Key West man wins conch shell blowing title
Do the Conch Shell Dance at your next party!
Kurushio Sea aquarium in HD
Remember those VHS videos of fish you’d pop into your VCR when you wanted to relax? Here’s the 2009 version, with a beautiful soundtrack–”Please Don’t Go” by Barcelona. Filmed in HD at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, world’s second largest aquarium and site of the first successful manta ray birth in captivity (they call them “cubs”). Sooooo relaxing…
Theo Jansen’s walking sculptures
From the always-inspiring, unfailingly day-improving TED website:
Dutch artist Theo Jansen has been working for 16 years to create sculptures that move on their own in eerily lifelike ways. Each generation of his “Strandbeests” is subject to the forces of evolution, with successful forms moving forward into new designs. Jansen’s vision and long-term commitment to his wooden menagerie is as fascinating to observe as the beasts themselves.
His newest creatures walk without assistance on the beaches of Holland, powered by wind, captured by gossamer wings that flap and pump air into old lemonade bottles that in turn power the creatures’ many plastic spindly legs. The walking sculptures look alive as they move, each leg articulating in such a way that the body is steady and level. They even incorporate primitive logic gates that are used to reverse the machine’s direction if it senses dangerous water or loose sand where it might get stuck.
If only we could all store energy in recycled lemonade bottles–how cool would that be? Browse around the video below to see what they’re talking about:
(Thanks to Betty for leading me to TED!)
Take a mini beach vacation (guided meditation)
Need to get away? Transport yourself to a beautiful beach with The 5-Minute Vacation (audio guided meditation) from relax-online.com. Aaahhhh….
