’s because for half of the year, that’s exactly where it’s at.

Take a look at the amazing images of the Green Lake, shot during the summer season:







I Don’t Travel Once A Year; I Travel Every Day In The Same Old Place

Traveling is always addictive. Sadly most people on average can only travel once a year, due to the monetary cost, work, etc. But life is so short. Why do we have to wait for the yearly vacation to have such amazing travel experience?

Before we look into the ways to have frequent travel experience, we need to understand what makes traveling so addictive…

When we travel, we’re highly stimulated by the new things around us. New buildings, new custom, new faces…When we get so much stimulation at a time, we pay closer attention and become more present in the moment. Psychologists say when our mind wanders less, we become happier.[1]

If that’s the magic of travel, why do we have to travel abroad? Staycation can do exactly the same. And we can actually get that travel high EVERY SINGLE DAY even if we are not traveling, as long as we twist our mind a bit.

By doing the following small things, you’ll feel like traveling every day, though you stay in the same place.

Go to a new restaurant every day

It’s common for us to stick with the few nearby restaurants or our favorite restaurants. This gives us the sense of security. But the bad side is that it makes life predictable and boring. Spend a few minutes every day looking for a new restaurant and be bold to try it.

Try a new dish once a day

In case there are not many restaurants in your place, you can just try a new meal in the same restaurant you always go to. Even if there are over 30 choices on the menu, most of the time we just pick our favorite. Next time when you go there, close your eyes and point your finger somewhere on the menu. When you open your eyes, just order the one you’re pointing at.

Go to the same place at a different time

You go to the cafe to buy your coffee every morning. And in the evening you would walk past the park. What if you go to the park in the morning, and buy a piece of cake in the cafe in the evening? Very likely you will find that the faces change and the atmosphere is totally different.

Take a different seat when you go to the same old place

Maybe you are used to sitting at the corner of the beach. What if sitting near the water? Does the breeze feel different? Can you smell the seawater? Any little creatures around you?

Bring different people with you

When you go alone, you tend to have more self-talk and self-reflection. When you go with your family, you usually talk about the environment you’re staying in. When you go with friends, you often gossip about the strangers around. Go with different people and you’ll have very different experiences. And that’s what makes your daily life much more fruitful and exciting!

Reference

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I Deleted 564 Friends On Facebook But I Have Saved 100 Real Life Friendships

I was meeting one of my best friends from college last weekend. She lives abroad for work but she will come back at least once a year; every time she’s back she will definitely make an effort to see me and It feels like she never left.

During our chat, she asked: “Do you think it’s getting a lot harder to make friends as we grow up?” I laughed and said: “Who doesn’t think like that?”

Her question was stuck in my mind that night, and suddenly I have come up with another thought.

I opened my Facebook. Slowly and gradually, I deleted 564 friends that night.

Making friends is actually a lot easier than you think.

Let me prove this.

Imagine you met someone interesting at a party and you feel like it would be great if you guys can stay connected after the party. So the next thing you do was get onto Facebook, search the name, move your fingertip to the magic button “Add friends” and JOB DONE!

Just one magic click and you guys are friends now. Just as simple as you see.

However, I think this redirected me to a deeper question.

What’s the true meaning of friends?

I tried to find an answer by recalling memories on how I make friends before “The Dawn Of Facebook”.

We approach new people, we talk to them, we share, we build trust and most importantly we make connections, in real life. After experiencing parts of our lives together, we value them as “friends.”

Then I asked myself while looking at my Facebook friend list, “How many of them have gone through that process?”

This is why I decided don’t want to get overwhelmed by life updates from people who I don’t even recall who they are.

On Selecting “Who I want to delete?”

It’s hard at first I am not lying. It’s not because my reason isn’t strong enough, but when you have your mouse hovering over the unfriend button, everything seems to come to a final end.

No one likes to say goodbye and clicking that unfriend button makes ending the relationship official.

But ask yourself, “If Facebook didn’t exist, would you like that person to get access to that many information in your life?” and “Do you really want to know what’s happening in their lives or just afraid of missing out?”

Deleting Facebook friend is just as simple as that.

