wind tunnels look cool!

random rock poem

today is day 14 of 30 days of creativity! here's a random piece of poetry that I saw on a rock on the street, couldn't help but take a picture of it:

it seems to say:

An angel face smiles to me
Wader (?) a hidlight (?) of tragedy
That smile used to give me warmth
Farewell, no words to say beside the mark on your grave
And the lord's forever burning candles

after a bit of googling, it seems to be a song by nightwish, angels fall first:



and here are the lyrics:

An angelface smiles to me
Under a headline of tragedy
That smile used to give me warmth
Farewell - no words to say
beside the cross on your grave
and those forever burning candles

new uses of the violin

who said the violin should only be used to play classical music? here's a creative example of other things that can be done:

on creativity

human tetris

brilliant concept, beautifully done!

learning from mistakes

this needs to be watched

and internalized.

WORLD CUP!!!

I'm going into a one-month hibernation.

cute and hilarious

... at the same time:


hundred school kids against athletic bilbao. who'll win? :)

tips from the coach

things to read/watch:

newsmap.jp - awesome news aggregator

the invention of lying - poses some very interesting questions

the lost symbol - nice message in the end

revival the movie

revival - the movie

revivalthemovie.com - you don't want to miss this. more later.

empowering junior youth

the age of 12-15 is often seen as a troublesome age. the kids are starting to grow up, not knowing exactly what is expected of them or where they belong. the Bahá'í juniour youth programs aim to bring some coherence into the lives of junior youth. see more here:


you can read more here or here.

light upon light

here's what we did for youth presents a while ago. the theme was light upon light:

someone has way too much time on their hands

I just got this sent to me... utterly hilarious, check it out:

the wayfarer

I'd heard about this one a long time ago, even talked to one of my friends who helped edit it, but just never had time to watch the trailer... you should do it:


The Wayfarer (promotional trailer) from Jess Firth on Vimeo.

we hope you love it and share it

I sure did, and I sure will:


Devon Gundry - "Armed" from Justin Baldoni on Vimeo.

the words:

Armed with the power of Thy name nothing can ever hurt me, and with Thy love in my heart all the world’s afflictions can in no wise alarm me.

unity makes people happy!

a friend sent this to me:



and I started wondering - do people get the point? this guy is going all around the world, "dancing" with kids and adults regardless of their background, regardless of who they are, where they're from or what they do in life. the point is clear - he doesn't care who you are, as long as you come and dance and have fun!

click here to then read the comments - it's making people happy, they're crying and enjoying it a lot.

what is it that makes us so happy to see something as simple as this? there're no words (except for the lyrics to the song which we don't understand), there's no real story, there's nothing more. I think it has to do with the fact that it's reflecting a very underlying spiritual principle - unity in diversity. we are all members of one human race, and seeing this guy dance all around shows just exactly that. continent, country, class, creed, gender - we are all one.

The world of humanity is like a garden and the various races are the flowers which constitute its adornment and decoration. ('Abdu'l-Bahá)

catching up!

it's been a long time since I was able to update anything... things have been hectic, and there's been a lot going on. here's an attempt at summarizing the past 4 weeks or so:

eilat
almost four weeks ago, we went to eilat over the weekend. it was a very relaxing weekend, where we basically didn't do much at all. we arrived at around 1 am on thursday night (or well, friday morning), and it was somewhere around 40 degrees. ridiculous :)
I got to go on a camel ride and it was quite an exciting thing. first time I've actually gone riding (never done horses), and it was a cool experience. and driving home through the desert watching the sunset was really nice. took a lot of pictures, they'll come up later.

