This was from a demonstration he gave at the Beautiful maritime gallery at the Mystic Seaport. Lou is a local hero to many an art aficionado and those who have enjoyed his classes. He let me take these pics and I threw them into a 5 min. view-ido for everyone to see! I guess I'm not into publicity... content, content, content.
enjoy! ~A.
Saturday, May 07, 2011
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Tireless curiosity beats a high IQ every time
How to come up with better business ideas
Tireless curiosity beats a high IQ every time, and learning to ask the right questions is crucial, according to a pair of new books.
By Anne Fisher, contributor
FORTUNE -- Where exactly do good ideas come from?
The word "idea" comes from the Greek idein, which means "to see." That's no coincidence.
As co-authors Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer (with journalist William Bole) point out in their book, The Idea Hunter: How to Find the Best Ideas and Make Them Happen, great business ideas don't occur as bolts out of the blue.
As co-authors Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer (with journalist William Bole) point out in their book, The Idea Hunter: How to Find the Best Ideas and Make Them Happen, great business ideas don't occur as bolts out of the blue.Instead, they're usually just lying around in plain sight somewhere, waiting for someone to notice them -- like, for instance, the little scrap of lightweight material Henry Ford picked up off the ground at a racetrack in Palm Beach in 1905. A bit of debris from the wreck of a French car, "it was very light and very strong. I asked what it was made of," Ford later recalled. "Nobody knew."
The stuff turned out to be a steel alloy containing vanadium, which was not manufactured in the U.S. at the time. Ford put his best R&D team on it and, three years later, his company rolled out a more durable, lightweight line of cars that gave Ford (F) a decisive advantage in the crowded, chaotic auto market.
The Idea Hunter draws on dozens of other examples from iconic U.S. companies like Disney (DIS), Google (GOOG), Wal-Mart (WMT), and American Express (AXP) to make the point -- an encouraging one for those of us who are no geniuses -- that "curiosity…can more than make up for a lack of brilliance." (As Albert Einstein once said, "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.")
In fact, the authors contend, "the cleverest people [in an organization] have a tendency to overestimate their brain power," which leads them to "stick to their success formula and…not go hunting for better ideas. In other words, they're just not interested enough."
Most of The Idea Hunter is a step-by-step prescription for turning avid interest in the world beyond one's cubicle into blockbuster products and services. In Brainsteering: A Better Approach to Breakthrough Ideas, co-authors Kevin P. Coyne and Shawn T. Coyne tackle the same process from the perspective of new research on how the brain works.
By their lights, much of the conventional wisdom about innovation just isn't true. There is such a thing as bad ideas, making a list of every idea that comes into your head won't result in finding the best one, and most brainstorming sessions just don't work.
You knew that already, maybe from bitter experience? Then according to Brainsteering, you're ripe for the next step: Mastering the art of asking the right questions, which have a far better chance of yielding great answers than the questions you may be asking now.
Acknowledging that acquiring the knack takes patience and perseverance, the authors offer an exercise you can try right now: Every time you come across an idea you admire -- a new product or service, a persuasive ad, a clever cost-saving move -- ask yourself, "What are three possible questions that could have led me to come up with that idea?"
And don't be afraid to think big. Instead of asking, for example, "How can we expand distribution to meet our 5% sales volume growth target this year?," try asking: "What would it take to get our product within arm's reach of every consumer on the planet?"
Wild as it sounds, the authors note, that audacious goal -- set decades ago -- has worked out pretty well for Coca-Cola (KO).
Saturday, April 30, 2011
CT Environmental Conditions Online!
How Much Open Space Has Connecticut Preserved?
 | That's a great question, and the answer is, no one knows. |
Friday, April 29, 2011
A video for ~A
Hello ~A,
~A thinks you would be interested
in watching this web video:
http://go.WebVideoPlayer.com/view/rcPKR9WgFZAIB8mM0UEv
~A also has the following message for you:
--------------------------------------------------------
I hope you like it!
--------------------------------------------------------
Enjoy the video:
http://go.WebVideoPlayer.com/view/rcPKR9WgFZAIB8mM0UEv
========================================================
This service is brought to you by www.WebVideoZone.com.
WebVideoZone.com is not responsible for either the
content of this email or the video referenced above.
========================================================
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Divine Saturation Snap Meditation (Yippee!)
