A booklet from any PDF document
BookletCreator is a free online tool that allows you to create a booklet from a PDF document. It reorders pages so that after printing and folding the pages, a small book is created
Myblogspan.com Archive Page
BookletCreator is a free online tool that allows you to create a booklet from a PDF document. It reorders pages so that after printing and folding the pages, a small book is created
iCiNG Transformation Challenge
Photo by stublog. You are this incredible treasure, a shining jewel in the shape of a girl or boy (or unicorn), & you have no idea. You are a gift. Your presence here is important, your thoughts & dreams & loves & heartache enrich the world. Realise how cherished & amazing you are, right now. You will not be any more wonderful or valuable when you lose ten pounds, or become a millionaire, or get married.
Recognise what you are & make a promise that you will be a love letter to the universe forever, a valentine to all the people & all the stars. The more love you give away, the more true it becomes, & while it can be hard at first, it gets easier — I promise, pinky-swear. You & I are in alignment. This is our secret pact. Write it down & keep it close. I will do my best & you do yours, okay?
Decide to fall in love with the world & it will swoop you up in its arms & smother you with kisses. You will get all your joy & excitement back a million times over. This is real, this is how it works. Even when you feel hard & cold & angry, you have more love to give away than you could ever believe possible. It is infinite like galaxies. Just give it away. Imagine cartoon hearts in hot pink & vivid red floating out of your chest & popping over the heads of everyone, showering them with hope & blessings & encouragement, & your life will begin to change. It will become this sparkling carousel of magic & wonder.
I love you & I believe in you & you deserve to be happy, always.
This piece I wrote will appear in Lindsey Markel’s upcoming zine, You Are Among Friends — details as I have them!
The turning heads
Thomas Woodruff’s series Solar System (aka The Turning Heads) is a parade of super magical otherworldliness with a twist - every painting from this series is meant to be flipped, thereby revealing an inverse meaning.
Amazing Cityscape Art Made From Unusual Objects
Most of us played with building blocks to create our own make believe buildings and cities. Fortunately, not all of us outgrew this habit.
Here are some cityscape artworks made from unusual objects like eggs, cookware, and Jell-O.
Toronto Behind the Boarding
The demolition signs around part of Toronto"s Junction foretell the imminent doom of the Bunge industrial complex. The company produced a variety of edible food oils, and the complex itself housed both the administrative as well as the production side of its business. A fire prior to its closure ensured that the aesthetic environment of the abandoned premises would include much of the complex"s content: the tools of both blue and white collar workers. These items - some of which are severely fire-damaged - suggest the chaos of the building"s final days. Besides offering some incredible views of the city (and some really nifty machines), the building gave the impression that the workers were merely on a long, auspicious break.
Jessica Alba lashes out at Bill O'Reilly
The new mum asked the reporter what he liked most about new U.S. President Barack Obama, and when he refused to answer, she joked, "That"s it, be neutral. Be Sweden about it." Following the comment, TMZ.com called her a "ditz" and an "arrogant buffoon" for saying Sweden instead of Switzerland when referring to the neutral country during WWII.
O"Reilly whom Alba had called an "a-hole" at the same event also called her "misguided" for mixing up the countries. But on her blog, Alba writes, "I find it depressing that, in the midst of perhaps the most salient time in our country"s history, individuals are taking it upon themselves to encourage negativity and stupidity.
"Last week, Mr. Bill O"Reilly and some really classy sites (i.e. TMZ) insinuated I was dumb by claiming Sweden was a neutral country. "I appreciate the fact that he is a news anchor and that gossip sites are inundated with intelligent reporting, but seriously people.... it"s so sad to me that you think the only neutral country during WWII was Switzerland."
She then linked to a wikipedia article to prove Sweden was also a neutral country. Added Alba, "I appreciate the name calling and the accurate reporting. Keep it up!!"
