# data[].attributes.body
The power of the individual

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On April 1, 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each other.

Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery.

Some historians speculate that April Fools' Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes.

These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as poisson d'avril (April fish), said to symbolize a young, "easily hooked" fish and a gullible person.

April Fools' Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with "hunting the gowk," in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people's derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or "kick me" signs on them.
READ MORE: April Fools! 9 Outrageous Pranks in History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On April 1, 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each other. Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were a collection of remarkable constructions listed by various Greek authors, including Antipater of Sidon and Philo of Byzantium. The classic list featured seven wonders located in the Eastern Mediterranean.

1. Great Pyramid of Giza

Built between 2584 BC and 2561 BC, the Great Pyramid of Giza is the only surviving ancient wonder. It is 230.4 metres wide at its base and 146.5 metres tall, and is the largest of three that sit beside the city of Giza, around 12 miles from Cairo. It was the tallest man-made structure for more than 3,800 years, until the completion of Lincoln Cathedral around the year 1300.

The modern alternative? Modern pyramids include the glass entrance to the Louvre in Paris, the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California, and the 30-storey Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. The world's tallest pyramid-shaped structure is the colossal Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea - dubbed the "Hotel of Doom" - at 330 metres tall. It is followed closely by The Shard in London (309.6m).

2. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

The Temple of Artemis was reckoned by Antipater of Sidon, the Greek poet, to be the finest of the ancient wonders. He wrote: "When I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, 'Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand'." After being destroyed twice, by floods and arson, the third - and greatest - incarnation began in 323BC. It survived until 268AD, when it was damaged or destroyed during a Goth raid. The site of the temple was rediscovered in 1869, and fragments of it can be found in the British Museum. Ephesus was given World Heritage Site status in 2014.

The modern alternative? Among the world's most striking modern temples are Chiang Rai's impossibly intricate Wat Rong Khun, opened in 1997; Harmandir Sahib, or the "Golden Temple", completed in Amritsar in 1604; Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto; the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (its full name - Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família - is a bit of a mouthful); and the Lotus Temple in New Delhi, a place of worship of the Bahá'í faith built in 1986, which has won numerous architectural awards.

3. Hanging Gardens of Babylon

This is the only ancient wonder whose exact location has not been established. While some believe they were purely mythical, other sources suggest they were built by King Nebuchadnezzer II around 600BC. The site may have comprised an ascending series of tiered gardens which resembled a large green mountain rising from the centre of ancient Babylon, near present-day Hillah in Iraq. If the gardens did exist at all, they were destroyed soon after the first century AD.

The modern alternative? Given its location, the Dubai Miracle Garden is an obvious choice. Opened on Valentine's Day in 2013, it contains over 45 million flowers covering a 72,000m² site, with blooms fashioned into the shapes of hearts, stars, igloos and pyramids. Other options include Kew Gardens, the Keukenhof Gardens, the gardens at Versailles, and those at Villa d'Este in Tivoli, Rome.

4. Lighthouse of Alexandria

Built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 280BC and 247BC, the Lighthouse of Alexandria measured up to 137 metres in height, making it one of the tallest man-made structures in the world for centuries. It was damaged by three earthquakes between 956 and 1323, surviving as a ruin until 1480, when the last of its stones was used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay, which still stands on the site.

The modern alternative? Among the most beautiful lighthouses around the world are those at Lindau in Germany, Key Biscayne in Florida, and Andenes in Norway. The tallest? Jeddah Light, a 133-metre building in the Saudi Arabian city, built in 1990.

5. Statue of Zeus at Olympia

This giant seated representation of the Greek god Zeus was built by the sculptor Phidias around 435BC in the Temple of Zeus at the sanctuary of Olympia. It consisted of a wooden framework covered with ivory plates and gold panels, while the throne was decorated with ebony, ivory, gold and precious stones. It was mentioned by the Roman historian Suetonius (apparently Caligula gave orders for it to be shipped to Rome so its head could be replaced with a sculpture of his own). The statue may have been destroyed when the Temple of Zeus was lost to fire in 425. Alternatively, it was taken to Constantinople (now Istanbul), where it burnt with the Palace of Lausus in 475. Phidias's workshop was rediscovered at Olympia in the 1950s.

The modern alternative? The Golden Buddha in Bangkok, the world's heaviest solid gold statue at 5.5 tons, is one option. Or how about the world's tallest statue: the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan, China, at 128 metres tall?

6. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

Built between 353BC and 350BC, this tomb - for Mausolus, a Persian satrap (a provincial governor) - was 45 metres in height and covered in ornate reliefs by four different Greek sculptors. It stood at Halicarnassus, near modern-day Bodrum, Turkey, until it was destroyed by successive earthquakes between the 12th and 15th centuries. Since its construction, the word "mausoleum" has come to represent any above-ground tomb.

The modern alternative? The most famous mausoleum in the world is the Taj Mahal, built in 1643 on the Yamuna River near Agra to house the body of Mumtaz Mahal, the favourite wife of the Mughal emporer Shah Jahan. For something eerie, there's Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow - the leader's embalmed body is still on public display.

7. Colossus of Rhodes

This statue to the Greek god of the sun, Helios, once stood at the entrance to the harbour at Rhodes, on the Greek island of the same name. It was built in 280BC to mark victory over the ruler of Cyprus, Antigonus I Monophthalmus, but survived for just 54 years, when it was destroyed by an earthquake. It was more than 30 metres tall and made of bronze and iron with a marble pedestal.

The modern alternative? Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro is an obvious choice. It is of similar height, not far from the sea, and suitably impressive.

* The best hotels in Rio de Janeiro

Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages

Writers in the 19th and early 20th centuries produced their own lists, variously titled Wonders of the Middle Ages, the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages, the Seven Wonders of the Medieval Mind, and the Architectural Wonders of the Middle Ages. Most of the compilations featured the following seven attractions.

1. Stonehenge, England

2. Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

3. Colosseum, Rome, Italy

4. Great Wall of China

5. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey

6. Porcelain Tower of Nanjing

7. The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, Egypt

Seven Wonders of the Modern World

Compiled in 1994 by the American Society of Civil Engineers, this list - a little heavily weighted towards the Americas - paid tribute to feats of civil engineering during the 20th century.

1. Channel Tunnel, England/France

2. CN Tower, Toronto, Canada

3. Empire State Building, New York

* The best hotels in New York

4. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

5. Delta Works/Zuiderzee Works, Netherlands

6. Panama Canal

7. Itaipu Dam, Brazil/Paraguay border

Seven Wonders of the Industrial World

Outlined in a book by Deborah Cadbury, and the basis of a BBC documentary of the same name, they comprise the following.

1. SS Great Eastern

2. Bell Rock Lighthouse, Scotland

3. Brooklyn Bridge, New York

* New York city guide

4. London sewerage system

5. First Transcontinental Railroad

6. Panama Canal

7. Hoover Dam, Arizona/Nevada border

New7Wonders of the World

This list, the result of an initiative by a Swiss corporation, which has since been the target of criticism from tourist boards over "hidden costs" and voting methods, was published in 2007.

