I watched the production of Hamlet that aired on PBS earlier this week. I normally would not have watched a modernized version of Shakespeare (Yes, I’m one of those kind of people.) but with David Tennant as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius I couldn’t pass it up. And now, from now on, in my [...]

…there is a tradition of human reflection in which being in the midst of busyness is to be “secluded from your life,” and to be alone is to find that life. Just in case we’ve forgotten. — here If it’s not crazy, it’s not worth pursuing. — there (via)

This Is Why You’re Fat: 10 Really Surprising Reasons. Well, most of them aren’t surprising because I had already heard them before. Fewer than half apply to me and I’m not saying which ones they are, except to say that there’s only one that I could do anything about – caffeine. I’ve never drank coffee [...]

Two very different performances of Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits .

Darn. Now I have to start watching The Daily Show.

This works too well.

Alaska’s Digital Archives – Alaska history, lots of old photos (via) Dr. Boli’s Comprehensive Herbal, No. 18 – The appreciation of ground ivy. Or not. A collection of calligraphy – more The MGM Lion – 1929 photo Quilt – interesting fabrics, lots of red and gold

My irises are starting to bloom. These purple and white ones are the first this year. I also have some yellow ones that are just starting to open and a lot of nice fat buds on the others. This photo was actually taken several years ago. I already have hundreds of photos of my irises [...]

Last night I discovered another one of those things that makes me feel like singing “I Love the World”: bellmouth spillways. I had never see one of these things before. It seems like a beautifully simple idea and yet, also little bizarre. BLDGBLOG quotes Andrew Crompton who waxes poetic about the big hole: “What is [...]

Modern gadgets encased in wood. The Swedx monitor and keyboard aren’t exactly steampunk but they are nice. I’d settle for that. To be honest though, I really like my lighted keyboard. I’m not sure I’d want to give that up even if the wooden one does look nicer.

A collection of beautiful National Geographic photos. Unfortunately there are no descriptions and a few of the photos really require some explanation.

These are some of the most beautiful portraits I’ve ever seen. They’re mostly photos of women and girls but there are hundreds of photos and a few paintings and if you look far enough you’ll find some of men and even a cat. Pixdaus is a beautiful photography site – mostly nature photography. I forget [...]

This is clever. Someone has created digital images of what satellite views of scenes from the Bible might have looked like. As you might expect, the comments are entertaining but instead of religious controversy commenters begin by arguing about how much the pictures do or do not look like the real Google Earth.

I love A Dress A Day but I don’t get around to it every day. Last week Erin wrote about this vintage pattern that she got from Antique Dollhouse of Patterns. I’ve always wondered how women manage to walk in those skinny skirts. Have you noticed that for women to be attractive has always meant [...]

Pictures taken at the right time – Not to be cynical but I would bet that at least a few of these are Photoshopped and some are obviously carefully set up. However, that does not mean they’re bad pictures or “cheating”. We should learn to appreciate manipulated photos for what they are – just another [...]

Here is one of my favorite cookie recipes. You can use it to make a number of different kinds of cookies just by making a couple of simple changes. The Ingredients: 1 cup or 1 stick butter flavor Crisco (or use real butter instead) 1 cup brown or white sugar (see below) 2 large eggs [...]

Destination Creation – an art site; all kinds of interesting and weird stuff, like Reality Simpsons, an Escher tribute and a number of celebrity zombifications. RT.com – Russian news and culture Good Show Sir – Worst Sci-Fi Covers – Oh come on! Many of these are cool! (via) AltJapan – More odd stuff from Japan. [...]

Hilarious! Thanks, Bits & Pieces.

I hate when I do stuff like this. I needed to buy shampoo today. I know someone out there is probably going to think “Sheesh! She’s sure obsessed with her hair this week,” but this isn’t really about shampoo or my hair. It’s not about what’s on my head but about what’s in it, which [...]

I have been hearing this piece, The Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsel, on the radio occasionally for several years. Whenever they play it they always mention that it is from the movie Dangerous Moonlight. I have been wanting to see it and finally did earlier this week. It was not a great movie, but not [...]

“I am Steve Jobs and I just sold you suckers a gadget that iDesigned, iControl and iBreak if you break my arbitrary rules.” — here People: if someone is seriously using data visualization to justify eating a Double Down, I don’t think they’re receptive to your arguments about the ethics of meat consumption. — there [...]

This shrub is called an “Autumn Olive”. I’m not sure why. The tiny white berries it has later in the year do not look anything like olives. (Well, except for being round) These flowers are not really a white white, as you can see, more of a pale yellow. They smell wonderful. . Snowball bush. [...]

Today is Earth Day. Huh? What? Isn’t every day Earth day? It’s hard to think of this as a special day when we are constantly beat over the head with “Save the Earth! Save the Earth! Save the Earth!” 365 days a year. I do have sort of an Earth Day observance of my own: [...]

About half an hour after I posted my hair dryer rant yesterday I thought of the perfect title for it: “Too Young to Smoke”. Darn. I could have changed it but decided that it was too late. Oh well. Yesterday I looked at hair dryer reviews online but they weren’t very helpful. They were all [...]

They Fight Crime: He’s a suave bohemian werewolf from a doomed world. She’s a transdimensional belly-dancing college professor who hides her beauty behind a pair of thick-framed spectacles. Another silly, addictive website. I love it! Thanks, LeeAnn