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Carve your own pumkin - on line, again and again.....

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0907.php#halloween_311007

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king oil! - i liked this

King Saud visits the UK.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0907.php#king_oil_301007

3-d pavement art - something to behold!

“Kill that fly!” Street painting by Julian Beever

Feeding baby. Produced by Eduardor Relero

Pavement art can be pretty, well-executed copies of famous paintings, or extrordinary views - breathtaking visions that just cannot be, but appear to be so.

A fountain in the street, produced by Julian Beever	Moved paving section. Note the passerby avoiding the ‘hole’. Produced by Julian Beever
	The same car seen from a nearby tall building. Car by G. Wosik, M. Stader und E. Müller
A Smart Car on display. Produced by G. Wosik, M. Stader und E. Müller

Several artists now specialise in this type of three-dimensional art, for example Julian Beever from Britain, and Kurt Wenner - the probable inventor of the technique (the link goes to an online portfolio with slideshows).

3D pavement art by Kurt Wenner

But how does this illusion, this trompe d’oeil [trick of the eye] work? The paintings are anamorphoses, a special projection which distorts unless seen from the chosen position.

“Julian Beever creates 3D illusions on the High Streets of the world. Beever, the Pavement Picasso, uses pastels for pavement drawings that appear to be more dimensional than they really are. Beever distorts the drawings in a specific way by using a camera on a tripod, creating anamorphisms, to give the impression of three dimensions, but this can only be seen from one particular perspective. The pieces can be in production for up to 3 days, during which time not a drop of rain can fall.”

“The secret is to set up a camera on a tripod and keep it in one spot and check every mark you make. It's really just playing with perspective to make it appear different to what it really is.” [Julian Beever, quoted from bbc.co.uk]

A well containing a Venus de Milo in a Hamburg Museum, produced by Manfred Stader and Edgar Müller

A different view of the well containing a Venus de Milo, produced by Manfred Stader and Edgar Müller

Anamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective and is used to produce images distorted in such a way that they only appear coherent when viewed in a special manner, from one direction or, say, using a mirror.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0907.php#three_dimensions_171007

• for very sad people

Crust cutter from patinastores.com

• upgrading google to succeed with google

  In website building circles, it is generally known that to have a successful, much visited web page, it is almost mandatory that the page is listed in the first few Google search engine results pages. To achieve this, Google recommends (or strongly hints that) the web page builder does several things, such as having multiple instances of ‘keywords’ and providing links to and from other sites. Our headline links to an eight-page walk-through of the steps that Google would have to take to reach the top pages of Google search engine results pages, and shows how the Google front page would change.

  From
  to
  Google search page optimised for the Google search engine robots

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0907.php#sad_161007

remaking the world - found by the auroran sunset

A short, pretty animation about an origami man remaking the world.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0907.php#origami_world_071007

latest moral panic - should the clown ban the zip-up hoodie?

But how will Brown the Clown manage to allow burkhas?

The latest street fashion. Remember that CCTVs cannot be used to identify someone with a covered face.

	Top: From hypebeast.com Left: From hottopic.com 42€ Right: From anticon.biz 85€

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0907.php#zipped_hoodies_021007

real 78 rpm records playing real music

From 78MAN, four hundred and seventy-four recordings of 78-rpm records, each video’d as they are played on a variety of 78-rpm gramophones [record players] and made into YouTube clips.

And the real music? Mostly from the 1950s, but with a good smattering of favourites from earlier decades. Here is a small selection:

Puttin' on the Ritz by Alfredo and his band
Pt 2 of Churchill's broadcast on the death of King George VI
La Vie en rose by Edith Piaf
Blueberry Hill by Ambrose and his Orchestra
Jollity Farm by Jack Payne and his BBC Dance Orchestra
Twelfth Street Rag by Harry Roy and his Orchestra
If I had a talking picture of you by Layton & Johnstone
Life gets Tee-Jus don't it? by Peter Lind Hayes
Maggie May by The Vipers skiffle group
The Ying Tong Song by The Goons
Blue Skies by Bing Crosby

Here’s a couple of examples:

Ave Maria by Mario Lanza

By the light of the silvery moon by Les Paul

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0907.php#78rpm_210907

on the corrupting nature of the limerick - and the necessary corrective action

“The Problem of Limericks
Unknown to the general public, the B.C. NDP recognized the extent to which limericks interfere with the orderly inculcation of socially and politically correct attitudes. Masquerading as poetry, this supposed art form promotes racism, sexism, and disrespect for authority. Limericks make meretricious attitudes appear intellectually palatable and even humorous. Like university professors, producers of limericks need to be dealt with more sternly than ordinary purveyors of anti-social material.

“A recent study demonstrates the extent of the danger. To gain insight, various organizations concerned with improved treatment of women (B.C. Women's Equality and Multiculturalism Ministries, Ontario Human Rights Commission, Canadian Association of Harassment Officers, Womans' Studies Program Council, the UBC adminstration and their highly paid consultants) all pooled their talents to produce a controlled experiment. Forty female college students were presented with the following paragraph describing the activities of a hypothetical university employee:

“Professor Fletcher spent much of his time leering at female students (in direct violation of the anti-harassment code) when he should have been working on his research, preparing his lesson plans, and studying important memos from his Dean. Because Fletcher was near to the retirement age, the authorities tolerated his leering, since they felt he was incapable of inflicting bodily harm. One day in his office Fletcher grabbed and fondled an innocent female student who failed to move quickly enough to escape his grasping paws.

“After reading this, the female students were asked for their opinions, which were as follows: two thought Fletcher should be let off with a reprimand, 11 felt that he might be reformed with extensive rehabilitation, 22 felt he should be summarily dismissed, and five favoured caning.

“A second group of 40 female students was given the following description of Fletcher's activities:

A horny professor named Fletcher
Was thought just a harmless old lecher,

Till a coed was so
Egregiously slow

That even old Fletcher could catch her.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0907.php#problem_limericks_150907

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