Ultra Realistic People Trapped Street Art by dan witz

Controversial and memorable street art by Dan Witz features realistic arts of people trapped behind fake ventilation grates. The artist places these photo-based, heavily painted stickers on the wall sand buildings around New York and other cities. [via 1, 2, 3]

Continue reading...

10 Things Only A Father Can Give

As a child grows and becomes independent, it’s easy for a father to fall into the trap of thinking that he doesn’t have much to contribute. But a father’s love and encouragement brings a whole different set of values and guidance into the mix. When children are deprived of the male side of a parent relationship, it can be devastating to their self esteem and ability to be open to intimacy in adulthood. Stay involved, no matter what it may take for you to do so or how insignificant you may feel, because you matter—a lot.




1) Give Your Child a Sense of Purpose
There’s nothing worse than moving through life without direction. Work with your kids to help them clarify beliefs and interests. Teach your kids about goal setting, explain the importance of helping others and coach your children on how to successfully accomplish their goals.
2) Help Your Child Develop an Open Mind
Developing an open mind is like cultivating a garden. Being open-minded means being receptive to new ideas and points of view. Teach your children to be receptive to new people and new concepts, so they can formulate their own opinions and make sound decisions.
3) Foster Your Child’s Imagination
When children are young, their imaginations seem to be bursting with inspired thoughts. But sometimes as they get older and are influenced by school and peers, this creative spirit can get stifled. Make sure this never happens to your child by spending time together playing games, drawing, playing music or doing craft projects to foster their creativity.  Dads put a different twist on activities, a strength that encourages healthy competition and standing up to barriers.
4) Support Your Child’s Independent Spirit
It’s a difficult concept for some dads to accept, but children need to develop a sense of autonomy in order to mature. With encouragement and guidance you can foster your child’s independent spirit. Allow your child to do things alone and let them make decisions without the fear of criticism.  If you ask them to choose, don’t downplay their choices.
5) Show Your Child The Way To an Open Heart
Life’s disappointments can sometimes result in pain and introversion. You can prevent this sense of closure from happening to your child by teaching him or her to work through negative aspects, share feelings with others in the same circumstance (schools generally will have small support groups for kids experiencing family death or divorce), and accept life’s many challenges with grace and dignity.
6) Help Your Child Develop Sound Values
We all want the same things for our children: that they’ll grow up to be honest, thoughtful and decent human beings. Kids look to their fathers for values reinforcement. Speak candidly with your kids about what it means to have good values, and why they matter.
7) Teach Your Child a Sense of Fair Play
In the game of life it’s natural for all of us to win and lose. While it’s great to coach your child on how to play games or sports, it’s equally important to teach him or her the importance of fair play. Remind your child that losing is a life lesson that teaches you to adjust what you do next time, become more focused, and also accept that they and others will be better at certain things; not everyone can excel at everything.
8) Educate Your Child about the Value of Money
Money gives both young people and adults the ability to make decisions. Once your child learns how to count, it’s time to explain the value of money. Help your child understand the difference between “needs” versus “wants” and explain the importance of saving. A great way to teach children about money is by providing a weekly allowance that’s earned for chores around the home.
9) Show Your Child How to Respect the Opposite Sex
Boys and girls need to develop an understanding and respect for the opposite sex. Someday the child you raise will be someone’s husband, wife, mother or father so it’s up to you to set the example by being respectful to your own wife or significant other.
10) Support Your Child’s Sense of Self-Acceptance
Television and film may lead children to believe that some people are perfect and make them feel like they are not. The world seems to emphasize conformity to such an extent that some children wind up having issues with their self esteem. Have a conversation with your child explaining that we’re all different and it’s those very differences that make each of us special.
From this point forward it’s up to you to put your child’s interests first, take an active role in your child’s upbringing and be the best dad possible!

Continue reading...

blue-painted houses & buildings | Chefchaouen or Chaouen is a city in Morocc

Chefchaouen or Chaouen is a city in northwest Morocco. It is the chief town of the province of the same name, and is noted for its buildings in shades of blue.

One of Morocco’s most popular tourist destinations, Chefchaouen is most known for its blue-rinsed buildings, hotels and alleys, an old tradition leftover from the city’s Jewish population.

Chefchaouen was founded by Moorish exiles from Spain, in 1471, as a small fortress to fend off the attacks of invading Portuguese forcess in northern Morocco. After the Spanish Reconquista, the small mountain town became one of the largest Moriscos and Jews refuge sites, and during their stay they managed to leave their mark on it, one that makes the modern city so special.

The name Chefchaouen comes from “chauen”, which is Spanish for horns, and refers to the shape of the two mountains overlooking the settlement. But it’s not its strange name, the beautiful & unique handicrafts sold by local craftsman, or the delicious goat cheese that attracts the majority of tourists to Chefchaouen. It’s the blue-painted houses & buildings of the city, a tradition inherited from the former Jewish inhabitants. In the Bible, Israelites are commanded to dye one of the threads in their tallit (prayer shawl) blue, with tekhelel. This was an old natural dye, processed from a species of shellfish, but in time its production collapsed and the Jewish people eventually forgot how to make it. But, in honor of the sacred commandment, the color blue was still woven into the cloth of their tallit. When they look at the dye, they will think of the blue sky, and the God above them in Heaven.

While the Jewish population of Chefchoauen isn’t as numerous as it one was, practically everyone in the city still follows this old tradition and frequently renew the paint job on their homes.

Continue reading...

