Web Wednesday

Another roundup of interesting and amusing things I’ve found on the web. Nothing else in the last week because I’ve been working with Chris to create a separate Glossop Events website, which is up now, wooohooo! We also made other adjustments to the world of Glossop Events, which I’ll let you go explore if you’re curious, and quit boring you with it if you’re not.

I’ve been to Manchester Art Gallery today with Glossopdale WI, where I thoroughly enjoyed the Gallery of Craft and Design. I’d looked at the website ahead of time and found and read the tumblr (which is sort of like a blog) for the exhibit Home, Land, and Sea: Art in the Netherlands 1600-1800, which did bring that gallery alive to me. I had, however, completely missed that this museum was on the top floor, and only found it by accident (I’d heard wrong which floor the exhibit we were supposed to be there to see, A Vanity of Small Differences). I got absorbed on the top floor, but did eventually make it down to look at those tapestries. Anyway, look forward to a write up of that soon – hopefully some of the photos came out.

Onwards with Web Wednesday!

Not sure which caption is best for this octopus – “Come and live with me under the sea!” or “Sir, do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior, Cthulu?”

Some butterflies to remind us that our antipodean friends are enjoying summer at the moment. The caption tells us what they’re up to – fascinating.

Telephone engineer high above the streets of London, 1930s. Health & safety? What elf’n’safety? 😉

I like Kim Kommando. I think more people need, still today, to be out telling everyone how not to blow up their computer. I still find far too much fear of computers among my friends and acquaintances.

Some of these Victorian slang terms are amusing and/or good and should definitely be brought back. My favorites include:

  • Bags o’ mystery – Sausages. Still applies, really.
  • Butter upon bacon – Too much extravagance. This meal we had shortly after looking at this list really was, because it calls for far too much butter.
  • Daddles – Hands. “Jazz daddles” needs to take the internet by storm!
  • Doing the bear – Courting that involves hugging. Courting is another word that should come back as well.

I love auroras. This collection of time-lapse videos of auroras is a lovely interlude.

The world’s largest reflection pool of sorts, found in Bolivia, created when it rains onto the world’s largest salt flat. They use this place to calibrate satellite altimeters!

A brewery in Missouri is run by a guy with common sense and a sense of humor, who replied in a brilliant way to a ridiculous cease and desist letter from Starbucks’ lawyers here.

Web Wednesday

Welcome to another installment in this series. I’ll try a different format this time – just text with links, taking a page from my friend SilverAdept.

Click for more …

Trees made into art. I particularly like the living trees made into things – numbers 5, 6, and 7 on that list. You can see more of Axel Erlandson’s work (#5, my favorite) on the slideshows (click the right arrow just above the upper left of the photos to see the next photo) starting here, here, and here, and learnd more about what came of it here. Imagine the effort involved in growing a chair, a ladder, and all those other elaborate shapes!

For 91 Days – Two guys who live in a new city every three months, and write about it. They’re currently in the Yucatan (Mexico). I intend to give their Savannah blog a good read sometime.

When did Americans lose their British accents? The answer is more complicated than that, and more complicated than this short post tells us, as well, since there are myriad American and British accents, but it’s an interesting read nonetheless.

I’m waiting for the four horsemen to come out of this photo.

I really like this cutting board.

Here, have some cute kittens.

Now have some cats fighting over the heating pad. Ah, sibling rivalry.

I often struggle to understand what others say in loud situations; apparently it’s because I don’t lip-read (I prefer to look at others’ eyes). I also learned that talking to myself is a good thing, and 75% of Americans have admitted to using their cell phones in the bathroom here.

These pictures of a river of fog filling the Grand Canyon are stunning.

Have you ever seen light pillars? The caption tells you what they are, too.

This will only be of local interest, and even then not universally, but I liked the Glossop Gazette’s answer to Howard Town Mill here (or here is a screen capture in case the tweet’s ever deleted). For the backstory, read here and here, and if you’re still curious, just do a search on the Gazette’s website for Howardtown. It’s a lengthy saga.

For something happy, I quite enjoyed this: 11 Reasons to be Optimistic in 2014. We’re living longer, more of us are literate, we’re winning against various diseases, and we’re making strides against poverty and hunger. All good!

Web Wednesday: Interesting Things From Around the Web

Welcome to a new series, wherein I share with you some of the interesting, cool, freaky, amusing, and otherwise evocative things I come across online. I don’t want my blog to become just a republisher of others’ content – there’s plenty of that out there already – but some of the stuff I find is entirely too cool to not share. Like what, you ask? Well, there’s…

Click to discover!
Photograph by MANUEL M. ALMEIDA

Photograph by Manuel M. Almeida

funny-boy-Jesus-image-blanket-shoulder
Photograph by David Doubilet.

Photograph by David Doubilet.

Made by Rick Mabry.

Made by Rick Mabry.

A water vortex in the open ocean – read more here. Suddenly, Jesus… A funny story from here. Sharp bellied and nearly flat, razorfish swim in perfect formation as they rush for cover among the branches of a red sea whip. Read more here. A nifty little animation made by a professor of mine, Rick Mabry. Animation here.
  • Dilbert: A new facial expression to scare away the weak.
  • The Laziest Human – that’s what that author calls him; I actually thought he was quite clever, myself.
  • Mental Floss: 12 Things You Might Not Know About The Twelve Days of Christmas
  • YouTube: The Amazing Machine (a Mousetrap-like construction) – really worth a watch!
volkswagen
If you like children, don't click on this one.

If you like children, don’t click on this one.

A brilliant classic Volkswagen ad from here. Traumatize small children this winter in 6 easy steps – find the rest here. A hilarious tweet. Hilarious – amazing customer service from Bic.