1. Great Wall of China

2. Petra, Jordan

* The secret way into Petra

3. Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro

4. Machu Picchu, Peru

5. Chichen Itza, Mexico

6. Colosseum, Rome

7. Taj Mahal, India

The Great Pyramid of Giza was named an "honorary candidate".

New7Wonders of Nature

The same group named the "New7Wonders of Nature" in 2011:

1. Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil border

2. Jeju Island, South Korea

3. Komodo Island, Indonesia

4. Puerto Princesa Underground River, Philippines

5. Table Mountain, South Africa

6. Halong Bay, Vietnam

7. Amazon Rainforest, Brazil

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What are the seven wonders of the world?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were a collection of remarkable constructions listed by various Greek authors, including Antipater of Sidon and Philo of Byzantium. The classic list featured seven wonders located in the Eastern Mediterranean.

# data[].attributes.body
About digital narcissism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
'They unconsciously deny an unstated and intolerably poor self-image through inflation. They turn themselves into glittering figures of immense grandeur surrounded by psychologically impenetrable walls. The goal of this self-deception is to be impervious to greatly feared external criticism and to their own rolling sea of doubts." This is how Elan Golomb describes narcissistic personality disorder in her seminal book Trapped in the Mirror. She goes on to describe the central symptom of the disorder - the narcissist's failure to achieve intimacy with anyone - as the result of them seeing other people like items in a vending machine, using them to service their own needs, never being able to acknowledge that others might have needs of their own, still less guess what they might be. "Full-bodied narcissistic personality disorder remains a fairly unusual diagnosis," Pat MacDonald, author of the paper Narcissism in the Modern World, tells me. "Traditionally, it is very difficult to reverse narcissistic personality disorder. It would take a long time and a lot of work."

What we talk about when we describe an explosion of modern narcissism is not the disorder but the rise in narcissistic traits. Examples are everywhere. Donald Trump epitomises the lack of empathy, the self-regard and, critically, the radical overestimation of his own talents and likability. Katie Hopkins personifies the perverse pride the narcissist takes in not caring for others. ("No," she wrote in the Sun about the refugee crisis. " I don't care. Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don't care.") Those are the loudest examples, blaring like sirens; there is a general hubbub of narcissism beneath, which is conveniently - for observation purposes, at least - broadcast on social media. Terrible tragedies, such as the attacks on Paris, are appropriated by people thousands of miles away and used as a backdrop to showcase their sensitivity. The death of David Bowie is mediated through its "relevance" to voluble strangers.

It has become routine for celebrities to broadcast banal information and fill Instagram with the "moments" that constitute their day, the tacit principle being that, once you are important enough, nothing is mundane. This delusion then spills out to the non-celebrity; recording mundane events becomes proof of your importance. The dramatic rise in cosmetic surgery is part of the same effect; the celebrity fixates on his or her appearance to meet the demands of fame. Then the vanity, being the only truly replicable trait, becomes the thing to emulate. Ordinary people start having treatments that only intense scrutiny would warrant - 2015 saw a 13% rise in procedures in the UK, with the rise in cosmetic dentistry particularly marked, because people don't like their teeth in selfies. The solution - stop taking selfies - is apparently so 2014.

The compelling epidemiological evidence comes from The Narcissism Epidemic, in which the American academics Jean Twenge and Keith Campbell found that narcissistic personality traits rose just as fast as obesity from the 1980s to the present, with the shift in women particularly marked. Scores have risen faster since the turn of this century.

Campbell is also the author of a meta-analysis of three cohort studies that found increases over the generations in the Rosenberg self-esteem scale among US middle school, high school and college students in the two decades to 2008. By 2008, a score of 40 (perfect self-esteem) was the modal response of college students, chosen by 18% of participants; 51% scored 35 or over. At this point, the test has to change or the measurement has to stop: the self-esteem of nearly one in five college students could not get any higher.

One study, sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health, looks at lifetime prevalence: you'd expect any trait to become more pronounced over time, since people who have lived longer have more time to develop it. In fact, narcissistic traits afflict almost 10% of people in their 20s, compared with 3% of people in their 60s. Older people have more formed personalities and are less influenced by socio-cultural pressures; when they were young, these pressures simply didn't exist.

'The best-case scenario is disillusionment'

Most of the traits have at their core the belief that one is extraordinary. The problem is obvious immediately: most people are not extraordinary.

The problem with narcissistic traits is that they're unrealistic; the belief in one's own extraordinariness will sooner or later abut the world, and the result will be disillusionment in the best-case scenario or ever-greater fake grandeur in the worst. "Especially when you're talking about traits and not the disorder, it's correlated in youth with less depression, less anxiety," says Twenge. "It wasn't until middle age that narcissists became depressed, because of their failed relationships."

Your immediate worry, obviously, is that you have narcissistic traits yourself. Experiencing this anxiety means you don't, since true narcissists know it - and freely admit it. Another major figure in the narcissism field, Brad Bushman, has shown that agreeing with the statement, "I am a narcissist" correlates highly with narcissistic traits. They are proud of it: they would say it helps them succeed. They also relate proudly, in surveys, that they're low on empathy and caring isn't their thing. There's not much guilt in narcissism.

If you're still anxious, or just curious, you should take the narcissistic personality inventory (NPI). "I made my husband take it on our fourth date," says Twenge. "I'm not joking." And he passed with flying colours? She laughs. "Yes. You don't have to score zero. A little above or a little below the average, you're fine. It's when people start scoring a 20 or above [out of 40] that there's some potential to worry." It has seven strands: authority, self-sufficiency - a belief that you've achieved everything on your own - superiority, exhibitionism, exploitativeness, vanity and entitlement. I scored 11, mostly on exhibitionism. Now I'm worried that it's narcissistic even to tell you that. God, it's a swamp.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest

Photograph: Jana Barsova/Getty Images/EyeEm

The damage narcissism brings can be quite amorphous and ill-defined. "Much of our distress," MacDonald notes, "comes from a sense of disconnection. We have a narcissistic society where self-promotion and individuality seem to be essential, yet in our hearts that's not what we want. We want to be part of a community, we want to be supported when we're struggling, we want a sense of belonging. Being extraordinary is not a necessary component to being loved."

The full-blown disorder is associated with harsh, critical parenting, but a mass rise in narcissistic traits is partly ascribed by MacDonald to lax and indulgent parenting: "[With] parents seeing their children as extensions of themselves - they want to be mates, the boundaries aren't set - the child gets very confused: 'You're great, you're terrific.' Maybe we're not, maybe we need to know we're just ordinary."

This has been evinced - again by Bushman, alongside Eddie Brummelman - in a longitudinal study that found overpraised children showed narcissistic traits six months to a year later. It's not so much a new kindness in parenting as a kind of lackadaisical positive assertion, where self-esteem can be conjured out of thin air simply by the people around you saying it's so. To a degree, MacDonald traces the new style of parenting back to new media: "You see mums relating to the non-human other, the smartphone, not the baby. The child is not getting a sense of self." But the impact of social media is more pronounced - currently, at least - in the adult with narcissistic traits. "There's a good accumulation of evidence that narcissists have more friends on Facebook," Twenge says. "We can't make the case definitively that social media causes narcissism, although it does certainly call for a certain type of attention-seeking. If you look at Twitter, and the quest for followers, that has a narcissistic ring to it."

