Boxing Kangaroos

Les Pieds Nickelés: Early 1900s French Comics

2010-02-17T15:00:00.000-08:00

In 1908, he became the leading artist of L'Épatant, a magazine that had just been launched by Offenstadt. He created numerous covers, illustrations, but also the legendary 'Pieds Nickelés'. The exploits of the three vagabonds Riboulingue, Filochard and Croquignol were an immediate success, and several book collections of this "anarchist" strip, that gave comments on aristocrats and political figures of the time, followed from 1915. Apparently, Forton wasn't drafted during the Great War, but he did send his characters to the battlefield, letting them deal with the "Boches" (nickname for Germans) and even their "Kaiser" in person.

Wiki commons.

Extra.

Boxing Kangaroos in Chinese

2009-05-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

Simple pleasure, I know, but I was checking my site meter and I had a very long visit here today from someone in Taiwan. The image at the left is how this site looks after going through Babelfish. Dang pretty.

Here's the link.

A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries

2009-05-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

Rooms, it seems, are the theme for today. Here are more than a few amazing examples, from Curious Expeditions, in a post titled Librophiliac Love Letter: A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries:

For us here at Curious Expeditions, there has always been something about libraries. Row after row, shelf after shelf, there is nothing more magical than a beautiful old library.

The example here is from the Handelingenkamer Tweede Kamer Der Staten-Generaal Den Haag, or the Old Library of the House of Representatives in the Hague, Netherlands. (Click for much larger image.) You can practically smell it.

Inspiring Hotel Rooms

2009-05-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

There must be a Web site for everything.

"Trial by Combat Between a Man and a Woman"

2009-03-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

From a 15th century Fechtbuch - "fight book" - a manual on the art of trial by combat, part of Germanic Law, practiced in Medieval Europe from after the fall of the Roman Empire in the the 5th century until, in some cases, until the 19th century. Excerpt:

Hie hatt sie In gebracht an den Rucken vnd wyl In wirgen vnd ziehen vsz der grub.

Here she has laid him on his back and wishes to strangle him and drag him out of the hole.

More here.

Periodic Table Printmaking Project

2009-03-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is amazing:

Ninety-seven printmakers of all experience levels, have joined together to produce 118 prints in any medium; woodcut, linocut, monotype, etching, lithograph, silkscreen, or any combination. The end result is a periodic table of elements intended to promote both science and the arts.

The image above is by Mark M. Cullen of Middleton, Wisconsin, is a linocut with watercolor and gouache, and represents the element platinum, atomic number 78.

Digital Photography Discussion Forum

2009-03-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

With shots like this. (As with all photos, click on image to enlarge.)

Vintage Postcards From Hawaii

2009-03-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

This one here is of the Hakalau Sugar Mill, on the Big Island, early 1900s.

Jalgaon District, India

2009-02-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

The Jalgaon District of India has a wonderful Web site.

Jalgaon:

Jalgaon District is located in the north-west region of the state of Maharashtra. It is bounded by Satpuda mountain ranges in the north, Ajanta mountain ranges in the south. Jalgaon is rich in volcanic soil which is well suited for cotton production. It is a major business centre for tea, gold, pulses, cotton and bananas. Languages spoken are Marathi, Ahirani, Hindi, and English. Jalgaon District receives an average rainfall of about 690 mm and the temperature varies from 10 to 48 degree Celsius.

48? That's 118 Fahrenheit. Ow.

A map.

A physical features map.

Never Mind the Pussy Cat

2009-02-24T11:15:00.000-08:00

The Ornithological Art of Edward Lear:

In 1830, visitors to the new Zoological Gardens in London were bemused by a young man—a boy, really—who sat sketching the birds in the Parrot House. He drew the birds as they perched and played, and with the help of a zookeeper named Gosse, measured their wingspans, and the dimensions of their bodies, beaks, and legs. Visitors lingered to watch, and he filled the margins of his paper with caricatures of the people around him.

Edward Lear was working on a startlingly audacious project. Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots was a monograph he planned to publish by subscription in fourteen folios. It was ground-breaking in several ways: Lear was the first ornithological illustrator to publish in the large folio size, and the first to devote an entire book to a single family of birds. His insistence on drawing from life whenever possible was innovative, as was his decision to use lithography.

Lear published the first two folios of the Psittacidae on November 1, 1830.

• Photo from Wiki Commons. Click on photo for very large image.

• Hat tip, Monkey Filter.