Divine Saturation Snap Meditationby Benjamin Bernstein
What if there was a way that you could:
- live your life in a state of everyday bliss and equanimity,
- automatically flow to each being you encounter the energy which would serve their highest need, and
- receive powerful protection from any negative energies you encounter?
This may sound too good to be true, but I know lots of people who do this on a daily basis — all with the help of an extremely simple, virtually effortless meditation technique. And it’s free! This article will give you all the information you need to achieve these benefits for yourself.
Ideal For Sensitive Souls
This technique — the Divine Saturation Snap Meditation — is especially helpful If you’re unusually sensitive to the subtle energies around you — or if you’d just like a simple way to quickly charge yourself up with divine light. (I call it a “snap meditation” because it can be done fast!) I’ve given this technique to hundreds of my astrology clients, and have received numerous glowing reports of its effectiveness.I often teach this technique to people who tend to easily absorb the energies in their environment. (This is often due to their having personal planets in Pisces, strong aspects from Neptune, or a loaded 12th House.) Energetically speaking, they’re like sponges. If dry, they tend to soak up anything around them, whether it’s positive or negative. If they’re already saturated, however it’s a whole different story, as you’ll see!
I recommend doing this as soon as possible after you wake up, so that you can begin enjoying its benefits right away. It’s also great right before you go to sleep. In fact, once you get the hang of it, you can do it whenever you think about it, no matter what else you’re doing. Any time is a good time for an Instant Divine Light Recharge!
Not To Worry
Before I give you the specific steps, it’s important for you to know the things that you do not have to be concerned about with this technique:
- Mental chatter. Not a problem, as long as you can hold onto enough brain space to carry out this technique’s simple visualization. If you get distracted, just continue once you realize that your mind was wandering. No harm done.
- Turbulent heart. This technique is effective no matter how agitated your emotions might be.
- Restless body. Fidget all you like, as long as you can visualize while you squirm.
- External distractions. It doesn’t matter what’s going on around you, as long as you can visualize. Bring on the sirens, cell phones and jackhammers!
- Anything else. Name anything else you think might be a problem. I’m here to tell you that it isn’t going to interfere with your ability to do the Divine Saturation Snap Meditation, as long as you can do a little imaging in the midst of it.
- Finally, keep in mind that all you have to do is visualize — your Higher Self takes care of everything else. You don’t have to worry about the color of the light that will be flowing in, what level or dimension it comes from, or its vibrational frequency. (In fact, these things will constantly change in accordance with your ever-shifting energetic needs.) There is literally no way you can screw this technique up — it’s being done for you, after all — so just visualize and enjoy!
How To Do It
Okay, enough preamble. Let’s cover this baby step by step:
- Sit or stand comfortably — as you’re first learning the technique, anyway. After a little practice, you’ll discover that body posture makes no real difference.
- Sincerely pray to (or invoke) Spirit (or whatever name you use for God). Pray, “I now ask that, with each inhalation, I be saturated with the energy that serves my highest need,” or invoke “With each breath, I am now saturated with the energy that serves my highest need.” (Or words to that effect.)
- As you inhale, imagine a stream of light flowing in the top of your head and into your heartchakra. (It’s in the middle of your chest, where you feel your emotions.)
- Hold your breath for just a moment and imagine the divine energy saturating your heart. (I sometimes imagine Dow Scrubbing Bubbles cleaning out the icky stuff!)
- As you exhale, visualize the divine energy flowing out into every cell of your body. (Divine light is intelligent — way smarter than us humans — and will automatically change its vibration on the fly so that each cell gets exactly what it needs.)
- Repeat Steps 3 thru 5 until saturated!
Don’t Stop Yet!
Once your physical body is saturated, you’ll be feeling wonderful: blissful, ecstatic, enraptured — all that good stuff. You may just want to flop on a bed or a couch and bliss out. (Eventually, you’ll get used to going about your ordinary daily activities in this exalted state of consciousness.)
But don’t stop! Keep breathing and visualizing until you feel that your aura (the cocoon of subtle energy surrounding your physical body) has also been saturated. Any negative energies already within you will tend to be pushed out or purified by the light you’re bringing in.
A Walking Blessing (and Protected Too!)
