Category Archives: diversion

Very Early Morning Thoughts ~

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It’s so dusty and messy in here, I had a problem opening the door.  I think I can say, that’s what happens when I go away for as long as I did! But, I’m back how – and need to get things back in order!

office2

OK, maybe this place isn’t “quite” that bad, but I can’t really get going unless I work for a bit to make sure this blog I call my 2nd Life doesn’t end up looking as the next  one did.  >was having a little trouble believing these pictures…until I did a larger search – Oy!!

office1

But now, I’m back …  A lot has gone on, and I’m ready to start sharing my stories!

WDS

An Elegant Time-Waster ~ Late Afternoon Thoughts

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It’s been awhile since I posted one of these ….. here’s the description where I found this charming game ….

“It’s the classic trick to avoid English homework: Don’t read the book, just play the video game. Wait, what? That’s right: Two game developers have created a charming 8-bit Nintendo version of “The Great Gatsby,” and it could be the first time a masterpiece of American literature has ever been merged with a little electronic man collecting coins and killing bad guys. You play Nick Carraway as he searches for Jay Gatsby, leaping from platform to platform as you fend off demented flapper girls and tray-wielding waiters with your magical flying hat. So basically, it’s exactly like the book.”

And I thought, with The Great Gatsby movie either doing well, or completely “bombing” – depending on who you read – this might spark some interest ….

If you don’t want to play the game, here’s a video of someone else playing it.  Oh, that’s right – I now have to say spoilers to the game if you watch the video.  (Sheesh….)

And here’s the game …. enjoy!!!!

http://www.greatgatsbygame.com/

Sorry About That ~ Late Afternoon Thoughts ~

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Yes, it’s several (ahem) days AFTER April Fools.  I had every intention of getting the answers to the videos posted – but a bit too much got in the way.  I’ll admit that a nasty cold/cough illness played a great part in it ….

sick-cat

In The video from Charlie Chaplin’s “The Circus” …. It certainly looks as if there were cell phones in 1928 …. right?

Chaplin's The Circus 1928

In staying with the comments on YouTube, which is a fascinating/horrifying place to be for any length of time.  It was suggested and confirmed that this is nothing more than a compact hearing amplification device that was available and was actually quite expensive.  Personally, it seems to be nothing more than something to replace cupping your hand behind your ear ….

The video from 1938 causes more  “conspiracy” theories … It looks like a cell phone, she’s talking on the phone and THEN she puts it down from her ear.

1938 radio phone 1938 radio phone2

The film itself is, evidently, part of a longer film from DuPont .. who at the time was working with the concept of radio phones – think walkie-talkies (walking and talking – having nothing to do with the famous BBC series which introduced the world to “walkie-walkies”.)

The problem with this device (as there was NO infrastructure at the time) It would only work within a very small radius and for a very short time … the batteries evidently sucked as well.

Sadly, I’ll have to put my Dr. Who fantasy back in the drawer for a while, but I’m sure there’s other fascinating videos out there …..

And It’s That Day, Once Again ~ Early Afternoon Thoughts ~

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First off some thoughts in picture …..

blog April Fools Day1

blog April Fools Day2

There, now that I’ve gotten that out-of-the-way ….

Along the years, I’ve gotten to enjoy some really bizarre “conspiracy theories”.   Some are in the category of >banging head on keyboard> while others actually make you stop and go “Hmm.”  This is one of those.

In spite of what my Grand-kids might think, cell phones are a rather new invention … or are they?

the way back machine

[NOTE: the two videos that follow have NOT been doctored, they are as they were … ]

OK, let’s set the way back machine  to the year – well close to the year – 1928 and Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus … watch and you might think that Dr. Who had been there ….

Really? A cell phone in 1928(ish) …. To quote the infomercials: “But wait there’s more…..”

Skip the record ahead just a few years to the somewhere toward 1938(ish) ….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iasKNUhDc_w

Totally flummoxed? As always, there are some explanations….. I’m just not going to include them now.  I’ll post about it tomorrow after you’ve dealt with them ….

