If you’ve got to wear cufflinks then they might as well be Superman Cufflinks!
These will definitely make you feel special.
Maybe like a quasi Superhero.
Some may think you’re a little arrogant and all that.
But maybe you just are hoping to be super at whatever you do.
It’s good to have an imagination and aspiration, and maybe a little sense of humor and fun.
As long as you don’t let it go to your head or to your pompous a**. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumetnhal)
Interesting message on this car window:
Imagine all the wonderful things that will never happen if you do not do them.
You’ve got to get up and get out there and try.
Never say never.
Success is within reach.
Rocky, Rocky, Rocky! 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
This is a candleholder.
But in a bizarre way it looks almost like a toilet.
The place for the candle is the toilet!
Sort of would make a pretty scary toilet in real life if the back of it (ie. tank) has a body with arms that looks like it is reaching out to grab you as you take your royal seat.
Hey, someone let me out of here!
Ok, I have definitely been shut in too many days due to this Coronavirus thing.
I am imagining the world’s scariest toilets. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Went to the Holon Design Museum (south of Tel Aviv) today.
They had exhibit called States of Extreme.
I found some really cool exhibits and ideas there.
Sort of felt my mind being expanded by it, which is I suppose one of the purposes of going to this.
Two of my favorite from today:
1) The chair with people legs and
2) The Fanuc robotic arm feeding the baby in the crib.
Hope you enjoy these as much as I did.
And Shabbat Shalom to everyone from the Holy Land!
(Credit Photos: Andy Blumenthal)
Had to take a second look at this eyewash station with the bright yellow caps.
I suppose this is good if you get something in your eye(s) and need to flush it out.
Are the yellow caps supposed to be for keeping the faucets clean and unobstructed.
Whole thing looks a little like a face: the yellow caps are the eyes, the big center faucet is the nose, and the sink basic the big mouth.
Maybe just my imagination, but I think it’s saying “there are too many cooks in this kitchen, get the h*ll out!” 🙂
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal)
You ever wonder how they build that big ship in that little bottle.
Someone needs very dexterous hands and a lot of patience to put the pieces through the opening of the bottle and assemble the ship inside.
But this second grader, Dylan Yasseri, upped the game on this whole concept and imagined a whole beach in the bottle.
The sand, ocean, sky, birds, crabs, fish, umbrella, and even the shack (snack?) bar!
This is one reason that kids are so awesome–their purity of heart and their endless imaginations make almost anything possible.
The fantasy becomes the reality.
The colors are magical too here.
If adults could maintain even half the heart and creativity of our children–oh what a world it could be. 😉
(Source: Andy Blumenthal Photo of Dylan’s beautiful painting).
These folks make some beautiful music together.
Sit back and enjoy!
(Source Video: Andy Blumenthal)
So I’ve started to realize that there are at times a (very) thin line between fantasy and reality.
In some cases, people hear some facts or some truth, and then in their mind, they concoct entire stories of fantasy or full-fledged conspiracy around it.
But more than that, the fantasy in their minds, because it starts with a real fact or two then becomes entirely perceived as reality itself.
We saw plenty of this in the last election cycle and even today, with one political side or the other purchasing phony dossiers or making up stories about the opposition–and they may even have some underlying facts associated with it.
But around these facts, entire scripts and stories are concocted through inductive reasoning or highly imaginative thinking, whether for example, of deep Russian conspiracies reminiscent of the era of McCarthyism or the Salem Witch Trails of yesteryear.
Again, I’m not saying that nothing is there, but the question is whether there is real truth then to the whole conspiracy that has been drawn from fantastical minds of opposition agents, reporters, and others gainfully benefiting and perhaps running amuck with these grandiose versions of alternate reality?
What I am coming to believe is that it’s not so much that people are willfully making up these stories (although there can certainly be plenty of biases, exaggerations, and agendas at work as well), but that in their mind, they create these bombastic versions of what seems like truth to them and then they pawn it off and sell it to others who are only to happy to latch unto some juicy new gossip or theory of “what’s really going on.”
Similarly, some people who get very mad may actually take albeit a genuine fight with another person and pour layer upon layer of evil doings and manipulations on them until by the time their mind is done, the other person has become the devil themselves–and the fantasy for a short time seems like it is the reality–until such time that cooler heads prevail and reality replaces the mind’s fantasy or it’s ultimate fears.
In short, there is a very fine line between fantasy and reality–our minds can get carried away with facts or notions of the moment and build those into full-fledged conspiracy theories of “who done it” and “why didn’t we see it all along.”
Certainly, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t some very good pretenders out there who truly are doing very bad things and covering their tracks, and it’s for the gifted and detective minds out there to perceive those and prove them as being the greater reality.
But we have to be careful in accusing people–until such time that the facts are all there and the perception or fantasy of our mind’s eye is shown to be the reality indeed.
We need good investigative journalism, excellent law enforcement and intelligence, and clarity of mind to know what’s real and what’s fake in life and in our fantastical minds. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
If you haven’t seen any of the many videos flying around about everyone who said “Trump will never be president,” then you should.
Presumably, these were people in the know–senior politicians and statesmen, experts galore including scientists and professors, news media, talk show hosts, comedians, and Hollywood stars.
Virtually none could even imagine him winning as they “promised” and “guaranteed” it and even swore they would leave the country otherwise.
But as we all now know, they were completely wrong and misguided.
Similarly, in a book review today in the Wall Street Journal of “Public Intellectuals,” the big mouth know-it-alls out there or what my friend’s father used to call “intellectual idiots” failed to predict all the black swan events.
From the fall of the Soviet Union to 9/11, the Internet bubble and recession of 2001 to the mortgage meltdown and financial collapse of 2008, from the Arab Spring to Brexit…the pundits are all left looking like schmendricks!
Whether this is caused by personal biases, shortsightedness, herd mentality, or incompetence, the educated intellectuals just don’t seem to be able to see around that next bend anymore than the rest of us.
Moreover, because of their walled-off elite status, they are functioning and talking through loud speakers from their ivory towers rather than from the real man’s world of everyday hardships and challenges.
As I often tell one of my esteemed colleagues, it’s not how often or how loud you say something, but how sincere it is.
The pundits typically miss it (although they seem so smart when talking with 20-20 hindsight about what happened and why), and as contrarians already know, it typically pays to do the opposite of what the so-called experts tell you. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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