I don’t mean “hey-it’s-nice-knowing-you-but-I feel-like-I-don’t-need-you-in-my-life-anymore-so-goodbye”, but the truth is an online goodbye doesn’t equal to removing that person entirely from your real life.

True friends stay connected even without the help from Facebook. And it’s kinda scary that we need a constant reminder on that.

Will They Get Mad? Maybe I think too much.

What if they come and ask me, “Why you deleted me on Facebook?” And yes that sounds a bit awkward, isn’t it?
No one likes to be ignored or removed but I think the problem is people take online relationships too seriously. 

People might think, “It’s not official until it’s Facebook official!”, but let me remind you this.

Facebook life is just an Online Life and it doesn’t equal to your Actual Life. Why would you spend time on getting social validation instead of having real connections with people you claimed you care? or at least make effort to really stay tuned with their lives?

Think about it this way, how can one honestly be offended if you two don’t write on each other’s wall or feeling weird to like each other’s photos or status?

Besides, you might be overthinking because they may not even notice. Either they don’t care or they don’t value social validation as much as you do.

But what if they really ask? Then take this as a good sign. This can mean they do care about you but just getting too busy with their lives to catch up. This gives both of you a good chance to reconnect.

So Now I have fewer friends, on Facebook, then what?

Looking at my friend list, the number has shrunk by half but my heart feels a lot fulfilling and satisfying. Scrolling through my feed, it is clean and clear now.

I can finally see some of the updates from my old friends. I noticed that I have missed a lot of their precious moments because I had too many distractions before. So it’s time to catch up with them, both online and offline.

Decluttering unnecessary relationships doesn’t only free me up for more important people in my life but most importantly, I came to realize my mind and life can be so much simpler if I don’t value social media as much as the social standard does.

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How To Get Back Your Inborn Creativity

Many people want to be more creative. But most of them also doubt if creativity is a gifted talent that cannot be learned. To find the truth, scientists did some experiments which results were astonishing and at the same time encouraging.

Creativity is indeed an inborn talent, but everyone has it

In 1968, George Land tested 1,600 children’s performance in a creativity test that was originally designed for NASA to recruit innovative scientists. The children were tested at different ages.

Test results

5 year olds who passed the test: 98%
10 year olds who passed the test: 30%
15 year olds who passed the test: 12%

Interestingly, there’s an obvious down trend: the older we are, the less creative we become.

Creativity is not a random gift that only belongs to the lucky minority; we all are gifted with creativity when we were born.

What happens, though, is that during our course of life, we start to “unlearn” our creativity.

Education is the murderer of creativity

Once we enter schools, our brains are stuffed with literacy or numeracy. All these do not encourage creativity but conformity. Under the current education system, children learn to fulfil teachers’ expectations, pass the exams, and suppress their creative ideas.

Remember, the education system is so because it was designed 200 years ago in the Industrial Revolution to train people to be obedient. It may work well for factory workers, but not for us living in this dynamic world.

So then, the question remained: how to win back our stolen creativity?

Creativity, as defined by Richard N. Foster, a lecturer in Yale, is “the ability to find associations between different fields of knowledge, especially ones that appear radically different at first” [1].

Years ago, phone, camera and computer are just three completely unrelated gadgets. But Steve Jobs thought they can be related and decided to combine them to be a single device.

Creativity is really about linkage.

And to train ourselves to make such linkages, there are exercises we can do on daily basis. Just like workout, you drill every day, and your muscle get bigger and stronger. Soon your latent creativity would be repaired.

The Two-word exercise 

In an experiment, neuroscientist Paul Howard Jones asked the subjects to create a story by combing relevant ideas, such as “brush”, “teeth”, and “shine”, and then create another story by combining irrelevant ideas, such as “cow”, “zip”, and “star”. Surprisingly, the stories created with irrelevant words are far more creative than the former one [2].

To apply the study result of Jones’s experiment, we suggest you to start with two words first, instead of three words.

Demonstration

In this part, we will guide you step by step how to practise the Two-Word Exercise.

You may start by thinking about your first impression about the following ideas:

  • Man      
  • Cat

Then you can start to think about their relationship, and create a concrete scenario where you can put the two things together.

When you are creating the scenario, the more detailed it is, the harder you are exercising your creativity.

