"What happens only once a year yet 24 times in a day? The New Year. No matter the language, the cultural background, or the geographic location, almost everyone rings in the New Year at midnight on December 31. So celebrate it time zone by time zone with some place-specific drinks and snacks."
Thursday, December 31, 2009
:Ring in the New Year 24 times over
Drinks Around the World - CHOW:
The Simpsons Stained Glass Panels
Joseph Cavalieri's wonderful stained glass panels depicting the Simpsons:
Via Popped Culture
IL MOMENTO DELLA MORTE
(The Moment of Death)
(The Moment of Death)
LA REINCARNAZIONE
DI MAGGIE
(The Reincarnation of Maggie)
DI MAGGIE
(The Reincarnation of Maggie)
THE MAID
Via Popped Culture
All guts and no toenails!
It's New Year's Eve and I plan to down a few litres of Furious Cousins' World Famous Holiday Punch.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
The Short Parliament
Andrew Coyne's Blog has this (and more) to say about Stephen Harper's latest decision to suspend democracy:
Question: In what other democracy is it permissible for the government of the day to hide from the legislature for months at a time? To ignore explicit parliamentary votes demanding the production of documents? To stonewall independent inquiries? Perhaps the rules allow it elsewhere, but is it the practice? Does convention not still forbid it? Is it not viewed in other countries as dictatorial behaviour, and therefore, you know … not done?
My secret sartorial weapon
One needs a flowing muumuu and no underwear to blog properly. This amazing garment will assure me a first place finish in next year's Canadian Blog Awards.
Natalie Dee
Natalie Dee
Declarations of Conjugal Interest from the Massachusetts Federalist, 1733.
What manner of wench could resist such an offer? I've always been a sucker for a tanner with several goode hats. See more vintage personal ads at McSweeney's'Share Mine Agony' − SWMLonesome tanner. Wage of twelve pounds, seven shillings in the year. Owner of several goode hats. I seek a woman in her eleventh yeare of age or more, faire skinn-ed so as to appear sickly, and of dignified carriage. Her posture shall be impecc'bly erect, so much that folkes often inquire where she found such a stiff coat. If not erect to my liking, I shall contrive a busk of whalebone or small-grain'd wood to correkt her spine. I will teache her to suffer for the Lord.
Tapas 101
I enjoyed tapas everywhere in Barcelona and also had some great ones in Buenos Aires. It is a wonderful way to eat. Little bites of intense flavour. I love patatas bravas, fried potato wedges served with a spicy alioli sauce.
Azahar, who lives in Seville, has several blogs including one that is a personal collection of some of the very best tapa bars and restaurants in Seville. She recently posted a great article on tapas with a brief description of some of the most common tapas that visitors can expect to find in any typical tapas bar in Andalucia.
Azahar, who lives in Seville, has several blogs including one that is a personal collection of some of the very best tapa bars and restaurants in Seville. She recently posted a great article on tapas with a brief description of some of the most common tapas that visitors can expect to find in any typical tapas bar in Andalucia.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Kin Say Photos Show Annie Moore, First Ellis Island Immigrant
"For more than a century, she was lost to history. Three years ago, she was rediscovered. As it turned out, the first immigrant to set foot on Ellis Island when it opened on Jan. 1, 1892, an Irish girl named Annie Moore, did not go west and die in Texas, as had long been believed, but spent her days as a poor immigrant on the Lower East Side, dying in 1924." Read more
Forever’s Not So Long
What would you do if you had a few hours to kill before the world blows up? Me, I think I'd crack open that bottle of Brunello I've been saving for a really special occasion. Then I'd tell Mr. Nag that he didn't have to finish the laundry room.
Forever's Not So Long from garrettmurray
Via Curved White
Forever's Not So Long from garrettmurray
Via Curved White
Monday, December 28, 2009
The Decade in Culture
Nag on the Lake has been pegged as a popular culture blog (although it has also been described as a dog's breakfast) so I guess I should post an end of the decade pop cultural retrospective:
GOOD presents ten years of trucker hats, bad TV, and social media.
Am now surfing frantically for a dog's breakfast retrospective.
GOOD presents ten years of trucker hats, bad TV, and social media.
Am now surfing frantically for a dog's breakfast retrospective.
Kray Stencil Graf - London
Ronnie and Reggie Kray were gangsters in 60s London. There was an excellent movie made about them in 1990. Here's a bit of Kray graffitti on Hackney Road in London:
Read a little more about it at citynoise.org
Read a little more about it at citynoise.org
Sunday, December 27, 2009
The Supplication of the Buddha Amitabha
Invocation by Lama Nyiama.
My FB friend, Kameng, steered me this way.
Photo of rare pugpanzee.
Labradoodles, cockapoos, schnoodles, speagles, puggles, jugs, dorgies? Okay. But I think they've taken the hybrid craze a little too far with this one.
Mark's Scrapbook of Oddities & Treasures.
