Cartoons and cartoonists up in arms...

...and armed with pens.

Following this second attack at the Charlie Hebdo offices, many editorial cartoonists have paid respects to the magazine and freedom of speech, freedom of expression. You can see some of their cartoons on the topic at The Week. In the cartoon below David Fitzsimmons also gives a nod to Ann Telnaes.

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David Fitzsimmons, The Week

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Ann Telnaes is a well-respected cartoonist. Her response to the Hebdo attack is this.

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Ann Telnaes

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In the first attack on Hebdo in November, 2011, the offices were fire-bombed. This was their response to that attack. The text translates to 'Love: stronger than hate'.

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November 8, 2011, issue, Charlie Hebdo

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An article in The Globe and Mail asks What is Charlie Hebdo and why was it a target? and quotes former editor Stéphane Charbonnier:

No one is forced to read us. Charlie Hebdo is sold in stores, we do not post our content on our website. To read us is a voluntary act. We are not imposing it on anyone...

-- Marge

DIY: dodging the TL;DR response

CSG, Writing:the Revision Process (half-tone), SecondaryWriting

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In case you don't know, as I didn't, what 'TL;DR' means, it's 'too long; didn't read'.

There may be an information explosion going on, but much of the information just flows by one's comprehension because it's just not readable.  It's a good idea to approach the topic being presented with clarity and tighten up the language.

The idea is to be terse, but not abrupt. You don't want this said about your latest post to your favorite here's-what-I-have-to-say forum:

"omg you postwench. i can only say one thing in response - tl;dr"

"tl;dr...why dont you give up on your unabridged edition of War and Peace or at least stop posting it here?"

--DisgruntledJoe, Urban Dictionary

Revision is one of the keys to clarity. First step is to get the general idea down, then review it for meaning, then review it again for meaning, all the while condensing the wording when you can. By now the piece's purpose should be clearer and the message more focused. Review it for grammar, then review it for spelling, and, finally, review it once again for clarity and tightness. When the piece begins to look worn from polishing, it's ready to release it to the world. Or toss it--your call.

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Ernest Hemingway, copyblogger

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Writer Ernest Hemingway is known for being terse. Here are his top 4 rules for writing and a fifth thrown in by Brian Clark, author of  "Ernest Hemingway’s Top 5 Tips for Writing Well."

1. Use short sentences.

2. Use short first paragraphs.

3. Use vigorous English.

4. Be positive, not negative.

Most important writing tip: 

“I write one page of masterpiece to ninety-one pages of shit,” Hemingway confided to F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1934. “I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.”

There's an app, available on Google Play, called Hemingway that analyzes text and "makes your writing bold and clear" (Hemingway Takes the Hemingway Test). However, as it's noted in the test, you can lose clarity, and meaning, by being too terse.

As in all things, the middle way is best.

-- Marge

The czar's new clothes

TomToles, The Week

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This insightful cartoon relating Putin's current standing in world news to Hans Christian Anderson's tale, "The Emporer's New Clothes," suggested to me an opportunity to delve into a number of topics related to Putin and his ambitions, the ambitions of the Russian People, and how children's tales, aka fairy tales, can give us insight into real-world matters.

First, the children's tale. A comment on Maria Tatar's writings in Wikipedia notes:

...that "The Emperor's New Clothes" is one of Andersen's best known tales and one that has acquired an iconic status globally as it migrates across various cultures reshaping itself with each retelling in the manner of oral folktales. Scholars have noted that the phrase 'Emperor's new clothes' has become a standard metaphor for anything that smacks of pretentiousness, pomposity, social hypocrisy, collective denial, or hollow ostentatiousness. Historically, the tale established Andersen's reputation as a children's author whose stories actually imparted lessons of value for his juvenile audience, and "romanticized" children by "investing them with the courage to challenge authority and to speak truth to power." With each successive description of the swindlers' wonderful cloth, it becomes more substantial, more palpable, and a thing of imaginative beauty for the reader even though it has no material existence. Its beauty however is obscured at the end of the tale with the obligatory moral message for children. Tatar is left wondering if the real value of the tale is the creation of the wonderful fabric in the reader's imagination or the tale's closing message of speaking truth no matter how humiliating to the recipient.

