English Weather

January’s grey and slushy,
February’s chill and drear,
March is wild and wet and windy,
April seldom brings much cheer.
In May, a day or two of sunshine,
Three or four in June, perhaps.
July is usually filthy,
August skies are open taps.
In September things start dying,
Then comes cold October mist.
November we make plans to spend
The best part of December pissed.

- Wendy Cope

Chladni Patterns

John Tyndall, published 1869

Fort Hood

My vote’s a bet in a football pool
5 on the red, 6 on the blue
Wake up, fool, there’s no time for a shouting match

I smell blood and there’s no blood around
Blanked-out eyes and a blanked-out sound
I see them coming back, motionless in an airport lounge

Let the sun shine in
Let the sun shine in
The sun shine in

You should be getting stoned with a prom dress girl
You should still believe in an endless world
You should blast Young Jeezy with your friends in a parking lot

Let the sun shine in
Let the sun shine in
The sun shine in

Let the sun shine in
Let the sun shine in
The sun shine in

- Mike Doughty, Golden Delicious

Night from the refuge

Night from the refuge, by mylene2k.

Indian Summer

What is that cheerful sound?
Rain falling on the ground
We’ll wear a jolly crown
Buckle up, we’re wayward bound
We’ll come back for Indian Summer
We’ll come back for Indian Summer
We’ll come back for Indian Summer
And go our separate ways

Motorbike to cemetery
Picnic on wild berries
French toast with molasses
Croquet and Baked Alaskas
We’ll come back for Indian Summer
We’ll come back for Indian Summer
We’ll come back for Indian Summer
Cover me with rain

- The Beat Happening

Quantum Physics

When your wave functions make you hysterical,
Can’t find any solution numerical,
Forty-two valid paths,
and such nightmarish maths…
Just assume all your cows to be spherical.
- anon MIT hacker

Don’t Stop Until You Hit Water

music for driving to the beach.  happy summer!

1. July, July! – The Decemberists
2. Edward, Sandwich Hand – The Lucksmiths
3. Someone Else Can Make A Work Of Art – First Rate People
4. Good for Great – Matt & Kim
5. Let’s Go Down – Family Of The Year
6. Rio – Hey Marseilles
7. Burned By The Sun – Beulah
8. A Well Deserved Break – Morcheeba
9. Empire Ants (feat. Little Dragon) – Gorillaz
10. Anna Sun – Walk the Moon
11. A Summer Wasting – Belle & Sebastian
12. T-Shirt Weather – The Lucksmiths
13. Sound of Summer – Art Brut
14. Heat Dies Down – Kaiser Chiefs
15. This Land Is Your Land – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
16. edge of the ocean [duotone mix] – ivy
17. Summertime – Athenaeum
18. Turn The Sun Down – Spinderella (“Is It Fall Yet?”, Daria)
19. King of the Beach – Wavves
20. With Arms Outstretched – Rilo Kiley
21. Sons & Daughters – The Decemberists
22. Nightswimming – R.E.M.
23. One Last “Whoo-hoo!” For The Pullman – Sufjan Stevens

Singing Bird Pistols

Click for video from Christie’s.

Black Phoebe

- Mike Mitchell

the lesson of the moth

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself

- Don Marquis