Intuitively obvious

The true Theory of Everything:

Everything will eventually go haywire.

... The more I study history, the more I am convinced that the story of humanity is not so much progress but a succession of human screw-ups with different technologies, that's all.

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Just wondering

Is this John Salmon related to that John Salmon?

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Newfangled technology

(Via Words, words.)

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A bit windy

Checking the weather just now, I got a surprise:

That's one stiff breeze. It's a bit chilly, too. Riding home on my bicycle will be fun tonight.

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Fun with the scanner II

Dance photos this time. Click on the pictures for larger images.

This is one of the first pictures I ever took at Friends University, and it is still one of my favorites. The dancer is Melonie Buchanan, who is also one of my favorites.

More...

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Crimson king of the Andes

adopt your own virtual pet!

There weren't any dragons, gryphons or cabbits available, so I adopted a llama. Go ahead and feed him.

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Miscellany

Further proof that dancers are the greatest athletes: the Nicholas Brothers (with Cab Calloway):

There's plenty more at YouTube.

*****

If Cute Overload isn't kawaii enough for you, there's The Daily Kitten. Beware: the little predators may be cute now, but eventually they'll all be damned cats.

(Via Lynn.)

*****

I think I've linked here before, but it's worth another visit: Akiyoshi's Illusion Pages. Keep the dramamine handy if you're subject to motion sickness.

(Via Chizumatic.)

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If you are a LiveJournal user, you can play a D&D dungeon based on your interests and list of friends. (If you don't have a LiveJournal account, you can enter someone else's username.) This is another of the many bizarre services provided by thesurrealist.co.uk.

*****

Bonus link: Old-school word processing.

(Via Sun and Shield.)

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New toy

My new, cheap flatbed scanner arrived today. I have about ten years' worth of black-and-white prints to digitize. I started off this evening with a few stunt self-portraits.

Brushed-on developer


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Good news

Fred's back.

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#7

July 21.

(Via Chizumatic.)

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Another movie I'll be sure to miss

Barbara Nicolosi considers Pan's Labyrinth:

Question #4... Is it that Europeans can't tell a coherent narrative, or that they won't?

Hollywood takes its cue in narrative principles from Aristotle. Europe, in rebelling against Hollywood-style filmmaking, has had to rebel against Aristotle's Poetics. This is bad for their movies.

I sat there watching Pan's ridiculous lurching around from one story to the other without any attention to what the audience needs in storytelling, and wondered how it was that the folks who produced some of the greatest novelists ever, can't seem to pull off a begining, middle and end connected by necessity.

I'm thinking that after centuries of Aesop and Brothers Grimm and national folk tales and Arthurian legends, the Europeans are just plain old sick of a good story. And how's that working for you, Old World?

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Beyond eccentric

The mobidly curious can learn five-and-a-half weird things about me at my other weblog.

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Elephantosity and more

How about some elephant music? Here's King Crimson's "Elephant Talk." The video quality is mediocre, but the sound isn't bad for Youtube.

And some basic rock 'n' roll from Thee Michelle Gun Elephant:



Steven Riddle recently wrote a Catholic interpretation of "21st Century Schizoid Man". I looked for a video, but nobody was anticipating YouTube back in 1969, and I couldn't find anything satisfactory featuring King Crimson. However, I did find a number of covers, the most interesting of which is this Japanese curiousity:



Finally, here's a cover of "In the Court of the Crimson King." The band includes Steve Hackett, John Wetton, Chester Thompson, Julian Colbeck and Ian McDonald -- not exactly your standard cover band.

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Real live bumper cars ...

... with music:

(Via Pixy Misa.)

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Imbecile of the month

The lady just now who drove south down a north-bound one-way arterial street during rush hour while chattering on her cell phone.

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Six inches of mist

According to the Weather Underground, we had "light snow mist" yesterday. It's amazing how dense mist can be.

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Popcorn zombie

From the depths of the uncanny valley comes the undead Orville Redenbacher:

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Too good to be true?

Half of my siblings have endured chemotherapy and surgery for cancer, so this is of enormous interest to me.

(Via Disco Ken.)

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Don't click here ...

... if you have work to do:

M.C. Escher Web Sketch

(Via MamaT.)

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Damn, damn, damn

Further evidence that the mainstream press is absolutely useless: the brightest comet in thirty years was in northern hemisphere skies this past week, and newspapers couldn't be bothered to mention it. From the New York Times:

NASA astronomer Tony Phillips says Comet McNaught is the brightest comet visible from Earth in 30 years. It is six times brighter than Hale-Bopp in 1997, and 100 times brighter than Halley's Comet when it appeared in 1986, Phillips told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The article I'm quoting was published yesterday, after the current siege of winter weather settled in here and the sky was no longer visible. Every week I scan the headlines of several regional papers in central and southeast Kansas. There was not a single mention of McNaught in any of them. But there was plenty about Rosie and Donald.

Congratulations to Martin LeBar, who who scooped probably 95% of the newspapers in the country.

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-3

I wish I had heard about this sooner. If you have clear skies tonight shortly after sunset, you might be able to spot Comet McNaught. There's an excess of weather in Wichita today, so i won't be able to see it.

(Via Sun and Shield.)

*****

Memo to various and sundry: there's only one "t" in "Wichita."

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70 degrees yesterday ...

... 16 degrees today.

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... the folks to call with all your pharmaceutical questions

Orchestral slander:

Woodwind players have IQs in the low- to mid- genius range. Nerds with coke-bottle glasses and big egos, blowers tend to be extremely quiet, cowering behind bizarre-looking contraptions -- their instruments -- so nobody will notice them. It is often difficult to discern whether a wind player is male or female.

String players are neurotic prima donnas who won't even shake your hand for fear of permanent injury. A string player will never look you directly in the eye and they never bathe carefully ... or often. Brass players are loud-mouthed drunkards who bully everyone with the possible and occasional exception of a stray percussionist. They like to slick their hair back. Nobody knows why.

Percussionists are insensitive oafs who constantly make tasteless jokes at the expense of the strings and woodwinds. They look very good in concert attire but have the worst table manners of all musicians. They are always male, or close enough.

By the way, it is not true that "People who play the cello are simply not good looking."

(Via Martin LeBar.)

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Don't immanentize me

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: The Very Reverend Janos the Uncanny of Eschaton End Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

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The Beatles at Shea Stadium

The Serbo-Croation-Tyrolean goat herder has posted Music Carnival #3.

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