If you need a break from the rigors of business and a busy life, consider taking time out for one of these five fun and weird exhibitions around the world:

1. Festival of the Dead in Salem, Massachusetts

The site of the infamous Salem Witch Trials continues to live up to its weird and spooky reputation with its annual Festival of the Dead, an event that brings together the public and the creepily innovative with events ranging from history lessons to an exhibition of products and services aimed at the superstitious public; a career in ghost hunting can begin here, quite literally!

Rid yourself of a pestering spirit by purchasing the appropriate potion, learn to better detect the spirits of the dead and attend a fun series of events including a Halloween Ball; the Festival of the Dead in Salem offers it all!

When & Where: Historic and modernly enjoyable Salem, Massachusetts is the fitting home of the Festival of the Dead, taking place through October of each year.

2. Glastonbury Symposium 2012

Hailed as one of England’s oldest and longest-established “alternative” conferences, the Glastonbury Symposium offers a platform for the debate and discussion of subjects like UFOs, crop circles, metaphysics and more, all taking place over a jam-packed three-day schedule this July at the Glastonbury Town Hall. Whether you are particularly interested in the topics at hand or not, you can bet that this is one conference that no attendee will soon forget!

When & Where: The townhall in Glastonbury, England is the home of this year’s symposium from July 27-29, 2012.

3. Musee de l’Erotisme, Paris

Paris, France plays host to many museums, exhibits and events given its rich history and vibrant modern culture but no one place puts on a show quite like the Musee de l’Erotisme, a museum housing and showing off off things tawdry and naughty. Open year-round, each floor of the museum follows a sexual theme, showcasing imagery, artefacts and art that detail the progression of sexual awakening and realization in France and around the world.

While it may be surprising given the museum’s topic, the entire setup is very tasteful and instructive, offering the silly, surprising and blush-worthy alongside a telling inside look at just what it means to be human. Not so silly that those under 18 are allowed to enter, though!

When & Where: The Musee de l’Erotisme in Paris, France is open and accessible year-round! Find more awesome French exhibitions at FranceMagazine.com

4. Twins Days in Twinsburg

Twins of the world unite! Twins Days in the aptly named town of Twinsburg, Ohio plays host during the first full weekend of every August to pairs of twins, fraternal and identical, from around the world as they indulge is wacky and wild twin-themed events. With more than 1,700 sets of twins already registered for this year’s event, Twins Days 2012 promises to offer a full exhibition of products and services aimed at the pairs alongside themed fun and games, making for an unusual and very unique weekend for everyone in attendance.

Non-twinned people are welcome also, for a nominal fee at the gate, of course!

When & Where: The aptly-named town of Twinsburg, Ohio is the annual home of the Twins Days event, running this year from August 3-5.

5. Necropolis Exhibition in Moscow, Russia

It may be a morbid occupation but apparently even funeral home directors have a keen sense of humor on the subject of death as is evidenced in the title of the world’s largest funeral product show: the Necropolis Exhibition.

Drawing so-called “death professionals” from around the world, this Moscow-based trade show and exhibition showcases products like embalming fluid, caskets, the latest in makeup and wigs and more from the world of morticians and after-death specialists, making for a fun – but still creepy – atmosphere that anyone can enjoy.

When & Where: This year’s Necropolis Exhibition will be held in the Russian capital of Moscow from October 25-27, 2012.

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As reported by TMZ, during the red carpet event of “Men In Black III” in Moscow, Will Smith was confronted by a Ukranian reporter who decided to get a little chummy with the former “Fresh Prince Of Bel-Aire” actor. The unidentified Ukranian reporter is well known for his smooching of the celebrities when interviewing them.

Chances are that the reporter was probably trying to do a basic “alternating cheek kiss” to Will Smith. Will, not really knowing what to expect, pulled away a bit which caused the kiss to slightly graze Will’s mouth. The star became upset at this, not knowing whether the kiss was intentional or accidental. In either case, after verbally chastising the reporter, Will Smith gave the reporter a slight backhand to the jaw as onlookers looked on. Still remaining the gentleman he is, Will Smith continued talking with other reporters on the red carpet.

