Long-Exposure Photos Envelop Bonsai Trees With Streams of Bright Light

Photographer Vitor Schietti highlights the beauty of bonsai trees in his ongoing series Impermanent Sculptures. Featuring explosions of bright yellow light against a pitch-black background, these long-exposure portraits imbue familiar subjects with a sense of magic. The sparklers dance along the branches and leaves, illuminating the shape of each tree.

In the series of photographs, Schietti captures an array of unique bonsai trees with this method. The light painting is made over one single exposure or, in some cases, through overlaying several images. Trees are such majestic beings. It is not by accident that many cultures have the concept of a tree playing central roles in their creation myths, Scheitti tells My Modern Met. We acknowledge in this ancient form of life, the pioneers of the first cells to breathe sunlight. Trees absorb light so they can inspire us back with their resilience, playfulness, and elegance.

By using light in conjunction with the bonsai tree, Schietti attempts to emphasize the ephemerality of photographs while also celebrating the enduring power of nature. Even though bonsai trees are famously miniature, they are magnified in these intimate portrayals. The small scale representation of their grown natural counterparts allow my strokes of sparkles to reach further through the trees' shape, thus revealing something like its soul, the source of life, the pulsating energy that emanates through the universe, he continues.

You can purchase prints of Schietti's photography via his online shop, and keep up to date with his latest projects by following the artis...

Study Suggests That Early Retirement Can Cause Cognitive Decline

Photo: aletia/Depositphotos

One of the many advantages of getting older is the prospect of retirement. Relaxing after years of hard work sounds well-deserved, and being able to take advantage of decades of savings sounds tranquil. But when, exactly, should you retire? The typical age ranges across the globe from the early to late 60s, and with life expectancy ranging upwards to the mid-80s worldwide, it makes sense to relish in many years of not working. A new study suggests, though, that early pension programs could have a negative impact, particularly on cognitive functioning.

Researchers Plamen Nikolov and Shahadath Hossaina focused their studies on a fairly new pension program in China that aimed to alleviate concerns of old-age poverty and deal with rising life expectancies. The program started in 2009 and encouraged people to retire soon after turning 60 by offering a stable income. Now, with over a decade of data, researchers are able to study the effects of this program.

Nikolov and Hossaina begin their research article by stating, Economists have mainly focused on human capital accumulation rather than on the causes and consequences of human capital depreciation in late adulthood. In other words, literature in economics, they claim, has historically made the formation of human capital (such as cognitive abilities, education, and health) a priority over the declination of human capital.

Studying how human capital depreciates over the life cycle has powerful economic consequences. Nikolov and Hossaina point out that elderly individuals make crucial and co...

Mom Offers To Pay People To Hang Out With Her Son Who Has Down Syndrome, Gets an Amazing Response

According to the CDC, in 2008 about 1 out of every 1,200 people living in the U.S. had Down syndrome. While inclusion and job opportunities have increased over the last decades, some people with this condition struggle to maintain a social life once they graduate from school. This was the case of Christian Bowers, a 24-year-old man from Missouri. After seeing him long for friends but not getting to hang with people his age, his mom, Donna Herter, came up with an idea. She'd offer $80 to men between the ages of 20 and 28 to visit him and play video games for a couple of hours twice a month.

Christian is a social bug and when we're in public, he'll invite anyone to join us, Herter said. That's why it broke her heart when he asked her, When are my friends coming over? She didn't know what to do or say.

Determined to fix the situation, Herter made a post on Facebook. Im looking for a young man, between the ages of 20-28 who would like to make some extra money. Two days a month for two hours, Ill pay you to be my sons friend, she wrote, explaining that Bowers doesnt have any friends his age.

Obviously he wont know you are getting paid, but that you are there for him those two days, she said, adding that getting paid wasn't optionalthe money was to guarantee that the person would show up.

Hoping to get one or two applicants among her feed, Herter went to bed. When she woke up, her post had been shared over 6,000 times, reaching people as far as Ireland and Japan. Her words resonated not only with fellow parents of special kids but people from all walks of life who wanted to be friends with Bowers.