'Our collective narcissism is destroying the planet'

There is a context even broader than Twitter: a competitive culture in which asserting one's difference, one's specialness, is the bare minimum for being market-ready. Twenge is cautious: "The market stuff hasn't been as closely examined. Certainly, individualism tends to be correlated with materialism, and so is narcissism. Economic prosperity does seem to be linked to individualism." Yet, it is hard to conceive of this mantra - you're special, you're worth it, you're different - arriving unrelated to the call of competitiveness; the idea - popularised by monetarist politicians since the late-70s - that self-interest is beneficial, and that all of us acting in our own self-interest will create better outcomes for all.

In a way, this is easier to see played out in group narcissism. "Take, for example, members of parliament," MacDonald says. "It's not individual greed, is it? It's a culture of: 'Let's grab it when we can.' You walk into that culture when you become an MP, when you become a banker. Group narcissism is huge. And the worst thing our collective narcissism is doing is the destruction of the planet. Together, we're wiping out species after species after species, fuelled by consumerism, fuelled by our self-importance. Our narcissism may destroy us in the end."

One long-term study of narcissists and those with prominent narcissistic traits found that they do the most significant damage to those around them, over time. Among those with the full-blown disorder, this would relate to their failure to consider another person on an intimate level, seeing them only relationally: what can they do for me, or, in the case of their children, how do they reflect on me, or how have they disappointed me in what they've failed to reflect? Don't forget that, in the original myth, Narcissus is punished with a terminal fascination for his own reflection in revenge for his treatment of Echo, whom he despises for loving him. It is properly understood not as self-love but emotionally monogamous self-love. Those with narcissistic traits may be more capable of considering others as discrete people, and it is this tendency to overreact to criticism that causes the damage over time.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest

Photograph: Tobias Tiebes/Getty Images/EyeEm

So, let's say you have taken the NPI, haven't lied (because narcissists don't - at least, not about their own narcissism) and have scored relatively highly, and that this correlates with your observation that your high expectations of yourself are often not met, your relationships fail and people who like you initially like you less four months later. All is not lost. MacDonald picks out five principles of self-improvement: gratitude, modesty, compassion (for self and others), mindfulness and community. Some of these are obvious - modesty as an antidote to self-love - and some have a practical application.

"If, for example, you write down at the end of the day three things you're grateful for, that can go a long way to reverse your narcissism," he says. (This is huge in psycho-self-help at the moment: stimulating grateful thoughts also allays guilt. Hebb's law - neurones that fire together, wire together - suggests that your brain will always choose the more familiar pathway.) As for compassion, "if we can remain more humble, we become kinder, too", he says, but this is a two-way street. "We need to have compassion for ourselves, as well; compassion for others will follow."

The interesting thing, as their prevalence increases, will be seeing whether society rebels against or accommodates narcissistic traits. "There's a natural human tendency to think that things are getting worse, or at least they're not getting better, and you have to fight that tendency," says Twenge. "But you also have to fight the tendency to stick your head in the sand and say: 'The kids are great and there's nothing wrong.'"
Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Me! Me! Me! Are we living through a narcissism epidemic?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
'They unconsciously deny an unstated and intolerably poor self-image through inflation. They turn themselves into glittering figures of immense grandeur surrounded by psychologically impenetrable walls. The goal of this self-deception is to be impervious to greatly feared external criticism and to their own rolling sea of doubts."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
After giving a compliment, Greeks make a puff of breath through pursed lips, as if spitting. This is meant to protect the person receiving the compliment from..

# data[].attributes.body
Full of mystery

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There are a number of mysterious, ancient sites discovered around world. Each one is shrouded in mystery as to how, when, and why they were built.

In our pursuit to understand more about our distant past, these prehistoric locations are bound to change what we have come to know about our prehistory. Here are 10 of the most mysterious and intriguing sites from around the world.

ashtronort.wordpress.com

If it was finished, the obelisk would have been a full third larger than any other ancient obelisk known to us and would have been taller than a ten-storey building. The mystery remains as to how exactly did the ancient Egyptians plan on transporting and erecting the obelisk when there are very few modern cranes that could have move such a massive stone.

192.185.120.90

Wikipedia

Some claim that they are aligned astronomically to create an observatory or a calendar system, while others believe that they were used as primitive seismic instruments, the balance stones acting as earthquake detectors. France's Carnac site is also thought to support the "megalithic yard", a controversial idea of a theoretical common unit of measurement that was used to build most megalithic sites.

www.wondermondo.com

Exterior of Cueva Menga │ tuhistoria.org

The largest stones used in the dolmen's construction weigh 180 tons and were transported from at least a mile away. Many of the mound's walls feature anthropomorphic illustrations.

"Menga is aligned with the summer solstice, and El Romeral shares several traits and characteristics with tholos dolmens discovered on Crete, which suggests contact with the Minoan civilization."

commons.wikimedia.org

www.historiasztuki.com.pl

Figurines and statuettes associated with fertility have been discovered as well, leaving experts to believe that Ggantija may have been the site of a fertility cult. The stone temples are the second-oldest religious structures ever found.

Evan Anderson

www.crystalinks.com

Many myths and legends surround the stone spheres. Some claim that they are the relics of Atlantis while others claim that whoever built the stones had some sort of potion that can soften rock. Although the stones have been damaged over the centuries, many still believe they were originally carved into perfect spheres. The purpose of these stones remain unknown.

www.osafieldinstitute.org

fineartamerica.com

Others claim that the heads' faces resemble that of an African male, suggesting that this might be evidence of an advanced African civilization visiting the Americas in prehistoric times.

A colossal Olmec head at Tres Zapotes, Mexico │ travel.nationalgeographic.com

imgbuddy.com

The last time the area where the Yonaguni monument is submerged, would have been dry land, was 8 to 10 thousand years ago, during the most recent ice age. This makes the monument (if it really was constructed by humans) one of the oldest structures on the planet - drastically changing what we think we know of prehistory.

paradiseintheworld.com

www.listverse.com

One piece of wood found has been dated from as early as 9500 B.C. If the city really existed back then, it would be thousands of years older than the previous oldest city found in India, and would have existed thousands of years before humans were thought to be building cities of this size.

www.izi-travel.com

www.digitaljournal.com

"Very few of the statues were ever actually erected; most were left in quarries, or abandoned during transport. Archeologists don't know why the statues were built, what they signified, how they were transported and erected, or why they were abandoned unfinished."

www.lostgirlsworld.com

Wikipedia

The discovery and ongoing excavation of Gobekli Tepe could eventually change our conception of prehistory forever. Especially when it seems to have been built before the advent of agriculture, religion, written language, the wheel, pottery, the domestication of animals, and the use of anything other than simple stone stools.

www.travelingmyself.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Most Mysterious Ancient Sites Discovered around the World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are a number of mysterious, ancient sites discovered around world. Each one is shrouded in mystery as to how, when, and why they were built. In our pursuit to understand more about our distant past, these prehistoric locations are bound to change what we have come to know about our prehistory.