Happy April Fools Day everyone ….

Odd Thoughts Because It’s Been An Odd Day ~ Late Afternoon Thoughts.

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There’s been a lot going on this week.  I have a friend at Stage (end) cancer, another friend that is facing what could be heart failure.  I’ve been strong and uplifting until last night …. that’s when I discovered that the well had run dry.  I’ve been around long enough and through enough (look back through this history of the blog for those episodes that really revitalized my outlook) to know that it’s bound to happen.

Even counselors know that a sponge can only absorb so much, and then all that has to be squeezed out or the sponge becomes of no use.

Today, then – became a quiet and reflective day.  However (comma) I really wanted a few things to possibly 1) kick me in the behind to make me move (LOL) or 2) make me laugh and/or 3) inspire me ….

Here’s the laugh factor …. as a preface – the Mouse House (AKA Disney Studio) is NOT known for their sense of humor in regards to what others might do with their material.  I’ve been surprised at some of what on YouTube is allowed to remain and not so surprised at what they’ve wanted removed.

In this case, they took the recording outtakes/bloopers from The Lion King and animated them and included them (evidently) in The Lion King DVD … I’m still chuckling over parts – especially the last one.  I have to admit when I saw the film the first time (and the stage show) a part of me wondered if that had ever happened.

And now – THIS video made my day just to be able to watch these folks fly … and what a rush it must have been for them …..

Let me quote:

Wingsuit flying is the sport of flying the human body through the air using a special jumpsuit, called a wingsuit, which adds surface area to the human body to enable a significant increase in lift. Modern wingsuits, first developed in the late 1990s, create the surface area with fabric between the legs and under the arms. A wingsuit may be referred to as a birdman suit, flying squirrel suit, or bat suit.

A wingsuit flight normally ends with a parachute opening, so a wingsuit can be flown from any point that provides sufficient altitude to glide through the air, such as skydiving aircraft or BASE jumping exit points, and to allow a parachute to deploy.

The wingsuit flier wears parachute equipment designed for skydiving or BASE jumping. The flier deploys the parachute at a planned altitude and releases the arm wings, if necessary, so they can reach up to the control toggles and fly to a normal parachute landing.

Now that my heart has stopped racing … enjoy…..

 

Early Afternoon Thoughts ~ They’re Not Ignoble ~ Just Ig Nobel

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Next to the Darwin Awards (for those who mercifully remove themselves from the gene pool), I love the Ig Noble Awards.  Hosted by Improbable Research each year they award an Ig Nobel Award best described here :These come with little cash, but much cachet, and reward those research projects that ‘first make people laugh, and then make them think'” — Nature

I’m not totally sure about the thinking part, but the laugh part certainly is there.  This year’s awards include a variety of subjects … each seeming somewhat ridiculous.  I suppose there ARE those who need to know what happens when coffee sloshes when you walk, but right now I can’t think of anyone!!! Let me know if you do….

Envelope please ~ the 2012 winners of the coveted Ig Nobel (who  received their awards in an actual ceremony yesterday) are:

PSYCHOLOGY PRIZE: Anita Eerland and Rolf Zwaan [THE NETHERLANDS] and Tulio Guadalupe [PERU, RUSSIA, and THE NETHERLANDS] for their study “Leaning to the Left Makes the Eiffel Tower Seem Smaller”

PEACE PRIZE: The SKN Company [RUSSIA], for converting old Russian ammunition into new diamonds.

ACOUSTICS PRIZE: Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada [JAPAN] for creating the SpeechJammer — a machine that disrupts a person’s speech, by making them hear their own spoken words at a very slight delay.

NEUROSCIENCE PRIZE: Craig Bennett, Abigail Baird, Michael Miller, and George Wolford [USA], for demonstrating that brain researchers, by using complicated instruments and simple statistics, can see meaningful brain activity anywhere — even in a dead salmon.

