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Friday, May 31: Week in Review

LIFE

set your imagination freeThe Benefits of Boredom

No matter how old – and busy – I get in life, when summer rolls around, I still think of the leisure of the season as a kid. As much as I looked forward to the open-ended days of running wild, however, at some point I’d inevitably find myself bored. My best friend would be away on vacation. The weather would be too consistent. Whatever the case, I’d find myself feeling like I’d seen and done all there was to do a million times over. I’d mope and grumble (gaining no sympathy in the process). In those days, there was no gadgetry to surrender attention to. It was mostly the power of invention and imagination – the two best aspects of childhood if you ask me. Eventually, I’d conjure something good enough to get out of my funk. In fact, my greatest schemes and misadventures seem to have came out of those lulls. The thought makes me wonder: in this age of easy preoccupation, do we undervalue boredom?
Read more here.

url-5The Only Thing Better Than a Fireworks Show Is a Fireworks Competition

There’s something wonderful about watching things blow up in sparkly, colorful explosions. You might even have your own little display over the holiday weekend. But this explosive timelapse video of the massive annual International Fireworks Competition in Da Nang, Vietnam will make your backyard show look puny by comparison.

Over two nights, five firework shows from the top manufacturers from the U.S., Russia, Japan, Italy, and Vietnam light up the Han River. The winner takes home a prestigious trophy, but really, everyone wins at a fireworks competition.Read more here.

bloodcellsDoes Your Blood Type Determine Your Optimal Diet?

I get a lot of emails about the “Eat Right For Your Type” diet, also known as the blood type diet, which asserts that specific optimal diets exist for each blood type. In this post, I’ll take a look at whether there’s anything to this idea, and whether you should change the way you’re eating based on whether you’re Type O, A, B or AB.

The proposed diets all tend to be pretty decent, whole foods-based ways of eating, and they’re all better than the standard American diet of industrial processed junk, but differences do exist. Here’s the basic breakdown of all four blood type diets…Read more here.

JJH_8333-1.jpg.400x300_q85_crop-smartGrilled portobello mushrooms stuffed with sauteed leeks and spinach [Vegan]

I can’t pass up a grilled portobello mushroom, especially when it is stuffed full with sauteed leeks and spinach. Talk about a hearty summer main dish. This recipe is extra flavorful thanks to the balsamic vinegar mixed in with the leeks and spinach. The melted cheese on top is a delicious addition. I added roasted red peppers with the cheese topping for a little extra flavor.
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Conscious Quote

darren hardy

“There is one thing that 99 percent of ‘failures’ and ‘successful’ folks have in common — they all hate doing the same things. The difference is successful people do them anyway.”

– Darren Hardy


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In Memory

4th collage

Memorial Day conjures many images: family, friends, fun, and food. But what else?

On “Memorial” Day…what are we actually remembering?

The easy answer is to say “those that have who fought for our country.” Do re recognize their hardship? Realize the hardships of those across the globe we call “enemy” or “ally?” What do they remember?

It’s hard to recognize, appreciate, and have compassion for the men and women who have struggled, overcame and defended this country we call home. But without taking at least a few moments to comprehend the sheer courage and sacrifice of our soldiers and their loved ones, we cannot see what an incredible effort and movement it has been to keep America…free.

There is still work to do. From human rights to economic policy, many issues are only beginning to become part of open dialogue. But it’s the warrior-like effort of our soldiers and citizens that keeps America continuously innovating. Continuously dreaming.

Continuously free.

We hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend with your loved ones. And, we also invite you to take a moment to reflect on how awesome our home is, all that has taken to make it what it is, and all it will take to keep going.

USA! ! ! 🙂

@cjpatryck


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FYI Friday, May 24: Week in Review

LIFE

ku-xlarge-1Why Your Ears Pop (And What to Do If They Don’t)

The surface of the Earth is covered in a thick atmospheric soup. Though only a fraction of the density of our oceans, the atmosphere behaves much the same way. Just as water pressure increases the deeper you go, air pressure increases the closer you get to sea level. In both cases, that’s because as you go deeper, you’ve got more and more air/water above pushing down on you. FULL ARTICLE.

ENVIRONMENT

dot1.jpg.400x300_q85_crop-smartMore Proof That Bike Lanes Boost Business

In any discussion about installing bike lanes the argument often is put forward that they are bad for business, what with the loss of parking spaces and the increased difficulty of loading and deliveries. But what if this is completely backwards? TreeHugger alluded to this in How bicycles bring business to your community and There IS a Bicycle Economy, Two Cities Find, but here is the real proof from New York’s Department of Transportation.
FULL ARTICLE.

ku-xlargeA Wind-Powered Factory That Makes Chairs, Scarves, and Pillows

It’s not often that we get to talk about engineering and knitting in the same sentence. But Merel Karhof, a Dutch-by-way-of-London designer, is an expert in both.You might remember Karhof from her 2010 project, the Wind Knitting Factory, a knitting machine powered by a small windmill. Built entirely from scratch, Karhof’s the four-foot-wide mill leveraged the wind to power a small, circular loom, which churns out scarves and textiles with a quiet mechanical speed. Karhof “harvests” the fabric every day or two (depending on the weather) and sells them on her website—along with a tag that indicates how long it took to knit.FULL ARTICLE.

HEALTH

JJH_3962-1.jpg.400x300_q85_crop-smartThe “Anything Goes” Savory Tomato and Bean Stew (Vegan.. if you want)

I’ve been doing The Cooking Project for about two months now, and with nearly 50 different recipes tried and tested during that time, this non-recipe couldn’t have been a better celebration of what I’ve learned about cooking so far. This stew is all about cooking intuitively, figuring out what flavors you like and what will mix well together, and knowing how to use what you already have in the cupboards.
FULL ARTICLE.

StrongmadesimpleTracyCrawling, Balancing, Rolling: The Importance of Practicing Natural Movements

My job is essentially to get people to have fun. I am a MovNat Natural Movement Certified Trainer and Parkour coach at True Nature Training who uses play and unconventional programming to get people active without realizing they are getting a workout. It’s so common to get stuck in our fitness routines. Push ups, pull ups, squats, and sprints are all obvious choices for a primal fitness program, but when we get bored or hit a plateau it can help to widen your repertoire to introduce new things. In many cases, this great “new thing” is actually very old. Natural movement is a movement philosophy with a set of principles defined and popularized by Erwan Le Corre, founder of MovNat, and based on natural human movements that we have evolved doing. Our ancestors had to crawl, climb, run, jump and more just to survive. Yet…FULL ARTICLE.

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