A Musing Crystal

2012-01-11T13:03:00.000-08:00

A Neat Little Book Video!

2012-01-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

2012-01-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

A simple physics game, rotate the fence to free the red block.
Avoid force fields.

Play here

Neat graphic from Listomania: A World of Fascinating Facts in Graphic Detail

2011-10-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

Cat Balloon Smackdown

2011-09-07T09:47:00.001-07:00

Off Book: Steampunk

2011-09-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

Off Book: Steampunk, A Mini Documentary by PBS Arts via laughingsquid.

A Spicy History

2011-08-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

Saffron, the world's most expensive spice.
Did you know that this beautiful flower no longer exists in nature? Find out that and more about many well-loved spices from around the world at Neatorama.

Where Children Sleep

2011-08-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

Documentary photographer James Mollison takes a look at Where Children Sleep.

See more here.

Creation of Hubble Images

2011-08-16T08:15:00.001-07:00

Tongue Twister and Nursery Rhymes

2011-06-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

We all know that Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, but who the heck is Peter and why should we care if he’s got pickled or fresh peppers? As it turns out, this story is far more interesting than the simple tongue twister we’re all familiar with. Continue reading at neatorama.

Cameramail

2011-06-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

A camera sent through the postal service inviting workers to take pictures before sending it onward. Check it out here.

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card

2011-05-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Pathfinder is the first book in the new Serpent World series by Orson Scott Card. It is centers around Rigg a young man who has the ability to see paths of people's past. It is a secret only shared with his father. When his father dies he sends him out into the world to find a family he has never met.

Polymer Clay Paperclip Bookmark

2011-03-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

Supplies
1 glass flat bottom marble
Polymer clay
Image of your choice sized to fit under glass marble
Large paperclip
Glue

Print out image.
Spread a drop of Elmer’s Glue on image and place flat glass marble on top. Firmly press down marble so that there are no unglued spots.

While that is drying, condition your polymer clay. I used one quarter of a 2oz package of polymer clay. To condition the clay you roll it into balls, twist it, pull it apart and knead it until it is soft and pliable.
Take half of the condition clay and roll it into 2 balls one slightly larger than the other and set aside.
Cut the excess paper away from the marble.
Using your thumb press the smaller ball of clay flat, then place the paperclip into the clay.

Take the larger ball of clay and set on top of paperclip and press down.

Add the paper backed marble and press it firmly into the polymer clay.

Bake according to polymer clay instructions. This was baked at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

2011-02-02T09:14:00.000-08:00

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

This is the first book in the Lightbringer series by New York Times Bestselling author Brent weeks. At 640 pages it may seem a little daunting until you open it up and start reading. I easily got caught up in the story and quickly finished the book. The characters are lively and engaging and are put in tough and strange situations. It's definitely a crazy ride with lots of bumps, turns, tears and laughter.

Read it.

Read the first three chapters here.

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

2011-01-27T14:59:00.000-08:00

The Lost Gate is the first book in the new Mither Mages series from New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card. This book centers on Danny North, a young boy descended from the old gods, Loki, Odin, etc. but seems to be ungifted in magic. He soon discovers that he is a gatemage, the one time of mage that must be killed on spot.
Danny takes off from the family compound determined to learn gatemagery. Anyway possible.

Fun Little Hue IQ quiz

2010-12-03T11:45:00.000-08:00

Take the quiz here. The lower the score the better. I scored a 12, not too bad.

Can you guess the material?

2010-12-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

If you guessed glass, your right! Artist Karen LaMonte creates life-sized figurative cast glass gowns. Super beautiful and ethereal.

Light Switch Time Capsule by Sean Michael Ragan

2010-12-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

Neat project. I will be doing this in my house!
I love the ps at the end of his "Watch out for the ghost"
Instructions here.

Wiley vs. Rhodes

2010-12-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner in human form. I loved this cartoon growing up!

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

2010-11-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, while putting away books in the library I came across this book. I stood in the aisle and read the first few pages. I was interested but was in the middle of a good size book.
Recently, I read the book. It was one of those books that you don't want to put down. I really enjoyed it. There were laugh out loud moments and some crying. I highly recommened reading it, if you haven't already.

Amazon.com Review

Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison. Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.
The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. It is easy to see Marlena's and Rosie's pink sequins under the Big Top and to imagine their perfect choreography as they perform unbelievable stunts. The crowd loves it--and so will the reader. The ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely. --Valerie Ryan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Water for Elephants the movie starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz is scheduled to be released April 15, 2011!

