To quote my favorite Salinger book, there are still some nice things out there.
I understood this as a young child; then I forgot it for a long time; and now I'm remembering it again. And in all the time of man, there has never been a time when so many of us have immediate and direct access to experiences and information we would never in other age have encountered or even (perhaps) have dreamed of.
MIND-BOGGLING SIDEWALK ART BY JULIAN BEEVER. My friend Larry forwarded an email to me about the amazing, stunning, astonishing, mind-blowing, astounding, confounding [consults thesaurus; gives up] sidewalk art of an English artist called Julian Beever, who has somehow broken the barriers between the second and third dimensions of space. I mean, I like all of his work, but it's the ones incorporating 3D effects that really blew me away.
Here are the ones from the site Larry referred me to (posted at Puzzle Factory).. I think you'll agree that they are astonishing.
Here are some additional photographs of Beever's work at Impact.Lab.
Those of you who feel that if it ain't video, it ain't reality might also enjoy this link at YouTube.
Finally, at Skynet, a whole raft of drawings, including both 3D and non-3D.
There, doesn't that make you feel better?
A JUMP THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. If your reality feels a bit flat and dull, you can jump through the looking glass at TalkBackwards.com. to learn about an amazing phenomenon called "Reverse Speech." I quote:
[quote begins from TalkBackwards.com, "What is Reverse Speech?"]
If human speech is recorded and played backwards, mixed amongst the gibberish at regular intervals can be heard very clear statements. These statements usually appear in short sentence form and are nearly always related to the forward speech. It appears constantly throughout language, so much so in fact, that it is believed to be a natural part of our speech processes.
The pioneer and 20 year veteran of this field, Australian David John Oates, describes Reverse Speech as another form of human communication. He states that language is bi-level, forward and reverse. As the human brain constructs the sounds of speech, it forms those sounds in such a way that two messages are delivered simultaneously. One forwards, which is the conscious mind speaking, and the other in reverse, which is the unconscious mind speaking....
The applications of this discovery are exciting. On the surface level, it can act as a sort of Truth Detector as Reverse Speech will usually correct the inconsistencies of forward speech. If a lie is spoken forwards, the truth may be communicated in reverse. If pertinent facts are left out of forward speech these may also be spoken in reverse. It can reveal hidden motive and agenda and other conscious thought processes. At deeper levels, Reverse Speech can reveal thought patterns that are unconscious, including reasons behind behaviour and disease. This information can be used to greatly enhance the therapeutic and healing processes.
[quote ends]
Examples are here. Articles are here.
If this site is to be believed, the technique---which developed in Australia---is already in use in criminal investigations and business negotiations. Anyway: You can load a WAV file here to listen to it backwards.
LIVE (FREE) MUSIC. For example, you now have free access to this sounds library where you can hear more than 80,000 sound and video recordings of our fellow earthlings, courtesy of Cornell University. At the MacCauley Library's website, you can listen to the amazing sounds of birds and other animals and watch more than 18,000 video clips. (See "Call of the Wild: More than 80,000 sound and video files now available to public online" by Miyoko Chu at Cornell University's Chronicle online).
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