Trivia that matter
Somebody dropped by looking for “rich anime woman laughing.” He presumably was interested in the “noblewoman’s laugh.” Here’s Renge from Ouran High School Host Club to demonstrate:
The noblewoman’s laugh is particularly associated with Slayers‘ Naga. Here’s more of her than anyone needs:
I ran one of my photographs through the Deep Dream Generator,1 over and over again, eventually yielding the above image. Can you identify what the subject was? (Click to enbiggen.)
Here’s an intermediate stage:
and the original:
A few more:
I’m rather preoccupied at the moment, but I’ll be back eventually. In the meantime, here’s a chess problem to amuse you. There is something wrong with this position. Find the problem, correct it, and then find a mate-in-one for white, no matter how you fix it. You can find solutions in the comments here.
I came across some startling numbers in an article on politics and dating while skimming though this morning’s Wichita Eagle.
Those in the Clinton camp are more likely to be female (176 percent) and gay (606 percent), and Trump supporters are more likely to be unemployed (82 percent) or retired (96 percent).
I suppose I ought to track down the original Washington Post story to see if the surprising statistics originated there, but I have better things to do with my lunch hour.
There’s been a dearth of Ponies here recently. We’ll have to do something about that.
Other curious works of art can be perused here. (Via Pergelator, who has an eye for girls with guns.)
Fluttershy as a warrior princess. She and her friends can be seen here, and in higher quality here if you do FaceBook.
Every January I visit the calendar shop at the regional shopping mall and pick up a few at half-price to provide a variety of art on my walls for the coming year. This year, I struck out. Everything of any interest was gone — no medieval or renaissance art, no pre-Raphaelites, no Edward Gorey, not even Ansel Adams. There were plenty of puppies, of course, but I prefer dogs as friends, not as artistic subjects. Fortunately, I earlier ordered this year’s Girls und Panzer calendar, so I do have a way to keep track of passing time.
Although there are only six pages (seven if you count the cover), they are poster-sized, 24″ tall (including the binding strip at the top) and 16.5″ wide. (Right-click and open the links in new windows to see the images at high resolution.)
The “Most Wanted Song” is nowhere near as interesting.
Continue reading “Music for banjo, tuba, bagpipes and soprano. And accordion. And kids.”
Life is annoyingly busy, and I will have less time than usual for maintaining my websites until the middle of December. Expect even less activity here than usual. There might occasionally be posts of miscellaneous nonsense, such as what follows, but probably not much more.
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Flickr recently introduced a “camera roll” feature that displays thumbnails of your pictures arranged either by the date taken or according to its “magic view,” which sorts them into subject-based categories. The algorithms for the latter need a little refinement.
Some stop-motion dessert for you.
… of Candida. I wonder if Tadayasu Sawaki has a poster of this on his wall.
Further wondering:
I wonder if catgirls will be enough to reverse Japan’s demographic catastrophe?
Something for your eyes while I work on stuff to hurt your ears.
Inside Typhoon Soudelar a couple of days ago. There are a couple more plots here.
(Blame Josh for this one.)
A public service from Donald Sensing.
(Via Bayou Renaissance Man.)
For an alternative reading of the stars, see A.M. Yankovic.
Just 28 days until Walpurgisnacht.
For further glimpses of everyday life in Japan, see the Brickmuppet.
A game to play next time you read a second-tier fantasy novel. (Via J. Greely.)
Some trigger warnings for other literature.
88 airplanes were a total loss. Eighty-eight B-25 Mitchells – $25,000,000 [1944 dollars] worth of aircraft
Update: More on Vesuvius here.
Anthony Sacramone’s list of the twelve funniest books ever written is better than most such lists, though it’s missing Terry Pratchett, Robert Benchley and a few others. ((I was pleased to see that someone else remembers Will Cuppy.))
“Let us build a fairyland for the people by dint of science!”
North Korean slogan or TED talk tidbit? (Via Jonah Goldberg.)
A large serving of silly nonsense is below the fold.
(Via the Borderline Boys.)
Metallica may be a Big Name in metal, but I’ve never been able to take them seriously. ((When I do listen to their songs, I prefer Apocalyptica’s covers to the originals.)) Severian also finds them a bit silly, in an academic way.
