Sheriss’ Neighbors

Mare Tiny is 2 !

2008-10-12T23:08:47Z

Happy Birthday to my little ponyschnauzerwolfcubhybrid.

Maretinyis2

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Scary Stories: Sleepy Hollow

2008-10-12T21:37:20Z

Excerpt from
THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW
by Washington Irving

Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

An opening in the trees now cheered him with the hopes that the church bridge was at hand. The wavering reflection of a silver star in the bosom of the brook told him that he was not mistaken. He saw the walls of the church dimly glaring under the trees beyond. He recollected the place where Brom Bones's ghostly competitor had disappeared. "If I can but reach that bridge," thought Ichabod, "I am safe." Just then he heard the black steed panting and blowing close behind him; he even fancied that he felt his hot breath. Another convulsive kick in the ribs, and old Gunpowder sprang upon the bridge; he thundered over the resounding planks; he gained the opposite side; and now Ichabod cast a look behind to see if his pursuer should vanish, according to rule, in a flash of fire and brimstone.

Just then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very act of hurling his head at him. Ichabod endeavored to dodge the horrible missile, but too late. It encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash- he was tumbled headlong into the dust, and Gunpowder, the black steed, and the goblin rider, passed by like a whirlwind.

The next morning the old horse was found without his saddle, and with the bridle under his feet, soberly cropping the grass at his master's gate. Ichabod did not make his appearance at breakfast- dinner-hour came, but no Ichabod. The boys assembled at the school-house and strolled idly about the banks of the brook; but no schoolmaster. Hans Van Ripper now began to feel some uneasiness about the fate of poor Ichabod, and his saddle. An inquiry was set on foot, and after diligent investigation they came upon his traces.

In one part of the road leading to the church was found the saddle trampled in the dirt; the tracks of horses' hoofs deeply dented in the road, and evidently at furious speed, were traced to the bridge, beyond which, on the bank of a broad part of the brook, where the water ran deep and black, was found the hat of the unfortunate Ichabod, and close beside it a shattered pumpkin.

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The OmNom Phenomenon

2008-10-12T20:45:22Z

Happy Sunday to all!

My latest dessert post has solicited an intriguing response with one specific word, and I have set out on a quest to understand the meaning of: nom, or om nom

Seems kind of funny, this random word...but it has been popping up in various places. So here is what I found on the Urban Dictionary:

1. om nom

An onomatopoeical adjective based on the sound emitted when something is "oh so tasty" (either through hunger or flavorological value) that one gnaws through it without regard to cleanliness or etiquette. This sort of ravenous eating will often result in an "om nom nom nom" noise being emitted from the eater.

Arthur: Gosh, I haven't eaten for days.
Dirk: Me neither. We're both starving equally.
Arthur: Look! A whole cooked chicken with side of mashed potatoes and a warm/soft dinner roll!
Dirk: We have to decide which of us gets to eat first. To be fair, we should rock-paper-scissors for it.
Arthur: Om nom nom nom nom!
Dirk: Arthur, you're a jerk. A real knee-biter.

2. om nom

The sound of ravenous eating. Popularized by the character Cookie Monster on Sesame street, it is now used commonly in speech, especially among younger people. Cookie Monster exclaims "OM NOM NOM NOM" when gobbling down cookies (and whatever else goes in his mouth).

You can "om nom" on things besides food... for example, play-eating babies' toes to make them laugh.

Just for Fun: omnomnomnom.com is a pop culture website where people submit their own silly photos that have been manipulated in Paint to resemble monsters eating various things, including people and pets.

Here are my favorites omnom photos..

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Travel Photo Cafe 2008 - a talk about photography and travel

2008-10-12T18:11:00Z

The concept and subsequent promotion of Travel Photo Cafe 2008 led to an interesting gathering with people who love to travel and take photos. The gathering was held at Times Square city'super's culture club classroom, which is usually used for regular cooking classes but was borrowed by me for a pleasant afternoon chat.

Travel Photo Cafe 2008 - KOLO album

Speakers included a Lonely Planet writer who talked about his Morocco (mis)adventures, an architect representing Moleskine who shared his routes for Hong Kong's lesser known cultural spots, and me representing KOLO talked about taking photos with an album layout in mind. I was helped by a lomographer to add more "shoot from your hip" attitude in the talk.

