Yep, it’s already that time of year to start thinking about Christmas shopping. We’ve done some of the hard work for you and pulled together these cool gifts. They are all available from Brisbane City and Queen Street Mall stores. Stay tuned for more to come …

Click links for store contact details.

Love decal from Sportsgirl, Queen Adelaide Building, $14.95

Lonely Hearts Club lingerie from Bessie Head, $160

Alpha 60 tee from Dirtbox, Broadway on the Mall, $69

Sweetpea owls from Bam & Juju, Wintergarden, from $65

Aesop fragrances from Aesop, QueensPlaza, from $78

Diana F + Mr Pink camera from Violent Green, Elizabeth Arcade, $200

Headporter bag from Apartment, Elizabeth St, $310

 blanc + delta stella dress from blanc + delta, Broadway on the Mall – Opening soon! $440

Scotch & Soda shirt from Scotch & Soda, Broadway on the Mall, $139.95

We downloaded the Aesop Lapbook from Homeschoolshare.com and it was wonderful!  This project  provided a huge variety of minibooks, activities and lesson ideas.  Each day’s reading and lapbook activity was a  delight and an adventure!

Here are the step-by-step details of assembling the Aesop Lapbook:

Assembling lapbook - stack pages

Piercing thread through the folder

Bring thread through pages and tie

Paste puppets to decorate inside folder

Brads and thread to close lapbook

Duct tape on front of lapbook

Fold over and stick duct tape to back of lapbook

Punch holes into duct tape

Showing and retelling to Dad - so proud!

Lapbook in the file

And guess what my girls said when we filed this lapbook?

“Mom, we want to do all our school work like this!  This was such fun!”

Have you had fun doing your lapbooks?

]]> http://archide.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/aesop-store-in-singapore-by-march-studio/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:55:40 +0000 Donny http://archide.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/aesop-store-in-singapore-by-march-studio/

Melbourne architects March Studio have designed a new shop interior for Aesop. They hung 30 km of coconut-husk string from the ceiling of the new shop in Singapore the Australian skincare brand Aesop.

Here’s some more information from Aesop:

In our Singapore store, thirty kilometres of coconut husk string, a regional product, was used to construct a dynamic whole-ceiling light fixture. When combined en mass, the seemingly insignificant threads mesmerise and remind one of airline magazine flight maps.

Aesop Director Dennis Paphitis says, “Geography, climate and light all inform which path we take with our design decisions. For Singapore, we referenced the humble ball of twine with which we wrap and detail our gift boxes. The entire store is framed with meticulously detailed grids that suspend twine from the ceiling. The idea is to work with a sombre material palette in an unexpected way. We’ve used coir matting as carpet and marine plywood to detail our storage units which conceal a palette of Corbusier-inspired coloured wall panels.”

Other Aesop store’s @ArchiDE:
- Aesop store in Notting Hill, London by March studio
- Aesop store in Australia by Ryan Russel
- Aesop store in Sydney by March studio

More info on March studio and Aesop
Via Dezeen

VISIT MARCH STUDIO

by Aesop

A Lion had come to the end of his days and lay sick unto death at the mouth of his cave, gasping for breath. The animals, his subjects, came round him and drew nearer as he grew more and more helpless. When they saw him on the point of death they thought to themselves: ‘Now is the time to pay off old grudges.’ So the Boar came up and drove at him with his tusks; then a Bull gored him with his horns; still the Lion lay helpless before them: so the Ass, feeling quite safe from danger, came up, and turning his tail to the Lion kicked up his heels into his face. ‘This is a double death,’ growled the Lion.

Download Aesop’s Fables

89 pages, 349 Kb (PDF)

Sam is nine and in a CM1 class at his école primaire. There’s a lot of memorising for homework, which seems like an old-fashioned sort of way of learning. With poems it’s OK, but with history, like the reigns of Clovis and Charlemagne, and long poetry like this fable of La Fontaine I’m not so sure:

—> LE LIÈVRE ET LA TORTUE

Rien ne sert de courir ; il faut partir à point.
Le Lièvre et la Tortue en sont un témoignage.
Gageons, dit celle-ci, que vous n’atteindrez point
Si tôt que moi ce but. Si tôt ? Êtes-vous sage ?
Repartit l’Animal léger.
Ma Commère, il vous faut purger
Avec quatre grains  d’ellébore.
Sage ou non, je parie encore.
Ainsi fut fait : et de tous deux
On mit près du but les enjeux.
Savoir quoi, ce n’est pas l’affaire ;
Ni de quel juge l’on convint. …

STOP!  That’s enough, Jean! Remember kids are going to have to learn this!

So let’s brighten things up a little with a favourite illustrator, Barbara Nascimbeni. You can see a couple of her illustrations of the same fable here:

When Sam was a toddler we had Noisy Ralph:

Later on we had Archie Hates Pink:

I like her way of painting, also the way things leap all over the place, the way the point of view seems to dance.

I like the books she chooses to illustrate too. The one above, though it is German, seems to be an Anansi story (translate it please!) She’s done some Aesop’s fables, like the hare and the tortoise of course. She seems to have managed to get published in all sorts of countries too.

