Senses working overtime #381

1 Fifty years of The Dallas Cheerleaders

2 The Boss and Born In The USA

3 You are astonishing!

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

 

4 The Hawaiian 

5 The unlikely rise of Slim Pickins Outfitters

Overtime: The unusual origin stories of 9 household items

For instance - Vaseline: Chemist Robert Chesebrough had a successful job making oils used for illumination, but when petroleum was discovered in Pennsylvania, Chesebrough decided to seek out riches in the nascent industry.

He noticed that oil rig workers would use a byproduct of the drilling process known as “rod wax” to address cuts and burns sustained during their work. Some might have said, “Wow, this oil rig stuff is really dangerous.” But Chesebrough said, “Give me some of that weird black goop and stand back.”

Senses working overtime #380

1 Lagom

The Swedish philosophy of 'just enough'. I checked with our staff member who is Swedish and she confirms this as a thing.

2 Steve Martin can't retire

3 Habit stacking

 

4 The new science of metabolism

Losing weight is tough but keeping it off is tougher. Here's why.

5 Why we laugh

Overtime: 

Stop drinking, keep reading, look after your hearing: a neurologist’s tips for fighting memory loss and Alzheimer’s

Senses working overtime #379

1 How to estimate distance using only your thumb.

2 A history of rock music in 500 songs

I've been slow to embrace podcasts but this one, by Andrew Hickey, is cool. The link is to episode 132 on The Four Tops (I followed Seth Godin's advice and started with a song I knew - in this case I Can't Help Myself).

3 Why do Canadians say 'Eh'

4 Bruce Willis' silent decline

5  The story behind ‘Star Trek’ actress Nichelle Nichols’ iconic interracial kiss

Overtime: 

The realization that life is absurd cannot be an end, but only a beginning.

– Albert Camus

Senses working overtime #378

1 The James Webb telescope

'One of JWST’s much-touted abilities is the power to look back in time to the early universe and see some of the first galaxies and stars. Already, the telescope — which launched on Christmas Day 2021 and now sits 1.5 million kilometers from Earth — has spotted the most distant, earliest galaxy known'.

Mind. Blown.

2 How the brain links gestures, perceptions and meanings.

Photo by Elena Rabkina on Unsplash

3 How to wake up smiling!

4 The euphoria of stumbling upon weird Spotify cover songs

5 The neuroscience behind bad decisions

Overtime: 

“When you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note that makes it good or bad.”

Miles Davis 

Senses working overtime #377

1 A glitch in the matrix

A few times this week I've had the distinct impression that I'm wired up somewhere in The Matrix.

That's the theme for this week's 5 jewels.

2 A Door - W S Merwin (1973)

This is a place where a door might be
here where I am standing
in the light outside all of the walls

there would be a shadow here
all day long
and a door into it
where now there is me

and somebody would come and knock
on this air
long after I have gone
and there in front of me a life
would open
 

3 Space!  

Stunning new pictures via that James Webb telescope out there in the heavens.

4 Planet Squid Game

5 Rhetorical questions by Seth Godin

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Overtime: A reminder

“The right person will know how to hold your love. The right person will choose you just as deeply as you choose them. You will not have to quiet the way you care, you will never feel like you are too much. You will not have to beg for the love you deserve. One day, you will be met where you are. One day, you will be someone’s favorite thing, and you will not be confused you will not feel like you are fighting for someone who isn’t fighting for you. One day, you will understand that it never mattered how tightly you held on to the wrong people, how intensely you tried, because the right people were always going to find you. The right people were always going to stay.”

– A Gentle Reminder by Bianca Sparacino (courtesy of Swissmiss)

Senses working overtime #376

1 Taller benches

10 benches in Copenhagen have been raised by 1 metre and set up in prominent areas of the city. A copper plate on each bench reads:

“Flooding will become part of our everyday life
unless we start doing something about our climate.
According to the latest UN Climate Report sea-levels are expected to rise with up to 1 meter before 2100 if the global warming continues.”

2 Boris

Excellent piece from the Beeb Beeb Ceeb.

3  The Best Sites and Apps to Track Your Books, Movies, Music, and Video Games

Keeping track of all the media you're into: There are apps for that.

4 Marvel movies ranked worst to best

5 Nobody likes self-checkout. Here's why it's everywhere.

Overtime: The Bill Evans Album

Introducing Destination: Records, a new blog to house my album reviews. The Bill Evans' album is the latest MNAC selection (from Lewis this week) which will appear soon on the blog. It's brilliant!

Senses working overtime #375

1 Peregian Beach, Queensland, Australia

This week my senses have been reinvigorated thanks to a week in Noosa, staying at an Air B'n'B in Peregian Beach with the lions share of my family. Therefore, this week's jewels centre on my week in Queensland.

2 Backbeat Records/ Bad Habit Records

I managed a visit to each of these shops in Nambour on the one rainy day we had. Two lovely owners who loved to chat (The Bad Habits guy even opened the shop up for me specially) and a couple of cool purchases later = smiling. 

3 Lord Asher 

Asher was the undisputed star of the show. Here he is with Mema and Papa, shortly before he took an unscheduled dip.

Mema to the rescue

4 Dolphin Point

Cracker day for a walk to Dolphin Point in the Noosa National Park. 

5 Australia Zoo

We're all big Steve Irwin fans so a visit to Australia Zoo was a must do. Elephants and kangaroos were big hits.

Overtime: And then, time to travel back to regular life (that's my pre-flight from Brisbane, pre- 3 hour drive home from Wellington face)