Clipmarks | mickfinn's clips

Forgetfulness is like a song
That, freed from beat and measure, wanders.
Forgetfulness is like a bird whose wings are reconciled,
Outspread and motionless, --

A bird that coasts the wind unwearyingly.

Forgetfulness is rain at night,
Or an old house in a forest, -- or a child.
Forgetfulness is white, -- white as a blasted tree,
And it may stun the sybil into prophecy,

Or bury the Gods.

I can remember much forgetfulness.

Tags: american poetry

Quicksort Algorithm

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:52:36 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: commons.wikimedia.org

An animation of the quicksort algorithm sorting an array of randomized values

The red bars mark the pivot element; at the start of the animation, the element farthest to the right hand side is chosen as the pivot. Created with: Ruby 1.8.4, RMagick

Tags: totally beyond my comprehension

Potatrix Anglia and the Hoodies

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:36:18 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: As a former London apprentice, I deny all the charges.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

They are the symbol of today's disaffected youth but a historian has revealed that the hoodie-wearing yob is not just a modern problem

Professor Robert Bartlett, who is an expert on the Middle Ages, said hooded tops were also the garment of choice for 12th-century juvenile delinquents

The teenage apprentice boys of London were lawless, violent and the scourge of the capital

"They were away from home for seven years with no parental control and they would riot regularly for political and religious reasons,"

The English, who are now among the worst binge-drinkers in Europe, were also renowned as drunks in the Middle Ages

"A surviving 12th-century Latin manuscript refers disapprovingly to 'Potatrix Anglia' - 'England the drunken'," said Prof Bartlett

He will reveal the opening of the North-South divide, with the first recorded case - in 1120 - of a southerner complaining that he is unable to understand the speech of a northerner.

Squirreling away fitness tips

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:25:28 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fittest of them all? Squirrels that had lots of sunshine and nuts when they were growing up, say researchers at Michigan State University, as well as investigators in Canada and France

Ferreting through 15 years of data on the North American red squirrel population, the researchers concluded that female squirrels lucky enough to be born in the lap of luxury, with plenty of food, warm weather and ample space, produced more offspring than their less-privileged cohorts. In short, they were fitter and healthier

"Our study shows that some individuals get a real head start on their colleagues simply by being born in a good year," says Stan Boutin, co-author of the study and professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta, Canada. "On the other hand," he says in a news release, "those having the bad luck of being born in a bad year may never get a taste of that silver spoon."

Lessons learned: Move to Arizona and eat plenty of nuts.

Tags: more tips from secret squirrel

Rare seahorses found in London's Thames

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:15:15 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: An increase in plankton due to Climate change and warmer sea temperatures may help explain the seahorses' appearance in the river, according to Shaw.

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

There's something fishy in London, and it's not the city's trademark fish and chips

Short-snouted seahorses have set up residence in the recovering River Thames, conservationists announced today

The fish—pictured above in the London Zoo aquarium—were found in recent surveys that assessed the health of the once heavily polluted river

The discovery of the animal in brackish tidal waters as far upriver as London was kept under wraps by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) until the species had been granted protected status

Conservationists had feared that the bizarrely shaped fish might attract unwanted attention, such as from aquarium-trade collectors

The government declared the Thames biologically dead in the 1950s, and various groups have worked to rehabilitate it for the past two decades

These efforts have led to "a vast improvement" in the Thames' water quality, Shaw said

Seals, dolphins, salmon, and sea lampreys have also been seen swimming in the healthier river

—James Owen

Tags: london, river thames, seahorses

Top 25 Guitar Riffs 14-25

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:47:55 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

14. Back In Black - AC/DC (1980)

15. Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin (1970)

16. Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine (1992)

17. Highway to Hell - AC/DC (1979)

18. My Generation - The Who (1965)

19. 7 Nation Army - The White Stripes (2003)

20. Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf (1968)

21. Give It Away - Red Hot Chilli Peppers (1991)

22. Paranoid - Black Sabbath (1970)

23. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - Jimi Hendrix (1967)

24. Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor (1982)

25. Money For Nothing - Dire Straits (1984)

Tags: rock music

Top 25 Guitar Riffs 1-13

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:46:58 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Just seven songs penned in the last two decades have made it on to a list of the greatest guitar riffs of all time.
British rock band Deep Purple top the list with their 1973 hit Smoke on the Water.

Among the more recent riffs is Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991), in second place, and Wake Up by Rage Against the Machine (1992) in 16th.

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers have two entries, Under The Bridge (1992) at 9 and Give it Away (1991) at 21.

However, not one song written since 2003 made the short list.

Songs by American writers claimed the majority of places in the top 25, but seven of the songs on the list were written by British artists.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Top 25 guitar riffs of all time - click the song to play the video

1. Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple (1973)

2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana (1991)

3. Walk This Way - Aerosmith (1975)

4. Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix (1967)

5. Sweet Child O Mine - Guns N Roses (1987)

6. Paradise City - Guns N Roses (1987)

7. Ace Of Spades - Motorhead (1980)

8. Enter Sandman - Metallica (1991)

9. Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chilli Peppers (1992)

10. Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N Roses (1987)

11. Run To The Hills - Iron Maiden (1982)

12. Walk - Pantera (1992)

13. Johnny Be Goode - Chuck Berry (1958)

Tags: rock music

New York in the 1920s and 30s

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:30:23 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: George Wesley Bellows (1882-1925) was an American painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City.

Berenice Abbott (1898-1991), was an American photographer best known for her black-and-white photography of New York City architecture and urban design of the 1930s.

Reginald Marsh (1898-1954) was an American painter, born in Paris, most notable for his detailed depictions of life in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s.

