Seth Godin offers a great reminder for all of us who have an audience:

"At a party the other day, I saw a dead TV monitor. On the screen it said something like, "No signal... check power, cable and source selection..."

posted by Jon at 1:21 AM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."
- Steve Jobs

-Jon
posted by Jon at 10:29 PM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

To celebrate the release of the movie, "Star Trek Into Darkness", the art blog Blurppy invited fans to create their own movie posters. And they did; with great creativity and style! Take a moment and check out the entire collection of fan-made Star Trek movie posters. It's a whole lot of awesome!

-Jon
posted by Jon at 8:49 PM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

I'm watching an early-morning re-broadcast of a History Channel documentary called "Star Trek: Secrets of the Universe". It's about the science behind this weekend's USA premiere of the movie, "Star Trek Into Darkness" [spoilers!]. This documentary features behind-the-scenes on-set filming clips, scientist interviews, the real-life physics of Star Trek, clips from the movie, and more.

It's a fascinating look at both the movie, as well as humanity's passion for the stars, astronomy, and the exploration of that vast frontier that surrounds our planet.

If you want to know why I adore Star Trek so much, it can be summed up in one word: "curiosity".

If Star Trek could inspire thousands of today's scientists, physicists, astronomers, writers, actors, directors.... (the list goes on), then count me among those intellectual dreamers. Space is our final frontier. Star Trek is a manifestation of our curiosity about that vast undiscovered frontier.

I am, therefore, proud to consider myself a dreamer among the stars, a life-long Trekkie, and someone who's passion for the unknown is shared by some of the greatest minds known to mankind. Feed my curiosity, J.J. -- I'm ready!

-Jon
posted by Jon at 2:11 AM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." - Albert Einstein

-Jon
posted by Jon at 1:48 AM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

Earlier this week, International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield handed over command to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. Before he returned to Earth, though, Chris said farewll to the ISS with a revised version of David Bowie's 1969 song Space Oddity. The guitar and vocals in this video were recorded in space.

I consider this one of the coolest music videos I've ever seen. What are your thoughts?

-Jon
posted by Jon at 12:29 AM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

About 472 billion LEGO bricks have been made in the last 55 years (starting in 1958). And that number is increasing by 36 billion per year. With that many bricks you could build the 74 full-size Empire State Buildings, or 200 Buckingham Palaces.

Take a peek at what else you could built with every single LEGO Brick in the world.

-Jon
posted by Jon at 11:21 PM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

 

I love my country; I am, without a doubt, United States Proud! But one thing that always annoyed me is how so many of our celebrities destroy our national anthem while trying to give it their own unique vocal flavor. "The Star Spangled Banner" is a piece of American history. It's inspirational. It's bigger than self. Sing it with pride and respect.

That being said, here is one of the best modern renditions of "The Star Spangled Banner" that I have ever heard. It is sung with respect and chill-inducing power by a modern rock band called "Madison Rising"; the lead singer is a military veteran.

Give this a watch/listen, and let me know what you think.

UPDATE: 
I love this comment by "W.J. Boyd" on the Youtube comments for this video:

"In my mind, and in my heart, I will keep two versions of The Star Spangled Banner: One, as traditionally and loving played and sang, for it is the one that will play at my funeral when my time on Earth has ended. Then there's this one that I will totally enjoy while I'm alive, because the passion behind this new version was the same kind of passion Francis Scott Key intended for it when he wrote it."

I couldn't agree more.

-Jon 


posted by Jon at 11:22 PM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

"The marvels of daily life are so exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street." - Robert Doisneau

-Jon
posted by Jon at 4:27 PM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

The four gospels in the New Testament of the Bible state that wherever Jesus went, people were amazed by him. It didn't matter who they were, whether they were rich or poor, young or old, sick or healthy, men or women, friends or enemies -- people were amazed at Jesus. This short video uses scenes from the film, "Jesus of Nazareth". The music is a praise song by Philips, Craig and Dean titled, "Your Grace Still Amazes Me".

"As an interesting footnote, in the Bible (NIV) the word amazed is mentioned thirty-nine times, always referring to how people were amazed at Jesus. What is not commonly known is that there was one occasion where Jesus was also amazed. In Mark 6, Jesus returns to his hometown only to discover that many were opposed to him. In this context Jesus too is amazed — amazed at their lack of faith. The choice is ours — we will either be amazed by Him, or He will be amazed by us."

-Jon
posted by Jon at 10:22 PM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus gave his life for me.

-Jon
posted by Jon at 10:01 PM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

As you can see, the technology now exists that can allow anyone to construct a tent made of concrete canvas. It's a material that has all of the elements of concrete, but is flexible enough to be molded into any shape. Add water, inflate, let it dry and boom.... a new building is born.

The applications are limitless. With this technology, you could build permanent structures in a fraction of the time needed for traditional building techniques. Once completed, cut holes for windows and add interior walls to make separate rooms. Put up a quick building in your backyard; build a concrete cabins at a youth camp; erect semi-permanent buildings at a refugee site. I don't know about you, but I think this kind of ingenious creativity needs to go on the market asap!

We'll call it the "perm-a-tent".

-Jon
posted by Jon at 1:37 AM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

This is a time-lapse video featuring the construction of Maersk Line's first Triple-E ship at the DSME shipyard in Okpo, Korea. The video was produced by the Discovery Channel and Maersk, and consists of 50,000 photos taken over the span of three months. Pretty cool stuff!

-Jon
posted by Jon at 12:59 AM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

I love fascinating and unique places. This one is impressive:

The G-Cans Underground Temple in Saitama, Japan is probably the largest undergroun flood management system in the world. It is comprised of miles of concrete tunnels connecting five huge silos and one immense water tank, known as The Temple. The complex spans between Showa in Tokyo to Kusakabe in Saitama, with the power to pump 200 tons of water per second into the Edogawa River.

Here are some photos of The Temple. Take a peek!

-Jon
posted by Jon at 12:45 AM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments

"That which is worth doing, is worth doing against all odds. Great things were never achieved without challenge." - Jon Baas

-Jon
posted by Jon at 11:39 PM  I  link to this post  I  0 comments