The Lush Life

Chicago Thaws into Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Chicago Thaws into Spring, originally uploaded by Stuck in Customs.

by Trey Ratcliff { http://www.stuckincustoms.com }

Thank you again to our two amazing pilots, Jeff and Bill, for one of the best helicopter flights I've ever been on. A magical experience.

The Haunting Textures of the Hotel Sax

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:10:00 +0000

The Haunting Textures of the Hotel Sax, originally uploaded by Stuck in Customs.

One of Trey Ratcliff's stunning HDR captures from a hotel lounge we ducked into in Chicago.....

Be sure to check out his entire travel/photo blog at http://www.stuckincustoms.com for inspiration and, if your interest in HDR is piqued, a great tutorial via the links he has posted on the right side of his blog.

A Pantheon of Media Gods

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:28:00 +0000

Jessie Rauch, graphic design | A Pantheon of Media Gods: "This series transforms media celebrities into Greek Gods as metaphorical commentary on the power that individual pundits and journalists have in controlling access to information and in the shaping of public opinion."

The World is Your Oyster

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:15:00 +0000

How To Raise A Globe-Trotter - Forbes.com

Love on the Front Line

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:34:00 +0000

JUST MARRY HIM? | More Intelligent Life: "The Sex and the City movie was not the only big event in the public conversation about women and marriage this spring. For the thinking woman, the vapid romance flick likely took a backseat to the real head scratcher: Lori Gottlieb's controversial essay, 'Marry Him! The case for settling for Mr. Good Enough', published in the Atlantic in March."

Beyond the Rubber Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:31:00 +0000

THE SCIENCE OF HUMOUR

Schooled

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:30:00 +0000

NORDIC CLASSROOMS | More Intelligent Life

Hardcore Fairy Tale Science

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:04:00 +0000

The Science of Fairy Tales | LiveScience

Bite Me.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:03:00 +0000

Vampires a Mathematical Impossibility, Scientist Says | LiveScience

Graph Jam Charts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:52:00 +0000

Download the software and make some yourself (it's free) or just laugh at what other people post. GraphJam

Oh. My. God. I LOVE THIS!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:00:00 +0000

This is just about the coolest damn thing I've seen in awhile. Basically, it's a flickr photo search via tags. You start out by entering your first key word. "Ireland" for example. Then more sub-choices pop up. Keep clicking on your sub-tags until you've narrowed your choice to what you are looking for. Then click the globe in the center and the app gathers the applicable photos from flickr and plants them on the spinning globe. LOVE THIS! Warning: ADDICTIVE!

Click Tag Galaxy to access the site.

Happily Ever After in Therapy...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:11:00 +0000

8 Fairy Tales And Their Not-So-Happy Endings on Mental Floss Blogs

The original endings to many historical fairy tales are quite a bit less sanitized than their Disney versions....

For example: "Sleeping Beauty"

In the original version of the tale, it’s not the kiss of a handsome prince that wakes Sleeping Beauty, but the nudging of her newborn twins. That’s right. While unconscious, the princess is impregnated by a monarch and wakes up to find out she’s a mom twice over. Then, in true Ricki Lake form, Sleeping Beauty’s “baby’s daddy” triumphantly returns and promises to send for her and the kids later, conveniently forgetting to mention that he’s married. When the trio is eventually brought to the palace, his wife tries to kill them all, but is thwarted by the king. In the end, Sleeping Beauty gets to marry the guy who violated her, and they all live happily ever after."

For more: Mental Floss Blogs

"Do you want to be friends in six months, or have me kill you in 10 years?"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:55:00 +0000

Prisoners Dilemma Contest: Whats the One Question You'd Ask If.......
By Stephen J. Dubner

Pretend for a minute that you have done something to put yourself in jeopardy and are facing a real-life Prisoner’s Dilemma. Now pretend additionally that you get to choose your partner in the dilemma. There are three people to choose from. You cannot see or talk directly to the three people, but you are allowed to ask one question of each of the three people to help make your decision.

What is the one question you’d ask?

Read the entire post and submit your contest answer at: Freakonomics - New York Times Blog :

Law of Attraction Used for Your Parenting Success - by Kelly Nault M.A.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 17 May 2008 09:52:00 +0000

Law of Attraction and Effective Parenting

"Struggle is not part of the natural order of life. One never sees a cherry tree struggle to produce blossoms when given the right environment. Why? Because the tree is simply following its purpose—its basic nature. Fortunately, struggle does not have to be part of the parenting equation either. This is good news for many parents because if we choose to use the law of attraction we can experience a happier, more peaceful and respectful home. Yes, this can even mean eliminating award-winning temper tantrums for good. Sound too good to be true?" Read on.

Rebecca J. Burns

The revenge of e.e. cummings

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:48:00 +0000

A new study warns that writing text messages could hurt a writer's command of standardized English. lol.