Condensing Russian history to the major transfers of power within its borders, the Russian people went from being serfs under the czars, to fodder under Stalin, to being spied-on and imprisoned under the Communist regime, then to suddenly being free but nearly destitute when the Berlin Wall fell. Note: this is my simplistic view of Russian History; here's a more detailed timeline.

Skip to the present. Stepping in after Yeltsin's failed attempts at democracy, Putin has progressively edged toward the policies of the totalitarian Soviet Union but offers the Russian people as sense of the pride once felt for Mother Russia and momentary prosperity. Joshua Kucera, a freelance reporter specializing in the former Soviet Union, writes in his article "Decoding Vladimir Putin's Plan:"

Putin for years has advocated for a “multipolar” world order in which the current dominance of the U.S. is replaced by a more equitable balance of power. And many of Russia’s dramatic moves over the past year – the annexation of Crimea and support for rebels in eastern Ukraine, an enthusiastic embrace of China and increasingly anti-Western rhetoric from Putin – could be interpreted as moving toward a multipolar world.

However, with the Russian economy imploding the question for the Russian people becomes world power or survival. And world power becomes the Czar's new clothes.

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The Emperor’s New Clothes, illustration by Cyril Bouda (1956), Smeddum

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-- Marge

Cartoons: the baby in the room

It's a new year with new opportunities to address old problems. What will we do?

I don't think talking about it on Facebook will help, but I could be wrong.

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David Fitzsimmons, The Week

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Putin's bluster is wearing thin with the collapse of the ruble and the new year isn't opening well for him.

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John Deering, The Week

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Meanwhile, just about everyone is blaming Obama.

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Bill Day, The Week

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Lower prices at the gas pump doesn't necessarily mean lower prices at the ticket counter.

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Chan Lowe, The Week

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One plastic bottle or little green army man overboard doesn't matter, does it?

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: learning how you learn

Slo-Mo Pro Flo, lart-physics

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A tech/salesperson the other day told me his brand was better because of training. Instantly images of sitting in training class, learning how an IP address is constructed and then sitting at my desk and trying to troubleshoot routing for a webpage in the cluster came to mind. In other words training isn't always what it's cracked up to be. On the other hand, you want the tech to know what will break the system before he/she breaks it.

Add to that the fact that everyone learns differently. I tend to break things, then learn by fixing them--not always, but often enough for it to be a pattern. So I avoid situations that are critical. There are a number of sites that talk about the three main learning styles--hearing, seeing, and doing. "How do you learn?" is a nice presentation of these styles.

Learning via the web is just plain wonderful, especially with the amount of information available via YouTube, Wikipedia, online magazines, and other sources (note: be sure to verify that the information there is reliable by cross-checking facts and opinions). But this falls into the 'seeing' category. To really learn a thing you have to do it.

For example, if you want to learn more about electricity, try this to get started:

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If the project above is too simple, try electronics using LEDs.

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And when your latest project fails, remember this.

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-- Marge

When art lost its way

Marcel Duchamp, "Fountain" (1917), Tate

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The art movement called Dada produced some works that challenge the viewer's sensibilities, but for good reason.

Dada was an informal international movement, with participants in Europe and North America. The beginnings of Dada correspond to the outbreak of World War I. For many participants, the movement was a protest against the bourgeois nationalist and colonialist interests, which many Dadaists believed were the root cause of the war, and against the cultural and intellectual conformity—in art and more broadly in society—that corresponded to the war. 

Many Dadaists believed that the 'reason' and 'logic' of bourgeois capitalist society had led people into war. They expressed their rejection of that ideology in artistic expression that appeared to reject logic and embrace chaos and irrationality. For example, George Grosz later recalled that his Dadaist art was intended as a protest "against this world of mutual destruction." 

According to Hans Richter Dada was not art: it was "anti-art." Dada represented the opposite of everything which art stood for. Where art was concerned with traditional aesthetics, Dada ignored aesthetics. If art was to appeal to sensibilities, Dada was intended to offend. (Wikipedia)

The aftermath of World War I presented

drastic political, cultural, and social change across Europe, Asia, Africa, and even in areas outside those that were directly involved. Four empires collapsed due to the war, old countries were abolished, new ones were formed, boundaries were redrawn, international organizations were established, and many new and old ideologies took a firm hold in people's minds.

