Thursday, February 28, 2013
Watching the Cubs with Bill Murray
At a stoplight we stopped next to a Mercedes painted the color of mold, driven by a woman in dark glasses with a scarf over her hair. Bill leaned out the window.
"Nice color!" he said. "Hey, I'll bet $10 you just quit smoking and drinking!"
When the light changed, she didn't move. She looked as if someone had just hit her with a cattle prod
and later ....
"Are you Bill Murray or a lookalike?" said a doughy man in the bottom of the second as he walked in front of our seats. Marvel Wynne had just singled. "Are you Duffy Dougherty?" said Bill. He was trying to watch Wynne's lead off first.From LINK
Then a guy with maximum security prison tattoos came up and said, "I know I shouldn't bother you, so I'm going to. Bill looked at him the way you'd look at a dead fish on the beach. The man left.
Another man came over and shoved a program in his face. "If I miss one pitch, I'm going to kill you," Bill said. The man laughed. "I mean it," Bill said. The man left.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Diane Arbus
Fashion models and their mothers
FROM NYTIMES (many more pics and article at this link)
Interested not only in their genetic similarities but also in how they interact with each other, Howard Schatz has been taking pictures of mother-model pairs for more than 12 years. Sometimes they hold hands affectionately; other times, they don’t want to touch at all. “I tell the model, ‘Be your mother’s daughter,’
Monday, February 25, 2013
PSA's: Improve Your Health
OK I have a question about this first PSA. Watch the video and then tell me...
If you survive the 10 good years (on the left in the video) aren't there still going to be a few tougher years (on the right in the video)?
I don't think this ad works for me. I think it's a fact of aging that most of us still face some tougher years at the end. It presents a false dichotomy regarding your health choices, and sometimes the outcomes are still random and unavoidable.
Here's an ad I like better. Less fear, more incentive:
Still I feel a bit manipulated. The music was forceful. Stop manipulating me, you marketing people!
If you survive the 10 good years (on the left in the video) aren't there still going to be a few tougher years (on the right in the video)?
I don't think this ad works for me. I think it's a fact of aging that most of us still face some tougher years at the end. It presents a false dichotomy regarding your health choices, and sometimes the outcomes are still random and unavoidable.
Here's an ad I like better. Less fear, more incentive:
Still I feel a bit manipulated. The music was forceful. Stop manipulating me, you marketing people!
Charles Krafft, "teach the controversy"
Everybody thought Charlie Krafft, the Seattle ceramicist who became skilled in Delftware, was kidding with his Hitler teapot and other assorted "disasterware".
his AK-47.
And his canister of anthrax:
He had claimed he was ironic.
It looks to me like he's just bored and pleased at the attention.
I expect this to get worse. Both he and his critics will behave poorly. There will be broken pottery before this is done, mark my words. There will be potshards.
his AK-47.
And his canister of anthrax:
He had claimed he was ironic.
I’ve always had a knack and a penchant for going toward humorous irony. I can’t control myself, I really can’t put the brakes on.”Maybe he still is ironic. But now it's turned out he also claims to be a White Nationalist:
"I believe the Holocaust is a myth," and that the myth is "being used to promote multiculturalism and globalism." [...] "The Jews have gotten white people to turn against themselves," [...] "I drifted into white nationalism as a result of reading a book...."And already he has his defenders who claim the Seattle "do-gooders" are overreacting.
It looks to me like he's just bored and pleased at the attention.
I expect this to get worse. Both he and his critics will behave poorly. There will be broken pottery before this is done, mark my words. There will be potshards.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks
Page Fredericks' comment in his watercolor Isadora [Duncan]. "Far too heavy. If only she would cut down and diet"
I am no authority but it appears to me he hit a wall when faced with Duncan's politics of dancing. She wanted to be viewed without sexual interpretation.
Duncan wanted liberation, no constricting clothes, but freedom of choice and expression. She disapproved of sexual dances. The 20's were hard on her, as she fought jazz and african "shake that thing" lyrics. She hit her own wall. It seems that they both hit their limits in the 1920's.
I think Paget Fredericks was much happier painting Loie Fuller. Here she is dancing to Debussy's La Mer.
I am no authority but it appears to me he hit a wall when faced with Duncan's politics of dancing. She wanted to be viewed without sexual interpretation.
Duncan wanted liberation, no constricting clothes, but freedom of choice and expression. She disapproved of sexual dances. The 20's were hard on her, as she fought jazz and african "shake that thing" lyrics. She hit her own wall. It seems that they both hit their limits in the 1920's.
I think Paget Fredericks was much happier painting Loie Fuller. Here she is dancing to Debussy's La Mer.
Anthrax followup
Who was responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks during the Iraq War run-up which killed 5 and infected another 17 at newspapers and Congressional offices? Right now Wikipedia sympathizes with Steven Hatfill and implicates Bruce Edwards Ivins. Both were bio-weapons researchers at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Wiki on Hatfill:
Wiki on Ivins:
I blogged these passages because I expect Wikipedia to continue migrating towards uncertainty regarding this.
I'm not a 9/11 "truther". I think if US operatives arranged the 9/11 attacks, the conspirators would have exposed each other by now. But I do think the anthrax attacks demonstrate what individuals in our government are capable of doing to our own citizens for their own political purposes. The investigation has been flawed and it is suspicious the government has destroyed anthrax samples which could have helped with the investigation. I do not think the anthrax attack was from a single person. I think it was from a group who wanted to make sure Al Qaeda was blamed and the US would retaliate.