# data[].attributes.body
Meets Tarsila do Amaral

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil | MoMA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Exhibition. February 11-June 3, 2018. "I want to be the painter of my country," wrote Tarsila do Amaral (/artists/49158) (1886-1973) in 1923. Born at the end of the 19th century to a family of coffee plantation owners in São Paulo, Tarsila―as she is affectionately known in Brazil―studied piano, sculpture, and drawing before leaving for Paris in 1920 to attend the Académie Julian, the famous art school that drew many international students.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tourist sites can make for a fun day out but there's more to London sightseeing than the London Eye and Buckingham Palace. For those who want to cut down on queueing and see something a little bit different, here's our guide to those often overlooked alternative London attractions.

Most Londoners have fond memories of school trips to see fossils and dinosaur skeletons at the Natural History Museum. The Grant Museum also has dinosaurs, along with about 67,000 other animal specimens. Highlights include a jar of moles and a rather artistic collection of bisected animal heads. The kids will love it.

Avoid the lengthy queues at The London Dungeon by nipping round the corner to The London Bridge Experience and London Tombs. The two-part tour here encompasses a brief history of London Bridge and the local area and a spooky trip underground where actors will scare you silly.

Forget Queen Liz, Charlotte was the Queen bee at Kew Palace. For an alternative to Buckingham Palace, explore this comparatively modest palace, picnic in the lush Royal Botanic Gardens and visit the richly decorated little cottage bestowed on Queen Charlotte by King George III when they were married.

The Imperial War Museum might have a huge collection of art and interesting records of war, but Firepower - The Royal Artillery Museum has loads of guns. Firepower has been around since 1820 but its multimedia exhibitions are bang up to date. Get a taste of what it's like to be in the midst of a battlefield with the shaking floor and smoke machines at the 'Field of Fire' show, and learn about the history of guns at a site that was formerly one of the most important places in the world for manufacturing weapons.

You know the drill: you get on the Eye. You're in a little pod. You see London from a perspective that's slightly higher up than your usual view. It's like a very slow, unexciting ferris wheel. Instead, why not go somewhere with excellent views, where you're not trapped inside an over-sized hamster ball? You don't even have to pay to get in to the Paramount Bar, so use the money you've saved on entry fees to order a Speakeasy Martini (made with Grey Goose citron, Cocchi Americano, Aperol and Benedictine), take a seat by the window and soak up that skyline.
, Centre Point, 101-103 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1DD paramount.uk.net
One of our greatest military figures is commemorated in Trafalgar Square, which is OK, but wouldn't you rather see a giant blue cock? Make sure you pay a visit to Katharina Fritsch's sculpture, entitled Hahn/Cock, on the Fourth Plinth during your trip to Trafalgar Square. The German artist hailed it as a "victory for feminism" in a square dominated by military men of centuries past (read more in our interview with Katharina Fritsch). Previous artists to have work displayed on the Fourth Plinth include Tracey Emin, Jeremy Deller and Antony Gormley.

Try... Maltby Street Market

Hidden away in the streets behind London Bridge is a quirky alternative to the food-lover's paradise of Borough Market. The vendors at Maltby Street are all small, local producers making quality goods. Come here for homemade burgers, cocktails blended with locally distilled gin, dips, artisan coffee and a relaxed, friendly vibe, as well as stalls selling antiques and vintage clothes.
Borough Market, 8 Southwark Street, SE1 1TL, boroughmarket.org.uk Maltby Street Market, Maltby Street, SE1 3PA, maltby.st

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tourist sites can make for a fun day out but there's more to London sightseeing than the London Eye and Buckingham Palace. For those who want to cut down on queueing and see something a little bit different, here's our guide to those often overlooked alternative London attractions.

# data[].attributes.body
National Parks in the USA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks - Google Arts & Culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Mahatma Gandhi, one of the many beautiful souls that have inspired and continues to inspire so many of us taught me so many valuable and life changing lessons. And in today's post, I have gathered some of his most inspiring quotes and compiled them as,

1. An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

"An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching."

"It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity."

2. It's the quality of your life that matters not the speed with which you live.

"There is more to life than simply increasing its speed."

3. You've got to have a sense of humor to keep your sanity.

"If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide."

4. Always do the right thing even if nobody is watching.

"It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result."

5. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs.

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."

6. God has no religion.

"God has no religion."

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

"I believe in the fundamental Truth of all the great religions of the world. I believe that they are all God given. I came to the conclusion long ago... that all religions were true and also that all had some error in them."

"Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart."

"Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening."

8. Faith is the food of the Soul.

"Just as the body cannot exist without blood, so the soul needs the matchless and pure strength of faith"

9. Never lose faith in humanity.

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."

10. Truth and love always triumphs.

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it-always."

"An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained."

11. Be aware of the seven social sins.

"Seven social sins: politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice."

"There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever."

"You change your life by changing your heart."

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

14. Where there is love there will always be peace.

"The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace."

"I regard myself as a soldier, though a soldier of peace."

"Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong"

"I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life."

15. When you stand with your two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance.

"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err."

16. Each day you are preparing for your future.

"The future depends on what you do today."

17. Live each day as if it were your last.

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."

"Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn."

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind."

"Where there is love there is life."

"Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love."

"Love is the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable."

20. Nobody can hurt you without your permission.

"Nobody can hurt me without my permission."

"You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind."

"The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within me."

"The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. Freedom and slavery are mental states."

21. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective than the one derived from fear.

"Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment."

"I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people."

"Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self."

"A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble."

23. As you think so shall you be.

"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny."

"Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well."

"A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes."

"Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning."

24. To call woman the weaker sex is a libel.

"To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?"

25. We treat the world as we treat ourselves.

"What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another."

26. Your Health is your real wealth.

"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."

~love, Luminita💫

What is your favorite quote from Mahatma Gandhi? What is the one lesson you have learned from this beautiful and amazing Soul? You can share your insights by joining the conversation in the comment section below 🙂

Add to favorites

Comments

Luminita, the Founder of PurposeFairy, is an enthusiastic student of the arts, psychology, and spirituality. Her acclaimed blog post, 15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy , was shared by over 1.3 million people on Facebook. Later on, it became the heart of her book, 15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy., book that was published by Penguin Random House. For more details check out the 15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy Book Page.
read more

You may also like

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
26 Life Changing Lessons to Learn from Mahatma Gandhi

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mahatma Gandhi, one of the many beautiful souls that have inspired and continues to inspire so many of us taught me so many valuable and life changing lessons. And in today's post, I have gathered some of his most inspiring quotes and compiled them as, "An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching."

# data[].attributes.body
In awe..

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Paul Klee, widely considered to be the father of abstract painting, never once set foot in America. When a gallerist entreated him to visit New York in 1937, he famously brushed off the invite: "I would love to, but as you can see, there is so much work to do that I am afraid I shall never find the time."

