Category Archives: Blogging

Amazing Enteroliths

An equine enterolith…aka..pearl created in the intestine of a horse. Gosh I love science!

Reshared post from +Koen De Paus

Horse Pearl

I am probably not shocking anyone when I say that most species of shelled mollusk produce pearls… But did you know that many animals, including humans, can generate mineral deposits as well? The process is very similar to how a pearl is formed.

"It is thought that natural pearls form under a set of accidental conditions when a microscopic intruder or parasite enters a bivalve mollusk, and settles inside the shell. The mollusk, being irritated by the intruder, forms a pearl sac of external mantle tissue cells and secretes the calcium carbonate and conchiolin to cover the irritant. This secretion process is repeated many times, thus producing a pearl."

The picture below shows off a "pearl" as well as its creator. The horse is obviously still a bit drowsy after having such a piece of art removed from its intestine. It actually looks rather beautiful but something tells me that these pearls probably won't show up around the neck of your loved one anytime soon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterolith

Via http://www.reddit.com/

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Pinterest Copyright Issues

I saw this pin on Pinterest last night, read through the article about the Pinterest TOS….which I loathe by the way, and am now as conflicted as ever. Based on the article/TOS discussion are we really setting ourselves up for liability by pinning images there? Do we really claim ownership of an image which lets Pinterest off the hook? If so, why would a stratup like this hang it's users out to dry? Does anyone with a lot more knowledge about copyright and TOS issues have a take on what is really going on? I have pinned many images from professional photographers and artists, but gave them credit, and as I understand it now, I am still claiming ownership of their image by pinning…..it's a bunch of crap I say. What say you?

http://www.knoed.com/thewindowseat/pinterest-change-your-terms-or-were-leaving/

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Pinterest: Change Your Terms or We’re Leaving | The Window Seat
I'm pretty new to Pinterest myself, but Kim has used it for awhile. We both love it. But recently, we read an article about their scary Terms of Use. The word is slowly spreading and it's made…

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I shared this yesterday but wanted to share it in the daytime to reach my followers…

I shared this yesterday but wanted to share it in the daytime to reach my followers who might have missed it. Working on building a kid friendly parenting circle here on Google+. If you are interested, read below and let me know.

Reshared post from +Ardith Goodwin

Want to Join my Google+ Parenting Circle?
Hey Friends! I am looking to build a circle of parents/grandparents here on Google+ that are raising kids from toddler to pre-teens and looking to network with other parents. On my other networks we share what is called a weekly Kid's Co-op that links hundreds of activities which promote creativity, learning, and family fun. I would love to be able to share that type of info here as well and eventually offer hangouts of "how to's" for hands on activities. If you have little ones or even not so little ones and would like to be part of that network let me know. I will build the circle over the next few days and share it with you if you like. My friend +Zina Harrington also curates a Pinterst Board called The Parent Water Cooler and it's one of the best boards for finding unique, kid friendly info.
http://pinterest.com/zina/the-parent-water-cooler/

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The Parent Water Cooler
You always hear that the best conversations at an office take place around the water cooler. Consider this board to be a parent's virtual water cooler. Let’s use this board as a place for parents to …

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Mindful Awareness – Week 6 Offering Honest Compliments

Week 5 , Mindful Eating, knocked me for a loop for many reasons. Because I wanted to spend more time with it, I decided to give myself room to breathe on that topic as it triggered issues that I needed way more than 5 days to walk through, and will come back to it when I know it is right.

This week, Offering Honest Compliments, was one that I really enjoyed. Many moons ago I struggled with this topic a great deal. Being offered a compliment wasn’t something I was comfortable with and I quickly deflected it back to the giver. Looking back on it now, it is crystal clear that my behavior was a reflection of my own feeling of insignificance, which I still struggle with. The big difference now though, is that I have taught myself to accept graciously compliments that are given and give compliments without the fear of them being rejected or deflected.

Compassion plays a role here I believe. When I found myself offering authentic compliments to certain people, especially when it came to helping them identify their own unique gifts, it was obvious when a person was tied to that insignificance. My heart went out to them because I have been there. I think, especially in relation to my own faith, that God has given me the insight to identify this and help others see that their insignificance is unwarranted. Sometimes I believe we are meant to be stewards in this regard. When others doubt themselves, we are meant to stand in the gap for them and help them change their lenses.

This week wasn’t without it’s challenges though. I often find myself dwelling on the “Must Get Dones” in regard to my son, rather than focusing on the beauty and progress that he is making in his daily life. I feel great guilt over this and it will be one of the “Stay Mindful Tasks” that I will continue to work on. I have even written a reminder in a place that I can’t forget or ignore, right on my hand, so that when I reach out physically, I know to reach out spiritually as well.

