Comet Neowise from Nantucket

 

HMF Palm Beach for Mike's Birthday! With Danny and hilarious daughters Ardith and Jaqueline!

Kepler : The Sphere Series by Matt Carone

My excellent friend Matt Carone is kicking it at 84!   I love Matt!  One of the most interesting men on the planet.  Or at least on Kepler! Photos I took in his art studio in Fort Lauderdale of his latest series.  Inspired from a conversation with his grandson about space time and physics.  Our favorite subject to discuss over wine and his famous eggplant parmigiano!  What can I say he is a Renaissance Man from Hoboken!  Oh and did I mention he is colorblind!  Amazing.  Check out more of Matt's art at links below. And here is NASA's version of Kepler: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/#.VJG3Bnf2lA
http://matthewcarone.blogspot.com/
http://mattcarone.com/web-content/bio.html

My First Painting Circa 1994 Florence Italy

I just love the way the light hits it, different from every angle...

Some of my books that inspire creativity!

Cafe Boulud at Brazilian Court Palm Beach

Got My Haircut at the Same Place I Did 25 Years Ago. Farrah? Madonna?

UAE Celebration in Dubai!

Navesink River, New Jersey

Mobile Apps vs. Mobile Websites

Cablevision made an app so people can watch TV on the iPad. They have 3 million subscribers and 50,000 people downloaded it as of April 6th.  Now I love Steve Jobs too.  I want him to design my phone, my house, and my next car!  But why would a company invest in building an app for less than 2% of their customers?  Why not just put up a mobile website with a Flash and HTML5 video player so all 3 million Cablevision subscribers, via authentication, can enjoy viewing on the iPad or any mobile device, from anywhere.

Apple had this page up on their website with a list of "iPad ready" mobile sites. It is no longer up. Selling apps makes more money! http://www.apple.com/ipad/ready-for-ipad/  Here is another list of iPad ready sites. including CNN, Time, New York Times, National Geographic and the White House.    

The truth.  Apps are a completely unnecessary market. Steve Jobs knows this.  He is brilliant. Jobs is in the hardware business, but apps give Apple devices roots, makes the device personal to you, so much harder to break-up with Apple and marry a Blackberry!  Apps keeps customers loyal to Apple.  The fact that Apple makes 30% of all sales revenue from the App store and 40% of ad revenue from Mac apps is just the cherry on top of his Apple.  So if you are any business executive considering an app, do yourself a favor, build a mobile website, and keep all the ad money.  Live a little.  Steve has enough.  :-)  

This article with chart compares mobile apps to mobile websites. 
 

Wordle

I love this!  Wordle is an application that creates “word clouds” from text.  I just copied the link from this blog into this form and here is the word cloud Wordle created.  The clouds visually give prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.

The meaning of life: as you believe so it is

We do not know what is possible. We only know what has been possible so far. Even an algorithm only measures the past. The future is theoretical. In science you test a theory. In life you believe a theory. It requires faith and trust in your vision. So is the meaning of life, as you believe, so it is? 

So what do you believe in today?  

Believe in that burst of imagination that requires action! Believe in feeling aroused by that creative fire inside you can't put out. Believe in opening yourself to trust your spontaneous wisdom. Believe in your passion for what can come true when you do not second guess yourself! Or when others hold you back! Believe in that flash of insight. A close call. A release, letting your inside out. Believe in standing up for yourself and your beliefs. Then know when you've outgrown them and create new ones. Believe in telling the truth despite the hurt. Believe in facing the envy of others. Believe in rising above pettiness in your rivals. Be willing to meet someone halfway. Believe in harmonizing opposites to transcend those differences. Use the presence of contrary thoughts to unleash your imagination. Believe in doing the right thing even when you lose. Believe in finding the patience to be in the now consistently. Believe in being brave enough to relax when the worst is happening. Believe in receiving support from teamwork. Believe in participating in the dance of life. Believe in making happy memories. Believe in experiencing a sense of belonging even when you are alone.  allofustogethergod.blogspot.com

Is Being Bad Beyond Our Control?

Here is a story I wrote in the 6th grade; age 11. My class got in trouble for talking. Miss Conti asked us to write an essay about why we were so bad. I still use this excuse! When I found this today in an old file I save in a drawer full of papers, I laughed out loud, because I must be "Mrs. Robinson" in the story. A foreshadowing written by an 11 year old version of myself!