Travel Photo Cafe 2008 - table full of examples

I was lucky to get free sponsorship from wine department, glasses included! So the atmosphere of the talk was instantly lit up with help of such great sponsor. Also grocery department sponsored snacks! Amazing collaboration at city'super, I just love the culture here. Tables were full of travel photos, albums, journals, postcards, cameras, wines and snacks. We should do more of these sharing, tasting, eating classes :)

My part was to show participants how they can create beautiful album layouts even when they are taking pictures, yet without losing the fun and instantaneous parts of the travel. The rules are simple:

Force yourself to take at least 3 shots from different angles for the subject matter in mind. These shots will give fuller stories and sometimes you can find an interesting angle to exploit.
Shoot from the floor, or even better explore all shooting angles other than a typical stand-up eye level shot. All but to create new and refreshing perspective of the image other than what you can see from your naked eye
Shoot street signs, direction signs, traffic lamp, sky, road, subway scenes etc. All these things are not going to be the main imagery of your album's story, but they are essential to add a foreign taste to your main image
Breakfast shots are not lame, shoot what you eat and you won't regret. These shots help to strengthen your memory of the place and people you spent time with during the travel
A cafe stop every 2-3 hours is essential to review what photos you've taken and how you can improve the next round. Best of all, take photo of the cafe and people there.
Bring along an analog camera and shoot a digital photo through the viewfinder of your analog camera
Photo layout on an album page is about telling a story, prepare a few layouts before you even start shooting
Shoot people's face, shoot as much as you can, they are the souls of the country you visit
etc etc etc etc

Travel Photo Cafe 2008 - Layout and Photo Taking Technique using KOLO Album

We also explored some techniques to get shots of people's face in travel. The consensus was that whenever you want to take a shot you are afraid to do so, ask first. You will be amazed that most people won't reject unless your look is super suspicious. We even talked about how to initiate a conversation to ease the entire process, it was fun.

Travel Photo Cafe 2008 - Layout and Photo Taking Technique using KOLO Album

I'm glad to host the talk and it was real fun. Next year, I hope I can squeeze more time into this Travel Photo Cafe fair and create even more talk sessions, bring in guest speakers, play slides with old slide machine, etc etc.

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Rickshaw's Moleskine Case Update Oct 2008

2008-10-12T14:45:33Z

Here's an update from Mark Dwight (Rickshaw's Founder & CEO) on his progress to make a case for Moleskiners.

The New Rickshaw Moleskine Folio Prototype

Here's a history of its development: M.bian Moleskine Case - an abandoned project, Responses to M.bian Moleskine Case, M.bian Case Meets Rickshaw's Mark Dwight, Richshaw's Moleskine Case Update May 2008.

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t does a glorious cover of this

2008-10-11T15:53:05Z

Karma Police arrest this man he talks in math's

he buzzes like a fridge, it's like a detuned radio

Karma police arrest this girl

her Hitler hairdo is making me feel ill

and we have crashed her party

...this is what you get

this is what you get when you mess with us...

phew for a minute there i lost myself

i lost myself

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Dessert of the Week: Apple Beignets

2008-10-10T22:08:59Z

Dessert of the Week
Apple Cider Beignets

Apple Cider Beignets

A delicious Fall dessert,
Dripping with a tasty Butter-Rum Caramel Sauce
just waiting for you to sink your teeth in.
Life just doesn't get much better than this..

Check out the recipe at:
gourmet.com

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self portrait with moss

2008-10-10T19:07:31Z

this has been floating around near me and I couldn't catch it. finally today I did.

Selfpmoss

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all these accidents that happen, follow the dot

2008-10-10T14:29:16Z

bjork joga live in cambridge

coincidence makes sense only with you

you don't have to speak, I feel

emotional landscapes

they puzzle me, confuse

can the riddle get solved

you push me up to the state of emergency

it's where i want to be

state of emergency, how beautiful to be

all that no one sees you see

deep inside of me

every nerve that hurts, you heal

deep inside of me

you don't have to speak, I feel

emotional landscapes

they puzzle me..then the riddle gets solved and you push me up to

this state of emergency....

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Sexism, Americans and Stupidity

2008-10-10T06:08:07Z

This is a transcript of a discussion I had today on YouTube about this video, 'current (Australian) indigenous soccer players'. Emphasis mine.

current Indigenous soccer players

Me: What about Lydia Williams & Kyah Simon?!?! The both represent their country. In the process of highlighting indigenous players all you've done is shown your sexism... not a good thing for a woman!
A-Grade Student: First of all, I did not leave them out because I am sexist. As I am an American and do not know who any Indigenous players are, I had to trust to Internet to help me find some and Wikipedia did not list those two women. Second of all, if you can find me videos of those women then I will be more than happy to include them in my video. Trust me, I am far beyond sexist. My video is just limited to what media was available to me.
Me: Perhaps not but that's how it comes across. You could always change the title to 'Current Male Indigenous Soccer Players' and maintain accuracy. You now have their names (and I'll send you video if I find any)... I'm surprised Lydia did not come up as she has won a Deadly Award for her contribution. I would also suggest that Wikipedia is not your best source ;-)
A-Grade Student: The problem is this presentation is due Tuesday and I also have a paper that I need to be working on so I took the easy way out. I realize Wikipedia is not a good source, but when you are crunched for time and a Google search for "Indigenous soccer players" brings up as a first result a Wikipedia page listing multiple players of Indigenous descent (granted they are all male) then it is really hard to pass that up.

Equal representation in sport is a particular passion of mine. You can find my project, Sporting Sheilas on Facebook.
I've practically spoon fed her information on female indigenous soccer players just add Google and voila! A more balance presentation. Clearly accuracy is not her aim and she's relying on the ignorance of her audience not to pull her up on it.

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