Islamic Baby Clothes

2009-02-24T11:14:00.000-08:00

Islamic baby clothes.

Cheetah, Cheetah, In the Night

2009-02-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

A rare cheetah has been photographed by remote camera in Algeria:

There are thought to be less than 250 adult Northwest African or Saharan cheetahs, making the subspecies critically endangered, but very little is known about the cat.

The first camera-trap photographs of the cheetah, taken as part of a systematic survey of 1,750 square miles of the central Sahara, are providing scientists with information on population numbers, movement and how it interacts with its environment.

There are also "sand cats" in the area. Sand cats.

This is one of the more difficult cats to study in the wild. Their foot coverings allow them to walk on sand without sinking, leaving their footprints nearly invisible. They have learned to crouch down and shut their eyes when a light is shone on them, which prevents the light from reflecting their eyes for tracking. That combined with their protective coat color makes them blend right into their habitat. They also bury all of their excrement making it impossible to find and analyze so their diet can be studied.

Obama and Pope Painted on Nude Dancers

2009-02-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

I couldn't get the video to work, maybe you can, but the image I got from it is pretty striking. (Click to enlarge.) The story:

A swiss artist has created an unusual live body art performance, using as inspiration the images of US President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict.

The performance, held on Monday (February 16) is described by the artist 'Dave' as a form of 'fusionism', combining abstract painting and choreography in a performance.

The artwork involves ten nude performers with painted bodies, who are choreographed to eventually assemble into a complete picture.

Struga Online

2009-02-17T09:13:00.001-08:00

The world's largest poetry festival is held every year in Struga, Macedonia, on the shores of Lake Ohrid, the deepest, and, many believe, oldest lake in Europe. (More on the festival, and the "Golden Wreath Award," which in 1986 was won by Allen Ginsburg, here.)

This I learned at Struga Online:

Our site was born as a result of an initiative among a few young people from Struga who thought that this beautiful place deserves a home on the Internet. Since then the idea behind struga.org has not changed. Everything that is presented here is done by our team solely from love and passion for our pretty little town.

It's a nice, simple site. They have hand-drawn maps, photos of old Struga, Struga writer biographies, Struga history:

The first Neolithic settlement, which is assumed to have been a fishing area, was built on the place where the river Crn Drim flows out of the Lake Ohrid. It is a pile dweller, an ancient fisherman community.

You can learn a lot about Struga, at Struga Online.

Boxing Kangaroos Makes First Contact

2009-02-17T08:48:00.000-08:00

This is too funny. I did a post 8 months ago wherein I gave the results of googling the word "nurk". Yes, I was bored. One of the results was to an English dirty ditty writer named Ivor Biggun, ahem, who was once in a band called "Nurk Wildebeeste and the Mutations." That image there is an ad from one of their shows, as it appeared in the Retford Gainsborough and Worksop Guardian, a newspaper that may or may not still exist.

Well that noodling little post has caused one S. Bourne, also English, I'll presume, to email Boxing Kangaroos and confess, as it were, to being one of the Mutations.

The wonders of the internets.

I have responded to S. Bourne and asked for more information. Hopefully he will respond soon.

I Could Be a Poet

2009-02-03T07:47:00.000-08:00

Taylor Mali:

Humaroo: Kangaroo Genome Similar to Human

2009-01-19T11:32:00.000-08:00

DNA evidence, these researchers say, shows that human and kangaroo DNA is far more alike than expected, and that we went our separate ways on our evolutionary paths perhaps about 150 million years ago.

It is endlessly fascinating to think that we humans share common ancestors with every living thing on Earth. With the kangaroos: a kangan, or, better - a humaroo.

The Disappearance of Giuseppi Logan

2009-01-17T13:01:00.000-08:00

Truly remarkable story at a truly remarkable Web site, WFMU's Beware of the Blog:

While it is well-known among jazz fans in New York that the great virtuoso Charlie Parker lived across from Tompkins Square Park during the 1950s—a jazz festival in his name takes place there every year—another vitally important saxophonist was, it has only recently been discovered, a one-time homeless inhabitant of New York, possibly in Tompkins Square itself, as well as in shelters and institutions around the city and elsewhere. In fact, the revelation that this man is still alive puts to rest an enduring and agonizingly unresolved mystery: the unknown whereabouts and presumed demise of Giuseppi Logan.

Tiger Woods To Appear At Obama Inauguration

2009-01-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

Tiger doesn't do politics (nor does this Web site, usually) - but he's doing this. Pretty cool.

