ColdMarble Musings

Saturday, August 05, 2000

Busy day! Up at the crack of dawn to deal with hungry pets and on the go ever since. First stop, farmers market for fresh veggies and fruit and a nice slice of cheddar cheese. Then back downtown to hit the video store for nephews' birthday presents. Only we got such an early start to the farmers market, that the stores were not open yet, so killed half an hour walking the dog along the Inner Harbor promenade.She always likes "adventures" of this sort, though she does get a bit nervous if we stop in a crowded area.
Back home again to start some rehab work on the house. I began demolition of the wall between an existing closet and a former closet. Result: One big closet! I looked like a human dust bunny after ripping down all that old plaster and lath. There is nothing as disgusting as sneezing gray mud. The wall is gone, all the plaster yuck is swept up, although it will be darn dusty for a week or two.
Made minor change in index page, promoting new cemetery addition and updated some links.
5:09 PM ::link::

Friday, August 04, 2000

Just added a new cemetery to the collection. Be sure to check the Lorraine Park pictures. Also added two new photos to the Baltimore Cemetery list. I still have some more photos from New Cathedral to scan. Hoping to find the time for another photo expedition soon.
7:15 PM ::link::

On another tack, I have been thinking of setting up a webcam. I am still undecided about the project. Is it something that would add to the site or drive folks away? ;-) It might be an interesting experiment, just a technical exercise of sorts, another step in the journey on the long road of geekdom, wasting bandwidth and calling it art. Yeah... could be fun.
3:45 PM ::link::

Brianna's blog had a link to a Canadian photographer's work. Evolving Beauty, photography of Eric Boutilier-Brown, features absolutely wonderful artistic nudes in a wide range of natural settings. Mostly black and white, there are a few color and infrared shots. The ones in water are just breathtaking, combining the curves of the rippling water with the soft curves of the human figure. Beautiful and inspiring. Will you see something like that here? Photos of tombstones are strange enough, don't you think? Besides, who's going to want to pose nude in a graveyard? If you are that adventurous, let me know... I have some ideas percolating for what could be some great shots.
3:30 PM ::link::

TGIF! What a week it has been... scanning away at work, getting ready for the upcoming semester and then racing home to rescan some photos at a higher resolution for Ancestry magazine. Just got finished with that last night and the Zip disk is on the way via snail mail. The article goes to print next week and they say it will be no problem to get me a couple of copies. I am stoked about this! First time in print in a "real" magazine. It was a bit of a shock to see the size of the resulting files. I am so used to nice compact web graphics at 72 dpi, that the scans at 300 dpi for print were monstrous. I had hoped to be able to make the files available to the magazine via FTP but not with the size of these... no way.
In a related occurence, the webmaster for The USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project asked to use one of my photos for their web site. Thank you, Pam, and thanks for the link back. :-)
3:14 PM ::link::

Thursday, August 03, 2000

How much faith should you put in an online test?
3:57 PM ::link::

Compare and contrast:
55 percent of households without computers say they don't need one, and almost 20 percent of all households say they will never go online.--Forrester Research
The wired life.
3:25 PM ::link::

I always worry when someone says, "Hi, I am from Washington and I am here to help you."
1:20 PM ::link::

How the British use e-mail:
Romance - 61 per cent
Sports - 26 per cent
Breaking up - 21 per cent
Work -quitting - 15 per cent
Work -ask for raise - 13 per cent
Talk about sex - 10 per cent
12:56 PM ::link::

You've all seen any number of virtual graveyards. Now the folks at Ataraxy have a virtual graveyard for dead domains. If they need some tombstones, I'd be glad to help out. ;-)
12:36 PM ::link::

Indian Funeral Vultures
Believing that earth, water and fire are scared and must not be defiled by the dead, adherents of India's Parsee religion rely upon vultures to dispose of their dead. The birds are succumbing to an unknown disease and as their population decreases, the number of uneaten dead bodies increases.
12:12 PM ::link::

Hankies for hankie-pankie?
New Xcite! facial tissues moistened and soaked in human pheromones cause increased attraction to the opposite sex.
11:55 AM ::link::

Plants with chemical defenses?
"Some plants produce weapons tailored to their attackers. One South American potato releases a volatile that mimics the alarm call of infesting aphids, making them flee in panic. And several plants, including lima beans, emit substances to attract other insects that prey on or parasitize the attacking insect."
10:01 AM ::link::

Tuesday, August 01, 2000

Had a wonderful request from a staff member at the USGenWeb Project. They are doing an article on the symbols used in graveyard art and tombstones for Ancestry magazine. I was thrilled to hear that they want to use some of my photos to illustrate the article. Yippeee!!!
The issue will contain a three page spread using about a dozen of my photographs and should be in September.
12:39 PM ::link::

Bride of Stupid Haikus
Over a dozen bits of three lined wackiness. The rest of the site is just as insane.
12:37 PM ::link::

I'd guess that this lawsuit doesn't have a ghost of a chance.
11:06 AM ::link::

This Malaysian graveyard sounds pretty cool. On the burial grounds, there are massive fountains, archways and colorful statues of Chinese mythological characters.
11:03 AM ::link::

Kuruma Ningyo
These 19th century Japanese puppets are making a comeback.
Puppets bring your imagination to life.
10:49 AM ::link::

Monday, July 31, 2000

Hope they leave Peter Pan out of this one...it's my favorite peanut butter.
Unlawful use of ''a female fairy character in interstate commerce.''
12:30 PM ::link::