In the end, their initial plan came true, and at least four young men visited Christian to play video games and watch movies. The best part? According to Herter, they all have declined the payment. On top of that, Christian's story has inspired more people to make him feel included. He spent Valentine's Day hanging out and eating snacks with a group of officers, whi...

You RSVP or you dont show up.

Thats how the world works, right?

Well, at least some of the time

So did this guy act like an a**hole when he turned a friend away from his birthday dinner for not RSVPing?

Take a look at this story and let us know what you think in the comments.

AITA for turning away a friend after he showed up to my birthday dinner without RSVPing?

I had a birthday dinner this weekend.

A week before the dinner I sent a mass text out to eight of my friends telling them the location date and time and to let me know by a certain date if they are coming so I can make a reservation at a hibachi place.

Most people said they could come, one friend said they couldnt make it and another friend never responded. A couple days later I was talking to one of the friends I invite about the dinner and they said they thought the friend who didnt answer was coming but they werent sure.

I said that he needs to RSVP so I have the girrest head count for the reservation. I never heard from the friend who didnt respond so I made the reservation accordingly.

I should add that before I made the reservation I texted in the mass text chain with last chance to RSVP Im making the reservation at this time today.

The day of my dinner, the friend who didnt respond showed up right as the hostess was asking for the name of the reservation. I told her that we had an extra person show up and I apologised. She looked to see if she could place all of us but was unable to find a place to accommodate an extra person without us having to wait 2 hours.

So I told the friend who didnt RSVP that he could not join us for dinner. He got mad and told me I was a bad friend. He told me it was embarrassing to be turned away f...

Most people who have children know in their hearts that one day, when they have grandchildren, they will be over the moon. Its a great job one with more rewards and fewer hardships than parenting and people really look forward to it.

For that reason, most pregnant couples put some thought into telling their parents theyre going to be promoted. If youre looking to do that but dont have any ideas of your own, here are 25 unique ideas to inspire you.

25. A whiskey glass.

If they both enjoy a whiskey, then get a matching set!

...

They say the biggest rewards require the biggest risks, but anyone who has lived a good amount of time can tell you that those risks dont always pay off.

These 16 actors saw a role they wanted and they werent going to let it go no matter if they had to lie, steal, cheat, or significantly change their appearance to get it.

16. He could pull it off.

Image Credit: Dreamworks Pictures

When Brian dArcy James had a chance to land a part in First Man, he knew he had to work extra hard to convince the creators they could see him as an M15 pilot.

To do just that, he borrowed an Air Force jumpsuit from a costumer and a plane from a friend, and passed out the resulting photos to the casting directors.

He talked about why he made the decision in Backstag...

Though Elizabeth Talford Scotts stalwart contributions to fiber art warrant great acclaim, she is, unfortunately, underappreciated beyond Baltimore, where she lived from the early 1940s until her death

I wasnt even a minute and a half into episode four of MTVs The Exhibit: Finding the Next Great Artist when artist Jillian Mayer acknowledged that even though this was a competition, she has a lot of friends on the show whom she described as a sweet group of talented creatives. With only two episodes to go, even the magic of friendship cannot revive the shows fading heartbeat as the competing artists addressed the themes of justice and injustice in this weeks round.

Honestly speaking, this has been the most lifeless episode so far, and that surprised me considering a number of the competing artists personal practices tackle intersectionality and minority perspectives. I think what made it so yawn-worthy was the fact that I havent seen any growth or inventiveness from the artists thus far (save for Jamaal Barber, whom Ill get to later), but instead a stagnant reliance on existing skills, knowledge, and canons to win the $100,000 prize and an exhibition at the Hirshhorn. Its just becoming painful to sit through another episode knowing exactly what each artist is going to create before their studio time even starts.

The formula is that Hirshhorn Director Melissa Chiu dully reads her lines off of cue cards, co-host Dometi Pongo uses his reality TV voice to convey the next challenge, the painters paint and the sculptors sculpt, and then everyone gathers for the babiest o...

