thanks tails

Thanks Tails are tails for cars. An organ which express appreciation

After seeing the video I agree with Collision Detection that this robotic proboscis is not entriely convincing as a dog tail. This is despite the presence of a black lab in the video. And anyway - as a sign there are problems with a wagging tail, given the ambiguity.

That wonderful tail can say; "I am interested in that, I am challenging that, I will dominate that, I feel very confident right now, I am relaxing now, I am scared right now and feel threatened, I am confused right now and don't know what you want me to do, or, I will protect you now and I will be aggressive...source

I remember Doug wagging his saying I will dominate that as he encountered another male dog in the park -a preliminary to dog rage. Perhaps the car could have a set of hackles to switch into unequivocal aggro mode.

And Bronte is a dog that has the submissive tail wag that in traffic wouldn't be saying 'thanks' as much as 'help'.
I want to enter this pack so please don't hurt me. I am willing to be submissive to the Alpha tanks.

I enjoyed sequencing with this Sequencer (via Sarcasmo) where the sounds have a Tati-esque quality (eg #13)

So I went looking for some Tati and found some here

at El Poder de la Palabra which is quite amazing:
The Power of the Word ... fragments of 2146 literary texts, as well as the biography and images of its authors....with works of art, images of architecture and classic and cinematographic music

The cinema composers and top classic music samples will keep me going for a while.

I used Google translator to read some of the literary texts by countries including Australia - and our famous expat novelist - Peter Sea Turtle

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bing's intensity

We feel we've captured Bing's intensity and inspirational spirit in our tribute to this American Icon.


via monty python dolls via life in the present

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Comments: bing's intensity

Think the sculptor must be related to some of those court artists. I gazed upon the model and thunk, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ... starring Fred Astaire."
Posted by Sedgwick at November 29, 2004 01:12 PM

... but my optics deceive me! I do believe it's Stan Laurel.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 29, 2004 01:17 PM

"Yes officer, I'm sure. It's definitely suspect 3. Gene Kelly. The one that married that princess from the Monaco Bar."
Posted by Sedgwick at November 29, 2004 01:23 PM

"Loved and remembered (enough to render?) by millions"

btw I have oft noted the decline of the art of Court Sketching, with the odd exception. Perhaps this is a conservative viewpoint, but is there a trend away from photo-fit Realism to pastelly Expressionism?
Posted by boynton at November 29, 2004 01:35 PM

Everyone wants to be the next Jackson Pollock.

The oddest thing to see is the courtroom sketch that appears on the teev news - pixelated! Disheartening for the talented courtroom artist* that their magnum opus should be seen so accurate as to require pixieskasing.

My hope is that if one day my Cayman Island Offshore Online Interactive Thimble and Pea Two-Up Facility turns turtle, I will be in a line-up with one of those all thumbs, finger painting court artists charged with the task of pointing the finger.

'Tis a strange and seemingly anachronistic trade.

*Oxymaroon (or possibly Prussian blue) alert.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 29, 2004 02:38 PM

http://www.nga.gov.au/International/Catalogue/Detail.cfm?IRN=45694&ViewID=2&GalID=ALL
Is this a fair likeness of the GG?

(would run it through the pixelate filter - but I guess you get the picture)
Posted by boynton at November 29, 2004 07:37 PM

Yes, when it comes to "intensity" I always think of the Bing - that white hot avater of burnin' soul.

And what's with this "Synchro-Motion technology" bit. I thought it already came with the original.
Posted by Nabakov at November 29, 2004 09:19 PM

saturday pic

It does seem particularly quiet out there today. Empty park apart from drafted junior cricketers, empty streets with residents underslept in the overnight heat.
And elsewhere in the blogosphere, turkeys and snow.
So it does seem timely to just post a pic from the NLA Collection and let it sit out the silence.


update 9:30 pm... Knew I should have run wth the roos

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Comments: saturday pic

"Commodore Buddy was already impressed with Betty's batting average, but when she reached up and produced a glass eye, Buddy's admiration turned to awe."
Posted by Sedgwick at November 27, 2004 09:31 PM

P.S. The comment would have appeared much earlier, but for constant messages about mysql appearing instead of mycomment.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 27, 2004 09:35 PM

Yes, the mysql server totally melted down. My hair has gone a paler shade of grey.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at November 27, 2004 11:29 PM

A leg glance down to deep mid-dinghy for four, and suddenly this match was alive.

(I was going to put in the second pic earlier - thought it might add a 'consequence' ;)
Posted by boynton at November 27, 2004 11:30 PM

In the process, Sedge's 3rd comment on the running of the roos has walked...
(There was nothing editorial going on there Sedge!)
btw- "a slow saturday"- was this a classic Mozz?
Posted by boynton at November 27, 2004 11:32 PM

Tim Lane would be proud, Miss B.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at November 28, 2004 12:08 AM

Calls for the third comment.

"Yes Ritchie, it's out. Don't think he made it through for the 3rd, so Sedgwick's on his way back to the pavilion for just 2."

"Yes Tim, it's a pity he didn't walk."

"Yes Ritchie, instead he chose to run with the warts and all story of Cromwell's adventures in Papiloma where old Ollie learnt you can’t run with the hares and hunt with the hounds at the same time unless you're wearing a Lord's Protector. I really don't think it was ever on."

"Well observed Tim, now back to the game. Gillespie makes his way to the pitch, which neatly get's us back to jack tar Buddy and the amazing uni-ocular Betty on the deck of ..."

"Goodness Ritchie, it appears that one of the spectators has collapsed in the stands."

"Well spotted Tim, but I don't think it's anything too serious. In fact I believe I know the chap concerned, and sadly I've seen it all before. It's that Tony Taylor. Happens to him all the time. He gets out there in Bay 13. Hot afternoon. Has one pun too many and, well, the result's there for everyone to see. I really have to say that I don't think it's good for the game."
Posted by Sedgwick at November 28, 2004 07:04 AM

"Punstroke.

That man should be capped.

You'd have to say, though, that otherwise the crowd has been remarkably well-behaved given the slow conditions. I thought we might have seen the odd outbreak of innuendo, but luckily there has been no maidens in slips with fine legs and the like, no googlies as far as I know and no no balls.

I don't know what the story is with Deniliquin though"
Posted by boynton at November 28, 2004 10:17 AM

Suspect it's the mid off season for silly points.

"Come all without, come all within,
You'll not see nothing like the Denili quin."
Posted by Sedgwick at November 28, 2004 11:26 AM

Except maybe the MOama Quaddie.

Wonder how Buddy would bet.
Posted by boynton at November 28, 2004 12:14 PM

Buddy would have had a go at the multiplicity of multiple bets available at the TAB.*

*The prodigal Australian son of the National Bank of Nigeria, formerly known as "The Lucky Shop" (©Cash Converters).

The Duet, Quinella (Sub-species: single, box and roving banker.), Exacta (Sub-species: single, box, standout and roving banker., Trifecta (Sub-species: ditto.) Mystery 6, Running Double, Daily Double, Quaddie and Parlay.

Fair chance Buddy would have cleaned up big time ... providing his Bet had her eye in.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 28, 2004 01:59 PM

I always liked the sound of Exacta, although it makes a flutter very serious all of a sudden.

To gamble absoloutely sounds like gamboling
with intent.

And where did they end up gamboling?

Posted by boynton at November 28, 2004 08:31 PM

What IS it about Deniliquin and roos? I went there. Once. Easter 1975. Stayed on a farm with my family. Our host, the farmer arrived at dusk. "Ready to chase some roos?" he yelled. We all piled into his station wagon and took off across the scrub. Within hours we saw our first roo. Then many more. The 'sport' was literally to drive along side them. His party trick was to pat them, as they bounced while keeping one hand on the wheel. It was...memorable...and nothing much had changed in those intervening years since the photo but I don't remember the grass being as long...
Posted by Nora at November 29, 2004 06:52 PM

beerbohm

Coventry Patmore preaches very vehemently to the Rossettis that a tea-pot is not worshipful for its form and colour but as a sublime symbol of domesticity

From an on-line version of Rossetti and His Circle by Max Beerbohm

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Comments: beerbohm

I dont think Mrs Rossetti is very impressed, by the look of her. And rightly so. If a man's home is his castle, a woman's teapot is her...?

