Slick

Great flashmob marketing: Colin Robertson's speaker profile on TED.

TheShutterSchool

Dustin Thompson started his YouTube channel TheShutterSchool to help beginners and advanced photographers learn new techniques and enhance their photography skills.

So far there are 3 videos posted and I look forward to new additions.

• Welcome to The Shutter School
• Episode 1: Black and white head shots made simple
• Episode 2: Levitation Photos

Relief

A friend of mine sent this email today. I lalalalaloved it!

So much so, I decided to search the title, 'Whew! What a relief to learn this...' to see its general origins of the email and whether any articles were written the the subject matter.

General origins:

• New research from University of Notre Dame Psychology Professor Gabriel Radvansky suggests that passing through doorways is the cause of these memory lapses.

• The Psychology of Whew!

• On Near Misses and Completed Tasks: The Nature of Relief

My favourite articles written on the subject matter explored a relatively unstudied concept: relief.

Subject: Whew! What a relief to learn this...

Ever walk into a room with some purpose in mind, only to completely forget what that purpose was?

Turns out, doors themselves are to blame for these strange memory lapses.

Psychologists at the University of Notre Dame have discovered that passing through a doorway triggers what's known as an event boundary in the mind, separating one set of thoughts and memories from the next. Your brain files away the thoughts you had in the previous room and prepares a blank slate for the new locale.

Thank goodness for studies like this. It's not our age, it's that damn door!

The evolution of Mom dancing

Michelle Obama grooving on the Jimmy Fallon Show to promote her Let's Move campaign to end childhood obesity.

A 3D arts & crafts pen

My amazing Flashy-boy

We enjoyed 13 years of kitty-cat love with our Norwegian Forest cat, Flash.

Flash was the second wegie we have owned. I previously had another named Gismo.

When Gismo died, I immediately put an order in at Misty Mountain cattery in Montreal for a B&W male from the next litter. The breeder sent me pictures via email of his progression because she won't let them leave the mother cat until they are over 16 weeks old. I had to wait about 9 months in total but it was a good space of time to ready myself for another cat.

Misty Mountain Flash drove home with us after our vacation in the Laurentians and the Santana Supernatural concert in Montreal. He was perfect! He slept curled up on my lap the entire trip, only leaving to use the litter we had set up in the passenger foot well. He captured both our hearts.

He was a dear little boy and both Mike and I deeply loved him.

We miss him but know that our memories will linger for our lifetime.

According to CCAFC, "This is a very old breed, who have lived in the forests of Norway for thousands of years and played a part in Norse mythology. In the early 1970'a a group of Norwegian cat fanciers formed a group to try to preserve this breed called Skaukatt in its homeland. In 1979, the first breeding pair were imported to North America.

The fur of the Norwegian is a semi-long, double coat consisting of a woolly undercoat covered by a smooth, water-repellent, outer coat. The ruff of a mature cat frames a strong-chinned, intelligent face with almond-shaped expressive eyes. The ears are large, tufted and lynx-like tip tufts are desirable. This is an easy care coat that requires only moderate grooming.

The general appearance of the Norwegian is that of an alert, healthy, well developed, muscular cat. The body is of moderate length, heavily boned and powerful.

These large, friendly cats have people-loving personalities and adapt well to almost any household. Their robust constitution makes for a long, healthy life."

The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

My RSS feed presented me withThe Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, which is an OP ED of The New York Times' report called The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food.

Not wanting to break with tradition, I've titled my OP ED of the NYT report the same.

I don't understand why people don't get it.

These food manufacturers are not the least bit interested in food or nutrition.

They're interested in profit.

Like many manufacturers, they create the need however they can.

These are corporations, not altruistic organizations watching out for our best interests.

How else could they get people to freely choose something to eat that has a nutrition panel that reads like the above? Breakfast anyone?
Sad but true.

You can learn how to read food panels for the USA's FDA How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label or for Health Canada's The Nutrition Facts Table

Secrets Of The Dog Park - Basset Hound

As a Basset Hound owner, I can attest to their wily ways of total human subjugation.

