Wordherd

Mt. Etna blows extremely rare smoke ring. (via Extremely Rare...

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:40:00 +0900

Mt. Etna blows extremely rare smoke ring.

(via Extremely Rare Volcano Smoke Rings Only Documented Three Times)

The evolutionary history of life.

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:31:00 +0900

The evolutionary history of life.

Police investigate case of woman's body found burned | abc7news.com

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:05:00 +0900

Police investigate case of woman's body found burned | abc7news.com:

HAYWARD, Calif. — Hayward police are investigating the death of a female who was found engulfed in flames Friday night, police said.

Emergency officials received initial calls of a structure fire in the 31000 block of Industrial Parkway Southwest shortly before 10 p.m. The report was quickly changed from a structure on fire to a person engulfed in flames.

Hayward firefighters and police responded within minutes but the female victim had already sustained to injuries sustained from the fire, police said.

The victim has not been identified.

Police said investigators have not ruled out any cause of death and are speaking with witnesses at the scene.

Manchester Riots 2011: scenes from Whalley Range (by...

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:28:00 +0900

Manchester Riots 2011: scenes from Whalley Range (by TheTweedlefish)

Whalley Range was one of Manchester’s first suburbs, built by Manchester banker and businessman Samuel Brooks as “a desirable estate for gentlemen and their families”.

What do we get for our trouble and pain ?
Just a rented room in Whalley Range
What do we get for our trouble and pain ?
…Whalley Range !
Into the depths of the criminal world
I followed her …

Gathering Shellfish (by Museum of Hartlepool)

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 13:28:00 +0900

Gathering Shellfish (by Museum of Hartlepool)

A Coble under Sail (by Museum of Hartlepool)

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 13:25:00 +0900

A Coble under Sail (by Museum of Hartlepool)

Pear orchard in Douglas County, Oregon, 1920 (by Oregon State...

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 13:18:00 +0900

Pear orchard in Douglas County, Oregon, 1920 (by Oregon State University Archives)

Hair-raising-earth-shaking!

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:30:00 +0900

Hair-raising-earth-shaking!

Anita Bryant.

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:31:00 +0900

Anita Bryant.

"Wonder in the face of being, in the very fact that there is being, this astonishment could be hailed..."

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:12:27 +0900

““Wonder in the face of being, in the very fact that there is being, this astonishment could be hailed and held precious, since it could be the most philosophical act of all.””

- — Dominique Janicaud

See Simon Critchley’s “The Book of Dead Philosophers”.

Papercraft Self Portrait - Art Portfolio for Eric Testroete

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:38:00 +0900

Papercraft Self Portrait - Art Portfolio for Eric Testroete:

Doctor Who?

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:37:00 +0900

I see Doctor Who. An entertaining power-lawyer watches. A 17-year old soccer-playing girl watches.

I don’t know.

Something I photographed, No. 8 (Source: My Canon)

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:21:35 +0900

Something I photographed, No. 8

(Source: My Canon)

Moffenmeiden ingesmeerd met pek / Shaving and tarring of...

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:52:05 +0900

Moffenmeiden ingesmeerd met pek / Shaving and tarring of “Kraut whores” by Nationaal Archief on Flickr.

Omslag badnummer weekblad Het Leven by Nationaal Archief on...

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:50:30 +0900

Omslag badnummer weekblad Het Leven by Nationaal Archief on Flickr.

Love it.

Something I photographed, No. 7 (Source: My Canon)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:32:00 +0900

Something I photographed, No. 7

(Source: My Canon)

Something I photographed, No. 6 (Source: My Canon)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:20:00 +0900

Something I photographed, No. 6

(Source: My Canon)

Something I photographed, No. 5 (Source: My Canon)

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 23:56:00 +0900

Something I photographed, No. 5

(Source: My Canon)

Books: Hard Rain Falling

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 23:16:00 +0900

Recently I finished reading Don Carpenter’s 1966 debut novel, Hard Rain Falling. I quite liked it. The synopsis from the New York Review Books Classics, which lately brought Carpenter’s book from its out of print languish:

Don Carpenter’s Hard Rain Falling is a tough-as-nails account of being down and out, but never down for good—a Dostoyevskian tale of crime, punishment, and the pursuit of an ever-elusive redemption. The novel follows the adventures of Jack Levitt, an orphaned teenager living off his wits in the fleabag hotels and seedy pool halls of Portland, Oregon. Jack befriends Billy Lancing, a young black runaway and pool hustler extraordinaire. A heist gone wrong gets Jack sent to reform school, from which he emerges embittered by abuse and solitary confinement. In the meantime Billy has joined the middle class—married, fathered a son, acquired a business and a mistress. But neither Jack nor Billy can escape their troubled pasts, and they will meet again in San Quentin before their strange double drama comes to a violent and revelatory end.

The book kicks up eloquent philosophical-thinking-matter on who is to blame for the world’s misfortunes and the reality and meaning of society. One of my favorite passages:

By then he would realize that the freedom he had always yearned for and never understood was beyond his or any man’s reach, and that all men must yearn for it equally; a freedom from the society of mankind without its absence; a freedom from connection, from fear, from trouble, and above all from the loneliness of being alive.

Famine in East Africa -

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:46:00 +0900

Famine in East Africa -