George Carlin was to have received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in November of this year. I would like to have heard his acceptance speech, but we won't have that opportunity now. Carlin died suddenly of a heart attack last night after checking into a Santa Monica, CA hospital with chest pains. For those of us who grew up in the 70's it was nearly required that we memorize the "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television". "Class Clown" made us howl, "I Used to be Irish Catholic" made us convulse and best of all our parents hated him.
But there's a little bit less laughter in the world today, and that's sad.
Next time, PaperWhen my tax software asked me if I wanted to get my "Economic Stimulus Payment" by direct deposit, it sounded like a good idea. It's more environmentally friendly, and it ought to be quicker, right?
Wrong. Next time, the tree is history. I filed on time (a day early in fact!) and it only took the IRS about a week to siphon the funds
out of my bank account. Two months later, I
still haven't seen the $600 I'm supposedly eligible for. Hey, that's two tanks of my gas they're holding up there in DC. And I need it!
This Old House - another Carmi-inspired post
You might recognize this as the "old-age home" in the Tom Hanks movie
The Green Mile. It is, in fact, the Moses Cone Estate situated somewhere near Boone, NC. I took this shot on a brilliant afternoon in February of 2001. The house itself is closed during the "off season", but is open for tours and such during the spring and summer. Even so, it offered some interesting photo opportunities. Especially a couple of days when this shot was taken.
The night before I took these shots the area got hit with a weather event that I'm sure has a real official name, but I don't know what it is. Overnight the bottom fell out of the temperature resulting in about six inches of snow in a two hour period and something called "rime icing" on every exposed surface in the area. This phenomenon apparently occurs when a supercooled cloud drags along the surface leaving behind micro-sized droplets of water that freeze together forming a crystal structure kind of like the rock candy you made in third grade science class. Here the crystals are easy to see because the icing is fairly light. But with enough moisture and wind this kind of event can pile up some pretty impressive formations. The middle shot here is a strand of horsehair caught in a barbed wire fence. Not usually something I'd usually think of as photoworthy. Amazing what a little bit of water and subfreezing temperatures can do, ain't it?
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The night before I took these shots the area got hit with a weather event that I'm sure has a real official name, but I don't know what it is. Overnight the bottom fell out of the temperature resulting in about six inches of snow in a two hour period and something called "rime icing" on every exposed surface in the area. This phenomenon apparently occurs when a supercooled cloud drags along the surface leaving behind micro-sized droplets of water that freeze together forming a crystal structure kind of like the rock candy you made in third grade science class. Here the crystals are easy to see because the icing is fairly light. But with enough moisture and wind this kind of event can pile up some pretty impressive formations. The middle shot here is a strand of horsehair caught in a barbed wire fence. Not usually something I'd usually think of as photoworthy. Amazing what a little bit of water and subfreezing temperatures can do, ain't it?
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