Pointilism of Phil Hansen has many points indeed! One of them, surely dominant among the first impressions that locks our attention to his work, is his doubtlessly great artistic gift easily recognized at the early age of all true talents, born genius of artistic expression who always seems like playing with it, jiggling on the rope and exploring borders with their art, but what else that play may involve? From the comments of many reviewer of his art through video sharing and his website comment pages, we may see that it is refreshing, inspiring, amusing, reminding people to some favorite artist from the past, and it is also very much focused to the issues of the current political circumstances and social environment, as well as for the most personal matters of collaboration, like for instance the wheel into which the most striking moments of life of many people all over the world were recorded by artist’s hand, making his own rotating portrait.

Who is Phil Hansen? It is hard to explain and fathom, as in the wide field of the art anything and anyone can go as the art and artist today, but here we see a man with the vision that is grasping far and wide into the world of human explorations and see how is he becoming (from one episode of creation to the other) a “vision accomplished” hero: a man with the artist’s eye and hand ready to follow and deliver the rules of any newly created games, however bizarre or touching, hard or intelligent, hilarious or even silly they may appear. Someone commented how seeing him playing with the Rubik’s cube would be interesting to imagine. Surely, this artist is the one who knows how to turn visions from his rich imagination into artistic reality using system of creating and performing his creative games and filling into his own rules of each of them the tissue of the nature, thoughts, feelings, imagination, objects and technologies that are at hand or somewhere around the corner. Each game has its story, and the story is visually recorded, and shared accompanied with the music so good that it hardly can be neglected. This is also a tribute to all who are being happy to play this way and leave a record or a note to the global audience of inquiring minds so to speak.

One of the most important things for me was his ability for fruitful and totally unpretentious collaboration inside and outside the “institutional frames” of what are is and isn't and where its place can be, making the most out of what is given at present in this confusingly abundant world of all rules made to keep us inside strict borders. This artist is crossing these borders and going through the walls of convention (and institutional art) with an ease of a good ghost Casper or imagination of a child that is not making any notice of any borders, dissolving them all in his play except the frame of his own game, but also with mastery of the experienced wizard of pointillism, where we always stay amazed both by the process and artistic vision embodied in the final outcome.

Phil Hansen, we may say is born to be a great painter and he is that all over his body, spirit and mind and he dares to display it by painting with his arms and hands and elbows and feet and also demonstrating to us his thought process and shows us by recording steps of his work how we may feel friendly with our (mostly alienated, trivial, boring or scary) environment playing with the fragments of it, be that pinecones, sand, x-rays and machines that devour all artistic effort into the pieces of grinded trash or be that our own prejudices or images of famous celebrities and political figures and what impact they can have on our mind.

His artistic endeavor and message of his art may seem so touchingly caring, so universally deep and personally moving, but also, for some it can be unbelievably light and playful, spontaneous and easy, cool and seemingly superficial like the finest wrap of invisible irony, as you like it. So take it as you like, if you purchase his paintings you will surely contribute by that gesture to the humanitarian cause, if you observe that idea of being attributed to some cause having a big picture on your mind, you are facing the area of your own freedom and facing the fact how mind liberation is each moment of human life, or life of civilization triggered with the great works of art that are simply born around us.

Some ideas for the exploration of that kind could be: deserts and oceans, words and verses, streets and cities, human and animal’s eyes, and many more that come to mind thanks to this artist whose work we'd spontaneously like to follow sometimes like a child going after the circus leaving the town and sometimes like a serious art connoisseur who wonders about the future of the art and the role of the artist in the world today, putting everything under the magnifying glass.

In the end, without wishing to put his work into any categories and so much refreshed by the overwhelming experience of meeting his art recorded the way (I must compliment too) I wish to give to Phil Hansen, the artist of the boundless imagination, restless spirit, inspiring vision and hardworking limbs a truly big hand!