Does she give Mr Patmore a poke in the eye? He looks a right bastard. I would.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at November 28, 2004 01:51 PM

Hmmm... Caravan? ;)

http://www.teapottery.co.uk/Mid-Size_Teapots_4/Caravan_42.htm

(a recycled link)

No, I don't think she buys it. Spouting again?

But from what I read in a book (bought on Friday)
it seems the domestici-tea was rather strained.


Posted by boynton at November 28, 2004 08:23 PM

Whenever I play 'what teapot is that' I'll be sure to drop you a line.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at November 28, 2004 11:46 PM

allotments

worm eating vegetables while man sleeps in the sun

...we shall feel like taking a snooze in the deck chair or lying down under a tree, instead of getting on with those gardening jobs that must be done


The temperature is climbing into the thirties and it's buy nothing day.
If I was to nick down to the op-shop I might look for and then, if I was lucky, not buy some old ephemera like these marvellous Allotment & Garden Guides
A series leaflets published by the U.K. Ministry of Agriculture in 1945 on view at earthly pursuits

I've had a wonderful wander through the Jerusalem Artichokes, Potatoes, and assorted lines like these:

The teeth of an iron rake should be riveted firmly or they will soon fall out.

Blight spores don't work down the stems to the tubers, as some people think

The Ministry does not rule out flowers altogether

But this site was merely one of the bumper crop of links up at Ramage's Cabbage special. I could pinch them all.

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Comments: allotments

Hey, you pinch my cabbages and I'll get Mr McGregor after you:

"MR. McGregor was on his hands and knees planting out young cabbages,but he jumped up and ran after Peter, waving a rake and calling out, "Stop thief!""

(Just kidding)
Posted by dave at November 27, 2004 07:09 AM

"He lost one of his shoes among the cabbages, and the other shoe amongst the potatoes"

I think Peter could lose a shoe or two among the cabbages of Mr. Anderson.
Posted by boynton at November 27, 2004 09:55 AM

trivia blog

and a Trivia blog Three Bits o Trivia (21 Facts Per Week) (via grow a brain)

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Comments: trivia blog

Swine.

Just thought I'd say that. It's a funny word, you know.
Posted by Tony.T at November 26, 2004 01:41 PM

sow is hog ;)
Posted by boynton at November 26, 2004 01:45 PM

Oink that the truth.
Posted by Tony.T at November 26, 2004 02:29 PM

I cannot tell a porker...


"As Homer Simpson could tell you, pork rinds are just deep-fried chunks of pig skin"

http://lexicon.typepad.com/triviums/2004/11/unbeaten_streak.html
Posted by boynton at November 26, 2004 05:32 PM

Yes, but, I already chew that.
Posted by Tony.T at November 26, 2004 07:33 PM

Well I Never chew that.
I prefer Gilt-free cuisine.

(Warning: Pun Reserves are dangerously nearing the Ham and Boar stage)
Posted by boynton at November 26, 2004 08:13 PM

Typical. Those Pun Reserves always sty too long.
Posted by Tony.T at November 27, 2004 06:38 PM

mona

John Milton used 8,000 different words in his poem, "Paradise Lost."

That's the long and the short of Trivia for you. One of the many facts that might be useful in esoteric conversations at Corsinet Trivia Collections (via J walk)

So now I know The Mona Lisa, by daVinci, is 2'6" by 1'9".


But did you know Mona sings! (via grow a brain)

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Comments: mona

Yes, but there's three words that that young Johnny Milton, (a sexy monomanical charismatic preacher who's picture, painted at the time and now hanging in the UK National Portrait Gallery, makes him look just like the lead singer in a great brit band - Jarvis Cocker meets Ian Curtis meets Morrissey- but better looking than all of them, albeit in a dark foxy way) didn't use... "to be continued".
Posted by Nabakov at November 25, 2004 08:10 PM

Quite. And not forgetting:
"If Lost Please Return"

and possibly
"Late return will incur a fine"
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 11:54 PM

swimsuits

The National Geographic Swimsuit Collection - the splashiest collection of swimsuit photograpghs ever published
A sample gallery (via Plep)

And by the way - this is a highlight of the NLA Swimsuit Collection

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Comments: swimsuits

Oh, the temptation, the temptation!

Manfully yeilding not to.

But, do note that such woollen swimming costumes (if they are such, and I think they are - riding and swimming on the sheep's back) would be decidedly hazardous for the weak swimmer in that they at least doubled their weight when immersed.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 25, 2004 02:30 PM

Swimming with weights?
An early form of Xtrem Swimming?

Wonder which bather is Leopold?
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 03:27 P

brontes

Note scribbled in back of Anne's Prayer Book

Her wounded feelings are clearly evident in a note which she scribbled in the back of her Prayer Book: in the minutest 'Brontë script' she declares: 'Sick of mankind and their disgusting ways'. The writing is so tiny it is difficult to read without the aid of a magnifying-glass

Anne Brontë - The Scarborough Connection (via Plep)

 

January 8, 1845
Monsieur, the poor have not need of much to sustain them -- they ask only for the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table. But if they are refused the crumbs they die of hunger. Nor do I, either, need much affection from those I love. I should not know what to do with a friendship entire and complete - I am not used to it. But you showed me of yore a little interest, when I was your pupil in Brussels, and I hold on to the maintenance of that little interest -- I hold on to it as I would hold on to life.

This letter was written by Charlotte Bronte, English writer, to Professor Constantin Heger. There is no evidence that this love was ever returned by him

Romantic LoveLetters (via Exclamation Mark)

 

Emily and Keeper's relationship began as a fierce power struggle, but it became one of mutual respect. One reason for the transformation appears to be Keeper's consistent devotion and loyalty. With Keeper, she could feel safe and protected. This suggests how the dog's behavior and temperament influence the nature of each human-dog bond. In turn, Keeper was changed by his experiences with her. Early accounts describe Keeper as a dangerous dog, liable to attack anyone who tried to discipline him. After years with Emily, however, Keeper became a different dog, a quiet presence in the Brontë home. When Emily died after a short illness, observers were impressed by Keeper's grief-stricken behavior during the funeral services

Emily Brontë and Dogs: Transformation Within the Human-Dog Bond

vidlit

VidLit Yiddish with Dick and Jane (via fishbucket)

VidLits will not perform properly on dial-up connections.
(It performs well enough to suggest it would be pretty good to see properly)

macro lens

The narrow depth of field of the macro lens creates the illusion of little self-contained worlds, each complete with its own light, its own atmosphere, its own mood.

A stunningly beautiful post at Paula's House of Toast
found via fait accompli

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Comments: macro lens

speechless. thank you for that link.
Posted by kent at November 24, 2004 02:16 PM

One of those 'restores faith in blogging' links.
Posted by boynton at November 24, 2004 03:41 PM

Aren't they fabulous? Thanks for the pointer, B. I must find out more.
Posted by Dick at November 25, 2004 10:37 AM

me too.
Love the use of the medium here too.
Brief lyricism, visual narrative, and a link.

You have the intimacy of writer/reader and that sense of a wider web, interconnected conversations.

Could it happen as well in another medium?
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 03:46 PM

dog tale

She turned her back for a minute, and when she looked round, the dogs had disappeared

On Friday a friend asked me what I thought of the dogs falling off a cliff story... I felt rather shamefaced to admit I was not well versed in the topic.
(He didn't tell me that one of the dogs involved was a black labrador.)
I was reminded of the story via diversionz and then found this account which reads like a cross between a fairy tale and a nineteenth century shipwreck report along the Port Campbell coast.

'I walked along the cliff top to see if they were up there and everyone I saw I spoke to and stopped, asking if they had seen the dogs.
'By the time I got home with my children from school we went out again and searched.
'The night was drawing in and it was getting foggy.
'We had to stop looking for them.'
As darkness fell the dogs still hadn't been found.

petrol pix

the chic picnic shot I hit to Sedgwick* in the comments was found after searching for an old engraving I had once seen. Who knew picnic could deliver such riches or so many pages at the NLA Picture catalogue?

This was another:
I think Ted and Paxie worked for Ampol and Caltex.