<h2><a href= "https://mymodernmet.com/large-planetary-alignment-march-2023/" rel="nofollow">Five Planets Will Appear in the Sky Later This Month in Rare Event</a></h2> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_585850" style= "width: 760px;"><img alt="Sun and planets of the solar system" class="size-full wp-image-585850" height="485" src= "https://mymodernmet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/planetary-alignment-march-2023-0-1.jpg" width="750"> <p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-585850">Photo: Krisdog/<a href="https://depositphotos.com/" rel="noopener" target= "_blank">Depositphotos</a></p> </div> <p>The stars have alignedor at least the planets haveand on March 28, five planets will be visible to stargazers in the northern hemisphere. Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars, and Venus will line up in a large planetary alignment just after sunset. While an alignment of two or three planets is fairly common, seeing five grace the sky at once is a rare treat.</p> <p>Mercury and Jupiter will be visible near the horizon, while Venus will shine higher up in the sky and <a href= "https://mymodernmet.com/mars-facts/">Mars</a> will be near the first quarter of the Moon. These four planetsespecially Mercury and Jupiterwill be easy to spot. But, not all of the planets will be visible to the naked eye. Given its distance from Earth, binoculars or a telescope are a must in order to see Uranus.</p> <p>If you are interested in seeing the planetary alignment, there are apps that can help you understand what you can expect to see. For instance, using the <a href= "https://vitotechnology.com/apps/sky-tonight" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Sky Tonight app</a>, you'll be able to quickly discover the planets in the sky at your location, as well as their visibility conditions.</p> <p>In fact, your location, as well as weather conditions, will be the main factors in determining whether or not you'll be able to see the rare event. Unless you have a clear sky and a nearly flat western horizon free of obstructions such as trees or buildings, you won't see Jupiter and Mercury, <a href= "https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11863785/FIVE-planets-visible-night-sky-end-March-heres-them.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">shares</a> Rick Fienberg, senior contributing editor at Sky & Telescope.

And if for some reason you miss this large planetary alignment, don't worry. There are two smaller alignments set for April. On April 11,  Mercury, Uranus, Venus, and Mars will make an appearance in the sky. And then, a few weeks later on April 29, the same group will have an encore.</p> <p>h/t: [...</p>

A Florida principal has resigned under pressure from the school board after three parents complained that an art teacher had shown Michelangelos statue of the biblical shepherd David (15011504) to their 11- and 12-year-old sixth-graders. One parent even said the famous artwork was pornographic. The art teachers lesson was part of the curriculums mandatory unit on Renaissance art.

Now the Board Chair of the Tallahassee Classical School a public and free charter institution is using the resignation as an opportunity to advocate for parents rights, a conservative talking point that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis codified with the 2021 Parents Bill of Rights.

Parental rights are supreme, and that means protecting the interests of all parents, whether its one, 10, 20, or 50, Board Chair Barney Bishop III told the Tallahassee Democrat.

Principal Hope Carrasquilla had worked at the Tallahassee Classical School for less than a year and announced her resignation at an emergency school board meeting on Monday, March 20. In a contentious interview with ...

It was clear from the beginning that the Johannes Vermeer retrospective at Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam was going to be a smash hit. And indeed, the show sold out within days of its opening on February 10. This has sparked a hot resale market on eBay, where tickets for the show are being sold for hundreds and even thousands of dollars. As tickets remain unavailable many weeks after the show opened, mark-ups continue to spiral out of control.

Simply titled Vermeer, its the largest-ever exhibition of the Dutch Golden Age master, bringing together 28 of his 37 known paintings through loans from various institution...

You may have heard that the Earth spins so fast, if it were to slow down, wed all fall off. Thats not only false according to a new study, but the Earths inner core appears to have recently slowed its spin, appearing from Earths surface that its reversing.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Scientists from Peking University in China have been tracking the movements of our planets layers using data on seismic waves from earthquakes. They started collecting changes in these waves in the early 1960s.

Despite such research, Earths inner workings remain mysterious and debatable. Its made up of four primary layers: the outer crust, the mantle, the liquid metal outer core, and the inner core made of iron and nickel. Because the inner core is separated from the rest of Earth by the l...

