This horse is a superb example of the Akhal-Teke breed, “famous for those individuals who have a golden buckskin or palomino color with a distinctive metallic sheen.” (from Wikipedia).
I’ve seen a lot of discussion around various fora that debate whether or not this horse is real or digital or photoshopped, but it’s a genuine example – and a beautiful one – of an exotic breed.
More photos at Imgur.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
A collection of beautiful and unusual cloud formations. The 5th one in the series is an obvious photoshop of the second one, but all the rest appear to be genuine, and breathtaking. Here are three samples:
Meterological phenomena are captivating.
Photo ©Mike Baker
This stunning sun pillar was photographed in Clarissa MN on 11-22-2010, but I can’t remember who sent it to me. I saw a perfect moon pillar once, but sadly had no camera with me to capture it. Sundogs, haloes and pillars are formed when ice crystals in the atmosphere align in particular ways to reflect light. To see one is a rare and impressive event.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Gregory Ciotti explains the science of productivity and the Zeigarnik Effect – read his full post here.
This effect was well-known long before the advent of electronic distractors such as Facebook and Twitter – in 1900, Gelett Burgess described me to a “T” in his book, Goops and How to Be Them:
In his powerful book When Good Intentions Run Smack Into Reality, the late Brian Klemmer described four different ways of approaching problems:
With the star representing a given goal and the rectangle a given obstacle,
I do best when I make and prioritize to-do lists and stick to them. The old saw “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” I have heard often enough to make me want to slap every HR manager ever minted, but there’s truth in it.
I’m going to do better…
tomorrow.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
A friend of mine pointed me to this today, and it’s too good to keep to myself.
In the 1970s, professor J.R.R. Tolkien made a few audio recordings of some readings from his works The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings which were released through the spoken-word label Caedmon Audio. Around the same time Tolkien authorized a adaptation of The Hobbit to be made through the UK record label Argo Records which had been absorbed by Decca Records at the time. This adaptation was spearheaded by Demi Demetriou who enlisted the help of the Scottish actor Nicol Williamson. His talent with voicework allowed him to collaborate with audio director Harely Usill in re-editing the original script, removing many ‘he said, she said, said so and so’ etc, and relying instead on his vocal character performances to convey who was saying what to whom. As a result the resulting abridged version of The Hobbit was both dramatic and unique without an over-reliance on the descriptive narrative.
The recordings were released on 4 vinyl LPs in 1974 by Conifer Records. This version been sourced from such a set and is offered under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
In memorandum of Nicol Williamson (1936 – 2011)
We’ve listened, precious, and we loves it.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
The only known footage of the great American humorist and philosopher. I had never seen this before.
“Silent film footage taken in 1909 by Thomas Edison at Stormfield (CT) at Mark Twain’s estate. Twain is shown walkng around his home and playing cards with his daughters Clara and Jean. The flickering is due to film deterioration, but this is the only known footage of the great author.”
How wonderful that YouTube allows us to see amazing old films like this, and preserve them for future generations. It’s no secret that Mark Twain is at the very top of my “love to read” list.
“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
-Mark Twain
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Found a collection of these over at Pleated Jeans.
Yeah, I have a few of these lying around, and a machine that will read them.
by James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)
James Whitcomb Riley was one of America’s most popular poets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often known as the “Hoosier Poet” and the “Children’s Poet.” He often wrote in dialect; his transcriptions are delightful and evoke a simpler and more bucolic America.
Read this poem by firelight with some good dramatic intonation, and you can give the little ones nightmares for a week!
“Little Orphant Annie” by Ethel Franklin Betts
Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house to stay,
An’ wash the cups an’ saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away,
An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, an’ dust the hearth, an’ sweep,
An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, an’ earn her board-an’-keep;
An’ all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an’ has the mostest fun
A-list’nin’ to the witch-tales ‘at Annie tells about,
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘at gits you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
Black and white illustrations by Mildred Rogers Dickeman[1]
Wunst they wuz a little boy wouldn’t say his prayers,–
An’ when he went to bed at night, away up-stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an’ his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An’ when they turn’t the kivvers down, he wuzn’t there at all!
An’ they seeked him in the rafter-room, an’ cubby-hole, an’ press,
An’ seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an’ ever’-wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found wuz thist his pants an’ roundabout:–
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘ll git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
An’ one time a little girl ‘ud allus laugh an’ grin,
An’ make fun of ever’ one, an’ all her blood-an’-kin;
An’ wunst, when they was “company,” an’ ole folks wuz there,
She mocked ’em an’ shocked ’em, an’ said she didn’t care!
An’ thist as she kicked her heels, an’ turn’t to run an’ hide,
They wuz two great big Black Things a-standin’ by her side,
An’ they snatched her through the ceilin’ ‘fore she knowed what she’s about!
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘ll git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
An’ little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
An’ the lamp-wick sputters, an’ the wind goes woo-oo!
An’ you hear the crickets quit, an’ the moon is gray,
An’ the lightnin’-bugs in dew is all squenched away,–
You better mind yer parunts, an’ yer teachurs fond an’ dear,
An’ churish them ‘at loves you, an’ dry the orphant’s tear,
An’ he’p the pore an’ needy ones ‘at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns ‘ll git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
Listen to a rare 1912 recording of Riley himself reciting “Little Orphant Annie”
[1]Riley, James Whitcomb, A Host of Children, Bobbs-Merrill, 1920
Generations come and go. As we’ve often seen by what the Motion Picture Academy considers good films, compared with, say, the Golden Globes or the Sundance Film Festival – just being a big name doesn’t guarantee quality. And sometimes the most creative content slips under everyone’s radar.
If you’ve never watched Mike Jittlov‘s “The Wizard of Speed and Time,” you owe it to yourself to do so. This is not what you’d called “polished cinematography” by, oh, “Avatar” standards – but the special effects, done by one man in his effing garage, are absolutely brilliant.
And his song “Merry Birthday to You” (composed so he wouldn’t have to pay royalties for the old standby) is so much more fun than the boring, blah unsalted farina original.
Official Statement From the Family and Partner of Aaron Swartz
Our beloved brother, son, friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday in his Brooklyn apartment. We are in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing.
Aaron’s insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable—these gifts made the world, and our lives, far brighter. We’re grateful for our time with him, to those who loved him and stood with him, and to all of those who continue his work for a better world.
Aaron’s commitment to social justice was profound, and defined his life. He was instrumental to the defeat of an Internet censorship bill; he fought for a more democratic, open, and accountable political system; and he helped to create, build, and preserve a dizzying range of scholarly projects that extended the scope and accessibility of human knowledge. He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and technologist not to enrich himself but to make the Internet and the world a fairer, better place. His deeply humane writing touched minds and hearts across generations and continents. He earned the friendship of thousands and the respect and support of millions more.
Aaron’s death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. [1] Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death. The US Attorney’s office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims. Meanwhile, unlike JSTOR, MIT refused to stand up for Aaron and its own community’s most cherished principles.
Today, we grieve for the extraordinary and irreplaceable man that we have lost.
Read more at the official page.
[1] Aaron was being prosecuted by the US Attorney for illegally downloading 5 million academic articles from a subscription service. A beautiful tribute can be read at Laughing at Chaos, along with an examination of what it means to be “gifted.”