And Pete Seeger's gonna be there. It just gets better and better.

Hamilton Island, Great Barrier Reef

2009-01-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

You've no doubt heard of the "dream job" being offered by the Queensland, Australia, tourism board:

An Australian state is offering internationally what it calls "the best job in the world" -- earning a top salary for lazing around a beautiful tropical island for six months.

The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars (105,000 US dollars) and includes free airfares from the winner's home country to Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland's state government announced on Tuesday.

In return, the "island caretaker" will be expected to stroll the white sands, snorkel the reef, take care of "a few minor tasks" -- and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates.

The Web site is here.

Some photots of Hamilton Island. Wow.

Web Site Layout

2008-09-27T08:59:00.001-07:00

Interesting.

Internet Unknown VI

2008-09-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

I google "drakil," I get this:

Trailer de La Pierre de Drakil, film medieval fantastique
Uploaded by opeprod

A Web Site: "Old & Interesting"

2008-09-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it's still alive, bit it is interesting:

This site is about . . .

. . . how people furnished and equipped their homes in previous centuries, and how they handled household tasks. Plans are to keep adding more articles, with the homepage updated every Wednesday - at least. Please email if you want to suggest a topic connected with the history of everyday home life, housekeeping, domestic objects, or any related bits of social history.

- Lel -

Patent # 150281

2008-09-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Tools for Dressing Soldering-Irons.

Patent number: 150281

Filing date: Mar 26, 1874

Issue date: Apr 28, 1874

Internet Unknown V

2008-09-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

I Google "Balapoom."

I get only one response.

I go here.

"From an African bestiary to universal science?"

2008-08-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Text heavy, but fascinating.

Totemism, in which animal species feature overwhelmingly, thus appears as a particular form of a mode of thought that in the past has been called ‘irrational’, ‘pre-logical’, ‘peripheral’, ‘primitive’, and which Levi-Strauss’s work (especially in La pensee sauvage, 1964)[9] made us appreciate as obsessed with logic, rational, standard and common in all human societies past and present including everyday life and untutored thought and expression in the contemporary North Atlantic society — even though in the latter the influence of the institutionally and politically dominant forms of scientific thought filters through in the untamed everyday and ritual expressions, masking their wildness and creating embarrassment.

Homepage: "Ancient Models of Thought."

"Polished Dolphins Make Lazy Seamen..."

2008-08-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Not entirely safe for workish-like places.

Internet Unknown, IV

2008-08-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

I Google "Joogle." I get Cabdi Shire Joogle, from the Somali community in Switzerland:

Eleven Shrimp Links

2008-07-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Chinese shrimp painter.

Chinese shrimp paintings:

The free and stark brush strokes - a thin single line for the antenna of the shrimp, blobs of ink in grades of grey and black - suggest Oriental sensuality.

"I took up painting shrimps because it's one of the hardest things to draw," he said.

Mantis shrimp mechanics. (With videos.)

Biology of shrimps. (Shrimp or prawn?)

Shrimp photography.

Partnerships for a Shrimp.

Shrimp cartoons.

Shrimp-1st.com.

The Southern Shrimp Alliance:

The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) is a non-profit alliance of members of the shrimp industry in eight states committed to preventing the continued deterioration of America's domestic shrimp industry and to ensuring the industry's future viability. SSA serves as the national voice for the shrimp fishermen and processors in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.

God Hates Shrimp.

Gulchekhra Sartbayeva and Her Sewing Shop

2008-07-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

FINCA: Small Loans - Big Changes:

FINCA Kyrgyzstan started in 1995 with a $6.2mm grant from USAID, which expired in September 2002. FINCA aims to serve 40,000 clients with a total of $36 million in loans by 2010. In Kyrgyzstan, women are very active in the economy, especially trade. As 70% of the unemployed in Kyrgyzstan are women, FINCA has targeted female bazaar workers as its primary clients.

Client Profile:

Gulchekhra and her brother leased a boutique in the commercial center in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, where they sold shoes in 2004. Unfortunately, their business was not very successful and they were forced to close the shop when the center shut down.

As an alternative source of income, Gulchekhra started to sew traditional dresses and suits for a children's dance troupe. Her friend introduced her to a FINCA Solidarity-Credit Group.

With money she and her brother had saved from their shoe business and the proceeds of her FINCA loan, Gulchekhra established a sewing shop, which is now very successful.