This is a fabulous Collection - and I've only browsed the middle range of pages rather randomly. But the descriptions alone are so good, you can take your pick:

The premier of South Australia, Thomas Playford, displaying great interest in the new Ampol electric pump during the opening of the Birkenhead terminal, 29 September, 1950

Sir James Bisset, right, presenting a barometer to Thomas Playford, premier of South Australia, during the opening of the Birkenhead terminal, 29 September, 1950

Mrs. J. Robertson, Mrs. B. Weaver, Mrs. F. Egginton and Mrs. J. Evans in a class studying the recording of lubrication services conducted by A. Hollings at a merchandising school for lady service station operators, Flinders Park, South Australia, May, 1953

Portrait taken at the Birkenhead shipping terminal office of the Ampol programme sellers for the Jack Davey Ampol Show New Year's Eve special for charity held at the Davis cup arena, December, 1956

and my current favourite where the photo outdoes the description:

Mr. A. Hollings, Superintendent Marketing Development, demonstrating to Merchandisers the advantages of the new modern service station layouts in front of a map of Adelaide, April 1953


*any alt readings of the pix and misc. marginalia by Sedge would be most illuminating

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Comments: petrol pix

Damn you boynton, and damn your picnic link to Hell!

Yesterday I spent far too much time at the NLA site than is good for my futile imagination. (Such treasure troves are sirens to the ear bent - and a mind similarly inclined to procrastination.)

I feel a series coming on - vs a one-dayer. Caption heaven is the NLA site. (And do they have rabbits?! Akubras by the ute load!)
Posted by Sedgwick at November 23, 2004 01:40 PM

You should try it on dial-up with a sluggISH ISP!
The treasure unfurls v-e-r-y slowly, but wot else can ya do with such a trove.

I was so enlightened by your reading of the pic.pic. that I was actually thinking this could be a good thing to do here. (snap) NLA Saturday or something. One photo for a slow day. With commentary. Hmmm...procrastinating...

(One link only - unlike today - when there are simply too many blue links for people to click through - but I just loved all those photos/desciptions and I didn't even get to the "wristlet and travelling rug" one)
Posted by boynton at November 23, 2004 01:57 PM

NLA Saturday ... bring it on!
Posted by Sedgwick at November 23, 2004 04:43 PM

alt. misc pix and marginalia all in one line. Impressive.

FXH - your site doesn't remember me. must be the new haircut or the tie nabakov recommended.
Posted by at November 24, 2004 12:15 PM

Yep - I thought it was a good line, taut and tautological at the same time ;)

when it doesn't remember you - it leaves a silent gap in the recent comments to symbolise amnesia I guess.

btw - hope I didn't somehow souvenir your Pen, FX?
Posted by boynton at November 24, 2004 12:24 PM

that is - I seem to have acquired (somehow) a very good pen - quite different to my usual no name cleanskin bic.
Thought it may have been in the exchanging of links at the blogger's do (what else would you expect bloggers to do)
Then again it may have been from Trivia etc...

/noticeboard.
Feel free to return to topic.
Posted by boynton at November 24, 2004 03:49 PM

mmh re pen - its possible, but I don't seem to be missing my good one/s.
In my job as Investment and Spiritual Advisor to the Victorian Jesuit Gaming Services I often get pens at conferences. Does it look like a conference pen?

PS: That's in Vestments.
Posted by FXH at November 25, 2004 02:07 PM

A conference pen? It isn't branded...
in fact I just scanned it very badly

http://tinypic.com/nthle

(Hope it's not yours (or that of any other blogger) now. Scanning and paintshopping have made me rather attached to it.
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 03:24 PM

hands

when I was thinking meta in that rambling post I saw this recursive Hand at J walk and thought there was something there akin to blogging.

I tried to find the tumbling house of cards at nobody here which I have twice linked to as another metaphor, but found instead Remember everything

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Comments: hands

nobody home is hysterical. wot a find
Posted by mallrat at November 22, 2004 04:15 PM

That's brill boyn!
Posted by Link at November 22, 2004 08:45 PM

Yep - bigfan of NH.
Just saw 'extra toes'...
Posted by boynton at November 23, 2004 12:29 PM

unsettled

Anyone who's feeling a little bummed out at Chris Sheil's recent departure from the 'sphere has just been handed another bummer
Gummo calls it a day.

I was indeed reeling from the loss of Back Pages on the day I met up with some of the bloggers for dinner and unveiling. BP was becoming the place to check into - a gpo. During the election there was that thing of everytime you'd refresh there'd be 3 more comments - what's the old media equivalent for such rapidfire discussion? Also Chris's reasons for stopping resonate. A big project like a book or a play is probably incompatible with the sport of blogging. As William Gibson famously noted

One thing that was immediately clear to me, from the first blog, is that this is not an activity, for me, that can coexist with the writing of a novel. In some way I only dimly apprehend, it requires too much of the same bandwidth (yet never engages anything like the total *available* bandwidth).

But, definitely, the ecology of novelization and the ecology of blogging couldn't coexist, for me ...

In this week of big planetary activity, with Scott (our generous host) also announcing a break, one of my favourite bloggers quietly reappeared after a year's absence. I had studiously kept the name on the blogroll as an act of faith or a souvenir of old paths. I may keep the Tugboat moored here for a while.

And suddenly there are blogs everywhere in a new wave.
I wonder if someone is charting it all, and can chronicle the skiffle and the currents? An index of genesis and exodus. A log of blogs.
You'd think the medium is built for auto-recording and archival study, with the digital traces of individual and group activity stored somewhere with a google master key, but perhaps that's one of the illusions of the game, and things can disappear into the ether here as in any old medium. We're all archived but it is essentially ephemeral, and a post about the weather will aways score comments. Never quite had the nerve to go completely minimalist and post the temperature (with a link to the BOM of course) but one day that may do as a forecast of hiatus. SomeI'mThing

An article on the academic dilemma of studying (colonising) weblogs noted:

This is part of the nature of weblogs: a personal expression of perhaps not community but an understanding of connectedness. To post online is to declare that you are part of something larger, even if the post is just in order to whine about dinner or about having lost a boyfriend. To study weblogs should not just be a study of form and technicalities, but of interconnectedness

Weblogs and the Dilemma of Academia (via Jerz's Literacy Weblog

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Comments: unsettled

"interconnectedness"

In a nutshell.

All as sweet as a nut.

Nutty sweetness.

Sweet nutiness.

Sweaty neatness.

No sweat!


Posted by Sedgwick at November 21, 2004 05:26 PM

Tempted to use "sweet nuttiness" as a replacement for "I rarely have a name y'know" - except I guess sweetness is in the eyes of the beholder.
Quite happy to be thought of as nutty.
Posted by boynton at November 21, 2004 05:40 PM

pink

Rounded a corner and suddenly saw a pink bear in a grevillea. Don't know if it was lost or found.
A kilometre down the track I almost stepped on a tiny pink hair brush that was either baby, barbie or fairy.
And then in an overgrown innercity garden I saw a single pink rose untended.

The day was too blue for linking, but maybe pink is the colour of the season.

such delight

I was priviliged to view things on a high speed connection which is about 1000 times faster than here, so caught up with the wonder of solipsistic.
And within the middle of the splendour of Somewhither is the most amazing canine show.( Do take it in Once again for Refusal.) I saw it 4 times running and it still caught my breath.

colour books

Books classified by colour (via J walk)

My own collection possibly suffers from a lack of Blue. Might scout the local haunts for some vintage teal.
 


If your books look sloppy, level the spines How to Use Books in Decor
Don't be afraid to display a favourite book open on a tabletop
5 Ways To Use Books in Decor

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Comments: colour books


You'll find some coverage of the event on my blog, ... here, to be precise:

http://urbanist.typepad.com/jarrett_walker_home/2004/11/update_only_in_.html

Peace, Jarrett
Posted by Jarrett at November 21, 2004 01:36 PM

Thanks Jarrett
Great photos - looks wonderful.
For some reason it is the blues that get me in, (although in op-shops I usually look for the orange of old penguins) and a shame that the whites (of the 80's stark chic and beyond) are so
highly represented. I remember the wave of black classics in the 70's, and have a few midcentury items of serious blue paperback...
Posted by boynton at November 21, 2004 02:10 PM

Speaking as a bookseller, we are perennially asked by absent-minded customers for books of which they can remember neither the title, nor the author, but only that "it was blue...". A colleague of mine, faced with one such enquiry, after a hard morning at the bookface, drew himself up to his full height, and replied, with dignity, "Madam, you are in luck, for I am in charge of all the blue books in the shop."
Posted by dave at November 22, 2004 07:29 AM

Are you tempted to fend of the bookseller blues by arranging your books by colour, Dave?
Maybe it should be a thing like an annual "stocktake" - "Closed for Colour Alignment" - followed by a Colour Sale.
Posted by boynton at November 22, 2004 12:04 PM

I might suggest these ideas of yours to t'Management. I think they'd go down well. My own books are arranged in heaps, on the floor, mostly...
Posted by dave at November 25, 2004 08:32 PM

One day I'm going to attack my library stacks and colour code the heaps.
Posted by boynton at November 25, 2004 11:58 PM

does a computer

Does A Computer Make Mistakes?
(the punching and verifying machines are identical in appearance)

There is something about computers that is both fascinating and alarming

How It Works...The Computer a scanned Ladybird 1971, 79 (via I like)

silhouettes

met some bloggers in brunswick. still recovering. *


Names Unknown (from drawings made by a Pilot)

from Silhouettes of Aeroplanes 1917 (via life in the present)


* from the no name cleanskin bubbly, I mean.

