She doesn't care about perspective and visual logic either! Either the fellow in the lab coat is behind her, while the water somehow both sprays in a straight line and turns the corner to get her front wet, or he is about eighteen inches high and standing on a chair in front of her. Naughty scientific elf!
For an amazing tribute to the 8 bit world watch 'Happy up Here' by the Norwegian electronica band Royksopp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTBPSr7if1I If you want another amazing animated video backed by their music try 'Remind Me' with animation by the French firm H5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhl8frFh3NQ
Does the phrase 'disgusting excess' jump into your head? When most of the US is struggling with an epidemic of obesity, when so many can barely afford to eat, when so many have lost their homes, how is this a good thing?
If you want to celebrate cooking, or wonderful tastes, or the season, a perfect pumpkin or apple pie would be fine, although, it would not get featured on a big blog on the internet.
Amazing how the writer of this implies that some supernatural explanation is more likely than 'trickery', because of course the inhabitants of the house 'did not appear to have' knowledge of chemical compounds. Gosh - what chemical compounds? Bleach? Soot? What a convincing argument for the supernatural.
The faces themselves have a convincing otherworldly aspect, as if they were drawn by a ghost. A five year old ghost, with no knowledge of what a face actually looks like.
I can't say if supernatural events occur, but I can say that the credulity of people, and their willingness to be fooled is almost beyond belief. And depressing.
How about Canada's Remembrance Day? Formerly Armistice Day it marked the date and time of the end of the first world war - the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month - 11:00 AM November 11. We honour our servicemen and women fallen in the WW 1 and all subsequent wars. Everything comes to a halt and falls silent for two minutes. It's not a holiday, but a time for reflection and remembrance.
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. John McCrae
My best wishes to you Alex. I live in a pocket of very temperate climate, no forest fires, tsunami, etc., so I am very fortunate. Our country (Canada) is weathering the economic storm better than anywhere else, and I still have a job and a house, and food to eat. We count ourselves very lucky. I understand fire though. I grew up in Northwestern Ontario (look west of Thunder Bay ON on Google maps) and we had major fires every summer. One year there was one fifty miles wide, and twenty from north to south about fifty miles from us - towns evacuated from the smoke, fears of towns burning up. I remember it well. I went to school in Wilmington CA and I remember fires in the hills. Makes you wonder why people live there. - Our thoughts are with you ... Dougall
Thanks Alex for a very cogent analysis. Even though I lived through a lot of this (and watched it on the news), it's hard to put it in perspective and to link the events. Deregulation has always seemed to me to be a really dangerous idea. Although government agencies can often be wrongheaded and incompetent, they can somewhat rein in unbridled greed and criminality.
I was living in California in the seventies, and I remember people getting second, third and fourth mortgages on their houses at increasingly high interest rates. Eventually many had 100% of their value mortgaged. When housing prices dipped (I've noticed that prices for houses sometimes go up and down - funny that bankers never have!) home 'owners' found that their debt was larger than the value of their homes. With no immediate hope of profit, or even breaking even with a sale, and with no real ownership interest, many simply walked away from the properties and their debt.
I remember at the time thinking how difficult it was to get a mortgage at home (Canada) with the requirement that you put up a large part of the purchase price from your own savings.
What's the lesson in this? I'm not sure, probably some old saw about not trusting bankers or politicians, or that something you get for nothing is worth the cost.
Good luck to us all. My family is doing OK (although I work a lot of 12 hour days), and my city seems alright. Maybe we shouldn't pay too much attention to all the doom and gloom, and just live our lives as best we can.
I believe the numbers. That's what you take on when you have kids! If most of your time and treasure is not devoted to them you are an idiot.
Too many times I have seen parents who treat kids as an annoyance and an imposition in their life. Kids are the greatest joy and the greatest challenge you can take on, and they are eminently worth it.
By the way if you lived in Canada as I do (or lots of other civilized places) the health care cost would be zero! To our American cousins: get a grip on your health care - there are better ways. I can't imagine wondering if I should take my child to the hospital to have an ear infection treated because I might not be able to afford it.
nice mosaic from Pompie for you to use on your lawn:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_canem
http://www.offworld.com/2009/02/earth-invaders-royksopps-happy.html
a great band, - go full screen and turn up the sound!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTBPSr7if1I
If you want another amazing animated video backed by their music try 'Remind Me' with animation by the French firm H5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhl8frFh3NQ
If you want to celebrate cooking, or wonderful tastes, or the season, a perfect pumpkin or apple pie would be fine, although, it would not get featured on a big blog on the internet.
The faces themselves have a convincing otherworldly aspect, as if they were drawn by a ghost. A five year old ghost, with no knowledge of what a face actually looks like.
I can't say if supernatural events occur, but I can say that the credulity of people, and their willingness to be fooled is almost beyond belief. And depressing.
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
John McCrae
I understand fire though. I grew up in Northwestern Ontario (look west of Thunder Bay ON on Google maps) and we had major fires every summer. One year there was one fifty miles wide, and twenty from north to south about fifty miles from us - towns evacuated from the smoke, fears of towns burning up. I remember it well. I went to school in Wilmington CA and I remember fires in the hills. Makes you wonder why people live there. - Our thoughts are with you ... Dougall
I was living in California in the seventies, and I remember people getting second, third and fourth mortgages on their houses at increasingly high interest rates. Eventually many had 100% of their value mortgaged. When housing prices dipped (I've noticed that prices for houses sometimes go up and down - funny that bankers never have!) home 'owners' found that their debt was larger than the value of their homes. With no immediate hope of profit, or even breaking even with a sale, and with no real ownership interest, many simply walked away from the properties and their debt.
I remember at the time thinking how difficult it was to get a mortgage at home (Canada) with the requirement that you put up a large part of the purchase price from your own savings.
What's the lesson in this? I'm not sure, probably some old saw about not trusting bankers or politicians, or that something you get for nothing is worth the cost.
Good luck to us all. My family is doing OK (although I work a lot of 12 hour days), and my city seems alright. Maybe we shouldn't pay too much attention to all the doom and gloom, and just live our lives as best we can.
Too many times I have seen parents who treat kids as an annoyance and an imposition in their life. Kids are the greatest joy and the greatest challenge you can take on, and they are eminently worth it.
By the way if you lived in Canada as I do (or lots of other civilized places) the health care cost would be zero! To our American cousins: get a grip on your health care - there are better ways. I can't imagine wondering if I should take my child to the hospital to have an ear infection treated because I might not be able to afford it.
"Gum in your hair? Scientists have a solution
Non-stick gum is easily plucked from shoes — and still tastes good"
Believe it or not this was the headline for the story about the gum on MSNBC today