Reading John Connell’s 'The Running Book' with its evocative portrayal of the Irish landscape

Rootless and restless and warmblooded, we blaze in the flare that blinds us to that slow, tall, fraternal fire of life as strong now as in the seedling two centuries ago.

There are some excellent galleries in Sydney that focus on displaying the work of local artists and providing exhibition space. A labour of love for most gallery owners as the market is not large.

Back in 2013 a couple of filmmakers bravely took on the risk of making a high quality movie about the Permaculture movement in North America.

The most popular post on Slowlane has been Ceramics Destinations in Kyoto, this post seeks to provide the same information for a Tokyo visitor.

Following a link from Fine Woodworking I came across an inspiring collection of videos featuring a group of traditional craftspeople who live in the US state of Arkansas.

I describe myself as a Maker, for me the term is a indicator of where my inspiration and satisfaction are found. This has generally been realised in the workshop making objects with wood and more recently clay.

Great infographic showing the daily rituals of interesting historical figures. Smoking, coffee and beer appear frequently.

A transcript of Stephen Wolfram's SXSW talk showcasing incredible computational power and the potential to harness these capabilities into new types of software.

I have linked to this video showing the making of a beautiful guitar before, but its so good its worth another run.

In a previous post I wrote about the positive experience we were having taking part in Geoff Lawton's Online Permaculture course. Having completed all the online lessons and the quiz we are now working on the practical assignment which is due by the end of August.

Here is another beautiful video celebrating craftsmanship.

After years of exposure to Permaculture and having spent several years a decade ago implementing a disparate set of its common patterns at our previous property in Northern NSW, I am now taking a much deeper dive into it after enrolling in Geoff Lawton's Online Permaculture Design Course.

Goldmark have produced another fascinating 'day in the life' video, this time featuring French potter Jean-Nicholas Gerard who makes beautiful slipware pots.

I have been enjoying the album Lost in this beautiful world by Jon Lacey. It's a melodic piano and guitar driven folk album with an authentic feel, partly due to the raw quality of Jon's voice.

Our local Megapodes are known as Bush (or Brush) Turkey's and can destroy a productive vege path in seconds.

Interesting article in The Magazine about sleep apnoea experiences. I blogged previously about my own experiences with this disorder - fortunately, my case is less severe than the authors'.

This inspirational talk by Nick White at the Wellington Ignite Conference gives an insight into what its like for an avid public speaker to overcome head and neck cancer and the loss of his voice.

Mark Sisson runs a business that promotes a version of the Paleo diet and philosophy. He writes some excellent posts on his blog that I often find myself nodding in agreement with.

[Mark Bernstein: Going To Conferences](http://www.markbernstein.org/Mar13/GoingToConferences.html)

Very interesting diagrams to see at the Web Science Industry Forum Poster Session via Mark Bernstein.

I have been interested in Permaculture since 1980 when I stumbled upon a copy of Permaculture 2 in our local bookshop.

A revealing look behind the supermarket green wash, examining whether organic supermarket food is just another lie.

Moving essay from David Sparks meditating about the influence of his father on his own pursuit of craftsmanship.

[This][visual-literacy] is interesting, an interactive compilation of data visualisation techniques.

Disturbing article by Lester Brown on the PRI website about how China's rising soybean consumption is reshaping western agriculture.

Steve Zeoli posted a link to the work of Maira Kalman in the NY Times today, in this case an enlightening graphic celebration of the inventiveness of Benjamin Franklin.

Made by Hand is a project creating beautiful videos that celebrate the resurgent maker scene in Brooklyn.

In November we travelled down to Kirby's Flat for John Dermer's annual major exhibition.

Insightful guide to living with an introvert, rings true and definitely worth a look.

This article was linked by Macdrifter overnight and, as is often the case, Gabe has come up with gem. It's by Rob Delaney a US comedian, reflecting on his depression and the importance of getting help.

Excellent writing as usual from Monbiot, pointing to the underlying causes of the unfolding Eco crisis.

The traditional teaching stories of the Sufi's are often intriguing. One of my favourites is known as Dividing Camels.

Hilarious comic at The Oatmeal, thanks to Better Mess for the link.

I first heard Chris at the Blue Mountains Music Festival a few years ago, and I'm excited to see he is coming back again this year.

The mere act of owing real tools and having the power to use them is a radical and rare idea that can help change the world around us and - if we are persistent - preserve the craft

After some months of not posting due in part to the limitations of Octopress, I have changed buses again. The site is now being built with Rapidweaver and uses the Rapidblog plugin to synch with a blogger account.