Gulchekhra is very creative and is designing costumes for the dance troupe. Her business is continuing to grow and she has now received her sixth loan from FINCA. The group members all enjoy her participation and the responsible way she conducts her business. She says the loans from FINCA have made her life better and she looks forward to a long relationship with FINCA.

Photo from FINCA

Forgotten Author: Harold L. Myers

2008-07-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Go here and click on the link to the RTF file; it seems friendly enough. It brings you a free download of a collection of stories by science-fiction writer Harold L. Myers, with this introduction:

Howard L. Myers is almost completely forgotten today, although some people can still be found who remember the name "Verge Foray," under which he published many of his stories. But in the brief time his writing career lasted, from 1967 to 1971, he was a prominent figure in science fiction.

It's a sad tale. Myers was born in 1930, and published his first science fiction story at the age of twenty-two. That was "The Reluctant Weapon," published in the December 1952 issue of Galaxy . (The story is included in this volume.)

And . . . that was it, for another fifteen years. Why? We don't know. For whatever reasons, it wasn't until Myers was in his late thirties that he began writing again. And once he did, the stories practically came pouring out—and almost every one of them excellent. His stories appeared in most of the premier science fiction and fantasy magazines of the day—Analog, Galaxy, If, Amazing, The Magazine of F&SF—and he seemed on the verge of becoming one of science fiction's top authors.

We'll never know. In the summer of 1971, against the advice of his mother, Howard Myers took a vacation to Florida. The combination of the heat and his medical condition combined to give him a massive heart attack which killed him. He was forty-one years old.

You can also find it at Google books (though they don't always have every page).

He Hates Jack Sterling

2008-07-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

This blog has a mission:

It pays to read the pages on this site before thinking about buying a $2,500 dog from Jack Sterling and taking it back to the states. (ps Jack, they said your house was filthy!)

There are other breeders in Chiang Mai, other locations in Thailand, let alone in the rest of the world, who are far more open and honest, clean and healthy, let alone good to do business with.

That is that blog's mission.

When Kangaroos Attack

2008-07-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

Mudgree, New South Wales:

An Australian woman has been saved by a pet dog which leapt to her aid after she was attacked by a large kangaroo, her son has said.[...]

"The kangaroo just jumped up and launched straight at her," he said.

"My dog heard her screaming and bolted down and chased him off. If it wasn't for the dog, she'd probably be dead.

Now most people would probably scoff at the thought of a kangaroo attacking a human. But large kangaroos can be very large - up to 180 lbs, and more than 7 feet tall when up in fighting position. But the most dangerous things about them are the second from outer claws on their very strong hind legs. They're huge, way larger than the three others on each foot. When fighting they can put their weight on their tails, lift both legs, and use those monster thighs to deliver powerful kicks - and with that claw take your guts out. Take a look at the size of that claw:

Photo from Ozanimals

Here's a look at how they stand back on their tails and kick, from the video I made in Canberra in 2006 that inspired this blog.

Proven: We're Extraterrestrial

2008-06-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

That's what they're saying:

Martins and her colleagues said they discovered uracil and xanthine, which are precursors to the molecules that make up DNA and RNA and are known as nucleobases in rock fragments of the Murchison meteorite, which crashed in Australia in 1969. She explained that “early life may have adopted nucleobases from meteoritic fragments for use in genetic coding which enabled them to pass on their successful features to subsequent generations."

Image of xanthine molecule structure from Wikimedia Commons

The Scuba Channel

2008-06-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

It's a YouTube section, but for scuba divers and snorklers.

This is a nice 7 minute selection.

Honk Kong: Worst Floods in 124 Years

2008-06-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

Nasty. Great photos, though.

"Baby Carriers: a Cultural History"

2008-06-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

Cool article about baby carriers around the world and through time, and how they may have affected human development:

The invention of simple baby carrying devices may have played a decisive role in the development of the human species. Blaffer-Hrdy (2000) suggests that 50,000 years ago, this “technological revolution” (p.197) allowed mothers to carry food as well as their babies, leading to a new division of labour between men and women. She indicates that this led to better fed mothers, who gave birth after shorter intervals, and an expanding human population moving out of Africa.

Image of Nez Perce papoose from here.

Telly Savalas on Birmingham, England

2008-06-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

I have never heard of "Quota Quickies."

And I did not know that Kojak used to be on BBC telly:

In the late 1970s, several of the UK's major cities were the stars of B-movies the so-called 'Quota Quickies'.

Laurie Taylor tells the bizarre story of how the cities tried to make themselves appear exciting to a captive cinema audience through the medium of a travelogue.