CREATIVE ESSAY

THEME: THE SPIRIT OF NOISE

On November 29, 1978 in room 413 at P.S. 102 the students in class 6-1 were very noisy and misbehaved. This occurred at 1:20pm. This class was normally well behaved, so this was an unusual happening. Miss Conti, the teacher of the class, was astounded by this odd behavior. To see that it would not occur again, Miss Conti assigned the students a 500 word composition on The Spirit of Noise.

Unfortunately, I had the misfortune of being a student in this particular class at that time and place. I had to do the assignment. To do this properly I did some research on noise. I went to the library to obtain books on noise. There I met an old woman who helped me use the reference catalogs. I told her of my assignment and the reason for it. After listening to me she told me that she worked at the Hayden Planetarium. She worked as an astronomer. Her name was Mrs. Robinson. What she then said really opened my eyes.

Mrs. Robinson told me that certain stars in a remote galaxy were finally in unison with the Earth after 2,500 years. The last time that this phenomenon occurred the Earth exhibited strange reactions in the field of noise. She told me that the higher up you are from street level the more you would be affected. When I told Mrs. Robinson my class was on the 4th floor, she nodded knowingly.

It seems that this galaxy affected the people on Earth in a strange manner. Similar to the pull of gravity only this force seems to affect behavior. Students who are normally well behaved start to talk and make loud noise. Another interesting thing that Mrs. Robinson told me concerned location. It seems that Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, specifically was a focal point for this force. People in other boroughs and other locations were not affected.

In view of this scientific data it seems that even though the class made noise their actions were beyond their control. Anyway it should not occur again for 2,500 years. But Mrs. Robinson said anther galaxy was going to be in a similar location in two months. She said that the stars in that particular galaxy when in unison, make 6th grade children mute for one day. They can't give a correct answer even when they know it! The class should not be held accountable for classwork on that day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The little guy on my shoulder is whispering in my ear, "yes, Marie it's true, there is gold at the end of the rainbow! Here's the secret, rainbows are circles. It's all lined with gold!"

THE PRE BIG BANG UNIVERSE = ALL OF US TOGETHER?

Back in the early 1990's when I first glimpsed the Internet I was in complete awe realizing what this invention could do. With my mouth gaping open at the screen, I silently whispered to myself, "Well, if God is anything, it is all of us together. And this is certainly a step in the right direction! 

When you consider the scientific fact that the same patterns at all levels of the cosmos reproduce from the macrocosm universe perspective of galaxies to the microcosm perspective of a cell, what is singularity? Is it possible the Internet serves as an incredible evolving pattern of all of us together? A view of our collective brain. Our inner voice. A microcosm of the pre-Big Bang universe right there at our fingertips? 

So if it is true that all patterns in the cosmos mirror systems on every level, then just as humans give birth, reproduce and create life, is it reasonable that the Big Bang was simply the Universe giving birth to all of us? Now imagine that; if you are but one cell in the whole body of the Universe? Each one of us one "cell" in the macrocosm of all that is. Then perhaps it is true - all of us together is "God." It makes me wonder what all of us can create together if we have the same passionate thought at the same time! 

Singularity? Perhaps to the Universe, all of us exist in one ionic cosmic breath. As a microcosm of the macrocosm, does each conscious breath we take empower all of us to be a co-creator in our shared Universe, for better or worse.

I often hear questions like; What is God? What is spirituality? Based on these questions I debated the rules of religion with our priest for years. Then one day my mother said, "Marie it's just a nice way to live a life".  And with that one simple powerful phrase the debates stopped, and this is what I heard in the silence ... 

Spirituality is a relationship with myself. 

Religion is a relationship with my community. 

GOD is a relationship with the Universe.  

And all can exist simultaneously as one. 

This is how we create new destinies for the planet, for our country, for our community, for our family, for ourselves, and for our cells.  

The Internet is like kindergarten teaching us all how to connect to each other. Or divide each other. This poem "ALL OF US TOGETHER IS GOD" is how I pray.  I call it listening.  A nice way to begin the day.  Enjoy!!  