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Comments: silhouettes

"No Name cleanskin bubbly"...

That sounds like a description of you, Boynton.
Posted by Nora at November 19, 2004 03:25 PM

Not so much of the 'bubbly', ok...
Posted by boynton at November 19, 2004 03:32 PM

'Twas the Turkish coffee that did for me. Still too wired to sleep.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at November 19, 2004 07:01 PM

Nabakov owes you a drink.
Posted by mallrat at November 19, 2004 08:12 PM

Stayed away from the coffee, Gummo.
Cold caffeine today. is it.

Does he, mallrat?
That's a relief. I thought I owed him a drink.
Posted by boynton at November 19, 2004 11:09 PM

Nabs is not counting. As long as he can still move, he will talk - but I am not so sure about the adding up.

Meeting youse all was a heap of fun. Boynton turned out to have exactly the grace I imagined.

I truly didn't think that F.X. Holden would roll up disguised as an investment banker for a monastery with a particularly good line in ancient bottled decoctions.

Gummo looks like a cross between Bakunin and an Ent :) - I have aimed for that image in my time but failed due to my fine anaemic hair and the tendency for my skin to go veinous rather than barklike.
Posted by David Tiley at November 20, 2004 11:01 PM

mallrat has described it as akin to a "weird blind date" and it is that kind of territory - a reversal of familiarity. Lost long relatives.
A swap meet of the real and imagined...
However it was all suprisingly enjoyable, and consolidates the sense of community.
Hope we can do it again sometime.
Glad Nabakov lost count, I'm sure it's me who (ungraciously) piked on my round. I think I owe him a Robinson's Barley water.
Posted by boynton at November 20, 2004 11:32 PM

"Hope we can do it again sometime."

A Manetic pique nique
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/wombat3041/Comments/manet05.jpg

or perhaps something more Picassoesque?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/wombat3041/Comments/picasso_dejeuner.jpg
Posted by Sedgwick at November 21, 2004 09:17 PM

A picnic would be lovely.
Maybe with a naked man, eh.

(I'm sure I've seen a different take on that with the male herbal picnickers in the raw)

in the meantime
http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an12799997
Posted by boynton at November 21, 2004 11:26 PM

"in the meantime"

What is notable about the photo is that it chronicles the advent of the revolutionary AWA Crystal Set Walkman. Dorothy here captured in gelatin, finger snapping along to "A Tisket A Tasket".

The day after the picnic Cicely decided to purchase her first pair of Fletcher Jones ladies' slacks.

The swashbuckling Randall (left) was soon to leave Australia seeking fame and fortune in Hollywood. Sadly he was overlooked for the lead role in "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" in favour of Errol Flynn. Returning to Australia in the same year, the undaunted Randall resurrected his aborted film career, spending the next 20 years as "The Man outside Hoyts".

Reginald (center) fared much better in Hollywood, starring in many films under the stage name, Frankie Avalon.

Percy (right) was to die a lonely and tragic figure soon after his best-selling autobiography, "The First Principal at The Heidelberg School - a Fortunate Life is Such" was exposed as fraudulent.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 22, 2004 08:30 AM

Chuckling.Out.Loud.Rolling.On.Travel.Rug.

Poor Percy. Perhaps he was writing "A Fortunate Sock" and suffered writer's block?
A Fraudulent Sock?
In another era he may have been a weekend colour supplement.


Posted by boynton at November 22, 2004 12:20 PM

Doesn't nabakov owe everyone a drink?

INcluding the poor dopey sods at the pokey place he shouted at!!

I owe you all the deserts I ate...
Posted by Martin Pike at November 22, 2004 07:06 PM

Whose shout was it at the pokies?
It was short and sweet there anyway...

& FX owes the machines a coffee I think.


Posted by boynton at November 23, 2004 12:25 PM

Re the aircraft silhouettes - the one on the left is a Pfalz scout and on the right, a member of the Albatri family, albeit with badly rendered tailplanes (which we'll all suffer from sooner or later). Ask me a hard one why don't you.

Jez, it feels funny commenting now I know who you are and want what yoiu look like - and vice versa.

Bit like seeing yer parents undressed for the first time.

Not that that's anything wrong with that. I mean I'm not thinking of you undressed like my parents - no, no, I mean I'm not thinking of undressed people - No, I mean I'm not talking on blogs about undressed people who are not you - No, no I mean I mean not talking about undressing my parents - No! I mean - oh fuck it, lets get naked and worship the sun.

Failing that, Dunlop volleys, Earl Grey (with a slug of gin), mustard and cress sandwiches, baklava and a cold VB, the hiss of freshly popped tennis ball cans, chalked baselines and disputed line calls anyone?
Posted by Nabakov at November 25, 2004 07:41 PM

"want what yoiu "

that should read "what you ".

Not a fraudian slip.
Posted by Nababov at November 25, 2004 09:01 PM

Indeed Nabs, naked parents should neither seen nor heard. I'm still recovering from seeing the naked 18 stone, 6' 6", bearded scottish dwarf aka Mallrat.

Picnic in the park (a neddy of that name raced into his own equine immortality) seems to be gaining momentum.

Anyone for a reenactment of the 'Blow Up' tennis scene. (Other 'Blow Up' scenes optional, but suspect wee Jock McMallrat is no Veruschka.)

Having watched "Last Orders" last night, have to say that David Hemmings seemed to have aged ... well ... agedly - to point of shuffling off. With eyebrows that Ming could have only dreamt of.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 25, 2004 11:23 PM

For some reason I often think aeroplanes when I think blogosphere. Hope it's not the mere presence of 'sphere'.

Where do we lob for Tennis? The Earl Grey and Gin sounds like a pretty good combo, (maybe with a dunlop chaser or a whitener snifter)

Hope Sedge keeps that in mind with the hamper happening. Glad to hear it may have legs.

Is this the territory?
http://libapp.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus/ENQ/PM/FULL1?391459,I

(I saw "Last Orders" not long ago - and thought the same thing.)


Posted by boynton at November 26, 2004 12:36 AM

Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw.

Was just watching "Blow Up" on DVD the other night. David Hemmings is even prettier than I remembered, Jane Birkin made zero impression and the overall plot is even more pointless than I remembered - but that park, with the wind rustling the trees, is still haunting.

Plus didn't Jimmy Page have a great smile as Jeff Beck lost it at the Ricky-Ticky club.

And I want that aeroplane propellor so bad. I reckon it came off a DH9.
Posted by Nabakov at November 26, 2004 01:28 AM

Mmmm, aren't those last two on the right, the long lost adopted out Kennedy children.

Pity Hemmings shuffled the short straw, had him pegged for the lead role in a Kingsley Amis bio-pic. He had developed a fine unlean, hungry, choleric and curmudgeonly look.

Picnic, tennis, Earl Grey and gin, mustard and cress sandwiches. A game of charades cannot be far away.

... and umbrellas.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 26, 2004 11:44 AM

Don't want to rain on your charade, Sedge, but I think I may prefer a quick round of 20 questions, (Would I be wrong in saying that I am a vegetable?) sardines or 'hide the thimble'.
Posted by boynton at November 26, 2004 11:40 PM

... or one of my childhood favorite games, "Consequences".