Do you call it good once your aura is fully saturated? Not a chance, my euphoric friend! If you continue breathing and visualizing, something extraordinary happens: you become a walking blessing! This wonderful energy radiates from you as if you’re a brightly shining sun (which is how you would now appear to a psychic). This energy automatically flows to every being you encounter, giving it exactly the energy that serves its highest need.At this point, you have also achieved a wonderful side effect: divine protection! Your light-saturated aura now acts as a potent natural filter, neutralizing or reducing the effect of any harsh or unpleasant energies that might otherwise create problems for you. It’s a perfect expression of cause and effect: by radiating high-vibration energy into the world, you now receive a far greater percentage of uplifting energy back from it!
Many sensitive people have been taught to use psychic shields, armoring or mirrors to protect themselves from the “ooga-boogas.” And such techniques can achieve that purpose. But they can also have an unfortunate side effect: they can block good energy from coming in, and stop the divine energy that flows through you from going out to help others. These fear-based techniques can have an isolating effect, at a time when we all need to focus more than ever on coming together. In contrast, the Divine Saturation Snap Meditation provides abundant protection as a natural consequence of you radiating light to other beings.
As a reminder, if you feel your divine light dimming at any point during the day, this technique makes it quick and easy to recharge it. You’re breathing anyway, right? Just start doing the visualization wherever you are.
In Conclusion
If you’re inspired to create variations, I encourage you to do so. As I’m fond of saying, the best technique is the one that works best for you. And if you ever find a technique that works better, forget about this one and go where the juice is. We’re all evolving beings, and need different techniques at different times.
Thanks to Benjamin Bernstein of Its All Good Astrology for this piece.
EPA & Log Island Sound make....waves?
Editorial: Now the real work begins
In a matter of weeks, every drop of salt water in Long Island Sound from Hell Gate Bridge out to Fishers Island could be covered by the same federal protections previously given to the Peconic Bay estuary.
The Environmental Protection Agency is in the final stages of the required review before declaring the Sound’s entire New York side a no-discharge zone. The waters on the Sound’s Connecticut side, as well as the Peconic Bay estuary, are already so designated.
The Peconic Estuary no-discharge zone, which does not include Sound waters, covers all the waters from Plum Island and East Hampton on the east to the Peconic Lane bridge in Riverhead on the west. The same kind of designation for our side of Long Island Sound would bar any ship or boat large enough to carry its own toilet from dumping the contents overboard.
It’s a much welcome and needed step, but given the immense volume of water involved, it’s fair to call it a drop in the bucket.
The greatest threat to the Sound’s health and productivity comes from the land, not the sea. Rain falling over much of New England, from the Quebec border down to Newport, R.I., and Greenwich, Conn., finds its way into rivers and streams that eventually empty into the Sound. The same is true all along Long Island’s northern shore.
The greatest threat to the Sound’s health and productivity comes from the land, not the sea. Rain falling over much of New England, from the Quebec border down to Newport, R.I., and Greenwich, Conn., finds its way into rivers and streams that eventually empty into the Sound. The same is true all along Long Island’s northern shore.
In theory, saving the Sound is simple: Stop spilling or dumping contaminants. How we tackle that challenge will determine whether we’re committed to environmental conservation or only environmental conversation.
Earning Reports tell a real story:
Earning Reports tell a real story:
TODAY IS A DAY of REFLECTION.......
A quarter of a century ago, the world witnessed the worst nuclear related accident in history. Ukraine, and the rest of the world, will remember the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl power plant disaster, which according to unconfirmed statistics, resulted in the deaths of more than a million people and is still responsible for birth defects in some of Europe's most affected areas.
The meltdown and explosion of Chernobyl sent radiation across Europe. The exact number of people killed will never be known, but fears are that from radiation-related illnesses, more than a million people have died over the course of 25 years.
The disaster happened on April 26 1986 in Ukraine, what used to be part of the USSR.
An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western Russia and Europe, affecting countries as far afield as Scotland in the northwest of Europe and Bulgaria in the southeast.
Four hundred times more radioactive material was released than had been by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, media reports said, citing experts.
Chernobyl is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of only two classified as a level seven event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The other such accident happened at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the aftermath of the March 11 quake and tsunami that followed.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has called for more "transparency" when matters concern nuclear power plants and accidents, such as the most recent one in Fukushima.
