Clipmarks | mickfinn's 'christmas' clips

Rhapsody of Steel

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:26:26 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Today we scanned a read-along storybook adaptation of John Sutherland's industrial film, Rhapsody of Steel (1959). Sutherland's studio was very influential in the mid-1950s, employing some of the best designers in the business. This film is no exception. Legendary stylists Eyvind Earle (Sleeping Beauty, Pigs is Pigs) and Maurice Noble (Duck Dodgers, How The Grinch Stole Christmas) collaborated on Rhapsody of Steel, and you can see evidence of both their hands everywhere in these pages. (Earle in the landscapes and textures, Noble in the bold primary and secondary colors...)

You can find many John Sutherland fIlms at Archive.org, but unfortunately not this one. Does anyone have a copy of this film on video to contribute to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive? If so, let me know. This book suffers from little tiny pictures and oceans of white space, so I've enlarged a bunch of the pictures so you can see them better.

Gilroy Garlic Festival

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:48:34 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Anything with garlic in the name must be great!

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

The Gilroy Garlic Festival is one of the largest food festivals in the United States, held annually in Gilroy, California on the last full weekend in July at Christmas Hill Park. The Gilroy Garlic Festival is considered by some to be the best garlic festival in the world.

Gilroy Garlic Festival 2006
Unusual garlic food varieties.

Gilroy Garlic Festival 2006
More garlic food choices.

The infamous garlic ice cream, given away for free each year.

Gilroy Garlic Festival 2006
Garlic themed t-shirts.

The festival was founded in 1979 by Dr. Rudy Melone, Don Christopher, and Val Filice, and has been a fundraiser for local charities, raising a total of about seven and a half million dollars for assorted causes. Individual groups and charities also run booths at the festival, raising additional funds for their causes. The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association is a non-profit organization intended to support non-profit groups and projects in Gilroy.

Tags: local affairs, local history

Dancing with wolves no more

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:25:06 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman

• Floyd Red Crow Westerman was a singer, actor and campaigner for Native American rights. Born on a reservation in Dakota, he became a noted country and western singer working with artists such as Joni Mitchell and Willie Nelson. He later began acting, his best-known role being Ten Bears in the Kevin Costner epic Dancing with Wolves. He also appeared in a number of TV advertisements for Lakota brand pain reliever, usually wearing traditional dress.

Nonja opening a Christmas present of raisins and popcorn

• From King Kong to another primate, Nonja was alleged to be the world's oldest orang-utan when she died in a Miami zoo at the age of 55. She was born in the wild in Sumatra in 1952 and was shipped to Miami from Holland in 1983. During her lifetime Nonja gave birth to five offspring. Orang-utans rarely live beyond their mid-40s and are now classed as a critically endangered species.

Tags: obituary

Swimmers take a festive dip

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:09:24 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Across the UK at this time of year groups of people are taking to the seas, lidos and rivers. So what is it that makes them give up a warm fire and It's A Wonderful Life for a dose of cold water?

"You're going to hyperventilate," Lewis Gordon Pugh warns the 40 swimmers in Santa hats, hovering on the edge of a north London lido

The water they are about to enter is seven degrees, which makes it 20 degrees lower than your average sports centre pool

This year Pugh completed swims in all five oceans of the world at the North Pole, where he swam a kilometre in water as low as -1.7 degrees

"I've never, ever, felt such a violent physical assault on my body,"

Those planning some cold water swimming this Christmas are advised

to prepare in advance.

The swimmers have been told by Pugh not to "dilly-dally" and putting a foot in to test the temperature is a big no-no. So, with a loud "1-2-3" the swimmers plunge into the water.

the rejuvenated swimmers round things off with a warm drink and mince pie

Earthrise - Natural Beaty

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:44:22 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: digitaljournalist.org

Earthrise 1968

The late adventure photographer Galen Rowell called it “the most influential environmental photograph ever taken.” Captured on Christmas Eve, 1968, near the end of one of the most tumultuous years the U.S. had ever known, the Earthrise photograph inspired contemplation of our fragile existence and our place in the cosmos. For years, Frank Borman and Bill Anders of the Apollo 8 mission each thought that he was the one who took the picture. An investigation of two rolls of film seemed to prove Borman had taken an earlier, black-and-white frame, and the iconic color photograph, which later graced a U.S. postage stamp and several book covers, was by Anders.