*
See his art at http://www.philinthecircle.com
More about his art at POTW article http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/23115/strokes-of-genius
Type Phil Hansen in Youtube.com to see his videos

Covent Garden Revives Thomas Adès's The Tempest

When the Royal Opera House in London presented Thomas Adès's The Tempest in 2004, it was one of the most successful world premieres of an opera in years. The entire run sold out; the reviews ranged from respectful and encouraging (at their worst) to downright thrilled; audience reaction was ecstatic. Now the Royal Opera is presenting a revival of The Tempest.

The Tempest's encore run opened on Monday night (March 12); there are further performances tomorrow evening and on March 17, 20, 23 and 26. Details are available at www.royaloperahouse.org.
www.playbillarts.com/news/article/6160.html

* * *

No reading of The Tempest can do it justice: Shakespeare's tale of Prospero's Island is inherently theatrical, unfolding in a series of spectacles that involve exotic, supra-human, and sometimes invisible characters that the audience can see but other characters cannot. The play was composed by Shakespeare as a multi-sensory theater experience, with sound, and especially music, used to complement the sights of the play, and all of it interwoven by the author with lyrical textual passages that overflow with exotic images, trifling sounds, and a palpable lushness.

The richness of The Tempest as theater is matched by the extraordinary thematic complexity of its text. Recognizing that all of the themes and accompanying figurative strands of the play cannot be discussed here, the play's topical highlights can still be approached by first noting the salience of two themes that arise from the very theatricality of the play: the opposition between reality and illusion and the tandem subject of the theater itself. The play challenges our senses and is self-consciously a performance orchestrated by Shakespeare's effigy in the master illusionist Prospero. There are, in addition, numerous interpenetrating polarities in the play, most notably between nature and civilization or Art. These thematic strands come together at multiple points of intersection.

Nevertheless, from one angle on the text, The Tempest asks a single question, one that Shakespeare had posed in many and divers of his other plays: What is a human being? (or, in Elizabethan terms: What is man?)

http://www.enotes.com/tempest/

Following nomination and voting for the finalists in second annual Best Entrepreneurs Under 25 U.S. report organized by Business Week I was thinking about things that make a difference in this world adding a new value and inspiring the others to do so.

In a nutshell everyone can say that it is about having a vision and finding the best way of its accomplishment. But the process doesn't stop there. Even more important part is sharing it with the others and enjoying benefits of exchange, becoming through it a true leader, moving the others to the course of becoming aware of their own value and potentials and following their path to self-actualization and success.

If you wish to see young entrepreneurs that might inspire your work take a look at:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/10/bestunder25/source/27.htm

Sheena Lindahl and Michael Simmons from Extreme Entrepreneurship Education Corporation are my pick for no other reason of many said about them than this: I believe that the main issue of "How to Create a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Prosperity" is the eternal search of humankind. And that is exactly the titleline of their Student's Success Manifesto.

http://successmanifesto.com

There is a question, many questions that can be linked with commitment in general...

What is it that holds the relationships between people, friends, partners, men and women, thousands of them? Why is there often a feeling that someone is "using" the other, or at the best that they are "equally using each other" for their interests? Something similar can happen with friendships. The connection becomes the line of exchange and then it broaden, but in most cases it becomes the highway or a railway with so huge traffic on it that the noise is making you leave, loosing the point of what was it for at the first place, and search for the "greener pastures" as we say But the question is why and have we wasted all grass like that already?

Harmony with nature, what is more natural for any being than to achieve that? But at the same time what is more missing in our culture than that? Harmony with true human nature is subject of cultural diversity of the ways how life should be lived. And sometimes some values or false values seem to stand in opposition. Why so, when all the values of each culture are there to support one value, core value, that is human Life? Survival and growth.

Doesn't that value imply the pact of nonviolence with the cause, not because we fear something might happen to us too, but for the good cause? To support Life. To make foundation for the future that is to come. Why do we mostly fear of future when it is the best thing we have, and maybe the only thing we might have - the future ahead? Why do we tend to contaminate everything with our doubts and fears of the past? Why in the end we come to the point of doubt in the primary value - human life?

Imagine a field where two people or many people meet, and stroll together and after some time they build a path and then they can still rest by it, or cultivate their garden together, spreading it, making new paths... having some sense in caring and following what's going on, but then one day you open your eyes and see that there's just too much of wasted ground under your feet. What has happened to the garden?