Vinyl Surpasses CD Sales for the First Time Since 1987

Photo: RAWPIXEL/Depositphotos

Media changes fast. From wax cylinders to disc records to cassette tapes and CDs to MP3 files and streamingthe ways we enjoy music have changed a lot since the late 19th century. Since the 1950s, record discs made of polyvinyl chloride have preserved the melodies of everyone from Elvis and Little Richard to The Beatles and Donna Summer. However, in the late 1980s, cassette tapes and CDs chipped away at the records primacy as the most sold musical format. While streaming is the music format of choice of today, vinyl has had a sort of resurgence. In fact, sales of vinyl records have surpassed that of CDs for the first time since 1987. This rise in vinyls popularity is due in part to young consumers embrace of the nostalgic medium.

According to the Recording Industry Association of Americas (RIAA) annual revenue report, vinyl records sold 41 million units last year compared to 33 million CDs. Vinyl has been on the rebound for about 15 years; but in the last few, sales have skyrocketed. Vinyl sales increased by 17% since 2021, whereas CD sales dropped 18%. Similar trends have been recorded in recent years in the UK, Germany, Japan, and other countries. While Dad's old vinyl is still just as cool, modern albums are selling vinyl as well. Taylor Swift's records sold 1.7 million copies last year, while Harry Styles reached 719,000.

The RIAA found that streaming totaled 84% of total music revenue in 2022a shocking high of $13.3 billion. Download sales, however, are falling out of popularity, dropping to only $495 million in sales. Vinyl's resurgence in popularity cannot be attributed to convenience like the rise of streaming. Instead, it speaks to a preference among many music lovers for the unique sound captured by records....

To date, artificial intelligence (AI) has been successfully used in the fields of personalized shopping, fraud prevention, content generation, and many more. Despite these wins, technology continues to struggle with human images, specifically teeth and hands.

Photo Credit: Pexels

Today, well discuss hands and fingers. You can imagine the Twitter uproar at the sight of an AI-generated sign language manual. Mobile games creative director Elizabeth Sampat uses the nightmarish digits to reassure the world that robots wont be taking over just yet.

Someone asked AI to make a sign language manual, in case youre worried that well all be out of a job soon pic.twitter.com/usCxNOj3p0

Elizabeth Sampat (@twoscooters) January 28, 2023

When you sign in a...

ONLY ONE PERSON dances in Valentin Noujams short film Pacific Club, 2023, named for Le Pacific Club Priv, a quondam nightclub once located in a parking garage several stories below an office

The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation presents The Feminine in Abstract Painting, curated by Jennifer Samet and Andrea Belag, on view in New York City through July 15.

This group exhibition includes paintings by Etel Adnan, Candida Alvarez, Lisa Beck, Andrea Belag, Lecia Dole-Recio, Pam Glick, Joanne Greenbaum, Clare Grill, M...

NYU Steinhardts Department of Art and Art Professions and 80WSE Gallery invite you to the 2023 MFA Thesis Exhibitions in New Yorks Greenwich Village. We are excited to present works created from the culmination of intensive research and production by our second-year MFA degree candidates.

MFA Thesis Part I
Opening Reception: Wednesday, March 29, 57pm (ET)
On view from Wednesday, March 29, until Saturday, April 15
Participating Artists: David Vades Joseph, Megan Nugroho, and Sam Ticknor

MFA Thesis Part II
Opening Reception: Wednesday, May 3, 57pm (ET)...

The Katonah Museum of Art (KMA) presents two special exhibitions Miniature Worlds: Joseph Cornell, Ray Johnson, Yayoi Kusama and John OReilly: Studio Visitations and two installations The Rothko Room and Visual Conversations: An Assemblage Studio on view through June 25.

Miniature Worlds: Joseph Cornell, Ray Johnson, Yayoi Kusama explores the friendships between Joseph Cornell and two pioneering artists Ray Johnson and Yayoi Kusama and brings their works together in this context for the first time. By delving into the visual conversations, deep resonances, and shared sensibilities that emerged from these two individual relationships, the exhibition offers a rare snapshot of the role social networks play in the process of artmaking.