“Of all forms of inequality,” said Martin Luther King, “injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” We need a world that works better for all, not just some. And I know that the way there involves figuring out so many details. But this is not a time to peck our vision of a better America to death with an endless number of “how” questions. How this, how that. You can stall anything by demanding to know every detail up front. In the case of health care reform, the answer to how is YES. We need to take advantage of this historic opportunity to create real change to the status quo. The answer is YES.

But we face tremendous obstacles. Reminds me of an old story by Aesop, about a man and his son taking a donkey to market. Didn’t matter what they did, they did it wrong. Bystanders screaming at them. Mocking and jeering. Don’t let the donkey go without a rider—what’s a donkey for, but to ride upon? The boy shouldn’t ride while his father walks—it’s disrespectful! The father shouldn’t ride—what about his poor little son? Scoffing and jeering like this. By this time the boy and his father don’t know what to do—they are besides themselves. They try something different—both ride the donkey—but the complaints still come: this time they are being cruel to animals. The boy and his father think hard—how can we make sure that no one is going to be dissatisfied by what we do? And then the solution hits them. They cut down a pole, tie the donkey’s feet to it, raise the pole and the donkey to their shoulders, start walking. When they get to the Market Bridge, the donkey gets one of his feet loose, kicks out and causes the boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle, the donkey falls over the bridge, and because his forefeet are tied together, he drowns. Please all, and you will please none.

I’m thinking about this story today. We need to bring quality, affordable health care to market. We need to get it safely across the Market Bridge, get it there all in one piece, don’t allow ourselves to go to crazy lengths to please everyone, don’t allow ourselves to be dismayed or discouraged by bystanders along the way who are saying one thing and then saying another thing. Blue dog Democrats who criticize the public health insurance option, even though this is truly the tactic that will create the most change and challenge the greed of the medical-industrial complex. Then there’s the right-wing propaganda machine—screamers on talk radio and Fox News—spewing out lies about death panels and government take-overs and how reform is going to ruin the economy and mortgage our country’s financial future. And then there’s the gullibility of people who believe the lies. All of these represent bystanders telling President Obama and telling the Democrats that that they are doing it wrong. But it’s the Democrats who are wanting to get that donkey to market. Leaders in this country have been trying to get that donkey for almost a hundred years now. And now is the time.

Clearly, health care reform—especially with the public option—is not going to please everyone. It’s absolutely not going to please Republicans and right wingers who care more about ruining Obama and galvanizing their party than doing the right thing. It’s absolutely not going to please insurance companies who speak out of both sides of their mouths, saying that they want to ensure a competitive market but then refusing to see how the public option will do just that. My prayer is that we don’t fall all over ourselves to please these groups. Got to love them—they are children of God like we are. But we have to be strong in our resolve. We have to bring that donkey straight to market. Get it across Market Bridge safely. The answer to how is YES. We need a world that works better for all, not just some. Let our prayer be for God to strengthen our leaders, strengthen the moral vision in them to do the right thing. May they be undistracted. May they be undaunted. Though screamers surround them and cast frightening visions of how the world will end if health care reform with the public option is passed, may they be calm and confident. Calm and confident. Let it be so.

I must say I do appreciate the work Alex Jones did on his latest two films, “The Obama Deception” and “The Fall of the Republic.” While there are certain elements in those films I would dare to disagree with, the content of valid information in them, in other words, the “truth factor” outweighs the flaws, such as his sometimes slightly overwhelming patriotism that is so common among Americans and seems to indicate that they truly believe that every American is at least ten times better than any citizen of any other country.
It’s hard to credibly condemn presidents and the powers behind the New World Order for sending American soldiers off to war, when you’re a victim of one of the principal mindsets yourself that fuels those wars, namely that sort of patriotism and nationalism.
If your country’s that great, why, it practically gives you a license to barge into any other country on earth with a gun in the effort to make that Hottentot backwards country similar in greatness to yours, and let some of its greatness rub off on it…

Without realizing it, they’re victims of the same media hogwash they rightly say the vast majority has been duped by, although to a lesser extent.

But as I say, the information he does put out is significant, and the truth factor does in my opinion outweigh the patriotic hype factors.
Without those two films, I’d probably still live under the illusion that Obama was actually an improvement since the Bush administration. By now I know without a doubt that it really doesn’t matter whose administration it is, and things, like the Bible says, are only bound to get worse.

As a believer, it felt reassuring to hear Alex give God the credit in his latest film, even if only for the exuberant greatness of his country.
At least he does believe in God, unlike other professional exposers of the NWO like David Icke, who seems to subscribe to the doctrines of his pal Brian Desborough, who claims that all religions and the Almighty Himself are an invention of the Illuminati, designed to enslave mankind through religion, a very popular notion that is also embraced by the Zeitgeist movement I wrote about recently. The infiltration of the truth movement by such people is probably the smartest move the Devil could have made, since they’re automatically robbing themselves of the only way out of the mess into which he’s steering the world.

That’s probably one factor Alex Jones fails to recognize, too, and just because he seems to believe in God, it would probably be an exaggeration to call him a spiritual man.
By failing to see the spiritual background of all these things, though, such as the rise of the NWO, I’m afraid one fails to see a substantial part of the picture.