If too many people come to that place it is more likely that they will not contribute but on the contrary, the whole field will look like a stadium after the football match, the grass wasted after the concert in the open air. What has happened? Too much emotions? Or too much of neglecting the true sense or the meaning of that gathering. If it was just to pass some time, the time will pass after and the ground will heal, it will be ready for the new gardeners.

The same way people are building and destroying their culture and civilizations that have collapsed were overstepped by the feet of those who are numerous, uncaring, ignorant or just too impatient to wait and see, those who want everything and want that now, those who haven't felt that responsibility for building something that is in their hands, along the timeline, during their life time and to be continued afterwards.

The repression from one hand is making the release of uncontrolled energy from the other side. Who is setting up and who is following the rules? Can we say that we can commit and from that from there we feel we are getting the power, not the power of the other one nor even the power of God, which is omnipresent, but feel the power of that commitment made to each other and to our selves, for if we, humans are not being of commitment we still may be any of the animals that struggle to survive. Commitment vs. survival? No, but the commitment as a form of survival of humanity.

Who can commit to something that he or she will do like that no matter what? If the faith is backboned with commitment and the commitment backed up with faith, there is no stronger bond. At the same time it is not enough to have a will, nor passion only, nor talent nor desire only, the plan or thought, The commitment is the action of a whole being, and it should be learned. Maybe the highest wisdom and the highest art is knowing how to commit to something and in doing so realizing yourself as a human being? Whatever it may happen to be.

Sometimes our best commitment is made to the unknown, to the future and unpredictability, to life as we may grasp its meaning and value, and produce a new quality of truth out of it. Thus we sometimes might not know or fully articulate our true commitment because it is not just what we said by words. Nor even deeds. It spans over whole lifetime, just in the end we will know, and maybe not even then, but that doesn’t minimize the truth and quality of our commitment.

Being committed and knowing it, working on it and not necesserily even naming it, is making the center of our being whole, holy and respected, respectful for the others, patient to wait for the time to show its forms and grateful for each revelation on that way.

Though the Taliban have been pushed off to to south of the country, radical Islam appears still remains a force to be reckoned with in Afghanistan. Not long after the Danish caricatures scandal caused bloody riots across the world, there is more trouble waiting ahead. Abdul Rahman is no doubt a victim, alongside the hundreds of Afghani women who have been thrown into prison under suspicion of adultery. The one, or rather two things working in his favour? The Pope himself is said to have written a letter to the Afghani president, Hamid Karzai,urging for the verdict to be overturned. And second,it just so happens too that, at the same time, Mr Karzai has very little interest to upset the Western interests to whom he owes his present position. He out of all people is in a very delicate situation: Who to pacify? The radical elements at home or the West ? One thing is for sure , both sides are watching him like a hawk, and while he takes his time to decide, the fate of a poor innocent hangs in the balance.

Los cuentos de hadas de nuestra ninez nos sirven coma guia indispensable durante esos primeros anos de vida cuando estamos por desarrollar el uso de la razon.Muchas veces contienen ensenanzas valiosas, formuladas sin embargo en un lenguaje poco complicado, y por consiguiente accesible a la audiencia propuesta, los ninos. Ahora que ya hemos casi alcanzado la madurez, guardamos todavia el recuerdo de estas instrucciones preciosas? Hemos verdaderamente aprendido algo? Supimos atesorar los importantes mensajes que contienen mas alla de la fantasia y el esparcimiento?
A ver..Quienes de vosotros hais incorporado a vuestra vida algunas de estas frases rescatadas de esos cuentos?
-Aquel dia fue muy triste para la liebre y aprendio una leccion que no olvidaria jamas: No hay que burlarse nunca de los demas.
El cuento de la liebre y la tortuga nos ensena a no subestimar jamas a la gente que nos pueda parecer menos diestra o entendida en cualquier asunto.
-Busca lo mejor de las personas, no lo peor, las pruebas y las trampas para saber la verdad crean recelo, nunca devocion.
La leyenda del malaventurado Barbazul nos ensena igualmente de comportarnos de una manera sincera y no abusar de la amistad con los demas.
Asi pues, procuremos de tirar ganancia de las inestimables lecciones que los cuentos nos brindan.

