kbobam

Wait a minute! What happened to the 'marble history' response! This ROFL was for that!

Ha! I was just trying to be some variation of polite, but now that you mention it, I'm hearing 'Archie Bunker' saying this and it's pretty funny. ( :

I think some of our forum topics are getting side-tracked more often than they should. Sometimes these off-road excursions are interesting in themselves, but they should have started off as their own topic. It's not that I'm whatsit-retentive, but straying off the original topic frequently confuses things, and does a disservice to the poster's original intent. People (including me) need to take their 'only indirectly-related' questions and comments and make them the 'topic title' of a new post. I'd hate to see those who post nice pictures of beautiful marbles decide that it's just not worth it anymore.

I was impressed by this photo. It would be difficult to find a shot that exemplifies 'fighting spirit' better than this!

Just saying the camera was continuously in the process of taking a picture for a long period of time. This allowed the fireworks to 'expose themselves'. You could do the same thing taking a picture at night of a car with bright red tail lights driving away. As long as the car doesn't turn, you'll have two bright red long straight lines in your photo. ( :

Never really thought much about doing a fireworks photo. But it suddenly hit me that the ridiculous 30 second exposure that worked so well for the recent lightning shot might be worth a try. If it ain't broke....

Sleep is not happening tonight. Maybe you've been there. The sound of an approaching thunderstorm reminded me that I've never taken a photo of lightning. And that it was a recent addition to my 'bucket list' to do so. So I went out and sat on a five gallon bucket for about an hour and took a gazillion pictures. Managed to get one that halfway works. The lightning isn't as dramatic as I had hoped, but the thirty second exposure gave the very dark night time scene a bright surreal kind of look. So I like it okay for a first attempt. But I'm going to keep trying. ( :

I really enjoy this kids' show called 'Sam and Cat'. It's really well done for what it is, and totally cracks me up. Came up with a theory that the folks at Nickelodeon always have one show in their children's lineup that's also amusing to older people. Couldn't prove it until now! But I just saw this 'opener', and I think those of you who've enjoyed sit-coms for a while will see what I mean.

I don't remember hearing the Kodak story. But it made me remember a chart I saw once, which showed the different pronunciations of basic animal sounds around the world. They're not as 'universal' as you might think. Some look ridiculous. (At least by my language's standards.) So "Ka-dak" sounds pretty reasonable! ( :

It makes my brain hurt. But what a great gift for the marble person who has everything! ( :

I just figured out that my camera has a setting where you can have it make a traditional 'click' sound when you take a shot. It's hard for me to understand why you'd want to add a fake noise to something which in itself is silent by nature. But then I remembered a story. Years ago, Rolls-Royce introduced what I'm sure was a magnificent automatic transmission. It was their first to be 100% electronically controlled. As such, the shifter moved effortlessly from one gear to another. People hated it. So Rolls added a few springs and cogs which did nothing to help drive the car. But when you shifted gears, you felt the expected resistance, followed by a smooth but satisfying 'clunk'.

Whoever put this one together really kicked butt advertising-wise. In only fifteen seconds you know everything you need to know about this phone, and it looks like a desirable item. (Even to me, and I hate telephones with a passion.) What's interesting to me is that this ad would still have been good if they'd only shown all the bad situations the phone can handle. (Yes.) But by fitting in one situation it couldn't (No.), they added a sense of humor. Very tough to do with a spot this short. ( : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCa-83QTHnA

Some treehouses from Google. I kind of like the third one the best, but I'm not sure if it's a proper treehouse unless you have to climb more or less straight up. ( :

I think you needed a little blob of peanut butter. Which reminds me of the limited-edition 'Elvis' peanut butter cup I once had. (The fine people at Reese's added a layer of banana glop and it was amazing.) Your concoction made me realize that the only possible way it might be improved would be if they could fit in a little cherry goo in addition. ( :

Thanks for the ! These have always been a favorite of mine. I don't know how to describe what makes them special. Okay, just thought about it a while. The best hoity-toity art critic comment I can think of is "Elegantly understated, yet jazzy!" ( :

