Who would represent the Vatican in the Olympics?

Funny post.

via Brandon Vogt

Bob Ross Remixed

A charming remix of the work of "happy little trees" painter Bob Ross:
 via Austin Kleon

Lightning in super-slow slow motion

An amazing video!

What does your phone number spell?

Find out here. (Very useful for helping kids remember important phone numbers!)

A tour of the most organized home in America

How big is the solar system?

This great graphic puts it in perspective.

A database of planets outside our solar system

Neat!

Dear Melinda Gates

Lots of great data here. Definitely worth a watch.

Beautiful no-mow yards

I'm not familiar with this book, but these pictures are inspiring:

How rich are you?

Find out where you rank on the global richness scale. Surprisingly revealing.

via City of God

A Litany for Healing

A powerful litany, from a service praying for victims of childhood sexual abuse.

How to host an organized garage sale

Impressive tips.

Hundreds flock to "Manhattanhenge"

"Manhattanhenge, sometimes known as the Manhattan Solstice, occurs when the setting sun aligns with east-to-west streets of the main street grid."

"A Conversation With My 12 Year Old Self"

A video 20 years in the making.

10 special needs of special needs parents

Practical tips for supporting parents of children with special needs.

Pictures of a mom who spent her birthday doing random acts of kindness

Inspiring!

10 Youtube URL Tricks You Should Know About

Some helpful stuff.

The symbolic power of keeping one empty drawer

A very interesting exercise.

How to Clock-Out When You Work From Home

A few great practical tips for not letting your work overtake your life when you work from home.

Amazing photos of 1870s London

Fascinating.

Some surprisingly interesting facts about pencils

Neat facts, along with some neat pictures of a man who makes micro-mini sculptures from the tips of pencils.

Ten Guilt-Free Non-Suppers

A helpful list for busy parents.

"Am I Married to My Brother?"

A post about sperm donation, and how it impacts the lives of people conceived that way. An excerpt:

It is clear that, at a visceral level, David Gollancz gets the foregoing teachings. He has drawn some good out of his situation by rejoicing in his long-lost siblings, but his feelings about his ancestry are mixed. He says: "It's rather uncomfortable, because artificial insemination was developed on an industrial scale for cattle and I don't like the feeling of having been 'bred.'"

"Happiness is the longing for repetition"

A touching and thought-provoking essay by a young woman who found solace in the power of ritual after the loss of her mother.

10 Billboard music milestones

Some fun stuff here, like the fact that Dark Side of the Moon spent 14 years on the Billboard 200 charts!

What writers can learn from ancient oral storytelling traditions

A powerful essay about Irish storytelling and what all writers can learn from it. An excerpt:

Lesson one: Dance with the language. There's a saying that "The English hoard words like misers, the Irish spend them like sailors." Those ancient storytellers were drunk on words. They arrested us with their language, they painted pictures. Storytelling, in print or speech, needs vital energy.

Pictures of a $42 million mansion - on 5th Avenue in NYC

Wow!

What A Wonderful World With David Attenboroug

Great way to start your week:

Catching a 178mph golf ball in a car

Amazing wood chip art

Beautiful!

The Dutch Village With No Roads

Some neat pictures of a town where people get around only by water.

Disability: A Thread for Weaving Joy

Powerful thoughts on suffering and joy from Archbishop Chaput.

Top 35 Saints Names Rarely Picked for Confirmation

A fun list.

The tragic story of a nun who lost her order

A heartbreaking and powerful piece by a man whose sister was called to life as a religious sister, then was left on her own as the order fell apart. Do take the time to read it.

NASA's Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit

To a Frustrated Poet

An amusing poem (which makes a reference at the very end to this famous poem).

The Catholic Mass in 155 A.D.

"We adopted a teen in our 50s"

A one-page summary of one family's experience who adopted a 15-year-old boy when they were in their 50s.

25 Awesome Virtual Learning Experiences Online

Great resources.

Anger and the Psalms

Some powerful thoughts from the Christ in the Desert monastery:

Most of us live in a world in which anger is not a completely acceptable emotion. We are nice people who believe in a religion of peace and we may not experience anything that really seems to make us angry. When our reality is then confronted with the reality of the cursing Psalms we experience a sense of dislocation. We feel that these are not acceptable sentiments for prayer.  

Once again, though, the cries for destruction of enemies and vengeance can become good news. To people who have lost everything, their families, their health, their possessions, their autonomy, anger is not a foreign emotion. For the victims of atrocities in our world anger is a healthy response. When people are able to feel anger rather than simply the emptiness of loss, healing can begin. The Psalms then facilitate this healing because they engender a reality in which it is God who is called upon to act. We are not called upon to personally destroy our enemies but we reaffirm our faith that God is Lord and will bring about justice. A cycle of violence is not being created but rather an affirmation that evil will not triumph.

What Goes On in the Garden When You Aren't Watching

An astounding video. From an email I received: "This is beautiful...be sure and watch closely (around 2 min 40 sec) and check out the baby bat under its mama. Unreal."

Mom of seven shares her laundry management secrets

And makes a compelling case against dressers. I'm intrigued!

How the Japanese name their streets

An enjoyable two-minute TED talk.

The world’s longest flights

Which flight covers over 9,000 miles, 12 times zones, and lasts for 18 hours? Find out here.

10 tips for finding a great Mother's Day Out program

Really good advice.

A roundup of American celebrities speaking foreign languages

Surprisingly cool.

Emotions play a role in decision making

Interesting!

Born into addiction and poverty, but grateful to be alive

An inspiring story.

19th-century astronomical drawings

A great collection.

10 Ways Our Minds Warp Time

Interesting article.

Some great organization tips for small houses

Especially for families with young children.

A glimpse inside a Korean convent

An American blogger who recently moved to Korea has some great stories and pictures about a local convent.

1940-1943, Captured in Kodachrome

Pictures from the early 1940s that look like they were taken yesterday.

Are You an Egg, a Potato, or Coffee?

A power analogy about how we respond to suffering.

Inside a stunning church

Stunning.

7 'healthy' foods with more sugar than Twinkies

Interesting list!

Police save words of blind author who wrote 26 pages after pen ran out

Great story!

Nine siblings join church after losing their parents

A touching Easter story.

"His belief was stronger than my doubt"

A great post about faith and skepticism from Fr. Dwight Longenecker.

Track ships around the world

From a friend: "This link shows the location of every ship on the ocean, its name, heading and speed. To see something impressive work the map over to the English Channel and click on the square south of Southampton."

36,000 feet into the ocean...

A fascinating infograph. Don't miss the gadget on the right that shows you the pressure at any given point. (Also, per the note at the very bottom, I didn't realize that anyone had ever been to the deepest point in the ocean!)

This is your brain on fiction

Some interesting data about how the human brain process fiction:

What scientists have come to realize in the last few years is that narratives activate many other parts of our brains as well, suggesting why the experience of reading can feel so alive. Words like “lavender,” “cinnamon” and “soap,” for example, elicit a response not only from the language-processing areas of our brains, but also those devoted to dealing with smells.

God's message to you: You're worth it

A great video from makeafriar.com:

The deepest point on earth - Challenger Deep

Some amazing facts.

If M.C. Escher designed typefaces

Very cool font.

A beautiful time lapse video of Yosemite

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

A breakdown of the claim that 98% of Catholic women use contraception

Great stuff.

11 Stunning Cakes That Look Exactly Like Other Foods

Impressive!

Does Evolutionary Science Disprove the Faith?

Mark Shea makes some interesting points.

How to prevent berries from getting moldy

Wash them with a vinegar/water solution!