Toot Toot...

Yes, I refuse to use Kleenex until this mess is cleaned up.

You can’t be classified as a “clean-freak” if you have more than two toot-toot’s in your bathroom waste basket. Oh. Okay. For those of you not thoroughly indoctrinated with the subtleties in the vernacular of the two-year old, here is a bit of clarification. Toot-Toot (tut-tut) Function: noun Definition: 1. Musical instrument 2. The cardboard cylinder center of a toilet paper roll. 3. Two short blasts (as on a horn or toot-toot); also : two sounds resembling such a blast Instructions: Find the box of interesting things sitting in the corner of the bathroom. (That’s the room with the big shiny white chair.) Dump that box of interesting things onto the floor. Sort. Scavenge one of those little grey tube things. Place one open end to your lips, say: “Toot, toot,” while marching around the house as in a parade. Repeat as needed to get attention or until mommy gets the camera. Quit.

Orange Iris

Orange Iris
originally uploaded by anyjazz65

My Own Wordless Wednesday

This just in...

Yes, I refuse to use Kleenex until this mess is cleaned up.

Flash: Police and agents from the DEA burned 2.3 tons of confiscated marijuana at the beach this morning, leaving no tern unstoned. This gull, declining to give his name, was quoted as saying, “Woooow….! Cool! Look at those colors! Man, I think I’ll go chow down on some of those chips…” Another gull who declined to be on camera said, “Woooow….! Cool! Look at those colors! Man, I think I’ll go chow down on some of those chips…”

Squared Flower - A rant.

Yes, I refuse to use Kleenex until this mess is cleaned up.

Okay, okay. Another rant. Another small rant. Rants aren’t a common theme here but when they come they are hard to hold back. Kind of like the runs. Well now, THERE’S an analogy. But on to better things right now. Glass Ceiling originally uploaded by anyjazz65 This picture of Dale Chihuly's glass has been on Flickr since October 21, 2005. It was never a number one picture but it has ranked between number 111 and number 169 in Flickr’s Interestingness rating. It is still there. This Sunset photograph from November 21, 2005 has been as low as 387 and as high as 162. It's never been higher. Sky and Clouds originally uploaded by anyjazz65 George originally uploaded by anyjazz65 This Butterfly uploaded September 21, 2005, has varied from number 75 to as low as 149. It is still on the list in the top 500 Flickr photographs for that day. Squared Flower originally uploaded by anyjazz65 This picture, Squared Flower has been on Flickr since November 5, 2005. It was assembled from photographs from personal cameras taken over a period of a couple years in two or three countries. They are all flowers except for one, the center, which is a mushroom. But you knew all that. The frame was assembled in Photoshop (not FD's Flickr Toys) from carefully selected photographs from my own archive. After it was uploaded to Flickr, it enjoyed a number of comments from important Flickr members which was appreciated. Then Flickr member mimbrava commented: Congratulations! mimbrava says: Congratulations. This is currently number one in Interestingness! Posted 18 months ago. This was the SAME DAY it was uploaded. It was the number one picture in Flickr Explorer “Interestingness” for that day. Now for those of you who are recently arrived extra-terrestrials or have just been introduced to computers or have just awakened from a thirty year coma and/or reside beneath rocks, here is a bit of explanation. Explorer “Interestingness” is the best 500 pictures uploaded EACH DAY into Flickr’s vast collection of photographs. Their formula for measuring this is Flickr’s guarded secret but supposedly composed of view counts, favorite counts, comment counts, rapidity reckoned in relation to the uploaded moment and probably some other things, all compounded into an algorithm that calculates a kind of physical popularity of the photograph. This photograph was number one for November five, 2005. Number one. As time went on, this photograph settled down to number 160 out of Explorer 500. It fluttered between 167 and 158 for several months. This fluxuating phenomenon occurs when other photographs in that top 500 group get continued attention beyond their initial posting. This is due occasionally to shifting the photo around among photo subject groups or linking with other photographs or blogs. This will often net the photograph continued views and comments beyond its initial introduction. Some photographers are just plain good and their subsequent uploads encourage people to view their entire archived stream, netting even more views and comments on their popular postings. By August of 2006 this flower picture had drifted up and back between number158 and number 173 for its posting date of November 5, 2005. In October of 2006 it jumped up to number 122 for about a week and then dropped back again to a groove between 145 and 158. Then, on October 21, 2006, nearly a year after the original posting, it disappeared from Flickr Explorer completely. No downslide, no notice, just gone in one 24 hour period. It had started as a number one. It had maintained a position between 145 and 180 for nearly a year. Then it was gone. Okay. Explain that. Did about 350 OTHER photographs uploaded way back on that date, suddenly become more popular than this one? Did Flickr just lose it? Did it get some mysterious ‘negative’ votes? How is it possible that a photograph can suddenly drop from about 145 to a number greater than 501? It had not varied more than 20 points in ten months; now it drops more than 350 places in a one day? Take for instance the picture currently at Explorer position number 462 for the date November 5, 2005. It is a video capture NOT originally taken by the owner of the site; it has had two comments, has been elected as a “favorite” once and has been visited 225 times. It’s an interesting capture and deserves to be ranked highly. The Squared Flower has 39 comments (yes, including some of my own); has been favorited 50 times and has been visited 1,705 times. The picture ranked 240 is not even a photograph. It is a water color painting. So Squared Flower has been deleted from Explorer. Is it because it was assembled in Photoshop, a composite of several photographs? If it is suddenly unqualified for the top 500 of that day because it is not a presentation of a single photograph, or that it has been re-worked in Photoshop, then there are several Explorer submissions that should lose all ranking. Is it because Flickr’s toys were not used to assemble the composition? Or is it just because someone does not like flowers? Please understand, this is not a complaint. It is not expected or desired that Flickr DO anything about this. But, it would be nice to know WHY. How about a nice note to me explaining "We changed the rules..." “We shall be waiting for your answer.” - Klaatu