But Klee's disinterest didn't prevent his art, or the irreverent ideas that informed it, from traveling across the pond in the mid-20th century-and indelibly shifting the course of American art in the process. Klee's inventive canvases and his original approach to painting (illuminated in his extensive writings) inspired a host of famed American abstractionists, from Jackson Pollock and Adolph Gottlieb to Norman Lewis and Robert Motherwell.

Even the era's toughest critics hailed Klee as an crucial influence in the States. "Almost everybody, whether aware or not, was learning from Klee," Clement Greenberg proclaimed in 1957. Harold Rosenberg chimed in with a similar view in 1969: "Klee spun off enough pictorial clues to keep New York studios on the trail for the next twenty years."

Yet Klee's impact in the U.S. has been under-explored-until now. "Ten Americans: After Paul Klee," a new exhibition at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., presents Klee's canvases alongside those of 10 mid-20th century American artists whose work clearly resonates with their Swiss predecessor's.

"Compared to other European figures whose influence on American art has been investigated extensively, like [Pablo] Picasso and [Henri] Matisse, Klee has not had the same in-depth study," said Elsa Smithgall, co-curator of the exhibition. "This show is overdue. It was time to show Klee's work in direct dialogue with American art."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Paul Klee Influenced a Generation of American Artists, from Pollock to Motherwell

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Paul Klee, widely considered to be the father of abstract painting, never once set foot in America. When a gallerist entreated him to visit New York in 1937, he famously brushed off the invite: "I would love to, but as you can see, there is so much work to do that I am afraid I shall never find the time."

# data[].attributes.body
Be inspired by this great mind..

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Stephen Hawking, the brightest star in the firmament of science, whose insights shaped modern cosmology and inspired global audiences in the millions, has died aged 76.

His family released a statement in the early hours of Wednesday morning confirming his death at his home in Cambridge.

Hawking's children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, said in a statement: "We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world.

"He once said: 'It would not be much of a universe if it wasn't home to the people you love.' We will miss him for ever."

For fellow scientists and loved ones, it was Hawking's intuition and wicked sense of humour that marked him out as much as the fierce intellect which, coupled with his illness, came to symbolise the unbounded possibilities of the human mind.

I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first

Stephen Hawking

Hawking was driven to Wagner, but not the bottle, when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1963 at the age of 21. Doctors expected him to live for only two more years. But Hawking had a form of the disease that progressed more slowly than usual. He survived for more than half a century.

Hawking once estimated he worked only 1,000 hours during his three undergraduate years at Oxford. In his finals, he came borderline between a first and second class degree. Convinced that he was seen as a difficult student, he told his viva examiners that if they gave him a first he would move to Cambridge to pursue his PhD. Award a second and he threatened to stay. They opted for a first.

Those who live in the shadow of death are often those who live most. For Hawking, the early diagnosis of his terminal disease, and witnessing the death from leukaemia of a boy he knew in hospital, ignited a fresh sense of purpose. "Although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I found, to my surprise, that I was enjoying life in the present more than before. I began to make progress with my research," he once said. Embarking on his career in earnest, he declared: "My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all."

He began to use crutches in the 1960s, but long fought the use of a wheelchair. When he finally relented, he became notorious for his wild driving along the streets of Cambridge, not to mention the intentional running over of students' toes and the occasional spin on the dance floor at college parties.

Hawking's first major breakthrough came in 1970, when he and Roger Penrose applied the mathematics of black holes to the universe and showed that a singularity, a region of infinite curvature in spacetime, lay in our distant past: the point from which came the big bang.

Penrose found he was able to talk with Hawking even as the latter's speech failed. Hawking, he said, had an absolute determination not to let anything get in his way. "He thought he didn't have long to live, and he really wanted to get as much as he could done at that time."

There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark

Stephen Hawking

In 1974 Hawking drew on quantum theory to declare that black holes should emit heat and eventually pop out of existence. For normal-sized black holes, the process is extremely slow, but miniature black holes would release heat at a spectacular rate, eventually exploding with the energy of a million one-megaton hydrogen bombs.

His proposal that black holes radiate heat stirred up one of the most passionate debates in modern cosmology. Hawking argued that if a black hole could evaporate, all the information that fell inside over its lifetime would be lost forever. It contradicted one of the most basic laws of quantum mechanics, and plenty of physicists disagreed. Hawking came round to believing the more common, if no less baffling, explanation that information is stored at a black hole's event horizon, and encoded back into radiation as the black hole radiates.

Marika Taylor, a former student of Hawking's and now professor of theoretical physics at Southampton University, remembers how Hawking announced his U-turn on the information paradox to his students. He was discussing their work with them in the pub when Taylor noticed he was turning his speech synthesiser up to the max. "I'm coming out!" he bellowed. The whole pub turned around and looked at the group before Hawking turned the volume down and clarified the statement: "I'm coming out and admitting that maybe information loss doesn't occur." He had, Taylor said, "a wicked sense of humour."

Hawking's run of radical discoveries led to his election in 1974 to the Royal Society at the young age of 32. Five years later, he became the Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge, arguably Britain's most distinguished chair, and one formerly held by Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage and Paul Dirac, the latter one of the founding fathers of quantum mechanics.

Hawking's seminal contributions continued through the 1980s. The theory of cosmic inflation holds that the fledgling universe went through a period of terrific expansion. In 1982, Hawking was among the first to show how quantum fluctuations - tiny variations in the distribution of matter - might give rise through inflation to the spread of galaxies in the universe. In these tiny ripples lay the seeds of stars, planets and life as we know it.

But it was A Brief History of Time that rocketed Hawking to stardom. Published for the first time in 1988, the title made the Guinness Book of Records after it stayed on the Sunday Times bestsellers list for an unprecedented 237 weeks. It sold 10m copies and was translated into 40 different languages. Nevertheless, wags called it the greatest unread book in history.

Hawking married his college sweetheart, Jane Wilde, in 1965, two years after his diagnosis. She first set eyes on him in 1962, lolloping down the street in St Albans, his face down, covered by an unruly mass of brown hair. A friend warned her she was marrying into "a mad, mad family". With all the innocence of her 21 years, she trusted that Stephen would cherish her, she wrote in her 2013 book, Travelling to Infinity: My Life With Stephen.

In 1985, during a trip to Cern, Hawking was taken to hospital with an infection. He was so ill that doctors asked Jane if they should withdraw life support. She refused, and Hawking was flown back to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge for a lifesaving tracheotomy. The operation saved his life but destroyed his voice. The couple had three children, but the marriage broke down in 1991. Hawking's progressive condition, his demands on Jane, and his refusal to discuss his illness, were destructive forces the relationship could not endure, she said. Jane wrote of him being "a child possessed of a massive and fractious ego," and how husband and wife became "master" and "slave".

My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all

Stephen Hawking

Four years later, Hawking married Elaine Mason, one of the nurses employed to give him round-the-clock care. The marriage lasted 11 years, during which Cambridgeshire police investigated a series of alleged assaults on Hawking. The physicist denied that Elaine was involved, and refused to cooperate with police, who dropped the investigation.

