Dilbert

I haven't posted many entries this past week. First a blizzard dumped over a foot of snow here, and since then a variety of household and community activities have had to take priority, since this blog is a hobby rather than a profession. I do have lots of items bookmarked for future use, but I want to reiterate the advice I offered two months ago - that TYWKIWDBI is probably best visited about once a week rather than on a daily basis.

Gridlock

This photo was posted at Pizdaus, as is usual at that site, without attribution re the photographer or the city/country where the incident occurred. I'm offering it here without editorial commentary simply because it is such an impressive image.

Addendum. Image credit to Glauber Costa. The location is Sao Paolo. Thanks, drpaule.

Leaning Tower of Pisa illusion

Two photos of the famous tower at Pisa, placed side-by-side. The one on the right appears to be leaning at a greater angle. In fact, both photos are identical. This was rated the Best Visual Illusion of the Year in 2007.

You won't believe your eyes...

Analogous to the "checkershadow" illusion I posted here two months ago, this color cube defies logical viewing. On the top of the cube, the center tile looks brown; the center tile on the left front looks yellow. Despite how they appear, those two tiles are exactly the same color.
Proof and some discussion at the Mighty Optical Illusions website.

Hermit crab in a glass "shell"

Curiosities of the English language

Emile Littre was a famous grammarian; when his wife discovered him making love one afternoon to the household's maid, she drew back and said, "I am surprised." Ever the man of letters, Littre, buttoning his clothing, replied, "No, madame, you are astonished. I am the one who is surprised."

"The exception that proves the rule." The etymology of that cliche, usually mistaken for a reversed meaning, is not "prove" in the sense of verify, but "probe" in the sense of test or challenge. This definition, from the Latin probare, is not entirely archaic in English - consider printer's proof, or a proving ground for testing weapons.

How did the term “rhubarb” come to refer to a baseball altercation?
The Latins called the plant “rhabarbarum” because it grew in the foreign (barbarian) land along the river Rha, better known now as the Volga. In Shakespeare’s time, the sullen sound of the word “rhubarb” led to a practice of actors repeatedly mumbling it offstage to give the impression of angry talk. By the time baseball became popular, “a rhubarb” had become a commonly accepted term for an argument.

The characters OUGH represent five different sounds, in bough, cough, tough, trough, and dough.

The difference between a smokestack and a chimney is that to be a smokestack it must be more than 100 feet tall, according to the definition of the Comite International des Cheminees Industrielles.

Ambrose Burnside was a Union general in the Civil War. He was a big man, with ample, bushy whiskers billowing around a clean-shaven chin. After the war, Burnside's style of whiskers became so popular they were dubbed "burnsides." Over the years, the name was transposed to the current "sideburns."

Torpenow Hill near Plymouth, England means "hill hill hill hill." - from Saxon tor, Celtic pen, Scandinavian how, Middle English hill.

For my friends at Leech Lake...

As reported in Kottke today, this is the "tempest prognosticator," also known as a "leech barometer." It was a 19th century invention used to forecast the weather, based on the principle that leeches apparently become agitated by atmospheric or barometric changes. Twelve leeches were placed in glass pint bottles surrounding a large bell. When an approaching storm disturbs the leech, it wiggles into a tube that triggers a small hammer to strike the bell. The number of leeches ringing the bell would presumably reflect the intensity of the approaching storm. Out of deference to the sensibilities of the leeches, they were placed in a circle to prevent them from feeling to prevent them from feeling "the affliction of solitary confinement." The inventor tested the device in 1850, reportedly with favorable results, but the device inexplicably never found favor with the government or the public. More details and references are available at this Wikipedia link.

Cormorant eating pike

This photo will have special relevance to some friends in northern Minnesota who saw Leech Lake virtually depleted of walleye pike by cormorants. This photo and the two other impressive ones that accompany it were taken in Great Britain, so the species are a bit different, but the ability of the cormorant is nevertheless awesome; in this sequence he ingests a foot-long pike. Full story and other pix at the UK's Daily Mail at this link.

The Face on Mars

 No, not THAT face on Mars. This is a new one - and a much happier one at that. Planetary.org published this photo acquired by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter just four days ago. And this isn't even the first happy face seen on Mars; the Mars Global Surveyor photographed another one in 1999.