Tags: natural beauty

Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis and Friends

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:56:54 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: A Christmas present for Clippers

Clip Source: www.dailymotion.com

[Video]

Tags: music

Having a cracking time at Christmas

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 06:46:58 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The Christmas cracker, in its original gift form, is celebrating its 160th birthday this year

British firms still manufacture millions of these curious but elegantly shaped party pieces every year which are enjoyed all over the world

"It is very much a British industry," says Neil Schwartz

in 1847

Thomas Smith imported the idea for an almond sweet wrapped in waxed paper from France as a Christmas gift

Crackers - originally known as cosaques because of their resemblance to the sound of a Cossack's whip - now come in all imaginable sizes and designs, with prices to match

At the top of the range, London store Fortnum and Mason is retailing its set of Paragon crackers - made from hand-quilted, pearl-encrusted fabric - for £1,000

historians believe the 'golden age' of themed crackers fell between 1890 and 1920

the cracker

has not been immune from

globalisation

Robin Reed Crackers

shifted production to China in the mid 1990s

"luxury crackers aren't always worth the extra cost".

editor of Which?

Tags: christmas crackers

Have yourself a Merry Nano Christmas

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 17:36:37 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Researchers working on tiny stuff have a habit of showing off – earlier this year I rounded up a few examples, including a nanoguitar and the worlds smallest advert

We can now add a new seasonal contender to the list. Researchers from the University of Regensburg, Germany, have made the world's smallest advent calendar

They used an electron microscope and electron-beam etching to make the 8.4 by 12.4-micron calendar on a semi-conducting gallium arsenide wafer coated with plastic. The smallest features are the glass panes on the church windows at about 20 nanometres across

Proof (if proof were needed) that making quirky, small stuff is a competitive area, Weiss was inspired when researchers at Germany’s Jülich Research Centre received attention for making a 55-micron tall Christmas gingerbread man

"That’s huge," said Weiss, who immediately gathered his team to do better. He told Chemistry World: "For us, the calendar was a joke – but it is based on serious science."

Tags: science can be fun

The Flushing Remonstrance - 350th Anniversary

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:56:12 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

This Christmas marks the 350th anniversary of

a fragile piece of paper called the Flushing Remonstrance

Written in 1657 by the English citizens of

Flushing, it asserted their right to freedom of conscience against the autocracy of Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor of their colony of New Netherland. It thus long predated the “self-evident truths” of Jefferson’s 1776 Declaration of Independence

The Flushing Remonstrance protested against Stuyvesant’s arrest, torture and expulsion of a Quaker preacher for defying his ban on all religions but Dutch Reformed protestantism. The 30 signatories were not themselves Quakers but demanded that in the new colony: “If any persons . . . Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or Quaker . . . come in love to us, we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them.” Indeed they demanded that “the law of love, peace and liberty . . . [extend] to Jews, Turks and Egyptians

“Let every man stand or fall to his own Master.”

Tags: american history

It's what Christmas is all about

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:41:27 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: www.cagle.com

Tags: humour

Pictures of US Ice Storm in Mid West

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:30:09 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

US Ice Storm: Your Pictures

YOUR PICTURE GALLERY IS NOW LOADING...

BBC News website readers have been sending in pictures of the ice storms in parts of the US. Fallen trees in Norman, Oklahoma. Sent in by Matt Hills.

Kansas trees clothed in ice. Sent by Jay Rawal.

Ice at the University of Oklahoma campus. Sent by Adam Weston.

Looking outside from the bedroom window, in Oklahoma. Sent in by Emily Janssen.

Rain turns to freezing rain, in Topeka, Kansas, sent in by Andrei Firtich.