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However you feel about shock tactics, it can’t be denied that public awareness ads are pretty effective, at least at sticking in your mind. That is their ultimate purpose: to make you remember the message as a first step to making a change.

Here are 10 powerful, striking public awareness ads about the environment.

1. WWF Marine Protection Campaign: Fan Corals

More than 70 percent of all plastic ends up in the ocean. Not only is this an alarming figure, but it is even more shocking when you think about the properties of plastic – mainly, that it doesn’t actively break down, with experts estimating that it takes 1,000 years to decompose.

Even that may be a conservative estimate, as not enough time has passed since its creation to know for sure. Now just imagine that sitting in the ocean, slowly releasing chemicals as it degrades from the plastic and, occasionally, being swallowed by sea creatures – not good.

2. Ondazul: Toilet

At first glance, this one might appear a little funny. After all, it is a man throwing a toilet over the side of a harbor. But if you look a little closer you see a chain attached to the man’s ankle, showing that he is seconds away from being pulled in and drowned. The message? Such actions have consequences, and eventually, you will have to face them.

3. WWF River Pollution: Dissolvent

Think that what products you use have no true impact? This is sure to change your mind. A single can of dissolvent, which is automatically filtered back into bodies of water when it drains from your appliances, can pollute millions of gallons of water.

Just think about that for a second: millions. This is in a world where much of the world is dying because they don’t have enough clean water. With this kind of behavior, that will eventually be us.

4. WWF: Lungs

A complex image is created by two green lungs made of vegetation. One is partially uprooted, the trees gone. The message: We have to protect Mother Earth and “let her breathe” before it is too late – a simple meaning behind a really intense image.

5. WWF Desertification: Leopard

One of the biggest threats to various species in the world today is desertification. This is the degradation of dry land caused mostly by the presence of humans who exploit the area as well as the increase in global temperature. This ad shows a cheetah that is facing death, breaking apart into dry sand, much like the land where he lives.

6. Bund: Brown Bear

According to this ad, every 60 seconds a species dies out. That is a horrible thing to think about, and the advertisement used a very striking visual representation of an already alarming fact. It shows a bear caught in the hands of a clock, about to be crushed to death by the passing minute. That brings us to the text on the ad: “Every minute counts.”

7. WWF: Crocodile

There is a whole series of these ads, and each one is pretty amazing. They show different animals that have been intricately painted with huge amounts of detail. This one shows an alligator, each scale carefully crafted and a lot of texture making it appear realistic. The text above says: “Give a hand to wildlife.” The same campaign released an elephant, a toucan and several others.

8. Surfrider Foundation Australia: Oil Spill

Probably the most upsetting ad on this list, it shows how shocking imagery can be used to great effect to catch people’s attention. The picture shows a young mother laying on the beach, apparently unconscious and covered in oil, possibly dead.

Next to her is her crying child, also covered in oil and watching the form of her unmoving parent. The message is that it isn’t only the oceans that suffer for things like oil spills and other manmade disasters. Haunting and hard to swallow, this is one image that will stick with you.

9. WWF: Tarzan

Tarzan was in for a surprise with this ad. It shows the jungle hero swinging from a vine, but instead of finding another tree he finds thin air. According to the ad, 15 square kilometers of rainforest, home to both people and animals, disappear every minute.

10. WWF: Blood

Another disturbing ad, this one shows an attractive young woman walking through an empty airport terminal, wheeling her luggage behind her. From her suitcase comes a large trail of bright red blood.

According to the ad, she bought exotic animal souvenirs, items in countries where the laws on animal treatment, poaching and hunting might be a bit ambiguous or even supportive of such items. Every year, a number of people buy these products while abroad.

Conclusion

Many of these ads are emotional, and some incredibly upsetting. But they send a message in a way that seems to punch you in the gut. What are some of your favorite (or most moving) examples of public awareness ads? Let us know in the comments.