- Minimum 100 millions of neural cells are engaged in this system located in our stomach

- The system of visceral brain in our stomach uses the same neurotransmitters as our brain

- Our visceral brain has its own memory, often not pertaining to conscious self

- It’s in constant touch with our central neural system using thousands neuron links to brain

- It sends 4 times more signals/messages to our head than it receives from the brain


So what are these messages? What is the function of this intelligent creation in our inner organ that regulate extremely complex processes of digestion, extracting nutritive ingredients and nourishing our body by integrating it in our cells, absorbing and rejecting?

It is often said “I need some time to digest that” for the things that we are not ready to consciously face, accept or refuse – the events and impressions that touch us and move us, the contacts with people who arise certain emotions in us, the intensity of our emotions, all that is measured and judged by stomach, being processed and incorporated or ignored by our head.

It is getting like this – by means of sensations, feelings and foresight our visceral brain in stomach informs central neural system about its activity of spiritual and physical “digestion” and about all learning that happens connected to that.

Disgust and repulsion are messages that stomach send in case of both huge and small danger perceived. When there is a message of content and satisfaction, feelings of trust and confidence then we are moved and motivated to activities of some kind. Sometimes it sends to us just the message “Something is wrong here”.

Feelings from your stomach participate in the most rational decision making processes. “Feelings drive our complete existence and they do it in a form of complete but condensed life experience” – says Damasio. It is like that in playing football, composing music, giving the interview for a new job, buying a new house or even – purchasing detergent at the store. Feelings everywhere move us, no matter if that is on the level of new world order design of our state leaders and key business players or our individual choice between two jobs, two places, two restaurants to dine. There is always the stomach which has already made its decisions while head is still thinking.

Only milliseconds are enough for visceral brain to communicate to our head its opinion about the alternative it has already chosen and it does it in a very simple way. No abstract thoughts, no complex explanations. For instance, how modern physicists recognize in the myriads of calculations when their formula is true? “By its elegance” - Einstein said. By the intense feeling of satisfaction and happiness.
There are other intelligent reactive spots in our organism as Indian philosophy of Ayurveda is teaching us. It is about chakras located vertically on 7 body points and not only in our head and stomach. Newest research in a multidisciplinary field of pseudo-neuro-cardio-imunology show that neural cells are present in the tissue of the heart that is also soaked in neurotransmitters similar to those that make our brain function. So we may say that we feel at home everywhere inside our body.

If you test your intuition you may get into following groups by the level of use and trust to your inner voice in your life.

Having a super-intuition you live highly intuitive, spontaneous and creative way. You have good insight in what is happening to you and you let yourself being led by your inner voice. You easily understand human relations and handle the most complicated situation easily. You often see things before the other people, but you might have problems in persuading the others in your visions and foresights. In that case you may help yourself by developing better coordination between your stomach and your head. That will help you not just to lean on your intuition, but also to learn how to interpret your wishes and foresights into the possibilities of communication to the others.

In cases that you don’t rely so much on your inner voice you may find that your body IQ is not fully in use. You may find that you have capabilities but they often put you in situations where your brain and stomach get in clash. Your intuition can not break through the frame of rational thinking because whenever you need to make an important decision you tend to lean on facts only. If you don’t wish to feel torn apart like that do train yourself to listen to your intuition more often, starting from the small matters. Learn how to decide spontaneously from your stomach, starting from the choice of the book you are going to buy or choosing a meal in the restaurant or making any other small choices. Doing like that you will learn to trust your intuition to lean on it on more and more complex and important matters in your life.

In some cases of rigid behavior some may experience that your inner voice gets suffocated. We all have our strong points, and the strong point of some persons may be their rational thinking. If you find yourself in this group you are likely to hear your intuition’s messages, but then again you might feel very unpleasant if you allow yourself to make decisions based on spontaneous inner feeling. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed by that, but rather should listen to your hunch more often. It may start in being aware of the very first impression that some persons or situations have left upon you and then comparing it to the facts that you have later gathered about that person or situation. Counting more on your spontaneous first impressions can make your life more versatile and exciting and make you capable for developing some new qualities in life, experiencing it and accepting it new way.