Our example is:

“After his wife passed away, the cat is the only thing left. Every night, when he feeds the cat, he thinks of the usual dinner he had with his wife and would shed tears.”

You may find it hard at first. But no worry! You can begin with the following guiding questions:

  • What do they each look like?
  • What can be their interaction?
  • Does their interaction convey any emotions or feelings?
  • When they first meet each other, what do they say to each other?
  • In what places do they meet?
  • What is the smell, the sound, the temperature of the place?

If you can create a scenario, you can challenge yourself to create more, let’s say four. We suggest five examples as follows.

Don’t be afraid that your story is crazy. Just catch whatever jumps up at your head.

If you finish thinking, you can scroll down, and yours with ours.

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

Possible ideas:

  1. A high-school student is picked up on by his classmates for his acned face. He sees the cat on the windy lane every day he walks his way back home. Looking at the small face of the cat, he finds resemblance with the lonely stray cat.
  2. On one hot day, at lunch time a construction worker sits on the roof of the house he is working on. The person who hires him is a tycoon. The pet cat in this family looks snobby. She eats lavishly and even has her own big room. The construction worker looks at the cat, and wonders why even a cat leads a better life than him.
  3. The cat once had been spoiled so much by his master since it was brought from the pet store. However, one night the master brings along home an attractive woman. Looking at the woman, the cat’s fur hardens, and feels a sense of resentment.
  4. It rains heavily, and the stream is flooding heavily. A cat carelessly falls into the stream. A man while rushing back to collect the laundry sees the cat. He stops, and hesitates whether he should jump into the stream to save the cat.

Now, since you have already successfully created four scenarios, you should aim higher!

We suggest you create ten scenarios out of two irrelevant ideas every day.

You may take 15 minutes every day, sit in a quiet room, and contemplate over the two ideas.

The time limit here is important, as you can only boost your creativity effectively, if you force yourself under time pressure.

If you need help in generating irrelevant words, you may go to the following word generator: Random Word Generator.

Reference

[1] Yale Insight: What Is Creativity?
[2] The Huffington Post: 25 Ways To Be More Creative: Inc.

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See What Over 1000 Quora Users Around The World Would Recommend If You Can Only Read Once In Your Life

When asked to pick only one book to recommend to someone, most people would agree that it is quite a difficult task. Firstly, because there are so many great pieces that it seems unfair to pick just one. Secondly, definition of a great book varies from person to person. Yet, when asked what would be the one they would recommend if someone could only read once in their life, most Quora users opted for books that greatly influenced their thinking and ideas about life. Go through the list and see if you agree and maybe pick one or two for your personal library.

1. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

The book explores lives, works and ideas of logician Kurt Gödel, artist M.C. Escher, and composer Jonathan Sebastian Bach. Using puns, metaphors and puzzles to connect concepts of mathematics, symmetry and intelligence, the book actually explores the notion of human cognition and consciousness. The value of the book is in its ability to take you on a journey of exploring your abilities to self-reflect, and it doesn’t require a scientist or artist of any sort to realize the universality of laws of our consciousness and perception.

2. Best of Quora (2010 – 2012)

Great book that covers 18 sections of creative, funny, practical and intelligent answers to all sorts of questions. A book about everything for everyone. “It’s less about the “right answer” and more about perceptions and experiences.” Says one of the reviewers.

3. Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

Written as a means to fix the emotional scars that surgeon Maxwell Maltz couldn’t help his patients with by surgical procedure, Psycho-Cybernetics is one of the corner-stones of self-help programs. Even though the original was published in 1960, many readers still consider it the best at its niche due to its practical value that relies on science.

4. The Tirukkural

Written 2000 years ago in Tamil and since then, translated into 82 languages, The Tirukkural (Sacred Couplets) is a book of 1330 couplets that explores truths about universal topics of love, righteousness and material life. Readers consider it as a religiously neutral and universal guide for any life situation.

5. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

The Prophet consists of 26 prose poetry fables, which, written in 1923 can still be applied today. Rich in metaphor, the stories are abundant with lessons that don’t seem like lessons, on life’s most important aspects such as love, marriage, children, joy, sorrow, beauty, religion, and death.

6. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

First published in 1955, American literature classic, Lolita, was, and probably still is, one of the most controversial novels of all time, due to the appalling subject of pedophilia it explores. Captivating, yet unreliable narration of Humbert Humbert, full of word play and puns, with ironic observations about American culture, tells the story of his love for 12-year old Dolores, a nymphet he called Lolita.

7. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Set in WWII Germany, The Book Thief is another great novel that speaks of universal values in a beautiful and captivating way. It tells a story of a young girl Liesel Meminger who loses her family and struggles to preserve her own life and innocence during a cruel time. Narrated by Death, the novel explores themes such as mortality, the power of storytelling, and love.

8. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery

One of the most translated and best-selling books of all time, The Little Prince, is a novella that, disguised as a children’s book, tells a more mature and universal story of human nature. First published in 1943, the book has stood the test of time making people of all age question their perspective on life and universe they are a part of.

9. Mahabharata

The longest poem ever written, Mahabharata is an epic poem written in Sanskrit in ancient India. Through the story of Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes, the poem illustrates life aspects and stories that are timeless and universal.

10. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

One of the most quoted books of our time, The Alchemist, is the book that changed the lives of so many people. Following a boy shepherd Santiago through his adventures in the quest for treasure, it tells the story of human quest for purpose, meaning and destiny.

Featured photo credit: Intellectual Takeout via intellectualtakeout.org

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How To Save 21 Days Per Year By Typing Fast

Did you know that typing fast could save you up to 21 days per year?[1] This might sound unbelievable, but it is totally possible.

The average person spends at least three hours a day using a keyboard while doing work, writing emails, messaging, using social networks, etc.

If you increase your typing speed by 20%, you can save up to 35 minutes per day. That equals a phenomenal 213 hours per year. Considering that most people have about 10 hours of active time per day, you could be saving up to 21 days each year!

Nowadays, we spend so much time typing on a keyboard that typing seems nothing special today; so much so that we seldom give any thought to this survival skill, let alone try to improve our typing speed.

However, bringing you typing speed from the average 41 words per minute (wpm) to 70wpm or above could actually make a difference.

Slow typers are commonly seen as less capable.

A large part of our day is spent typing. Indeed, not having the right technique can cause more trouble than looking awkward in front of friends or co-workers. For instance, a slow typist may be considered less capable and therefore less suitable for a certain job.[2]

Although almost everyone can type, typing fast is a valuable skill.

Now you might be wondering how to improve your typing speed. Here is some good news:

To type faster, professional and expensive training is not necessary.

A Finnish research found that people who had not received training in typing, e.g. those who typed with only 2 fingers, could also achieve higher typing speeds of over 70wpm, although trained typists could reach 120wpm.[3]

Which is to say, you can also type fast — you just need practice, and practice it correctly.

The main factor influencing speed is the stillness of the palm, not the number of fingers used.

Researcher Dr Weir from Aalto University in Helsinki suggests that keeping your palm still while moving only your fingers to reach out for the keys is “the secret”.[4]

Keeping your hands relatively steady and only using your fingers to move forward for the keys is the secret, so another finger is reaching for the next key, even before the first one is pressed.

This helps maintain a consistent fingering pattern, allowing you to type fast.

Now you know the secret of typing fast, what’s next?

Measure how fast you can type and set a goal for yourself.

The first step is to measure how fast you can type currently so you know where you are now and can keep track of your progress as you learn typing faster.[5].This should help you set your goal for improvement, and track your progress as you type faster.

You can do that via a quick speed test here.

Typing could be fun, you don’t have to always take the serious courses.

While there are plenty of free online typing courses, you can make practice fun for yourself by playing typing games online. Here are a few suggestions:

Remember, typing fast does make a difference — it’s 21 days that you can save!

Featured photo credit: Stocksnap via stocksnap.io

Reference

[1] Ratatype: Typing speed research: how to save 21 days per year while typing
[2] John D Cook: How much does typing speed matter?
[3] The Guardian: Is touch-typing no quicker than doing it with two fingers?
[4] The Guardian: Is touch-typing no quicker than doing it with two fingers?
[5] Life Optimizer: Save Time by Improving Your Typing Speed

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