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But that’s not all. Thanks to the Copyblogger team for starting up their new Synthesis Web hosting division! Their service is engineered for speed, reliability, and most importantly can easily handle high traffic sites like OneMansBlog.com. I’m sure you’ve noticed the massive speed improvement on the site in the last couple of days, and that’s due 100% to the Synthesis team.

But wait! There’s more! When Scott and the Synthesis boys were trying to get everything fixed and moved, they encountered some hidden malware in the OMB theme files on the old server. That is enough to freak anyone out; but in this case the boys over at Securi went in and completely cleaned everything up!

Wow! What fantastic service! And if you ever get any sort of WordPress virus, infection, etc. you need to turn to the experts to get it taken care of. Better yet, sign up for ongoing protection and sleep well at night.

Anyway, that is the quick update. What does everyone think about the new design and the site performance?!? I’m loving it. Hope you do to…

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A rare tornado touches down Northeast Of Tokyo, Japan. In this case, the tornado gets so close to the cameraman that you can see the windows blow out next door from the air pressure:

A train derails near Texarkana, Arkansas. While this police officer (And others heard on the radio) surround this nighttime accident site for a bit, one of the derailed cars leaked gasoline which would lead to a dramatic series of explosions:

In this final clip, members of the U.S. Military are traveling in Iraq, when a large underground IED explodes under the road. The driver narrowly misses getting within the explosion:

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Just to show that not everyone grows out of their Lego love, there are a number of Flickr groups that have been created to cater to the hobby. These are ten excellent ones out of the dozens, some of which will make you laugh out loud.

1. Lego Creations

Anything made from Lego products goes here, but you will be stunned by some of the works you will find. For example, a life-size robot found here, as well as much smaller projects that are still really cool. Anything Lego-based can be uploaded, so don’t be shy. Taking some time to go through the gallery and you won’t be disappointed.

2. Lego Outdoors

If you want something a little more adventurous, this group has it for you. They post photos of Lego scenes or items that have been placed outdoors or in an outdoor-like setting. Many users have provided fully staged scenes using Lego people, which is really fun to view. The only real rule is that it has to be outside so go crazy!

3. Lego Builders

Looking for something more technical? This group is for advanced builders who prefer to work on less whimsical, more elaborate things like buildings, ships, models and other products. They might be officially created models from instructions, or something generated purely from the builders imagination. For example, there is a small scale Coruscant from the “Star Wars” canon built here.

4. Lego System

You might remember the many space-based sets from Lego from the past, which are still created today. This group is dedicated to those set and everything that comes along with it. That means ships, solar systems and science fiction figures. All are applicable, as long as they are from an official Lego set.

5. Lego Train MOC’s

Trains are a major hobby for many, and Lego has released a number of sets dedicated to it. The pieces in this group are truly impressive, with central stations, full trains and more. They have a place to check out the best of their submissions here, and you won’t believe how detailed some of them are.

6. Lego Star Trek

Like “Star Trek”? Like Legos? Congratulations, you are like 90 percent of today’s modern geeks. If you have ever dreamed of creating a detailed replica of the USS Enterprise, you aren’t alone. There are a couple of those here, among other things, so you should definitely check it out.

7. Lego Landscape

Landscapes are always fun to make with Lego, because there are so many options for decoration – especially when it comes to the classic sets that have different styles of trees, plants and even blocks for mountains or bodies of water. The people in this group are great at getting creative with their landscapes, with some elaborate products coming from their work.

8. Lego and God

You might not have ever considered mixing religion and Lego before, and reading this now it might seem like a bit of an iffy concept. But once you have seen a small scale replica of the Vatican, you will have a hard time denying that the projects in their group are really cool – especially when you check out the “stained glass” windows.

9. Legos in the Real World

Whether they are sitting on a bench and watching the sunset or mowing the lawn, your Legos can take a small vacation in the real world. This group takes photos where your little plastic people or products are hanging around outside or in public buildings.

10. Lego Complaining

Sometimes you just don’t get what you bargained for with Lego. You might be frustrated with a project that just won’t work properly, or you bought a defective batch of blocks. Whatever the case, you can vent about it with photos of the issue here.

