This peculiar and colorful hotel has a structure made mainly of adobe, stone, and wood. Its owner originates from Germany, as he, 21 years ago, decided to turn the South American country of Bolivia into his place of residence and start a new life there after having fallen in love with a woman native to that country. The hotel is located in the small town of Copacabana, on the shores..
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A true oasis in the desert of southwest New Mexico, Gila Lower…
A true oasis in the desert of southwest New Mexico, Gila Lower Box Canyon Wilderness Study Area is a lush thicket of cottonwood, willows and wildflowers. The area provides excellent birding with one of the highest bird diversities in the state. Spring and summer visitors also enjoy river recreation including tubing and fishing. Photo by Mike Howard, Bureau of Land Management.
History of a Disappearance: The Story of a Forgotten Polish Town
Until Filip Springer’s History of a Disappearance: The Story of a Forgotten Polish Town came into the house a few weeks ago, I had never heard of Miedzianka. The little mountain town was in Lower Silesia, a region that has over the centuries been part of Poland, Bohemia, the Hapsburg Monarchy, Prussia, Germany (German Empire, Weimar Republic, and Third Reich), and Poland again. Today, Miedzianka is still in Poland, but it would exist only in the memories of its increasingly few former inhabitants, were it not for Filip Springer, a young “self-taught journalist.” With persistence that may amount to obsession, he has recovered the story of the town’s life and times and chronicled the melancholy history of its several disappearances. In a nice tactical move, he has set the place and its people before us in the present tense, an approach that has truly taken distance out of the past.
Miedzianka, called Kupferberg until 1945, has its roots in a medieval mountain settlement named Cuprifodina and owes its existence to mining, first for silver and copper, later for other elements that would come to obsess the modern world. The hectic proliferation of tunnels, drifts, and galleries beneath the ground has been one agent of the town’s disappearance, as, over time, portions of it have simply vanished into sinkholes. But there were other forces at work: war, fire, pestilence, and the cartographer’s pen.
The Thirty Years War brought destruction from both sides of the conflict, first, in 1634, from the Catholic Hapsburgs, in the shape of Croatian troops who burned down the town and massacred everyone who had not managed to hide in the forest. A few years later, the Protestant Swedes appeared on the scene, pursuing their own righteous and bloody mission. In this case, as Springer remarks in his characteristically dry way, “if Kupferberg does not disappear for a second time, it is only because they have hardly managed to rebuild it.”
History gives the town a buffet or two in the next couple of centuries, but accidental fire, plague, and cave-ins get in some good licks. The town escapes the Great War’s devastation, losing only a half dozen men on distant battlefields. Economic forces, however, are another matter: The mines, which frequently change hands over the years into the twentieth century, always promise more than they yield. They go in and out of production, with the town’s well-being and population fluctuating accordingly.
On the other hand, Kupferberg is the site of a more reliable and, indeed, convivial resource: Kupferberg Gold, a beer of regional renown. Founded in the mid-nineteenth century by Wilhelm Franzky, the brewery sends horse carts out across a wide territory every day, “filled to the brim with barrels and clinking with green bottles” of “the best beer in the Giant Mountains.” The excellence of this celebrated brew is said to derive from the mountain water; though, to be sure, that supply is sometimes interrupted when underground chambers and corridors from abandoned mining operations collapse and damage the aqueduct.
We are introduced to the brewery through seven-year-old Georg Franzky, grandson of the founder. The boy is smuggling a bottle of Kupferberg Gold to Max Sintenis, “a ne’er-do-well reveler and carouser” locked up in the town’s jail for bad behavior. (Max has, and not for the first time, promised Georg a pet monkey for this service.) This vignette burgeons to include the story of the brewery; of the tavern and its bathtubs; of the famous “Underwear Ball”; of Max’s brother, a celebrated naturalist; of the pastors, Catholic and Lutheran; of artisans, shopkeepers, and councilmen. Drawing from interviews, newspapers, books, and archival sources, Springer moves through the generations, in a great leafing-out of the little town’s unique character.