The revenge of e.e. cummings - International Herald Tribune

Be A Kid Again

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:02:00 +0000

1. Do a cartwheel.
2. Sing into your hairbrush.
3. Walk barefoot in wet grass.
4. Play a song you like really loud, over and over.
5. Dot all your “i”’s with smiley faces.
6. Read the funnies. Throw the rest of the paper away.
7. Dunk your cookies.
8. Play a game where you make up the rules as you go along.
9. Step carefully over sidewalk cracks.
10. Change into some play clothes.
11. Try to get someone to trade you a better sandwich.
12. Eat ice cream for breakfast.
13. Kiss a frog, just in case.
14. Blow the wrapper off a straw.
15. Have someone read you a story.
16. Find some pretty stones and save them.
17. Wear your favorite shirt with you favorite pants even if they don’t match.
18. Take a running jump over a big puddle.
19. Get someone to buy you something you really don’t need.
20. Hide your vegetables under your napkin.
21. Stay up past your bedtime.
22. Eat dessert first.
23. Fuss a little, then take a nap.
24. Wear red gym shoes.
25. Put way too much sugar on your cereal.
26. Make cool screeching noises every time you turn a corner.
27. Giggle a lot for no reason.
28. Give yourself a gol"

10 Simple Ways to Do Only 3 Things Today

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:08:00 +0000

"I have to admit, I'm as lazy as the next guy. I have my moments of productivity, where I'm cranking out the tasks and checking things off my to-do list like my life depended on it.

But for the most part, I just want to do a few things each day, and then take a nap.

And as it turns out, that's all that's needed. Doing just a few things each day has worked wonders for my productivity -- I do less, but those few things I do have a higher impact."

Link to Full Lazy Productivity article on LifeRemix Blog

What’s for Dinner? Pork?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 06:32:00 +0000

The Pollster Wants to Know - New York Times:
"IF there’s butter and white wine in your refrigerator and Fig Newtons in the cookie jar, you’re likely to vote for Hillary Clinton. Prefer olive oil, Bear Naked granola and a latte to go? You probably like Barack Obama, too. And if you’re leaning toward John McCain, it’s all about kicking back with a bourbon and a stuffed crust pizza while you watch the Democrats fight it out next week in Pennsylvania.

If what we eat says a lot about who we are, it also says something about how we might vote."

Full article

An Ounce of Pleasure, a Gallon of Pain

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:05:00 +0000

From Freakonomics -New York Times Blog:
“Then what, what you gonna do, when the new wears off and the old shines through, and it ain’t really love and it ain’t really lust, and you ain’t anybody anyone’s gonna trust. … When you can’t turn back for the bridges you burn….”

The guy in the song is willing to throw out his marriage, even though he may know that in the future, the affair will come to nothing and he will lose his wife and family. He values the present pleasure much, much more than he worries about the future pain. It’s not just that he has a high discount rate; he values pleasure now much more than he is bothered by pain next year — even though, if he were asked today to compare an affair three years from now to the pain it would cause him the following year, he would choose not to have the affair. We economists call this strange valuation of present and future hyperbolic discounting — people overemphasize current pleasure and pain in comparing actions at different points in time."
Full text

Yip, Yip, Yip.... You Bastard!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:42:00 +0000

The New Rules of Technology in Relationships
"Ever since technology -- text messaging in particular -- invaded our relationships, there's been a lot of gray area as to what the rules are. So I decided to set the record straight once and for all. After all, sometimes love and electronics just don't mix..."

... from the Editor of Sex on My Desk at ivillage.com

10 Ways to Catch a Liar

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:26:00 +0000

"Now, the average person can become adept at identifying dishonesty, and it's not as hard as you might think. Experts tell WebMD the top 10 ways to let the truth be known."

Link to 10 Ways to Catch a Liar:

"What butter and whiskey will not cure there's no cure for."

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:08:00 +0000

That's an Irish proverb there, not just me rambling about butter again. So in the interest of promoting healthy living this St. Pat's, I offer you this fine little primer on Irish Whiskey from JC Skinner's Skin Flicks blog.

"It's whiskEy not whisky. With an 'E' and it's Irish, without and it's Scotch. Some Yanks like to spell their Bourbon the Irish way, with the E. This is a mistake, since the vast majority of Bourbon isn't proper whiskey at all. In my opinion, of course."

.... and so it begins. Slainte!

JC Skinner's guide to Irish Whiskey:

Text Messaging Do's and Don'ts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:22:00 +0000

"In a world where Britney Spears is crazy, Lindsay Lohan is easy and Rihanna is just asking to get beat by Beyonce, it’s a surprise we could possibly care about insignificant things like text messaging. It really makes you wonder what this world is coming to. However, despite the utter silliness of it all, it’s still important to follow the rules. What rules, you ask? The text messaging rules. Because as we know, with any game there are rules and with every broken rule, you take one step closer to becoming a hermit with no dignity. Harsh, I know. No one said it would be easy."

Link

Hi Neighbor! May I borrow a pint of Guinness?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:29:00 +0000

If your level of sobriety and sense of adventure compel you to go beyond simply boiling some spuds this Paddy's Day, there are some eclectic options on this site. A few examples...

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes
Guinness German Potato Salad
Guinness Milk Chocolate Ice Cream
Irish Cheddar and Stout Fondue

Link

Best Time to Buy Anything

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:09:00 +0000

Get the best deals on everything from airline tickets to a car. It's all in your timing.
~ Men's Wealth at menshealth.com

While the title is a bit misleading (it's a very short list so if your idea of "Anything" is 6 things....), it still has some useful "tidbits." Like:

What: Airline tickets
When: 1 a.m. on Wednesday
Why: This is the best time to find a deal because airlines reset their fares every Wednesday just after midnight, says Peter Greenberg, Men's Health Travel Detective.

Link