WHAT IS GOD? ALL OF US TOGETHER IS GOD

BY MARIE CONROY
http://allofustogethergod.blogspot.com/

I sit quietly in my chair

so excited about the journey

I close my eyes and to the beat of my breath

I tune into the light pulsing in my heart

I become the light 

I take a moment to feel it

breathing in the sun glowing in my heart

Like starting an engine

I swirl up my spine filling my brain with light

and now like a laser I beam down to my feet 

and into the earth

I swirl in circles around the edge

round and round until I reach the center of our earth

I see sapphires rubies emeralds and diamonds 

layers and layers of lava and jewels 

like a cake made for God 

At the speed of thought

my light follows me like a comet  

as I swirl round and round the earth

lighting up the jewels

now all shining bright in my light 

I drape this gorgeous rainbow 

around me like a cape

and now fused together 

all the colors become white

and as one we light up 

the entire inside of the planet

Now in a nanosecond

I beam back up into my body 

up my spine and out the top of my head

Like roots of a tree 

my light keeps me connected to the earth

I keep going and going fueled by this light 

I shoot straight past the planets 

and into the endless dark

passing rivers of stars that light my way

I know exactly where I am going

and I am giggling even before I get there

and I see it

a beacon 

pulsing in time to the beat of my heart 

a light so bright

it encompasses me 

enfolds me

as every cell in my body opens like a flower

All I feel is joy

I LOVE IT HERE

the words fall out of my mouth 

in absolute awe and gratitude

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

I am home

ALL OF US ARE HERE TOGETHER

THIS IS GOD

All of us together is God

Each one of us a cell in God's eternal brain

the soil the trees the earth the water 

are God's lifeblood and food.

Together everything here is clear

seeing all our experiences 

fused together as one

Here I can ask anything!

All the questions have answers

All the pain is resolved 

All the love is waiting to be opened

Like presents filling a room

Gifts from our Creator

Gifts born for us to open and make real

Everything begins and ends here

Here there is no good and bad

only love and learning

Patience with all of us 

and our everyday choices

This is home

All of us together as one is Home

All of us together is God.

In the silence 

In the stillness 

I ask and I ask

I listen and I listen 

and what I hear lights me up! 

Now I know exactly what to do

My intention flows out like light

and the Universe reorganizes 

the cells of creation around it

I trust it 

I get out of the way 

as I humbly witness the source of creation in me

Step by step dreams become real

full of LOVE 

full of learning

full of all of us together learning

full of GOD the Universe is inside all of us

In an instant 

my light beams me back into my body

now fueled with exuberance 

I begin the day!

I AM A MEMBER OF THE UNIVERSE

GOD IS ALL OF US TOGETHER AS ONE 

God's View: photos by Alain Paiement (click on these for close-up)

LOVE iTT E-MOTIONS THE BANNER AD!

Have you ever seen something on TV, in a movie, or a music video you wanted to buy? The LOVE iTT ticker is a shopping service that helps you do exactly that!  Click here: http://www.itouchticker.com/

iTT displays cool products featured in TV shows, movies and music videos in a ticker system that scrolls product images below online videos and in one click links you to retailer purchase pages.

The seed for the LOVE iTT idea was planted in my head in 1997 while I was working on the HBO series OZ. One day I had to call P. Diddy's office to ask if we could hang a poster of him on the set's prison cell wall. "P" wasn't such a big diddy back then, and I remember thinking, wow, what a great opportunity for any anyone, and what a great way to sell posters! My next thought was lets build a website to sell all the products we featured on Oz to our fans!

As broadband and video on the Internet became more accessible, the LOVE iTT design evolved in my imagination. Beyond the 30 second ad, what is the best way to showcase products next to what we are watching? And how can it be done without automated video tagging software that has no human sense of humor or style? Then one day while watching CNBC that scrolling stock ticker morphed into this "visual shopping ticker" application that scrolls relevant product images below online media all hand-picked by a team of hip fashionistas.

Banner ads compete for our attention. LOVE iTT is designed to complement it. LOVE iTT e-motions the banner. Instead of pushing,  LOVE iTT pulls. LOVE iTT reverse engineers the ad from the consumer perspective and makes the content the commercial. Rather than duplicate traditional 30 second ads online, iTT enhances the viewer experience by using the ticker as a service and gives us a BRAND new reason to watch TV shows again online after it airs on traditional TV. There is nothing else out there now that elevates our base consumer wants into a service we enjoy. LOVE iTT makes shopping easy. LOVE iTT works!

Besides this LOVE iTT shopping site that demonstrates the service using music videos, we are developing licensing models where we stream the iTT ticker to video sites for use on your favorite TV shows and movies.  Stay tuned!  

Wine Week at Smith & Wollensky"s South Beach

SOCIAL NETWORKS: The Global Linked Forest

It is no longer about eyeballs. NOW is about how we LINK eyeballs. Mining the Link Structure of How People Connect.