John French Sloan (1871-1951) was a American artist who became a member of The Eight group of American artists and became a leading figure in the Ashcan School of realist artists. He was known for his urban paintings and ability to capture the essence of neighbourhood life in New York City, often through his window

Ruth Carroll, born 1899, Lancaster, NY.
Maurice Kish was born in 1895, Dvinsk, Russia and died 1987, New York, NY.

Ben Shahn (1898-1969) was a Russian-Jewish born American artist, best known for his works of Social realism.

Clip Source: www.murphsplace.com

George Bellows - Dempsey and Firpo - 1924

Berenice Abbott -

The El, Second and Third Avenue lines; Bowery and Doyer Street, April 1934

Berenice Abbott - Newsstand; 32nd Street and Third Avenue November 1935

George Bellows - The Docks

Berenice Abbott - Pike and Henry Street, March 1936

George Bellows - "Between Rounds"

George Bellows - Fight Club

Reginald Marsh - Breadline

John Sloan - McSorley's Saloon

Reginald Marsh - Man, wife and child

Ruth Carroll - The Elevated

Robert Riggs - Shadow Boxer, Lithograph 1932

Reginald Marsh - Hotel

Maurice Kish - East River Waterfront
1932

Ben Shahn (1898-1969), Bowery (New York City), April 1936

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Cliff Dwellers (1913)

Tags: 20c american art

How to Tie a Bowline Knot

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:05:10 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: A bowline knot, also known as a bowline hitch, makes a fixed loop at the end of a rope or string. The loop can be secured over an object like a post or passed through a ring or hole before the knot is tied. A variation of this knot called the double bowline knot is sometimes used for climbing. These instructions will guide you in making a simple bowline knot with string.

My short time in the Cubs becoming useful at last.

Clip Source: www.wikihow.com

Steps

Hold one end of the string in your left hand, and one end in your right hand

Make a small loop with the end of the string in your left hand. These instructions assume you start with an "underhand" loop, so that the free end of the string is under the intersection formed by the loop

Put the end of the string in your right hand through the loop made by your left hand. The end should be coming towards you as it goes through the loop

Bring the end around (behind) the string that is facing up from the loop

Put that same string back through the loop. This time the end is going away from you

Take the top loose string in your left hand and all the rest of the string and pull in opposite directions to tighten the hitch

Another way to remember how to make this knot is with a rhyme:

"Lay the bight to make a hole
Then under the back and around the pole
Over the top and thru the eye
Cinch it tight and let it lie"

Warnings

Do not use this knot for heavy loads or climbing

Art and the Bible

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:45:15 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: www.artbible.info

Pieter Bruegel the Elder ca. 1520 – 1569

The Preaching of St. John

Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Bruegel would often use biblical themes to depict village-life as he knew it. This is another fine example. The viewer’s attention is first drawn to the figures in the foreground, then to the river in the background and only then to John the Baptist, wearing a garment of camel hair.

The painting was created when the Iconoclast raged in the Low Countries and Protestant clergymen were touring the country, stopping in places to call for Reformation. This painting may have been inspired by one such meeting.

Tags: 16thc renaissance art

A Dove for Michelle

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:59:11 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Know you've seen it before but it is always worth another look.

Clip Source: www1.yadvashem.org

Tags: beautiful [dove] by carol deutsch

Art of the Doomed.

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:42:06 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Many of the artists of these clipped works perished in the camps of the Nazis.

Clip Source: www.english.uiuc.edu

The Sowers by Thomas Hart Benton, 1942

Threesome (1944), by Felix Nussbaum (1904-1944)

Children as well as adults documented events of the Holocaust through art

Laufen (undated), by Josef Nassy (1904-1976), a Black expatriate of Jewish descent
who was one of 2,000 internees with American passports held prisoner in
Germany during WWII

1942. Esther Lurie

described here new deportees arriving
in the ghetto

Unable to Work by David Olère

Inability to work was often an immediate death sentence

By Felix Nussbaum. Born in 1904, he died at Auschwitz in 1944

The Food of the Dead for the Living

Jews in the Hospital, by Aldo Carpi, 1945

"Forced Labor - Building a Tunnel" by David Olere, 1945.
Given severely limited food rations, prisoners
were exploited in hard labor, such as the digging
of a tunnel, depicted here in watercolor and
charcoal. Those unable to work were killed.
Online Source

Kommando, by Fernand Van Horen

a Belgian survivor

Normal Life in Flossenburg

Gassing

"Zyclon B cans"

Arrival of a Convoy

Tags: holocaust art

Icicle the albino squirrel

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:42:23 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: (By liquidindian)

Clip Source: www.izytu.com

Tags: albino squirrel

Great Train Journeys of the World

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:35:04 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Switzerland: The Bernina Express

This takes you over the highest rail summit in the Alps – 7,405 feet up

Canada: Rocky Mountaineer Vacations

South Africa: Rovos Rail

Now regarded as superior to the Blue Train for quality and service

Observation cars allow unrivalled views across the bush

Russia: Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express

The world’s longest train journey at nearly 6,000 miles

provides comfort unknown since Tsarist times

South East Asia: Eastern & Oriental Express

1,262-mile journey from Bangkok to Singapore

North America: California Zephyr

The Amtrak trip on the California Zephyr runs through the heart of the Rocky Mountains

Great Britain: Northern Belle

The Flying Scotsman used to be the way to see the Scottish Highlands. Now there's another – the Northern Belle

Europe: Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

Japan: The Shinkansen

The Bullet Train, as it is better known, is closer to a rocket than a train

On the Tokyo to Kyoto Bullet Train trip, the adrenaline rush is the train itself

Tags: trains and travelling