Have you heard about the Stendhal syndrome? Maybe you have been hit by it? It is a mental and emotional distress that happens because of experiencing too much of artistic beauty. There is an anecdote about an excursion to Florence when two professors approached the sculpture of David at the same time. One was the art teacher and couldn't stop her tears while the other, the teacher of science asked her in disbelief - Do you cry because of this STONE?

Stendhal syndrome has diagnosed and named in 1979 by Italian psychologist Dr. Graziella Magherini upon the symptoms of hundreds of patients hospitalized in Florence because of this psychosomatic disorders hitting them as tourists over a few years. The syndrome is featured by rapid heartbeat, nausea, confusion, dizziness and even hallucinations that were noticed at some patients as the result of "overdose" of beauty in consuming the art, the beauty of sculptures, paintings and architecture in this cradle of Renaissance that drags art lovers and tourists from all over the world. But Florence hospital statistics prove that the most of them were from foreigners, mainly from West Europe, and not any of them was ever an Italian. "It is like they got used to art and beauty, they even call their own country 'bella Italia' meaning beautiful Italy"

At his time it was Stendhal who wrote about his travel to Naples and Florence in 19th century, describing his feelings as he became overcome with emotions:

"I was in a sort of ecstasy, from the idea of being in Florence, close to the great men whose tombs I had seen. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty ... I reached the point where one encounters celestial sensations ... Everything spoke so vividly to my soul. Ah, if I could only forget. I had palpitations of the heart, what in Berlin they call 'nerves.' Life was drained from me. I walked with the fear of falling.''

According to the statistics of Dr Magherini this syndrome hits sensitive and creative individuals that travel alone or in pairs, never those ones who travel in tourist groups.

If you wish to read more: http://www.wordspy.com/words/Stendhalssyndrome.asp

http://thinkmovechange.blogspot.com/

Where does the empathy begin?

There may be a scientific explanation like this one found in the article from the Boston Globe.

But where the true empathy may take us further?

As a special introduction to the season of giving, courage and creativity here are two stories that became ONE story. About Ryan and about his friend and brother Jimmy!

They made me think, made me cry and made me feel grateful for living in this beautiful world, the world that good and inspiring people MAKE BEAUTIFUL.

Share these with your friends and family if you wish:

http://www.pnyv.org/index.php?id=34&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=12&tx_ttnews[backPid]=8&cHash=725ab9a834

http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2005/02/jimmy_escape_freedom.html

It is interesting to research about emerging new and transition in the old (traditional) forms of business life considering global village business.

From one hand there are multinationals with complete business methodologies patterns that are transfering (translating) their rules and roles with very slight modifications according to local markets (customization, localization) - these are companies like automotive industry leaders, sportware leaders, software and hardware leaders, food&beverage leaders, hospitality leaders, etc (to name few : BMW, Nike, Microsoft, Compaq, McDonalds, Coca Cola, Hyatt Hotel, etc)

From the other hand there are small enterpreneureal investments for which we never know when will become giants. Good example is that dot com business revolution that has created millions of companies and also billions of profit lately has been very stimulating for development of some industry leading countries in the area of software development - Ireland emerged as well as India, Romania and Vietnam - as excellent outsourcing partners (not naming companies, here the locations were more important to speak about the quality of solutions)

To conclude, there will always be areas of emergent growing markets (technology wise) where the opinion of ''who you are, who your family is and who are you known to'' will be of the utmost importance not for any tradition but simply because any other rules and roles are still not established (business wise) On that path is also the individual enterpreneureal investment - to make it different from multinational investment in spreading globally.

The only thing that we can not tell is how likely enterpreneureal investments are to become multinational itself one day and maybe another case study of company like Microsoft is today.