Strips of paper, a Staedtler HB and rudimentary origami skills.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 27, 2004 10:47 AM

I'm an old hand at "Consequences"

unplugged version of 'new digital' generators.

good for picknicking bloggers who migt be feeling nervous about being offline for 2 hours. ;)
Posted by boynton at November 27, 2004 11:10 AM

abram games

Reading the Natural History of the Visual Pun led to this gallery
Some of the most memorable graphic images of mid-20th century Britain were the work of the designer ABRAM GAMES (1914-1996).

In 1932, Games was hired as a studio boy at Askew-Young, a commercial art studio. Never popular with his employers, he was fired in 1936 after being caught jumping over four chairs as a joke.

er

Did you mean: Remembrance?

Er. Think I did. My spellcheckers have been a bit slack lately.

Rememberance sounds diffident, or deliberate.
Rememberance Day sounds like there could be an umbrella in it.

cut ups

Cut-ups and the Internet An overview by Michael Stutz
(via Topher Tune's Times)

Lots of generators to play with. I put in a bit of my last decent post of original content - canine-centric of course - into the Shannonizer a web toy with delusions of literacy, and was most impressed with Lewis Carroll's version of A mobile for Flo...

And one thing I know: I don't think we would only say non-presence, because he sneezes, speaking absence, and she'd run under the Jubjub bird, it dead, ditto, but they are not exactly reassuring. The spatial confusion would have that bite, but they are usually less than excited to hear a familiar human voice on a familiar human voice on the frumious Bandersnatch!

pawalkrk

Visual Puns
via J walk - with more sites suggested in the comments.

pawalkrk comes from Rebus Puzzle Brainteasers

Might swipe this word as blogging shorthand for went for a stroll near the river with the dog and it was beautiful (which is roughly 30% of the average weekly content)
And then this dingbat   some I'M thing might also be useful as hiatus minimalism

another less puzzling take:A Natural history of the visual Pun

---

Comments: pawalkrk

If yer can lay yer hands on it it, you will purely love Ian Lee's "The Third Wor'd War: Apostrophe Theory" - which really pucks around with how puns puck around with us ontologically. But best read in an oncologically enhanced state.

On ya.
Posted by Nabakov at November 18, 2004 12:29 AM

not much trace of this book ON line?

Alas - sounds intriguing, for a military thriller.
Might have to check the SLV.
Posted by boynton at November 18, 2004 12:12 PM

I have a copy of "The Third Wor∞d War," and would not take £1000 for it, if I could not replace it. It is brilliant.
Posted by El Jamón Misterioso at October 17, 2005 01:28 AM

oh well, I will


search

and...
Posted by nv green at October 17, 2005 01:32 PM

Re- that Third Wor'd War:
Can't get a copy myself - and I wrote it!

ps
Mr Misterioso has made my day!
Posted by ian lee at December 2, 2005 01:05 AM

Re that Third Wor'd War
Can't get hold of a copy myself - and I wrote it!
Posted by Ian Lee at December 2, 2005 01:06 AM

Oh dear - things are lookin' crook when an author can't get hold of their own book. There seems to be a few about in cyberbookstores, but then when I was trying to secure 'Len Deighton's Action Cookbook' recently, most of the virtual copies listed had disappeared. Maybe they were display copies only...

I doubt whether Nabakov will want to lend anyone his copy now. May have to read it in the Rare Books Collection on site someday.
Posted by boynton at December 2, 2005 01:46 PM

Bonty's right, Ian Lee. No way am I lending out my copy of that extremely original and thought-provoking book "The Third Wor'd War". Obviously created by someone from the country that invented cryptic crosswords but had no need to invent surrealism - because, as some French theorist pointed out, the English at their most logical will always end up more surreal than anyone else.

And please take this as a compliment Ian - it's a great podulating on the meaning of how we see stuff book when you're taking some quality time to move your bowels. Beats the shit out of Berger's "Ways Of Seeing" or McLuhan and Fiore's "The Medium Is The Massage".

Anyway, anytime you're in Melbourne, you're utterly welcome to inspect my copy of your book while being plied with good local plonk.
Posted by Nabakov at December 13, 2005 10:40 PM

I is for idiosyncrasy. Also, individualism. Both grossly overrated.

The high anxiety alphabet (via fishbucket)

translations

And then I find myself drifting dreamily in agreement with him, back to my beloved East, and wondering, indeed, how on Earth it can be that we speak a language that has no equivalent for the most subtly delicious of all Japanese phrases: mono-no-aware, which means no more and no less than appreciating the sadness of existence. You see the cherry blossoms on the trees in Kyoto in April and you love them, but you love them most of all because you appreciate, so sadly, that soon they will all be gone. Mono-no-aware: a phrase, which like all Japanese words has every syllable pronounced, which deserves never to be lost in translation, and which serves as a reminder that the understanding of tongues other than our own offers us a chance to come to a better understanding of peoples other than ourselves—an understanding that can only be for the betterment of us all.

Simon Winchester In Other Words: A Foreword via wood s lot

more on mono-no-aware at language hat and the link to Jonathan Delacour's Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sadness


And on a different tangent (perhaps because it is impossible to be seriously sad on such a glorious day) I put the quote through this Online translator recently found by barista

It is possible to be to speak the language which most does not have
the equal amount for that how as for us all Japanese phrases being
tasty in the earth most delicately?: Monaural it is understood, above this or no it does not mean or,
either one recognizes the grief of existence, at times a little. But
you observe at that the cherry tree of the April and your Kyoto wood
loves those being to recognize, it loves those mainly, heavyheartedly,
those go so eventually entirely. Monaural it is understood: Phrase, are pronounced there are all syllables which or like all
Japanese word either one being lost with translation it is not worthy
of under any condition either one

World Lingo Online translator (via barista)

---

Comments: translations

Yoko means horizontal. I didn't know that. In other laingo related news ...

oont kis karwat baithta hai

Not necessarily "sits".
Posted by Tony.T at November 17, 2004 12:36 PM

Laingo, of course, is from the old English and means lingo.
Posted by Tony.T at November 17, 2004 12:37 PM

was sometimes...
http://www.a-i-u.net/bedin35_event.html

I Like "laingo" - sounds like a nice drawl.

Attaccabottoni
a few about in the blogosphere. Probably me on a good day.
Posted by boynton at November 17, 2004 01:41 PM

tennis bag

What To Pack In Your Tennis Bag

Must remember number 8 if I ever play Socially.

8. Telephone list of your fellow players and a pen for writing down tips or successful tactics or even the odd joke you might hear.

---

Comments: tennis bag

A priest, a rabbi, and an atheist walk into a bar and the bartender says, "What is this, a joke?"
-
Quick, write that down.
Hey - I just flew in from Idaho, and boy are my arms tired!
-
This blue state/red state thing has gotten way out of hand:
http://www.tropmet.com/marine.htm
Posted by vernaculo at November 15, 2004 08:32 PM

What sort of dope carries around paper and a pen?
Posted by Tony.T at November 16, 2004 11:08 AM

LOL.I would write those down but I forgot to pack a notebook into my tennis bag.
Though I could write the jokes on the canvas of my spare shoes - or scribble on the tennis balls if they were Giant size, as the Pro people do.

A great marine map. Bigger picture than the river levels.

Tony - only the social dopes apparently.
The Rookie Pros don't need to carry a pen. Maybe they are less humourous, or at that level can commit the odd joke to memory. Could be the effect of the Sunglasses with head hugging arms

But the Pen is mightier than the Power Bar.
Posted by boynton at November 16, 2004 01:04 PM

the hug

If someone is not home to receive a hug, the other person can leave a message that includes voice and vibration patterns. The Hug can store up to four messages.

The Hug - a robotic pillow. (via diversionz)

residue

Just as a point of interest,
tennis shoes, says Joe Souter
were actually whitened
with the residue that was created
by the generator
in the Attenborough’s church
at Dingley

I found this for a comments thread below. But the phrase is so wonderful it asked to be moved out of the box. It's from Big Night Out at the Kingston Narrative Projects

The whole article is full of the lovely phrases of social history, and of course Mordialloc Creek is a small poem in itself, or a third of a haiku.

gaps

interesting discussion on blogging and communication at Okir

---

Comments: gaps

Those "gaps" get filled with bloggy-putty.
Posted by Tony.T at November 14, 2004 09:46 PM

Thanks for pointing to that conversation w/a link, Boynton.

(Bloggy-putty, eh? Perhaps a new and useful product. I'm sure it's appropriately messy...)
Posted by jean at November 15, 2004 03:35 AM

It's a great discussion, Jean.