One such classic is called Telly Savalas Looks At Birmingham. It has the American actor extolling the virtues and history of Birmingham. His narration is unintentionally funny and wonderfully kitsch.

The director of these quota quickies, the late Harold Baim, seemed to have an obsession with multi-storey car parks, concrete shopping centres and motorways in his attempt to catapult the city into the 21st century. Others in the Harold Baim series include Telly Savalas Looks At Aberdeen and Telly Savalas Looks At Portsmouth.

BBC audio of the show.

Stills from the film.

"Men's Long Hair Hyperboard"

2008-06-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

I find this odd and intriguing.

Boxing Kangaroos Art

2008-06-03T09:05:00.000-07:00

Image used by permission of Lesley, of Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art, Queensland, Australia. Thank you kindly, LS.

Lesley graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1982 after gaining a Degree with Honours in Design, specialising in Printed Textiles.

After teaching art in a High School for ten years in Scotland , Lesley immigrated to Australia where she has taught adults drawing and silk painting at TAFE Colleges. Lesley is currently teaching art in a private College in the Gold Coast, Queensland.

She has a really cool blog, too.

The Ketchup Song

2008-06-03T08:18:00.001-07:00

The Ketchup Song:

More videos from the Tallinna Saksa Gümnaasium.

Internet Unknown III

2008-06-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

I googled the work "nurk." This is what I found:

Nurk Wildebeest and the Mutations.

Enn Nurk. Enn Nurk.

Kareel Nurk's Flickr photostream.

Kareel Nurk's blog.

The Linda Nurk collection.

Tartu. Raekoja platsi ja Küüni tänava nurk.

Vitaly Nurk. Electronic music from the Russian Federation.

The Goon Show: Free Audio

2008-04-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

Via Metafilter, The Goon Show:

Spike Milligan's revolutionary radio show ran on the BBC from 1951 to 1960: a unique combination of memorable characters and daft plots, surreality and twisted logic, establishment bashing, satire and parody, music hall gags, catchphrases and random silliness. It broke new ground in its use / abuse of sound effects - both as pure audio gags and in helping to make physically impossible situations instantly believable. Milligan wrote most of the scripts, helped at various times by Larry Stevens, Eric Sykes, Maurice Wiltshire and John Antrobus.

Each show centres around a core of characters, although the exact details of each character vary according to the episode's plot. Most of the characters were played by Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe...

Listen here.

 

Lawsuit to Stop Destruction of Universe

2008-03-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

UBuff

They think a giant particle accelerator that will begin smashing protons together outside Geneva this summer might produce a black hole or something else that will spell the end of the Earth — and maybe the universe.

Scientists say that is very unlikely — though they have done some checking just to make sure.

"Your honor, as evidence I'd like to present this drawing I did... with very, very black crayons. And red ones (for the bluhhhhd)."

CERN Web site. Lots of cool features. (Especially the "destroying the universe" animation.)

Photos: Snake Eating Kangaroo

2008-03-24T13:36:00.001-07:00

Oh. My. God.

My Tin Tin received an email from a friend in her native Australia. It had these photos in it. They were taken on February 3 of this year [?? finding them on the Web dated 2005] on "the 22 kilometre Lake Lindsay overland conveyor route near German Creek Mine," which is in central Queensland.

Hold on to your stomach.

My God, I love Australia.

Sut Lovingood. Yarns Spun by a Nat'ral Born Durn'd Fool

2008-03-19T14:24:00.001-07:00

Most famous character of mid-18th century humorist and sketch artist, and Mark Twain influence, George Washington Harris:

Hit am an orful thing, George, tu be a nat'ral born durn'd fool. Yu'se never 'sperienced hit pussonally, hev yu? Hits made pow'fully agin our famerly, an all owin tu dad. I orter bust my head open agin a bluff ove rocks, an' jis' wud du hit, ef I warnt a cussed coward.

Lots of great illustrations.

Shoebill, or Whalehead

2008-03-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

It's a bird.

And it's an Endangered Ugly thing. And I think I love it.

The Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) is a large stork (maybe), whose beak quite closely resembles footwear associated with 19th century Dutch (compare). They inhabit central African wetlands, where they feed on lungfish, catfish, frogs, lizards, and the like. ARKive puts their hunting strategy quite succinctly: “Prey is grasped from the water in the bird's sharp, hooked beak, which grips, crushes and pierces in one instant.”

Google Image Search, Made-Up Word, II

2008-03-13T14:58:00.000-07:00

Made up word: saetli

Google images: 3

Saetli: one; two; three.