Years later, Dada artists described the movement

as "a phenomenon bursting forth in the midst of the postwar economic and moral crisis, a savior, a monster, which would lay waste to everything in its path... [It was] a systematic work of destruction and demoralization... In the end it became nothing but an act of sacrilege." (Wikipedia)

Perhaps the best known artists active in the Dada movement are Marcel Duchamp and Max Ernst. Dadaism resolved into surrealism, which aimed to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality (André Breton)." Often works produced by Dada artists are assigned to surrealism.

More information about Europe after WWI can be found at HowStuffWorks, the history section. And, as a challenge to the usual way of looking at history, here's an article on the cycles of the slower-moving planets, titles "History and the cycles of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto." (Hint: search the page on 'WW1' and '1917'.)

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Max Ernst, "The Elephant Celebes" (1921), Wikipedia

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-- Marge

Cartoons: a new hero for America

Pleasant as Christmas was, it's over and the world moves on. At least the Middle East was/is relatively quiet.

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Rick McKee, The Week

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According to the Center for American Progress, "The Fossil-Fuel Industry Spent Big to Set the Anti-Environment Agenda of the Next Congress."
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Pat Bagley, The Week

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The Hill answers the question: What is the cromnibus? Elizabeth Warren slams Citigroup's influence on it.

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RJ Matson, The Week

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And our new hero is...

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Dana Summers, The Week

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-- Marge

Season's Greeting 2014

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Both the flux of the heavens
And the flux deep within are slow,
Compared to the layered assemblies between--
Amoebae, Cells, humans,
Swirling and mingling to rhythms their own
And shared.

I think I am fixed in place and time,
Caught in a matrix of ebb and flow
Subject to laws prescribed.
But at the edges light dances, time wobbles.
There what is certain gives way to the
Inexplicable.

Some call these uncertainties mysteries
Others say miracles.

--Marge

Note:  Background adapted from a photo by Joe Parks, titled "Milky Way over Crater Lake."

Christmas gone wrong...

Pleated Jeans, Cheezburger

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Here are some humorous stories to remind you that Christmas doesn't have to be, and often isn't, perfect.

Run out of time or incentive to shop for yet another present? Here are some re-gifting confessions and snafus, as reported by AOL users.  This one resonates for me:

Reader Haveanangel says:

"About 20 years ago, my grandfather gave my husband a gift set of English Leather. He didn't like it, never opened it. The following year, [my husband] gave it to my brother-in-law. I have three sisters and for the next few years, that gift set made it's way around the family Christmas circuit. My husband got it back and he said enough was enough. He gave it to his brother. We haven't seen that stuff since."

Some good holiday stories can be found at HamptonRoads. Here's one that isn't about Christmas, but could be:

For Thanksgiving this year [2010], Cathy Jenson of Chesapeake decided to make a chocolate cake from scratch with her children, ages 7 and 9. The arguments left flour and cocoa powder everywhere, and the first attempt at making frosting had to be discarded, but finally the batter was in the pans and the pans were in the oven.

The second frosting attempt went much better, and Jenson said, "Hey, guys, looks like it turned out good this time! What's that smell?"

The 8-inch pans - smaller than the recipe called for - had overflowed. Flames were coming off the bottom of the oven.

The kids dropped to their knees and crawled to the front door, per the instructions from firefighters visiting their classrooms over the years, while Jenson's husband doused the fire. Then she put the cake back in to finish baking.

Done and cooled, the rounds broke apart as they were removed from the pans, but Jenson's mother-in-law held them together while frosting was slathered on.

"The result was a lopsided, crumbly cake with a split on top to rival the San Andreas Fault," Jenson said. "It was delicious!"

Below is the photo that accompanies Stacey Gustafson's blog post about their artificial Christmas tree.

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Stacey Gustafson, "Christmas Tree Taunts Us," Are you kidding me? 

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-- Marge

Cartoons: Just a-huggin' and a-chalkin'

For some reason Hoagy Carmichael's song "Huggin' And Chalkin'" comes to mind when I stand back and look at this week's cartoons. Certainly watching the news has undertones of an exercise in futility. But, there is some good news, as seen in today's last cartoon about a movement called Black Lives Matter.

