Belated Christmas humor

The Hallelujah Chorus. Stay with it to the end.

2008 goals (not resolutions)

1. Quit smoking DONE!
   
2. Lay off the diet coke/switch to tea DONE!
   
3. No more fast food
4. Lose 30 pounds
5. Walk 2,000 steps per day (indoors or out)
6. Take a photo at least twice per week
7. Write a movie or book review at least twice per week
8. Post on enviro-mental daily
9. Fast one meal per week
10. Get paid for at least one piece of writing DONE!
    
11. Pay off Credit cards by June 1.
12. Get rid of everything we're not taking with us when we move
13. Move
14. Finish the "Women in Art" series
15. Sell the house DONE!
    

I think I gave this guy a dollar last week

clipped from www.gather.com

Great photoshop job I found on Gather. Enjoy!

Star Wars toys that never made it

clipped from www.mcmorran.org It's not an empty blister pack. It's The Force. No, really. Don't open it! Dead Ewok. A little bloody pile of fur for your Endor playset Aunt Beru's smoldering corpse. Smoke not included.

McMorran.org displays a few of the star wars toys that never made it to market.

Link via [http://www.neatorama.com]Neatorama[/url]

Year-end wrap-up

percolation's top five posts:

1. Sunday Scribblings: Hair
2. Round Robin Photo Challenge: Fabulous Freaks of Nature
3. Round Robin Photo Challenge: Something Different
4. Round Robin Photo Challenge: Mailbox
5. Round Robin Photo Challenge: Nature

And some you may have missed (my favorites):

December: Priests come to blows at Church of the Nativity
November: Saudi Arabia's ironic justice
October: It's Raining 300 Men
September: More women in art: Rokotov
August: Art of the Moment: Steven Graber
July: Can I just say? Wicked is Oz-some
June: UNESCO's great eight from Time magazine
May: Stuff I didn't know...
April: Sunday Scribblings #53: Deepest, darkest...
March: Decluttering motivation a'la Blueprint

List of year-end lists

So many lists, so little time before they're old news, swept aside by new news, books, music, movies, disasters, stupid criminals, discoveries, et. al.

Enjoy now, before it's too late.

Time.com's 50 Top Ten Lists of 2007

Mental Floss' collection of 10 Year-End Lists for Knowledge Junkies

Lifehacker's 2007 Guide to Free Software and Webapps

MSNBC's top 10 films of 2007

PC World's Best 100 products of 2007

People.com's Best of 2007

Michael Ausiello's Top Fave (TV) Shows of 2007

Heller's Best-dressed TV characters of 2007

Unconscious Mutterings: Week 256

1. Memorable :: time
2. Resolution :: new year
3. Goal :: achieve
4. 2008 :: move
5. Sensational :: awesome
6. Popular demand :: back by
7. Old :: new
8. Music :: sing
9. Intense :: thought
10. 2007 :: over

see more mutterings here.

2008 meme

Shamelessly lifted from Kwizgiver (again)

1. Will you be looking for a new job? oyah

2. Will you be looking for a new relationship? not seeking, but not hiding

3. New house? yup

4. What will you do different in 08? working on increasing my at-home income

5. New Years resolution? quit smoking (again)

6. What will you NOT be doing in 08? that's a loaded question

7. Any trips planned? New York at Christmas

8. Wedding plans? nope

9. Major thing on your calendar? new grandchild's arrival

10. What can't you wait for? moving day!

11. What would you like to see happen differently? dunno

12. What about yourself will you be changing? my location

13. What happened in '07 that you didn't think would ever happen? had a boyfriend for a few months

14. Will you be nicer to the people you care about? about the same, I think

15. Will you dress differently this year than you did in 07? hopefully more jeans, less suits

17. Will you better your relationship with your family? about the same

18. Will you do charity work? yes

19. Will you go to bars? no

20. Will you be nice to people you don't know? I do that now

21. Do you expect '08 to be a good year for you? yeah

22. How much did you change from this time last year til now? I don't think I changed much, but my circumstances changed a lot, several times.