For one thing, while the planned abolition of borders between countries may in terms of industrial independence and political sovereignty be a nightmare for patriotic Americans like Alex Jones, for believers who are aware that the New World Order is only going to be the last, necessary stop before God’s Kingdom will be established, the abolition of borders and national sovereignty has a less significant impact.

True Christians believe and know that the coming New World Order will ultimately be headed by the Antichrist, a man, who for the last 3 1/2 years of his life and reign will be completely possessed and controlled by Satan himself, and since Satan is only an imitator and counterfeiter of God, his kingdom will only be a sorry counterfeit of God’s Coming Kingdom, in which borders and national boundaries will be history, and a sad part of it, as well.
I’m sorry to disappoint Alex and perhaps millions of others, but I’m fairly convinced that there won’t be anymore red-white-and-blue flag waving folks around in God’s Kingdom, nor patriots of any other kind than those loyal to the Kingdom that has always been not of this present world, of a very different kind, and the difference certainly includes its stance on earthly patriotism (see Hebrews 11).

The same applies to the abolition of cash. While the New World Order’s plans to replace paper money with the cashless system the Bible terms “the mark of the Beast” (“the Beast” being a term for the Antichrist) certainly will be truly diabolical, and we strongly advise anyone to refuse to take that mark, it is on the other hand, only yet another way in which the Devil will try to imitate God’s Kingdom, because you can bet your bottom dollar that there won’t be any folks left chasing paper money, and what the Bible calls “filthy lucre” in the Kingdom of God!

Ignoring the spiritual factors behind the New World Order and only seeing the people involved in it, is very short-sighted, indeed.
The problem is, a lot of the good folks speaking in Alex’ films are of the opinion that if the American people would unite and stand up and rise up against the NWO, then the world could be saved from its fate, but there is unfortunately no way around this darkest chapter of history. That display of blind patriotism will be just as futile as that of the people of Israel during the time of the prophet of Jeremiah, who warned them to submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon (in some ways a proto-type of the Antichrist, since the Bible refers to both as “the king of the north,” although the king of Babylon, Nebucchadnezzar, did in the end turn out to be a good man, which won’t be the case with the AC).
Jeremiah was thrown into a dungeon because of his heretical treason, but it changed nothing about the fact that he turned out to be right, after all.

Some people who don’t trust Alex Jones accuse him of fulfilling a purpose in the plan of the New World Order cronies: that he will be instrumental in evoking an uprising and violent resistence against the NWO that will give the rulers an excuse to clamp down on them with force, and although I doubt that this would be Alex Jones’ intention, the danger that this is going to happen is quite real.

Physical, armed resistance against the NWO will be just as futile as the efforts of Jewish zealots during the Roman occupation of Judea, which was totally crushed.
As I wrote in my last entry, one of the reasons the Jews rejected Jesus was because they had been hoping for a messiah that was going to liberate them from Roman occupation. But Jesus actually extended His compassion to Romans as well, as well as Samaritans, which were despised by the Jews, and it seemed that He was announcing that God was going to extend His pact to any heathen that would accept His sacrifice, which is in effect what happened.

The problem is that if you think that you and your country or people are so good you’re just about perfect, and the only liberation you need is from the physical oppression of those who are making you pay taxes, then you wind up shouting “crucify Him!” at the one who indicates that you have a bigger problem, which you need to get rid off first.
Jesus clearly stated that the yoke of sin that even the seemingly perfect Jewish people were under was something much more serious and warranted greater attention than liberation from the Romans. He would deal with the Roman empire later, just as He will with the upcoming New World Order, be assured, but what you need to be liberated from first of all, is your sins. You need to avail yourself of the only exit and way out of this present matrix by accepting the blood of Jesus Christ as remission from the one thing that will hold you captive in a stronger grip than any physical oppressor could. Why?
Because as good as you may think you are, there is no guarantee on God’s earth that you would do any better if you were in charge, unless you heart has been supernaturally changed by the grace of God, and you have allowed Him to replace your own sinful, selfish and carnal nature by the new creature Christ can and will make out of you, if you let Him.

One of the major issues about this present life, as far as God is concerned, is the issue of flesh versus spirit. What will you place your bet on? Which will you put your money on? Will you put your hopes in your own arm of the flesh (and remember, your brain is just another chunk of that flesh, and your own smartness won’t save you, either)? Or do you recognize that there is something Greater at work, even if invisibly, behind the scenes, that is going to empower you to truly rise above all the evils in this world, just as It- or He – empowered all the martyrs throughout history?

Do you think that the worst that could possibly happen to you is your physical death, and the end of your fleshly existence is going to be The End, period?

Think again!

It all depends on which you’ll choose to put your trust in: God’s Promises of eternal life in a better world than even your oh-so-beloved America, or your own wit and strength to save you.
I guess it’s always harder for those who have got it all going for them in the flesh, to choose the humble and submissive option of yielding to God and letting Him do it through you, rather than the do-it-yourself option. I guess we’ll meet at the finishing line and see who will have made it there first. But let me give you this little piece of advice from Aesop, the citizen of a country and culture which at one time in history deemed itself to be the most glorious and the peek of civilization, just as quite a few others before and since:

“The hare never made it, but the tortoise did.”