Kupferberg is still part of Germany after the Great War, but times are hard during the ensuing periods of hyperinflation and economic depression — and in 1936, the Hitler Youth come marching through town: “The powerful, measured step of hobnail boots. Pounding them on the pavement. Singing songs . . . Black shorts, mustard-brown shirts, handkerchiefs tied around their necks with leather rings. Armbands. Knives at their belts.” Most of these boys are from a nearby town, though a couple are sons of Kupferberg: as a group they halt before the priest’s house to shout slogans and abuse. “The town stands stock-still. People stand at their windows watching, or go out to the back garden, not wanting to see anything. But they listen.” Shortly after, townsmen begin to disappear, drafted into the Wehrmacht. Racial registration is introduced, and Kupferberg’s few Jews disappear. The priest disappears. With war, the church bells disappear, to be forged into guns.
Refugees from the Russian advance begin to arrive, and as these terrifying troops draw closer, Kupferbergers evacuate their town, moving west — though many are forced back, finding only destruction. Springer follows the heartbreaking journeys and appalling hardship of several refugees, German and Polish. When the Russians enter Kupferberg in May 1945, beatings and rapes commence.
By the end of the war, Kupferberg is part of Poland and has become Miedzianka. The remaining Germans are deported and the town repopulated, over a period of years, with Poles. Some houses remain empty, however, and they are dismantled bit by bit for fuel — as indeed are many of the houses in which people are actually living. Fuel is scarce, floorboards are abundant. Household goods and furniture left by the former owners are taken over or looted; or, because Communist strictures on private property prevail, a large piece — a piano, say — will be dragged out and left to molder until it is eventually chopped up for firewood.
But the mines are open again, this time as a source of uranium, under Soviet supervision. Prosperity of a sort comes to the town, reflected in the hustle and bustle of a new set of characters vividly captured by Springer. But uranium mining brings radiation sickness and further damage, including the collapse of buildings from heedless tunneling below: “Of course nothing was said officially,” says one township leader quoted by Springer, “because then we’d have to say our Soviet friends’ overexploitation caused the whole town to cave in.”
Here I will leave what is a mere sketch of a very rich narrative; suffice it to say, the account continues and teems with neighborhood events and the doings of people we have come to know. It also includes many ghoulishly absurd tales of Soviet enterprise — a genre in itself. One such episode involves mining supervisors arranging periodic explosions to give the impression that underground extraction is being conducted — while, in fact, workers are sifting uranium ore out of waste tips.
Some of the most striking parts of this wonderful book are interstitial sections of personal testimony concerning various events and situations. It is testimony infused with fear, prejudice, hope, evasiveness, and denial — and there is much contradiction. Some reflections are filled with the yearning sense of loss felt by the town’s former inhabitants, people who live in its memory or have returned to view the vanished places of their vanished youth. I call this a great book, a superb work of intelligence, originality, and tremendous enterprise.
The Barnes & Noble Review http://ift.tt/2p1DVlb
How To Find The Boring Life Of Your Dreams
Sounds funny, right? Why would you want to make the life of your dreams boring?
There’s just so much to do these days. You can take in a live sporting event, enjoy fine wine, dine on international cuisine or even travel to exotic destinations.
But, do you really want those things? Does a fast-paced, entertainment-filled life bring you real happiness?
My guess is it leaves you feeling depleted.
Yes, you want the best travel, food, entertainment and lifestyle, but you want to enjoy them at your pace. And right now, you just feel exhausted. So, how can you find time to breathe while getting the most out of life? The “boring life” of your dreams may just be the answer.
What is a “boring” dream life?
Simply put, it means living your life at a steady pace- not too fast or too slow. It means to counteract the exciting moments with the quiet, more “boring” ones. But, how exactly can you do that?
Below are 5 ideas to help you get started.
Start a meditation practice
As someone who’s been meditating for 13+ years, meditation gives me time to process my experiences, think more clearly and make better choices.
When life at the office is stressful, my schedule is jam-packed with activities or I just feel too exhausted, meditation provides me the time to catch my breath and reflect.
