Visitors

They were looking for open water to forage in, and there’s a wee bit on our pond.

Snow clumps

The other day clumps of snow fell off the trees in lines, producing some interesting effects. More photos below the cut; click to show individual images.

worldpool: Canada and Venezuela

Today, Canada decides to stand up for human rights in… (spins wheel) Venezuela

Few people, of course, are asking: “Why just Venezuela?”

Why just Maduro? Surely, Trudeau realizes that in using the terms “violation of human rights and the complete disregard of rule of law,” he’s describing a whole gang of the world’s governments, including some of the biggest ones.

worldpool: DAU

I… honestly don’t know what to think about this.

The Never-Ending Film

“And then I look at Khrzhanovsky and I see that he has a smile on his face because he understands that this also was a bit of a performance because I knew it would look great in the article to say that I’ve been conditioned. So I’ve helped him to create this self-portrait of a tyrannical genius and he finally managed to completely control me. And I’m not sure if I’m proud of the story. I love it. It’s the best magazine story I’ve ever written, but I’m not sure I’m proud of it.”

DAU | Experiment is ongoing

 

worldpool: ‘People have not come to this world to be on their own, nor to make desserts on their own’

Bosnia’s intriguing dessert made by 12 hands

worldpool: “A tiny nation of people began to take shape.”

My disabled son’s amazing gaming life in the World of Warcraft

“While we are gathered here today, a candle is being lit for Mats in a classroom in the Netherlands, a candle burns in a call centre in Ireland, in a library in Sweden there is a candle lit, he is remembered in a little beauty parlour in Finland, a municipal office in Denmark, many places in England. All over Europe, Mats is remembered by many morethan those who had the opportunity to come here today.

“I met Mats in a world where it doesn’t matter a bit who you are, what kind of body you have, or how you look in reality, behind the keyboard.

“There, what does matter is who you choose to be and how you conduct yourself towards others. What does matter is what is found here,” – Kai Simon laid his hand on his temple, “and here.” Kai Simon laid his hand on his heart.

worldpool: stonehenge

I’ve been thinking about how I manage the world pool posts, and have decided to try something new. I’ve been told that people like the collected-links format, because they can settle down on the weekend and read through a batch of them. But the problem is that when I put together a weekly list the list gets longer and longer, and then it takes more time to prepare the post, and then I don’t have time and don’t do it, and the list gets longer, and…

So I’m going to try a new thing: posting as the stories come. There may still be a good number of stories over the week, of course, and I might collect some into one post if they share characteristics (e.g. “just for fun”). I’ll start every post with world pool and tag them all as “from the world pool,” so readers should be able to search the tag and find everything relevant for the week. Let me know how this works for you.

So, starting out: here’s an interesting article: The battle for the future of Stonehenge.

It’s snowing

So have some pictures with ice.

They’re mushrooms. In case you couldn’t tell.

Really.

I can do cat-and-lines too.

Really

Am I not a handsome fellow?

From the world pool: February 1, 2019

Media in the news

This was an interesting week for quite a few tech companies, and it will be even more interesting to see the fallout, if any. I noticed this because I notice anything relating to Facebook and privacy. I detest Facebook on many levels and do not use it, for reasons relating to their handling of privacy and the fact that I think they are turning into a monopoly. It is possible that I am not entirely unbiased about them (ya think?), but honestly I think that my attitude is justified by their actions.

From the world pool: just for fun edition

It’s been a while since I’ve done a world pool post, partly because the news has just been so depressing. And yes, I’ve got depressing stuff (also useful/interesting), but I’m going to save it for later and start 2019 with happier content.

Art + Design + Writing

Poetry

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver died on January 17^th. I loved her writing. Rather than an obituary, have something written when she was alive.

What Mary Oliver’s Critics Don’t Understand

Nature […] with its endless cycles of death and rebirth, fascinated her. Walking in the woods, she developed a method that has become the hallmark of her poetry, taking notice simply of whatever happens to present itself. Like Rumi, another of her models, Oliver seeks to combine the spiritual life with the concrete: an encounter with a deer, the kisses of a lover, even a deformed and stillborn kitten. “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work,” she writes.

Art

Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle, Remedios Varo, 1961 

“Sometimes the city lands right on top of you.” 

Friendly tower cranes, grinning street signs, and other adventures in augmented reality

Photography

Interview: Photographer Spends 10 Years Capturing the Visual Symphony of Waves

Just cool

Frozen in time: the miraculous gold rush movies buried under the Yukon ice 

Just for fun

Why you’re tying your shoelaces all wrong

End of season

…and lots of orange.