Hawking was not, perhaps, the greatest physicist of his time, but in cosmology he was a towering figure. There is no perfect proxy for scientific worth, but Hawking won the Albert Einstein Award, the Wolf Prize, the Copley Medal, and the Fundamental Physics Prize. The Nobel prize, however, eluded him.

He was fond of scientific wagers, despite a knack for losing them. In 1975, he bet the US physicist Kip Thorne a subscription to Penthouse that the cosmic x-ray source Cygnus X-1 was not a black hole. He lost in 1990. In 1997, Hawking and Thorne bet John Preskill an encyclopaedia that information must be lost in black holes. Hawking conceded in 2004. In 2012, Hawking lost $100 to Gordon Kane for betting that the Higgs boson would not be discovered.

He lectured at the White House during the Clinton administration - his oblique references to the Monica Lewinsky episode evidently lost on those who screened his speech - and returned in 2009 to receive the presidential medal of freedom from Barack Obama. His life was played out in biographies and documentaries, most recently The Theory of Everything, in which Eddie Redmayne played him. He appeared on The Simpsons and played poker with Einstein and Newton on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He delivered gorgeous put-downs on The Big Bang Theory. "What do Sheldon Cooper and a black hole have in common?" Hawking asked the fictional Caltech physicist whose IQ comfortably outstrips his social skills. After a pause, the answer came: "They both suck."

Hawking has argued that for humanity to survive it must spread out into space, and has warned against the worst applications of artificial intelligence, including autonomous weapons.

Hawking was happy to court controversy and was accused of being sexist and misogynist. He turned up at Stringfellows lap dancing club in 2003, and years later declared women "a complete mystery". In 2013, he boycotted a major conference in Israel on the advice of Palestinian academics.

Some of his most outspoken comments offended the religious. In his 2010 book, Grand Design, he declared that God was not needed to set the universe going, and in an interview with the Guardian a year later, dismissed the comforts of religious belief.

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark," he said.

He spoke also of death, an eventuality that sat on a more distant horizon than doctors thought. "I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first," he said.

What astounded those around him was how much he did achieve. He leaves three children, Robert, Lucy and Timothy, from his first marriage to Jane Wilde, and three grandchildren.
Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Stephen Hawking, science's brightest star, dies aged 76

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Stephen Hawking, the brightest star in the firmament of science, whose insights shaped modern cosmology and inspired global audiences in the millions, has died aged 76. His family released a statement in the early hours of Wednesday morning confirming his death at his home in Cambridge.

# data[].attributes.body
Who's your favourite artist?

# data[].attributes.body
Believe in yourself

# data[].attributes.body
Write an amazing story.. surprise us :)

# data[].attributes.body
I don't take coffee, I take tea, my dear
I like my toast done on one side
And you can hear it in my accent when I talk
I'm an Englishman in New York

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Girl Before Mirror was painted in March 1932. It was produced in the style Picasso was using at the time and evoked an image of Vanity such as had been utilized in art in earlier eras, though Picasso shifts the emphasis and creates a very different view of the image. The work is considered in terms of the erotic in Picasso's art, and critics in different periods have offered their assessments of the work to show a wide range of reactions.

The young girl was named Marie Therese Walter and was painted multiple times during the 1930's by Picasso.

Girl Before a Mirror was painted during Picasso's cubism period. Picasso was an artist that was very bold with his artwork. Even with backgrounds that are normally placed to be a backdrop and mainly there to assist the main subject. He includes it within the painting to make it just as intense as the main focal point of the image.

Picasso was part of a movement that would become known as Modernism, a name which included a number of different artistic styles and aesthetic responses. Modernism is a term applied retroactively to certain literary and artistic trends at the beginning of the twentieth century. The disjointed time sense, the flight from the conventions of realism, and the adoption of complex new forms and styles in the modernist period were undertaken to provide new meaning, to illuminate the world in a different way, and to show different relationships within the observed world. Modernism rejected traditions that existed in the nineteenth century and sought to stretch the boundaries.

When you look closely at the image, you can interpret many different symbols within different parts of the painting. The woman's face for one; is painted with a side profile and a full-frontal image. One side shows the day time where she seems more like a woman, dolled up with her make up done. The other side with the rough charcoal texture portrays her at night. When she takes off the mask of makeup, and is more vulnerable as a young lady. One way of interpreting the painting is when the woman looks at herself in the mirror; she is seeing herself as an old woman. From the green discoloration on her forehead, darkening of her facial features to the lines that show that her young body has been distorted, and gravity has taken its rightful place. Another way of viewing the painting is that she is self-conscious, and she sees all the flaws in herself that the world doesn't see.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Girl Before Mirror was painted in March 1932. It was produced in the style Picasso was using at the time and evoked an image of Vanity such as had been utilized in art in earlier eras, though Picasso shifts the emphasis and creates a very different view of the image.

# data[].attributes.body
IF I HAD THREE WISHES..

# data[].attributes.body
What's your dream destination?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore French Polynesia holidays and discover the best time and places to visit. | Sculpted by sky-piercing, moss-green peaks and lined with vivid turquoise lagoons, sultry French Polynesia is a place to take it slow and experience warm, laid-back island culture.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Find your Numerology Number below and click on the image or title to read all about the sacred and spiritual meanings of your life path, destiny, compatibility, and career number! If you're not sure or don't know what your numbers are, use my Numerology Calculator to easily find out! Also, scroll down or click to learn more about Numerology as a divination tool

What is Numerology

From the time we learn to talk, numbers become part of our daily reality, pulsating in the background of life. You have birth date, a social security number, a house number, shoe sizes and hat measurements. The list goes on and on.

The all-pervasiveness of digits alone gives us a sense of their importance not only mundanely but spiritually too. Ancient seers and modern Lightworkers both sense specific vibrations in numbers, a kind of arithmetical language that keys into other symbols, signs, omens and patterns of the Universe itself.

So keep on humming!

The principle behind Numerology is that everything in this world has a type of energetic fingerprint - including you! Throughout history philosophers, gurus and guides have classified these fingerprints so that we can begin consciously embracing the configurations that give us clues to the meaning of life and our role as spiritual travelers.

With numbers specifically, the thought is that the time of your birth creates certain possibilities and limitations, a framework of personality. Once you know the black and white outlines, you can still color outside them, but the lines are the starting point for enhancing everything in your life including careers and relationships.

Here, grab some crayons and let's look a little closer.

A learned Numerologist will never tell you that your birth day numbers wholly define you (heck, we all stop aging at 25 right?).

While most people in the Western world use the traditional Pythagorean approach to number symbolism and meaning, there are other methods that don't follow Pythagoras' whatsoever (if they even ever heard of the guy).

So we have to allow for some mindful wiggle room in presenting these emblems and the beliefs about the way they impact our lives.

How does Numerology work?

So where do you begin?

The basics of Numerology aren't overly complex.

Each letter in your given birth name has a number to which it corresponds.

By adding up these numbers in different ways (your full name, just vowels, just consonants or the numbers in your full birth date) you end up with a profile of attributes.

Some of the symbolism challenges you, some supports and facilitates - but ALL of it depends on how you apply the information.