A tree damaged by the ice in Norman, Oklahoma. Sent in by Buki Wilson.

Ice freezes the trees in Norman, Oklahoma. Sent in by Matthew Lewis.

Ice on the garden flowers, Oklahoma City. Sent in by Seth McNayr.

Christmas decoration with extra ice, Oklahoma. Sent in by Buki Wilson. Send your images to yourpics@bbc.co.uk. For terms and conditions see right hand side.

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How to build a working Lego gun

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:55:55 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: How to bring back imagination, skill and, dare I say it, something ever so slightly subversive, into toys

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

A surprise Christmas bestseller, dubbed "the Anarchist Cookbook of the nursery", is topping the Santa Claus wish list for naughty children and their parents all over the world

Forbidden Lego, Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against subverts a playroom favourite since 1958 to provide detailed instructions on how to turn the ubiquitous plastic building bricks into unauthorised working devices

A toy Gatling Gun, a continuous-fire ping-pong ball launcher and a catapult siege weapon are among the designs featured

The manual, created by two former top Lego research scientists at the Danish company, is mirroring the success of books like The Dangerous Book for Boys to put danger and creative risk back into playtime

Ulrik Pilegaard

"When I worked for Lego, every once and a while we created some really cool things that couldn’t get approved,"

Pilegaard and

Dooley

aim to get

young and old

Lego users "to try inventing their own rule-breaking models".

LED Christmas Lights

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 12:45:05 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: www.bloggingwv.com

I found these LED Christmas lights and couldn’t resist showing them to the wife, knowing that she would want to buy a couple of strings of them. She wanted more than a couple. She loves decorating for Christmas, and usually begins doing so the weekend after Thanksgiving. I have been hearing a lot lately about using LED lights as string lights for Holidays. I know LEDs have been around for a little while now on keychains and some flashlights, but I wasn’t aware that they were being used as string lights for Christmas. Interesting stuff.

One great thing about these LED Christmas tree lights that really caught my attention is that they use 90% less electricity than your standard incandescent bulbs. Could you imagine if everyone would start using these LED mini lights? Just look at the energy that would be saved!

Save the world, use an LED.

Tags: christmas, lights

Stocking filler with a difference: spelling guide

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 13:29:49 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

The desperate hunt for stocking fillers could lead to a book about mnemonics leaping to the top of the Christmas bestseller list

Following the unexpected success of self-improvement books such as Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves and Schott's Original Miscellany in previous years, the 2007 contender for the number one title may turn out to be a guide on ways to drum in essential facts and spellings, particularly for children who no longer learn by rote

Called I before e (except after c) - perhaps the most famous mnemonic in the English language - its subtitle, Old-school ways to remember stuff, says it all

Published quietly in August, its sales, now standing at 105,000 copies, have soared in the run-up to Christmas and a seventh reprint has been rushed out

The book contains hundreds of examples of rhymes, acronyms and phrases - some old and well-known and others invented by the author - that people can use to remember spellings and useful facts

"It is nostalgic, witty and fascinating

Tags: book, are, nearly, always, useful

Lawyers top Christmas sleaze list

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:31:59 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: No surprise there then.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Some might say that seedy sex, scrapping and getting sloshed is something those working in the legal profession might frown on

But if this year’s industry magazine’s Christmas Quiz is to be believed, lawyers are the worst of the bunch - hitting each other with champagne bottles, engaging in threesomes and claiming the services of prostitutes on expenses

Among the horrors revealed by the quiz was the story of a trainee who was sacked after they threw up on a partner at a Christmas dinner, and another of a female partner at another firm dispatched to an Asian outpost after she was caught in a simultaneous liaison with two of her trainees

Despite the litigious trade they represent, the magazine Legal Business says it has not once been sued in 14 years of the quiz’s publication

says Legal Business editor James Baxter

“Our quiz seems to suggest that morality levels in the legal profession are directly linked to earnings, with one decreasing as the other increases

Tags: overpaid, lawyers, are, sleaziest