1. You spend what is clearly too much time watching prop manip’ videos on youtube, even know you are replaying one in your head, focus!
2. When in a dollar store you can’t help yourself from playing with things, when people start to notice you are only further encouraged
3. When dancing without your toys you notice yourself not so subtly miming your favorite prop moves
4. Nice days are accepted as complete right offs for playing with toys in the park, often forcing you to complete projects, work tasks or school assignments between the hours of 11pm and 3am
5. Whenever being introduced to a new prop your first natural thought is “I want one” and your second is “can you light it on fire?”

Image by Jeff Rodier

Does this sounds like you? Let me know if you can think of any other symptoms.

1. Using Energy Efficient Devices.
When upgrading our equipment a couple years ago we switched over to the Energy Efficient Mac books. There is almost always a more energy efficient solution, from light bulbs to toner. When upgrading your equipment, chose the more earth friendly solution.

2. Resist the urge to upgrade to the newest device and turf your old systems.
The computer used to create the Firepedia site, do research and write posts is about two years old. Although it would be nice to have a bigger shiner system, the one I have works fine. It’s hard to ignore all the new toys and gadgets, but your will power will be helping reduce the mountains of waste, one cellphone at a time.

3. Power down at the end of the day.
Turn out the lights, turn off the computer and get your energy consumption as close to 0 as possible when you leave for the night.

The surest way to stop the energy drains is to use a power bar or simply unplug the device. That means when you’re done with an appliance, disconnect it from the power source. Next to the TV – which draws 12 watts even after you turn it off – the biggest standby energy hog is the home computer. Your printer can draw 11.5 watts when idling and a subwoofer or similar speaker hardware, 10.8 watts.

4. Going Paperless
In this day and age it’s easy to run a paper free enterprise. Just say no to faxes, paper billing and snail mail. Using services like Efax can make your life easier while saving a few trees in the process. If you have forms that need signing, why not use a service like e-sign and save all that paper and hassle.

5. Recycling and Gifting Unneeded Items
Empty water bottles are easy, they go into those convenient little recycling bins, but what about your old desk or electronics cables. For everything else there’s Freecycling. The things you don’t need or want anymore may be useful to someone else. Use Freecycle.org to locate a group in your area and post up all unwanted items. They’ll even pick it up usually!

6. Refurbish Before Replacing
Do you really need a new office chair? or does it just need a little TLC. Can you go another year with out a new laptop if you upgrade the hard drive? Let’s try to get the most out of the things we use in our business. You’ll save money and valuable natural resources.

7. Cutting out to Take Out
It’s so easy to just order in at lunch, or gab some take out. Think about this, as most take-out containers are entirely made out of polystyrene foam, these containers do not biodegrade. Some cities have gone as far as banning the use of foam take-out containers, notably San Francisco.

If you get your chicken caesar salad in a disposable container every lunch hour, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, the impact adds up. Not to mention all the disposable coffee cups, plastic cutlery and napkins.

Bring your own coffee mug, eat at restaurants which use real dishes, and start brining your own lunches in reusable tupperware containers. Who knows, it might even force you to take a much needed brake at midday and maybe even eat better.

8. Supporting Other Eco Friendly Businesses
Do your research before you make a purchase. Is there is an environmentally friendly business you can support by making a purchase you were planing on making anyway? Bonus!

For example we use eco friendly hosting powered by wind energy through Dream Host.

9. Offer Digital Version of Your Products When Ever Possible
This year LearnFireEaing.com decided to offer digital download versions of our products as well as the physical copy. Keep in mind that a product pollutes in it’s creation, devilry to your business, shipping to the customer and finally in it’s eventual disposal.

Let’s deal in bits and bites when we can, and help cut down on all the junk in the world.

10. Cutting Carbon Footprint
I recommend you go to CarbonFootPrint.com and calculate your impact. It’s a big wake up call when you see all the power consumption, vehicles and flights add up.

Consider becoming a carbon neutral business by using carbon offsetting programs to fund projects that plant trees or otherwise help to clean up the pollutants we’ve been spewing into the environment.

Operating a green business is not only good for the environment but good for your business’s bottom line because conserving resources and cutting down on waste will keep your overhead low and save you money.

Good luck on building your greener business and start feeling good about it.

Descriptions from Youtube:
“The latest Hidaka’s video containing a few try outs of the fusion between Contact Ball juggling, body isolation, animation, speed control, ball isolation and another technics. Filmed in Katakomben Berlin on December 2010. Available in High Definition.”

Saudi artist Maher al-Luqman is always nervous when he goes on stage to eat glass and fire or to walk on nails, for fear the country’s religious police will disrupt his show.

The leader of a troupe of 12 strongmen, Luqman struggles for acceptance in a country whose austere version of Sunni Islam means that many forms of entertainment and unusual feats of strength are sometimes seen as sorcery.

‘They have stopped us for two years, branding us as sorcerers, and calling for people to fight us and report us,’Luqman, 35, told Reuters.

Bearded religious policemen roam the streets of the Gulf Arab kingdom of 25 million people to enforce gender segregation, search for drugs and alcohol and to stop behaviour they consider immoral. The Saudi government is trying to promote internal tourism but its efforts are complicated by restrictions on singing, dancing and mixing of unrelated men and women enforced by a powerful religious establishment.

Public entertainment like that provided by groups such as Luqman’s Altineen – which means ‘dragon’ in Arabic – is rare. Every summer the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities organises public festivals in cities in the kingdom. Last year, concerts and some circus shows were banned due to what the religious police described as contradiction to Islam.

Conservative clerics and religious police, backed by powerful members of the Saudi royal family, resist some activities that they believe do not comply with the cultural and religious norms of the country. Jeddah’s annual summer film festival was cancelled last year despite the support of local governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal. — REUTERS

Thank you guys for your imput over the past months. All has been taken into account to bring you an even better festival for 2012. Mark it on your calendars August 4th and 5th 2012 and hold on you your props cause it’s going to be one amazing year. Thinking about coming to Light and Motion 4?? Find out more about us by clicking here.

A Weekend Pass at the Early Bird price is $85 CAD (Same price as last year!!) Buy your’s now.

Maybe I just need it explained to me. What has yoga added to this existant art form to justify it as a type of yoga? It seems to be missing all the classic pauses, breathing and meditative elements that yoga is known for, so how is Acro Yoga a legitimate part of the yogic practice?

This video titled “Oh, the Places You’ll Go at Burning Man!” is based on the final book Dr. Seuss wrote before his death. It was suppose to tell the story about life’s ups and downs, and seems to be more for adults than kids. It is also told by the people of Burning Man 2011 in crystal clear HD. Prop manipulation of many types make guest appearances and remind us burners-prop people how much we miss home.

ON ITUNES!!!!!

Check us out at LearnFireEating.com. Please send any comments or questions to Carisa at info@wickeddesign.ca

Terminology: Stoke line, busking, pitch, the draw, hat line

Show Notes:
James Jordan – www.FuzzyHair.net
Checker Board Guy www.CheckerHead.com
Jonathan Burns – www.FlexibleComedy.com and his duo show www.ShowOffShow.com
The radio show we talked about is The Goon Show – The Goon Show Classics: King Solomon’s Mines/The Moriarty Murder Mystery/The Vanishing Room/The 1, 000, 000 Pound Penny (BBC Radio Collection)

The book referenced – The Art of Krowd Keeping by Gazzo Book

Listen to this episode