Bloggy-Putty is somewhere between Thinking Putty and Silly Putty I guess. Perhaps there's more boric acid in the mix.

And then, you know, just as the Gaps close:
http://www.selleys.com/product_708.htm
Posted by boynton at November 15, 2004 01:05 PM

Thanks for that link -- a fascinating read.
Posted by murray at November 15, 2004 07:59 PM

Indeed - I think sometimes it's ok just to point and click.
Posted by boynton at November 16, 2004 02:12 PM

rainfall and river level

"It was difficult to accept that I were boring. Especially with my interest in rainfall..." *

But I've been checking the rainfall and river level on foot and on line.

Around here, the Yarra is high.

---

Comments: rainfall and river level

And shovels. Don't forget the shovels.
Posted by Tony.T at November 14, 2004 09:25 PM

Boring? Climate? Boring?

When it comes that subject? subject? subject?, I don't think anything beats a brief review I once read of an Aus novel.

"A story of an unrequited love affair in a country town where soil salinity is a big problem."

"Truse up", as we youse'd say in Fiji.
Posted by Nabakov at November 14, 2004 11:15 PM

Haven't checked the shovel level lately, Tony. However:
http://www.contractorstools.com/foxycoalshovels.html

In all honesty, Nabakov, that sounds like my kind of book. Is there a shovel in that novel?
Posted by boynton at November 15, 2004 12:35 PM

No, just a hovel. It's on the Hume Highway.
Posted by Tony.T at November 15, 2004 05:31 PM

Not Avenel again?
I'd rather read about unrequited shovel along the Calder in Digger's Rest
Posted by boynton at November 16, 2004 12:44 PM

outer suburban

30 acres of brussel sprouts

For Sale Sale sign on "Twin View" estate

Stamford Hotel opening day

From the Photo Album at the Rowville Lysterfield History Project

toilet map

Bifurcated rivets alerted me to the Australian National Public Toilet Map

This led to the wonderful Trip Planner
You can plan a route from nearly any starting point to any destination in Australia. The system will identify the quickest route (by road or on foot) and create a list of nearby toilets

If, like me, you like your melways or street directory, this is a great find. I have been madly planning imaginary journeys on foot, or retracing old paths past toilets I never noticed. I went north south east west from various old locations and watched the quickest route mysteriously appear. While I am still content to passively gaze at the melways, this has added a new dimension to map-reading. Virtual walking.

---

Comments: toilet map


What a terrific site - mind you I stopped short of signing up for the monthly newsletter. I did have a practical use for this a couple of months ago when planning a trip across the outback, and it seemed to be pretty accurate. It all just proves that life really is a journey between toilet stops...
Posted by Phlip at November 12, 2004 03:55 PM

when you're travelling the (in)continent ;)

I've retraced some of my old paths and have found a couple of inaccuracies re toilets and suburbs, but am pretty impressed with it. I love the suggested route and estimated time of walking.
I tried to walk from country Victoria to here along the toilet map route, but the distance was too great for walking, apparently. Too long between breaks there indeed. Walking in the country town itself is ok though, which is fun.

btw Philip - the Melways has featured lately at Trivia. Still getting over the shock of not knowing that the new edition is 32 - I stare at edition 30 just about every night!
Posted by boynton at November 12, 2004 04:13 PM

According to the Toilet Map, my daily journey which takes 8 or 20 minutes by car (off peak or peak) will take 2 hours 16 minutes if I walk it. That's one hell of toilet stop!!
Posted by Nora at November 13, 2004 12:13 PM

Good to know your car is continent.
Guess it's a continental car.

(last use of the continent pun)
Posted by boynton at November 13, 2004 12:47 PM

Speaking of which:
http://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/002847.html#comments
Posted by vernaculo at November 13, 2004 01:53 PM

there are two toilets here - one inside, one outside.(I could plan the quickest route and draw a map and estimated time in seconds) Alas, the outside loo does not afford much of a view, unlike some country dunnnies I have visited.

Agree about the composting thing too -
have seen them here:

http://www.ceres.org.au/about/water/WaterTrail/watertrail/files/compost1.html
Posted by boynton at November 14, 2004 04:02 PM

---

tile

A single random scrabble tile   by kevan

could get rather addicted to this, searching for X

rememberance

At the 11th hour on the 11th day I heard a minute's chainsaw.

The Ballarat Avenue of Honour

The Ballarat Avenue of Honour is significant as the earliest known memorial avenue to have been planted in Victoria, and appears to have stimulated similar plantings throughout Victoria in the years 1917 to 1921. They predominate in Victoria with the greatest concentration in the Central Highlands around Ballarat. These avenues represent a new egalitarian approach in the commemoration of soldiers where service rank was not a consideration and are illustrative of a peculiarly Australian, populist and vernacular response to the experience of the First World War

see also Tambo Upper The Avenue of Honour Project

Historic Lysterfield Avenue of Honour

War Memorials in Australia
Victoria

---

Comments: rememberance

Ballarat P.O.W. Memorial is a new 'un.
http://www.ballarat.com/memorial.htm
Posted by Sedgwick at November 11, 2004 02:49 PM

A reminder to visit Ballarat and see it.
(Must avoid the big Eureka Fest crowds though...)

Years ago at Uni I went on a Aust History Field trip around the area. Finished with a vista of distant Skipton and its Avenue. (can't find a pic). It was a very poignant and physical image of loss for the small town.


Posted by boynton at November 11, 2004 03:01 PM

My old man (he of the never to be seen again midnight flit some 45 years ago - all that practice tunnelling out of prison camps [four in all] must have finally paid off) has his name on the POW memorial.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/wombat3041/10ds.jpg

Know Skipton well. Pretty place, periodically all but razed by bushfires.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 11, 2004 03:30 PM

Not quite white noise, depends how close you are and what level of hearing you have left! I think this must be the 11th year that I've remembered the 11th day but forgotten the 11th hour.
Posted by Link at November 11, 2004 09:31 PM

I will look out for it, Sedge.

Where can you escape white noise I wonder?
I tried, piously, to fall silent despite it. ;)

Actually if you have the radio on - as I did, expecting to be led through silence, you get a few seconds (it seems) of dead air and 'The Last Post'.
Posted by boynton at November 12, 2004 12:14 PM

This made me look for a memorial to the Australian merchant marine, which turns out to be here, with names, in Canberra. The sculpture was done in 1973.

I found it through the equivalent American site, which uses a similar idea, though actually in the ocean which is a noticeably absent commodity from Canberra. That was dedicated in 1991.. so I presume ours inspired theirs.
Posted by David Tiley at November 17, 2004 08:44 PM

hanky search

as random as a sneeze I found this googleads combo:



I like the sound of New Beginnings Hankies. It seems to go with this other Ad:

Handkerchiefs
discount new and used items
search for handkerchiefs now

Good to know there are places to find Used Men's Handkerchiefs.

Actually NBH does poetry on wedding hankies. I like the idea of weeping into verse. Ceremoniously. For crying out loud silently, sneezing lyrically.

There is also a good guide:How to Fold a Man's Handkerchief

And a nice cautionary line that I might choose to have printed on my hanky:

If you choose to have a monogram on your handkerchief, never let it show

cyanotypes

"...these images are shot with a tiny toy camera……creating a vignetting effect which evokes memories of places that used to exist. Yet these places still exist and give the impression of time having stood still"

Cyanotypes at Lana Z Caplan (via Penny Dreadful)


(The first image reminded me of this old haunt, but alas, I don't think it still exists.
I'd forgotten the tower.)


37 letters relate to feelings - nostalgia...
van Gogh's Letters unabridged and annotated (via the ultimate insult)

awards

The Vice Regal Comments Award Winners

I've slightly altered the date stamp to coincide with last week's big race.
A week on, no sign of hurricane, a sunny day, and the coin toss went boynton's way in the Awards. This is the Cup Day I didn't have. I might just have a sip of champagne and back Zazzman as the elusive roughie in the Trifecta.

masked dog

I don't know if it's an ISP conspiracy to get us dial-uppers all adsl.ed, but things are still very sluggish around here. The servers were officially addled yesterday - so the surfin was bad. I could say this is why I missed the post a cat day. Not a Friday and not a cat, but here is Flo the mad bluey. I photoshopped slightly to capture the masked bandit look. Who knows - under the mask there might be a spaniel.




