30/11/2007

Mr. W.

Here's an interesting little film that just kind of sneaks up on you.

Mr. W.




Friday sink hole



In case you haven't fallen into a gigantic, time sucking vortex yet today, click on over to Tori's pics and hurl yourself into the hole.



28/11/2007

Vote for Mr. Splashy Pants!

Greenpeace is currently holding a contest to name a whale they have adopted. Hurry! Go there and vote for Mister Splashy Pants!

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UPDATE: Because of the huge interest, Green Peace has decided to hold the competition open for an additional week. It will now end the 7th of December. Mister Splashy Pants has a big lead but if you don't want some other name to slip by unobserved as we wallow in complacency, get your friends to go over to Green Peace and vote too!





Found art

This from BlueGal, a page from her then 9 year old son's day planner, a perfect found art poem/meditation on the nature of time. Plus it's hilarious. And be sure to check out the quote from Unknown in the upper right hand corner.





27/11/2007

Beautiful MInd


Stephen Wiltshire did not speak his first words "pencil" and "paper" until he was 5. Yet, at 11 he drew a perfect aerial view of London after only one helicopter ride. Even the number of windows of all the major buildings was correct. ColourField Productions tested the "Living camera" in Rome. They flew him over the city, then asked him to draw a 5 1/2 yard panoramic picture of the city from memory in 3 days.


Beautiful Mind

05:22




26/11/2007

Cats in bird land


Two cats have taken to hunting in the Bird Park. There have been others but these two are serious about it and have even divided up the territory, front and back. Of course, Clarence the Bastard (not pictured here) also comes around but that is mostly for his morning, afternoon and evening constitution. Battle lines are drawn.






AWS and new chestnuts for the holidays



As some of you hate political posts, I have adopted this new Advanced Warning System. Whenever you see Duck n Cover scram. But before you do, be a sport. Go vote for Mr. Splashy Pants.

Now that the light weights have gone, here's a handy little reference I found washed up on the beach today penned by George Lakoff at Rockridge Nation. Don't hesitate to put the ideas into your own words. At least I find the wording a little corny. Ya never know when one of these lines might come in handy over the holidays when you're talking to friends or relatives who accuse you of morphing into a "nut" because lately you sound like a damn liberal.

"Aw you liberals just hate America."

No. We love democracy and we want to return it to America.
You want a presidential dictator.
We love liberty and we want to return it to America.
You want to tap our phones.
We love equality and we want to return it to America.
You think some people are better than others.
We love honesty and we want to return it to America.
You love lobbyists and corruption.
We love fairness and we want to return it to America.
You want to oppress the powerless.
We love openness and we want to return it to America.
You love secrecy and hiding the facts.
We love nature's glory and we want to return it to America.
You love the profit that comes from destroying nature.
We love community and we want to return it to America.
You want everyone to fend for himself.
We love public education and we want to return it to America.
You want to destroy public education.
We love civilian control of the military and we want to return it to America.
You want to militarize America.
And on and on...

George Lakoff
The Rockridge Institute




25/11/2007

Blog back up



This morning I installed OpenOffice, an open source alternative to MS Word. I'll let you know how it goes. On principle alone, it's good to be free of Microsoft but apparently OpenOffice has a lot to offer writers so what the hell? Time to give it a shot. It appears I may be able to access my blog from the back end with a Linux application via OpenOffice Base and create a printable version of it. Seeing as how I waste so much time blogging, it would be nice to have it all in a continuous document I could edit and print. On the other hand, perhaps all that would enable me to do is wallow in a bigger sink hole.



24/11/2007

Simple truth



We're back. I'm depressed. So be it. Need I add "no big deal"? Overwhelmed. So it is. I will have to ride it out like other times. Not the last. I know enough to know that. All is suffering. The First Noble Truth. So say priests of the human world. But feelings do not begin and end with us. All are suffering.

I have nothing to complain about. In spite of myself, I have got it pretty good. In comparison, really good. Damn good. Yes, I am grateful. For lots of reasons. That doesn't mean I can't/won't be depressed. I am undisciplined and lack humility. But don't take all this to mean I am a practitioner of religion. I am not. That was in an earlier curve of the whorl, since passed. And don't take this to mean I do not have a spiritual life.

Night has brought a little relief. The blurry world outside my window now faded to black but for the orange street lamp blinking on and off one street away.



22/11/2007

Happy Tofurkey Day!

I'm in Oregon for the holiday, sitting on a nice, enclosed sun porch typing this. Not bad. I spent yesterday with my grandkids. They are with the other side of the family today. I'm fine with that. I hate holiday hubbub. I'll see them again tomorrow anyway. This afternoon M. Lee and I are having a nice vegetarian meal with parents and my oldest son, so it's all good. I hope, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, your day is also serene. But, if this year is your turn to have one of those memorably shitty holidays, I've had my share, try applying my magic POOF-Holiday-Be-Gone formula: It's not Thanksgiving. It's Thursday. (works on any holiday or occasion)