This week’s whimsy is brought to you by a photo taken during the 2010 December Solstice, where a lunar eclipse coincided with the Solstice for the first time in 3 centuries. Happy 2011 December Solstice to you all for tomorrow! (05:30 UTC, 16:30 Sydney time)
Solstice Lunar Eclipse 2010 (d) by Francis Anderson
Photo taken at Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories December 21st, 2010 while the earth's shadow completely covered the moon
And a Christmas bonus: a driver-decorated bus on Sydney Transit, photo taken by a FOAF last weekend. Click it to embiggen.
Please share any bits and pieces you have come across recently that have surprised, delighted, intrigued or otherwise positively engaged you.
NB: the weekly whimsy thread is a stoush-free zone
The best bit of Australian research I’ve come across all year in the British Medical Journal: ‘The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute’
I particularly like the fact that they quantified the half-life of a teaspoon by teaspoon quality. Now that’s careful science!
SOPA isn’t very whimsical. This protest video is. https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/drt/si?p=CAA&ut=AFAKxlQAAAAATvJPz5fegS_RV3d-0QLPtqNVjx81t2N4
Hmmmm borked. That was sposed to be a vid from Dan Bull. I’ll try again when I can kick the rug rats off the main Magic box.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/the-20-most-important-cats-of-2011
via Twitter h/t to @sophiec
If anyone reading here is lacking an avatar, these images are wonderful. They would also be great for God-damn Craft (as one blogger calls it.)
http://www.godecookery.com/clipart/birds/clbird.htm
They’d be long out of copyright, also, natch
This one is for Deborah, who now blogs here.
http://www.godecookery.com/clipart/animals/clanim03.htm
A butter shortage is NOT to be ridiculed, how would YOU like it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub0GzU56YMA&feature=player_embedded#!
Funny as.
Big story breaking about Dick Smith (the store) selling second-hand computers, devices, hard drives etc. as new.
See the link to whirlpool.net where people are discussing the dodgy deals they received from the retailer.
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/complaints-mount-over-dick-smiths-dodgy-drives-20111222-1p6qx.html
rap news #occupy 2012
From last weeks whimsy an update(sort of), thank you so much, the link to blueswami was excellent and evidence that fungi is indeed a fascinating thing. I have sent pics to numerous sources but no response so I am assuming that the fungi was clathrus archeri. Thanks so much for the help from a truly diverse bunch of folk whos knowledge knows no bounds
A seasonal song that I was very fond of when I was 7 years old.
A story on the ABC website about the Star Casino investigation says that fewer patrons are being turned away because dress standards have been lowered. I quote:
It’s good to see that exclusive nudity is a thing of the past
Sorry, I mis-typed.
It’s good to see that exclusive nudity is no longer a thong of the past.
Whimsical christmas hedgehogs
No comment required:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2011/12/23/no-virginia-there-is-no-santa-claus/
dan Bull sopa rap as promised
Fair comment Roger, though I’m not sure that not turning away people wearing things is a lowering of the dress code, unless the things being worn were measurably less upmarket than nudity.