Best one: "The sea defense structure and western marina. Beirut, Lebanon"

Home Black & Whites

2008-03-06T08:14:00.000-08:00

I'll be looking into changing the layout here soon, so I can put much larger photos up, and give an option to expand photos to full screen.

60W Sunbeam and Water

2008-03-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

I took some photos last night with my relatively inexpensive Koday Z650 digital camera. f8; 1/1000. Straight into a 60W Sunbeam with falling water and a...

cheese grater...

knife...

nothing at all...

corkscrew...

Exploding Figurine Photography

2007-09-10T15:52:00.000-07:00

Go here, then here, then to the source here.

Martin Klimas hails from Germany and takes fantastic “still life” photos. He drops clay figurines from the same height in complete darkness with the camera lens open. When the figurine hits the ground, the sound of the impact triggers the lights to go on for a fraction of a second.

Wow. To give Mr. Klimas the highest compliment possible, tonight I will do something mind-blowing - or at least try - with my camera.

Moon Coming out of Eclipse

2007-09-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

Fast motion moonshot, from Hakeoz down in the Northern Beaches, Sydney.

Caterpillar

2007-09-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

I'm look over at What's That Bug? to find out what kind of caterpillar this is:

Big spike on his tail:

Red-sided Garter Snake

2007-09-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

C called in a bit of a huff. Montana (the cat) brought a snake in the house! What if it bites him and it's poisonous? I said she should put a garbage can over snake (probably not poisonous, here where we are). I'll be home.

Snake in can:

More below

A little closer:

He looks like what the USGS says is a California red-sided garter snake. He traveled north, apparently. On vacation, maybe. He was a bit roughed up, but he's alright.

Mantis on the Porch

2007-09-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

Caught in a spider web, she was. I saved her.

She says thank you.

And her closeup:

Julie Zickefoose Good Blog

2007-09-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

Zickefoose.

Illustration Art

2007-09-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

Illustration Art. (Some adult-themed.)

Google Image Search, Made-Up Word, I

2007-09-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

Made-up word = halhal.

Halhal goes here:

Goes then halhal here

Halhal also goes here. Here.

Internet Unknown, II

2007-09-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

Look.

Internet Unknown, I

2007-09-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

Look.

The Art of Guiseppe Tampieri

2007-09-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

Homempage:

Boutique (1976):

Giuseppe Tampieri was born in Lugo di Ravenna on March 9th, 1918 and began practicing painting and drawing in early childhood in Faenza.

He attended the Fine Arts Academy in Florence where he graduated in 1941.

His first exhibition took place in Ravenna in 1936. Since then he has been participating the most important Italian artistic events including the Biennale in Venice and the Quadriennale in Rome.

He realized many illustrations for books and also published articles and reviews on newspapers and magazines.

He lived and worked in Genoa from 1950 to 1981 where many of his monumental sculptures are hosted on various city buildings, corporate centres and the central cemetery.

Since 1981 he has been living and working in Faenza (Ravenna).

The Legend of St. Martin

Montana the Cat

2007-04-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

Very Cool: FalcomCam

2007-04-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

Via Metafilter: FalconCam:

Two peregrine falcon chicks hatched today (almost) live on downtown Indianapolis' FalconCam. Yay! They're very cute, but the parent sits on them a lot.

You can watch the big and tiny birds via cameras mounted in their nests and on a ledge nearby, refreshed every minute.

Mouth Pants

2007-04-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

Guess What's in the Photo

2007-03-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

For my non-blog-savvy family and friends: hit the comments buttom below and leave an anonymous comment - then sign it in the body.

Wool

2007-03-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

Blog in Australia

2007-03-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

Excellent photos at this blog from the Northern Beaches.

I don't know if he has it on his blog (or on his other one - link to come), but this is a great video that he took of two lorikeets on his deck - with a mirror.

Montana's Mouse Innards: Now a Series

2007-03-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

I posted photos of Montana the cat's leavings before (for those of you not blog-savvy, click the mouse arrow on the word "before" to go to the old photos), so it's now officially an ongoing series.

This one he left outside on the trail to the front door, rather than in the house. Thoughtful kitty. You have to admit - it's very beautiful.

Giles

2007-03-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

Giles got a shave.

Jack Frost

2007-03-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Windows, Akron, New York, my Mom and Dad's, January.

And my favorite.