Or, as Morpheus put it to Neo in the Matrix scene in which he teaches him to fight properly (relying on spirit, rather than flesh):

“Do you think that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? — You think that’s air you’re breathing now?”

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls”- Aesop

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I proudly present my newest comic, based one of Aesop’s fables, “The Tortoise and the Birds.” See the back cover for most of the original text. A quick note on comics from now on: I’ve decided that anything I don’t intend to sell that’s under ten or so pages I’m going to post in its entirely here on the blog. I’ll still give sizeable previews of anything I make, and it’ll be all be organized in the “comics” tab above soon. Let’s just say I’m inspired by recent governmental declarations in favor of Net Neutrality. Click on any of the story pages for a close-up.

So I saw Lupe Fiasco last night. And yeah. He’s better than you. In all facets of life.

That may be an exaggeration. He’s better than you at rapping though. And that’s really all that matters.

I think this dude is my favorite rapper. I think he’s officially unseated Aesop Rock, who has been my favorite MC for the longest. But Lupe is as complex, gifted, clever, and musical as Aes. But he’s livelier, and I can understand what he’s talking about, which is most people’s problem with Aesop. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know what this dude is talking about, I just don’t think it matters. It SOUNDS dope. And isn’t that really all music is supposed to do… SOUND good. what Aesop spits isn’t nonsense though. It’s just ultra esoteric. I feel like most of his songs are a long string of inside jokes, that only he gets. But when he wants to tell you somethin’ he makes it clear. (see “No Regrets”, “Basic Cable”, “Winners Take All”) But Lupe’s just better. And he’s much more versatile. And he’s better live, I’ve seen them both twice.

Watching Lupe live is kind of watching the coolest kid in 6th grade play at the talent show. Except your in college, and the kid is still in 6th grade. The way he like prances around and skips, he looks like a middle schooler. But you feel it because he’s havin’ the time of his life, he’s so self assured, and the music’s so fuckin’ dope. Aside from the ten minute monologue about Lasers and Love (the fuck was that about), thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Oh and “Fire” is disgusting. It’s almost too lyrical. Almost. Take a listen.

On another note Asher Roth opened for Lupe. Now I’m not a fan nor a hater of Asher Paul, but I was surprised at how good he was. He wasn’t shit compared to Lupe, but for a dude who a year ago was basically a myspace rapper, he had a very tight set and the dude’s got presence. Looked like he’d been performing for awhile. It didn’t help however that he’s beats all sound the same with the bass all the way up, and his drummer sucked. Still good though.

Both Asher and Lupe really performed more like rock stars than rappers. Which is a good thing. Rappers, it seems to me try to be cool first. They walk around the stage, point at the girls, tell people what to do (put your hands up, shake your ass, get me a soda). It’s very much like the want to be watched. Rock stars, on the other hand, forget the audience is there. The completely retreat into their music and perform like they’re in a their rooms with no one watching. You feel like you’re seeing them at their barest. Exposed. Both Lupe and Asher seem like they’ve taken a page out of that book. And that’s good for hip hop.

A Bat who fell upon the ground and was caught by a Weasel pleaded to be spared his life. The Weasel refused, saying that he was by nature the enemy of all birds. The Bat assured him that he was not a bird, but a mouse, and thus was set free. Shortly afterwards the Bat again fell to the ground and was caught by another Weasel, whom he likewise entreated not to eat him. The Weasel said that he had a special hostility to mice. The Bat assured him that he was not a mouse, but a bat, and thus a second time escaped.

After consulting some children’s fable books in the library, I have compiled a list of fable stories. I organised them according to the category of the moral behind the story, for example moral about Self, Life and Friends. I also made a list of the animals and the number of times that they appear in the fables (appearance in 1 story is counted as once), and this is my list of the most common animals I found in fables:

1. Fox
2. Crow
3. Lion
4. Dog
5. Eagle/Hawk/Kite
6. Mouse

My concept for now is to develop on these most common animals as the “main characters” in my Fable story series. Hence, I will start working on stories that have these animals appearing in them to try to find a special angle, a new angle to tell the same story.

Llevaba ya varios meses sin llover y los animales tenían sed.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Un grajo vió un vaso de agua en una mesa de jardín.  Intentó beber, pero no pudo alcanzar el agua con el pico.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

¿Qué podía hacer?  ¿Volcar el vaso?  No parecía buena idea, porque con el pico tampoco podía recoger el agua derramada. Como no le quedó más remedio, el grajo se puso a  pensar .

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Y ésta es la solución que encontró

primero en inglés

y luego  en latín:

Lectos igitur ex arena lapillulos iniectat. Hoc modo aqua levatur et Cornix bibit.

La fábula se basa en Esopo. Los dibujos son de Vanessa Alvarez, Jemiah Gibbs, and Cameron Livesay de la Biblioteca Pública de Flint

¿Y en español?

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

A veces la fábula se cuenta así:

Un grajo intentó en vano alcanzar el agua que había en un vaso.

