mailbox

this is my Max Wanger inspired photo. :-) it's a mailbox that i came across while walking in the neighborhood. very charming stuck in a bush and all. it felt good to take out the camera again.

Eastern & Western

clear visual commentary on the differences between Eastern and Western culture. by Yang Liu, a Chinese who grew up in Germany. having both cultures present in my own life, it was interesting to see which one i sided with more.

Western: way of life, contacts, punctuality, queue when waiting, party, in the restaurant, handling of problems, transportation, shower time, the boss
in the middle: anger, me, stomach ache, traveling, three meals a day, moods and weather, things that are new, child, opinion
Eastern: nothing too strongly... surprising. but perhaps because i'm still semi-immersed in this culture, if i removed myself even further in the future, this part of me would become more evident to myself.

as i was separating them out, i could also see how some are more personality-based than cultural and vice versa. first read here . thanks, Dina N.

pockets folders

make an accordion folder by paper valise. i'd like one for my receipts.

LEGO wallpaper

how cool is this. viewing this makes me appreciate my brother, the biggest LEGO geek i know. this lovely image was created by Mike Stimpson for World Wide Knit in Public Day, which was on June 13, 14, 20, 21st. oops, i'm a bad knitter. i missed it! i do have to point out that most people don't knit with their knitting needles sticking up like that. but some do, so i guess it's technically correct. :-)

lego-inspired wallpaper. everyone loves kites & i have you now. the following two made me giggle!!! too many pancakes... & mr. happy meets the troops

you simply must take a look at the classics recreations!
bonus: funny american beauty recreation.

first discovered through unplgged

sternal foramen

image link

i was reading today and i found this to be really interesting. if you ever get acupuncture, be careful because you might not be aware that you have a sternal foramen. the "breastbone" is your sternum. feel between or in the middle of your two collarbones right now. there's a kind of dip between the two collarbones. that's called the jugular notch of your sternum. run your finger straight down from that notch between your chest (pectorals). you feel bone there. that's the body of your sternum. the notches you see on the left and right side are where your first 7 pairs of ribs connect directly. near the bottom of the body of your sternum, some people have a hole (foramen) because the two sternal bars did not fuse together as one part correctly during embryonic development. it's an anomaly, so clinically it's insignficant but where the sternal foramen is usually located is a commonly used acupuncture point. an acupuncturist could insert a needle into the heart through the sternal foramen and you can die. 4-10% of adults have a sternal foramen.

another interesting thing about this hole in your sternum is that crime scene investigators might look at an x-ray and think it's a bullet hole wound. so they have to be aware of this anomaly during examination.

post-it

i doodle a lot. especially while talking on the phone. it just seems to happen automatically like a daily driving routine. i forgot that i drew this recently and then i looked down at my desk and thought it was really funny! not sure why the girl doesn't look as interested, but i think she's just trying to play it cool. haha!

instant vintage

this is so cool! makes your photo look vintage. here's the side by side comparison for a picture i took at Disneyland not too long ago. found this at Paper + Cup.