23. Will you plan on having a child? no

24. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now? most likely

25. Major lifestyle changes? moving, new job, quitting smoking, that's quite enough for one year, thank you

26. Will you be moving? oyah

27. What will you make sure doesn't happen in 08 that happened in 07? jumping into a relationship too fast

28. What are your New Years Eve plans? getting set up for the New Year plans

29. Will you have someone to kiss at midnight? no

30. One wish for 2008? happiness

Bar in a baobab

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk

A clever - and thirsty - South African farmer has excavated a 6,000 year old hollow baobab tree and built a bar inside. The tree measures 155 ft around, which is small for a bar, but pretty impressive for a tree.

Baobab are sacred in native African culture. Every part of the tree is used, for everything from food and clothing to shelter and decoration. Although the bar may be a new concept.

Link via Neatorama

Crazy cat video

Cute compilation of feline antics. Worth at least a snicker, if not a laugh.

Priests come to blows in the Church of the Nativity

clipped from commons.wikimedia.org Photo: manger inside the Church of the Nativity by Darko Tepert Donatus

CNN reports that priests from rival Christian sects have broken out in violence over who gets to clean the Church of the Nativity.

Yes, two days after the celebration of the birth of the Holy Infant so tender and mild, in the church that is built over the site of His holy birth, dedicated men of God were beating each other bloody over who gets to clean out the manger. The rivalry is so intense that Palestinian troops had to form a human shield to separate the three groups of priests who traditionally clean the church: Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic.

What the hell.

Link

Art of the moment: Eyescapes by Rankin

clipped from www.art-dept.com

Rankin, founder of Dazed and Confused magazine, is also a photographer. He shot this series of decontextualized human irises that's somehow creepy and ethereal at the same time.

Link via Boing Boing

Coloring the classics

clipped from listverse.com

List Universe, always a good source of the interesting, shares the Vatican's display of classic sculpture, and their painted replicas. These statues were painted originally, and they've been able to approximate the colors closely based on pigment samples that remained. Below, Caligula, before and after (or is it after and before?).

Link

Santas Gone Wild at Time.com

clipped from www.time.com

Time shares a photoessay of mass gatherings of Santas around the world. Some are cute, some are silly, put together, the collection is an enjoyable flip-through.

Link

Bacon flow chart

clipped from www.beerorkid.com

Beerorkid.com makes all life's decisions easy by distilling them down to the one Eternal Question: Should I eat bacon?

By following this easy flow chart, now you can not only decide whether or not to have bacon, but you can easily apply this logic to any other breakfast meat, or even other stuff.

Link

Happy Christmas to all!

and to all a good night!

What Christmas food are you?

You Are a Gingerbread House

A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

What Holiday Food Are You?

Unconscious Mutterings: Week 255

1. Health :: food
2. Tacky :: present
3. Heels :: high
4. Yay! :: huzzar!
5. Model :: car
6. Gather :: chat
7. Best gift ever :: favorite
8. Clients :: paying
9. Stomp :: the yard
10. Clothing :: laundry

See more mutterings here

Got a yacht?

Donate Boat, aka Boat Angel, is an organization that will accept your boat as a charitable donation, sell it on e-bay and give the proceeds to the charity you choose from the list. You contact them via the net or an 800 number, they send you a donation packet and disposable camera. Photograph your boat, send the package back, and they sell the boat on e-bay. If it doesn't sell, they pay for the storage. You take the tax deduction based on the sale price of the boat.

Boat Angel is related to Car Angel, and one of their projects is to distribute, at no charge, children's animation DVDS with a Christian theme. They're currently working on an anti-drug campaign starring skateboarding champions. If proselytizing isn't your thing, there are more than a dozen other organizations to choose from.

Donate my Boat

A little Christmas magic for you

via Boing Boing

Do you have the Christmas Spirit?

I do! I do!

Your Christmas Sprit Level: 80%

Your Christmas spirit is almost as big as Christmas itself. Christmas is definitely your thing. You celebrate Christmas with enthusiasm. You love every minute of the holidays. Your Christmas spirit is inspiring to everyone who runs into you during the holidays. You make everyone's day just a little bit brighter. And that's what the holidays are all about!

Do You Have the Christmas Spirit?

Getting ahead through office politics

Penelope Trunk at Dumb Little Man makes a good case for playing "office politics" - something I have studiously avoided doing for most of my career. I don't engage in the gossip, or piss and whine when things don't go my way... I'm usually the one in the corner, puttering away. And that's bad.