Kitsy at the Window

2007-03-25T09:29:00.001-07:00

Paint

2007-03-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

Just downloaded the long-undowloaded camera. Some nice shots over the last few months, from here and in Western New York. Next several posts will be these photos.

This is a small section of a painting done a few years ago.

Rocking Chair Made From Guns

2007-03-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

In Cambodia:

After more than 30 years of civil war, ending in 1998, the Cambodian gouvernment destroyed 125,000 weapons across the country. In this time British artist Sasha Constable saw an opportunity, and decided to create The Peace Art Project Cambodia (PAPC) in November 2003. The Peace Art Project Cambodia was a sculpture project turning weapons into art as expressions of peace.In Cambodia this is the most beautiful way to get rid of weapons - transform them in furniture. From these pictures this furniture doesn’t look to comfortable, but for a good cause they are excellent.

Japanese Toilet Training Video

2007-03-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

From the newly added Monkeyfilter, a good start.

WFMU's Beware of the Blog

2007-03-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

Looks very, very interesting.

As in this: Love Scenes Adapted from D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover (mp3s).

Cow Eats Chickens

2007-03-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

Really. Not kidding.

When his chickens started disappearing a few weeks ago, a farmer in eastern India figured dogs or jackals were to blame — until he discovered his calf making a meal of his poultry.

Reminds me of that other carnivorous ungulate, the carnivorous red deer of Scotland:

THIS is one side of Bambi the Disney corporation never wanted you to see. Red deer on a Scottish island are supplementing their normally vegetarian diet by snacking on live seabird chicks.

And - an earlier model.

Aussie Odd News

2007-03-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

A new link in the linkroll, Big Pond's Off Beat.

Home

2007-03-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

More for the folks back home - the other office.

The Office

2007-03-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

For the folks at home - in the U.S. and Australia - a look at my world. My office at the UJ Corporation.

Time Release

2007-03-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

Guess what's in the photo.

The Open Library

2007-03-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

Also from Metafilter (see post below for link) a Web site where you can read old books. I mean like flip through the pages and all. Books like T.S. Arthur's Great Temperance Stories: Six Nights with the Washingtonians.

The Mystery Holes of Peru

2007-03-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

I saw this very cool story somewhere on the intertubes today but I can't remember where. I'll update with a link if I remember. (For now, via.)

A series of holes, usually about 24 inches across and in neat rows of from nine to twelve, stretched for almost a mile in Peru. It starts at the base of a mountain and then climbs up the side and meanders up and down, over some of the roughest terrain.

Nobody seems to know why they're there. Got any ideas?

Man Somehow Gets Uranium - Buries It In Yard

2007-03-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

Very, very strange:

Photo from StockInterview

A GERMAN man obtained enriched uranium and buried it in his garden, raising concerns about the security of Germany's nuclear reactors.

“How do (uranium) pellets get out of a nuclear reactor? That's not supposed to happen,” said ministry spokeswoman Jutte Kremer-Heye.

She said it was unclear when the man, a resident of the northwestern German town of Lauenfoerder, got hold of and buried the 14 low-enriched uranium pellets, which he had sealed in a steel container wrapped in a plastic bag.

Crab Cake Creeps Clash and Slash

2007-03-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

Crabby, crabby, crabby.

Owen and Mzee

2007-03-01T14:57:00.000-08:00

I've written about these two before. Nice to see updates.

Reuters | Friday, 2 March 2007

NEW YORK: A giant tortoise and an orphaned baby hippo who forged an unusual friendship after the 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia are the stars of a new website so fans can follow their progress.

Mzee, a 130-year-old Aldabran tortoise, became a surrogate parent and inseparable friend to hippo Owen who was washed out to sea off the coast of Kenya, rescued by villagers and taken to a wildlife park where the tortoise lived.

Here's a Web site where you can keep track of the charming couple.

The Most Bizarre - By a Ten Parsec Margin - Two Paragraphs In the History of News

2007-03-01T14:10:00.000-08:00

You think I'm kidding? Read. Weep.

Receptionist Irina Legova said that Mr McCarney had told her that the donkey was a breed of “super rabbit” which he was bringing to a pet fair in the city. The court was told that the donkey went berserk in the middle of the night and ran amok in the hotel corridor, forcing hotel staff to call the gardai.

McCarney was found in the room wearing a latex suit and handcuffs, the key to which the donkey is believed to have swallowed.

UPDATE: While still the most bizarre two paragraphs - the story was a hoax.

Patti Smith Plays For the Dead

2007-03-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

With a few friends at Carnegie Hall. And I get to put up one of my favorite Annie Liebovitz portrait photos of all time.

