Dec 11, 2003
Since the New Year is quickly approaching we all have our resolutions to consider. Some people might quit smoking, change their diets or change their outlook on life. As for me, with a new baby on it’s way new challenges and blessings are just around the corner. It’s something that I’ve accepted and look forward to.
As explained in the book, Who Moved my Cheese? change is enevitable. It is something that occurs in all of our lives whether we enjoy it or not. Acknowledging the occurence is the first step while the most important being our adapting to change. Whether you believe it or not, change is a good thing. It keeps things constantly fresh preventing otherwise “stale cheese”. Learning to accept new obstacles and challenges will ultimately shape your experiences eventually bringing forth a new outlook on life.
Bottomline: Throw out the misconceptions that change is a bad thing. Rather, look at change as a natural part of life that will in the end make you a better person.
Dec 10, 2003
The NASA Earth Observatory’s mission is “to provide a freely-accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet.”
Amongst the wealth of information found on the NEO site, the Blue Marble “is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet.”
Detail | View the Blue Marble (in various media formats)
Dec 8, 2003
What would the world look like through the eyes of a fly? Better yet, a TerraFly.
An online service provided by the Florida International University called Terrafly allows you to input a destination (so long as it’s in the United States) and see an aerial view of that specific location. You can virtually fly over the United States without ever having to board an airplane or helicopter.
[Read more]
Dec 7, 2003
One of my favorite holiday movies is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964). The film set the standard for stop motion animation before Tim Burton’s vision in the Nightmare Before Christmas.
The charm of the film lies not only within the visuals (especially the rich glow of Ruldoph’s nose) but most importantly in the heart of the story. Burl Ives voices the Snowman and narrator of the film who introduces us to Rudolph, a reindeer shunned amongst the other reindeers because of his nose.
Another favorite holiday film of mine is Frosty the Snowman narrated by Jimmy (The Nose) Durante. If I simply close my eyes I can place myself during the holidays with my family watching these Christmas specials on television. Watching them today fills me with a nostalgic feeling and also knowing that someday my own kids will watch these and hopefully have the same sense of wonder that I had the first time I watched these classics.
In this day and age with techology at our fingertips and computer generated imagery, it’s nice to break away and watch something that was created by simply manipulating clay.
Sometimes it’s the simpler things in life that deserve the greater appreciation and admiration.
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