And this....

"Height"

From Walhydra's favorite bizarro comic strip, xkcd - A Webcomic, by Randall Munroe, here's a marvelous(ly huge) chart of the "Observable Universe," from the top......to the bottom....

Note: the image is waaaay too tall for Blogger to display, so you'll have to see it at the original site here.

Cool!

Note: The disclaimer at the bottom of this web page reads

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

The tiny, tiny print below this reads

We did not invent the algorithm.
The algorithm consistently finds Jesus.
The algorithm killed Jeeves.
The algorithm is banned in China.
The algorithm is from Jersey.
The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.
This is not the algorithm.
This is close.

Walhydra loves this guy!

Odds & ends

Walhydra always walks around with a bunch of little gripes and jokes buzzing in her head.

Usually, she waits until one of them turns itself into a blog post before she publishes it...but that means a lot of stuff just keeps buzzing, or else flies away unshared.

[Not that the gentle reader needs to know about every single mental gnat which annoys Walhydra.]

Today, though, she has decided to do a quick and dirty listing of some of the latest gnats....

First: What is it about guys and spitting?

Walhydra has wondered about this throughout her current incarnation as a gay male would-be writer. Since she was never a "real boy" as a child, she didn't get the usual indoctrination.

Her normal response—that is, after she says "Yuch!"—is, "Don't they know how to swallow?" But she realizes that this must be some sort of "guy thing."

Yes, she did read Tom Sawyer, et al., so she knows about spitting contests. And she knows that an athlete in the midst of competition might need a quick remedy.

But just walking or driving down the street?

Oh, well....

Second: Walhydra doesn't do commercial endorsements. However, she can't resist sharing this delightful new slogan for Panera's, which she saw on a delivery truck this morning:

"Unsliced bread. The best thing since sliced bread."

:-)

Third: One of Walhydra's library colleagues sent her this story, which she just has to share:

Lawyers should never ask a Mississippi grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer.
In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know me?"

She responded, "Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you'll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you."

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?"

She again replied, "Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him."

The defense attorney nearly died.

The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said, "If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you both to the electric chair."

You go, girl!

Tribute to Maurice Sendak

Over on The Surly Librarian, the amanuensis has posted a tribute to Walhydra's favorite children's book writer and illustrator, Maurice Sendak.

Rather than write anything more here, she urges the gentle reader to go there.

Blessèd Be.

"Love Note" tag

Walhydra has really mixed feelings about the game of "blog tag."

On the one hand, it's delightful to learn that other bloggers read and value her blog. And there are a number of blogs she reads and loves...or at least keeps in touch with through RSS subscriptions on Bloglines.

"On the other hand," she pouts, "a lot of the blogs I look at aren't personal blogs so much as journalistic or mass-media ones. I feel kinda silly saying 'I love your blog' to some guy in D.C. who writes insider's posts on national and global policy issues. I hate fandom!"

On the third hand....

"Maybe I can show off how erudite and cool I am."

Joking aside, Walhydra is pleased to have this longlasting cyber-friendship with Igraine, whom she quoted in yesterday's post. They met on the Crone Thread years ago and have remained good buddies...even though they've not yet managed to be on the same spot on the planet at the same time.

"Hm," Walhydra wonders. "Maybe cyberspace has replaced flying brooms."

A few weeks ago, Igraine tagged Walhydra with the "Love Note" meme.

Thanks so much, Igraine, Dearie!

Of course, Walhydra's first frustration is that CO-GrumpyGranny is one of the blogs she would have tagged. Her second frustration is that someone else already tagged one of her mostest favoritest blogs, Quaker Pagan Reflections (QPR).

But then, she doesn't see a rule against duplication. The original rules are

1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links to those blogs on yours
5. Leave a message on the blogs nominated.

Walhydra likes the addition on QPR, "I am officially changing all five rules to end with the phrase, IF YOU WANT TO," so she figures she can fudge anyway she wants to.

Since her circle of favorites are bloggers who keep *ahem* tagging each other, one of the ways she's going to fudge is to include some interesting blogs which might not be her favorites.

Here's her list:

1. Quaker Pagan Reflections. Cat Chapin-Bishop and Peter Bishop have been friends and teachers almost since Walhydra joined the blogosphere. Deep, thoughtful, sometimes playful consideration of all the contradictions built into crossing faith boundaries. Take a look at their "Greatest Hits" posts.

2. Amazing Things A bit mysterious as to who posts it, but full of fantastic images and items. Walhydra first stumbled onto this one through de.licio.us, when she found this item, "Urban Art: Big Illusion." Check out the "Additional Links," especially Painted Blog.

3. 3QuarksDaily ("An Eclectic Digest of Science, Art and Literature"). Walhydra's genius brother turned her onto this one. There's no simple way to describe it, except to say that each day you get strange and fascinating bits of info from every realm of endeavor.

4. xkcd.com ("A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language"). Just weird and brilliant.

[Note: Cat already tagged Alison Bechdel's Dykes To Watch Out For, but Walhydra just has to mention it here.]

5. Acrentropy (" 'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth"). Walhydra has tagged this one before. She knows her librarian colleague and friend who publishes it doesn't like being tagged, so she probably won't pester him. But...you really need an RSS subscription to this one.

Alonso Mosley (not his real name) is a master at finding funny, weird, tragic and all-of-the-above pieces on the 'Net. (Walhydra's most favorite post recently is this one.)

Walhydra always recommends Alonso's highly professional index of entertainment media, The La-La Land Library: Entertainment Web Directory. More recently, Alonzo has been creating amazing video compilations (see the amanuensis' comments over at The Surly Librarian).

6. [fudge]

7. [fudge]

That's enough, Walhydra thinks.

She'll consider sharing more later.

Thanks again, Igraine, and

Blessèd Be.

Is that what it's called?

Over on CO-GrumpyGranny, Walhydra's longtime friend Igraine has shared a neat word she just discovered: senescence.

Grumpy Granny was typing a report on a 99-year-old patient in a nursing home. She came to the point where the doctor "was talking about the patient's state of mind and memory, and said he didn't exhibit any signs of Alzheimer's but his slight lack of memory was probably due to 'senescence'."

"Senescence, eh?" says Walhydra. "Sounds rather elegant."

She smirks, since she actually knows the word.

Grumpy Granny's concluding remarks went like this:

So, tomorrow, when I can't figure out what tasks I told G. I would accomplish, or when I can't remember where I put the car keys, or when I forget to put the Netflix video in the mailbox, I'll just say I'm feeling a little "senescent"....

Works for me!

"Works for me, too," says Walhydra.

se·nes·cence
Pronunciation: \si-'ne-sən(t)s\
Function: noun
Etymology: senescent, from Latin senescent-, senescens, present participle of senescere to grow old, from sen-, senex old
Date: 1695
1 : the state of being old : the process of becoming old
2 : the growth phase in a plant or plant part (as a leaf) from full maturity to death
— se·nes·cent \-sənt\ adjective

Blessèd Be.