Hummingwolf at Home

Via the WJLA weather blog:

"This year's Montgomery County Agricultural Fair had oversize cows, playful pygmy goats and adorable piglets running races. But there was another life-form lurking in the wings. After days of sitting around in hot and humid weather, the baked-goods exhibition had become completely overrun by mold. Here are some of the formerly delicious pies and cakes, now more of a prize to curious microbiologists."

The photos are exactly as appetizing as you'd expect them to be.

An interesting look at Vogue magazine covers from 2010. Even more images were posted originally on LiveJournal's fashin community.

Now wearing: Old-looking blue jeans, brighter blue mock turtleneck (or something), white socks, brown & silver shoes, old glasses I really need to do something about, and boring underwear.

Now hearing: Well, I would like to say it's my personalized Launchcast station; but that was discontinued a month ago, so I couldn't possibly be listening to that, right? ("Kuos" by Banco de Gaia.)

Now seeing: Computer screen as I sit here trying to think of what to type. Shifting my eyes to the left, I see a grey day out the window. The tree nearest the window is just starting to put out little green leaflets, which will soon grow into bigger leaves, which will provide food for what may be a massive infestation of Eastern tent caterpillars. I never wrote about those last spring, but I was utterly fascinated with those fuzzy guys in their teeming thousands as they took about three days to defoliate the old tree. Since both tree and caterpillars are native species, they do have a working relationship: tree puts out a set of leaves, caterpillars munch on them, tree mopes for a while, then tree puts out more leaves. Here's hoping the tree is healthy enough to put out an entire second set of leaves this year if it has to.

Now smelling: One of the spicier herbal teas from Celestial Seasonings. ("Not Yet Remembered" by Harold Budd playing on my nonexistent station.)

Now tasting: See above.

Now feeling: Sleepier than I should be, but less headachy than I have been.

Last meal eaten: Egg substitute, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, onions, and corn fried in olive oil & topped with Swiss cheese.

Pie eaten on Pi Day last week: Bacon and onion quiche (store-bought).

Beverage drunk to excess on St. Patrick's Day: Green tea.

Are there more of my kind? Possibly: see here for possible evidence.

Number of library books currently checked out: Hmm... four returned yesterday, three checked out, so... nine.

Wasn't there some New Year's resolution about reading all those books you bought last year? Um, yes. (Now playing: The Police, "Driven to Tears.")

Now reading: M.M. Manring, Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima. Marketing, racism, sexism--what's not to love? You gotta admit, the 1919 advertisement titled "The Cook whose Cabin Became More Famous than Uncle Tom's" has a certain undeniable OH AUNT JEMIMA NO quality to it.

Speaking of racism... O HAI RACEFAILZ: Notes on Reading an Internet Conflict.

Mutant joke of the week: Two Cows: SF Version (see both the comments there and the original post; link via supergee). (Now playing: Underworld, "Dirty Epic (Dirty Guitar Mix).")

Cuteness of the week: On Monday as I was walking down the alley, a wee child with whiskers on his face and his father (or guardian) were in one of the back yards I passed. I soon discovered that the little boy had a tall paper hat--he was the Cat in the Hat! The father said, "Apparently it was a very exciting day in school today. Who knew?"

Synchronicity: That night's House, M.D. episode had a cat as a major character.

Last TV show watched: Wednesday night's episode of Lie to Me.

Dream of the week: The one featuring Dean & Sam Winchester and Castiel. Mmm... Castiel.

How much TV do you really need to watch? Less than I have been watching lately.

Miles walked today: Probably a little over two. I wasn't feeling terribly ambitious (and now it's Sting, "Love Is the Seventh Wave").

Have you anything else to say? Not that I've managed to think of in the last few minutes (Liane Foly, "Des Heures Hindoues").

For fellow fans of House, M.D.: The Metaphorical Medicine of House. Includes bits of interview with the technical advisor for the series.

The 2007 International Privacy Ranking from Privacy International. According to this report, the U.S. privacy record isn't the worst in the world: in 2007, this country actually ranked better than Singapore, Russia, China, and Malaysia. Woohoo! We only did worse than nearly everyone else on the planet. On the plus side, as about half of you lot have already noticed, "A telephone company cut off an FBI international wiretap after the agency failed to pay its bill on time, according to a U.S. government audit released on Thursday." While one must admire the elegance of the checks and balances set forth in the United States Constitution as well as the nobility of much of the Bill of Rights, one sometimes suspects that the greatest guardians of freedom in this country are general laziness and incompetence.

On an entirely different note: Ghee Happy, "a brand that celebrates Indian/Hindu mythologies and culture thru design and storytelling in a fun and charming way." Do check out the free Kali desktop. (This is one of those links where it's hard for an outsider to tell just how serious/reverent/etc. the artist is being. That odd Spiderman Ganesh photo going around a while back was from an actual Ganesha festival, was a serious attempt to meld East and West, even as it seemed to so many people that it must have been blasphemous. So I at least feel compelled to reserve judgment about the cute little deities, just admiring the cuteness.)

Last and probably least, a link for my own reference, though it could be useful for anyone else with an analog TV: The US Government's TV converter box coupon program.

There was going to be more to this post, but I decided I was too sleepy to say it.

The tawny frogmouth is one of the most muppet-like creatures in existence, particularly in the albino version. Go see for yourself! (Link via urbpan.)

Both links full of graphical content, but no video.

First link via nancylebov: This are serious thread. If the words "lolrus" and "Orly" mean anything to you, you need to see this.

And via polonius: Parody Magic Cards, which will probably be of most interest to folks who have some actual clue about normal Magic cards.

Spider-Man Ganesh.

Because a fipplebuss post reminded me of it:

Inversions by Scott Kim. The site hasn't been updated lately, but it's well worth looking through if you haven't seen Kim's work recently.

This was mentioned on vidicon's journal way back in October, but fiachra made a post reminding me of it today, so:
Look at these pictures. People with slow connections should keep in mind that this is a graphics-heavy site--the pictures are the reason why it exists. But those images are worth it.

And now I must hurry up and get outta here. Have a good day, y'all.

... I recommend a visit to The Oligarchy Signage Gallery.

Beginning with http://www.capnwacky.com/valentines/valcard1.html

Laughing too hard... can't... breathe... help...