Frey Tiramisu
If you didn"t know, tiramisu is an Italian dessert (now pretty ubiquitous in restaurants of all kinds of cuisine) made of lady fingers soaked in liqueur and coffee and layered with marscarpone cheese and cream. The paperboard outer wrapper claims "extra fine milk chocolate with creamy marscarpone filling." See what"s missing there? The coffee and the liqueur (and the ladyfingers, but I see those more as a flavor vehicle).
HTC G2 Android Smartphone coming soon?
Recently we witnessed leaked images of a line up of new HTC devices that are expected to be launched this year. The line up included a number of Windows Mobile devices and one or more Android devices. Now we are witnessing leaked images of a new Android Smartphone by HTC known as the HTC Sapphire. It is being thought that the HTC Sapphire is going to the successor of HTC G1.
The HTC G2/Sapphire will come with a sleeker and slimmer design as it doesn't have a physical QWERTY keyboard. It will also come with a large touch screen display, trackball and 3.2 MP camera. It is expected that the HTC G2/Sapphire will be launched in association with T-Mobile, Vodafone and a number of other operators in May. Apart from this, there's not much known about the detailed features, pricing and availability as yet. Stay tuned for more info.
Source: Into Mobile
Native stone
There is an architectural conceit that says proper buildings should be made from locally available materials. (Frank Lloyd Wright took that a step further by saying a proper homeowner should participate actively in the construction not only of the home but of its components.)
I respect the practice of architecture, and in many cases I think it can be a form of art, but the practicalities of means, motive, and opportunity are generally far more influential in building. Can you afford it? Do you care? And if you did, would you have the chance to do it?
Nonetheless, after I win the lottery and begin to design and build my home at Roundrock, to which I’ll retire to keep bees or something similarly bucolic, I think I’ll have the opportunity to use some local materials in the raising of my manse.
I’ve mentioned here before that the geology of Roundrock is capped by a layer of sandstone, in some place just inches below the soil surface and in some cases emerging from it. (The round rocks are in a layer below the sandstone.) It will be easy to collect plenty of this sandstone, and I have a notion of trying to create a sort of quarry where I can extract it in high quantity. (Don’t worry, I won’t be strip mining.) I’ll have to split and shape the pieces so they will serve as facing material, but that will allow me to participate more in the creation of the components of the house building.
My ultimate plan is to use the sandstone to face the exterior walls of the house, though I intend to have lots of south-facing glass. (The sandstone wouldn’t be structural but merely facial.) And with that in mind, I cracked the above piece of sandstone in two some years back and set it out where it could experience all of the extremes of weather. I wanted to see just what such sandstone would look like on the face of the house after years of exposure. Most of the “wild” sandstone we find in our woods is weathered into a dull brown color; it’s the innards that still flash their color, and that’s the part I want showing on the house. Thus I opened this stone to see how long the vibrant color would hold up.
It’s too bad that the photo is a bit washed out, but I think you can see the multiple colors that are in the stone. You can see red and orange and brown there. The yellowish streaks are new (to my recollection). I like the idea that the facing could evolve over time. Some of the sandstone I’ve found “in the wild” at Roundrock is more pink than brown. With that in mind, I intend to collect my sandstone from all around Roundrock so that I can get the variety of colors. I think I could make quite a patchwork of stone. And then I’d get to look at it each day.
Missouri calendar:
- Watch for chickadees feedding on insects in bark crevices.
Aerial Photography
Aerial Photography.Pilot and photographer Alex MacLean has created a really amazing portfolio of aerial photography. His powerful and descriptive images provide clues to understanding the relationship between the natural and constructed surroundings. This is quite evident from his images we have seen as to how amazing the boats, trailers and houses can create artistic symmetrical patterns.
About MacLean:
Pilot and photographer Alex MacLean has flown his plane over much of the United States documenting the landscape. Trained as an architect, he has portrayed the history and evolution of the land from vast agricultural patterns to city grids, recording changes brought about by human intervention and natural processes. MacLean"s photographs have been exhibited widely in the United Sates, Canada, Europe and Asia and are found in private, public and university collections.
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