And one thing I know: Flo will never get her own pet mobile (via J walk)

You can now call your pet anytime

I don't think we would have that much to say to each other.

Had he still been with us, I may have been tempted for a weak nanosecond to indulge Doug - except experience tells me that dogs are usually less than excited to hear a familiar human voice transmitted by telephone. They cock their ears in mild acoustic interest at best. Bronte - the cleverest here - much prefers random animal noises, but they are not exactly reassuring. Even if she did recognise my voice on her collarset, it wouldn't soothe her. The spatial confusion would trouble her. It would only say non-presence, speaking absence, and she'd run under the bed again.

And it is sobering to read on the Pets mobile site that Current estimates predict pet and pet related expenditures in 2004 to exceed $34.3 Billion in the US alone.
See post below.

---

Comments: masked dog

nice puppy

and very sluggish on the dial up here, too
Posted by Zoe at November 9, 2004 11:11 PM

Actually Zoe, she's not that nice ;)
(as compared to, say, a labrador, or most dogs really, although the pointy ears are growing on me. So to speak)
She was brought up on a farm, my flatmate inherited her, and she's still got the mad herder in her. Daily she impersonates a pet, but the wolf is always lurking. Oh well, she gives me filler on slow days - and as you say, it's very 'slow days' here at the moment.
So slow I almost took the broadband leap.
Posted by boynton at November 9, 2004 11:35 PM

Valiant Boynton! In genteel defense of the men of the forest.
There's a spirit map that explains the $34.3 billion US pet indulgences being side-by-side with vanishing primate cousins, not to mention songbirds and elephants, but that map's rather hard to find at the moment.
Thanks for the reminder that it's there.
Posted by vernaculo at November 10, 2004 10:36 AM

I suppose it's indulgences in general.
The indulgences of humans.
Consumer choices across the board.
It's just that the indulgent pet dollar sits so easily side by side.

Chasing up an $AUS figure I found this:
Aussies favour pets over foreign aid
http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/27/1090693953957.html
"An Australia Institute report, titled Overconsumption of Pet Food in Australia, estimates Australians spend more than $2.2 billion on their pets compared to foreign aid spending of less than $2 billion"

Pets are so often the prime example of warped priorities. I'd also like to see how other indulgences stack up. I bet Australains spent more on chlorine, cosmetics, cars, computers etc
Posted by boynton at November 10, 2004 11:07 AM

erm...

I bet "Australians" do too.

And I hope the map can resurface..
Posted by boynton at November 10, 2004 11:20 AM

Greetings, Scrivener -
You are allowed three mispellings daily, gratis, provided they're made in the interest of diligence and rapidity of locution. All others will be charged to your account, in the event we find it.

Cheers,
Grammar Board Ltd.
"Your Guardians of Proper Usage"
-
I have loved some dogs more than many humans, and in the mix of loved ones I recall I make no distinctions by species, because my heart insists that it be so.
It's not the pets' lives, it's the owners', that's where the fault is. It's a kind of environmental PCness to start with the symptoms and move toward the disease, because it's easier and simpler.
As though we're all units in some abstract accountancy.
We're not, I'm not anyway, and I don't think you are or I wouldn't have written this.
Posted by vernaculo at November 10, 2004 08:17 PM

Dear Board

3 free daily misspellings seems generous, but
even then the pressure to be foolproof is onerous. I suspect I may need to upgrade my Account. Do you offer a Plan with Unlimited typos and grammatical errors over a fixed term?

Yours,
Scrivenro

Posted by boynton at November 11, 2004 11:43 AM

o week

Orangutan awareness week (via J walk)

"It's clear we are losing the orangutans if nothing changes, so the present trend is directly towards extinction and, in three years from now, less than 1000 days, it will be too late."..

Orangutans, which share 97 per cent of humans' DNA, have an advanced brain and the ability to understand language, and they experience many human emotions.
Unlike humans and chimpanzees, orangutans are not inherently aggressive; rather, they are more peaceful and altruistic creatures. "The world would be a lot better place if we humans were a bit more like orangutans," Smits says
A Race Against Time

Willie Smits in Australia this week

havishams

a comment from Sedge inspired a hunt for havishams

A Rubber at Miss Havisham's
from Illustrations of Miss Havisham from Dickens's Great Expectations


Australian model for the character?
Eliza Emily Donnithorne's Great Expectations

from Great Expectations at The Charles Dickens Page

---

Comments: havishams

OD'ing on all the testosterone in the bloke logs, so I came over here for a flash of well turned ankle.

And also 'cos I came with a Dickensian Grt. Exptn. Haiku.

The table is laid
promises made and broken
like to strike gold lad?
Posted by Nabakov at November 9, 2004 01:14 AM

to testoterone
a hand amiss in the whist
BYO rubber

my haikus went blue
have some maderia m'dear
sure I havisham
Posted by boynton at November 9, 2004 11:50 AM

I should probably post this on the main blog but just saw this "World Haiku Review"
http://www.worldhaikureview.org/
at Plep
http://www.nutcote.demon.co.uk/nutlog.html#081104

"In Praise of Non-Japanese Haiku" is very good.
Wish I had studied it before dashing off those two
silly non-haiku haiku.
Posted by boynton at November 10, 2004 12:13 AM

floranova

Was it the wettest day in 10 years or something...
Walking around the waterlogged park last night was wonderful for colour and detail.
I logged on to identify grevilleas and found this example at this beautiful gallery:
(see australian)

cloth for you

"If you would want us to make for you a sports jacket which you would enjoy all the better as the years roll by, then 'Dog’s Bedding' is the cloth for you"
(from Blue Angel)

see also : Houndstooth Paw

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Comments: cloth for you

Dog's Bedding? Whoof!
Posted by Nora at November 5, 2004 05:37 PM

I wonder if it sheds?
Posted by boynton at November 6, 2004 12:59 PM

Houndstooth of the Baskervilles.

(Trivia and coincidence. A shop that once young Mr. graced Barkly Street Ararat was 'Scholes and Scholes'.)
Posted by Sedgwick at November 6, 2004 05:18 PM

voila?
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/b/2/7/doc/b27194.shtml

(can't read if that's Dripery or Drapery)

I only ever knew Buckleys and Nunn and Ball and Welch, myself.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3078506
Posted by boynton at November 7, 2004 01:10 PM

The Cust partner must have fallen off the twig and been replaced by Scholes Jr., as it was Scholes and Scholes in the days when I passed by on my way to buy my school lunch pie and piece of hedgehog (or chocolate eclair) from Crawford's Bakery.

The owners, the Misses Crawford (sibling Havishams) were truly 'Under Milkwood' characters in waiting.

Self raising shrouds of flour veil cock's crow-rising, gingham-pinafored, baking powdered-haired, nutmegged and cinnamoned-scented sisters coal scuttling from stoked-up stove to robby doyleyed shop shelves.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 7, 2004 02:38 PM

Beautiful, Sedge.
Hope that wins the VR Comments award.


btw: A bakery is a scary place for a Havisham to be.

"How old is the hedgehog?"
"Oh - quite fresh. 23 years, 4 months and 6 days.
Just like yesterday, really"

(Until recently - there was a piece of Havisham cheese sitting in the fridge here)

Posted by boynton at November 7, 2004 05:05 PM

Whoof's got an aitch?!? Well, I never. Arf!
Posted by Tony.T at November 8, 2004 01:45 PM

I think the aitch indicates the arf is high.
Which is whiffy.
Posted by boynton at November 8, 2004 07:09 PM

spaceholder

If that previous entry below reads strange
in a stranger than usual string
it's because I had written a few paragraphs about things not written
in the current apocalypso mood of reporting spring carnivals and elections
and then removed them anyway

I was relying on this generator to symbolise how dumb boynton sometimes seems.

