What would life be like without them?

Have you ever tried to learn more about some incredible thing, only to be frustrated by incomprehensible jargon?  Randall Munroe is here to help.  In Thing Explainer, he uses line drawings and only the thousand (or, rather, “ten hundred”) most common words to provide simple explanations for some of the most interesting stuff there is, including:

• food-heating radio boxes (microwaves)
• tall roads (bridges)
• computer buildings (datacenters)
• the shared space house (the International Space Station)
• the other worlds around the sun (the solar system)
• the big flat rocks we live on (tectonic plates)
• the pieces everything is made of (the periodic table)
• planes with turning wings (helicopters)
• boxes that make clothes smell better (washers and dryers)
• the bags of stuff inside you (cells)

How do these things work? Where do they come from? What would life be like without them? And what would happen if we opened them up, heated them up, cooled them down, pointed them in a different direction, or pressed this button? In Thing Explainer, Munroe gives us the answers to these questions and so many more. Funny, interesting, and always understandable, this book is for anyone—age 5 to 105—who has ever wondered how things work, and why.

It Felt Like a Kiss (Part 1/4)

Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks - SNL

The Tree That Owns Itself

Son of the Tree That Owns Itself (Image Credit: Bloodofox, Wikipedia)
Legend has it that the Tree That Owns Itself [wiki], a white oak in Athens, Georgia was given ownership of itself and the surrounding land by Dr. William Henry Jackson in 1820! The original tree had died long ago, but a new tree (Son of The Tree That Owns Itself) was planted at the same location from one of its acorns.

[My Virgo mascot is a famous white oak in Athens, Ga. It's called the Tree That Owns Itself. According to legend, it belongs to no person or institution, but only to itself. The earth in which it's planted and the land around it are also its sole possession.]

Tuesday's Terrific Thought: Stand for Trees?

Stand for Trees? Of course you can... see StandForTrees.org... BOOM!

Peace is Cheaper

the canopy of color becomes the carpet | crow talk

the canopy of color is becoming a carpet outside - view from our living room - huge wind gusts

wind in the leaves from laratracehentz on Vimeo.

what are you doin'?

It's Sunday - get out of the house! BOOM! Get out!

exactly, me too!

BAD HOMBRES, NASTY WOMEN (ft. "Weird Al" Yankovic)

silly saturday stuff

and swear more frequently... BOOM!

Appreciation Friday: Hundertwasser

I have this thing for mosaic - any building or artist who makes it - but especially Friedenreich Hundertwasser (Vienna, 1928 - 2000)

 wouldn't you want to live in this gorgeous place?

Happy Rizzi, Happy streetart – Brunswick, Germany | Be ▲rtist - Be ▲rt https://t.co/S1nlTrOHtx pic.twitter.com/mkzOtZwyHy

— Be ▲rtist Be ▲rt (@BeArtist_BeArt) October 12, 2016

The Boss

Youth File Lawsuit Against Norwegian Government over Arctic Oil

Youth File Lawsuit Against Norwegian Government over Arctic Oil



THIS IS GREAT - BOOM

identity theft by wells fargo?

BOOM! Wells Fargo is going down... for this fraud
The latest on Wells Fargo --> Was Wells Fargo engaging in identity theft when its employees, under pressure from supervisors, opened accounts on behalf of customers who had not requested them? The office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris is looking to find out: The Los Angeles Times reports that the state is investigating whether the bank is guilty of criminal identity theft. James Rufus Koren writes: "Harris’ office demanded the bank turn over a trove of information, including the identities of California customers who had unauthorized accounts opened in their names, information about fees related to those accounts, the names of the Wells Fargo employees who opened the accounts, the names of those employees’ managers and emails or other communication related to those accounts. Her office is also requesting the same information about accounts opened by Wells Fargo workers in California for customers in other states."
http://www.latimes.com/business/91699492-132.html