On a hot summer day, meditation is the cold glass of water that revitalizes me. It helps soften the blow of all the intense experiences, and it can do the same for you.
See Also: Questions and Answers: A Beginners Guide to Meditation
Schedule unscheduled time
Remember having more “free time” as a kid? You know, that block of time you were given at camp or some other event to do whatever you want? Unscheduled time is similar. It’s time where you don’t plan anything, and you can do whatever you feel.
Unscheduled time is similar. It’s the time where you don’t plan anything, and you can do whatever you feel.
The funny thing about unscheduled time is you have to schedule it—or it’s likely not to happen. Personally, I schedule it in two-hour blocks, and I leave one entire day a week (usually Sunday) as unscheduled.
I never work on Sundays. Instead, I hang out with friends, explore the city with my girlfriend, catch a movie, exercise or simply do what I feel. And without fail, that one unscheduled day revitalizes me, recharging my batteries for the week ahead.
Chill out on the stimulants
Consuming booze, coffee, sugar and even fatty meals on a regular basis can have a dramatic effect on how you feel and your perspective.
Too much coffee can leave you wired and irritable. Boozing frequently can keep you perpetually in hangover-recovery mode, and too much sugar can leave you feeling depleted.
So, I recommend balancing your stimulants.
Drink more water. Eat more fruits and veggies (with less butter and dressing), and don’t overdo it with the stimulants. Yes, these changes can be dreadfully boring, but your body and mind will surely thank you later.
See Also: How To Develop Awesome Eating Habits Without Failing
Stay grounded with habits
Personally, my habits help keep me sane. I meditate every day, exercise 2-4 times a week, eat 2 vegetarian meals a day and go to bed at 10 pm on weeknights. These habits make me feel like me, and they remind me of who I am.
In other words, habits provide stability in your life.
They keep you planted when the going gets tough. If you have a bad day, your habit, whether that’s exercise, meditation, reading an hour in the evening, will be right there waiting for you. No matter how much the circumstances in your life change, your habits won’t. They can be your rock when life gets insane.
Balance your life
Last year, I took a total of 4 vacations, lasting a total of 6 and a half weeks, in the span of 5 months. How did that make me feel?
Awesome at first but, by the last trip, I was sick of vacation. I felt unproductive and bored with the sights I was seeing.
In hindsight, it’s obvious I overdid it. I should have spread out my vacation time more evenly throughout the year. If I had, I would have enjoyed the experiences a lot more.
Whether it’s vacation, dining at nice restaurants or knocking back some beers with your buddies, I recommend adopting the same attitude in every area of your life. Don’t overdo it, and don’t underdo it. Find a balance between the quiet times and the exciting times so you can live the life of your dreams.
But, how do you find that balance?
Well, that answer is for you to discover yourself. Experiment and find out what works best for you.
And here’s a tip.
If you feel like you’re overdoing it in one area of your life, ask yourself, “How does this make me feel? Does doing this activity so often make me happy?”. If the answer is “no”, then try cutting back on it to find a happier medium. You may just discover a new love for another activity.
The challenge of enjoying the “boring” dream life
There’s no use sugar-coating it.
It can be scary to slow down, especially when your friends start to take notice. Some of them might think you’re acting weird and you may even lose some friendships along the way. Even worse, taking some quiet time for yourself may cause you anxiety.
Why?
Well, you’re not used to it. And that’s okay.
There’s no need to rush though. Take baby steps as you slow down towards the life of your dreams. Once you find time to breathe and balance the adrenaline with the quiet, I guarantee you’re going to feel 10x better. You’re going to enjoy time with friends. You can go out for vacations and parties to eat out and drink.
Start today and take some time for yourself. Start a new habit, like meditating. Do whatever you need to do but just make sure you schedule some time for yourself.
Put YOU first and ask yourself, “Will this activity make me happy?”. Let that question be your guide, and you’re sure to find yourself smiling a bit longer.