The show examines the prominent role Cornell played in...

<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_229040" style= "width: 2003px;"><img alt= "A photo of Leonardo Drew's wood installation that appears to explode inside Yorkshire Sculpture Park's chapel" class="wp-image-229040 size-full" height="2560" src= "https://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/drew-3-scaled.jpg" width="1993"> <p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-229040"> Number 360 (2023) installation view at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Photos by Jonty Wilde, images courtesy of the artist, Goodman Gallery, and Galerie Lelong & Co., shared with permission

In the cavernous 18th-century chapel at <a href= "https://ysp.org.uk" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Yorkshire Sculpture Park</a>, a new installation by artist <a href= "https://leonardodrew.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Leonardo Drew</a> (<a href= "https://www.thisiscolossal.com/tags/leonardo-drew/">previously</a>) explodes toward the ceiling in a massive plume, scatting shards, dust, and tiny fragments of material around the space. Titled Number 360, the work is comprised of blackened and painted plywood that brings chaos and destruction to the otherwise stark, quiet sanctuary. The central surge of the installation reaches five meters tall to fill the entirety of the chapels nave, while small paths are left clear to move through the immersive rupture.</p> <p>Born in Tallahassee but raised in Connecticuts notorious <a href= "https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/09/nyregion/bridgeport-housing-project-to-close-a-victim-of-crime.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Bridgeport Housing Project</a>, Drew spent much of his childhood scrounging waste materials and repurposing them into what were his earliest artworks. This commitment to regenerate whats been left to decay remains central to his practice today, and many of his pieces reuse materials from earlier projects. Number 360, for example, utilizes the same fractured plywood as that of Number 341, which the artist made in 2022 for Art Basel: Unlimited in Switzerland.</p> <p>To achieve the rough, grainy texture of the individual components,...</p>

Kyawthuite is the only mineral on Earth known from only one sample. The transparent reddish-orange stone, weighing 1.61 carats, was found near Mogok, Myanmar, and was recognized by the International Mineralogical Association in 2015. So, what do we know about this rarest of crystals?

Photo Credit: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Kyawthuites chemical formula is Bi3+Sb5+O4, with traces of tantalum. Both bismuth (Bi) and antimony (Sb) are rare metals, but not especially so. Youll find more bismuth than gold and more antimony than silver on the planet, and of course, oxygen is our most abundant element.

According to the mineral database at Caltech, kyawthuite is composed of checkerboard sheets of octahedra Sb5+O6 parallel to Bi3+ atoms. Sapphire hunters discovered the specimen, the only recognized bismuth-antimony oxide, in a stream bed. It is named after Dr. Kyaw Thu, a former geologist at Yangon University.

...

Couple Renovating Their Kitchen Discovers 400-Year-Old Paintings Hidden Underneath

A life-sized image of the mural from Historic England. (Photo: Luke Budworth)

In the north of England, a young couple and their dog moved out of their flat in December 2022 to allow workers to come in and remodel their kitchen. Luke Budworth, 29, and Hazel Mooney, 26, were then surprised by a call from one of the workmen asking about a painting behind the cabinets. They had not previously known of its existence. It turns out, this wasnt just any ordinary painting and the couple would be in for a big surprise.

After the initial discovery, the couple returned home. The workers had finished their job, and the new cabinets now covered the mural, but Budworth suspected the mural might wrap around the wall in the open floor-plan apartment. The couple removed some paneling to find that was correct. The mural continued along the top of the wall. It was painted the same as the rest of the wall and I knew it was hollow, Budworth said to CNN. I always thought it was probably just covering some pipes.

The painting depicts Biblical scenes and has scrolling text beneath. It measures about 9 feet by 4 feet, cut off by the ceiling. Experts from Historic England were called to investigate. They photographed and examined the mural, realizing it dated to sometime between 1635 and 1700meaning its almost 400 years old. On the prior date, Francis Quarles published a book entitled Emblems. Scenes from this work are depicted in the painting. By 1700, however, this style of frieze was out of fashion. The Grade II listed Georgian building in York's historic Micklegate neighborhood was constructed in 1747. This strange timeline suggests that the wall bearing the work was removed from another building and then the present home was build around it.

