Flutterby

This excellent drawing was found here, although as often happens, I have no friggin clue what the site is about. (What is it about straightforward communication that people can't handle?)



I'm trying to find out who made the butterfly, I really love it.


Update: more here.
He seems to be a one-note artist. Me, I'd get bored making the same curls day in day out, but some artists thrive in a small niche, more power to them.

Wedding vows (updated)

My wedding vows to Helen.

Dear Helen, matrimony is a holy thing, so I will never break it. I will never enjoy even a smidgen of the pleasure of looking at another woman or thinking of one.

Everything I do will be for your benefit. Every second of my work I will work for you. I will suffer through all that we go through, with you at my side.

I will never complain when you are there. I will take with a smile all the pain and sorrow life with you will hurl at me. I will bite my tongue against the agony, and when death comes in the end, I will greet him as a friend and go gladly.

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Update: This was written very quickly in an inspiration after hearing using "marriage" and "death" in the same sentence in a weird way, or something. It was probably very late, and it seemed very funny to me when I wrote it. :-)

With a little help from Fred

And some say that drugs don't enhance creativity! Baloney.

Cellphone call quality is a disgrace

Cellphone call quality is a disgrace, article.
I thought it was just me. No matter what phone or service I've used, it's always a problem just hearing what the heck people are saying. I know I'm eccentric, but I would have thought that solving this should be a higher priority than putting 12-megapixel 3D video cameras in those dang things?

Beyond phonetic punctuation

Beyond phonetic punctuation. Victor Borge would have been proud. (Well, all right, maybe Victor was a little more subtle than this.) (For the youngsters who have no clue what I'm referring to, this is it. Not quite as famous as Who's On First, but not all that far off.)

A bang-up job

These men have been installing steel pillars in concrete to stop vehicles from parking on the pavement.

See the tree

Hancock

I just finished watching Hancock. From the trailer I'd gotten the impression that it was a silly-billy superhero comedy a la Underdog (which was good). And it was often funny, but I found it went in quite surprising directions after a while, and ended up transcending the genre. I enjoyed it.

They're made out of Meat

They're made out of Meat, short SF story. Really good one.

Academia, here I come

The worst part is, he's got a point.

Woody and Jay

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
-- Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates


Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Teach a man to create an artificial shortage of fish and he will eat steak.
-- Jay Leno

Street photo

Another nice vintage photo from shorpy.com.

I really like it. All the lines work together in a wonderful composition.

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And this one is not bad either, a purty girrul always liven up a landscape.

Deeper thoughts

Deeper thoughts. Many good ones there.

I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I don't have any clean laundry because, come on, who wants to wash clothes on the last day of their life? --Age 15

Who can argue with that.
It's a silly saying. It would mean that it's meaningless to start anything which would take longer than 24 hours to complete.

My young brother asked me what happens after we die. I told him we get buried under a bunch of dirt and worms eat our bodies. I guess I should have told him the truth--that most of us go to hell and burn eternally -- but I didn't want to upset him. --Age 10
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Japanese Street Portraits

Japanese Street Portraits, photo series.

I've sometimes considered doing something similar in Copenhagen.

Sleep helps people learn complicated tasks

Sleep helps people learn complicated tasks, article.
"Sleep consolidated learning by restoring what was lost over the course of a day following training and by protecting what was learned against subsequent loss," said Howard Nusbaum, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago, and a researcher in the study. "These findings suggest that sleep has an important role in learning generalized skills in stabilizing and protecting memory."
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Death Star over San Francisco

Death Star over San Francisco, well done videos.

Another bid at a flying car?

Another bid at a flying car?

Joe Shuster's S/M art

Joe Shuster's S/M art, article.
As you may be aware, Joe Shuster was the co-creator of Superman.

This article once again is breathlessly sensationalistic. Hear this:
"...the story surrounding the artist's descent into sadomasochistic pornography is so shocking that even as a comic-book tale it would still seem far too bizarre." [...] "The obvious answer to what could possibly have driven Shuster to such desperate, diabolical depths is the notoriously shoddy treatment he and partner Jerry Siegel endured at the hands of Superman publisher DC Comics."

You think he'd been selling heroin to school children, not making fetishistic comic book covers. Good grief, give us a break.

Woman forced to clothe naked gnomes

Woman forced to clothe naked gnomes, article. Thanks to Phil.

You know it'll do no good, though. Gnomes will be just as promiscuous with clothes as without.

Noise Is Your Friend

Noise Is Your Friend, article about digital tones in pictures.

Fourteen Tips for Photographing in Public

Fourteen Tips for Photographing in Public, article.
Carry a small camera and a big stick. (Not really.)