I could give my personal opinion here, but it would be mathematically irrelevant. I'm convinced that 'reality tv' is the most precise 50/50 'love it or hate it' thing to ever hit television. And the networks think batting .500 is just fine! After many many television-watching years on Earth, I've come to the conclusion that people's viewing habits are fairly random and for the most part insignificant. Which is to say that of all the finest people I've ever known, there isn't one who hasn't loved a program that makes me want to vomit. And vice-versa. So never say no to a 'second date' based on 'favorite tv programs'! ( :

Coincidentally, (or is it?) (-insert 'Twilight Zone' music here-) I was just thinking about this stuff. Found another variation just a little while ago. It's one of their 'Chunky' soups, and is labeled "Kickin' Buffalo-Style Chicken". We'll see. That big bag of Werther's reminded me that candy should be mentioned as one of the best reasons to visit your local dollar or similar store. Big bags and boxes of your favorites. Some of them are just like what you get at the movies! Which just mad me think of something kind of sneaky.

That's really strange. It took a while to figure out why. Geez Tracy! Your last photo is just killing me. All the bright colors are seriously "♪Happy Happy Joy Joy♪", and the things that screen texture is doing are insane. You need to make a big print of that one!

(Thank you for having faith in me and clicking on this topic. You are obviously a fearless individual who doesn't flinch at an 'implied legal agreement' which basically says that no matter what I post now, you asked for it! Don't worry. It won't be so bad. ) Watched an episode of 'Mad about You' the other day, and got a double-whammy of potential 'Lounge' posts. So here are two freeze-frames from the show, with explanations following each. I mentioned The San Remo apartment building a while back. Since I claimed that it showed up all the time in television and movies, this is an example from the opening credits. It was interesting to find out that both Ann and I are 'looking for a little place in the city'. You know. To avoid hotels or imposing on friends or relatives when we're in the neighborhood! She's mostly interested in 'The Dakota', which is three blocks in the direction Paul Reiser is pointing. One of these days we're going to be neighbors! Just as soon as we both find special 99%-off deals. The 'star' of this show was a Dutch doll, which is apparently irresistible to all children. I couldn't find any information about it on 'the web'. I guess the situation is hopeless. Where oh where could I ever find someone from The Netherlands who might explain this?

Omg. Not for the squeamish!

Good point about expiration dates. Especially for those really great deals that make you want to 'stock up' on something. Glad Alyce mentioned the ice packs and cooler. Summer temperatures are getting into full-swing here, and I have to get back into that habit. Hope our posts here convince some of the 'uninitiated' to check out some of these places. There's certainly a 'learning period' involved, but it doesn't take long to figure things out. Even if you have 'money to burn', I'm sure you'll find it surprising and satisfying how many good products you can have for 1/4 of what you're paying now. ( : P.S. Another helpful hint is to always be suspicious of the pictures on the labels with the fine print that says "serving suggestion". (Okay. I know that you realize there probably isn't a whole roast turkey included in that box of stuffing. But you know what I mean!)

My Dollar Tree posts haven't been consistently popular, so what I'm going to do from now on is to only post the products I think are real 'winners'. Imho. This stuff is great. It's tasty and kind of thick. More like stew than soup. I'm guessing with a little red wine in it, it would be spectacular. And there are actually hunks of real meat in it! Note that the fine folk at Campbell's were apparently legally entitled to call this product 'Beef and Dumplings' as opposed to 'Dumplings and Beef'. ( : (The rather large pop-top lid is a little awkward. Be careful with it!)

Not like any colors I've ever seen.

There've been a lot of great photos lately! Your 'mom's eye-view' of the little birds and Winnie's oh-so-maternal swan are particular favorites. ( :

Hmm. Boring title, but I guess it says it. And a separate note for you camera-toting people: This is my first attempt with a Nikon 1 camera. These little guys are way more capable and serious than many people give them credit for. (This photo was shot wide-open with the kit lens.) Also more fun than anything else I've ever used. And if you happen to use a Nikon dslr and don't know what a FT1 mount adapter is, check out this link. ( : http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/acil/lenses/mount_adapter_ft1/