SMI²LE! We’re apparently right at the threshold of near-immortal life extension… well, assuming we can survive the next 20 years, that is. Kurzweil and other mandroids reported thus:

Researchers at the Maximum Life Foundation met recently to discuss their latest anti-aging findings. Their goal is to extend the human lifespan indefinitely by 2029… though it’s not yet clear how that’ll actually work.

The Huntington Beach-based Foundation held a Longevity Summit earlier this month, where biologists and geneticists shared their research into how humans might live longer ?

 
According to artist Erial Ali’s website: “I am proud to offer the unique *magical* service of Erial Ali creating a Celestial Soul Portrait of YOU!”

Erial also creates “magical” versions of family portraits from photographs. His prices range any where from $150 to $250.

Visit Erial’s website to view more Celestial Soul Portraits.
 
(via J-Walk Blog)

From the Guardian, Elizabeth Fraser speaks about her 18-year tenure in the groundbreaking band Cocteau Twins, and how time has not been good to her memories of the group. She also discusses her tumultuous relationship with Jeff Buckley.

The Cocteau Twins had been apart for seven years, the mystique they had attained during their lifetime gradually growing and their influence spreading, when the announcement came that they were to reform. The world was told they would be headlining the 2005 Coachella festival in California, and would follow that with a major tour. According to bassist Simon Raymonde, the band stood to benefit to the tune of ?Ǭ

And a very happy birthday to William Blake, one of the greatest mystics, poets, painters and visionaries that Western civilization ever produced. Driven to a pauper’s grave in his own time, Blake’s vision remains burning in our consciousness as a touchpoint of human freedom against the horrific machine-like nature of our destructive, planet-killing culture. If you haven’t given him your full time, do! If you don’t know him past “Tyger, Tyger” or a few other poems, have another look?

 
From Austrian Times:

Kung fu master Chen Pengxian wasn’t just winging it when he claimed he could create the smallest carving in the world.

So Chen, 42, carved an entire sentence in Chinese characters on a fly’s wing to prove his ability.

The sentence - which translates as ‘I am at the bottom of her valley of no love’ - was taken from his favourite martial arts novel.

“I have studied king fu for 20 years and I used the breathing techniques I had learned to stop my hands from shaking because one slip would have torn the wing to pieces,” he explained from his studio in Taipei, Taiwan.

Austrian Times: Wing and a hair

 

 

 
Here are some absolutely amazing sculptures made from recycled materials by artist Michael Ferris Jr.

Artist’s statement for sculptures:

My intent is to render an accurate likeness of my subject however what I find more compelling is communicating the sitter?

 
The Equinox club, which the Dangerous Minds team visited in West Hollywood, is the most tech-saavy, advanced workout arena I’ve ever been to. Their machines are state-of-the-art, their staff is trained to the highest and most current scientific standards, and they even have a full suite of support technology, starting with their own iPhone app.

Simply put, Equinox is AWESOME. It’s like walking into a perfectly-oiled Megascience Machine designed to remake you into your ideal self. And they are offering Dangerous Minds readers a 3-day trial membership.

First off, Equinox looks more like a cruise ship than a traditional gym. The epic facilities include rows of frontline equipment and all of the amenities you would come to expect from a gym, but also so much more: Aromatherapy suites. Tanning areas. Steam rooms. Massage tables. Yoga. Everything you need to conduct your own personal leisure crusade. It’s the type of place you’d want to spend more time at than your own home or office, a gym paradise loaded down with so many features and perks that it might be harder to NOT exercise than to exercise. Gyms have traditionally been sweaty, grunty prisons. Equinox is more like stepping into your own personal comfort zone.

Their training process shows an incredible level of research and attention paid to the newest advances in sports and fitness technology?

Bulgaria has, apparently, contacted aliens. Not suprisingly, no reaction from the world at large. Metro.co.uk reports:

Bulgarian researchers are analysing pictograms contained in 150 crop circles which have appeared around the globe in the past year. And the researchers say they have already posed the extra-terrestrials 30 questions, one of which might have been: ?

The newest part in GOOD magazine’s ongoing “Ideas for Cities” series on how to properly revitalize our urban areas for a sustainable century. I like this one in particular, because it seems like it could very easily manifest without much effort, and solve a lot of issues in one go.

Cities should provide service opportunities and training for all ages to instill confidence, self-reliance, and pride. One of these programs could be an Edible Schoolyard that is cared for by students and led by professional farmers and volunteers. It would provide 100 percent of the school meals to the student body, and excess food would be delivered to the ill and elderly. In addition, schools would produce zero waste by composting all bio matter. The school could also compost neighborhood bio matter to fund its agricultural efforts.

(GOOD: Ideas for Cities: Edible Schoolyard)

An Irish Church investigation has come to absolutely damning findings that the Church actively covered up institutionalized sexual abuse for thirty years. Via the Irish Times:

The Commission of Investigation into Dublin?