Nico's Journal

I seem to have got out of the habit of posting. I certainly avoided it last week when Sebastian went missing for two days because I couldn't handle talking about it, but he came back on Wednesday night. He was a nervous and hungry so I suspect he was locked in somewhere and that Jasmin knew where he was because she kept meowing at us. She didn't go so far as to lead us to him Lassie-like though.

So we have now decided to lock them in at night when we go to bed; they should be able to handle that and learn that they can't get out if we're asleep. We used to round Tessa and Claudia up in the evening when they were younger but we now have a smart cat door that will allow them out at daybreak if we sleep in in the weekend.

To reward those who read this far, have some links.

From xkcd: What If: answering your hypothetical questions with physics (and maths) every Tuesday. There are only two questions there so far; get in at the beginning! LJ's feed is whatifxkcd and DW's is what_if_feed.

This cat feels that today's the day.

The debut display from the Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Farnborough Air Show 2012 just last week.

Princess Leia kissing Chewbacca 1977-83: behind the scenes shots.

And here are the links I mentioned, collected over the past weeks and presented in chronological order.

I'm all for the local campaign to stop kids smoking, but putting the messages on the back of school buses really didn't work that well.
One ad that misfired
And another

Some really cool yarn-bombing from a group of crocheters: the solar system.

Huge cats in tiny boxes - you know how they are. I have photos of Ashley in her birthday box, but in her case the sizes are reversed.

Snake on a plane! I love the last comment: "Until we find the snake, it's not good for business."

Self portraits in the Flemish style - an artist who whiles away long flights taking photos of herself in the loo with paper towels.

Cats imitating art - well, not really. I think they just looked for photos that matched a painting, but the three odalisques and the last two amuse the hell out of me.

South Miami Beach retirees 1982-85 - I love this: wonderful, wonderful characters enjoying life. The 4th one could be my grandfather complete with hat, and the woman blowing smoke out of her nostrils reminds me of my (now dead) keen smoker Aunt Joy; that's even her hairstyle.

Spitfires found in Burma! This is huge news for those of us who love old planes (and especially those so obsessed as a kid they were nicknamed Spitfire...)

And for the DW-fan crafters among you, a TARDIS shawl.

Two posts in one day!

I don't much like the new LJ popular entries feature but a certain actor's name did leap out at me yesterday.
First images from the set of Star Trek 2. May contain Benedict Cumberbatch, yay! (When does that guy find the time for all the work he does?)

Then someone posted some old ads promoting the original series before it screened. "Where it goes, no program has ever gone before."
Star Trek first run ads

First of all, today (Friday) is the birthday of Buzz Aldrin, Tom Baker, and DeForest Kelley (making it two doctors, no, three since astrogirl2 tells me Buzz Aldrin has a PhD). Many more good years for two of them anyway!

And here are two geeky plushies from thinkGeek which I rather fancy. Why yes, I've put my email in to be notified of when the first one is available again.

A soft kitty that sings the Soft Kitty song (from The Big Bang Theory)
A plush Enterprise which will go with my plush Kirk and Spock :-)

Further to my last post about xkcd's Strunk/White cartoon, there's a link to it on Language Log including some fun (and not explicit) slash in the comments.

I'm now going to explore their Linguistics in the Comics tag.

I also found a link there to the best article on fan fiction I've read, and no, it's not all about Harry Potter despite the title.

While I'm composing my next post (just wait!), have a couple of seasonal links:

Comic: How to dress on the Ides of March

Video: What if Moses was on Facebook?

And a bonus one:

Article: Auckland Hospital's own Dr House (though she's a lot less snarky)

Actually that one reminds me of one of my mother's friends (my favourite one) who was put in a mental home years ago because they thought her illness was psychological. A new young doctor there happened to have read about myasthenia gravis as a student and did the Edrophonium test on her; she could immediately raise her arms above her head. She's had to take drugs for the rest of her life and can't drive, but that doctor changed her life which is now normal and very happy.