Conclusion

Lego is popular for a reason. If you find yourself loving the product and want to share that love with others of a like hobby, then pick up the camera and enjoy these ten groups.

Image Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

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For instance, on the old Sallie Jessie Rapael show back years ago. In this case, the Woman actually proposes to the guy in a very unique way live on the show:

In this clip a guy goes to spin The Big Wheel On The Price Is Right, proposes to his girlfriend still in the audience, and then hits the DOLLAR in the process!:

And this really unique one on Pyramid where they use the “Pyramids” to put up the proposal to a lucky lady in the audience:

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Personally, if I were to see someone walking by with any of these bags I’d have to stop and ask them where they got it. And I would probably honestly go there and buy something just to get the awesome shopping bag!

What do you think? Would you spend money on just about any product if it meant you’d take one of these bags home with you?

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Rather than bookmark it like you might be used to – which is essentially what other apps, such as Read It Later, do – it “pins” it to a virtual bulletin board associated with your account. This board can then be organized into other boards, which can be shared through various social media sites.

It is a simple concept that seems more like an app than a network or website. But Pinterest has picked up a huge amount of traction in the past six months or so. Now it is quickly surging in popularity to the point where it is gaining more momentum than StumbleUpon and Reddit, two content-sharing giants.

With that in mind, what is next for the fun picture-pinning site? We can only speculate, and so here are three predictions about what might just happen in the near future.

Pinned Items Will Provide a Better Web-Wide Shopping Experience

I have been seeing more people using Pinterest as a way of showing off products that they want to buy. Some are more like visual daydreams, showing the house they would love if they only had the money for it. But the boards are also being used to create wardrobes, design ideas and shopping wishlists.

Of course, there are already apps that are compatible with more than one site. But this is perhaps the first that allows images with source links from literally anywhere. So that seriously increases the usability as a shopping client that I believe we will see become more popular.

Shopping sites could possibly take advantage of this, striking a deal with Pinterest to entice customers into using it to build a list of products.

Similar Niche Platforms Will Begin to Pop Up

While the most popular social media sites are more broad and general than Pinterest, they all have a schtick. However, many others are operating with a specific niche or purpose in mind. While there are many of these, such as YouTube or Vimeo for videos, we will probably see more popping up as smaller ventures in the near future.

A Buyout War Is Inevitable

Whenever a site like this takes off like a shot, there are buyers waiting in the wings to offer millions to turn it into a more mainstream business model. Large online corporations are happy to gather projects and real estate to adapt later or just increase their revenue by applying their massive resources to a better marketing campaign.

Already, a number of sources have speculated that Google will be the inevitable victor in what is sure to be a bidding war for Pinterest. However, I am not sure that the creators will sell. There is a great deal of potential, and already this is becoming a go-to social media site. It just might be that it stays in the original hands of the creators and increases from there.

Conclusion

These are all speculation, but logical speculation. Whatever does happen, however, Pinterest is sure to be one site that really launches itself into something special – especially given how well it has grown already.

Image Credits: 1, 2, 3.

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But check out this one that was shown at a local Columbus Cowtown Film Festival. This one was made by Beetoons On Youtube for that film festival:

Now imagine though this clip below of a pastor losing his temper in church when one of the attendees cell phone goes off during the worship service and she takes the call! This would work very well for a movie theater preroll as well lol:

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Now goto everyone you know and tell them, F-U ROFL :)

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Next Monday we’ll begin and this year the challenge is only 30 days. In the past we tried 2 or 3 months, but that was just too hard to stick with for a lot of people (including me). Besides, all of the behavior modification occurs in the first 30 days, so if you can stick with it for 4 short weeks, you’ll be golden!

How to Join In

I’ve started a Google+ Circle for Health Challenge participants. So if you’re going to join in let me know and I’ll add you to the Circle. Make sure you also add the circle yourself as this is going to allow us to ONLY share our updates with other people who are in the Health Challenge.

I’m going to give a lot of updates on how I’m doing, and I hope you all will too. But again, you’ll only see this if I add you – and I’ll only add you if you tell me too. So you can drop a comment below with your Google+ link if you want to be added, or send an email from my Google+ page and I’ll add you that way too.