Entonces empezó a pensar cómo podía hacer que el nivel del agua subiese. Buscó un guijarro o lo dejó caer al agua. Después

buscó otro guijarro y lo dejó caer al agua. Después
buscó otro guijarro y lo dejó caer al agua. Después
buscó otro guijarro y lo dejó caer al agua. Después
buscó otro guijarro y lo dejó caer al agua. Después
buscó otro guijarro y lo dejó caer al agua. — ¿Y qué es lo que finalmente  pasó?

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Al parecer lo del cuervo que sabe levantar el nivel del agua no es un cuento :

en español:  http://tinyurl.com/lpw7ow

en inglés:  http://www.scientificamerican.com/

y con chistes políticos: http://www.allhatnocattle.net/

.

I never quite got this fable growing up.  I still don’t. In fact, I don’t get Aesop’s Fables at all (you can find them all here).  It isn’t just the fact that about 90% of them deal with the Ass as the main character (I don’t know if I have ever seen an Ass to be honest, so it doesn’t really resonate well with me as a main character of a story).  I never got the Ant and the Grasshopper either.  I do get the idea that if you don’t work and you choose to have fun rather than get the things done you have to do, things will go very poorly for you.   That makes perfect sense to me.  What I don’t get is the whole grasshopper thing.  Are grasshoppers lazy?  Do they die of starvation every winter?  I agree ants appear to be tough workers, but still, why malign the grasshopper?  Am I wrong, but aren’t locusts grasshoppers and don’t they work really hard (like scare the crap out of farmers hard)?  I guess my confusion with the whole Aesop thing is that half the time he is saying, it is just the nature of that type of animal, you can’t fight it, and then the other half the time he is giving these animals crazy natures.

Think about the Tortoise and the Hare (reprinted below):

Once upon a time there was a hare who, boasting how he could run faster than anyone else, was forever teasing tortoise for its slowness. Then one day, the irate tortoise answered back: “Who do you think you are? There’s no denying you’re swift, but even you can be beaten!” The hare squealed with laughter.
“Beaten in a race? By whom? Not you, surely! I bet there’s nobody in the world that can win against me, I’m so speedy. Now, why don’t you try?”
Annoyed by such bragging, the tortoise accepted the challenge. A course was planned, and the next day at dawn they stood at the starting line. The hare yawned sleepily as the meek tortoise trudged slowly off. When the hare saw how painfully slow his rival was, he decided, half asleep on his feet, to have a quick nap. “Take your time!” he said. “I’ll have forty winks and catch up with you in a minute.”
The hare woke with a start from a fitful sleep and gazed round, looking for the tortoise. But the creature was only a short distance away, having barely covered a third of the course. Breathing a sigh of relief, the hare decided he might as well have breakfast too, and off he went to munch some cabbages he had noticed in a nearby field. But the heavy meal and the hot sun made his eyelids droop. With a careless glance at the tortoise, now halfway along the course, he decided to have another snooze before flashing past the winning post. And smiling at the thought of the look on the tortoise’s face when it saw the hare speed by, he fell fast asleep and was soon snoring happily. The sun started to sink, below the horizon, and the tortoise, who had been plodding towards the winning post since morning, was scarcely a yard from the finish. At that very point, the hare woke with a jolt. He could see the tortoise a speck in the distance and away he dashed. He leapt and bounded at a great rate, his tongue lolling, and gasping for breath. Just a little more and he’d be first at the finish. But the hare’s last leap was just too late, for the tortoise had beaten him to the winning post. Poor hare! Tired and in disgrace, he slumped down beside the tortoise who was silently smiling at him.
“Slowly does it every time!” he said.

Okay, I get that a hare is faster than a tortoise.  That is their nature.  As well, I can see the hare being a bit of a braggart about it.  But when the hell did the hare get narcolepsy?  This hare sleeps constantly…  isn’t that more of a trait of cold blooded animals, like…say… the tortoise?!?!?  As well, the slowly does it every time?  The hare still almost beat the tortoise.  Apparently he spotted him the entire course but one yard and still almost won.  If I ever pulled that off, I still think I would be bragging.  Isn’t this really a case of ‘Put First Things First’, the 3rd habit of Highly Successful People as explained by Stephen Covey?  Seriously, the Hare could have slept, eaten and slept again, if he had just run the race first.  Wasn’t that obvious to everyone?  Don’t sleep when there is work to be done.  Isn’t that the lesson, not slow and steady wins the race?

I am saying all of this, and I think it is very important because the lesson, ’slow and steady wins the race’ is a very, very good message.  It is a necessary message for health and fitness.  It really isn’t the slow part that is important, it is the steady part, but typically you will be able to be more consistent (ie steady) when you aren’t pushing yourself to your limits (ie slow).  There is an entire industry to short term fixes.  Some of them are brutally hard short term fixes.  The diet books include: 21 pounds in 21 days, Making the Cut, 30 day Diet and Fitness Plan, The Abs Diet: 6 weeks to flatten your stomach.  The magazine covers include: 30 Second Secret from Muscle and Fitness Hers, Shape (July), Blast Belly Fat, Firm Flat Abs in Just one Month, Shape (July also).  The magazines are of course the most egregious in this area (In fact they are the most egregious in every area, but that is for another day).