tiberias, sea of galilee and around
two weekends ago, we went to a small camping trip as a kind of farewell for one of my friends who's leaving soon. we went to places around the sea of galilee, which has its historical importance, especially from the time of Jesus. we brought some excellent food (ribs, chicken, etc etc) for a lovely bbq, had a beautiful night, and took something like 1500+ shots. in about 24h. we were 10 people in 4 tents (3 + 2 + 1 + 1), and me and a friend slept outside under bare skies. it was the first time I'd ever done it (it's too cold to do it in sweden - even during summer!) so it was a really nice experience :)
we also coined a new phrase: someone having high "hopes and dreams and aspirations", said in a very indian accent :) it just turned into something that was constantly repeated... with a lot of laughter following.
we also made some visits to historical sites such as bethsaida (at least the one of galilee, didn't know there were two); the jordan river, where Jesus was baptized; and also a Baha'i cemetary where Mirza Muhammad-Quli, Bahá'u'lláh's half-brother, is buried with his family. it was a really beautiful end to a really fun camping trip.

maintenance of the Holy Places
well back here, there was a presentation on how the Holy Places are maintained and restored. it was a really amazing presentation, that showed what amounts of care and effort go into taking care of our Holy Places. there were some beautiful pictures, and a lot of "before and after"-shots, and definitely not fake! I think all of us present got a completely new idea and connection to the Holy Places, just the understanding of what really goes into it all was absolutely breathtaking.

Ruhi
with a group of friends, we decided to go through the entire sequence of Ruhi courses. the concepts in book 1 are fairly simple, understanding the Bahá'í writings, prayer and life and death, and despite having been through the book a number of times, there are always things that strike a chord in my mind. this time around it's specifically been two quotations that have sort of caught my mind and attention. the first one is one that I've had up before, and again it's made me think of what I say:

A kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men. It is the bread of the spirit, it clotheth the words with meaning. It is the fountain of the light of wisdom and understanding...

the second one:

Intone, O My servant, the verses of God that have been received by thee, as intoned by them who have drawn nigh unto Him, that the sweetness of thy melody may kindle thine own soul, and attract the hearts of all men.

here's how I explained this thought to a friend:
"it just hit a note with me that even though we are saying our prayers late at night and are just really, really tired and want to get over with it, we should still say our prayers in a way that will attract their hearts! to me it made me focus a lot more on what I say, even though I'm just by myself in my room at night and no one is really hearing what I'm saying. I should *still* say it in a way as if there are people around, and also that there will be others who can be affected by my prayers. interesting note..."

besides that, the group is utterly hilarious to be with. we talk a lot, we have a lot of fun, but we're still quite efficient and learning a lot.

tropic thunder
I saw the trailer of tropic thunder, and wasn't too impressed. nevertheless, a bunch of friends said they were going to watch it, and I decided to tag along. and I don't regret it at all! I was laughing so much during pretty much the entire movie, and just loved it so much! unfortunately there was quite a fair amount of foul language and dirty jokes, but it was still sooooo much fun!


I think that'll be it for my summary of recent events. I will try to post a bit more thoughtful stuff soon, and a bit more pictures. there're a few thoughts and ideas more that I want to share...

and my parents are coming in a week! :)

atonement

I recently finished another book, atonement (don't read too far if you haven't read the book or seen the movie):


I had only heard about the movie, never seen it, and so luckily again I had no expectations. because it was really, really good. from wikipedia: "It is widely regarded as one of McEwan's best works and was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize for fiction... In addition, Time magazine named it the best fiction novel of the year and included it in its All-TIME 100 Greatest Novels, and The Observer cites it as one of the 100 best novels written, calling it 'a contemporary classic of mesmerising narrative conviction.'"

the book poses a very interesting question: how much can the actions of one person affect the lives of people close to them? briony, a young girl at the age of 13 accuses the son of their housekeeper for rape, an act that leads to quite changes in the life of the both of them, as well as their entire family and also their cousins who are visiting. we get to follow the story from the perspectives of each of the characters. it's a really interesting piece of writing, where we get to read what's going on in their heads all the time, which is also how the book progresses.

I'm not going to write more about it, you should read the book. but reading the review got me to these links:
time top 100: the complete list in alphabetical order
guardian top 100: greatest novels of all time
new classics top 100: the 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008

interesting stuff!