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Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece.
~ Nadia Boulanger
Funny Newspaper Headlines
Newspaper Headlines - Found these at Funny Pages. They are all hopefully inadvertent. Some very funny. Some take a while to get what's wrong. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Death causes loneliness, feeling of isolation
- Never withhold herpes from loved one
- Farmer bill dies in house
- Organ festival ends in smashing climax
Lisa (Watson) Coyle - Obituary
Lisa Coyle
Lisa was a year behind me in high school, and while I can't say I knew her, I certainly admired her and the family she and John created.
I remember chatting with her at the last high school reunion, and she was so sweet and endearing. What a shock to know she is gone. Just doesn't seem possible or fair.
Copied below is the obituary that appeared in the Fresno Bee. Also included are the guest book entries, which the Bee said would be removed soon, and I felt the need to preserve them.
Oh, John...I am so sorry.
Barry Kibrick Goes Between the Lines
Barry Kibrick
Between the Lines - Accidentally discovered this marvelous interview program when I stumble on Barry Kibrick's interview with photographer Robert Zuckerman. I wanted to hear more of Kibrick's interviews and found a Between the Lines archive list that includes links to interviews with Ridley Scott and Stephen Shapiro (Goal Free Living). I gotta check these out.
What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Smoking?
Stop Smoking! - Just Quit! - Wade Meredith has written a stellar blog post: What Happens to Your body if you stop smoking Right now? Totally fascinating. The timeline he lays out is just too important not to share. Do see the original post by Wade Meredith at HealthBolt.net. If for some reason that is not available, read the cached copy below.
In either case, be sure to see this alternate version. Also see this What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Smoking Chart.
Castle in Cheshire - Broken Beacon
Spectacular shot here...I couldn't take my eyes off it and had to share. It's a castle in Mow Top, Cheshire, U.K.
Hillary '1984'
Hillary 1984 - The instantly famous parody of the Apple Computer commercial and the Hilary Clinton campaign for President of the U.S.- Hillary 1984.
(:youtube FJklyhWniDQ:)
Hilary '1984'
Keep Me In Your Heart (for a while) - Warren Zevon - Lyrics
This would have been a good song for my mom's "momorial." Maybe I can have it for mine.
Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath
Keep me in your heart for awhile
If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for awhile
When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun
Keep me in your heart for awhile
How to Pick a Ripe Pineapple
- Select a plump and fresh looking pineapple
- Shell color is not necessarily a sign of maturity or ripeness. A pineapple can be ripe when it is practically all green outside.
- Smell it. It should smell fragrant but not too sweet. Smelling too sweet may indicate the pineapple has begun to ferment.
- Fresh, green leaves in the crown are a good sign.
- The body should be firm, but not too firm. Avoid soft pineapples or ones containing soft spots.
- Bigger does not mean better tasting.
- A pineapple will not ripen any further – get any sweeter – after picking. It is sugar that makes pineapple sweet after ripe. The sugar comes from the conversion of starch reserves in the stump at the time of ripening.
Historically Hardcore ~ Fake Smithsonian Ads?
These ads were from a school project (per brobible.com). Very clever and funny.
Woman Airborne On Sleigh
Woman Airborne on Sleigh - Too, TOO funny. Swapped from SI.com. Do have a look at their other interesting photos. I couldn't resist sharing this one.
Things We Didn't Know This Time Last Year - 2008
What We Didn't Know - Love the list of 50 things we didn't know at this time last year from the Tampa Tribune. Below are a few of my favorites...
The use of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace on company computers leads to increased productivity.''
Stress causes human brain cells to either shrink or grow, leaving victims of serious stress with dramatic changes to their nervous systems
Hospital patients who receive a transfusion of stored blood aged 29 days or older face double the risk of developing one or more serious infections compared to those who get "fresher" blood.
Magic Bullet Blender - Honest Review
Magic Bullet Blender Review - After seeing the infomercial and doing a little investigation, I bought a Magic Bullet Blender through Amazon (cheaper shipping rates w/ Amazon). Reviews I read by others have been mixed (pardon the pun), though generally positive.