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A Contemporary Home Overlooking the Chiché River Canyon in Ecuador
From the moment we arrive at this house, we are aware that we are surrounded by nature, as the structure is nestled among extensive areas of vegetation. In its gardens, where there are a wide variety of plants, we can appreciate a great number of cacti adorning the entrance. The house, located on a hill, is perfectly adapted to it, and the distribution of its rooms was done seeking to..
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Warren and Mahoney Design a Lovely 12-Home Community in Christchurch, New Zealand
This community consists of 12 units of single family houses that share the same garden area, each one with its own terrace, which allows them to be integrated and yet preserve their own individual privacy. Located in Christchurch, New Zealand, the complex was designed by the architectural firm Warren and Mahoney in 2015. It covers an area of 1,220 square meters, which not only includes the houses, but also a..
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PDF Like MacGyver: 5 Ways To Work With PDFs That Save Time, Money And Paper
As offices become paperless and more form-centered, we receive more and more PDF files in our inboxes. And the more PDF files we receive, the more headaches we experience.
If you’re not interested in buying an expensive license for Adobe software but you’d still like to edit PDFs, here are a few tips that will quickly make you the office MacGyver at converting, editing and mastering this popular file type.
Edit PDF files
Have a PDF with text on it that you need to edit?
Happy news: you don’t have to retype the content on a separate document to be able to change it.
Who’s got time for that? Do yourself a favor and convert the PDF to Word, so you can edit the text in a Word document before resaving it as a PDF. You can do this by uploading to Google Docs, which is a fast, free and fairly painless option for converting PDFs to a .doc or .docx file.
Sign a PDF
Need to add a signature to a PDF?
The old school method was to print out the PDF, sign it, rescan it and send it back. Unfortunately, that’s not cost or even resource efficient. With so much paperwork being sent and completed over email or file-sharing services, you don’t want to delay finalizing a business transaction or filing important legal or financial paperwork, all for want of a printer. Save trees and time by adding your signature electronically.
To add your John Hancock to a PDF, you can use a paid service like Docusign which is good to consider if you need to do this in a professional capacity. You can also check out this How-To Geek article with free options.
See Also: The Freelancer’s Guide to PDF Management
Turn a PDF into an image
If you’re frequently sharing image files or you’re a web developer working with PDF images, you may have already run into problems using PDFs. While PDFs offer sharp and high resolution, they can be heavier to send by email than a standard image file. This can make them difficult to open and view on mobile devices.
For website developers, using a PDF on a website requires that visitors have an external plugin installed. This can cause additional document download time and could prevent thousands of visitors from viewing the content.
Alternatively, you can skip the headaches and convert PDF to JPG format. While the image resolution will be visibly lower, as long as the file doesn’t need to be printed or enlarged, converting to a JPG file is a solution that works for nearly everyone. JPG files are easy to open, save and access on mobile phones and tablets. Most office applications are better equipped at handling image files rather than PDFs, too.
Another option for converting PDFs to images is a PDF to PNG converter. This is an especially useful feature for graphic designers who frequently need to edit logos or images with text.
Merge PDFs
At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a trick you’d need to use often, but it’s much more useful than it appears at first glance. The ability to merge PDF’s relates to how you can make impressive and comprehensive presentations to impress the management, your colleagues and even your clients. If you’ve ever wondered how to merge Excel spreadsheets, pie charts, graphic imagery and text into a document – and make it easy to share – this is the tip for you.
To merge multiple files, you’ll need to convert each file to a PDF first. Ideally, you’ll want to find a PDF editor that not only provides converter tools for the most popular file formats but also supports file merge so you don’t have to shuffle between different sites and tools.
Erase Existing Text
The ability to erase existing text and add new content is useful if you’re frequently filling out e-forms. It’s also important if you need to redact or mask sensitive information on a document before sharing.
Some PDF editors, like PDFfiller, offer editing tools that add shapes and images, in addition to customizable text. For example, if you’d like to highlight a particular section on the PDF, you could use an arrow or draw a box around it for visual reference.