Apparently the universe is full of happy faces. Who knew?

Day 983 of my captivity...

It has been suggested that the principal reason the "internets" were created was to serve as means to disseminate cute photos and stories about cats and dogs. I had vowed when I started this blog not to yield to the temptation to post such items, but I can't resist this item posted yesterday at Craigslist (abbreviated here - full text at this link):

The Dog's Diary
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!...
1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!...
8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 PM - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

The Cat's Diary
Day 983 of my captivity.
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength... The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet... Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs....

I'm not going to allege vote fraud...

...but I believe it's only fair to point out some problems. During the South Carolina primary I was monitoring internet forum discussions, and found this posted in one thread...

I asked if the results would be read at the precinct when the polls close. The answer was no. They take the cartridges from the machine to the election commission (the head poll worker at each precinct takes them). I asked how that was possible, since the SC constitution states that the ballots would be counted in public. The answer was that I "could see them reported on TV...that's public."

Here's the relevant part of the South Carolina constitution:

All elections by the people shall be by secret ballot, but the ballots shall not be counted in secret. The right of suffrage, as regulated in this Constitution, shall be protected by laws regulating elections and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence from power, bribery, tumult, or improper conduct. South Carolina Constitution, Article II, Section 1

This happened shortly after the New Hampshire primary generated some unusual activity, documented by some ladies with videocams who checked the "chain of custody" of the ballots in New Hampshire and found that the ballots were not locked up during the night and the boxes were not securely sealed (with a vigorous discussion at Reddit).

Again, I'm not suggesting that any malfeasance of the election process has occurred. But if the United States is going to continue to promote democracy overseas, the process here should be like Caesar's wife - not only pure, but above suspicion.

A followup on witches knickers

Several weeks ago in this blog I posted a rant about plastic bags getting loose in the environment. Today I'm pleased to offer information from a New York Times article:

In 2002, Ireland assessed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register... Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94 percent. Within a year, nearly everyone had bought reusable cloth bags.... Plastic bags were not outlawed, but carrying them became socially unacceptable — on a par with ... not cleaning up after one’s dog.

As usual, there is a long discussion of this article at Reddit. I'm delighted that plastic bags have virtually disappeared from Ireland [from whence the term "witches knickers" originated], although my libertarian instincts cringe a little at a paragraph later in the article:

Ireland has moved on with the tax concept, proposing similar taxes on customers for A.T.M. receipts and chewing gum. (The sidewalks of Dublin are dotted with old wads.)... This year, the government plans to ban conventional light bulbs, making only low-energy, long-life fluorescent bulbs available.

It's getting close to that "no food for fat people" policy I bemoaned last night. Sometimes it is hard to know where to draw the line between good intentions and intrusive government.

Click on this video and watch it

Even if you don't normally like nature videos, this one is fascinating. Dolphins at an aquarium blowing bubble rings (the way people blow smoke rings) and playing with them. Watch at 0:47 when the dolphin spins the ring! I'm still trying to figure out how they get the rings to travel horizontally through the water. The natural world is so amazing.....

I have kissed this face so many times...

... without knowing it was the face of a real girl. Thanks to Neatorama for telling the story of L'Inconnue de la Seine ("the unknown woman of the Seine"), whose body was pulled from the river in the late 1880s. Her beauty and her Mona Lisa-like smile prompted a pathologist to make a death mask of her face; copies were produced and became popular to such an extent that in this pre-Internet era she "went viral" and became the "erotic ideal of the period." (more details at Wiki).

In 1960 Asmund Laerdal, a Norwegian toymaker, used this face when he created a mannequin for the teaching of CPR. This is the face of Resusci Anne. And now you know the rest of the story.

No food for fat people!!

You'll think I'm making this up. Legislation has been introduced in the state of Mississippi to forbid restaurants from serving food to fat people:

"... Should this pass, scales will appear at the door of restaurants, people with BMIs of 30 or higher won’t be allowed to be served. And to comply with government regulations, restaurants will have to keep records of patrons' BMIs...."

This law is being proposed because of the “urgency of the obesity crisis and need for government action.” It's hard to comprehend the hubris, the utter arrogance, of lawmakers who believe they can be this intrusive into private lives. If you think I'm making this up, read the original article at the Junkfoodscience blog.