Plasticine Military Miniatures in strict accordance with historical reality

Soldiers are dressed in strict accordance with historical reality: before sculpt, father studied tons of military literature, including the original languages -



I found this story on the Internet, seeing that this masterpiece only saw a small, very few people took him in the hope that the story will expand and their creator will be more than satisfied with the success and higher ratings as well as laudable a reader's comments on her life's work.









a whole library of dictionaries, military books and folders with photocopies of rare sources. All the way down to the color of gloves and horse breeds, comparing with historical documents.





Not a single superfluous buttons, rope and details, personal beauty is not invented. Beautiful plasticine soldiers saw only close people.




Entire life story of these brave soldiers can be found at livejurnal.com

Continue reading...

19-Year-Old Girl Is Addicted to Eating Soap

Tempestt Henderson, a 19-year-old girl from Florida, has a rather peculiar addiction – she can’t help eating soap bars and washing powder. There are worst things to be addicted to, but this has to be one of the strangest.The young girl remembers she loved the smell of washing powder on her mother’s cardigan and on her bed sheets, and so do many other people, but that doesn’t make them want to stuff their face with the toxic substance. But that’s exactly what Tempestt felt when she first dipped her fingers in washing powder and licked it off. ‘I dabbed the powder onto my tongue and it tasted so sweet, and salty…it just felt so right. I was hooked straight away.’ says the young nursing student.

She new that stuff was hazardous to her health, but she loved it so much she couldn’t stay away from it. From the moment she woke up, she would give in to her washing powder craving, ignoring the warning labels. Before she knew it, Tempestt began licking off the soap bubbles of her skin in the shower, and popping tiny chunks of soap in her mouth and suck on them. Eating soap felt much cleaner than just washing with it, and the young girl claims that at one point she would go through five bars of soap in a week.

Six months passed since her unnatural craving for soap and washing powder set in, and Tempest was finally beginning to realize the dangers she was exposing herself to, so she sought medical advice. She was immediately diagnosed with PICA, a rare condition that causes people to eat non-nutritive substances like metal, chalk and even sand. It’s usually caused by mineral deficiency, but in Tempestt’s case, the condition is believed to have been caused by stress. The girl’s boyfriend had broken up with her, before heading off to college, and she says that simply devastated her.

Regardless of what caused her to start eating soap and washing powder, Tempestt needed to stop as soon as possible, as the complications from ingesting such toxic chemicals were putting her life at risk. Doctors gave her intensive Cognitive-behavioral therapy, to help her think of positive things when she felt like eating soap, and also encouraged her to get out more, take long walks, and avoid places where soap or detergent are available, like bathrooms and laundromats…She’s using liquid soap now, and for some reason it doesn’t appeal to her at all.

Tempest Henderson has been “clean” since September 2010, and hopes she will never give in to eating soap or washing powder ever again, but she knows she still faces a long road of recovery.

Continue reading...

Blue City of Jodhpur founded in 1459, ubiquitous blueness of Jodhpur

Travellers journeying through the desolate landscape of the unforgiving Thar desert in the Indian state of Rajasthan would know when they had reached their destination. The sky would fall to the ground and everything would become a single color – blue. Jodhpur would lie before them, opening up like a blue treasure in the desert.

Why the population of the fortress city – the Blue City as it is universally known – took to painting their houses in various shades of blue is not completely certain. Yet most believe it is to do with the prevailing caste system in India.

It is thought that Brahmins – members of the priestly class – first took to coloring their houses blue (yet perhaps it should really be called indigo) to signify their domicile and to set them apart from the rest of the population. Soon, however, the rest of the population followed suit. History does not tell us which brave non-Brahmin was the first to do it, yet it happened and since that day the people of Jodhpur have steadfastly maintained this tradition.

Ask a local why all the houses are painted thus and the usual reply is that the color keeps the interiors cool and fends of mosquitoes. Yet if this truly worked then it would be quite likely that the whole subcontinent would be awash in various hues of indigo.

More likely is symbolism. Although an unscientific response, what answer would most give when asked the color of water? It is likely that the ubiquitous blueness of Jodhpur is an exuberant display of human resilience against the stark Thar desert which surrounds the town. Against the bleak backdrop of parched brown earth the blue city exerts itself magnificently.

You might think that closer inspection would lessen the impact of the color, yet a look at many of Jodhpur’s streets immediately puts that idea to rest. The word unremitting springs immediately to mind.

The modern trappings of life go side by side with evidence that many people still live as simply as they have always done. Although Jodhpur was only founded in 1459, the state of Rajasthan is significant in Indian history as it formed the bedrock of the Indus Valley Civilization, thought to be one of the most ancient human civilizations on the planet.

Perhaps the color has a calming effect but humans and animals seem to coexist peacefully side by side in Jodhpur. Even with the animals, inter-species friendships are not unheard of.

Squatting above the city like a giant bird mourning its broken blue eggs is the mighty Mehrangarh Fort the foundations of which were built in 1459, the year in which the English knight John Fastolf died – to be immortalised much later by Shakespeare as Falstaff.

The fort was ordered by Rao Jodha the ruler of Rathore who had decided to move his capital there. One legend has it that in order for the fort to be built the only human resident, a hermit, had to be forcibly evicted.

He cursed Jodha with the words May your citadel ever suffer a scarcity of water! Although the ruler did eventually appease the hermit by building him a temple the city is still hit by drought every four years or so.

A much darker legend is that of Rajiya Bhambi. Jodha promised that his family would be looked after eternally if he did one thing for him. The request was that he would be buried alive in the foundations of the fort. Rajiya agreed. To this day his descendants still live in a blue house on the land they were gifted by the ruler which is known as Rajiya’s garden.

The color of Jodhpur tells the history – and makes it legend - of a populace who shaped a paradise in the heart of the heat and sandstorms of Rajasthan.

Continue reading...