“The true hedonist can find as much pleasure in a glass of chilled water as in a feast for a king.” (most likely to have been said by Epicurus)

Back in the day, Greek philosophy was not just about thinking, it was about living. And not just about living, but about living well.

Six main schools emerged, including Stoics, Epicureans, Cynics, Platonists and Skeptics. Each had it’s own approach and it’s own guru and appealed to different kinds of people.

With all that choice, who would you have followed? What’s your philosophy type?

Joshua Hoffine

Zhang Peng

Routine. We all get into it, and it’s surprising how often we forget that it’s in our control to shake it off.

I could walk a different route to work, have Milo in the morning instead of coffee or feed the cat that nice can of red salmon I’ve got hiding in the cupboard instead of his usual Snappy Tom. But to keep myself on my toes, I’ve given up Google in favour of Mystery Google. Type in your query and instead of giving you back what you expect, it gives you the results for what the person before you searched for.

So, if you’re the person who searched for “yer but you will be seeing the light“, you got 420,000 hits including a Black Sabbath song on YouTube (bet you weren’t expecting that!), and could the person who got Chinese photographer Zhang Peng’s website drop me a comment and let me know how I find it?

pic by creativespark – an ongoing series of experiments with the camera in my phone

Deepavali, the festival of lights, is celebrated by followers of Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and some Buddhists. It’s a 5 day festival, beginning on the 28th day of the dark half of Ashwin and ending on the 2nd day of the bright half of Kartika (in the Hindu calendar).

Devotees light diyas, cotton string wicks in clay pots or glasses filled with oil, to signify victory of good over evil within an individual, and it’s a time to visit family and friends.

pics by creativespark at Moh Hong Buddhist Shine in Pontian, Malaysia – an ongoing series of experiments with the camera in my phone

It’s superhero week here on CreativeSpark, and a good bout of crime-fighting and do-gooding is made so much easier with the right gear. The Boston Superhero Supply Co. has you covered with an online catalogue thoughtfully sectioned for easy browsing into essential areas such as Capes, Secret Identities, Lairs, Lab Supplies and Invisibles.

I’m not sure I understand what’s going on at the Ângulo blog a lot of the time, but it’s often a visual treat.

Am I sensing something of a steampunk backlash gentlemen and good ladies?

Merlin Mann flies off with that great jazz pen of his at kung fu grippe about steampunk singles ads:

“…printed by hand on authentic parchment or linen rag of the period, using hand-mixed blue-black squid ink and a puckity-puck steam-powered letterpress that’s attached by eight quarter-inch hemp ropes to an aubergine- and salmon-striped 20-foot-high zeppelin bearing a whimsical mustache and top hat made of real silk. Over 14 hours every Saturday, the grudgingly candid ad is drafted, corrected, re-edited, press-printed, duplicated via fake steam-powered mimeograph, dried, cured, re-dried, brass-cured, antiqued, and then carefully sealed with ruby-colored wax, which is impressed by the personal signet crest embossed in reverse on the ring of the be-goggled steampunker’s hammy right paw.”

The rest of it is a fantastical read.

And the images at the top and below are from a great steampunk remix challenge at b3ta. Pages and pages of fun there.

A few days ago I mentioned the 350 Event happening in Singapore tomorrow. Well, since then it’s been through the government approval mechanism. I’ve got no idea why people accuse us of being a tight, screwed-down, soulless nation, really I don’t.

Anyway, here it is again with the edits:

It seems aerial photography is our new thing. We had Pink Dot a while ago, and now it’s time to let the top of your head shine to support climate change.

It happens on Saturday 24 October and it sounds like a fun is a day out.

Starting at 8am at the Padang Hong Lim Park, the organisers are hoping hundreds will gather to form the number ‘350′. That’s followed at 10am by a Wacky Walkathon from the Padang Hong Lim Park to SMU. Loosen up and channel your inner-clown. Face painting and costumes are encouraged, and weird walking styles are expected. I’ve done my fair share of schleps down Orchard Road, so I know strange walking behaviour shouldn’t be a stretch for a lot of people. No costumes, placards or unusual walking styles are allowed on the Walkathon.

Then there’s a bunch of activities food, prizes and information booths at SMU to enjoy.

Why ‘350′? A year ago James Hansen, one of the world’s leading climatologists, and his team at NASA produced a landmark series of studies. They showed that 350 parts CO2 per million in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity.

Right now we’re at 390! That’s nasty news and I think we all know we’re starting to see and feel the results of that around us.

But the good news is that we can pull it down if we try. The CO2 level is not permanent, it goes up with our actions and it can come down with our actions.

Surely you don’t have anything better to do on a Saturday morning than whoop it up in a wacky walk with hundreds of others. You won’t have that much fun reading the papers or starting your weekend chores.

More information here. here.

The notice I received said “Below is the program as well as guidelines for participation. Kindly reply to this email to acknowledge that you are aware of and agree to all the terms.“, so you may wish to sign it early to avoid delays on the day. Email here to agree to the following:

Guidelines

1. Please be punctual. The nearest MRT to Hong Lim Park is Clarke Quay station.
2. You may choose to participate in only the Aerial Photo and/ or the Walkathon.
3. A certificate of participation will be given out at Hong Lim Park.
4. Please dress comfortably and bring drinking water.
5. For the Walkathon segment, costumes and placards are strictly not allowed.
6. When walking from Hong Lim Park to SMU, please respect all traffic regulations and allow space for pedestrians who are not engaged in the Walk.
7. Marshals will be stationed at every traffic junction to ensure safety.

And remember kids, safe fun is good fun!

I’m getting a bit of a thing for old style batmen lately. I think it’s the bodysuit.

This fantastic version is by Alessandro Baldasseroni and he’s got lots of other beautifully imagined work on his Deviantart site.