Canadian shame

At least 3,000 deaths linked to Indian residential schools: new research | CTV News

Usually, I'm proud to be Canadian but this is an unconscionable historical record.

This is what 200 calories looks like

Imgur has a photo album entry from a user who photographed 37 examples of a 200-calorie portion of various food items.

Super bunny saves the day

The Telegraph in the UK had a headline that got my attention. I thought it was a prank: Giant rabbit scares burglar out of family home

The smartest dog you'll ever see

The Amazing Skidboot is a feature by Texas Country Reporter is the smartest dog you'll ever see. He gained worldwide fame with his tricks, but had to give up performing once he started going blind. Skidboot died in 2007, but David Hartwig continues to perform with several of Skidboot's offspring.

Valentine gift to yourself...unlock your joy

There is a great article called 10 Steps to Savoring the Good Things in Life at a web site called Greater Good, The Science of a Meaningful Life.

The points covered in the article are:

• Share your good feelings with others.
• Take a mental photograph.
• Congratulate yourself.
• Sharpen your sensory perceptions.
• Shout it from the rooftops.
• Compare the outcome to something worse.
• Get absorbed in the moment.
• Count your blessings and give thanks.
• Avoid killjoy thinking.
• Remind yourself how quickly time flies.

Give yourself the Valentine gift of enjoying life!

Best, worst sci-fi movie

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times: three stars. Quote: "Dark Star is one of the damnedest science fiction movies I've ever seen, a berserk combination of space opera, intelligent bombs, and beach balls from other worlds."

John Carpenter's 1974, shoe-string budget independent film, Dark Star is a real treat. It was his first feature film after film school.

There was no CGI in 1974. The special effects, alien and props are hilarious. Examples:

• The alien is an inflated, bean bag chair with plastic claws attached and painted with black circles.
• The torso of the space suit is a muffin tin attached to a cookie sheet.
• The elevator is a large crate with a dolly attached, which is wheeled up & down a corridor.

Originally, I owned this movie in BetaMax format (yep, I'm old). Now I have a digital copy.

Love, love, LOVE this movie!

Anthony Hopkins composed this

A beautiful piece of musical composition by Anthony Hopkins, the Academy Award winning actor.

Slavery by another name

Watch The Making of SLAVERY on PBS. See more from Slavery by Another Name.

My eyes and heart were opened while watching a PBS Independent Lens documentary called Slavery By Another Name.

It certainly explains many puzzling racist attitudes that still grip the behavior of closed-minded people.

This film is a must-see!

Maritime sense of humour

I lived in Nova Scotia for 48 years so, when there is news from there, I follow it.

The winter storm hit the Maritimes quite hard. After reading CBC's report on the storm damage, the first comment about the news story caught my eye. I miss this type of humour. Hope you enjoy it as much as me.

Thousands without power in storm-battered Nova Scotia

List of lists

55 Lego riddles

31 fashion show goers

15 Alternatives to Gmail

9 Little Translation Mistakes That Caused Big Problems

9 Rules for Success by British Novelist Amelia E. Barr, 1901

20 century-old PhotoChops

10 old black & white design photos

7 Exciting New Designers to Watch at New York Fashion Week

10 Gadgets For Computer Nerds

8 Video Conferencing Tips

What a beauty

Some of my granddaughter's first steps: 1 year 3 months

Quick & easy crafty business cards

My husband asked me to whip up some crafty business cards. Here are the two I made for him. They were quick and easy to make. I've removed the contact information for blogging purposes and used orange paper behind the scanned cards to make them stand out.

Guitar repair card made from stationery store cards with removable glue dots fastening the guitar picks:

Photography card made from stationery store cards with brads fastening the strips of film:

Traditional recipes of Scotland

I'm from Nova Scotia, which is Latin for New Scotland. The British named it because it has many geographic similarities to Scotland and the Scottish settled in many areas of that province.

A friend of mine gave me the following traditional recipes. Give them a try! Click on the text to see full size scans for download.

Clootie Dumpling
Forfar Bridies

Cock a Leekie
Dundee Cake
Scots Gingerbread