Although originally discovered in 1998, the painting had been paneled over. Its rediscovery is important, according to a statement by Historic England...

A new study found that in addition to young men, older women think their IQ scores are significantly higher than they are. The research considered each subjects intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ), surprisingly, women overestimated their IQs as they got older.

Photo Credit: Pexels

Using IQ to test the nuances of intelligence is controversial among scientists. While the single assessment is limiting and doesnt account for social and environmental factors, IQ has been linked with higher results in life achievements, such as economic and academic success.

This latest study, published in Brain and Behavior, measured peoples self-estimated intelligence (SEI), whether their perceived IQ is close to their actual IQ. SEI studies are well documented among young people, but the authors wanted to extend their age parameters.

Martin Short Changed Seats on a Plane So Chance the Rapper Could Sit With His 7-Year-Old Daughter

Photo: Jean_Nelson/Depositphotos (left); s_bukley/Depositphotos (right)

One of the many nightmares parents face when traveling with their children is ending up separated from them on a plane. Since many airlines assign seats randomly at check-in, families sometimes end up scattered across different rows. That's when theyre face with the awkwardness of asking a stranger to swap seatswhich some even paid forso their little ones don't have to be on their own. This happened to musician Chance the Rapper on a recent flight. Surprisingly, before he even thought of making a request to his seat neighbor, the man offered to swap places so that Chance and his 7-year-old daughter, Kensli, be seated next to each other. It wasnt until later that he realized the identity of the good samaritan.

So I just got on this plane with my daughter, and found out our seats werent next to each other, Chance the Rapper tweeted. I really aint wanna inconvenience anyone by asking them to swap seats, but before I could say anything this kind older gentleman offered his seat to Kensli so we could sit together. We both said thank you and as he stands up, I realize its THE Martin Short!! he revealed.

Thanks to his storied career in comedy and film, Short has fans of all ages. To make the situation even more adorable, Chance revealed that his daughter loves Short. So cool and Kensli freaked out cause shes obsessed with The Santa Clause 3, he continued, adding a screenshot of the actor in the movie. What an awesome person! SHOUTOUT TO JACK FROST.

His tweet quickly went viral, earning over 300,000 likes but most importantly, sparking a debate: who would miss out on Short's company? My daughter could have sat by herself. Marty would have been a delight,...

You might think that something like the internet wouldnt have any secrets, but you should know by now that anytime people are involved, there are always secrets.

These 15 people think they have a great idea about what secret more people should know about, and lucky for us, theyre ready to share.

15. Hot damn.

Ctrl +shift+esc brings up the task manager directly instead of pressing Ctrl+alt+del then clicking task manager

14. If you want to be a thief

The sh*%load of foreign sites u can use to pirate literally anything just google translate download to chinese or russian combined with the name of what youre looking for and u have it.

Russians are the best for books and research papers

Chinese have literally every movie, tv series and game known to man.

13. Nothing is ever truly deleted.

The wayback machine and how you can recover deleted news articles, posts and other otherwise unreachable pages.

Its the reason nothing on the internet is truly ever deleted.

12. A nice list.

These things are reasons why I love the internet:

You can download many free textbooks and any other ebooks from these websites http://b-ok.org, https://ebooks-shares.org, https://ebookhunter.ch/, https://ebooklogin.com/,&#8230; many more

You can read and download any academic journals from this website ...

Theres something deeply unhealthy happening in the National Hockey League (NHL) this year. Week after week, a different NHL team hosts a Pride Night to celebrate the LGBTQA+ community and, week after week, a new controversy emerges where a player is berated by mass media for not complying.

As the controversies pile up, theres a bizarre, authoritarian pattern emerging where players must either submit or be shamed by mass media for days on end.

The main problem of these Pride Nights: ALL players from the home team are required to skate around while wearing rainbow flag jerseys during warmups and/or games. By forcing players to be draped in the pride flag on jerseys that bear their last names these celebrations turned into some kind of authoritarian pledge of allegiance. And those who refuse to wear these jerseys are suffering authoritarian consequences: Character assassination from elite-sponsored media.