Posting about The Hobbit (and why, LJ, have comments there collapsed when there are fewer than 50?) reminded me of Peter Jackson's planned Dambusters. So here are two funny Dambusters-related ads for Carling Black Label.
German goal-keeper on a dam
British thwarting of German tourists (who are known for reserving deck chairs with towels)

And now some Martin Freeman links.

Blake's Junction 7, which has him as Vila (in one of Avon's old outfits) is on YouTube!
Part 1
Part 2
Behind the scenes

Check out this clever Sherlock cut-paper art.
Study in Paper #1: Sherlock and John at the door of 221B
Study in Paper #2: Sherlock playing the violin
Study in Paper #3: John in his cabled jersey

For various reasons I don't want to talk about RL, so have some links snurched from various people.

Cricketing authors - how cool is that? To quote from the linked review:

Peter Pan’s First XI is a study of JM Barrie and the cricket team of dazzling literati (and not quite so dazzling sportsmen) that Barrie ran haphazardly for over 20 years.
[...]
PG Wodehouse was a useful batsman; Jerome K Jerome was rather better at idling; AA Milne liked to watch it even more than to play it; and Arthur Conan Doyle was prodigious: a superb all-rounder who played 10 games at first-class level for the MCC.
[...]
Telfer’s narrative of the team’s travails allows for pleasant asides about [...] the influence of the sport on the literature of its day. Hook, as in Captain, is obviously a cricketing term; Sherlock, as in Holmes, was a conflation of two popular 19th-century county players: Mordecai Sherwin and Frank Shacklock.

Some links. I suppose I should make a hairy great Terminal link icon, but this one is of a beautiful Amur leopard which does match the first link and shows you what an adult looks like.

Adorable Amur leopard cub. She looks so astonished at the world in the second photo. :-)

And now for some from the How to be a Retronaut site which zoefruitcake told me about.

Smiling Victorians - candid shots of happy Victorians.
Colour film of 1920s London - fascinating stuff. It's amazing how much more real and immediate the past looks in colour.
Coloured stereo views of Japan from about 1895 to 1910. They're meant to be used in a viewer, but they've animated the two views to give an idea of the 3D effect.
USB Typewriters for a steampunk keyboard! And speaking of that, Steampunk stormtrooper!
Classic photos redone in Lego. My favourites are the moon walk and Maradona's 'hand of God'.

For more of the past in glorious colour, feast your eyes on these amazing photos of the Tsarist Russian empire which I posted about a few years ago; click on the links in the Exhibition Sections. One of my favourites for its stunning colour is The Emir of Bukhara in the Ethnic Diversity section.

The knitters and crafters among you may be interested in these huge animals knitted by Lion Brand for the Crafts and Hobby Association Show this year. There are some great photos on Flickr showing the design, making, and finished items--look at them via slideshow to see them full-screen. There's a lion (of course!), a bird, a snake with gorgeous markings, and an argyle giraffe which I know one of you will especially like. ;-)

For those interested in buying the Book Seat mentioned in my previous post, they have contact details for Australia, NZ, the UK, and the US on their site. There's also a colour range if you want to get a particular colour; see the bottom of this page.

I should add that the Book Seat is very light and hardly adds anything to the weight of the book. There's also a pocket on the back for glasses, mobile phone, or a snack bar or whatever you like, though I haven't used it. It could be useful for when you're reading outside; actually I have yet to try it in the hammock. :-D

This is very cool: a flash animation of the building of the International Space Station.

Check out this very funny Comic Relief spoof of Mamma Mia (there's a link to part 2 on the first one).

Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Joanna Lumley, and Sienna Miller star with Philip Glenister (the Guv!) in the Pierce Brosnan role, Miranda Hart (Teal in Hyperdrive) as the director, and Matt Lucas (Little Britain) as the choreographer. Bwahahaha! Thanks to azdak for the link.