"I think that our modern states must see the main lesson of what happened at Chernobyl and the most recent Japanese tragedy as the necessity to tell people the truth," he said, cited by the BBC.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
TODAY IS A DAY of REFLECTION.......
A quarter of a century ago, the world witnessed the worst nuclear related accident in history. Ukraine, and the rest of the world, will remember the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl power plant disaster, which according to unconfirmed statistics, resulted in the deaths of more than a million people and is still responsible for birth defects in some of Europe's most affected areas.
The meltdown and explosion of Chernobyl sent radiation across Europe. The exact number of people killed will never be known, but fears are that from radiation-related illnesses, more than a million people have died over the course of 25 years.
The disaster happened on April 26 1986 in Ukraine, what used to be part of the USSR.
An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western Russia and Europe, affecting countries as far afield as Scotland in the northwest of Europe and Bulgaria in the southeast.
Four hundred times more radioactive material was released than had been by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, media reports said, citing experts.
Chernobyl is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of only two classified as a level seven event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The other such accident happened at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the aftermath of the March 11 quake and tsunami that followed.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has called for more "transparency" when matters concern nuclear power plants and accidents, such as the most recent one in Fukushima.
"I think that our modern states must see the main lesson of what happened at Chernobyl and the most recent Japanese tragedy as the necessity to tell people the truth," he said, cited by the BBC.
Monday, April 25, 2011
TODAY! What IS going on in the world? Listen to George...
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
He who meditates radiates, in truth and light ~
The ending of sorrow is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge is always within the shadow of ignorance. Meditation is freedom from thought and a movement in the ecstasy of truth. Meditation is explosion of intelligence. - Krishnamurti
With love and light ~*
Reality is myth. math and metaphor. The true mission for any soul is to realize that they are consciousness exploring a physical experience that is evolving. You are not a physical being trying to have a spiritual experience.
Our souls are experiencing in a virtual reality program that had a beginning and rapidly approaches its end, hence the Age of Technology and Spiritual Awareness.
Your mission is to create balance, above and below, within and without, by healing your issues then helping others. Once achieved, your frequency is raised, you create balance, you psychic abilities and powers evolve, and you are ready to understand the alchemy of time and consciousness. You await the journey home and the reunion with your twin flame who waits for you above. - crystallink.com
The ABCs of Healing: Restoring Well-being
The ABCs of Healing: Restoring Well-being
Disease is not an accident. It's the result of a body deprived of the essentials to well-being, a body full of toxins and wastes and lifestyle, emotional, structural, mechanical, biochemical and/or hormonal imbalances. Each disease is as personal and individual as your fingerprints. It is these specifics of your particular condition that have to be normalized and/or eliminated.
A
Accept that you will not be well until you do something about your life. Accept the responsibility for your own healing and provide your body and life with everything that is required to restore your well-being. Accept and appreciate that you need help. You can't cure yourself without a clear understanding of the full nature of your disease or without guidance, support and the right remedies.
B
Believe that all disease is curable. You have to believe that to be cured! But first you have to learn what curing is, not what your doctor is doing for you. It is not taking out organs as if they were spare parts of little value. Nor is it taking drugs. Drugs are only intended to make you feel better - not be better.
Curing, then, is restoring the wholeness and perfection of your body. It is the detoxification of toxins, the replenishment of all nutrients and bodily needs and the accepting of help.
Caring means getting to the core and nature of the cause of disease. That means finding out everything about what makes you tick and then doing whatever is needed to keep the mind alert, positive, strong and at peace. It means learning to love the wonderful person you are. Caring means caring for your whole being -- right down to your cell needs.
C
Cleansing is the first step you take on this steep road to health. Body toxicity is a major part of all serious illness. Every single drug that is prescribed for you by a doctor is a poison. There is no such thing as a man-made tablet or pill that does not have some harmful effect on the body. Every processed, man-made chemical is toxic. And these toxins are part of every chronic degenerative disease.
With all this poison going into our bodies very few of us take any measures to ever get it out. We use almost no detoxifying herbs, remedies, laxatives or enemas. Most of us don't have frequent enough bowel movements to get rid of our ordinary daily body and food wastes and debris of dying cells, much less our pollutants. Just like we need to change the oil in our cars we need to clean ourselves out at least once, and better yet, several times a year if we expect to cure ourselves of disease.
