30 Thursday Oct 2014
Posted in Fun
27 Monday Oct 2014
Posted in News
Tags
author, batteries, creepy, energy, jewelry, Naomi Kizhner, needles, Science, science fiction, science news, social commentary, Stephanie Beavers, writer
Jewelry That Harvests Energy From Your Veins
Let’s read that again. It’s jewelry that HARVESTS ENERGY from your VEINS.
Need a charge? Just STAB your jewelry straight into your own body to draw a charge!
(I may be a tad SCARED SKINNY of needles.)
Didn’t she watch The Matrix? We shouldn’t be giving our own technology the idea that we can be used as human batteries!
Okay, so you may have noticed me taking a hypochondriac’s spin here. In fair representation, Naomi Kizhner created these devices as a social commentary on human energy consumption, not as a practical way to harvest energy. (Although I still say sticking a couple needles into yourself to make a wheel spin inside a transparent casing is CREEPY, but there you go.) In her words, the jewelry is a discussion piece “about how far will we go to in order to ‘feed’ our addiction in the world of declining resources.”
Check out her website to see these torture devices.
What do you think, readers? Cool or creepy?
23 Thursday Oct 2014
Posted in Fun
Tags
author, chills, entertainment, fun, Halloween, spooky, Stephanie Beavers, Tuck Me In, video, writer, youtube
This spooky amateur video will get you in the Halloween Spirit
20 Monday Oct 2014
Posted in News
Tags
animals, author, birds, cat, cats, magnetic fields, migration, navigation, pet, pets, Science, science news, sea birds, sea turtles, Stephanie Beavers, turtles, writer
So I read a cool article yesterday: How a Kitty Walked 200 Miles Home: The Science of Your Cat’s Inner Compass
Some animals have the most extraordinary navigational abilities. Some days it seems like there’s nothing new for science to discover when it comes to the mammals we’re so familiar with, like birds and cats, but really, we’ve barely scratched the surface. The article above shares an anecdote about someone’s cat: the cat belonged to a local family, had been lost on a trip two months earlier, and had traveled 200 miles (322 km) in that time to arrive back in her hometown. Scientists have no idea how the cat was able to do that.
I can find my way home.
We do understand how some animals navigate. Dung beetles use the stars, as do seabirds (seabirds use the sun too). Some use Earth’s magnetic fields; sea turtles are born with a magnetic map of the ocean in their heads, allowing freshly hatched babies to run to the ocean and find feeding and breeding grounds. Of course, we’re not sure how exactly they sense and use magnetic fields to navigate, but we know that’s how they’re doing it. Seabirds get lost when it’s overcast, and sea turtles will go the wrong way when presented with artificial magnetic fields. Many animals can also sense things we can’t; a dog’s sense of smell is a prime example.
Maybe this is a reminder for us human beings to keep in mind that there’s more to our world – even the more obvious parts of our world – than we know.
For further reading: Watch: How Far Do Your Cats Roam?
16 Thursday Oct 2014
Posted in Fun
Tags
adorable, animals, author, cat, cat food, cats, dear kitten, dog, entertainment, Friskies, fun, humor, kitten, kittens, lol, pet, pets, Stephanie Beavers, writer
Okay, so I very recently posted the first Dear Kitten video on my blog.
Now I have discovered there are more. :D
So here they all are. The first is still the best, but they’re all cute. Enjoy!
13 Monday Oct 2014
Posted in Life
Tags
author, entitlement, gratitude, Happy Thanksgiving, life, philosophy, social commentary, Stephanie Beavers, thankful, Thanksgiving, writer
To all Canadians (and everyone, really, even if today isn’t your Thanksgiving Day or if you don’t celebrate it at all), Happy Thanksgiving!
For all my little woes and complaints, I know that I am insanely blessed. I have so much to be thankful for, and while I do try to always be grateful, I know I don’t always succeed.
I believe that gratitude is one of the most powerful emotions that people have in their arsenal-for-life, and yet it is sadly underused. Our culture has replaced feeling grateful with feeling like entitled. Instead of “I am so blessed,” it’s just “I deserve this.” Entitlement robs gratitude’s power. Being grateful is a wonderful feeling; it lifts us up. But when you feel you deserve something, it can only tear you down, because if you deserve it and you get it, well, whatever, but if you deserve it and you don’t get it, it’s a terrible thing.
There is another lost aspect to gratitude too; we shouldn’t only be grateful for obviously good things.
