A new way to read Garfield

I never was a big fan of Garfield. He was fun to try to draw but that was about it.

I have recently discovered a site (Garfield Minus Garfield) that offers a new way to read the comic strip. The site removes Garfield from every frame leaving only Jon doing seemingly odd things.

The site describes itself as:

Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle.

Here is a sampling:

The site also is very rss friendly and seems to me the way to read it. Even without Garfield, the comic is still not great, but it is amusing on some level that even a one sided conversation can still make some kind of sense.

It also makes you wonder how many other things – including real conversations – in life would still make sense if you take out one of the participants.

I think a fair number of them will which doesn’t say much for those converssations or the participants themselves.

The Banking Mess Explained

If you were wondering how the whole banking mess happened and what the subprime crisis means, here is a great clip to explain it.

It is actually a couple of British comedians and was made apparently in 2007:

The amazing thing is -  if these comedians understood it so well then, how come nobody else did until the whole thing blew up in everybody's faces.

Statisticians

As we enter the final leg of various election seasons, it pays to remember today’s Quote of the Day:

Statistician: A man who believes figures don't lie, but admits that under analysis some of them won't stand up either.  -- Evan Esar

A.K.A. Pella

There has been some questions on who sang the Adon Olam in the Master Of The Universe post.

The group that sings it is called A.K.A Pella. You can hear snippets of Adon Olam and other songs from that CD here. A careful listener might recognize most of the tunes from elsewhere.  A lot of the songs seem to have a similar meaning or theme as the original song. (For example listen to the clip for Ki Malachav and see if you recognize it.)

For the curious amongst you, Adon Olam seems to be based on this song ( I am not sure of any meaning connection there – though it is a nice tune):

Here is another video set to one of their songs (SImilar to how the Adon Olam one was – though not the same powerful message). I am guessing a few of you will recognize the tune ( In this case I think the connection to the original is more obvious):

If you want, you can hear clips from their first and second more traditional CDs as well.

Here is also one of the lead singers of the group (Zevi Daniels), singing the National Anthem at a recent Orioles game:

Interestingly, people’s reactions to the video differ as upon seeing the clip someone commented to me: “Did you see the sheitel on his wife?”

I should also point out that I have never heard one of their whole CDs and just know them from these clips.

Shout Out plus a Bonus

I have to give a shout out here to ASG of Our Shiputzim fame. On his recommendation, I installed Windows Live Writer Beta.

It definitely seems much easier to write entries this way rather then the standard blogger web interface. I’m not saying the entries will be more frequent now, but I think I will enjoy writing them more this way.

And now as a bonus, I recently came across this clip again. Many of you have probably seen it before, but I am guessing it has been a while and this is one of those clips  (for of those of you who like this sort of thing) that are still enjoyable on a repeat viewing.

 

Master of the Universe

Here is a great video which can help put you in the right frame of mind for the upcoming Yom Kippur.
Admittedly, it really would be more appropriate for and in the spirit of Rosh Hashana when we crown/acknowledge Hashem as King of the World. However, the underlying message is still really powerful and can help focus you for your tfillot.



One more thing which comes to mind, when seeing some of the scenes in the video though, is how amazing this world that Hashem created is.
It's great that we were created in such a way to appreciate the beauty and grace in such "little" things as a sunset or even a spider sitting on its web. I know evolutionists have theories how every little thing can be explained by natural selection but I find some of it to be a bit far fetched. I mean, how does a genetic mutation to allow us to enjoy the sight of a field of sunflowers help someone survive better?

Along similar lines, when I was taking physics in college, we were learning about calculating the pressure of liquid in a tube and the force when the tube branches. The professor explained that apparently the most efficient angle for such a split to get the most flow in a branching tube is something like 77^a degrees.
The professor then went on to say that they did some study of all the branches in the veins in a persons body and the average angle for all the branches was.... (wait for it....) 77^b degrees.
When I heard this, I, of course, was struck by how perfect Hashem made our bodies.
The professor then concluded this whole thing by saying: "You can see the power of evolution at work."

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a - Under the heading of Honesty in reporting, I should point out that since this happened a few years ago and I don't remember all the details, I just made the number 77 up. Please don't let that detract from the story which I am guessing is still relevant whatever the number actual number was.
b - The same caveat would apply to this number 77 as well - though at least I am consistent when I make numbers up.