"To This Day" ... for the Bullied and Beautiful

The saying goes that sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me... I've broken my bones before, a couple of ribs, but there are forms of pain that are orders of magnitude worse, and which leave scars that last much longer, but that no one can see because they are not branded in your body; they are branded in your memory and soul...

Despite the amazing things that we have in this world, and despite the amazing things people do to help and inspire each other, there is still a very large amount of cruelty inflicted on people, especially the ones least able to cope with it. And even when we're not directly cruel, we are often indifferent, apathetic, and we blind ourselves to the cries of help that people who are drowning are barely able to make audible.

This poem, by Shane Koyczan, is dedicated to those people:

Sometimes, when the pain is too much, people jump off the cliff... but sometimes they fall because they've been brought to the brink and got pushed off by cruelty and indifference...

Do your part to bring light and laughter to people's lives...

Read More

Interactive Fully Panoramic Photograph of Mars via Curiosity Rover

This may just be the coolest thing you see this week: a high-def 360-degree panoramic image based on photographs taken by the Curiosity rover in Mars.

And as if that weren't awesome enough, if you view this image through your mobile device, the gyroscope inside it will help give you a more realistic experience, since the picture is configured to show you different angles of Mars (and the rover itself), depending on the direction your phone or tablet is pointed.

And just in case you have problems viewing it, you can always go to the original source.

Read More

Running (Unstoppable) - Amazing Paralympic Games Ad

Sometimes life throws shit our way. Sometimes we despair, sometimes we succumb, but every now and then some rise above the ashes and make something of themselves

Click the picture for a taste of awesome :)

And if you think that picture alone is awesome, just wait till you see the video:

Read More

Miniatur Wunderland

If for some reason you ever get to visit Hamburg, you'll definitely want to reserve some time to visit Miniatur Wunderland, the world's largest model railway in the world. You've probably seen the traditional model railway before, but you've never seen one quite like this. Sure, there are moving trains and nice landscapes, but it also includes computerized action sequences that take place in the miniature equivalent of various actual cities and tourist attractions around the world. Just check out the video, I guarantee you'll be impressed.

Any of you, dear readers, live close to the Hamburg area and have an extra couch I could crash in if I ever manage to make my way over there? :)

Read More

Michael Winslow - Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin

In the animal kingdom, there is no sound imitator quite like the lyre bird. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you've got to check this out.

But if there is anyone who might be able to outperform the lyre bird, it would have to be Michael Winslow (Sgt. Larvell Jones from Police Academy, in case you don't remember).

In the following clip, which starts as some ordinary beatboxing, Winslow manages to invoke the spirit of some of the most radical electric guitar you have ever heard, and he's just getting started...

I never realized just how talented this dude is... I always assumed that the sound effects in Police Academy were exactly that, just sound effects. I stand humbly corrected.

Read More

Human Planet Trailer

We're probably all familiar with the spectacular documentaries the BBC has put together over the years exploring the incredible wildlife populating the most interesting and remote corners of the planet.

Now it seems the've decided to explore the most interesting species of all: us.

In the following clip, you'll get a sense not only of the incredible photography and technological advances that make this documentary series aesthetically superb, but, most importantly, of the indomitable human spirit...

Check out the documentary tag for lots and lots of beautiful and thought-provoking stuff.
.

Read More