Lola Dupré

2010-10-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

Really neat stuff see more here

Taylor Swift does Coldplay

2010-10-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

Rain Soaked Windshield

2010-10-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

Gregory Thielker's Photorealistic Paintings via

Someday you'll write a book

2010-10-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

November is National Novel Writing Month

NaNo in a Nutshell

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.
Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.
When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.
Where: You write wherever you’d like. On your computer, on your iPad, on a typewriter---anywhere is fine, just as long as you’re writing! For a more in-depth NaNoWriMo overview, visit the devilishly handsome "What is NaNoWriMo?"and "How NaNoWriMo Works" pages.

Visit http://www.nanowrimo.org/ for more info, peptalks, nano history,and to sign up!

While you can't start writing until November first you are encouraged to plan, research, outline, and prep your story! Some writing links:
How to up-the-stakes for your main character by Victoria Lynn Schmidt
Outling your Novel: How and Why by Joanna Penn
Characters from Cornerscribe
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions by Patricia C. Wrede from SFWA
Plotting your Novel by Lee Masterson
Daily Writing Tips
Novel Writing Help
fmwriters

2010-10-14T13:17:00.001-07:00

Jello Blood Worms from The Idea Room

2010-10-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

Aren't these awesome. Check out the tutorial at The Idea Room

Fabric Acorns

2010-10-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

These are so cute. I love acorns. They are the heart of an oak tree. I am going to make some of these maybe for the November book display.

Make Fabric Acorns A tutorial by Sara of Zemphira

I love lightbulb terrariums!

2010-10-07T15:14:00.000-07:00

The above is from MossTerrariums Etsy store

found these on yiddlenet

The four above all come from the fern and mossery. They even have cute earrings. They also have a tutorial for lightbulb terrariums.
another Tutorial

The Way of Kings: Book One of The Stormlight Archive

2010-10-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

From the Back Cover
I long for the days before the Last Desolation.
The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.
The world became ours, and we lost it. Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to the souls of men than victory itself.
Or was that victory an illusion all along? Did our enemies realize that the harder they fought, the stronger we resisted? Perhaps they saw that the heat and the hammer only make for a better grade of sword. But ignore the steel long enough, and it will eventually rust away.
There are four whom we watch. The first is the surgeon, forced to put aside healing to become a soldier in the most brutal war of our time. The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills. The third is the liar, a young woman who wears a scholar's mantle over the heart of a thief. The last is the highprince, a warlord whose eyes have opened to the past as his thirst for battle wanes.
The world can change. Surgebinding and Shardwielding can return; the magics of ancient days can become ours again. These four people are key.

One of them may redeem us.

And one of them will destroy us.

From the Cover Flap
Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive.
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars are fought for them, and won by them.
One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.
Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by overpowering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.
Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under the eminent scholar and notorious heretic Jasnah Kholin, Dalinar's niece. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.
The result of more than ten years of planning, writing, and worldbuilding, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.

Strength before weakness.

Journey before destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

Brandon Sanderson is one of the authors I get really excited about. Not only is this a huge book but the first in a 10 volume series. YAY! I really enjoyed it. Some questions were answered but so many more were asked. I am excited about this journey!

Penny Desk!

2010-09-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

I totally want a desk like this!

See more pictures and tutorial at EPBOT

Eyes

2010-09-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

Awesome photography from Suren Manvelyan. Check out his gallery

When Galaxies Collide

2010-09-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

stars are created
and go supernova

Find out more http://www.wired.com/

New Harry Potter Trailer

2010-09-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

I can't wait!!!

It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.

2010-09-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

I like vampire and post-apocalyptic stories, this book has both!

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

Toothpick Sculptures

2010-09-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

I'm a Sculptor of toothpicks and I reference the orbits of the planets for my designs. When I build a piece I use anywhere from 20,000 to 80,000 toothpicks or more. Hot glue binds my work together like shining dew droplets in a huge tangled web. I associate sounds, numbers and letters as colors which I use to create order when building a sculpture. I'm fascinated by Pythagorean Triangles and Platonic Solids and currently read a lot of material on String Theory, Quantum Physics and Cosmology.

See more of Fanceska McCulloughs work here

Judge a book by its cover?

2010-09-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

I chose this book for the cover and so glad I did. It was a great story, one I did not want to end. I highly recommend it if you're a fan of fantasy, magic or assassin stories.

Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks

For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art. And he is the city’s most accomplished artist, his talents required from alleyway to courtly boudoir.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he’s grown up in the slums, and learned the hard way to judge people quickly — and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins’ world of dangerous politics and strange magics — and cultivate a flair for death.

Read an excerpt at BrentWeeks.com

2010-09-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hello, Hello I'm Crystal and I'll be posting about things that catch my attention.
Books, art(ists), crafty stuff.