Conclusion: Becoming a PDF Master
Today’s cloud-based PDF editing services offer a wealth of tools and information to help you manage and customize a variety of online PDF documents. Plus, many of the options featured here allow you to create your own account. This gives you the freedom to sign in and access your files on any device.
Working with PDFs isn’t just good for efficiency, saving you the time, cost and hassle of printing, annotating and rescanning documents, it’s also great for the environment. Whether you need to work with PDFs on a daily basis or rarely, you’ve now got the skills and know-how to master this popular file format.
See Also: 55 Bulletproof Productivity Hacks
The post PDF Like MacGyver: 5 Ways To Work With PDFs That Save Time, Money And Paper appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
May 2nd
#relationship #lovequotes #cutequotes #motivationalquotes #cute
#relationship #lovequotes #cutequotes #motivationalquotes #cute
Four Clever Ways to Improve Focus
You’re reading Four Clever Ways to Improve Focus, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
You have just 24 hours. And, you’ve got to do everything in these many (but few) hours. Practically, there’s a limit to the efforts you can put into a day, but then,
the paucity of time shouldn’t be a deterrent to achieving your goals.
You can achieve more by increasing your productivity which is contingent
upon improving your focus.
Focusing on the task at hand is the surest way to make the most of your limited
time.
Here are four clever ways to improve your focus
Don’t allow your mind to trick you
The human mind is a trickster. It’ll make you underestimate or overestimate
your capabilities. And, both of them are dangerous.
Your mind will trick you by suggesting that you can complete a task in less
time than you usually take. This is a fallacy that will make you allocate
two hours to do a job that may eventually take five hours to complete.
It’ll end up eating up more time than you initially planned and also drain
your energy. It will demotivate you to the extent that you may stop
planning your day.
Thus, understand your real strengths and weaknesses. Know your speed and do
a precise estimation of the work and plan accordingly.
Shorten your to-do list
It’s a good habit to make a to-do list. But don’t include every small task
in it. It’ll only increase your stress and distract your mind every time
you see it.
Instead, make a small list with just 2-3 most crucial things to do in a day
and assign sufficient time for each of these activities.
Keep your list short and succinct. Don’t overburden it with things that
aren’t going to add to your productivity.
Make a schedule for petty but important things
There are a lot of things which don’t add to your productivity but are
necessary.
Checking comments on your social media posts or wishing people on their
birthdays and anniversaries is not productive but required.
Watching or reading news, taking a coffee break, attending meetings, or
answering phone calls or emails are other things that consume a lot of
time.
But, you can’t avoid such activities. They don’t add to your output, but
you’ve to do them anyway.
Allocate time for them and make them a part of your schedule. What’s more
important is to stick to the schedule.
Take your two coffee breaks at the same time each day. Answer emails once
or twice a day.
For instance, I have fixed a schedule for all meetings, interviews,
responding to emails and queries, etc. between 12-2pm. For the rest of the
time, I focus on things that delivers output.
Do the hardest thing first
Do the most difficult or the worst thing upfront.
Mark Twain coined the term “eating the frog.”
If you’ve to eat a frog and you have the entire day to do it, when is the
right time?
The answer is first thing in the morning. Why? Because it’s the worst thing
to do.
If you keep avoiding it, it’ll linger in your mind breaking your focus.
Instead, get it done first.
Have a tough client to deal with? Meet him at the earliest. Have to
complete a complicated project that’s paying you well? Do it now.
Doing the toughest thing first will boost your confidence and also take the
thing out of your mind enabling you to focus on other things for the rest
of the day.
Conclusion
With these four clever hacks, you can improve your focus manifold.
By eliminating things that aren’t productive or those which are stressful,
you can focus better.
While doing so, aim at your long term goals but focus on the task at hand
in a manner that there’s no tomorrow.
This way, you’ll strive to achieve more, ultimately increasing your
productivity and chances of success.
Adela Belin is a private educator and a writer at Writers Per Hour. She shares her teaching experience with colleagues, students, and writers. Feel free to contact her on G+
You’ve read Four Clever Ways to Improve Focus, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Sig Nordal 