Interesting | Chocolate Mints In a Jar

How many countries can you name in 5 minutes?

7aki Fadi had this link. I got 61 out of 195.

Choose a window seat and enjoy the view and more links

5o rules for my unborn son.

36. Try a hairstyle that you’ll one day regret. I’ll get over it.

Amazing anime decorated trains in Japan.

Geeky Cakes.

Mona Eltahtawy thinks Egyptians might be bad too.

Nokia tries to break their phones before you do

With over one million Nokia phones being made each day, they have to be tested to make sure that they will withstand our abusive ways with them. This video shows how they quality test their phones. I had no idea that testing was this rigorous. Having worked with software quality testers I understand the importance of checking for quality before your product goes out to the client. I had never imagined testing for things like your phone rubbing in your pocket.

Play online Scrabble

One of my favorite games is Scrabble. I love discovering new words and kicking my competition’s ass all at the same time.
Play some online Scrabble.

Extraordinary vs Ordinary

What separates ordinary people from extra ordinary people? Malcolm Gladwell discusses his findings.

The Bucket List tag

Gjoez tagged me, the rules are simple

“Simply state any number of goals you want to achieve in the next 8-10 years. Let them be small goals, big goals, silly goals. It is always nice to think about a bucket list, write it down, and share it. But mot importantly, tag others to do the same when you are done.”

I already posted about the things I want to do before I die, those are in my bucket list I guess. Not being one to reinvent the wheel, or re-write a post. I am just going to tag people.

Interesting Reading

Two Social Justice teachers have decided to start eating on one dollar a day.
Disney becomes couture.
Musicovery is the best way to find new music.
Guess what men also do these girly things (it’s in Arabic though).
Why do people get married?
Waste some time, play Garfield’s Lasagna from heaven
Or even better make your own lasagna.

The London Underground map

The London underground better known as “The Tube” map is perhaps one of the most interesting and important pieces of graphical design which borders on art in the last century. It has made traveling around London a much easier and simpler task. I have a thing for maps, I find them really interesting. Although this one is not technically a map because it ignores geographical and map making rules such as correct scale and distance between stations, this has been compromised to make the map easier to use. There are 80 underground systems all over the world and most of them use the same technique for their maps including Cairo’s Metro. Smashing Telly has a very interesting documentary on the map’s creation.

Cairo's Metro Map

Tube Map

Subliminal – Derren Brown

Derren Brown is controversial illusionist, hypnotist and the presenter of Mind Control on BBC. He has come up with the most interesting shows illustrating how many techniques can be used to communicate and change people’s minds on the subliminal level without telling them directly anything. I have always been a firm believer in things like this and NLP.
This video is probably one of the most interesting ones because he tricks two people in advertising who probably make a living creating ads that speak to the public subliminally. It makes you think about the amount of subliminal messages we are bombarded with every day and just how little control we have over them.

Mandala

Mandala loosely translated means the “essence” or “circle” and is an Indian Sanskrit word. It conveys the idea of wholeness and our connection with the cosmos. It is related to Buddhism and meditation.

In common use, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the Universe from the human perspective.[From WikiPedia]

Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community.[from MandalaProject.org]

It is said by Tibetan Buddhists that a mandala consists of five “excellencies”:

The teacher

The Message

The audience

The site

The time

An audience or “viewer” is necessary to create a mandala. Where there is no you, there is no mandala.(from: You Are the Eyes of the World, by Longchenpa, translated by Lipman and Peterson).[from MandalaProject.org]

My mother was the one who told me about them maybe a year ago, she thought I might enjoy making them and coloring them, she has always thought of Art as a good way to relax and pass time. I had seen a documentary on a sand mandala being constructed for peace by the UN and children but I didn’t quite recall it when she told me about them. A couple of days ago I came across the Essence of rabbit and thought it was the cutest mandala I had ever seen, made by rabbit characters from many sources.