The thing that got to me this time was the cover of Life & Style magazine.  I was getting my morning coffee at the 7-11 like I usually do and this magazine cover stood out to me.  I am used to the celebrity diet covers.  Look who lost 25 pounds this month, or learn tips from this celebrity who has the most beach ready body of the season, or whatever (I talk a lot more about the utter stupidity of showing anything more than contempt at celebrity weight loss in the book, ‘You Are Not A Fit Person’, so I won’t bother getting into that here).  Instead of the my usual reaction of hatred for the magazine editors who push out celebrity weight loss cover after cover, I instead reacted to the headline, “Slim Down Super Fast”.

Here they are trying to sell you exactly what you don’t want.  You don’t want to slim down super fast.  In fact, I will go out on a limb here and say that the faster you slim down, the less likely you are to stay slim.  Slow, consistent change is the most likely to stick.  Organized people (of which Fit People are a subclass) have a 30 day rule.  That is if you do something for 30 days, it will become a habit.  I call this the Fit Persons Habit Rule.  We don’t have the same rule.  It takes us longer than 30 days, and some habits will always tend to go back to their initial state, no longer how long we have been doing it:

You can never forget what you have learned here.  You have to remember this spot so you don’t slip.  Slipping is easy.  Like laziness it is endemic to us unfit people.  The second law of thermodynamics says that unless you put energy into a system it will go to hell (that is paraphrasing).  What that means to you is that unless you have some ways to measure what you did exactly, and you are willing to put some energy into keeping at that level, you will slowly slide back to your most slovenly state (and yes, if you are a physicist you might want to point out that the second law of thermodynamics doesn’t apply so much to people, but I would argue it does.  We can call it the second law of unfit people).

-Chapter 9, You Are Not A Fit Person

I can’t make you change your perspective on this issue.  You will have to learn it for yourself.  You need to think in terms of years here, not days.  You need to realize that getting fit really is a process of first not getting less fit, ie. stopping your slide, and then turning it around and getting fit.  You need to change the lens in your brain that focuses on goals.  Instead of asking, can I lose 10 pounds in a month, or 20 pound or 30 pounds, you need to say, can I make this change or that change to my life.  When I hear ‘can I lose 20 pounds in a month?’ (you would be amazed how often I hear questions like this), I know this person isn’t even looking at the problem properly.  When you frame a problem incorrectly, you vastly decrease the odds of solving it.  My blog entry about Fitness and Outliers can be found here, it talks a little about 2 people who have made a career out of looking at standard problems in a new way and their success in doing so.  When I get asked the question about losing 20 pounds in a month, my answer is always, ‘Yes’.  You would be amazed at how fast you can lose weight, or if you watch the Biggest Loser like me, you wouldn’t be amazed, you would just know how fast you can lose weight.  So, the answer to the question is yes, but if the question was instead, ‘Do you think I can get fit by losing 20 pounds this month?’, the answer would be a resounding ‘Not a chance’.  In fact if you are even thinking in terms of time, you will probably not succeed.  You have to think in totally different terms.  You need to have a healthy goal that is aligned with your work.  If I asked you to do the hardest thing you have ever imagined, something that most people battle with their whole lives, you might say you could do it.   What if then I told you you only had a month to do it.  You would think I was just setting you up to fail.  I would be, just as anyone who puts a timeline on fitness is setting you up to fail.

Some trainers think that the number one problem with people sticking with exercise routines and diets is that they don’t see results fast enough…  This couldn’t be more of a falsehood.  The only reason people quit a diet because they aren’t seeing results fast enough is when authors offer ridiculous claims in their diets.  If I tell you you can have flat abs in 30 days, I wouldn’t blame you for quitting a diet after 2 weeks because you only lost 4 pounds and you were 60 pounds overweight to begin with.  They should quit your stupid diet because you lied to them.  You made the most ridiculous claims, claims that when they don’t come true, have the quality of blaming the person who failed.  Yet, they had 4 pounds of loss.  What did they do to get that weight loss?  What did they do that they didn’t find difficult, or a chore?  Could they keep that up?  Did they enjoy any activities, any fitness elements?  Can we find ways to incorporate these or explore others?  That is what healthy, intelligent people who approach problems with the proper mind set do.  Once you get this, you will look at the entire weightloss industry with new eyes that see the utter foolishness of almost everything we are doing.

interesting that every word is in one syllable! interactive.

http://www.archive.org/stream/aesopsfablesinwo00aeso#page/n7/mode/2up

There had not been any rain for a long time and the animals were thirsty.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

A crow saw a glass of water somewhere on a garden table and tried to drink from it, but there was so little water that he could not reach it with his beak.

………………………………………….Doesn’t the crow and the layout look like there was some help from a teacher ? A very good teacher, though.

. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What could he do? Tipping the glass over would not help, because he couldn’t pick the water up from the surface of the table either. So he started to think .

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Here is the solution that he found in English

and in Latin:

Lectos igitur ex arena lapillulos iniectat. Hoc modo aqua levatur et Cornix bibit.

The story is based on Aesop. The drawings are by Vanessa Alvarez, Jemiah Gibbs, and Cameron Livesay of the Flint Public Library Kids’ Web

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sometimes the story is told this way:

The thirsty crow tried in vain to reach the water in the glass.

