Watermark

Cat-O-Lantern

Made and gifted to me by Niki

RELATED POSTS:

Cat-O-Lantern 2
Carnival of the Cats #84 - Halloween Edition
Carnival of the Cats #136 - Halloween 2006 Edition
Maggie & Scooter's Halloween Adventure
Friday Cat Blogging
HalloweenQuizzes

Snapshot Poem 31 Oct '07

the garden
is buried
in leaves

and so
am I

Enjoy your All Hallows Eve --

tomorrow the marathon begins.

Webstream: My Week on the Web

Below is a summary of my last week on the Web; but first, a bit about my next few weeks on the Web.

Since I've decided to do both NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo again this year, you can expect my posting at Watermark to be consistent, but unusual - as it was in November last year.

I'm missing my housemate even more than usual as I contemplate this challenge. Last year, she was here -- cooking, shopping, and generally making sure that I didn't sink into an overwhelming pile of paper and undone dishes. She is now on to other places and challenges of her own.

This year I face an even bigger challenge than writing a novel and posting to my blog every day: requesting and receiving help. We shall soon see how I do at meeting all these.

So, last week:

Stumbled:

• We Feel Fine / by Jonathan Harris and Sepandar Kamvar via Jamie in a post at NaBloPoMo: How does the internet feel?
• Make My Logo Bigger Cream via whatsnextblog.com: still giggling...
• 30 Ways to Improve Readability
• Language &"translation" fun - A Consuming Experience 
• current: a peer-to-peer news and information network
• LA Weekly - News - The Life and Death of Jesse James - Josh Olson: a truly amazing story, psychological exploration well depicted
• American Humane: Pets and Pals Photo Contest 2007 finalists: cute animal photos
• 110+ Resources For Creative Minds: skellie does it again -- this one brought her site down, which she writes about here
• Dumbledore Pride! Get your t-shirts here

Bookmarked:

• Naomi Wolf: Fascist America, in 10 easy steps | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited: scary

@ Blogging Blog:

• Bears & Blog Resources @ Blogging Blog

Here at Watermark:

• Seasonal Scary Cats
• Photo Friday: The Quiet Dandelion
• While Napping in Alaska on a Sunday in October [an old poem]
• Watermark Page Rank
• Snapshot Poem 24 Oct '07
• Mind-Bending Visuals

Seasonal Scary Cats

Yeah, this novel writing thing:

I did it last year; this year I'm not expecting quite as much of myself. If I make the word count, great; if not, that's OK. And here's another scary seasonal feline:

Yes, I did this last year, too. I did them both.

I'm no more sane this year. Apparently.

For even more seasonal cats, try:

• The Carnival of the Cats at Bad Kitty Cats 
• On Sunday, the new carnival will be at Missy, KC and Bear
• Weekend Cat Blogging last weekend was at*NEW* Tuxedo Gang Hideout; this weekend you will find it at CatSynth.com
• Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is at Pet's Garden Blog and will be at Life From A Cat's Perspective
• Friday Ark at Modulator

Don't forget to supply the treat cupboard!

RELATED POSTS:

• Cat-O-Lantern
• Happy Samhain
• Carnival of the Cats #136 - Halloween 2006 Edition
• OOoooooOOOOooooOOo!
• Carnival of the Cats #84 - Halloween 2005 Edition
• Samhain Saturday Cat Blogging
• Halloween [Cat] Quizzes

The Quiet Dandelion

This week's theme is Silence.

While Napping in Alaska on a Sunday in October [an old poem]

Winter crawls out of the woods
and swallows the town.  Shrews slip back
      to the woodpile.  The road
slides downhill.  Black and white tiles
embrace on the kitchen floor.
      Coffee thickens in the pot
while lunch congeals on the plate.
The planet turns through crowded space.
      Dust drifts under the door.

The dog dozes while the cat
dreams of eating it, one black paw
      at a time.  Darkness rubs
my bedroom window.  The quilt
exhales cedar and mothballs.
      In my afternoon dreams, I
ride a rolling ball through star-
cluttered skies.  Bears climb to their dens.
      My sheets pile up like snow.

 

Watermark Page Rank

from SmartPageRank

My page rank hasn't changed, but because Google messed with the algorithm, Watermark now ranks higher than ProBlogger or CopyBlogger!

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Insane.

Snapshot Poem 24 Oct '07

interminable months of flatness
the borderless continent
of fatigue - compulsion
of blue - dreams
seep into days
like autumn
fog

 

Mind-Bending Visuals

What do you think of modern, cutting-edge, sci-fi artwork? Of how contemporary artists push the human form into almost mechanistic representations?

Like this, for example:

Bizzarie di Varie Figure - 1624
Braccelli, Giovanni Battista - author

Yes, that's the year 1624; the publication date of the book at Rare Book Room:

The "Rare Book Room" site has been constructed as an educational site intended to allow the visitor to examine and read some of the great books of the world . . .

This site contains all of the books (about 400) that have been digitized to date. These range over a wide variety of topics and rarity. The books are presented so that the viewer can examine all the pages in medium to medium-high resolution.

There is something to delight everyone here; give yourself time to peruse the stacks.

[Thanks to Peter Ciccariello for the pointer.]

Next, look carefully at this magical image from the odd neighbor:

Hints: it's called camouflage, and tagged with birds and cats. Click the image to see it bigger at her site.

Finally, which direction is the dancer spinning?

Clockwise? Counter-clockwise? Can you make her change direction? What does it mean?

Left-brain? Right-brain?

Brainless?

Click to go to the Herald Sun article and extensive & contentious discussion.

[This is one of those times I'm unsure of the right & legal way to link. I could, of course, send you there without showing you the image. But you're far more likely to click through once you see it -- aren't you?]

This one is thanks to randa clay design.

Edited to add:  Just after posting, I discovered this discussion on optical illusions at the flickr Utata group, which starts off with the dancer and includes links to other interesting mind-bending images. And this is by far the most interesting discussion...

Webstream: My Week on the Web

Stumbled:

• Argentine - a lovely poem at Mole
• Moleskin Project

Bookmarked:

• B.L. Ochman's weblog: Internet marketing strategy, social media trends, news and commentary.: NY Aquarium Lets You Build Your Wild Self
• Slideoo.com - The horizontal photo slideshow for Flickr
• Fix8 - Bring the Virtual World to Reality
• Tom Masters’ new book aimed at making blogging simple for “gray generation” : The Blog Herald

@ Blogging Blog:

• DoppelMe: A Fun & Easy Avatar

Here at Watermark:

• Blog Action Day: Why Must It Be Beautiful?
• Snapshot Poem 17 October 2007
• Stephen Colbert for President!
• My WiLD SeLF - Friday Cat Blogging
• Missoula, Downtown - Uptown? - PhotoFriday