President Obama is being controversial again, a state that seems to be linked to his simply being. Now it's his move toward normalizing relations with Cuba.

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Steve Sack, The Week

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With what looks like a price war on oil, was it smart to buy a hybrid? My opinion is yes.

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Chip Bok, The Week

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Congress rewards Wall Street yet again.

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David Horsey, The Week

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Republican, Reschmublican--despite their griping about the budget/national debt, Congress doesn't give a fig about either.

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Glenn McCoy, The Week

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There's protesting of "Excessive Force and Police Brutality" going on in the US and UK.

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Mike Keefe, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: Making Christmas yours

Stonehenge at winter solstice, crystalinks

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Christmas is a religious and cultural celebration practiced by billions of people around the world. With the proliferation of advertising and emphasis on buying, many feel that the true meaning of Christmas has been lost. But what is the true meaning?

Christians believe that Christmas is the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus, a story familiar to many of us. As you may know, during this time of year many cultures, old and newer, celebrate their own beliefs, often centered on the winter solstice (December 21-22). Christianity is not the only religion/belief system to have rich traditions centered here.

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The Nativity by Le Nain, Fine Art America

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Focusing on the winter solstice, modern German-speaking areas and other Northern European countries celebrate Yule, which was a pagan religious festival. There is also Yalda, an Iranian winter festival; Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights; and a Wiccan practice merging Christian and Paganism. Caroline Oakes, blogging at the Huffington Post, has written an interesting piece titled "Winter Solstice: Discovering New Meaning of Advent Through Ancient Pagan Practice."

Atheists, chosing to sidestep the religious trappings of Christmas and the unknowns of a God viewed as unpredictable and without reason, have initiated Human Light, a new godless tradition. Contrary to popular belief, atheism has its own tradition and tenets. According to Patrick Colucci, the vice-chair of the Human Light committee:

“Human Light illuminates a positive, secular vision of a happy, just and peaceful future for our world, a future which humanity can build by working together, drawing on the best of our capacities.”

My own reverence for the winter solstice and Christmas are fairly well explained by Mark & Angela Pritchard at Belsebuub (not loving the site's name) in "The Spiritual Meaning of the Winter Solstice."

-- Marge

Technology: Visions of holodecks

Researchers have used projected ultrasound to create floating 3D shapes that can be seen and felt in mid-air (Photo: University of Bristol), gizmag

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Haptic is the magic word today, specifically haptic technology or haptics. At root the word means:

adjective: of or relating to the sense of touch, in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using the senses of touch and proprioception--the reception of stimuli produced within the organism.

Tactile is a related term and a number of groups are working on making devices that offer tactile experience.

Researchers at the University of Bristol have coined the word ultrahaptics to describe their project. This article from gizmag, New ultrasound research creates holographic objects that can be seen and felt, describes their current efforts. Here's a video that explains more.

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If you would like to track the University of Bristol's Interaction and Graphics (BIG) projects, here's the BIG home page URL.

Disney Research (Disney does research?) has a video about tactile rendering of 3D features on touch surfaces, from a project by the Pittsburgh research team. Their approach uses an electro-vibration based friction display. Here's the video published on the DisneyResearchHub channel.

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Stuff, the magazine, reports on a prototype by Fujitsu that also uses ultrasonic haptic feedback, as does BIG's project.

Meanwhile MIT's Tangible Media Group is working on surfaces that actually change dimensionally. This video was published about six months ago on the MIT Media Lab channel.

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The metaverse awaits.

-- Marge

Cartoons: Porkin', lyin', and frackin'

Well, this week we found out where the Republicans (since they control the house) are willing to put the U.S.'s money via the budget.

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Rick McKee, The Week

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We learned again that Dick Cheney lies.

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Drew Sheneman, The Week

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And this year the drive to Grandma's house will be cheaper--is that a good thing? Bloomberg.com vs. Fortune.

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Chan Lowe, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: just say no to a dysfunctional Christmas

Jen from Sales: "That guy in Engineering gave me this bracelet for Christmas... I think it's expensive!"

Lisa, also in Sales: "Give it back; it's a trap."

Jen: "What's not to love about an engineer?"