Here are the Rules

1. You have to nearly eliminate sugar from your diet. No more candy, Coke, or other sugary drinks. In fact, nothing but water! One Coke and one candy bar per week are allowed.
2. Decrease food portions by 40-50% for all meals. Instead of eating whatever looks good, stop eating after you feel full. (Overall, I want to consume half the calories I used to.)
3. Snack all you want, but only fruit, veggies or nuts are allowed!
4. Exercise every single day. This doesn’t mean long exercise daily. It means frequent bursts of exercise. Pushups and situps as many times a day as you can squeeze them in. Whatever you are capable of, just lots of it!
5. If you are a big beer drinker, you are going to have to treat it the way I treat Coke. Cut it out! Only one or two per week!
6. If you are a smoker, I would prefer to see you quit altogether, but at a minimum you must cut down by 50% during the Health Challenge.

That’s about it! This really works, so if you join in you’ll see and feel a noticable improvement in the 30 days we do it together. And being able to now use Google+ to keep our discussions about it within the group of participants is really nice as well.

Let me know if you are in!

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DyS4ia is the semi-autobiographical tale of the last six months of game developer Auntie Pixelante’s life and subsequently her decision to begin hormone replacement therapy. She is fairly well known in the indie games scene for her games Mighty Jill Off and Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars. DyS4ia does much more than simply tell you her story though.

Dys4ia Overview

Through a series of simple mini-games she manages to communicate a very real sense of the anxiety and frustration that a transgendered person might feel when dealing with archaic gender roles. I can’t claim to know what it must be like to feel wrong in the body you were born with or knowing in your heart that you are a different sex. I do, however, feel like this game gave me some idea.

If you have 10 minutes to spare that’s all you need. This is important. It is not often that a game like this does so much with so little and does it so elegantly. I am grateful that this experience was shared with us. Maybe that sounds a bit saccharin or even trite but this was an emotional experience and I, as always, am a sappy guy.

Dys4ia, The Game

I’d love to hear what you guys think about the game! be sure to leave a comment below.

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Some guy shared a video of himself and his wife in which she wasn’t able to tell him how long it would take to go 80 miles at 80mph. I don’t know who I feel more sorry for – her for not knowing how to solve the equation… or him for how he’s going to be treated for turning his wife into a horrible, horrible viral video!

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He tours the United States doing live shows constantly. He hosts five podcasts at last count, one of which requires him to fly cross-country on a weekly basis. He’s appeared twice on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and given a TEDx Talk on social engineering (see video below.) He records a weekly internet TV series, Scam School, for Revision 3. He’s always on the internet, engaging with friends and fans. He plays video games, often sharing the experience with the public online and reviewing them on TWiT’s ‘Game On!’. His Night Attack comedy album with partner Justin R. Young placed on the Billboard charts and became an Amazon best seller. He’s written 3 books. He eats and breathes fire. Oh yeah, and he has a wife and two kids, too.

Clearly he doesn’t operate in the same realm of existence we do. He either has supernatural powers, or he exists in a world with way more than 24 hours in a day.

Brian Brushwood and Veronica Belmont on the TWiT set of 'Game On!'

This review concerns the newest of his 3 books. Scam School Book 1 was published March 14, 2012 on Amazon, B&N, and the Apple iBooks store. It’s a very deliberate attempt to set the standard for what an eBook experience should be. Far more than just written text, Brian and his assistant Jon Tilton have carefully formatted the book and worked in video and audio components to enrich the content.

You’ll be really glad they took the time. As the name suggests, Scam School Book 1 ties in closely with Brushwood’s Scam School web series, taking 70 of the episodes and going over the tricks and scams presented therein. The goal is to provide a mobile reference you can easily have with you at the bar or at a party when you want to start impressing people. Whether you’re after free beer or a certain someone’s phone number, you’ll have the material at hand when you need to suddenly become a human chimney, stump people with the four quarters trick, or (my favorite,) instantly freeze a bottle of beer. Well, that last one probably won’t work at a bar, but it’s great at home.