Anyone having a New Year resolution to learn Sanskrit might find this link useful. And for all of us who would like to learn more about Sanskrit there is an interesting Guide that we can download in PDF from here

http://sanskrit.gde.to/articles/GuideToSanskrit.pdf

The Spiritual Seeker's Essential Guide to Sanskrit
By Denis Waite

Besides, the various tools for learning Sanskrit such as the Online Sanskrit Dictionary, Sanskrit Tutorials, Sanskrit Pronunciation guides, and software for learning Sanskrit and producing documents in Devanagari & Roman formats, and much more are available on this website http://sanskrit.gde.to/

I liked the initial quote that matches my views and experience. Here it is:

"It cannot be stolen by thieves,
Nor can it be taken away by kings.
It cannot be divided among brothers
It does not cause a load on your shoulders.
If spent...
It indeed always keeps growing.
The wealth of knowledge...
Is the most superior wealth of all!"

Indeed the knowledge is an unbeatable asset, weapon and tool which only can be surmounted by treasure of human emotions, respect and love.

Let's get to learning with the prayer:

"OM! May that Brahman protect us both (Teacher & Disciple);
May that Brahman nourish us both;
May we work in harmony with great vigor;
May our study be illuminating and fruitful;
May we not hate each other.
Om..
Peace, Peace..."

shaa.ntiH || Peace

Before Santa comes to our homes with his Ho-Ho-Ho we might visit his place in history. Why we mainly believe that his home is at the North Pole? We might know it better than that. Here is a fresco showing St. Nicholas, Church of St. Nicholas, Myra (Demre, Turkey) Photo: St Nicholas Society/JMR

And I recently found this in the news:

"The first edition of the International Santa Clause Festival began on 3 December in Demre, Turkey -- noted as the birthplace of St. Nicholas in the 4th century AD. The festivities continue through 8 December."

St. Nicholas by Susan Seals:

"The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in Patara, a village close to Myra (Demre) in what is now Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young.

Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to the those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

Under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who ruthlessly persecuted Christians, Bishop Nicholas suffered for his faith, was exiled and imprisoned. The prisons were so full of bishops, priests, and deacons, there was no room for the real criminals—murderers, thieves and robbers.

After his release, Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. He died December 6, AD 343 in Myra and was buried in his cathedral church, where a unique relic, called "myro", formed in his grave. This liquid substance was said to have healing powers which fostered the growth of devotion to Nicholas. The anniversary of his death became a day of celebration, St. Nicholas Day.

Through the centuries many stories and legends have been told of St. Nicholas' life and deeds. These accounts help us understand his extraordinary character and why he is so beloved and revered as protector and helper of those in need."

To read more visit:
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38

Fifteen paintings of Daniel James Brophy at his first show “Trains, Stains and Hymns“ at the gallery of Kean University in Union NJ have shown the explosion of colors and passion in depicting life on the stage of the under-ground tunnels.

Homeless, panhandlers, street musicians, passengers and world of human pain, suffering and alienation elevated by the tremendous energy of the painter to communicate life and love in what our world is, or has turned to be, seen by the eyes of a stranger who can’t help but getting involved. The figures of humans hanging and exceeding or reaching to the edges of the frames of paintings, mysterious figures, obvious figures, poetic or distant figures centered or set on the stage of triptych-like compositions are simple in the essence, and that simplicity is underlining the clear message of complexity and value of human life.

I could see it only on photographs taken from the show but in details of each painting shown I found the world of true life and life meaningful to the fullest extent, even in portraying some ordinary or meaningless ambient where one may dwell or stray. In these fifteen paintings that are resembling the trees from the primordial garden although each of them may stand as a jungle of vibrant emotions echoing with music, noise, tremor and sometimes, even deeper than that, with a silence one may see the art from the cave abreast with the urban pictorial definition of humanity today.

One may experience the shamanic dance of healing or leaving the wounds speak for themselves. One may hear music from the instruments that seem lively and yet unanchored in any particular corner of the street, like coming from everywhere, from any spot of the globe to get poured into our senses. One may hear the comments on the art that is shocking or inappropriate, provoking or straying from the mainstreams of artistic expression or composition. These paintings do not carry any special experiment, but as a whole they appear to be a huge experiment in life, sometimes as simple as a human touch. They are all extensively involving, as someone said, stirring all our senses at the same time.