Changing means foregoing stresses and excesses. It means changing habits, lifestyle, diet, attitude and likes and dislikes. Even the best cleansing is useless unless we stop putting back toxins into our bodies
Changing means getting away from everything that weakens health and immunity -- everything that has denaturalized our body chemicals and damaged our cells and organs - and putting a stop to all the junk and pollutants we casually allow into our lives and bodies.
Start looking for good in all the processes the body uses for curing you. Take a second look at your symptoms and your body experiences and distresses. They are not evils. They are red flags. They are not something to be suppressed and done away with. You need those indicators to guide you into knowing what is not right or is not functioning in your body, and what to do to correct the wrongs. Cells are where your disease attacks and gains a first foothold. We need to change our thinking from focusing on symptoms and body distresses to what is going on inside our bodies.
Curing means consistently changing. Change slowly. Change whatever needs to be changed as your body evolves and your body balance improves. This requires that you change the balance of everything you are doing and taking.
We need to listen to and be aware of changes in our bodies when treating them. We need to stop guessing -- to change from guessing to accurate tuning. During a good therapy changes occur. They may be experienced as improved well-being. Sometimes periods of discomfort precede this wellness. But every discomfort does not mean something is wrong. An unpleasant feeling or reaction that comes to you when you are doing everything right means that a wrong is coming out of your body. The fight between your body and the exit of the wrong is experienced as unpleasantness.
Guesswork, by yourself or by your physician, is like playing Russian roulette with your life. You want your life and your health to change? You change. You change whatever it takes. Without change all curing can be hampered or blocked.
sunday morning....
"Waking life is a dream controlled." - George Santayana.
"The desire for order is the only order in the world." - Georges Duhamel
"God created man because He loves stories." - Elie Wiesel
"The excess of a virtue is a vice." - Greek proverb
"It is incredible to think that a man's fate in all its nobility and degradation is decided by a child no more than six years old." - Eric Berne
"Some people see a glass of water as half-full, others see it as half-empty. I just see a glass that's twice as big as it needs to be." - George Carlin
"Fate sells what we think she gives." - Montenegrin proverb
"What activity is expressed by the verb 'to be'?" - R. H. Blyth
"The desire for order is the only order in the world." - Georges Duhamel
"God created man because He loves stories." - Elie Wiesel
"The excess of a virtue is a vice." - Greek proverb
"It is incredible to think that a man's fate in all its nobility and degradation is decided by a child no more than six years old." - Eric Berne
"Some people see a glass of water as half-full, others see it as half-empty. I just see a glass that's twice as big as it needs to be." - George Carlin
"Fate sells what we think she gives." - Montenegrin proverb
"What activity is expressed by the verb 'to be'?" - R. H. Blyth
heavy?
...we’re heavier than we used to be: the average weight of Americans has increased from 160 pounds to 185 pounds!?
avg.hgt.=6'10"*
*click
avg.hgt.=6'10"*
*click
EXHIBITION
Pablo Picasso is said to have remarked that "good artists copy; great artists steal." Throughout his long and prolific career, Picasso often made works of art in response to his predecessors, "quoting" famous compositions by Rembrandt, Delacroix, Manet, and others in his own paintings. In his youth, contemporaries also noted the influence of Edgar Degas in Picasso's paintings of cabarets and cafés, portraits, women bathing, and ballet dancers—subjects that had come to define the older French artist's work.
When he moved to Paris in 1904, Picasso lived in the same neighborhood as Degas, though they apparently never met. Despite striking differences in character, they shared many preoccupations. Both were artistic revolutionaries, yet much of their work was based on the human figure and informed by their knowledge of the past. They were both superb draftsmen who also experimented radically with sculpture, printmaking, and photography. Picasso's interest in Degas even inspired a series of etchings, made late in his career, in which Picasso depicted Degas himself, a final act of homage to the older man.
Picasso Looks at Degas is the first exploration of Picasso's lifelong fascination with Degas's art and personality, and sheds light on the emergence of twentieth-century modernism by providing new insights into the multifaceted creativity of these two great artists.
Picasso Looks at Degas was organized by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and the Museu Picasso, Barcelona. It is supported in part by a grant from theNational Endowment for the Arts, an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and with the special cooperation of Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte.
