Bert found this beautiful little video of a photographer, Nana T, diving with Jellyfish.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Friday, May 16, 2014
About finishing books
I'd like to thank TKC interview guest Sara Nelson for her sentiment that it is OK to not finish a book.
Why? I could maybe say "life is too short" and leave it at that. :-)
But: why not? I think the feeling that one *must* finish what one starts is a misplaced idea of ethics, possibly ingrained in us when growing up. It is good in many places, like the workplace. But it can be taken too far. I start a lot more books than I finish. For fiction, I can only really tell if I like a book by reading some of it. And if I don't, I may just waste my time by continuing. For non-fiction the same applies, plus that I often feel I've gotten out of it most of what I can without finishing it. Many writers noodle around much more than needed.
And most importantly, the time used to read a book I no longer care for is directly taken from time reading a book which I like better, or which teaches me more.
Why? I could maybe say "life is too short" and leave it at that. :-)
But: why not? I think the feeling that one *must* finish what one starts is a misplaced idea of ethics, possibly ingrained in us when growing up. It is good in many places, like the workplace. But it can be taken too far. I start a lot more books than I finish. For fiction, I can only really tell if I like a book by reading some of it. And if I don't, I may just waste my time by continuing. For non-fiction the same applies, plus that I often feel I've gotten out of it most of what I can without finishing it. Many writers noodle around much more than needed.
And most importantly, the time used to read a book I no longer care for is directly taken from time reading a book which I like better, or which teaches me more.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
"Voteman"
[Warning, cartoon sex and violence.]
Believe it or not, this is an actual Danish political campaign to get young voters to vote.
(Seems it's been discontinued, though, got too many complaints after all.)
There are limits, but Danes are still one of the most laid-back and progressive peoples on Earth. Some years ago, in a nice mall in a upscale area, I walked into a computer store and saw a promotional happening, promoting HP printers. It was a stark nude girl being body painted in the business-suit pattern which was used in HP ads. And a really cute one too. When I walked in, she was holding a tiny washcloth in front of her middle area, but when I walked by five minutes later, that was gone. (I'd only planned on spending three minutes in the store, but what the heck, some things must take priority.) To sum up: promo for one of the most conservative computer makers, in a high rent area, stark nude! Kewl.
She was being photographed by a pro. And a middle-aged guy was standing by with his small camera, arguing with the model: "How come *he* gets to take pictures, and I may not?!"
Believe it or not, this is an actual Danish political campaign to get young voters to vote.
(Seems it's been discontinued, though, got too many complaints after all.)
There are limits, but Danes are still one of the most laid-back and progressive peoples on Earth. Some years ago, in a nice mall in a upscale area, I walked into a computer store and saw a promotional happening, promoting HP printers. It was a stark nude girl being body painted in the business-suit pattern which was used in HP ads. And a really cute one too. When I walked in, she was holding a tiny washcloth in front of her middle area, but when I walked by five minutes later, that was gone. (I'd only planned on spending three minutes in the store, but what the heck, some things must take priority.) To sum up: promo for one of the most conservative computer makers, in a high rent area, stark nude! Kewl.
She was being photographed by a pro. And a middle-aged guy was standing by with his small camera, arguing with the model: "How come *he* gets to take pictures, and I may not?!"
Monday, May 12, 2014
Changing habits nationally
FROM VIKING DRINKING TO STONE AGE FOOD, article.
Denmark’s agricultural roots are still visible in the food that the population eats. More pork and milk products are consumed than in most countries, but even so, the nation’s diet has changed in the last ten years and has become significantly healthier. The consumption of cakes and sweets in Denmark has dropped, and more fruit and vegetables are eaten. The consumption of sweets has decreased so much that the average citizen in neighbouring Sweden consumes almost twice as many sweets (8.2 kilos per year) as the average Dane (4.8 kilos).
Danes still have lots to learn about moderating their alcohol intake, but I think these data are nicely supporting that habits can be changed, even in very large groups and in a rather short time. That's great.
Denmark’s agricultural roots are still visible in the food that the population eats. More pork and milk products are consumed than in most countries, but even so, the nation’s diet has changed in the last ten years and has become significantly healthier. The consumption of cakes and sweets in Denmark has dropped, and more fruit and vegetables are eaten. The consumption of sweets has decreased so much that the average citizen in neighbouring Sweden consumes almost twice as many sweets (8.2 kilos per year) as the average Dane (4.8 kilos).
Danes still have lots to learn about moderating their alcohol intake, but I think these data are nicely supporting that habits can be changed, even in very large groups and in a rather short time. That's great.
Leo Mathisen take it easy boy boy
Despite the language, this is actually a (very) old Danish hit.
The author/singer Leo Mathisen was a huge fan of Fats Domino, even to the point of sitting sideways to play the piano like Domino did, even though Mathisen was thin and Domino did it because there was no space for his belly.
The author/singer Leo Mathisen was a huge fan of Fats Domino, even to the point of sitting sideways to play the piano like Domino did, even though Mathisen was thin and Domino did it because there was no space for his belly.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Two kinds of people
"There are two types of people in the world.
1. Those who can extrapolate from incomplete information."
-(G.K. Froehlich, quoting his daughter)
I'm adding this to my old:
"There are two kinds of people in the world, those who divide people into two kinds, and those who don't."
(It seems Robert Benchley came up with that one, in some form.)
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