Did you know that Communist China engaged in similar tactics during its Cultural Revolution?

Heres a short timeline of what has been happening in the NHL.

Ivan Provorov

The controversies began in January when Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov opted out of participating in warmups with his teammates. The reason: Players had to skate around with rainbow jerseys and rainbow tape on their sticks.

After the game, Provorov had to face reporters and explain himself.

When questioned by journalists, Provorov explained that these celebrations went again his Russian Orthodox beliefs.

I respect everybody and I respect everybodys choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion. Thats all Im going to say. Thats all Im going to comment on that. If you have any hockey questions, Ill answer those.

Instead of, like, ignorin...

Turning The Table (2022), from the book Idea Diary. All images Christoph Niemann, shared with permission

The act of drawing, of envisioning an idea and conveying it visually, produces the same feelings in Christoph Niemann as it did when he was a child. A wildly successful artist, author, and animator with a keen wit, Niemann reiterates in a new interview that there is no trick to making the creative process easier.

Its actually kind of comforting that the reality of drawing is that theres no secret. Most artists have doubt. Ive always wondered: is there a secret? Is there something I dont know? Is there a trick that people have to make less difficult? From what Ive found, there isnt! What Im doing today is exactly the same thing, with different tools, with different input, but exactly the same thing that I was doing when I was 12.

In this conversation, Niemann discusses his practice and process, how he consumes news and culture, and how his openness when experiencing a new city or space has changed since the pandemic began. The conversation veers from poetry, distillation, and the purpose of art to the downsides of pitching and finally, to his profound and enduring love for the humble act of putting ink on paper.

Read the interview.

Man Needed a New Prosthesis for His Finger So He Turned to Reddit for Help

Photo: Reddit

Reddit can be a seemingly magical place where people find each other. And for one Redditor named Adam, the connection hes made there has changed his life. Adam was in need of a new prosthesis for half of his pinky finger. The cost wouldve been astronomicalin the ballpark of $15,000 to $20,000. His insurance turned him down and he couldnt afford it out of pocket. So, he did what many folks do when they need help or advice: Adam posted to various subreddits looking for someone to print a prosthesis for him.

Eventually, Adam found someone who could help. A fellow Redditor named Known_Hippo4702 took an existing design and worked to customize it. Several versions later, Adam wrote, they have thumb. It's been a learning process but they have a skill that blows me away and have printed me a new finger for several thousand dollars less than what I was being offered.

Prosthetics like Adams are expensive and must be replaced every few years due to typical wear and tear. So, they are costly and continue to be so in perpetuity. [3D printing] is going to change the industry, Adam asserts.

A new subreddit is helping usher in such change. Called Print for Good, it's a place where those who need helpand think 3D printing can do itcan share their needs and connect with Redditors who have 3D printers. If you fall into one of thos...

20 Fun Flower Hair Accessories To Celebrate Spring

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There's nothing that says spring quite like flowers. And whether fresh or artificial, colorful blooms are a great way to jazz up your style. Specifically, if you are looking to add a bit of charm to your hairstyle, incorporating flowers into your hair is a great way to go. While floral hair accessories are often associated with brides, there are also plenty of casual accessories that can be worn every day.

And, it doesn't matter whether you have a short style or love long braids, as there are hair clips, combs, bobby pins, and scarves that are suited for all styles. If you like to stand out in a crowd, you might like a large flower hairpin. Or, if you are looking for something more subtle, some beautiful barrettes made from smaller, fresh flowers will do the trick.

Whether it's a special occasion or a wedding, a hair vine can provide a touch of class. If you are looking for a tropical vibe, there's even a bird-of-paradise comb that will make you feel like you're in Hawaii. Anyone looking for something more casual will also appreciate some cute daisy ponytail holders or a floral hair scarf that also doubles as a scrunchie.

Check out all of our ideas for how to incorporate flowers into your hair thanks to these creative accessories and start celebrating spring in style.

Flower Hair Clips and Claws

Flower Hair Clip Set