The following are worth considering if you are in Kyoto and interested in Ceramics.

Mike Dodd makes beautiful ceramics. Goldmark have produced an uplifting video of Mike talking about his work and life.

Stirring writing 'After Rio, we know. Governments have given up on the planet' by George Monbiot in reaction to the collapse of the Rio Summit.

I am reading a new book by Gary Marcus a scientist who in his professional life studies languages and cognitive science. In this book he explores the research behind the popular belief that its much more difficult for adults to learn a musical instrument compared to the ease with which children can pick it up.

This is my first post from my iPad using Diet Coda to edit the Octopress post.

Some fascinating ideas explored at the Annual Edge contributions for the most deep, elegant or beautiful explanation.

Really good material here from Becoming Minimalist about finding significance in a world of distraction.

This chook post has it all - video, pictures, domes and self feeders. Also some great insight into the chicken management practises at Milkwood Permaculture.

Great post from HBR that calls out the danger of simplifying your dreams down to a narrow outcome that can setup a black and white success or failure scenario.

So far I am positive about the [Sonodent][somnomed 3] and look forward to having more energy during the day.

[creativeapplications]: http://www.creativeapplications.net/ [intk]: http://www.intk.com/uncloud [slowlane]: http://www.slowlane.com.au/blog/2011/06/14/douglas-rushkoff-change-agent/

[Is it a Job, Career or Your True Calling?][workawesome 2]:

I noticed this post recommending the movie 'Off The Map' recently. We watched it last night and really enjoyed it.

Macdrifter is a straight shooter, in this post 'Man Up' he calls for direct action against SOPA. I like the style and support the cause

Thought provoking post by Adam Richardson at Harvard Business Review on the levels of abstraction implicit in the financial system and the trust that is required from all participants for it to continue to operate.

I am amazed by this, its an incredible project that uses sunlight, 3D printing components and sand to produce glass sculptures. Watch the video right through to understand what is happening.

I love books, i enjoy being given them at this time of the year and I enjoy buying them at any time. Unfortunately I sometimes fall behind with reading them.

Brilliant - I was just working out how to do this using Tinderbox which is where I plan to archive the entries.

This is right on the money - so to speak. If you pay for a product, you're a customer. If you don't, you're the product.

Rings true to my own experience. It's not just the number of hours we sit at a desk in that determines the value we generate. It's the energy we bring to the hours we work.

Matt Gemmell is such a good writer, his post Dear TextMate is a beauty and must reflect the thoughts of many former Textmate fans.

Just bought a bundle from A Book Apart, excellent value - especially as eBooks. I particularly like their condensed focused works.

This post is a fascinating description of the design of Dark Sky. I enjoyed the way the development team used a combination of open source tools, publicly available radar data and some clever numerical analysis.

[![Book - Ghandi Biography][williampickup]][amazon]

There is a visually striking and information rich diagram from the BBC showing how the Euro countries are indebted to each

Sophisticated campaign orchestrated by Greenpeace using the same Star Wars theme that feature in the latest VW ads. The aim is to raise pressure on Volkswagen to put more effort into bringing its green technology to bear across its fleet.

Douglass Rushkoff is always worth reading, here is a rousing speech he gave to Occupy Wallstreet.

Since I subscribed to the Harvard Business Review blog posts I have seen a steady stream of sharply observed and well thought out pieces. Many are aimed at corporate efficiency however a good smattering challenge the existing order and some are just timely good advice like this one.

Great post over at [MyMicroISV][47hats] from Jarie Bolander. Very timely for me as I in the process to creating a day off a week to allow time to grow a new venture.

Tim Bray on Occupying Wall Street - a succinct summary of why many people are emphasising with this movement.

I had missed the interesting social experiments Rushkoff describes, the local media is adopting its usual superficial view.

Steve Jobs practised Zen! - the dharma talk below from teacher Peg Syverson (Appamada.org) considers Steve's legacy and how to apply his approach to our lives.

'Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really.'

Chris Andersons' [email charter][emailcharter] is well worth checking out and following. I especially like rule 2 - Short and Slow is not Rude. [emailcharter][emailcharter]

Long-distance air travel of the future [read the full post here][google] (Via [James Fallows : The Atlantic][theatlantic 2])

Profound - timely insights from Bronnie Ware who worked for years nursing the dying. Top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed, including wishing they had the courage to live a life true to themselves.

Tom Malone on collective intelligence and the 'genetic' structure of groups. The average intelligence of the people in the group and the maximum intelligence of the people in the group doesn't predict group intelligence.