The videos included show exactly how the trick is done, while the audio commentary tracks give further insight into the tricks, when and how Brian learned them, and sometimes details and stories about the episodes in which they appeared.

Due to current limitations of the Amazon Kindle file format, the embedded audio and video won’t function the same way they would in the iBooks version, but they’ve accounted for that. All of the content is still accessible by selecting a link that’ll take you to an external location where you can watch or listen easily.

This shortcoming will be fixed when Amazon rolls out an upcoming new version of the Kindle format. There’s no word yet on when it’ll be available, but tools to develop for it are already out so the wait shouldn’t be long.

The Scam School book is available on launch day only for $4.99, regular $9.99.

Disclosure: Brian’s a friend of mine, so take my review with whatever grain of salt you require.

(Via Fiction Improbable, which (further disclosure) I also wrote.)

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Let’s face it, racing has fallen behind; no pun intended.  Results are still handed out on printed timeslips, and those smart phones that everyone walks around with in their pockets that put the ’60s space program to shame are still little more than a means to call for a ride if your car won’t start.

That’s all about to change

Enter Raceslip, a company based out of North Texas who plans to change all that.  They work with participating tracks to bring you your timeslips to your phone the instant they are recorded.  Meanwhile, the Raceslip website allows you to connect with friends, share pictures or videos of your mods, and stay up to date with the racing scene in a Farmville-free environment.

Challenge Your Friends

Think you have what it takes?  Why not challenge a friend to a race and show them who’s boss.  With a Heads-up challenge, once your race is complete, the track sends the results to the website and awards points to the winner.  What if you and your friend can’t make the same day to race?  With a Virtual Heads-up, you don’t have to race at the same time, or even at the same track.  When Raceslip receives both timeslips, the winner is determined.

Bring it!

Raceslip.com just launched and is now open to new subscribers.  Head on over and sign up, and if you have any questions, head on over to their Facebook page.  If your favorite track is not yet supported, let them know about Raceslip so yours isn’t the last area to sign up.

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Don’t take chances with married happiness… safeguard your complete daintiness… use only “Lysol” in the douche… it is not only effective, but kind to delicate tissues.

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I think this could be a young auctioneer in the making :)

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I have loved this place from the first moment I walked in there about a year and a half ago and we view it as our local Cheers, where everybody knows your name. At the very least, most in there are a familiar face. Now that I have established this scenario for you, let me share a specific incident that happened to me recently.

My seat in this place is on a love seat which happens to be paired with a matching chair and they are arranged in a way to have a conversation with one or two friends. I’m sure I’m not the only one that views that particular corner as their own but as far as I’m concerned, when I’m there, it is rightfully mine.

My Corner of the Coffee Shop

One Saturday morning, I’m sitting there doing my thing and actually waiting for my wife to show up when someone came up and asked to sit in the chair next to me. I declined his offer while at the same time explaining my dilemma of my wife showing up soon. The place was mostly empty so it wasn’t like seating was at a premium. He moved on.

Within 10 minutes, someone else came up and just sat down. He didn’t ask permission or anything, he simply took what was not rightfully his, in my opinion.  It was at this moment when I became acutely aware of how large my space bubble actually was and clearly, we had an invasion. If I know you and you walk up, of course you can sit down and you will be welcome into my space.  If I don’t know you and you sit down against my will, then it’s an invasion.

Back to the scene of the crime. I’m adjusting to my new reality of not having my space unencumbered when my new “friend” crossed his legs, putting his ankle on his knee.  The sole of his shoe is now 6″ away from my knee! At this point, I’m twitching!

I may have unusual space standards, I really don’t know. I actually had to leave shortly after he got comfy, or I feared I would implode but I wasn’t sure if I should give him a hug or what the appropriate departure should be.

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Here, Peter Diamandis makes a case for optimism — that we’ll invent, innovate and create ways to solve the challenges that loom over us. “I’m not saying we don’t have our set of problems; we surely do. But ultimately, we knock them down.”

Thanks to Jack for sharing this with me originally!

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