CHEMISTRY PRIZE: Johan Pettersson [SWEDEN and RWANDA]. for solving the puzzle of why, in certain houses in the town of Anderslöv, Sweden, people’s hair turned green.

PHYSICS PRIZE: Joseph Keller [USA], and Raymond Goldstein [USA and UK], Patrick Warren, and Robin Ball [UK], for calculating the balance of forces that shape and move the hair in a human ponytail.

FLUID DYNAMICS PRIZE: Rouslan Krechetnikov [USA, RUSSIA, CANADA] and Hans Mayer [USA] for studying the dynamics of liquid-sloshing, to learn what happens when a person walks while carrying a cup of coffee.

ANATOMY PRIZE: Frans de Waal [The Netherlands and USA] and Jennifer Pokorny [USA] for discovering that chimpanzees can identify other chimpanzees individually from seeing photographs of their rear ends.

MEDICINE PRIZE: Emmanuel Ben-Soussan and Michel Antonietti [FRANCE] for advising doctors who perform colonoscopies how to minimize the chance that their patients will explode. [OK, I just HAD to add to this one … REFERENCE: “Colonic Gas Explosion During Therapeutic Colonoscopy with Electrocautery,” Spiros D Ladas, George Karamanolis, Emmanuel Ben-Soussan, World Journal of Gastroenterology, vol. 13, no. 40, October 2007, pp. 5295–8.]

And there you have it … this year’s winners ….

And The Competition Starts Now (2) ~

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Yesterday I mentioned that I usually enjoy the non-US competition shows more … here are three reasons why … Just so you know, there is no 90 second time restraint, so the real talent can shine through … in other words these clips are a little long – but so, so good.

This was the clip that first introduced me to Ukraine’s Got Talent … I actually had to go back and look up the history to understand it – I’m including a short lesson:

“…the overwhelming brunt of the Nazi occupation between 1941 and 1944, as of the devastating Soviet reoccupation, was borne not by Russia but by the Baltic States, by Belarus, by Poland, and above all by Ukraine…. nowhere is it made clear that the largest number of civilian casualties in Europe were inflicted on the Ukrainians, millions of whom were killed both by the Nazis and by the Soviets. Thanks to persistent wartime prejudices, many British and Americans still harbor the illusion that most Ukrainians spent the war either as auxiliaries in the concentration camps or in the Waffen-SS Galizien….[but] the Waffen SS recruited three times as many Dutchmen as Ukrainians.” (New York Review of Books June 9, 1994, p. 23).

Here’s the 2009 clip of an amazing sand artist …

This years winners were amazing as well … it’s the Street Workout group – who manage to make working out beautiful, sexy and powerful.  No, I wouldn’t want to be next to them at the gym!! This was the final performance…

I have enough trouble riding a two wheeled cycle … maybe I need a three-wheeler!!!!

BONUS CLIP:

And last, but certainly NOT least ~ The world’s best bartender … unless you’re in a hurry to  get that drink!!!!

🙂

An Elegant Time-Waster ~ Sunday Edition ~

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It’s been awhile since I’ve posted one of these.  I try to find something that is fun, interesting and yes – a time-waster.  When you click on the link, you will be presented with what I can describe as a “sausage with eyes”.

Use your cursor to move it around.  When prompted, give your mouse some serious shaking – and watch what happens.

I will, however, repeat something that is on the site – although not necessarily as high-lighted as it should be …

Those at risk of epileptic seizures should choose a different website.

And they are NOT kidding …..

http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/

An Elegant Time-waster ~

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BISA (before I started again) I had a feature on Wednesdays called elegant time-waster.  As I am known for spending “some” time on the Web, I have often found these off-beat games, musical instruments, etc. that actually CAN waste time – elegantly.  (There, I’ve used those words enough today (cross that off the bucket list!)  This is a musical matrix that when you land there looks like this:

game in play

You click on a/some square(s) and the note(s) play(s).  Alas, there is NO stop button, so you have to refresh the browser to get you creation to stop playing over and over and over … LOL

Enjoy – http://tonematrix.audiotool.com/