A thought for a Sunday

"It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; beware of this stumbling block".




Paul Gauguin (1848 – 1903) Grow into these trousers... >>

No I haven't disappeared to Glastonbury

The weather is just too nice to spend time at a keyboard. Wish I was at Glasto though, if only for Seasick Steve later today...

Seasick Steve LIVE ON JOOLS HOLLAND-- TOP QUALITY VID
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A thought for a Sunday

"Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music".


Jimi Hendrix (1942 - 1970) Grow into these trousers... >>

Poor, Poor, Poor

So will someone remind me just why these men are paid so much?

They have some of the best training facilities in existence and are called world class players but they can't pass a ball, the meaning of team play seems to elude them and they fall apart like schoolkids with their jackets piled up for goalposts. In the above photo they look more like a troupe of bongo drummers than sportsmen and tonight they would have been better accompanying the vuvuzelas than on the pitch. Given a good striker Algeria would have kicked England's arse, deservedly.

And can Fabio Capello speak sense? Any language will do...

Pathetic, clueless rubbish. "Votre équipe est putain terrible" Grow into these trousers... >>

Just for Jill

Go visit Jill at Elemental, my dear for great photos of what she found in her garden.
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The image is a design from T-Shirt Hell if anyone wants to buy me one (size M). Grow into these trousers... >>

This is not a pretty picture

Orange Beach, Alabama.

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Photo credit: Dave Martin/AP. Via The Guardian. Grow into these trousers... >>

Ukraine's Got Talent

This young lady has incredible skill. Her pictures come to life as she draws, in real time, to a rich musical soundscape. I don't know what else to say, I'm in awe.

Kseniya Simonova - Sand Animation (Ukraine's Got Talent, Final) PART1 [4:47]


Kseniya Simonova - Sand Animation (Ukraine's Got Talent, Final) PART2 [6:07]
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A thought for a Sunday

ACADEME, n.   An ancient school where morality and philosophy were taught.

ACADEMY, n.   [from ACADEME]   A modern school where football is taught.


Ambrose Bierce (1842 – 1914?)


From The Devil's Dictionary (1911), full text at Project Gutenberg. Grow into these trousers... >>

Chimp twats owl

There seems to be a little rivalry in the studio :)

MONKEY ATTACKS OWL very funny [0:46]
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Late night music - John Martyn

Another nice tune. From The Tumbler (1968)

John Martyn - Fly On Home
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Can't find the book you were looking for?

It's obvious. You're in the...

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Cheers Mark. Grow into these trousers... >>

The advancements of microbiology

Portrayed in Lego...

All hail Leeuwenhoek and Pasteur.

Great microbiologists [8:44]

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Via Pharyngula. Grow into these trousers... >>

A thought for a Sunday

"Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone".


Jim Fiebig - writer. Grow into these trousers... >>

On wrens and bumblebees

I've been watching a wren in the garden for the last few weeks. The little fellow bobs in and out of a knothole in the eaves of my roof where he will have started to build a nest. The nest will only be finished if he can attract a female. Then they will line the nest and endeavour to raise youngsters

I've heard his rattling song regularly but I have never seen a partner. Until yesterday evening.

In the late afternoon I sat down to watch a bumble bee nest I'd noticed a few days ago. A gap between some paving stones in a path must lead to a safe and secure underground hive. I had seen them going in and out all day long but then I saw something different. One stared digging in and under a pile of dead leaves and weeds I had raked up just inches from the nest. Then there were two bees, scrimmaging about. After a few minutes they flew off. Then others came out and did the same, as the evening came on, one piece of a brown dead leaf was dragged to the nest hole. It was too big and too stiff to pull in, but much effort went into that failure. Sometimes the leaf covered the hive entrance and returning bees were disoriented and had to push a way past. It did go into the nest though, they chewed it up! As the Sun set, it was gone.

All this time my wren had been singing and flitting about. Then suddenly his song became broken up and staccato and then there were two wrens. He sang like crazy and there was no mistaking the prominent posturing and silent indifference the other wren took. He puffed out his chest and wagged his tail and bobbed and sang loud. She sat on a twig and disinterestedly picked a few aphids off a leaf. Then they zoomed off, both together, then he came back and began his rattling song. She reappeared and his song became broken up again. They dived and chased among the trees over and over.

Suddenly Then there was another rattle over the rooftop, another male wren... My guy went crazy! A bombardment of song began, and a chase for the most prominent perch. As I watched all three, the two males shouted at each other from as far apart as possible and she went off to the loo or something, like women do, but then I spotted her again; watching. The intruder relented and then there was just one song as two wrens cavorted around nearby trees and bushes. They even promenaded together along a fence, no more than a foot apart.

Today there are two wrens in my garden. He sings and she is taking bits of moss or fluffy stuff into the nest hole.

Everyone say Ahhh! Grow into these trousers... >>