I use the Magic Bullet Blender almost every day for smoothies. It's become a morning ritual, made very easy with the Magic Bullet Blender. Here are the pros and cons I've found so far.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Had Nassim Taleb been born in any other period, he would have certainly been put to death.
~ Carine Chichereau, co-translator of TBS.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb is one fascinating guy. His two books Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable have been sooooo thought provoking AND entertaining.
I read both in the span of a couple weeks (way too fast) and am now reading each again. The concepts are deceptively simple on the surface...and then so deep. Their counter-intuitive nature makes it hard to grasp their significance in a 30-second sound bite.
The Wiki Way - by Leuf and Cunningham
The Wiki Way: Quick Collaboration on the Web by Bo Leuf and Ward Cunningham.
Been looking for this book for quite a while now. As with Hidden Connections, I found it at a used bookstore today.
I first encountered the wiki way on Wikipedia.org, where anyone--even me--can edit and add articles. I started a few stubs, enjoyed watching them evolve, even when my precious writing was updated. Almost always, the evolution of the articles made them better. Of course there comes a point of diminishing returns.
So I played with installing various wikis, including Wikimedia (wikipedia's engine) and PmWiki, the PHP script running this wiki. Wikimedia was a monster. Huge resource hog, database driven. PmWiki was relatively resource light, no database, flat file, which at first I disliked, but as I read the developer's reasons for choosing flat file, I bought into the idea. In fact, I've become very enthusiastic, in large part because updates are a breeze. I have a Drupal blog that is MySQL driven, and version updates are a nightmare--mostly because of the damn database.
My Bird Watching List
Photo by Len BluminCalifornia Quail - THIS is the bird that got me hooked on birding. Spotted one in a tree on 17-mile drive near Monterey, California after puzzling over the queer call I was hearing. Gorgeous bird. Quite distinctive and easy to identify. Not much of a flier--very rapid wing beat. 6/30/2008. Spotted another in Sunol Regional Wilderness (Maguire area) perched on a post, just like this picture. 7/6/2008.
Internet Is A Denial Of Service Attack On Your Brain
Intriguing perspective on the how the Internet is a denial of service attack on your brain.
Quotes
"We found that mental performance, the capability of the brain, was also reduced. Workers cannot think as well when they are worrying about e-mail or voice mails. It effectively reduces their IQ," says Wilson.
McGrath Video Laryngoscope - Dad's New Toy
McGrath Video Laryngoscope - Dad says this is the greatest advancement in laryngoscopes since...the invention of the laryngoscope.
(:youtube BzazUoVe6sg:)
Fooled by Randomness - by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb - Nassim Nicholas Taleb has written a mind-blowing book! Totally contrarian and terrifically clear in explaining the fallacies followed by journalist, investors, traders and, sadly, many scientists.
Example: Failing to notice the difference between probability and expectation, famous commodity trader/investor Jim Rogers made this astounding statement.
Rogers confused probability with expectation.
Jon Stewart's Solution to Financial Crisis
Jon Stewart's solution to economic crisis - While interviewing Lawrence Lindsey, author of What the President Should Know, Jon Stewart's shares his solution for the economic crisis: Instead of paying bail out money to banks, pay the money to consumers, who will pay it to the banks to help reduce the consumers' loan debt. That way everyone (except for taxpayers) wins: the banks get the money AND consumers gets debt relief.
Lindsey, a finance savvy guy, sort of agrees, but argues that paying the consumers rewards consumers for bad behavior ("Oh, I can get a loan and get money from the Government to pay it off"). As Stewart quickly pointed out, same can be said for the banks.
Why Religion Is Poor Guide to Morality
Defiling the Eucharist, which Catholics believe is the body and blood of Christ, is also considered a sin of extreme gravity and one which is on the increase, the high-ranking members of the tribunal said.
Such sins, which can only be dealt with by the Pope, acting through the tribunal, bring automatic excommunication from the Church. If the Pope decides to grant absolution, the excommunication is lifted.
~ Vatican reveals secrets of worst sins - Telegraph
This illustrates why religious values are a poor guide for human morality. Desecration of a symbol (though Catholic believe the Eucharist IS the body of Christ) is ranked as a worse sin than, say, a priest molesting a child or a man murdering his wife.
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