Then he began to think how he could make the water level rise. He took a pebble and dropped it into
the glass. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into
the glass. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the glass. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the glass. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the glass. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the glass. And what happened ?

.

AESOP Mandarin Facial Hydrating Cream 60ml $38.50

As I mentioned before, I ♥ AESOP! And I was using this before in the day time before I bought AESOP’s Parsley Seed Serum and Fabulous Face Oil.

The Mandarin Facial Hydrating Cream is the lightest of the three hydrating creams in the AESOP lineup and is recommended for normal to combination-oily skin. It’s also available in a larger 120ml(!) version, which looks dauntingly huge! Σヽ(ﾟДﾟ○)ﾉ

What I like best about this cream is the fragrance. ﾟ.+:｡(･ω･)bﾟ.+:｡ｸﾞｯ It has a lovely citrus-y smell that I find very calming because I love citrus-y scents and verbena. ☆:*･ﾟ(●´∀｀●)ﾎェ:*･ﾟ Like all other AESOP products I’ve tried though, the scent is quite strong so if fragrance bothers you it’d be better to skip this.

I have sensitive, often dehydrated combination-oily skin and this cream alone was sufficiently moisturising for my skin during the day. Until I started using Retin-a, after which I needed something more hydrating. So I think it’s more suitable for normal or combination skin that isn’t dehydrated or particularly dry. It might feel a little heavy for oily skin in my opinion. It’s easily absorbed when you use a little of it (a little is enough really and it leaves a velvety matte finish that isn’t greasy at all), but when I tried using more I found it didn’t absorb too well and would leave streaks.

I’m normally lazy and try to use my face creams as eye creams, but this one irritated my eyes. (ﾉω･､) ｳｩ･･･ I also found it a little too strong on the rare occasions when my skin was feeling particularly sensitive and raw.

I’m not too sure what to do with this jar now because I like the Parsley Seed Serum much better. Maybe I’ll use it as neck cream or hand cream HAHA… ((´∀｀*))ヶﾗヶﾗ

Oh, and answering this thing Shanghainese Dumpling tagged me for, sorry I’m so late! ♥

If you were going to allow us to spend a night at your home, we’d like to know the following:

1. What books are on your favorite shelf?
…I read a lot of manga (in Chinese and Japanese) actually but on the bookshelf back in my parents’ house I have lots of well-loved children’s books like Goodnight Mister Tom, Tom’s Midnight Garden, and the Narnia Chronicles. Also I want to pimp out Oscar Wilde and the Candlelit Murders to anyone who’s ever thought of Oscar Wilde as a detective.

2. What DVDs are on your favourite shelf?
I just got the KinKi you con DVD in the post. *mad fangirl screaming* LOL!

3. What are your two favorite cookbooks?
I don’t actually own any! I usually steal peeks in the bookshop because I’m not a huge cook, but I like Jamie Oliver because his books are lighthearted and everything looks yummy and easy to make.

4. Select 1-3 recipes you will cook for your special guests.
Um… the only things I can cook are mushroom risotto and bread and butter pudding. Which is a lot of carbs HAHA.

5. What will we be drinking that’s available?
LUPICIA green tea or jasmine tea.

I don’t have anyone to tag, so never mind! I think everyone has done it already, but if not you can pretend I tagged you.

and maybe he don’t dress fine
but i don’t really mind
‘cuz every time he pulls me near
I just wanna cheer -Deniece Williams

I have a friend who owns “veteren” underwear. When he was a small town high school football star, his mom bought him Fruit of the Looms in bulk. They were his lucky skivvies, and when they become threadbare, he retired them to a “rag” drawer. My friend hasn’t tossed out a pair of tighty whities in 16 years. You might call him a Stubborn Minimalist, a guy who once used one detergent (in his case, Lava soap) for everything: personal, household, automotive… But a few Christmases ago, I presented said friend with a heavenly smelling bottle of cologne: The Art of Shaving Eau de Toilette in Sandalwood $70. Suddenly, Mr. Minimalist had two products! He enjoyed the ritual of putting on his new signature scent in the mornings or before a date. He ventured into a local apothecary on his own one day, and walked out with a bagful of Art of Shaving products. He has since become one of the better-groomed, and nicer-smelling fellas in my life.

Whether you’re like my friend Mr. M, or a fussy ablution authority, the following suggestions aim to inspire an effortless regimen.