Mark's Scrapbook of Oddities & Treasures.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Lovely Argentina pics
IDEA, 1940s
In the 1940s, these were the sources of ideas for movies: "Play," "Short Story or Novel," "Newspaper Story or Current Event," "Original Story," "Magazine Article," or "Historical Incident."The Infomercantile
On another note: this particular flowchart is one of the few places the words "Restaurants," "Mimeograph," "Arsenal," "Publicity," and "Bits & Extras" fit together so well. From the 20th Century Fox flowcharts collection.
Via
Let's get flurrious
I made this snowflake at Let's get flurrious where you can design your own snowflake and help support The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) at the same time.
It took me a little while to get the hang of it and my finished product is not nearly as nice as Beancounter's (where I found this link).
It took me a little while to get the hang of it and my finished product is not nearly as nice as Beancounter's (where I found this link).
The Golden Age Photographs
Once I started researching the Dutch Master Still Life paintings I became fascinated by them and their place in history. Pieter Claesz, Willem Kalf and David Bailly were the artists that most captured my imagination. I soon found I could read the narratives buried within their paintings and found the messages still resonate hundreds of years later.Via
The Dutch Masters also delighted in amazing the viewers with their virtuoso skills at creating paintings that perfectly imitated real life. With photographs becoming such a commodity today, and technology making it possible for anyone to take a passably good image, I find it rewarding to create photographs that look like master paintings. Kevin Best
Friday, December 25, 2009
Dylan Thomas - A Child's Christmas In Wales
A Child's Christmas In Wales was published in 1955. It is an anecdotal sketch of the festive season which emerged from a piece originally written for radio. It is an exercise in storytelling and Thomas recreates the experience of Christmas as though it were a fairy tale. Read more at BBC WalesListen to Thomas reading it: A Child’s Christmas in Wales (MP3 19:42)
Thursday, December 24, 2009
The "blueprints" of Monsieur Eiffel
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The Biggest News Stories of the Year
The website Journalism.org monitors the news from 55 outlets every week, calculating what percent of the week’s print, television, radio, and internet reporting is devoted to each story. Our latest Transparency is a look at the totals for all the news this year, divided into categories of politics, culture, business, and plain old bad news.GOOD
Thanks Tom!
My friend Tom felt sorry for me because I had not yet received a badge for my second place finish in The Canadian Blog Awards so he made me a counterfeit one! The name of the category should be Popular Culture but I'm not complaining.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
China's last tiger is eaten
"The man was sentenced to 12 years in jail, local media reported. Kang Wannian, a villager from Mengla, Yunnan Province, met the tiger in February while gathering freshwater clams in a nature reserve near China's border with Laos. He claimed to have killed it in self-defence.
The only known wild Indochinese tiger in China, photographed in 2007 at the same reserve, has not been seen since Kang's meal, the Yunnan-based newspaper Life News reported earlier this month."
Read more in the Telegraph
9 Countries - beautiful ambient sounds from Asia
Listen to it at Wax Audio
Via
In case you were wondering
Nag on the Lake placed 2nd in the Popular Culture category. I was going to wait until I had my badge but the organizers haven't prepared them yet. Maybe they didn't expect to have winners?
Monday, December 21, 2009
Seasons Greetings
When I was a kid people used to send less creative versions of these Christmas cards.
Square America
Via
Square America
Via
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Taming dogs with a mean streak
Steve Markwell is a brave man. At his Washington sanctuary, he takes in the worst of the worst that have been turned away by all other shelters - pit bulls, guard dogs, face-biters and cat-killers.
More at latimes.com
Via
More at latimes.com
Via
Buddha Project
I've posted lens culture's Buddha Project before. Check out the slideshow. (There are a couple of The Nag's backyard Buddhas among these stunning images.)
Click this link to see my Buddha set on Flickr.
Click this link to see my Buddha set on Flickr.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Stunning snowflake photos
As water vapor starts condensing on its surface, the ice particle quickly develops facets, which form into a different shaped snowflakes depending on temperature.Lots more at Vision02
Via
Maria Bamford's One-Hour Homemade Christmas Special!
This is long, I know, but I think she's great!
Maria Bamford's One-Hour Homemade Christmas Special!
Via
Maria Bamford's One-Hour Homemade Christmas Special!
Via
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Letters to Santa Written By Shakespeare Characters.
"Dear Santa:
How does my lord? I am fine. I believe 'tis possible you did not receive my wish list last year, or that it fell into unsavory hands and was rudely tampered with before reaching you, as all you brought me was a chastity belt and some granny underpants. I pray that this one flies to you untainted since this year hath really sucked. I wish for the following:
— He's Just Not That Into You (book and DVD)
— 'All About Me' Lock and Key Diary
— National Geographic Flower and Leaf Pressing Kit
— Coastal Deluxe Automatic Inflatable Life Vest
Fingers crossed,
Ophelia"
More at McSweeney's Internet Tendency
Via
How does my lord? I am fine. I believe 'tis possible you did not receive my wish list last year, or that it fell into unsavory hands and was rudely tampered with before reaching you, as all you brought me was a chastity belt and some granny underpants. I pray that this one flies to you untainted since this year hath really sucked. I wish for the following:
— He's Just Not That Into You (book and DVD)
— 'All About Me' Lock and Key Diary
— National Geographic Flower and Leaf Pressing Kit
— Coastal Deluxe Automatic Inflatable Life Vest
Fingers crossed,
Ophelia"
More at McSweeney's Internet Tendency
Via
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Christopher with his Kitten
This photo makes me unbelievably sad.