Similar way the artist appears mysterious as a child of a naïve soul of creation or a master of the wise vision and depth. There are things obviously incorporated to draw our attention to some detail, as fragments of reality caught on the spot and served on the plate or stuck to the body of the painting itself, but upon all these captivating details scattered on the paintings, some of them be coins, train tickets, playing cards, cigarettes or else we find it, a painting as a whole. There is a feeling of reliability and canon in this art, its solidity, style of painter to easily fill large formats of heavy boards or doors (?) wood panels which all together make the appearance of a cathedral with the icons of life and pain or warning and on its walls, voice and music filling it, pertaining not to past, history and death and not to future, but to the present moment brimming with life, any timeline being captured in that.

This art is powerful and strikingly persuasive in bringing its point. Humanity. Whatever connotation that word may have for anyone. Humanity as a whole, as an individual who could never be known but also never forgotten once after seeing him or her, humanity as emotional expression of faith, hopelessness and belief at the same time. Humanity as love for other human beings, way of pulling them out of anonymity of suffering.

This art might be seen as the engaged and applied in a way of having its loud message and clear voice of urge for all the people to turn one to another, to reach and touch the hands with each other and tie with emotions in some endeavor that takes all of humanity to get performed to the full, but nonetheless this art radiates the hope that it is not an impossible task.

Advance Praise for Ambient Findability, Peter Morville's new O'Reilly book:

"A lively, enjoyable and informative tour of a topic that's only going to become more important."

--David Weinberger, Author, Small Pieces Loosely Joined and The Cluetrain Manifesto

"Information that's hard to find will remain information that's hardly found--from one of the fathers of the discipline of information architecture, and one of its most experienced practitioners, come penetrating observations on why findability is elusive and how the act of seeking changes us."

--Steve Papa, Founder and Chairman, Endeca

Take a look at the author's pages!

http://semanticstudios.com/about/
http://findability.org/

When you get the chance to buy this book do it. Or at least, make a photo of it and send the link to the author!

http://www.findability.org/archives/000064.php

Virtual Community

Today I watched a TV show about an outstanding person Prof. Hugh Miller Herr from MIT and his life, his free climbing talent and practice before he lost both his legs in his youth due to the snow storm and his afterwards his work on artificial limbs development at MIT

http://biomech.media.mit.edu/people/herr.htm

I was so inspired and impressed by the idea and the attitude of having used your current “weakness and loss” as the foundation for overcoming problems and obstacles in life in general and adopting a positive attitude for even more prosperous achievements in life, helping others and making one’s life so much more worth and even – more amusing, more liberated learning to notice in technology development not only what is already available, but even more what isn’t there yet. So I searched more about him and found interesting links on his work http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript405.htm

and family life, and also pages of his wife

http://www.patricia-ellis-herr.info/pages/4/index.htm

and her interesting research in the domain of biology and anthropology

noticing that she belongs to Human Behavior and Evolution Society I have searched for more of their scope of work

The Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES) is an interdisciplinary, international society of researchers, primarily from the social and biological sciences, who use modern evolutionary theory to help to discover human nature - including evolved emotional, cognitive and sexual adaptations.

At HBES they have interesting online courses
http://www.hbes.com/Hbes/online-courses.htm

Towards a Literacy of Cooperation
http://shl.stanford.edu/hum202_classnotes.html

Where I found Howard Rheingold
Howard is author of a number of amazing books including Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Howard has tapped his network of friends to put bring this list of amazing speakers to Stanford.

http://www.rheingold.com/index.html
intensely creative man who even paint his own shoes!

http://www.rheingold.com/cooperation/Technology_of_cooperation.pdf

Then I came to Smart Mobs

http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2003/12/11/the_battle_for_.html

and finally ended reading about domestic marketing scene. I need to work on Branding Belgrade project.

http://www.b92.net/info/emisije/timofejev.php?nav_id=159646&yyyy=2005&mm=01