Hands and Head

As I started my training at the course in jewelry art, I looked around.
There were 12 trainees in our group. Some of them were women who wanted to do something interesting during their sabbatical (a year-long holiday given every seven years to certain professionals, like teachers). Others were guys interested in some metal-working experience. (What's the classical jewelry craft about, if not metal-working?)
We were taught to solder, bend and grind metal. By the time that first lesson was over, I could think up a whole series of decorations which I was now able to make.
But I put a lid on the daydreams. I knew that my head would leave my hands far behind. First it was necessary to train the hands, to master a lot of technique, to understand what was within my reach and what was not "doable".
The studies were organized in such a way that by the end of a three-hour lesson, everyone would finish making an "end product". Many of the students succeeded in that.
I was not so lucky.
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Wear White Clothes Today

Gmar Hatima Tova to All
Yom Kippur is a holiday that raises many questions. Numerous rituals, prayers, and themes are unique to this holiest day of the Jewish year. This fact sheet will provide an introduction to the practices of Yom Kippur.

It is traditional to wear white on Yom Kippur as a sign of purity


http://www.hillel.org/jewish/holidays/yomkippur/yk_fact.htm
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_Shana_Tova_Gmar_Chatima_Tova_mean

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When you start

The correspondent takes interview from the millionaire

I asked him "Sir, What is the secret of your success?"
    He said "two words"
"And, Sir, what are they?"
    "Right decisions."
"But how do you make right decisions?"
    "One word." he responded.
"And, sir, What is that?"
     "Experience."
"And how do you get Experience?"
    "Two words"
"And, Sir, what are they?"
    "Wrong decisions"
        I think about it every time when I start new project…
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What is Beauty

Even more subjective is the popular appeal of facial features, which is connected to the absolute commonality of a stereotype. In plain language, beautiful people are those who most closely resemble what the majority of us imagine to be "us". At least that's the finding of American psychologists.

At the end of the last century, the features of hundreds of famous beautiful women and handsome men were compared by means of computer analysis. It turned out that the anthropometrical parameters of all the "stars" were similar to one another.

Actually, this "dislike" of the human brain for the task of processing complicated visual information was revealed as far back as the 19th century. Psychologists called the phenomenon “lazy brain”. It is evident not only in the critique of a person’s portrait, but also in the choice of a car, a dog, even a watch.
The California researchers conducted experiments showing some pictures to participants and asking them to rate the beauty of each. At the same time, the participants' reaction rates were measured. Those pictures that were finally recognized as beautiful had been classified very quickly, in the shortest time. And all the parameters matched a widespread (common) standard.
All of this confirms a fact that has been suspected for a long time: The most boring and unoriginal experience, visually speaking, is looking at a photo model’s beautiful face on the cover of a fashion magazine. Now it's been proven by science.
Ring "Picasso", created by Renata Grabois. Far from the stereotype of "beauty".
more about that
http://artleah2010.blogspot.com/2010/09/what-is-beauty.html
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What is beauty?

                                                     

"What is beauty, and why do people worship it?” This question has disturbed mankind since ancient times.
Some time ago it was considered that a certain average standard of beauty was an evolutionary advantage, increasing the chances of survival and reproduction. According to that theory, nature produces many copies only when the original is worthy of reproduction.
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More recently, scientists decided to prove the existence of visual harmony with algebra, and they discovered that... a standard of beauty does not even exist. Nature has presented an illusion to us, for practical reasons.

Meanwhile, psychologists have proven that these practical reasons have nothing to do with "evolutionary survival".
Experts at the University of California found that people recognize "beauty" based on the ease of processing visual information. The easier it is for the eye to absorb the person’s facial features, the more "beautiful" the face is thought to be. The ultimate in "perfect" looks is simply our brain's ability to process visual data with as little effort as possible.
Even more subjective is the popular appeal of facial features, which is connected to the absolute commonality of a stereotype. In plain language, beautiful people are those who most closely resemble what the majority of us imagine to be "us". At least that's the finding of American psychologists.

What make humans different from animals?

What indeed?

Both species rate food, shelter and sex as high priorities. (Although we assume that animals view that last activity as procreation rather than recreation, who really knows?) As for intelligence, humans definitely have competition: everyone knows how clever and perceptive dogs and cats are; and research shows a high level of intelligence in dolphins, not to mention monkeys....

But what kind of animal feels a need to decorate itself? Far as I know, none but man. And this is a very important distinction.
What lies at the root of this eagerness for adornment? The desire to stand out, to be noticed? Belief in the magical properties of ornaments, tattoos, talismans? It's clear that all of them play a part.

We might speculate that at the earliest stages of mankind's development, people might have been distinguished from animals mostly by their command over, and appreciation for, a sense of the beautiful, the aesthetic, the tasteful.
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