Happy Birthday Bettie

No Reason. I just thought it was clever. Things ain't what they used to be. (In fact, they never was.) The Profile (more than you really wanted to know) is here.

Speaking of Icons; today is the birthday of Bettie Page; the greatest Pin-Up of all time. The mystique of her influence and style, her look, thrives today. She had more magazine appearances than Marilyn Monroe and Cindy Crawford combined according to the fine book on her life by Karen Essex and James L. Swanson. At the height of her career she disappeared. She lives in anonymity and seclusion today (April 22, 2007) at age 84. Happy Birthday Bettie. And thanks. Sadly, we lost Bettie Page in December of 2008. So, Goodbye Bettie, and thanks. Here is the official web site for Bettie Page. This is the web site for the movie about her life: "The Notorious Bettie Page" And here is a fun site from a really avid fan: The Bettie page And consider this… Little Annie Fannie will be 45 this year(2009). ____________________ Go HERE! Pinups: More Of Kurtzman and Elder's Little Annie Fanny And Betty Boop will be 65. While …um, dwelling on this sobering fact my screen saver went into overdrive. It scrolled a slideshow of random photos for a while and then flashed these two pictures consecutively. The Jack Davis cartoon on the left and then the photo on the right. Are we being guided here by unknown forces? Is a relativity here that we are missing? We must also consider the startling fact that Fearless Fosdick will be 65 this year and Social Security will kick in. And Al Capp would be 98 this year had he not found the cure for aging in 1979. Consequently, he will always be 70. But that’s digression, a favorite talent. Jack Davis will be 83 this December. He and Jan Vermeer are favorites. Vermeer will be 375 in October. (Note to self: remember to buy a card.} Now obviously this is not nearly as interesting as removing your own appendix, but perhaps it will do for an anesthetic while you do.

These are the most popular pages: Alison Young Art Pepper Barney Kessel Bettie Page Curl-up-and-dye Edgar Degas and the lost Ginger Nude Ginger Panda Gnat Trap Little Annie Fannie Marilyn Resident Alien Sunday Funnies

The Girls

Yes, I refuse to use Kleenex until this mess is cleaned up.

Here are some lovely women. Somewhere, sometime, someone treasured each of these women. Now, the photographs are the treasures. These are found photographs. They have no known home except here. Presented here is a typical pose: outside, in their best dress, smiling at the photographer. Often the background is overlooked or the sun is in the wrong place or the camera is not level. Still they are treasures. With one of these ladies as the center of attention, the background and the lighting become unimportant. It is the moment that is important. The photo is important. Now these photographs are wallet wrinkled, finger marked and frayed. They have scrapes and creases and torn edges. There are tape marks and glue stains. They have been thumb tacked and taped to walls and doors and trimmed to fit a frame. They have been folded and splattered and scuffed. But they survived. They survived to continue to make imagination smolder and inspiration sparkle. Look at them. Some are fragile, some are strong. Some are happy, some look happy. Here are the sisters and mothers and wives that we care for and protect. Back then these women were the homemakers and the teachers. Now they are the bosses and the leaders, the heads of struggling families and corporations. These are our treasures. Girl One originally uploaded by anyjazz65 Girl Two originally uploaded by anyjazz65