Cool Images

[planeflyer21]

Very interesting stuff.

 

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/02/02/21-fascinating-images-that-make-simple-things-profound/

 

Remember why we had magnifying glasses as kids?

 

Jon

[unforgiven]

B)

[392heminut]

Cool!

[Armed Eye Doc]

Very cool pics. I still stop to watch blood flowing through small blood vessels in the eye when I have time. It amazes me even now.

And I thought magnifying glasses were to fry ants. :D

[unforgiven]

So that's what my head looked like when it was laced up. :wacko:

[MaDuce]

Here's a thing I wrote on facebook. It's about different cultures I've incountered. Australian is in there. Says allot about what I think of these people.

 

...........

 

When I was little, my family and I lived in rural Alaska. We didn't have allot of racial diversity. I can remember only one black family in the entire county, 1 Indian family (just twins at our school actually), 2 Mexican families etc. You might think this would have set the seeds for racial bigotry. You'd be wrong. What lack of racial diversity really does is makes you seek it, appreciate it and understand how much of a blessing it really is.

Needless to say, I grew up with a fascination with both racial diversity as well as world cultures, and I have made a huge, life-long effort to meet and understand people of all walks of life from all over the world. And I have met some wonderful people. Unfortunately, I have also had some negative experiences with not just individuals but entire cultures as well. As odd as it may seam, the popular American impression of foreign cultures seams to be the reverse of my actual experiences. For instance, My experiences with Australians (which was a big surprise) and Indians has been about 80% negative while my experience with Russians and Germans has been about 90-95% positive. But in most cases, I found that each had their own unique ups and downs and I have rarely met cultures I ended up liking or disliking more then my own.

Anyway, I want to go through a list of these different cultures and give you some brief information on what my actual first hand experiences of them were.

* Germans......... Very focused on education. Love to joke around. Polite and really good at making you comfortable around them.

* Swiss.............. Indistinguishable from Germans

* Norwegians...... Very polite and education oriented. They also seam moderately homely.

* British.............. Americans with a foreign accent.

* Dutch............... I've met a couple vastly different types. Some extremely arrogant and basically the incarnation of the worst liberal. The other type I've met is very homely and easy going. I'm told by people who live there that; contrary to popular belief, it's a modest and relaxed country.

* Greeks.............. The movie, "My big fat Greek Wedding" tells it like it is though slightly exaggerated in a few cases.

* Romanians........ Very much in to technology. They seam to love freedom more then most Americans. Romanians over the age of 35-40 know their national history.

* Irish................... I've never met an Irish drunk before. Most Irish I met were very entertaining people who love to joke around and have a good time. Don't make them mad though. That particular stereotype is true.

* Russians............ Very modest and clean people. Their food and pastries are either exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. Occasionally you'll encounter extremely arrogant young men but they're usually moderate people. Women are almost always either gold diggers or family oriented. They have an unhealthy love for money but usually get it honestly contrary to popular belief.

* Ukrainians........... Very similar to Russians. More family oriented though. The word, "slave" comes from these people (Slav) and you can see it in their work habits. They make the best friends and worst enemies.

* Polish.................. Pollocks and Ukrainians accept one and other almost as one the same, so there are striking similarities in their cultures. Contrary to the "Pollock" jokes, Polish people tend to be very much interested in the sciences and education and tend to have good common sense.

* Moldavian........... Not to sound insulting but these are the people the Pollock jokes truly belong to. I was warned early on by people from neighboring countries that Moldavians are not very smart. At first I ignored this but my first hand experiences quickly forced me to acknowledge it. I've met smart Moldavians, but most weren't very bright at all. And ALL of them were very apathetic. Otherwise, they are like Pollocks and Ukrainians.

* Indians................. Like many of you, I grew up with stories about how spiritual and noble these people were. With VERY few exceptions, my actual experiences couldn't be farther from that. This culture acts very self-centered and has a very strong "my way or the highway" attitude. And don't EVER do business with them outside of a retail store. My 20% positive experiences has been ALMOST entirely from Indian women and elderly people. About half the Indian women I've ever met were very sweat. And the vast majority of elderly Indian men I've met were very friendly, respectful and sensible people. But watch your back around anyone else from this culture.

* Australians............ Like Indians, I grew up with a positive impression of these people. But to this day, I have yet to meet a single Australian who wasn't an unrepentant A$$hole. They are politely spoken which initially leaves you with a good impression of them but usually within 5 minutes of knowing them they will start to reveal themselves as conceited, arrogant and/or apathetic. I'd like to think I just had bad luck but after dozens of negative encounters and not a single positive one, I can't help but think that entire culture has gone bad. The only positive thing I really have to say about them is they seam to have a modest tongue.

* Africans............... These people vary allot and tend to contradict the common impression. Women usually seam naive but very loveable. Most men I met were either "good ol boyish" or or "butler" like. But there's also a cold-blooded crowd who seam to be sociopaths. Usually non violent but they will act without regard for anyone's well being.

* Native Americans.... Vary ALLOT according to tribe. Most of the Seminoles I've met were downright rude and arrogant. Most of the Paiute I've met were the exact opposite. I can see why Jews and Cherokee accept one and other. They really do act alike.

* Israelis.................. Easiest foreigners I've ever encountered to mistake for Americans. But there's a clear behavioral difference upon further inspection. Most Israelis I met were very mature and even magnanimous. They tend to be "good ol boyish" and they're kind of a "sleeves rolled up, down in the mud" people who like to get things done. They're friendly and polite but seam to permanently have their guard up.

* Mexicans................ Once you get to know this community, it's easy to see why people who live with them appreciate legal Mexican immigration but oppose illegal immigration. There's a huge cultural divide between homely, loving and hard working family people who love to have a good time and cold blooded thugs who live to rob, rape and murder. Many of the best and worst people I've ever met and/or known were Mexicans.

* Syrians, Iranians and Iraqis.... They are very much alike. Iraqis and Iranians in particular look and act so much like Mexicans that it's VERY easy to mistake them for Mexicans. Fortunately, you don't see many of them in gangs, so mostly you see the good side. Family oriented, laid back and obsessed with cooking for some reason. They tend to be very paranoid that everyone thinks they're terrorists and are basically far more afraid of you then you are of them. Younger ones I've met in the USA seam to be obsessed with integrating in to American culture, getting an education and settling.

* Brazilians............... Very much like Mexicans but their culture overall seams more homely. All the Brazilians I've met were on the good side. I know they exist but I've never met a Brazilian thug.

Edited March 30, 2013 by MaDuce

[unforgiven]

Here is my oberservation from my life.People tend to have a natural gravtation to there own people period.I have had the opportuntiy to meet people from all walks of life.White collar poffesionals Doctors,lawyers,engineers [mechanical/electrical],business [corporate types] and blue collar.All nationalities different religions.Law abiding and criminals including murderers.Spending a considerable amount of time with those on the dark side as a youth.The dynamics of being what would now be considered a thug were different back in the day as poop went down within the gang and was not directed at people per se.My natural gravatation was more toward people that would be considered poor,and hispanic [for lack of a better term]but included peoples from Central and South America,despite having european blood as my family tree originated from Portugal in the 1700's.The darkside was a GREAT fukin time as a supporter of one of the largest MC clubs in the world for over 20 yrs.I was told there was a mix of  native indian peoples by my grandmother a kindred spirite I feel to this day with all the Native peoples of this country.That being said the rub has not been by people of a paricular nationality but by those of wealth that have felt that because of thier socio-economic background I was less of a person than they were.The common dnominator I had with everyone else was to see our kids growup to do better than we did, grow old with our better halfs, and to see another sunrise.Just my 2 mags.