Hindsight...

A New York Tribune cover from 1910, pondering whether there will be any place to dock the Titanic when she arrives. I guess they need not have worried.

When she saw this, LilGirl, ever the conspiracy theorist, said "Maybe the iceberg was hired!"

(To read the story, click for the large version here)

Vader joint visitation

Warning to all women!

I don't remember who sent me this, but thanks!

A WARNING TO ALL WOMEN!

THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU... 

IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR MOTHER ...

OR TO YOUR SISTER...

The strangest thing happened to me at lunch today. I was sitting at a local outdoor cafe having lunch by myself and two men came and sat down at my table..... I gave them the death look, but they just casually stayed at my table and wouldn't leave me alone. I shined up my ring on my married finger, then placed my hand on the table and I hinted to them that I was married and that I was not interested in them. Luckily for me they got the hint and left, but thankfully the whole thing was captured on the Cafe's camera. I'm including this picture as a warning just in case they try and pick you up too.

Honestly, some men think they are God's gift.

Friday Fun: Cake Wrecks

Today I'm sending you to one of my all-time favorite blogs: Cake Wrecks!. It picks me up when I'm down, and usually makes me spit something on the screen (I've finally learned not drink anything when visiting the site). The site features professionally made cakes. Yes, "professionals" did this:

From A Teaching Moment

and this:

From As We Fumble Along

Sometimes, it's not a lack of talent that makes the cakes go wrong, but great talent led horribly astray (or should I say, ashtray):

Yes, that's a cake. (From Holy Smokes!)

It's not all bad, though. On Sundays, they feature really awesome cakes (it's usually okay to have a beverage during those). Check out the Sunday Sweets. This is one of my favorites, from When Gamers Marry:

Wish I'd thought of this for my wedding cake.

A few weeks ago, Cake Wrecks featured a post that made my daughter laugh so hard, she made me stop scrolling through halfway so she could catch her breath. She still talks about it, always with a snicker. I'll link to it here, but be warned: It involves bodily functions. What else would make a fourth grader laugh so hard?

Have fun! 

Wed Pics: Happy Birthday, Norman Rockwell

Instead of the usual picture of my own today, I thought I'd follow Google's lead and celebrate Norman Rockwell's birthday. He's one of my favorite artists, and was probably my first favorite artist. I can't remember a time I wasn't familiar with his work. When I was little, we had a huge coffee table book of Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers (I think this was it). I could barely lift it, but luckily, the book was usually stored in a low place it could be slid out of, so I could lay it open on the floor and get lost in the paintings.

I always especially loved the covers that involved a whole sequence of events, like the gossips or the "Day in the life of..." ones like "A Day in the Life of a Girl."

I almost put that as "the covers that tell a story" but they ALL tell a story, and that's what's so great about Norman Rockwell. We also see ourselves in them, despite the passing of time, changes in technology, or changes in popular culture. The people in his paintings are humans, and we're all still human, whether it's 1920, 1950 or 2010.

Interesting link: Mathew Brady Civil War Photographs on Flickr

The U.S. National Archives have joined The Commons at Flickr. I haven't had a chance to peruse more than a handful of photos, but I'm excited to see a selection of Matthew Brady's Civil War photographs have been included.

These appear to be straight scans of the plates, not cleaned up and cropped for best effect as you would usually see in a book or documentary. They're essentially raw, and that almost makes it seem like you're seeing something completely new. I'll probably waste an evening in the near future browsing these.

I'm...Lost

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

(I have to say you were rockin' that floral shirt back in the day!)

Get going!

A friend sent this to me yesterday:

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, 
the devil says,  "OH CRAP, SHE'S UP"!

Thanks, Sharee! It's just the sort of kick in the pants I needed this week.

Wed Pic: To the beach!

A little winter respite :)

Must focus...Focus! Ooh, shiny!

Some days I think I should just rename this blog (and maybe my life) Distracte-bunny. I'm having one of those weeks. I blame January.

Anybody else tired of winter?

Anybody else tired of winter?, originally uploaded by mdesive.

I can't wait for it all to melt!

Star Wars Focus Group

We've all done it...

A simple typo here or there can make for an embarrassing situation at the time, but (hopefully) a good laugh later on. Put your drinks down (I don't want to be responsible for wet keyboards and monitors) and head over to Grammar Girl's Facebook page where readers are sharing their own whoppers.

It's been one of those winters...

...and we're not even half-way through. I've felt like this on more than a few days:

Wed Pic: Gargoyle and his little friend

Toddler learns Hamlet from Brian Cox

Lucky toddler!



(via ShakespeareGeek)

Back from Bootcamp

Delilah gives April some feedback

I attended the Heartland Writers Group's annual retreat this weekend. This year, we invited Elle James and Delilah Devlin of Rose's Colored Glasses  to come up and put us through Plotting Bootcamp to help us plot our next books. I learned a lot and I 'm ready to write my pirate story when I'm done editing my NaNoWriMo Robin Hood story. I'm excited!

I would tell more about what happened this weekend, but "What happens at retreat, stays at retreat." ;)

Elle James and Delilah Devlin

Look out!

(via Gizmodo)

If Lie to Me met CSI: Miami

As a fan of Lie to Me who regularly snarks about David Caruso when hubby watches CSI: Miami, I had to post this cartoon. It's a good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I first saw it, or I'd have had to clean off my monitor.