Some people have gone so far as to legally change their names to alter the vibrations in their Numerological construct. Should you be thinking of this, remember the old saying about being careful what you wish for. To make such a dramatic change it's not as simple as just changing an "I" to an "E" (except after C). You have to (a) know what you want and (b) get ready to work for it.

Unless something dramatic happens in your reality that would support a numerological transformation, the grass may not be greener with a new name at all.

Before we go further with our examination you might be interested to know that Numerology has been used in some surprising sectors. Some brokers use it in predicting the stock market. Others use Biblical numerology in an effort to secure prosperity. The artist Prince used four digits in naming his albums and even in the way he priced tour tickets.

Are Numbers Male or Female?

By their very construct, numbers represent order. One of the orders of life is gender - namely male and female. It's thought that odd numbers are masculine and even numbers have feminine characteristics.

Mind, you there's some blurring here so consider this a very general observation and one that skims only the very surface of the information Numerology provides.

How to find your Numbers

While there are neato gadgets and gizmos aplenty on the Internet that are considered " Numerology Calculators " we do not use them because they are based on algorithms we have not been involved in making and this means we can't verify their accuracy.

Further, the ones we know about are very generalized and we believe when a person is working on Building their own Beautiful Soul that specificity should count.

When we really started digging deep into this Numerology stuff, we were flipped out at how quick and easy it is to add up your own sacred numbers. By doing so, when you read about the meaning of those numbers the symbolism and spiritual messages will be the right ones.

It literally takes like just a few minutes so read our simple instructions and become your very own Numerology Calculator!

In this Pythagorean System of Numerology (what we use), your name and your birth date represent your "Be-ing", and experts in this field further break down this basic information into specific sub-categories:

Numerologists feel this number is most important. This number is based on the date you were born, including the year. It resonates with your karmic mission in this lifetime.

This is the number that has to do with goals, talents and physical / emotional wellbeing. You obtain this figure by assigning numbers to each letter of your entire name.

This number gives a peek into your secret longings and motivations. Get this value by adding the numbers associated with only the vowels in your name.

This number is what you show to the world and it's obtained by adding the consonants in each part of your name, reducing those parts to a single digit, adding the two or three together again, and reducing again.

This number is the comparing of partner's Life Path Numbers so as to glean potential relationship success and stumbling blocks.

By using bits of information from all the sub-categories of Numerology one can get an good idea of the career they are best suited for and insight as to what their Soul Contract might be as well.

Numerology History

Numerology has a long history in places as far removed as Egypt, Israel, India and Greece just to name a few. One philosopher named St. Augustine (354-430 CE) told us that numbers were a universal language from God. He and Pythagoras had much in common. Both sought to connect numbers to not only the human mind but the interrelationship of all things.

No small task!

Proponents of Numerology appeared in every era, but it was around the mid-1800's that we start seeing a more socialized aspect. Akin to the way the Language of Flowers grew as a silent communication system between lovers, you might find people talking over tea and cookies about the finding true love by using the numbers from their name or birth date. The key numbers for these divinatory efforts were 1-10, but there were also master numbers - 11, 22 and 33 (ones that appear in the I Ching, the Tarot, Runes and the Kabbalah).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Numerology Numbers and Meanings | Numerology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find your Numerology Number below and click on the image or title to read all about the sacred and spiritual meanings of your life path, destiny, compatibility, and career number! If you're not sure or don't know what your numbers are, use my Numerology Calculator to easily find out!

# data[].attributes.body
What's yours?

# data[].attributes.body
The Tortoise and The Hare

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Story Arts | Aesop's ABC | The Tortoise and The Hare

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educational Web site, designed for teachers, librarians, and students,explores the use of storytelling in the classroom to enhance speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

# data[].attributes.body
Jackson Pollock

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Jackson Pollock, 1950
Photograph by Hans Namuth Courtesy Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© 1991 Hans Namuth Estate

This photograph shows Jackson Pollock at work...just look at the mess he is making on the floor!

He dripped paint onto large canvases on the floor. This way of painting was called action painting because Pollock would move very quickly across the painting, dribbling the paint in long, wobbly lines. Sometimes he threw the paint onto the canvas - and some of his paintings still have footprints on them from when he stepped in the paint.

Pollock was born in 1912 in Wyoming in America. When he was eighteen he moved to New York and trained as a mural painter. This meant he was used to working on a very large scale and so the idea of painting on a big canvas didn't scare him at all.

In 1943 a very rich art collector called Peggy Guggenheim asked him to make a mural for her. Pollock was so excited that he ripped down a wall in his house so that he could fit a huge 20 foot canvas inside. Peggy was very pleased with the painting and she invited him to have an exhibition at her gallery.

Jackson Pollock was an abstract expressionist artist. The abstract expressionists were a group of young New York artists who made paintings that were non-representational, meaning they didn't look like anything. Instead they tried to show emotions, like happiness or anger, in the expressive marks that they made in their drawings, paintings and sculptures.

The abstract expressionists were also influenced by a type of surrealist art called automatism.

Wait, what is automatism?

If you use automatism to make art, you don't plan what you will draw or paint, but use chance and accident to make your picture.

Get a piece of paper and a pencil. Put your pencil on the paper. Then close your eyes and let your pencil draw all over the paper. Now open your eyes. You have just made your first piece of automatism!

This painting is called Summertime, Number 9A. It was painted in 1948 at a happy time in Jackson Pollock's life when he had just moved to a farmhouse in the countryside with his wife.

Do you think it is a sunny painting?

Jackson Pollock enjoyed listening to music, so the title of the painting could also refer to a popular song called Summertime by George Gershwin. Some people think that his paintings havea rhythm to them like music. What do you think? Do some of the marks in this painting remind you of dancers crazily dancing?

Jackson Pollock died in 1956, but his work continues to inspire artists from all over the world to experiment and invent new ways of painting.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Who is Jackson Pollock? - Who Are They? | Tate Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This photograph shows Jackson Pollock at work...just look at the mess he is making on the floor! He dripped paint onto large canvases on the floor. This way of painting was called action painting because Pollock would move very quickly across the painting, dribbling the paint in long, wobbly lines.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The prevailing opinion before Hubble telescope's launch was that a very long exposure with the telescope was not likely to reveal distant new objects. Any would be too faint to be detected. One of the unique features of astronomy is that one can directly look back into the past because of the finite speed of light, and there is no better way to piece together the changing nature of the universe than to detect the most distant objects. They represent the ancestors of all that we see around us. A deep field with the Hubble simply had to be tried.

When we announced to the science community that we would attempt to take a long series of exposures for a "deep field," a number of our colleagues were very troubled by our plans. Lyman Spitzer, who along with John Bahcall was one of the essential advocates to bring about Hubble, was serious, but muted in expressing his concerns.

On several occasions he asked me at council meetings, "Are you sure you want to do this?" His colleague John Bahcall was much more vocal in working to prevent what he believed to be a much too risky venture, coming so soon after Hubble's embarrassing spherical aberration had been fixed by the historic NASA Shuttle servicing mission. His concern, certainly understandable, was that if a large segment of time on the telescope produced little or no useful results, which would no doubt become public, the fallout could tarnish the mission of the telescope beyond repair.