What is happening now "socially" on the Internet is what Google did with web page linking for advertising. Instead of considering each page in isolation, they examined the link structure of the entire web and computed a global evaluation of that structure. In other words they began looking at the entire forest instead of just the individual trees. This short article, "The Power of Links and the Value of Global Knowledge" by Paul Buchheit explains it so well.

"...this general approach of evaluating information in a global context is fundamental to many of the algorithms. These algorithms made it easier for Google to spot which web sites were actually important, and which were just pretenders."

Today on the Internet the same applies to people. So how do we apply this to social networks to create value? We create ways to join people. The future will be measured by how we empower people to link together around "what they like" and "how they work". 

Paul Buchheit says this:

Perhaps a people directory doesn't seem terribly valuable, but if you can't imagine how to make money from knowing everyone's identity and trust networks, then you aren't being very imaginative.

There is GOLD in the way we link together around "what we like" and "how we work" data. The eyeball metric to measure advertising rates and to place valuation on "networks" is old-fashioned. The future is no longer about eyeballs; it's about how we LINK eyeballs.

Here is an example. I love this graph! This social graph shows "to" and "from" email contact on a project after a missed deadline. At a glance, project managers noticed clusters around formal departments and several hubs were under-performing creating bottlenecks. Managers intervened and created co-location of more project team members, reduced the communication load on the hubs, and improved performance later in the project. This is the future. And this is what we can do just with email!

Now imagine what we can do when we link what we are watching with what we buy simultaneously, in one click?  Check out the LOVE iTT ticker.!   

http://www.orgnet.com/email.html

Me & Squirt. My friend Ruby asked me to babysit her mom's dog. Of course I will! So here we are at The Ritz South Beach having lunch!

Spoon With A View. Genoa September 2009

Piaggio Factory in Genoa Italy. My friend Paul bought a plane. Went over there to fly it back, but had to check out the factory first! I'm still alive! All good!

Italian Riviera July 2008

Adrenaline Fetish

A FETISH IS OF THE MIND.  ADDICTION IS OF THE BODY

Is it possible that adrenaline (those butterflies in your stomach) is the source cause of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis? And if so, can we empower ourselves to reverse the effects?

Here's the deal: We are all predisposed to something; vulnerable to some disease passed on to us genetically. But ultimately it is up to us to create the environment in our bodies to bring it on. Or not. Along with family genes, we also "inherit" the family environment that breeds specific habits; mental, physical and emotional. So why do certain family members get sick and some don't? Bottom line: It's because our health is determined by how we each individually "react" to the environment; emotionally, mentally and physically. The way you are inclined to react to the environment will have specific effects on your body now and in your future.

So what does adrenaline have to do with disease or being fat? One doctor I asked said a friend of hers won't drive in traffic because the cortisol and adrenaline produced in her body by the stress will make her fat!

Adrenaline is your body's alarm system. Those butterflies in your stomach is the body's physical "fight or flight" response related to the psychology of anxiety and stress. Adrenaline is released in the body when the brain believes the physical integrity of the body is threatened. Immediately the nervous system increases the concentration of glucose (sugar) in the blood to create energy so the body has fuel to react fast. Blood pressure and the heartbeat rate increases, eyes dilate, and air passages increase to allow more oxygen to flow to increase physical performance in short bursts of time. Blood is pulled away from the stomach and sent to the muscles, so you can run! That's what causes the feeling of butterflies. Flight or fight.

Now: Imagine your fist clenched tight.

Cells cluster like this in an inflamed environment of physical, mental, or emotional stress; when you hit your elbow, someone cuts you off in traffic, or when you fight with your boss or mate! If cells are tense from stress or inflammed from disease or injury, they cluster together, like your clenched fist, and good stuff can't get in there to its job.

When cells are clustered the good food you eat or vitamins you take can not easily enter.  A lot of the money invested in supplements literally goes down the toilet.  Then people wonder why the product isn't working.

Now imagine unfurling your fingers open.

This is what cells do when you are relaxed. We have to create the environment in the body first so the healing can begin. Everything in the body and mind works better like this. Cells are optimized in this way by relaxing any resistance.  Oxygen can then enter so we can think clearly, nutrients can enter to give us energy, and blood flows better to decrease inflammation and pain. And when blood flows better, what else happens? You can throw the viagra prescription away!

THE ADRENALINE DRIP

A FETISH IS OF THE MIND
Adrenaline comes in handy when your house is on fire. It is a one-time response and then the body calms down. For some, that initial clenching of the fist is a sign that an emotionally charged thought has been triggered in your mind and is the beginning of an adrenaline rush.

