A couple of things I came across in the last weeks, that are worth sharing…

…like Robert Sapolsky talking about his new research into the Toxoplasmosis, the parasite that can change human behavior. It’s actual aim is to influence mice to take more risks. And to paraphrase Sapolsky: It knows more about the brain than all neuroscientists.

As we’re at good speakers, it’s worth checking Ricardo Semler’s TED talk on radical wisdom. He is most known for setting up a company without hierarchical structure – where employees can even set their own salary. But I like how he extends his thinking to education and even everyday life choices.

I really liked the New York Times article on The Cost of Paying Attention . It’s spot on with “…we have allowed our attention to be monetized, if you want yours back you’re going to have to pay for it.”

I noticed myself when visiting Russia once, how relaxing it is not to have commercials plastered everywhere. Though it might have gotten worse since then. In Europe there is still at least some respect of auditory peace. In Japan on the other hand it was always surprising to me that every machine at home or in public are constantly speaking something. Political campaign-cars are driving through town spouting slogans through the streets. This and their aggressive commercials everywhere are an interesting contrast to their Zen image.

Back to art. Here’s a tutorial about composition by the amazing Robh Ruppel.
First off the final result:

Robh Ruppel – digital image for the Composition tutorial