other stuff
How not to prepare for a run
In a few hours I am heading of to the starting line for GöteborgsVarvet the local annual half marathon and I am really, really not prepared. Some of the stuff is down to bad excuses – probably most of it. An ischias injury stopped my running for a few months. The yearly summer allergy kicked in a week ago which is annoying. So much for the bad luck section.
The real bad stuff was going to Uppsala to attend a great workshop this week. Lots of sitting and eating – the only exercise was intellectual and there was plenty of that. Great and entertaining but really crap for the running. Not to mention the fact that the nights were late and with too many beers.
Anyway I am off to the run soon way in the back at starting group 15 (way in the back) nr. 52041 – hope to make it around 🙂
Stuffed birds in the Cathedral?
About five years ago the artist Banksy performed hang and run art. What he would do was to take art with him into a 
museum and hang it up among the other artwork. This is a fun idea since most museum security is concerned with keeping the visitors from destroying or removing art – not adding to it.
See more about Banksy’s hang and run here.
While in Uppsala this week I came across an interesting variation on the theme. While attending a workshop on mashups we were taken on a guided tour of Uppsala Cathedral. It’s an amazing building filled with loads of dead kings, queens, nobility and a random selection of famous people. In short its a nice place to tour.
At the end of the Cathedral is the Vasa Chapel were the Gustav Vasa is buried with his wife (nr 9 on map). The chapel has a gate and sitting on the gate someone has stuck small stuffed birds…
photo: stuffed birds by wrote (cc by-nc)
The birds may look realistic but I can assure they they are very dead. When I asked our guide he was surprised to see them and my guess is that this is a variation of Banksy’s guerilla art project. Lots of fun. I wonder how long they have been there and how long they will remain there.
Catching the runner
What would happen if the poor old Wile E. C0yote ever caught Road Runner? Everyone needs goals in life and what happens when we attain the goals? In the worst case we end up like this brilliant cartoon on Popped Culture
Popped Culture is also looking for the origins of the cartoon – So if anyone knows where it’s from contact Popped Culture.
Anyone know where this image is from? I’ve been scouring the interwebs trying to source it, but to no avail. It has the look of Family Guy, but doesn’t appear to be.
Better than procrastination!
Procrastination has always been an important aspect of my life and I could not imagine living without it (blogged about it here, here, here, here, here, here & here). Until now. I have discovered perendination! Thanks to Word.A.Day mailing list by Anu Garg:
The word procrastinate is from Latin cras (tomorrow). So when you procrastinate, literally speaking, you are putting something off till tomorrow. Mark Twain once said, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” In other words, why procrastinate when you can perendinate?
Perendinate: (puh-REN-di-nayt)
MEANING:
verb tr. : To put off until the day after tomorrow.
verb intr.: To stay at a college for an extended time.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin perendinare (to defer until the day after tomorrow), from perendie (on the day after tomorrow), from die (day).
Exchanging Gifts
When President Barack Obama met Queen Elizabeth II he brought a gift with him… So what would you get the Queen? Well Obama gave her a personalised iPod. (ABC News)
My first thought was – How Cool! And I immediately began thinking of which playlist Obama would give the Queen. Which artists would he think that she would like to listen to?
But my imagination was brutally crushed when I read that “A palace spokesman said the MP3 player was loaded with footage of the Queen’s 2007 visit to Washington and Virginia.”
How exciting. And in return the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh gave the Obamas signed portraits of themselves.
Yeah! The spirit of giving. It’s all about giving each other trash that you don’t want or what? Do you think Mauss deals with these kinds of gifts?
Update: Obama’s gift may have broken the law.
Wikileaks needs support
From Boing Boing:
Wikileaks is currently overloaded by readers. This is a regular difficulty that can only be resolved by deploying additional resources. If you support our mission, then show it in the way that is most needed. On average, each donation catalyzes the publication of around 150 mainstream press articles, exposing human rights abuses and corrupt government around the world. These exposures result in substantial reforms and have changed national election outcomes.
Snowed in
What a great excuse for staying indoors with a warm laptop. Well then again it’s good skiing outside even if it is still snowing…
“snowed in” from my images on flickr
Librarything memes: loving useless data
Librarything has introduced some cool new functions to their already fun site. Well the site is fun for us book nerds!
- You and None Other. Books shared with exactly one member.
- Dead or Alive? How many of your authors are dead?
- Dead or Alive Comparison How do you stack up against others?
- Male or Female? What gender are your authors?
- Work Duplicates. Works you have more than one of.
It turns out 47% of my known authors are dead (195 dead, 173 live & 492 unknown) and 89,5% male (male 447, female 52 & 362 unkown) .
I just love this kind of useless data!
Happy Valentines day!
Happy Valentine’s day!
photo from my flickr collection