Scientific progress requires risk, so we executed the observations over a two-week period in December 1995. The resulting Hubble Deep Field image yielded a wondrous display of galaxies, many of them very small, faint, and distant. The image is really a core sample of the universe.

The Hubble Deep Field has truly opened up the entire universe of galaxies to study and interpretation by simple imaging, turning the pretty faces of those galaxies into true talking heads that have helped us understand how structure formed and evolved over time in the universe.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Unforgettable Hubble Space Telescope Photos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The prevailing opinion before Hubble telescope's launch was that a very long exposure with the telescope was not likely to reveal distant new objects. Any would be too faint to be detected.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ALICE IN WONDERLAND | New Official Full Trailer (HQ) | Official Disney UK

# data[].attributes.body
Did you get the message?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The world's last male northern white rhino, Sudan, has died after "age-related complications" in Kenya, conservationists looking after his care have announced.

A statement from the Ol Pejeta Conservancy where Sudan lived said the 45-year-old rhino, who was suffering from muscle and bone deterioration and extensive skin wounds, was euthanised on Monday after his condition "worsened significantly", leaving him unable to stand.

The rhino had spent two weeks in late February and early March lying in his pen due to discomfort from a deep wound on his right hind leg.

He had been part of an ambitious effort to save the subspecies from extinction with the help of its two surviving females, 27-year-old Najin and 17-year-old Fatu.

After all attempts at getting him to mate naturally failed, conservationists last year put Sudan on dating app Tinder, hoping to raise enough money to pay for a $9m (£6.4m) fertility treatment.

Sudan had previously lived at the Dver Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic before being transported to Ol Pejeta where he lived with the last two females of his species.

"He was a great ambassador for his species and will be remembered for the work he did to raise awareness globally of the plight facing not only rhinos, but also the many thousands of other species facing extinction as a result of unsustainable human activity," said the conservancy's CEO Richard Vigne.

Sudan was something of a celebrity in his lifetime and attracted thousands of visitors to Dver Kralove and Ol Peteja.

Reuse content

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sudan, the world's last male white rhino, has died

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The world's last male northern white rhino, Sudan, has died after "age-related complications" in Kenya, conservationists looking after his care have announced. A statement from the Ol Pejeta Conservancy where Sudan lived said the 45-year-old rhino, who was suffering from muscle and bone deterioration and extensive skin wounds, was euthanised on Monday after his condition "worsened significantly", leaving him unable to stand.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
National Geographic produced this content as part of our partnership with Rolex, formed to promote exploration and conservation. The organizations will join forces in efforts that support veteran explorers, nurture emerging explorers, and protect Earth's wonders.

Of all the names given to geological formations, "blue holes" have perhaps the most straightforward. For marine researchers, however, they're anything but. The watery sinkholes hold treasure troves of information.

"Due to the sediment build-up over thousands of years, blue holes can be like time capsules for the ocean," said Australian marine biologist Johnny Gaskell.

Gaskell recently explored one such blue hole in a remote location in the Great Barrier Reef. There, he shot video to capture what's nearly impossible to see from above.

At its center, the blue hole is just shy of 100 feet deep. An abundance of marine life like turtles and tropical fish inhabit the waters.

"Within the walls of the blue hole it is perfectly still, no current at all," said Gaskell. "What stands out is the large coral colonies that have grown into interesting shaped formations, likely due to the lack of current and disturbance from wave action. These colonies form abstract structures that seem to have no pattern, growing outwards and changing course at random."

According to Gaskill, these coral growths extend only a portion of the way down. Once the divers descended to the blue hole's dark bottom, it was mostly sandy sediment.

Oases of Life

The high walls lining sinkholes tend to preserve what lies below from damaging weather. Large hurricanes can be particularly dangerous for corals, which are smashed by swells.

It was after Cyclone Debbie hit Australia late last March that Gaskell began searching for blue holes. He was searching for corals that were spared from the storm.

Looking on Google Maps, he spotted one in a remote location, nearly 120 miles away from the nearest island. While the specific blue hole had been previously identified, its remoteness made it difficult to access and little was known about it. Gaskell was able to finally confirm that it was a blue hole during a diving expedition in September, but is only now releasing footage of the dive with National Geographic.

What Makes a Blue Hole?

Most blue holes are formed from sinkholes or caves that develop slowly over time, as rock begins to erode and collapse. Many blue holes were formed during the last Ice Age, after sea levels rose and filled existing sinkholes with water. The term blue hole simply comes from the dark, navy waters that characterize the formations. Often, that water creates a striking contrast with the turquoise that surrounds them.

Gaskell plans to continue looking for and surveying blue holes in the Great Barrier Reef.

"Some of these sites have had scientists explore them in the past, but due to the remote offshore location, there are still parts of the Great Barrier Reef that remain a mystery," he said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Peer Inside a Mysterious Blue Hole in the Great Barrier Reef

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
National Geographic produced this content as part of our partnership with Rolex , formed to promote exploration and conservation. The organizations will join forces in efforts that support veteran explorers, nurture emerging explorers, and protect Earth's wonders. Of all the names given to geological formations, "blue holes" have perhaps the most straightforward.

# data[].attributes.body
..and energies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The House Taken Over By: Julio Cortazar Julio Cortazar was an Argentinian novelist, short storiest, and essayist. He had a younger sister, and his parents divorced when they were still young. In 1951, Cortazar moved to Paris because he opposed the government of Juan Péron, where he stayed until his death in 1984.

# data[].attributes.body
Stranded in this spooky town
Stoplight is swaying and the phone lines are down
Floor is crackling cold
She took my heart, I think she took my soul..

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How powerful is the brain compared to a computer? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
Answer by Yohan John, Ph.D in Cognitive and Neural Systems, on Quora:
For the time being, people and computers seem to have complementary skills. This means that computers are very good at tasks that humans are bad at, and humans are exceptionally good at certain kinds of tasks that computers simply cannot perform yet.

Computers are extremely fast, so when a task can be translated (by a human!) into an algorithm (a set of step-by-step instructions), a computer will typically accomplish it much more quickly and accurately than the average human. This kind of task includes mathematical calculations, and also repetitive tasks that humans quickly get bored by.

Humans are spectacular at several things, including pattern recognition, abilities, and creative thinking. Computers are rapidly improving at pattern recognition, but most programs still don't do as well as children. A classic example of pattern recognition is face recognition. We are capable of recognizing faces in a variety of contexts. We can even recognize faces that have aged, or are disguised, or are obscured by facial hair. Computers are not nearly as good as humans at such tasks.

So computers are more powerful that humans when it comes to executing simple step-by-step instructions. Humans are more powerful than computers at tasks that are not easily broken into simple steps. The fields of computer science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are aimed at breaking down problems into 'byte-sized' chunks that are 'digestible' by computers. So for now computers are informational babies - they cannot 'cook' for themselves.

This question originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:​

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Powerful Is The Human Brain Compared To A Computer?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How powerful is the brain compared to a computer? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. Answer by Yohan John, Ph.D in Cognitive and Neural Systems, on Quora: For the time being, people and computers seem to have complementary skills.