I have been reading two books by Douglas Rushkoff. 'Program or Be Programmed' and 'Life Inc'. These books have well reasoned arguments that encourage a subversive approach to two pervasive elements of modern life.

[google]: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jblanton/~3/9ZkApo9TT28/

Fascinating photos of bookshops from around in the world in this article in Salon via Twitter from Mark Bertstein who has been to 3 of them.

[typepad]: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/files/what-matters-now-1.pdf

The Ecologist is one of the great journals of the green movement and has recently gone through the transformation from print to online. This makes access to its stimulating content much easier.

Nice to see Pamela Slim's book in the shops, I am looking forward to giving it a read after enjoying her blog for some time.

Here is a design for a traditional chicken ark from Charles Hayward's 1940 book 'Carpentry for Beginners' which shows hand tool methods for building this classic poultry structure.

Note: I received a message that the journal is back in publication Recent writing by John Papworth can be found [here][transitionculture] at [Transition Culture][transitionculture 2]

Its Blog Action Day - my plug is for BEN the Bicycle Empowerment Network of Namibia. Established by Australian Michael Linke who had previously edited Australian Cyclist.

Reading Alan Watts in my teens I experienced my first taste of eastern thinking which has led to a life long interest. In his essays on Zen and the Tao I could feel deep truths were lurking just beyond the words.

[slowlane]: http://williampickup.org/blog/healing-power-of-chooks/ [treehugger]: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/eating-locally-urban-chickens.php [treehugger 2]: http://www.treehugger.com/

Since my post about chickens which mentioned the Linda Woodrow inspired chook dome. I have noticed that people are searching in google for information about chicken tractors.

This week we went to the opening night of a new movie - [Son Of A Lion][sonofalion]. This is a moving and engaging story set in the tribal region of northern Pakistan, home of the Pashtuns.

I love notebooks, especially interesting quirky ones that help me feel creative. My latest notebook is the Makers Notebook from Make magazine.

The second half of Pollans book provides a series of guidelines for eating. The simplest of which is 'Eat food, Not too much, Mostly plants'. However, even glass jars harbor a hidden menace - the PVC seals under the lid.

We wandered along to the Art Gallery of NSW today for our Slow Sunday. I wanted to take another look at the Harold Cazneaux exhibition - the most inspiring collection of photographic images.

[![Franklin River Campaign Video 1][youtube]][youtube 2]]

The latest issue of Resurgence has arrived and it looks a beauty. At quick skim reveals the usual combination of thoughtful articles and fabulous images.

Michelle Gadd of organicwine.com.au has a good summary of recent coverage of biodynamic wine in the Australia media.

While browsing the website of designer Zach Debord I came across this great picture of a chook in the snow with a jumper on, she looks very cosy.

Zen Habits a frequent and popular contributor of articles that cover many aspects of moving towards a simpler life have published a summary of their articles focused on simplicity.

Horrified to discover the damage that plastic bags were causing to our marine environment, Claire Morsman devised a plan for action - 'sociable guerrilla bagging'.

This post has been in my mind since I saw a wonderful program ABC TV. The program 'Rare Chicken Rescue' has two themes, one is depression and the other is about rescuing rare chicken breeds.

An article in the New York Times tells of a couple who are shedding their possessions prior to starting a new life as organic farmers. What I found interesting was that they have had some hostile reactions on the blog they are keeping to document the journey.

These days we have a reasonable range of organic food available to us locally whether through the supermarket, our local shops and/or box deliveries. However, in common with nearly all modern food, much of it travels substantial distances before it gets to us.

When I considered which of my favourite books to write about for this blog, one of the first to come to mind was William Paul Winchester's wonderful memoir of life on his 20 acres - A Very Small Farm.

The Krinklewood vineyard was recently given a positive review in the local media so I thought I would give it a try. We would have gotten around to it anyway as we are very keen on organic and biodynamic wines.

When Slowlane joined [Slow Food][slowfood] recently they sent a booklet outlining their various initiatives, The Slow Food Companion.

The May/June issue of Resurgence magazine explores 'The money delusion: In search of true wealth' with thought-provoking insights from Satish Kumar.

Saw this great cartoon over at Devon-Technologies which I have been visiting lately as I start to tackle my own information overload.

Here in Australia we have a vibrant wine industry including an increasing number of vineyards producing organic and/or biodynamic wine. We are especially keen on the wines from Mudgee in central NSW.

A look at George Monbiot's compelling new book 'Bring on the Apocalypse - Six Arguments for Global Justice' and his fearless writing style.