I wonder if you are comfortable with compliments or not. How do you feel about them?

This coming week our topic is “Mindful Posture” and it will be one I tie into last weeks of “Mindful Eating.” Looking forward to the challenge of touching some inner tough spots for sure.

Shaving Cream Sensory Play

One of the activities I used to love sharing with my students was Sensory Play using shaving cream. When spelling words needed practicing, math problems needed figuring out, and color theory needed discovering, we grabbed our mats and Barbasol and went to town. (It was also a great way to clean their desks, hands, and leave the room smelling fine.)

By Ardith Goodwin

If you have a child that struggles with spelling word practice or is learning their subtraction or addition facts,  give them the chance to incorporate play into it. 

When teach color theory the addition of food coloring is a ton of fun, but I always had kids where an art smock and plastic gloves so the dye didn’t stain their hands. When I use this at home, we just dive in with no gloves because it washes off really well. 

And for those of you with an inner child wishing to be whimsical with your significant other, this works great on the bathroom mirror to leave an “I love you” to an unsuspecting someone…..cleans the mirror well too,

If you are currently using a brand page or thinking about it here on Google+ there…

If you are currently using a brand page or thinking about it here on Google+ there is a great discussion going on in this thread started by +Denis Labelle about the issues/effectiveness of them. You might want to join in with your insight. (At the link below…..not here,

Here is the link to the active post:
https://plus.google.com/108384201920217141722/posts/eJpwCFgj9q5

Reshared post from +Denis Labelle

Because "Being on Google+" Is not Enough
and no, it's not about the social network.

"It is obvious that Google+ should be able to maintain organic growth of the brands, and it is yet unclear if the social network can tackle that."

It is not about G+, it's about doing it right. Solution?
-> Circle +Google+ Your Business where you will learn and exchange ideas/solutions with other owners and managers of G+ Pages.
.

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Top brands on Google+ suddenly stopped growing! Why? [Hot Statistics]

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Reviewing Top Ranked Art Blogs and Websites

As an artist and a blogger, I want to know which websites are consistently showing a successful online presence so that I can learn from them. Here is a link to 75 of the top art blogs based on rank in Google, Alexa, Yahoo and others along with page ranks, links to pages, and ultimate ranks. After reviewing most of them my immediate reaction was that most of them used a white background and kept the distractions and noise to a minimum. I will spend a good bit of time sorting through the variables I am looking for but wanted to share the list here in case any of my art or blogger friends wanted a peek as well.

http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank/Art

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A list of top 75 Art blogs by Blog Rank
A list of the top blogs in the Art category based on 20+ different factors including RSS membership, Number of incoming links, social media, monthly visits.

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What Makes You Leave A Website?

I have been researching a bit about tips for successful blog and website launching and found this article interesting. The question of "What makes you leave a website?" gives an interesting spin on website design issues. What types of issues make you leave a website quickly? I will quickly hit the next button if the images are slow to load, what about you?

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MAKING A MARK: POLL: First Impressions: what makes you leave an art website fast?
MAKING A MARK. Artist and writer Katherine Tyrrell draws and writes about art for artists and art lovers Topics include: art news, art blogs, drawing, painting, visual artists, art competitions, art e…

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Plastics We Discard….Remain

When I came across the story of Richard and Judith Lang my first impression was the connection I had with them as trash pickers. Picking up discarded trash, be it on the shore, the side of the road, or in a dumpster is something my husband and I do with zeal. It is part of our philosophy of life really, finding the purpose in the discarded. The second impression was one of being an artist, and taking the discarded parts of life and turning them into art. I admire this couples passion for picking up plastic since 1999 and creating a way of life to educate the world about the nightmare of trash in our oceans. Yes, they create art from it and sell it, but their art made me more aware of the impact I have when I toss a discarded piece into the trash can. It can remain. It can survive a landfill or end up washing ashore. As much as I shudder at the fact, I look around and realize plastic, like many substances is ingrained in our way of life. What I hope the inspiration of this couple does for me is cause me to pause, think before I purchase, think before I throw away, and find a use for the discarded. They are cause of inspiration for me today….

You can read more about their art, life, and cause to change the environment at www.beachplastic.com

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Odd Owl Observations

Oddly enough the owl in our tree seems to have gone mad tonight. For the past two hours he has hooted ad infinitum and in all of my 15 years here I have never heard more than a few hoots over the span of months. So, I lay here wondering, rather than sleeping, what has our feathered friend all in an uproar. Does he see a hot owl babe he is interested in? Could he be in distress? Hungry? I am quite curious if any of you have a take on what would cause this owl to break his norm and go on a
hoot-n-nanny….forgive the pun,

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