Dancing Bear Zoetrope
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Category Archives: Photography
Laumeier Art Fair
Yesterday, we went to the annual Mother’s Day Laumeier Art Fair. This has been our usual Mother’s Day fare for quite sone time. We manage to hit the pick day, both warm and sunny. Lots of neat gewgaws to see. We bumped into Chris and Sandi there. Afterwards, we went to Frisco for a late lunch. Apparently, Mother’s Day and its environs is the busiest time for restaurants all year. Who knew?
M Is for the Many Things She Gave Me
The original lyrics were written in 1915 by Howard Johnson and the song is titled Mother: It turns out that Howard Johnson also wrote, “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream”.
M Is for the Many things she gave me,
O Means only that she’s growing Old.
T Is for the Tears she shed to save me,
H Is for her Heart of purest gold.
E Is for her Eyes with love light shining,
R Means Right and Right she’ll always be.
Put them all together, They spell MOTHER
A word that means the world to me.
The picture with this post is of some flowers for Mother.
This is a repost of a post that was written several years ago. It was written for my mother, but also for my mother-in-law. My mother had passed away, and now recently, so has my mother-in-law. Actually, Gene, my mother-in-law really owns this post. Her three lovely daughters grew up singing this song to her, much to her chagrin. Maybe this parody of the Mother song that I found on the internet, is closer to what she hears when the original lyrics are sung:
M is for the many things she gave me
O is for the other things she gave me
T is for the things she gave me
H is for her things, which she gave me
E is for everything she gave me
R is for the rest of the things she gave me
Anne asked me not to originally post this post for fear of the pain that it might cause her mother. I only heard her childhood guilt speaking. In truth it is I who should feel guilty, because it is my naked ambition that drives this post. My informed readers might ask, how is this different? Since, ’09 this post has been a gold mine of blog hits. Every April it begins. In May, it begins to crest and come Sunday, interest will peak and then crash. That is why now is when I should act. I just did a google search looking for the author of this song. I typed in, “M is for the many things she gave me lyrics” and RegenAxe is the number one website returned. I feel lucky. Thank you, Mother.
To all of the forlorn sons and daughters that have found the previous post, the poem MOTHER is in the public domain. It is an old troupe, much copied, but it is free to use. If you are emailing your mom, I cannot compete with the simple cut and paste. If you are willing to go the extra mile, I offer this advice. Say, “I love you Mom.” Praise her. Say she looks nice, say she said something interesting. Tell her something you did that would make her proud. This last is the toughest, but is the one that will make her the happiest on Mother’s Day.
Dan’s UCLA Automata Display
Automata are self-operating machines or kinetic sculptures designed to imitate life and tell stories through mechanical movement. Historically, these devices served as entertainment or religious artifacts, with roots in ancient Egyptian jointed figures and Greek pneumatic models. Traditional automata rely on hand-cranked mechanisms to drive intricate, often hidden, gear systems, creating whimsical motions like dancing, flying, or writing.
Historically, automata were designed to mimic living creatures or perform human tasks, with 18th-century engineer Jacques de Vaucanson designing elaborate, realistic creatures, such as a famous mechanical duck. Today, automata are increasingly popular as a form of artistic expression, often created with wood, metal, and wire, and frequently seen in contemporary “curious contraptions” exhibitions. Modern makers sometimes incorporate digital tools, like 3D printing and laser cutting, while still relying on traditional, visible mechanical principles.
This week Dan flew to LA, where he participated in an event entitled Automata, and Traditional Mechanisms for Kinetic Movement. This event occurred at UCLA. Pictured are two of Dan’s automata that he demonstrated there.
Anna’s Hummingbird
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Release the Kraken
Jaws, octopus jaws, giant octopus jaws, cretaceous giant octopus jaws. Recently, a Japanese archeologist using a novel technique has found the jaws of giant cretaceous octopus in the fossil record, an animal that otherwise is composed of soft tissue. Searching the ocean floor for sedimentary nodules, then first microplanning these nodules and then reconstructing these slices like in a CT scan, images of these jaws have been revealed. Based upon the size of these jaws, scientists estimate the octopus’s size as large as fifty feet long. Fanciful artist’s impressions soon accompanied this discovery.
Down through the ages octopuses have been reimagined as giant sea monsters, capable of attacking sailing ships. In reality the more modestly sized Giant Pacific octopus is as big as they get nowadays. Pictured above is one, with a hand for scale. One such octopus is the star of a new movie that dropped on Netflix today, Remarkably Bright Creatures. Starring Sally Field and Lewis Pullman as an aquarium’s odd couple. In this show, octopus Marcellus (voiced by Alfred Molina) coaxes these two humans together, so that they may heal each other in this shmaltzy melodrama. Both humans are wounded when they begin treatment. Comparable to another Netflix movie, the pandemic favorite, My Octopus Teacher, this movie could have been called My Octopus Therapist.