You’re enjoying your morning java when you notice a book on a table nearby.  It has a post-it note that says, “I’m Free!” 

You pick it up.

You’ve just experienced a Book Crossing.

On the inside of the book you’ll find a BCID - a Book Crossing ID number that identifies this book.  This book may have just entered the world, or it may be a seasoned traveler.  Now it has made its way to you.  The motto of Book Crossing?  Read, Release, Repeat.

Over 600,000 people around the world have become members at BookCrossing.com (it’s free for basic membership) and have registered books they have released into the world to share with others.  When someone finds a book, they are able to log onto the website and post a journal entry saying that a book was found, and where it was released next.  The goal?  Get our hands back into books, and sharing with each other. 

It’s really easy, and can be pretty fun.  There’s no guarantee that someone will find your book, or if they do, follow the instructions included.  But you’ve still made a difference.  And of course, you can get as involved as you’d like, or follow the basic four steps:

1. Pick one of your books-one you have read or one you haven’t read.
2. Click on “register book” under the “My Shelf” tab. [If you can’t see the “My Shelf” tab at the top of the page, you may need to log in to the site.] Follow the prompts to register the book and generate a BCID (BookCrossing ID).
3. Write the BCID in ink inside the cover. Add a label or write the BookCrossing info. you can add some additional markings, stickers, notes, etc to make the book noticeable, if you wish.
4. Release the Book.

Then you can check back and see who has found your book.  And if you wanted to go find someone else’s book, you can by using the same website to find what books have been released in your area. 

This is such a great idea that I ordered several release packets.  We have some other ideas for it as well that might prove to be useful - and even prove to make more of a difference. 

Why do I always find the coolest things when I’m busiest? 

These things can always be looked at several different ways.  After listening to WNYC’s RadioLab on “Where Am I?”, I was very uncertain about the brain’s role in religion and spirituality, and how we might create the “proof” for these beliefs.  When the brain loses track of the body, experiences similar to “near-death experiences” occur.  Perhaps these situations are merely a reaction of the brain being confused? Does this call into question other spiritual experiences as really being physical manifestations of some issue, misinterpreted as something esoteric?

Then Dr. Taylor has this stroke of inspiration, which I’m reposting here.  She was featured in the New York Times just last week.  According to Dr. Taylor, nirvana is attainable by choosing to behave and perceive using more of one’s right hemisphere.  There isn’t clarity of exactly how one is supposed to go about doing that (perhaps you need to buy the book?) 

But it is an interesting proposal.  Add in the RadioLab information, and the question becomes even more convoluted. 

First - is it merely an electrical stimulus of the brain we are perceiving as peace? 

Second - does it matter? Does the fact that one can choose to be in nirvana make it less desirable to attain?  Less of a challenge?  I mean think about it - part of the method of attaining nirvana was to let go of the physical - and now we have some indication that nirvana is purely phyiscal?  A matter of making synapses happen more on the right brain than the left.  Does that alter our understanding of most metaphysical teachings?  Meditation?

Perhaps spirituality has less to do with what’s OUT THERE as opposed to what’s IN US, and how we connect to others. 

Anyway - have a look.  (If this video isn’t working for you, go here.)

It isn’t often that I run into two artists in such a short time.  I ran into Kurt Halsey because I was looking into Amy Rice.  They both do work at the Art Star Gallery, and thus I ran into Kurt’s work.  At first, I was sort of ignoring his work because the cartoonish characters seemed so - well, Precious Moments.  But then I clicked on a couple of them and realized I was SO very wrong.  Kurt hails from Racine, Wisconsin and went to MIAD here, which means I’m pretty stoked to have come across him.

The figures in Kurt’s work have natural positions, many of which are very intimate and real - putting you into the emotion.  There’s an emptiness that leaves you to fill in the feeling.  Many of the pieces are collage pieces like the first one below, and the choice of media fits the pieces of thought included. 

Some of them are poignant moments of love and closeness.  Others are powerfully painful (see the next one below).  Others seem to catch a meaningful moment - and not a moment associated with love.  Some even have a wry humor that isn’t easily captured in stasis.  Whatever they are, they are poetry and art.

