Mike Hollingshead Photographs Scary Stormy Skies...

Mike Hollingshead is a photographer
and an extreme storm chaser or is it the other way round.
He gets his kicks by doing both.
He's been very close to some amazing weather events and has risked his life at the same time.
Mike's been chasing big bad weather systems since the 1990's travelling many thousands of miles a year.
There's more about him here...

Wow! Tattoo Week Rio 2014...

Wow is one word to describe Tattoo Week at Brazil's Rio De Janeiro.
The happening featured some of the top tattoo artists from around the world plus some amazing, I think that's the word, amazing examples of personal body art...

Eighty Five Of The Richest People In The World Have More Money Than The World's Poorest 3.5 Billion People...

The eighty five people who have more wealth than half the world's poorest may or may not be happy. Who knows.
Perhaps they spend most of their time and energy making sure they don't lose their vast fortunes. Who cares.
We do know that many of these wealthy individuals give away much of their money to humanitarian causes. That's wonderful. 
There's always been The Haves, The Have Nots and The Have Lots but the gap between the Have Nots and The Have Lots has widened by alarming proportions.
The tiny elite of the world's multi-billionaires could all fit on a double-decker bus but that's something you'd be unlikely to see.
The most monied at the moment is the Mexican Carlos Slim Helu whose wealth is 73 billion, then there's Bill Gates and the rest of them.
And now Credit Suisse estimates the world will have eleven trillionaires within the next two generations.
But the young throughout the world feel they have no future.
Oxfam is trying to win the war against poverty but realise they are fighting a losing battle unless they can tackle the elephant in the room called inequality.
Oxfam considers that this huge gap between the one percent of people who have half of the world's wealth, around 110 trillion, is enough to trigger enormous repercussions such as massive social unrest.
They consider this to be a wake up call for even the deepest sleepers.
They know that people are becoming increasingly separated by economic and political power which inevitably heightens social tension and increases the likelihood of a societal breakdown. Who knows what will happen then.
We should be served by wealth.
Not controlled by it...

The Chinese Philosopher Lao Tsu Gave The World Solutions To Today's Problems Nearly 3,000 Years Ago...

Laozi, born in 604BC and who died in 531BC was a legendary philosopher of ancient China.
He's best known as the author
of the Tao Te Ching.
He was also the founder of philosophical Taoism as well as being revered as a deity in religous Taoism and traditional Chinese religions.
Finding these words of his, written nearly three thousand years ago made me realise nothing much has changed. That the stories of the past are the stories of the future.

Better to keep your country small
Your people few
Your devices simple

And even those for infrequent use.
Let people measure life
By the meaning of death
And not go out of their way
To visit far off places
With nowhere to travel
And little care for the display of great ships
And shining weapon become
Mere relics of the past.

Let people recover
The simple life
Reckoning by knotted cords
Delighting in a basic meal
Pleased with humble attire
Happy in their homes
Taking pleasure in their rustic ways.

So content are they
That nearby towns
So close, the sound of dogs and roosters
Forms one chorus.
Folks grown grey with age
May pass away never having strayed
Beyond their village.

Lao Tzu.   

Amou Haji Is A Dirty Old Man...

Eighty year old Haji lives in isolation, you may well wonder why, in Dejgah Village in the Southern Iranian province of Fars.
He hates water and hasn't bathed or washed for over sixty years.
Haji believes that cleanliness brings about sickness. He may well have a point there but he's so dirt encrusted if he keeps still, it's easy to mistake him for a rock statue.
Strangely this man also has a disgust for fresh food and clean drinking water but he does drink five litres of water a day. From a rusty old oil can.
His favourite food is rotten porcupine meat. Don't go away, there's more. He likes to fill his smoking pipe with animal dung rather than tobacco.
He lives in a hole in the earth, much like a grave. He says it keeps him grounded and in touch with the essence of life.
There's more about Haji here.
He must be doing something right.
He's lived a long time and seems healthy, wealthy and well, wise in a way...

If You're A Gardener And A Chess Player, Check Out This 3D Printed Chess Set You Can Make Yourself...

It used to be that things were as simple as ABC but times have changed and nowdays things are as simple as XYZ.
It's amazing what can happen while you're playing the game called life.
The Australian architects and husband and wife team of Elena Low and Kae Woei Lim who started XYZ Workshop, entered a 3D printing competition to design a 3D printed chess set. Their entry, the Micro Planter Chess Set is loosely based on a Bauhaus Styled Chess set but allows nature lovers to integrate their favourite succulents or garden plants into the pieces.
You could armour plate your king with prickly cactus, a perfumed plant to your queen, your pawns could be growing radishes, your knights baby carrots.
Oh mate I must stop playing this game.
Checkout more here...

These Gorgeous Little Caravans Are Wonderfully Big On Style...

These gorgeous little caravans are the result of their imaginative owners wanting their camping experiences to include some glamping as well.
My favourite is the fourth one down that's clad in natural materials but you'll have yours...