Gift-giving at the office can be tricky, but sometimes the gift is clearly attached to some intent not in the spirit of Christmas.

Christmas is hands-down my favorite holiday, but it comes with a lot of baggage, much of it added by people who want to celebrate it their own way or who are just being their clueless selves. I'm not going to get into current Christmas controversy, but do offer some viewpoints on aspects of the season that can be problematic.

Personal safety and practical self defense.

Holiday shopping.

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And perhaps most of all, family dysfunction.

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If your family is problematic (and whose isn't?), here's some help: "Rules of Engagement: Dealing With Your Family During the Holidays." And this is an interesting piece about "How Self Love and Boundaries Mix."

Finally, if you've just heard your mother/stepmother/mother-in-law (father/stepfather/father-in-law) use the same phrase for the 23rd time, remember: things could be a lot worse.

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. The Lede.blogs.nytimes

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-- Marge

Gone fishing--in Siberia

Ice fishing, Novosibirsk, East Siberia, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images), Philly.com

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Well, I'm not really in Siberia and ice fishing is definitely not my cup of tea--just taking a day off. Here's something to entertain you in the meantime.

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-- Marge

Cartoons: Peace on earth vs the Minerva Initiative

Today's mix of cartoons looks at waning idealism, cold-hearted materialism, and the DoD's (Department of Defense) scary preparations for the future.

To start with--today's general view of the dream of peace on Earth.

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Walt Handelsman, The Week

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Then there's another portion of the reality--the homeless in Silicon Valley.

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Chan Lowe, The Week

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In this next cartoon I don't see taxes vs. entitlements in governmental terms but the Rich vs. the rest of us.

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Glenn McCoy, The Week

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Here's the scary part. The Pentagon is preparing for mass civil breakdown. If you don't believe it, check out this Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) page on the Minerva Initiative. Better to stand up now, while we still can? Huffington Post notes that civil unrest is not always related to cases like Ferguson.  Maybe we are headed for mass civil breakdown.

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Steve Benson, The Week

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One more look at the dream of peace on earth, before it's forgotten.

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Paul Combs, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: Gift giving--sometimes the magic is in presentation

Pom pom yarn embellishments, Babble

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Once I bought a Wacom Bamboo tablet and, when I received it, I was amazed and delighted by the way it was packaged. A simple black box opened like a book to a one-layer, parchment-like tissue, folded over just so. Inside the tissue was nested the tablet. The whole package was so elegantly done that I felt I'd received a gift from Wacom.

The gift you're giving doesn't have to be expensive, and if it isn't, the way it's wrapped and presented can make it seem so. (Learning enough about the receiver to know what to give helps.) WikiHow has a good article about how to give a gift unconditionally. Babble gives 18 Creative Ways to Give Cash & Gift Cards (Leading image link is broken, but slideshow works well).

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In case of emergency, Babble

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Some tips for wrapping your gift well can be found at these sites. The Container Store offers a PDF for download that gives Tips for Perfect Gift Wrapping. Lushome has some unique presentation ideas that look a bit like a lot of work, but they may trigger some ideas for more manageable projects.

According to an article published at Today,

The Japanese equate wrapping a gift with “wrapping the heart,” so every gift is marked by thoughtfulness and consideration, both for the object housed within the container or wrapping, and for the recipient of the gift. Bringing seemingly start [stark?] contrasts into harmony — like yin and yang — is central to the idea of any presentation. Rusticity and refinement, the transient and the eternal, the earthy and the sublime: such disparities are made evident — and rendered compatible — in choices of combinations of papers and ties that both emphasize and luxuriate differences in texture as well as, perhaps differences in color or pattern. A crinkled paper lashed with knotted cord, for example, reflects that approach.

The video below, posted by Paper Guru, shows how to wrap a gift with kimono pleats, a hand-tied bow, and a heart-shaped note card.

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-- Marge

Humor: Some Christmas heresy (and a little music)

Wiggy!, Wikimedia

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Christmas fast approaches and that means shopping. Why is that?, you may ask.  Let Cracked tell you.

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Don't bother to shop for the college students and grads with their huge student loans on your list, just send money and maybe a card. College Humor says so.

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Mr. Bean, however, does get into the spirit of Christmas.

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-- Marge