I ran into the art of Amy Rice at Paper Boat Boutique in Bay View the other weekend.  Something about her work really makes an impact on me.  The stencil style of the figures over the unique backgrounds (reclaimed wood, pages of old books, leaves of musical notation) combined with the symbolism of the pieces made this the first unknown art I’ve run into in a long time that I actually desire to put on my wall.  And not just a print, but an actual piece.  It feels as if there is a thread of innocence that resonates in me when I look at the images.  I think of youth and freshness.

 Two samples below.  The first was the piece I was considering purchasing - but it was not for sale.  It also wouldn’t have been in my budget right now either.

Want to change the world? 

Perhaps we think too expansively (at least, here in America I feel we do) and get downtrodden by the thought that we are too small to make a real difference.  But it isn’t one huge action that changes things, but hundreds of little, thoughtful actions that gradually tip the scale in one direction or another.  Just like a circle is made of many tiny direction adjustments to a line, so can you round out your edges with a thousand tiny actions to bring you closer to your nirvana - or just closer to feeling better about your daily life.

As I read TreeHugger today, I found something of great interest.  We Are What We Do has a book called Change the World 9-5.  Just the title hit home to me - I realized that my choices at work are often slightly different (and less like “me”) than my choices during the rest of the day.  

Example: At work, I’m more willing to get three cups of caffeine in three separate paper containers.  At home or after work, I really try to get my own mug refilled. 

That is just one tiny example.

But it is small actions like that that add up.

The site works to help you choose actions.  Much like 43things, you can choose items you want to do, and then indicate what it is that you have done.  Unlike 43things, the focus is to give you ideas of how you can make a difference everyday, and has less to do with personal desires than to do with personal choices.  And I like that difference.  43things was great to give me a sense of what I’ve done, and some of the things I wanted to do.  We Are What We Do causes me to reevaluate the small actions I take in a day. 

And isn’t that part of living?  Knowing why we do what we do?  Being a part of every moment, consciously?

Excerpts from the webpage for We Are What We Do:

Actions to change the world
Here’s our list of simple, everyday actions you can do to help change the world (and have fun while you’re doing it). It could be doing something for the community like shopping locally, something for the environment like avoiding plastic bags, or something for you, like learning to paint, sing or speak Spanish…

So how does this work? Click on an action to see what it’s all about or, if you ‘re ready to do the do, tick each action you have completed and press the “Done!” button down below. Your actions will be added to the total, there on the top-right. Just like that.

Join In! We Are What We Do is all about joining in, so we’ve set up all sorts of ways for you to share your ideas, vote for what you believe, dare your friends to do new things, get others involved, and ultimately… change the world.
Please help! We can’t do it on our own!

Ever wondered if you had it right?  Ever be concerned that something you did might keep you out of the pearly gates?

Worry no more: Reserve your spot in heaven now!

Finally, the choice is in your hands - and your wallet!  For as low as $24.99 $12.79, you can ascend to heaven just as easily as running to the Quickmart.  If you are a sure thing, then it saves you the time of standing in line of the 150,000 people who die every day.  If you are slated for purgatory, your reservation confirms a first class spot to Salvation.

Be sure to read the FAQ, however.  If you’ve sold your soul to the devil, there may be complications. From their FAQ below:

If I’m going to hell, can I reserve my spot into heaven?
You could certainly try, but we can’t guarantee that the gatekeeper won’t know about your situation. Background checks are frequently done before entering and if you have a one way ticket to hell then there is a chance that they will find out.

 Edit: I did previously blog about another place that offered a choice between hell, heaven or purgatory. Apparently there’s a market for choice of afterlives.

Wow.

I don’t think I’ll ever think of “That Poppins Woman” the same, ever again.

It’s based on 2000 census data, but still very revealing.  Type in your zip code and it will show you the demographical information for where you live, what type of people are there, their education…etc.  And then it also compares it with the rest of your state and the rest of the country.

http://zipskinny.com/

 This could be helpful to get a sense of where you might want to move to, or why the neighborhood seems to be changing its feeling (perhaps more singles are moving in?  Perhaps individuals who work more service jobs live there, therefore creating traffic at odd hours.)  There’s so much that could be interpreted from the restults.

I would never assume that LifeHacker was reading MY blog , but I certainly read theirs.  And today, I see that they have touched on the fear of mixing Mac and PC in your household (which I discuss in my blog post about Mac Vs PC), and provide ways to make it work for a harmonious household.  Bravo! 

But is it just the beginning of the sibling rivalry? 

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net