Via (OvO)
Mary Ellen Mark first encountered this boy and his parents in Kentucky while working on a story about rural poverty. She learned their address and later went to visit their home. ‘The parents were too shy to come out to be photographed,’ she remembers, ‘but the kids came out.’ The boy’s disheveled hair, dirty face and wary stare all suggest the poverty of his life, but the fierceness with which he clutches his kitten speaks of a determination that transcends his surroundings.
Via (OvO)
Add more beaver to the Nag's sidebar!
Nag on the Lake has made it to the second round of The 2009 Canadian Blog Awards. I'm sitting in 3rd place out of 5 so I'll need your support to remain in contention for an award. You can cast your vote here.
Edit: and you can do it daily.
Edit: and you can do it daily.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Grasshopper, You Too Can Write a Hit Kung Fu Movie
Write a Hit Kung Fu Movie using the generator. Just add a battle scene and maybe a slow-moving Chinese mammal or two and you'll be ready to start shooting.
Thanks Ken!
What Beer Should I Drink?
Just in time for the holiday season. This is for the rest of you; I'll stick with my red wine.
Eating The Road
Via
Paris 1962
A great Flickr set of Paris 1962.
I especially like the photos of Les Halles before the area was neutered.
Via
I especially like the photos of Les Halles before the area was neutered.
Via
Monday, December 14, 2009
How to make snowflakes
Nakaya Ukichiro grew the first artificial snowflake on a tip of a fine rabbit hair.
Ukichiro's Snowflakes from Matt at AllofUs on Vimeo.
Via It’s Nice That
Ukichiro's Snowflakes from Matt at AllofUs on Vimeo.
Via It’s Nice That
Rhoda Kellogg Child Art Collection
In 1967, Rhoda Kellogg published an archive of c. 8000 drawings of children ages 24-40 months. (See Kellogg, R.: Rhoda Kellogg Child Art Collection. Washington, DC., Microcard Editions, Inc., 1967; now available at LexisNexis, Reed Elsevier, Inc..) Up to now, as far as we know, no other archive of early graphic expressions was ever published, including a large sample of pictures and presented according to a classification system. Thus, the archive has a historical status. Read moreVia
10 Best Places to Live for Escaping World Conflict
Where would you be the safest if World War 3 broke out tomorrow? Perhaps it’s a grim subject, but safety and distance from world conflict can be a motivating factor in your choice to expatriate. At the very least, conflict around the world can weigh heavy on the soul, and it’s nice to know there are some places still left in the world where you might be left in peace.I'm living in one of them and it makes me proud to live in a place known for its peacefulness.
See which other countries made the cut at Expatify.
Via
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Who ya gonna call? Herorats.
They are trained from a young age to associate the smell of explosives with a treat – such as a banana or a peanut. This reward is vital to the rat doing its work. The rats move up and down an area the size of a squash court and when they locate a mine they usually sit still and scratch themselves.
I wanted to know if they were killed by the landmines but apparently they are too light to detonate a mine by themselves if they step on it. Yay!
Read more at Socybert
Via
I wanted to know if they were killed by the landmines but apparently they are too light to detonate a mine by themselves if they step on it. Yay!
Read more at Socybert
Via
Minimum Wage Machine
I'm certain there are a lot of minimum wage jobs that are not too far removed from this. Eight hours per day of turning that crank would likely cause carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow and/or a torn rotator cuff.
Blake Fall-Conroy's minimum wage machine
Via accidental mysteriesTurning the crank will yield one penny every 5.04 seconds, for $7.15 an hour (NY State minimum wage). That means, if you can physically turn the crank foran 8-hour day, you can earn $57.20. If you stop turning the crank, you stop receiving money.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
How Far Your Produce Travels
Buying fruits and vegetables from local farmers' markets not only supports local agriculture, but also saves countless pounds of carbon emissions, since your food has not been shipped from afar to your supermarket.
This is a look at the average distance that produce travels in the United States—from where it's grown, to where it's sold. Seen at GOOD
Click here to launch infographic.
This is a look at the average distance that produce travels in the United States—from where it's grown, to where it's sold. Seen at GOOD
Click here to launch infographic.
Looking Into the Past
I love then and now photos. There are some great ones at the Flickr pool Looking Into The Past.
Via My Modern Metropolis
Via My Modern Metropolis
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