But what happens to the body under chronic or repeated stress? When the rush of adrenaline is frequent (every day) the body memorizes the ‘feeling’ and creates memories of surroundings and other references from the five senses and relates it to thought. Adrenaline and cortisol enhance memory processes, helping us to store and retrieve sensory cues and be alert to future danger. It creates a patterned brain circuit; a short cut to react. Like speed dial on your phone. While thinking is as spontaneous and natural as breathing, when thought is charged with emotion of the memory experienced during adrenaline rush, eventually the rush can be triggered simply by thinking about the related activity.  Let's call it the adrenaline drip.


AN ADDICTION IS OF THE BODY
We tend to treat behavior associated with addictions and not the source of the addiction. Addictive behaviors of the body are byproducts of emotionally charged  thoughts in the mind.  The thought triggers the physiological chemical reaction. It is the emotionally charged memorized thought charged with the rush of adrenaline that triggers the speed dialed addictive behavior. Yet the addictive effects of adrenaline aren’t found doing that activity, it is found when the adrenaline starts to build-up prior to doing that activity; in the mind.

Addicts are "hyperthinkers".  Alcohol addiction, sex addiction, work addiction are merely byproduct physical behaviors to numb or distract the mind from the compulsive "hyperthinking" connected to a negative experience that repeats like a broken record in the mind.  Any situation that triggers the patterned emotion will physically speed dial the overreaction.


When the mind compulsively speed dials the adrenaline rush, the nerve cells in the brain shrink, and we become numb. When adrenaline is overproduced in the body for extended periods of time, the person can no longer accurately measure risk effectively, leading to a further risk required next time for the same rush.

It is the initial rush of adrenaline that is addictive. The guilt or shame (that are components of any "vice") are only felt after the body comes back into balance. That moment when people say "what was I doing?".

Doing the activity to get a fix, anything from smoking to a picking a fight to risky sex, is the byproduct of the addiction, and dissipates the chemical; just like when nerves disappear as soon as a performer steps onstage or an athlete begins a competition, which are healthy alternatives to release the chemical.

HYPERACTIVE ADRENALINE RESPONSE 
When stress hormones remain high and hyperactive for many hours after the triggering event, your immune system sees these hyperactivity as the enemy. The cells in your body are working overtime to battle repeated fight or flight reactions to bring the body back into balance. This creates an internal war and communication between the cells break down. Overabundance of adrenaline creates the free radical environment in the body and is the root cause of autoimmune diseases.  So the cure for autoimmune diseases must begin with the brain.

Doctor's say autoimmune diseases cannot be cured because even if the body grows new cells (for example beta cells in type 1 diabetes) for some unknown reason the immune system has it out for particular cells and will kill them again. Still, the body always seeks to regenerate and achieve balance again. Perhaps a way to "reboot" the system to get cells to remember what it was like before the internal war.

EMPOWERED SOLUTIONS
Can this speed dialed adrenaline rush be reversed in adults? Yes. Because of the plasticity of the brain where adrenaline addiction exists, with some practice to unlearn the habit, it can "disconnect" the byproduct addictions.

Parents will recognise their kid(s) becoming hyper prior to an activity. This is the child's way of dealing with the adrenaline chemical, until the activity begins to dissipate it. Instead of telling a child to ‘calm down’ and ’sit still’ when children become "hyper", parents may instead tell the child to go run up and down the street or go bounce on the trampoline for 10 minutes. Start the practice early to give children healthy safe outlets for their emotions and feelings and much disease will be prevented.

Adrenaline energy flows from the brain down the spine and up the front of the body; backwards. When you feel the adrenaline energy start to build when an emotionally charged memory is triggered, be alert and tell yourself to stop. Visually stop the flow with your mind and move it forward from your brain down the front of your body and up your back in a forward motion like you are riding a bike. You can even use your hands to create a spinning momentum of the forward moving energy. This creates endorphins and a much better positive fix.  Take three deep conscious breaths to make space between your cells before they get a chance to cluster. 

This ceases the war, and you feel these peaceful effects immediately as the adrenaline simply dissolves before the roller coaster effect even begins. The first time you do this, you may laugh from the wonderful feeling produced by your brain and felt throughout your body. The difference? You feel BAD after an adrenaline rush and you feel GOOD after an endorphin rush.

Disease is a war inside the body caused by cells that are not communicating.  Your emotions run everything.  So let your emotions work for you. We always have the power to create the environment in our body for all healing to begin.