For those (like me) who need pointers in how to play, she lists a few tips (you want them all, including details and rationale, head on over to her article.):

Realize that it's about being nice. Okay, no problem there. I am nice.
Don't rely on your job competence. It sounds counter-intuitive, but you'll advance father by being nice than by being good at your job.
Blame yourself first. Or, how to get along with people who don't like you.
Be your true self. Good advice, as valid now as it was in Shakespeare's time.

This advice is as helpful for job seekers as it is for those who are currently employed. It's all about being someone who others want to work with.

Link

Ghoulish ABCs

clipped from comunidad.ciudad.com.ar

Edward Gorey's nursery rhyme, with appropriately morbid illustrations, is a ghastly alternative to the usual:

A is for Amy who fell down the stairs.
B is for Basil assaulted by bears.

Definitely not for the warm-and-fuzzy types, but amusing and well-illustrated, nevertheless. Complete with Spanish translation.

Link via Edward Nudelman

America Underwater at Time.com

clipped from www.time.com

Time posts a photoessay of underwater views across the U.S., from the book American Waters by photographer Alex Kirkbride.

This shot is of cranberries floating in the Edaville Bogs in Carver, Mass., taken from a depth of three feet. See the full selection at Time.com or buy the book.

Link

In memoriam: Dan Fogelberg

Balladeer Dan Fogelberg died this morning of prostate cancer. His musical storytelling style was gentle, but evokative.

Leader of the Band was Fogelberg's tribute to his father.

Neilsen's top 10s

Editor & Publisher reports Neilsen's release of top ten lists, including product placements on television, unique site visits, top markets for blog contributors and more.

Here's a sneak peek: "Top 10 packaged goods, in order: Fresh bread, milk, toilet paper, eggs, cookies, ready-to-eat cereal, canned soup, chocolate candy, potato chips, batteries."

It's not your typical top 10 list, but definitely interesting.

Link

1,000 posts!

Thank You Glitters

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Unconscious Mutterings: Week 254

1. Interview:: job
2. Army :: Navy
3. Unwrap :: open
4. Evolve :: grow
5. Bus :: stop
6. The real thing :: Coke (that makes me feel not only sad, but really really old)
7. Streak :: naked (also feeling my age with this one)
8. Gorge :: Royal
9. Spicy :: hot
10. Course :: change

See more mutterings here.

Roll your own engagement rings

Okay, I admit it. I like sparkly things. I also like unique jewelry.

Over at JamesAllen.com they have a virtually endless selection of jewelry of all types, from diamond engagement rings and wedding rings to fine jewelry in sterling, gold, pearls and colored stones. You can even build your own engagement ring, selecting settings and stones to get exactly what you want.

The site is very user-friendly, with tons of extra features like 3-D ring views and hand views. The coolest part, though, is the interactivity. In the diamonds section, you can select by cut, clarity, carat weight, color, price range, etc. The site shows you the diamonds available that match your description and - get this - allow you to view the actual diamond through a virtual loupe. As someone who used to work for a jeweler, I found it not only helpful, but interesting and fun. Just as important, James Allen certifies that their diamonds are conflict-free.

The site has all the security you'd expect when you're transferring thousands of dollars in an internet purchase, plus 30-day returns and tech support. If you're in the market (or a dreamer), it's a good site to check out.

Jedi v. Sith: Kung Fu Fighting

Pretty great choreography...

Lego snowflake by "Big Daddy" Nelson

clipped from www.flickr.com

Here's another from the annals of people far more creative than I. "Big Daddy" has crafted several of these lacy snowflakes from white leaf pieces. They're definitely worth a look.

Link via Neatorama

Lost Season IV promo trailer

Just a little something to keep you going for the next two long months before Lost returns (with an abbreviated eight episodes) in February. Take deep, slow breaths. You can make it.

Where form meets function: scarves with pockets

clipped from www.plowhearth.com

Plow & Hearth offers a great winter hands-free accessory. The 60" x 9" scarf is sueded, soft and sports six pockets. Available in brown or blue, with straps to secure it to your waistband.

It looks like it would be great for outdoor shopping or strolling, more secure than a purse.

[url=url=http://www.plowhearth.com/product.asp?pcode=6424]Link[/url]