Where Are We Going

Just thought this was an awesome provoking painting. 

To me, it begs the question of where are we going in our lives. 

The terrestrial landscape combined with the light at the end of the tunnel effect as the sky is provocative and at the same time almost hypnotic. 

It also makes me feel the enormity of the universe versus the smallness of just a man.

I see myself standing on the red hilltop looking into that big sky and wondering about so many things. 

In the end, believing that we don’t have all the answers, but that we are in G-d’s good hands. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

A Mosquito Into A Mule

So you know the old saying about:

Making a mountain out of a molehill

That’s when you make a big deal out of nothing.

So yesterday, I heard the European version of this as:

Making a mosquito into a mule

Honestly, I like that version a lot better.

A mosquito bites and is annoying.

But a mule resists and is a very stubborn animal that can drive you crazy. 

You definitely don’t want to make a mosquito into a mule! 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Sizing Fashion And More

So it was interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today…

There is an obesity problem in the U.S. 

But the statistics in terms of the typical sizes of fashion (for women) has been “largely” overlooked.

The biggest size most fashion brands even bother to sell is: 12

“Only 7% of womenswear stocked at multi-brand retailers is a size 14 or above.”

But the average American dress size is between between 16 and 18!

The typical runway model is size 2.  

BTW, I think men have the same problem with sizing.

There was another thing about measurement in the WSJ today having to do with measuring time. 

Day is measured by the earth rotation (on its axis). 

Year by the rotation around the sun.

Month by rotation of the moon. 

Earth, Sun, and Moon…give us time. 

Now we need to take all the wonderful time we have measured and not spend it all eating.  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal @Ripley’s Believe It or Not)

Black Hole–What’s Really Important?

Amazing beautiful photos of a black hole from 55 million light years (311 million trillion miles) away. 

It measures about 25 billion miles across–about the size of 29,000 suns. 

If this doesn’t make you (with all the money, smarts, good looks, and ego to match) feel small, nothing will. 

We are but a speck of dust in this vast universe (maybe not even that). 

Perspective is in order for your life and what it means. 

Forget the money-grubbing and honor-seeking.

Realize what’s really important is what you do in terms of choosing right from wrong and good over evil in every small thing you do.  😉

(Photo Credit: Event Horizon Telescope)

My New Sneaks

These were my new sneaks for like two hours. 

I loved them in the store. 

My stylish and lovely daughter helped me pick them out. 

Nike bright orange–cool, fashionable. 

“Just do it!”

But when I tried them on, I didn’t have socks, and had to use the ridiculous thin ones in the store.

The sneakers were snug and I asked for a larger size, which they were out of. 

I took the sneakers anyway, hoping they would be okay when I got home, but disappointingly, they were way too tight. 

And “the give” that the saleslady said would happen with the sneakers, absolutely didn’t. 

My foot was being crushed in there. 

I think Nike’s run small. 

Like the look, but not the sizing. 

Anyway, saw three people playing soccer in these (or something close to it) the same day. 

Orange is the new black. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Feeling A Little Relative Deprivation

So this was a little funny-sad. 

We were taking a walk.

And we passed these two houses side by side. 

One, this tall stately-looking all brick manicured corner house.

The other, this cozy and sort of beat up little white siding house. 

The juxtaposition of these two as neighbors couldn’t have been funnier. 

Sort of like strong and determined Rocky and the nebbish that couldn’t. 

Listen, there isn’t anything objectively wrong with the little older white house.

Taken by itself, it may actually be a nice place to live–as I said, it’s sort of charming (even while the other is commanding)! 

But when you put it against the big new brick fellow, it’s just a story of relative deprivation ready to be intensely felt. 

Both have a roof over their heads…and both in the same nice neighborhood. 

Yet neighbor and neighbor–but for no reason, one ends up feeling probably a little shitty–that’s putting it in comparison, of course.  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Noticing The Smallest Beauty

My daughter, Rebecca sent me this photo she took.

A little lady bug on the plants outside. 

She told me how important it is to pay attention to the beauty in even the smallest ways out there. 

I was very proud of her!

It’s not the biggest, the loudest, or the baddest that necessarily makes the most impact in the world. 

I hope she (and us) keep on noticing what is really amazing in this world. 

(Source Photo: Rebecca Blumenthal)

Respect The Legs

I took this photo of this statue of a lady perched up high on a column.

It’s an interesting (yet in my estimation a somewhat demeaning) view of femininity as demonstrated by the relatively small body, but oversized crossed-over legs. 

Perhaps the artist thinks this is sexy or provocative…

Or maybe it’s just a relaxing pose with head high and back and arm behind her head.

Either way, you’ve got to respect those legs, and of course, the woman. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Size And Smell

So apparently data mining can be used for all sorts of research…

In the New York Times today, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz tries his hand with google search results to better understand people’s feelings about sex. 

Though Stephens-Davidowitz doesn’t explain how he gets these google statistics…here are some standouts:

As you might have guessed, the biggest complaint from men–and women–is that they don’t get/have enough sex. 

For both (as you might imagine in a primarily–95%–heterosexual world), traditional surveys show that it’s about once a week.

However, the author says this is exaggerated (yeah, is it surprising that people exaggerate about this?) and it’s actually only about 30 times a year–or once every 12 days.

So there are a lot of search on “sexless” or “won’t have sex with me.”

Observing that “sex can be quite fun,” he questions, “why do we have so little of it?”

And he concludes that it’s because we have “enormous anxiety” and insecurity about our bodies and sexuality.

Again, you probably wouldn’t need data mining to guess the results, but men’s biggest worry is about their penis size, and one of women’s most toxic worries–a “strikingly common concern”–is about the smell of their vagina.

For men, they actually google questions about genital size more often than they have questions about any other body part; in fact, more than “about their lungs, liver, feet, ears, nose, throat, and brain combined.”

So much for health consciousness versus machismo pride. 

The funny thing is apparently women don’t seem to care so much about this with only about 1 search on this topic for every 170 searches that men do on this. 

Surprising to most men, about 40% of the searches women do conduct on this topic is “complaints” that it is too big!

Not that size doesn’t matter to women, but for them it’s about the size of their breasts and butts–and again, bigger being generally considered better.

In this case, most men seem to agree. 

Another issue men are concerned about is premature ejaculation and how to make the experience last longer.

However, here women seem to be looking for information about half and half on how to make men climax more quickly on one hand, and more slowly on the other. 

Overall, men are from Mars and women from Venus, with lot’s of misunderstanding between the sexes.

The conclusion from this big data study…everyone calm down and just try to enjoy each other more.

Amazing the insights we can get from data mining! 😉

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Daniel)

The Games Organizations Play

So HP, under Meg Whitman, is breaking up into a PC/printing
company and an enterprise products and services firm.

Um…well of course it’s the right thing to do to focus each and release the
great value of these two companies.

Only, just a few years ago, under Carly Fiorina, HP a
printer and enterprise products company combined with Compaq, a PC company, in
order to gain the size and clout to succeed in the ever-competitive technology
marketplace.

The B.S. of corporate America—everything and the opposite–to
try and do something, almost anything, to try and raise the share prices of those
strategically stalled companies.

From Meg Whitman, CEO of HP:

– October 2011–“Together we are stronger!”

– Then today, 3 years later–“Being nimble is the only path
to winning.”

Yeah, whatever.

Merge, split—wash, rinse, repeat…fool the fools.

HP is still HP—especially compared to Apple, Amazon, Google,
and even now Lenovo. 😉

 

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Angie Harms)