committed

i ran across this list of reasons people were committed to a west virginia insane asylum in the late 1800s. hmm, in light of recent events in the congress of the united states, perhaps we should bring back that "politics" one and frankly "religious enthusiasm" wouldn't hurt either while we're at it.

i'd be in trouble myself with "novel reading" and "dissolute habits" as well as "bad habits and political excitement" not to mention the occasional "feebleness of intellect" and "periodical fits" (is that fits over reading periodicals or are they just every once in awhile?), tho' my periodical fits are possibly related to "menstrual derangement."

i've always wondered what "dropsy" was. and apparently back then there was just a "time of life" when you entered an insane asylum. "egotism" was a reason to be committed in those days, whereas today we encourage it.

i suspect that we simply go for a spa weekend to get over many of these things in this day and age. and gunshot wounds are probably treated in regular hospitals. i hope that one goes to regular prison for shooting one's daughter these days, unless it was done from a "gathering in the head," in which case, perhaps an asylum is still appropriate. not so many people fall from their horse during war, so i imagine their business on that front has fallen off significantly.

well, i don't know about you, but i'm off to clear my "congestion of the brain" by reading a novel...

animated bunny

just had to share this bit of fun i had with bunny photos. resolution is a little iffy, but oh well, it was free, what can i say?

we interrupt the interviews for the colors of the moment

it's been awhile since i played with big huge labs' color palette generator i love to do this to check in on the colors that are attracting me at the moment. these are all photos i've taken recently. hmm, i sense warm scarves and quilts on the horizon...and i still haven't painted over that awful pink in the kitchen. i wonder if these colors are among the ones i bought two months ago?

i love the names of some of these: bracken, allports, chelsa cucumber, stromboli, persimmon, sherpa blue, mash, chenin... tho' my ubiquitous teals and greens are here, there are some other ranges sneaking in. what colors are speaking to you in this late summer-early autumn transitional time?

fun stuff for ship geeks

i've spent quite a bit of time looking for cool ship geek related stuff on the web. for work purposes, of course. there are a lot of fun things about my job, despite the dinosaurs. one of the fun things i found (some of you know this, because i sent you the link already) was a website where you can design your own fish. it's called, intuitively enough, www.designafish.com. you go in, it loads a genome and you set the various parameters of your fish, from his head to fins, tail and torso and then you can fiddle with how much color and mottle he has. then, the program gives you feedback as to his capacity, hydrodynamics and level of innovation and gives him an overall rating.  i hereby present my efforts...

but there is a serious purpose behind all this fun, it's the innovative way that wärtsilä has of illustrating how difficult and complex ship design can be. clever cookies, i say.

and then, there's an iPhone app, where to kill time, you can load cargos onto various ship types, testing your knowledge of when to use tankers, bulkers and container vessels while you're on a plane or train. it's called ShipIt! and here's a you tube demo, but be sure to go get it on iTunes if you want to play. i'm not sure what it costs in the US, but i paid a mere 6 danish kroner (about $1), it's harder than you think to load those cargoes and send the ship off so another can come into place before the next cargo comes along. if i were to give a mini review, i'd say that the pace is nerve-wracking enough to be interesting, but i could do without the quasi-porn film music. worth the 6DKK:

and then, of course, don't forget that awesome marine traffic site, where you can see what ships are hanging out off your shores.  it might be that the somali pirates who accidentally tried to board a frigate belonging to the french navy (wonder if they didn't see that big letter F and numbers on the side?) a couple of days ago could use that site. actually, tho', they couldn't, as the gulf of aden isn't covered there. maybe they just need glasses.

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one last thing that's not a ship geek thing, tho' a ship geek showed it to me...it's called contact juggling and it's totally amazing...