But then the url itself went missing, a placeholder in its place, so I ditched the ponderous content-without a-tag, and cut straight to the Fishing

The empty space is a kind of placeholder of the great unsaid

pikachizer via the presurfer

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Comments: spaceholder

What was the middle bit again, Boynts?
Posted by Sedgwick at November 5, 2004 03:50 PM

Oh the usual gush about floods and locusts
FWIW - I saved it:

Pi chu Pika-chu pi Kaa Chu chu Pikaa Chuuu Pika-pikachu pika-pika -

Kaaa://chu.ka-pii-piikachu-kaa.chu/kachu-chuu-pika-pi.Pii

Kaaa://Pikachu.ka/pi-pikapi-pikachu-pikapi/pika-pika/pi-ka-chu/piikaa.pipi

CHU Piii Pi KA Pi-kaaa-chu-pi Pikapi. Pii PII Pikachu PI Piii Ka Pi-i KACHU KA Piii Ka-pika-pika Chu-pi-ka-chu Pi-i PIIKAA Chuuuu Kachu Chu-pi-ka-chu CHU Kaa PIIKACHU Ka. Chu CHU Pi CHU Chu PIKA-PIKA, CHU PI-KA-CHU Pi Kaaa Pii Chu PIIKACHU. Pii Chu PII Pi-ka-chu CHUU PI Kaa Piikachu PI Kachu Chu Piii, Ka CHUUU Pikachu Pi-i Pikachu Pika-pi, KA'Pi PI Chu Pi "PIII Pi-i PIKAPI Ka Chuuu KAAA Chu CHU Pikachu".
Kaa pii

pi-i ka piikaa kachu kachu, chuuu pii pi kaaa pi pii pikapi-pika-pi piika chu pi-i piii chuu. pi-ka-chu piikachu, chuuu-pika, pikaa, pikachu pika-chu pii pikapi, pi-chuuu-kaaa pikapi piika-chuu piikachu ka piikachu piika. pikachu pi-pika-chu piikachu pipi pii pika, pika ka pii chuuuu kachu...
chu pi-i pii chuu pi-kaaa-chu ka pikaa
Posted by boynton at November 5, 2004 04:00 PM

That's bloody censorship that is!

11 months of crafting for that submission. It was an oeuvre the likes of which is unlikely to pass this way again. I was primed for the difficult challenge of unlocking the secrets of its esoteric imagery and wideranging dissertation on the human condition. Minions were scurrying everywhichway humping encyclopedic tomes for the coming explication of universal truths within.

Bugger.
Posted by peacay at October 13, 2005 12:17 AM

piikaa-kaa pikachu-chu chuuuu
Pi chu Pika-pi kachu Ka pika-pi Kaaa Pi pikachu Pikaa Kaaa piikaa Pika kaa Chuuu pi chuu pi pika-chu chuu pi piikaa.
Posted by boynton at October 13, 2005 10:33 AM

meanwhile

successive posts beginning with meanwhile.
 

And a Survivor Fishing game (via the ultimate insult)

spiders

meanwhile there are always spiders...

This interactive* spider might help with the desensitisation process. Or not.
(via J walk)

I should probably pass this on to fellow hunstmen-watchers, Saint (who posted a rather chilling illustrated story) and mcb (creator of Vaughan)
 

*spiders are usually pretty interactive around here

twin handle

Meanwhile googling for wellingtons led to this lovely odd object

Twin Handled Fork


It Cuts Both Ways
Tools as Art the Hechinger Collection

O G

O well... The 2 Cup Day horses that fleetingly graced google au have gone for another year.
Put down your glasses.

In all the excitement I forgot to link to this historic Photographic panorama of Flemington 1903, but it may already be yesterday's news...

The www pace has now slowed to a near halt as the other big race is called.

attire

Dress made from 85 car parts (via things)

I think I prefer the dress made from 20 umbrella pelts.
(might be the better bet to wear to the races given the showery forecast. As long as the rain doesn't pelt down I guess. Not that I'm actually planning to go of course)

---

Comments: attire

I didn't know Umbrellas had pelts. Then again, I've only ever seen processed Umbrella and never spied one living wild in it's natural habitat. Perhaps you could put me in touch with David Attenborough. In fact, David may be able to clear up an issue regarding domestic v free-range Vinyls.
Posted by Tony.T at November 1, 2004 04:18 PM

You may have spied the Giant Beach Umbrella in the wild. In the baby boom years into the 60's and 70's these were quite a common sight, often running freely along the beach with their characteristic spike. Although generally benign, they have been known to get spooked by the wind and charge. Owners may have become complacent about the innate strength of of these temperamental creatures.

(update: guess the above is more ' umbrellas behaving wildly' than wild umbrellas but below is perhaps a better example:)

"While umbrellas will occasionally speak, they are not known for their ability to mimic. They are, however, very vocal..."
http://ottweet.com/parrot%20breeder%20umbrella%20cockatoo%20.htm
Posted by boynton at November 1, 2004 06:27 PM

Those Umbrellas have been know to create quite the backyard disturbance.

But back at the seaside, domestic Umbrellas were known to conceal coolibahs. At least, that's where I hid my coolibah.
Posted by Tony.T at November 1, 2004 07:40 PM

Reply think time has now expired.
Posted by Tony.T at November 1, 2004 09:22 PM

Oft seen on the beach is a burnt umbrella with its ultramarine blue parasol mate.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 1, 2004 10:02 PM

And oft joined by the Copper Tone?

(As in -
where's that jolly comeback you've got in your tuckerbag...)


Posted by boynton at November 1, 2004 10:44 PM

The Cars That Dressed Paris?
Posted by Nabakov at November 2, 2004 08:27 PM

Cup winning jockey salutes entrants in "Fashions on the Field".

http://img19.exs.cx/img19/1859/umbrellas_cup.jpg
"Melbourne Cup guest celebrity, the international jetsetting fashion diva Boynton Hilton stands out from the crowd in a very fetching off-the-shoulder green and white number."
Posted by Sedgwick at November 2, 2004 08:56 PM

Para Pluie

Les parapluies de Flemington...

They were certainly fetching and much fetched over the shoulders and heads of the punters...
Posted by boynton at November 2, 2004 11:07 PM

Floodington?
Posted by Tony.T at November 3, 2004 09:41 AM

Wellington

http://www.w-h-thomasandson.co.uk/wellingtons.htm
Posted by boynton at November 3, 2004 10:54 AM

Macky Diva
Posted by Tony.T at November 3, 2004 01:17 PM

or Mucky if you're in Wellington/s
Posted by boynton at November 3, 2004 01:43 PM

Any port in a storm, but only Para will do in a pluie.

(Ducks. Lovely weather for.)

All kitted up for the Oaks tomorrow.
http://img44.exs.cx/img44/4296/gg_oaks.jpg

BTW Boynts, the latest addition to the family (son of The Wallflower, grandson of Always Alone) survived its fraught (touch and go) first week and is now flourishing.
http://img73.exs.cx/img73/8638/wallflower_foal3a.jpg
Posted by Sedgwick at November 3, 2004 10:39 PM

A strong contender for Feathers on the field.

And what a beautiful foal. May he continue to flourish.



Posted by boynton at November 4, 2004 03:09 PM

He flourished before his time - premature but still 50 kg (which is quite big), breach birth and 1st week on the end of a plasma drip, what with the surprised mother being lactationally unprepared.
Posted by Sedgwick at November 4, 2004 09:58 PM

dreamin

Yes it is my kind of luck to dream about the Melbourne Cup winner - but only in the tipping sense. I didn't actually see the winner over the line, I was just telling people who I thought would win. A bet each way on the paranormal there.
A few female family members have had lucky dreams. I don't know if they were all adrenalized by the thought of horses though...

My own take on the phenomenon focuses on the link between the emotion of excitement and a childhood fascination with horses. While many of the race dreamers professed no interest in horse racing prior to their dream, all confessed to being enthralled with horses, and adrenalized by the thought of them, more than any other animal Dreaming Horse Race winners

in any case, it's always good to know who owns the copyright...

Q What happens to my dream if it wasn't chosen?

A All unused dreams have been wiped from the hard drive, and you retain copyright of the dream

from Dream Sequence FAQ
via grow a brain

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Comments: dreamin

Dream a little dream...
http://www.slowwave.com/
Posted by vernaculo at November 2, 2004 06:43 AM

Nah, not worth followin' it darling.

Heard the race called on a car radio, driving through Apollo Bay and, as usual, a horse won.
Posted by Nabakov at November 2, 2004 08:47 PM

V - thanks. will explore when things return to reasonable speed.

N -
1907 Apologue b.c. 1902 Phoebus Apollo - Miss Gladys 3

I wish I'd been driving through Apollo Bay today...
Posted by boynton at November 2, 2004 10:50 PM

btw Was the Bay magnificent?
The bay was magnificent.
Posted by boynton at November 3, 2004 11:17 AM