When I was younger, I struggled a bit with being depressed. One of the things that helped me turn that around was gratitude. Every night, before I went to sleep, I thought of two good things that I was grateful for, and then two bad things that I was grateful for. This forced me to change my perspective, because if nothing else, we learn from the bad things in our lives. Sometimes those bad things are even serendipitous, and because of them, we find ourselves in good situations we wouldn’t otherwise have been in.
Don’t get me wrong, I do think some things happen for no reason (not everything happens for a reason), but if they’re bad, do they have to be all bad? If we focus on the good, if we try to be grateful, then we can learn so much, and over time, life will become a happier, better thing. I could link to innumerable studies supporting the power of positive thinking, but I’m pretty sure we’ve all heard of them.
So I know I, for one, am taking a moment to count my blessings and be thankful for each and every one. What do you think, readers? Have I overrated gratitude, or do you think there’s something to this? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone gets some turkey.
09 Thursday Oct 2014
Posted in Fun
Tags
architecture, art, author, creativity, jokes, lol, music, pancakes, puns, Stephanie Beavers, writer, zombies
Well, anyone who follows my blog will know that I LOVE random feats of human creativity. Like these:
This is a building, people. A music school.
So you don’t have to tilt your head sideways and squint:
The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a medium at large.
He often broke into song because he couldn’t find the key.
Local Area Network in Australia: the LAN down under.
The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
In democracy, it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count that votes.
A backwards poet writes inverse.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
What’s the definition of a will? (It’s a dead giveaway.)
A bicycle can’t stand on it’s on; it’s two-tired.
06 Monday Oct 2014
Posted in Thoughts
Tags
animals, author, cats, life, narrators, philosophy, Stephanie Beavers, trust, writer
Here’s a beautiful and thought-provoking video. The style of dance displayed isn’t usually my thing, but I can still appreciate the skill, strength, and trust that goes into such a performance. And the monologue over top is interesting. I almost thought it was going to be a funny video (just for a moment) because the narrator sounds like the guy who does “Dear Kitten” and “A Cat’s Guide To Taking Care Of Your Human.” Instead it was worth watching, not for entertainment value, but for the value it brings in getting us to think about what trust is to us – perhaps even who we trust.
Here’s the video:
And just because, here’s “Dear Kitten:”
And “A Cat’s Guide To Taking Care Of Your Human:”
So did the video make you think about trust? Or did you just watch the cat videos? ;) I promise I won’t judge.
02 Thursday Oct 2014
Posted in Thoughts
Tags
author, culture, life, music, nature, noise, philosophy, society, Stephanie Beavers, thinking, thoughts, writer
The other day, my boyfriend and I went for a drive. We left town and went up some logging roads. There were still people up there – it was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon – but we were more than far enough away that it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.
And it was quiet.
Living in a city, you never experience quiet. Not ever. There’s the distant rush of traffic, the hum of electronics, the chatter of people, the omnipresent wall of white noise. But have you noticed that there’s even more noise than ever? It’s like we’re trying to drown out the noise with more noise. Everywhere you go, there’s always music playing or advertisements blaring. Every store and restaurant has its own choice blasting away. When you go the mall and stand in the entrance of store, you can hear both at once: the hall music AND the store music. Day in, day out, we are inundated with noise.
Noise keeps us from thinking.
Think about that. Is it true? Does noise damage our ability to concentrate, focus, and really think? Would people think more if there were less noise? Or is it something else? I read a study that suggested that people hate doing nothing; do people hate thinking too, hate how stillness and silence encourage thought? Or are they altogether separate?
I have a friend who is very bright, but I constantly see this friend make stupid choices. This friend will complain to me about the consequences of those choices, about how the choice was made in the moment, because it “felt” right, but no thought was put into it. This is the same friend who has music blaring constantly, who always has the TV on in the background (sometimes both at the same time), and who must always be talking or doing something. This friend of mine is smart – maybe even brilliant – but it’s like this friend never stops to think. How would this friend’s life differ if just a little more thought entered the equation? Smart people do stupid things all the time, and it’s mostly when they didn’t stop to think first and fully evaluate the consequences of their actions.
Could noise be making people “dumber?”
It’s something to think about. Maybe try it. Get in a car and drive until there’s nothing but trees around. And think. Think about whatever crosses your mind.
So what do you think, readers? Might there be something to this? Or am I just waxing lightly on a meaningless subject? Have you ever felt like our world has become too loud? Share your thoughts!
29 Monday Sep 2014
Posted in Fun
Stephanie Beavers 