Oh, and one last thing. The congressional aide who opened the anthrax letter? She was a frequent babysitter for Alyson and me when she was in high school. Nice girl and I'm glad she's OK and is having a great career.
Wiki on Hatfill:
Steven Jay Hatfill (born October 24, 1953) is an American physician, virologist and bio-weapons expert who underwent what was considered by many[who?] to be a trial by media with great toll on his personal and professional life. After eight months of pressure from the media and amateur detectives, the US Department of Justice identified the former government scientist as a "person of interest" in its investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks.My favorite part of that intro is the inclusion of the phrase "amateur detectives". It almost appears he wrote the article himself. But nobody would dare accuse him of that, considering he sued a few publications for $10M for defamation.
Wiki on Ivins:
Bruce Edwards Ivins (April 22, 1946 – July 29, 2008)[1] was an American microbiologist, vaccinologist,[1] senior biodefense researcher at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Maryland and the key suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks.[2]He died after a Tylenol overdose in 2008.
I blogged these passages because I expect Wikipedia to continue migrating towards uncertainty regarding this.
I'm not a 9/11 "truther". I think if US operatives arranged the 9/11 attacks, the conspirators would have exposed each other by now. But I do think the anthrax attacks demonstrate what individuals in our government are capable of doing to our own citizens for their own political purposes. The investigation has been flawed and it is suspicious the government has destroyed anthrax samples which could have helped with the investigation. I do not think the anthrax attack was from a single person. I think it was from a group who wanted to make sure Al Qaeda was blamed and the US would retaliate.
Oh, and one last thing. The congressional aide who opened the anthrax letter? She was a frequent babysitter for Alyson and me when she was in high school. Nice girl and I'm glad she's OK and is having a great career.
Friday, February 22, 2013
von Grey
4 home-schooled sisters from Alpharetta. Just a couple of summers ago
they were performing at Mathilda's, a consignment and art shop of lawn
chair concert lawn place here in Alpharetta. Now they're gigging in
Little Five Points and on Late Show with David Letterman.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Photos of large modern ships in great distress
Many more, plus summaries of the disasters at:
http://gcaptain.com/disaster-at-sea-photos-of-maritime-destruction/
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Anthony Kurtz, photographer
There are a lot of other portfolios from him to view there.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
How to shake a black guy's hand
Finally someone betrays the vow of confidentiality and tells us what to do.
No, not this:
This:
No, not this:
This:
Adoptive mom's 'newborn' photo shoot with 13-year-old son goes viral
Monday, February 11, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Christian Mingle
ChristianMingle.com is the perfect place to meet the person you want to spend the rest of your life avoiding sex with.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) February 5, 2013
Why Brain Training is probably pernicious hogwash
excerpts from Matt Wall at http://computingforpsychologists.wordpress.com:
The only treadmill your brain should be on is a hedonic one.
So-called brain-training tools seem to have exploded in the last few years; one estimate puts it at a $6 billion market by 2020. It’s clearly become a major industry, but what’s less clear is exactly what it does, and if it even works. ...
a bewildering array of businesses starting up, making all kinds of wild claims, and playing on the fears of educators and parents...
Some of them even seem to cater to businesses who want their employees to do these ‘exercises’. ....
...a quick glance at their Scientific Advisory Board is pretty revealing – I count only one (clinical) psychologist, and a grab-bag of other professionals – mostly teachers (qualified to Masters level) with an optometrist, a chemical engineer and an audiologist. Not a single neuroscientist, and only a few qualified at doctorate level. ....
... you could even try and get your kid to (Heaven forfend!) read the odd book now and again.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Short Stories
four collections:
Apex Magazine short fiction |
Baen Ebooks Free Library, which includes some short story collections
Eclipse Online, from Nightshade Book
Strange Horizons fiction archive, including podcasts of many stories.
If this is overwhelming, io9 has a pick of 5 short stories from January, with synopses.
Apex Magazine short fiction |
Baen Ebooks Free Library, which includes some short story collections
Eclipse Online, from Nightshade Book
Strange Horizons fiction archive, including podcasts of many stories.
If this is overwhelming, io9 has a pick of 5 short stories from January, with synopses.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Symmetrical Double Exposures
The work of Richard G. Auxilio. He takes the exposure, flips the camera, and shoots again on the other half of the negative.
Monday, February 4, 2013
I can't keep retweeting God
So I'm just going to save off his good ones in my blog.
The people who say "it's all part of God's plan" give Me waaay too much credit.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) February 3, 2013
Life is one long assisted suicide.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) February 2, 2013
I think everyone else in My Bible study group feels a little intimidated.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) January 27, 2013
Life gets a lot simpler once you're dead.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) January 23, 2013
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Is Afghanistan Jimmy Carter's fault?
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, admits running a secret operation to lure the Soviets into
invading Afghanistan.
I wrote President Carter, in essence: "We now have the opportunity to provide the USSR with their Viet Nam war." (Source)==
Too bad. Afghanistan was a bit nicer before we lured the Russian tanks into it. Source of pics and descriptions HERE
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Henry VIII's wine cellar in the Ministry of Defense
I've been in the basements of the MOD, and can attest that it is a strange labyrinth in parts. I worked a week there while guiding some network trials for my employer, DCA.
I don't think I ever walked down the hallway where the wine cellar is. I would have liked a tour.
http://www.ediblegeography.com/the-last-places/
I don't think I ever walked down the hallway where the wine cellar is. I would have liked a tour.
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