a) Most gratified to The Abbasnama for honoring me with Brilliante Weblog Award. :). Following in the same vein:

Rules of the game:

1. the purpose of the prize is to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogosphere (quad erat demonstradum).
2. when you receive the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back.
3. choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in their content or design.
4. show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘brilliante weblog.’
5. show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize (optional).
6. and then we pass it on!

Ok so… the slight issue being most of the blogs I’m going to mention here tend to border on professional and are unlikely to ever pass this on but… no harm in adding them on I guess.

1. Geese Aplenty: Hilarious.

2. 101 Cookbooks: I love food.

3. Apartment Therapy: I love good design too. Lots of great ideas.

4. I Ramble On… : Ahsan’s cynical yet witty view on life.

5. The Dilbert Blog

and I seem to have run out of steam at this point.

Credits: Caitlin, aashee, yaznotjaz™

I would suggest reading A Note to the Ungrateful and giving Vampire Weekend a shot. Suggested by a friend I made in last week’s training sessions. Also consider checking out this list of Stunning Pictures and Photos compiled by Smashing Magazine. I was thoroughly impressed.

Odd things I learn’t during last week from various people:

Timbuktu is in Mali not Nepal. I always thought it was in Nepal for some odd reason.

Tomatoes growing on vines came first and the bush variety came later. They were also thought to be poisonous at one time.

Tulips should not be planted near other flowers since they tend to carry a major fungal disease which transfers fairly quickly. Also if you live in the Ottawa region, the city throws out all the bulbs after the Tulip festival so feel free to get hold of them.

I had no idea Mandrake was an actual plant. I thought it was something made up for the Harry Potter series.

The word Gringo apparently comes from Mexican-American War of 1846-48 where “Green Coats” was used to refer to American soldiers.

Credits:

Neuseeland - New Zealand by Travelling Pooh
Caye Caulker, Belize by Enrique NYC (Reminds me of a scene from Dark City)
Yes, Can I Help You? by SK28
Chuck’s by Torontochub27 (I think)
I’m crawling up your pantleg and you are powerless to stop me from Cute Overload
Crab in the Galapagos by Alexander Yates
Vang Vieng in Laos by Maurizio Blasetti

Kiva: Small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries.

It’s Complicated: The American Teenager by Robin Bowman

The Galápagos Islands: Just because a cousin is heading over there for his honeymoon and I’ve been fascinated since I heard about them. Where the theory of evolution started. Creeps me out a little sometimes. Apparently these islands are home to the only penguins who live on the equater called the Galápagos Penguin.

Classical Guitar Alive: Thursday from 10:30 to 11:00 p.m. on 94.5 FM. I was struck dumb.

20-Minute Toronto Makeover 2008: Just 20 minutes. Honest.

(And yes I know there are too many animals in this post)

Credits:

Natasha Jahangir
Jodi McKee
Michael

In the sixteenth century, Genoese sailors — Genes — swabbed the decks in cotton twill pants. Cheap and durable, denim became the uniform of labourers in the nineteenth century. Natural indigo rubbed off onto the sweaty necks of American workers, producing “blue collars.” By the modern era, artists searching for authenticity were co-opting the working-class attire. William S. Burroughs suspected Kerouac’s On the Road was “responsible for selling a million pairs of jeans” to beatnik wannabes. Yves Saint Laurent, who famously said he regretted not having invented blue jeans, sent a denim topcoat and boots down his Paris runway in 1969.Today hipsters dry-age their jeans to achieve an authentic look, not washing them for up to eight months.

– Excerpt from Blue Jeans: A Style for Every Story

Police offer amnesty to people who stole from Craigslist hoax victim: Ouch

[via Advertising Design Goodness]

I know I know. Haven’t posted for awhile. I think the next course of action is putting up the photographs from last years Pakistan and UAE trips. Soon. At this moment though Tibet is on my mind. I hope there are not any more casualties.

Humanity Breaks Out in a Most Unlikely Location by Linwood Barclay
:: Empathy and random acts of kindness are what make this world worth living in.

According to legends, villagers in the Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountain ranges that span the India-Pakistan border areas have been building artificial glaciers for centuries – even using one to stop the advance of Gengis Khan in the 13th century. The artificial versions are far smaller than regular glaciers, but can reach 800 feet in length. Usually, the glaciers are built in rocky areas 14,800 feet above sea level. Villagers pack ice and snow in the shadows of boulders. When winter arrives, snow bridges the areas between the ice and, over a few years, forms into a self-sustaining glacier.

Excerpt from As Glaciers Melt, Can Artificial Ones Fill the Gap?

:: Even folks in the 13th century believed in Global Warming. Could the naysayers wake up already?

Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrow-mindedness.

[excerpt from The Fourteen Precepts of Engaged Buddhism]

:: On a somewhat related note I present a quote from The Painted Veil “It was silly of us to look for qualities in each other that we never had.” which by the way was one of the most beautiful movies I saw last year. If you can’t see the relation, that’s probably because I’m thinking on a ridiculous third plane right now. Gist being we should not try and change people to mirror ourselves or what we think of as perfection especially since we are not perfect ourselves.

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, 3rd week of April [via Apartment Therapy NYC]

:: Was going to post a link to a Macleans article; What’s eating you, Mother Nature? Is it us? but didn’t really approve of the language so… I guess it ain’t happening. Wasn’t that funny anyway.