Limb Regeneration…In Humans?

2007-02-28T16:36:00.000-08:00

From Nature:

Tadpoles can achieve something that humans may only dream of: pull off a tadpole's thick tail or a tiny developing leg, and it'll grow right back — spinal cord, muscles, blood vessels and all. Now researchers have discovered the key regulator of the electrical signal that convinces Xenopus pollywogs to regenerate amputated tails. The results, reported this week in Development, give some researchers hope for new approaches to stimulating tissue regeneration in humans.

Researchers have known for decades that an electrical current is created at the site of regenerating limbs. Furthermore, applying an external current speeds up the regeneration process, and drugs that block the current prevent regeneration. The electrical signals help to tell cells what type to grow into, how fast to grow, and where to position themselves in the new limb.

...

But the complex networks needed to construct a complicated organ or appendage are already genetically encoded in all of our cells — we needed them to develop those organs in the first place. "The question is: how do you turn them back on?" Levin says. "When you know the language that these cells use to tell each other what to do, you're a short step away from getting them to do that after an injury."

Should be popular among Aussie surfers...

Because It's Been a While: Boxing Kangaroos

2007-02-28T16:33:00.000-08:00

The was the very first post on this blog. The photo was taken by yours truly in Canberra, New South Wlaes, Australia (of course) in October, 2006.

Cool Link

2007-02-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

Ask a Biologist, a UK site for schoolchildren. I asked "Where do marsupials come from?" (Ans: They come from what is now North America, say the 'perts.) I'll update when I get their answer.

Random Find on the Internets

2007-02-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

Cardboard Sculptures by Jen Stark.

Gifts from Montana

2007-01-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

Montana the Wild Cat of the house, that is. Montana catches mouses, and then hires a surgeon to remove, carefully and with great precision, their entrails. And then leaves them on the carpet somewhere where we're sure to step on them.

Exhibit A:

Unbelievable. And what the heck IS that?

Unknown bug in the House

2007-01-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

Christine found this in the kitchen, I think it may be a Dobsonfly.

Croc

2007-01-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

Still hard to believe little ol' me took this shot.

And there wasn't a lot of magnification either, though I did crop it some.

Taken on the South Alligator River, Kakadoo National Park in the Northern Territory, Australia, October, 2006.

Wallabeans

2007-01-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's Wallaby scat. Very possibly from a Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby (they even have a photo of some scat). I was in Kuringai Chase National Park north of Sydney at the time. And I tell you what, I was very excited to see this scat.

Ladybird

2007-01-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

I grew up calling them "Ladybugs," but Christine says the Aussies call them "Ladybirds." I like the name better.

They've lived in this old house for years, sometimes showing up by the hundreds. This one was on a teapot.

Here's some info on Ladybirds.

Unknown Bug From Sydney

2007-01-07T08:42:00.000-08:00

Hans just emailed a photo he took of a bug he found in his home in Dee Why. Anbody got any guesses what it is? Christine says it could be an immature cicada, come out of the ground earlier than it should have.

Whatever it is, she's a beaut, I reckon. Here's a closer look.

Laughing Kookaburra

2006-12-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

The bird with the best name on the planet. The voice will be in my head forever.

Laughing Kookaburras are believed to pair for life. The nest is a bare chamber in a naturally occurring tree hollow or in a burrow excavated in an arboreal (tree-dwelling) termite mound. Both sexes share the incubation duties and both care for the young. Other Laughing Kookaburras, usually offspring of the previous one to two years, act as 'helpers' during the breeding season. Every bird in the group shares all parenting duties.

Actually saw one emerge from a termite nest on a tree once. Thought it was a little cream-colored rodent at first, then it flew off.

Azure Kingfisher

2006-12-16T09:48:00.000-08:00

The Azure Kingfisher plunges from overhanging perches into water to catch prey. Prey items include: fish, crustaceans, aquatic insects and other invertebrates, and, sometimes, frogs. They will often bash their prey against the perch before swallowing it head first. Often watch Platypuses foraging underwater and catch any food items that are disturbed.

Saw this little guy, a cousin of the kookaburra and only three of four inches high, on the South Alligator River in Kakadu Nat'l Park. Several times he'd dart down, be back up on the limb and have his food down almost faster than you could see.

Two Good Links

2006-12-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

First, Pharyngula, the blog of an extra-smart and funny biologist.

And a story he linked to, saying, "It's a strange thing to care about a dog I've never met…".