Rio: An Alternate Dimension

Alternate dimensions exist. At least for me they do. A favorite is Rio de Janeiro. My alternate Rio is sultry, historic and simmering with excitement. It is a dreamy state induced by beautiful women with samba hips. It is blasting through winding stone-paved narrow streets on a beat-to-hell Riga moped and then lounging at a humid, mid-day streetside café with an ice-filled tumbler of the clear sugarcane alcohol, cachaça, and lime slices. There is a seductive softness with blurred edges to this existence. Everyone is beautiful, time stalls and life is savored. My alternate dimension Rio is best captured in the photos of Lala Mårtin. She lives in Rio de Janeiro and doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve named her the official photographer of my alternate dimension Rio.

Rorschach Test Up in Smoke?

French photographer Cedric Bosquet has developed a series of photos of smoke that look like Rorschach ink blots. The photos are very interesting and appear in a JPG Magazine photo essay.

Hermann Rorschach created the Rorschach inkblot test in 1921 as method of psychological evaluation to examine the personality characteristics and emotional functioning of his patients. The test of ten inkblots is still used today, although its validity as a reliable, predictive instrument is questioned.

A fun interpretation of Rorschach inkblots is also available as wallpaper for your home. Have a room you can’t quite figure out what to do with? The answer is a click away.

Save the Olm!!

They aren’t endangered; but they are at high risk.

The olm, or blind cave salamander, inhabit subterranean lakes and rivers in limestone caves in Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. Adapted to living in total darkness, with no eyesight and pale, unpigmented skin that looks pink, the olm’s limbs are thin, three toes on the forelimbs and two toes on the hind limbs. The average size of adults is approximately 10 in (25.4 cm).

Olms are gregarious except during the breeding season, when males are territorial. Generally, they are secretive and rarely seen. These may be urban myths but supposedly olms can live to be 100 years old and can go without food for six to 10 years.