In the Shower
Most of the guys I know have a bar of soap, and a bottle of shampoo in their showers. I know a few who keep their toothbrushes and toothpaste in there, and fewer still who shave in the shower (great idea, though). Bar of soap I like a big, triple-milled, scrubby soap like this sage scented bar from Pre de Provence $5.69. Local Austin readers can find it at Central Market. These soaps are oversized, super-exfoliating, and smell absolutely delicious. There’s no washcloth needed, as the scrubby bits should be rubbed directly into your skin. If you’re a $.99 bar soap guy, consider that this dense French bar will last you 6-8 weeks with daily use. Some nice liquid alternatives are Kiehl’s Liquid Body Cleansers $15.50, if you like a variety of scents, 365 Everyday Value Shower Gel in Citrus Grapefruit $2.99, or Dr. Bronner’s Magical Soap in Peppermint $5.99, which cleans everything from the hair on your head, to your dog/car/floors/teeth! Shampoo My hands-down, undefeated favorite shampoo for guys is Kevin Murphy Luxury Wash about $25, available at Sabia. Please don’t balk at the price tag gentlemen, this cedar-smelling bottle of lathery yumminess will last ages. You only need about a dime-sized amount for short hair, a nickel-sized for longer hair. Also, if your hair is in good condition and “virgin” (not chemically processed), you can skip the conditioner. If your scalp is oily, however, or if you fight flakes, you’ll want a more theraputic product like Aveda Scalp Benefits shampoo $13, which soothes itching with softening babassu nut oil.
Toothbrush & Toothpaste I have three favorite toothpastes. If you have sensitive teeth or are whitening your teeth with bleaching trays or whitestrips (by the way, Boys, do this), try Sensodyne IsoActive $7.99 to minimize tooth pain. For a saccharine-free, daily-use toothpaste, you can’t beat Tom’s of Main Peppermint paste $4.99, and I love the unique flavor and stylish packaging of Marvis Aquatic Mint toothpaste $10.50, also available at Sabia. While choosing a toothbrush is a very personal thing, my friend and future dentist Suzanne will tell you to buy one with ultra soft bristles. Follow your brushing with an alchohol-free mouthrinse, as the ones with alcohol can cause dry mouth (= bad breath). I like Crest ProHealth Enamel Shield.
Shaving While, I’m no expert on face-shaving, I have picked up a few tips around the dermatology office. For one thing, if your facial hair is curly, or you are prone to ingrown hairs, do not use multi-blade razors. The closer you shave kinky hair, the more likely it is to spring back below the surface of your skin and curl back in on itself. Embrace that manly scruff, I suppose! I also highly suggest starting your shave routine with a pre-treatment like The Art of Shaving Pre Shave Oil $11. Massage this into a dry face, and follow with shave cream or a frothy shave soap. If you prefer fewer products, try AESOP Moroccan Neroli Shaving Oil $32.50 instead. You’ll get a much closer, smoother shave with an oil than you will with a supermarket foam, and these products smell so good! A final tip: install a fogless shaving mirror in your shower. The shower’s steam will soften your beard, you’ll have ample rinsing water, and you might also save time.

Final Steps, or what I like to call the Fluff ‘n Fold
Once out of the shower, many guys make the two biggest grooming mistakes of all: too much cologne, and too much hair product! Start out by lightly moisturizing your skin with an oil free product containing SPF. This step will keep you looking younger by smoothing fine lines, and filtering out harmful UV rays. I love Elta MD UV Clear SPF 46 $26.50. Scent I’d like to suggest cologne (eau de toilette) over aftershave, for two reasons: the scent is lighter, and the alcohol in traditional aftershaves is murder on your skin. Once you are dressed, mist one to two sprays of your scent into the air about one foot above your head. As the mist falls, stand under it. Now put the bottle down and step away until after your next shower. I promise, fellas, that’s all you will need. You’ll smell subtly sexy and clean, not desperate. My current favorite men’s colognes are YSL L’Homme $55, and Givenchy Play $71, but I’m also partial to the aforementioned Art of Shaving Sandalwood, and Kiehl’s Original Musk $38.50. Hair Styling For casual, tousled hair with a little bit of texture and shine, towel or blowdry your hair first to get all of the water out. Next, take a tiny dab of styling cream like Kevin Murphy Easy Rider $25, available at Sabia, and emulsify it in your palms (rub the product together until it looks clear and glossy). Now rake the warmed product through your hair and finger style, adding more product if necessary. Special Jon Gosselin Advisory: Absolutely do not apply gel of any kind to wet hair, and air-dry.

Perhaps the nicest result of thoughtful grooming is the way even two or three products layer to create an inexorable scent that’s thoroughly tempting. Finish up by chucking that 5 year old bottle of AXE, balling up those veteran underpants and drying off your mirror, so you can take a look at your handsome self.

393

“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.” – Aesop

There are many paths to the promised land that is a womans vulva. Most of these strategies are formalized during our high school years. For some, this involves pumping iron in the gym or being the first one to have a car. Others slang illicit drugs and perfect their expectoration of so-called ‘game’. But what about those quiet few geeky types in the front of all our classrooms? Whether they were science nerds or music geeks, they appeared to simply dismiss the importance of securing poon. Of course in hindsight this notion reeks of ignorance and self grandeur. Fact is, those kids were the ants, and we, well at least I, was the grasshopper.

The math geeks become billionaires, and the music nerds become electro DJ’s who are inexplicably granted the power to attract and pillage paramount derriere. One such example is this fine lad from Dumfries, Scotland, Calvin Harris. After securing some credibility lacing Kylie Minouge and Dizzee Rascal with production, Harris has turned his attention to two things, his own career and pulchritudinous women. Watch the ‘humanthesizer’ rendition of his hit single “Ready for the Weekend” (below). Then go get your least favorite jock friend, and show him what that dumb fry music kid with the funny accent ended up doing.

Peep the ‘Ready for the Weekend’ vid and Calvin’s track with Dizzee “Dance wiv Me” after the jump

Calvin Harris – Ready for the Weekend

Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris & Chrome (DJ Frizzo Remix)