I've not been feeling well the last couple of days. Maybe it's reading about what the Israelis and Palestinians are doing to each other. Maybe it's been reading about all the other wonderful things going on in Afghanistan, India, and Washington D.C. Maybe it was something I ate. Anyway, here are some things that aren't those.

Caddy's Big & Tall
It's a truck that's hard to miss. Plus, you can frighten small children and suburban livestock with it.

Cadillac's brand manager says, "Cadillac research showed that there was a real need for the EXT." A real need for a Cadillac pickup? Really? If so, then here are a few things that I really need: An air-conditioned front yard. Iguana-skin patio furniture. Stigmata. Mint-flavored Drano. Gold-plated roof gutters. A 190-hp MerCruiser SaladShooter. A dog with a collapsible tail. An office desk that converts into a Hovercraft. Chrome slacks. A lifetime subscription to Extreme Fidgeting. A third arm. A fourth wife. A smokeless Cuban Robusto. Reusable Kleenex. (Were you under the impression that this was to be an editorial, John?—Ed.)

I actually drove the Escalade EXT. It is very quiet. It has a remarkably supple ride. Its tires work well on dry pavement. It's a serene freeway cruiser, in the manner of modern Greyhounds that are simple to nurse downstream as long as you're not impinging on vast portions of the adjacent lane. Over 40 mph, the steering is beset by an on-center dead spot, though this may be an option.

A "Road Sensing Suspension System" (RSSS) comes standard. Sure enough, it senses roads. But can it sense outdoor carpeting, corduroy, Florentine velour, or the decorative lava around Mrs. Zeile's marigolds? All we can report for sure is that the EXT is a dream on gravel. "Not bad for a solid rear axle," someone noted, though it wasn't me. You know you're on gravel only because of a tinkle-bing-da-da-bingle of rocks bouncing off the polished-steel exhaust tip, which is as big as a soup tureen. Otherwise, the EXT is a magic-carpet ride because it crushes its own gravel as it goes.
[read more]

thanks to MetaFilter

MorfaBlog turned me on to consumptive.org. Mr. Consumptive (James Luckett) is an English speaker living in Japan. He is also into photography with some of his images and some wonderful links such as...

Unblinking Eye

Which led me to some great pinhole camera links...

Pinhole Resource

An *expensive* but elegant pinhole camera...

Pinoramic 120 camera

Which had some great images taken with this camera.

Photographs made with Pinoramic 120 Cameras

This is one by Chris Faust.

Scanning some of my old images has been getting me wanting to start taking large format images again, now that I know I can finally print them like I have always wanted. I still need to get printers and calibration equipment for printing what I have, but I am planning. Definitely 4x5 and probably a field camera. Toyo, Horseman, and Linhoff all are wonderful but *so* expensive. They all look like the old Speed Graphic. The last Speed Graphic was the Super Graphic, which can be had for a lot less and has all the movements I need. There are a couple available on Ebay. Not yet.

But, in looking a some amazing pinhole cameras, I found...

Zero Image, which has a tasty 4x5 at a reasonable price.

I've wanted to do pinhole for a long time. It might be a nice way to get back into 4x5.

EmptyBottle.org (formerly known as Waeguk is not a soup) pointed to a play by The Accordian Guy.

Sacrelicious!

Moses (turning to a new sheet of paper): Ah, something I understand. As you know, sir, my adoptive father -- the Pharoah -- had me taught by the finest tutors and scholars in all of Egypt.
God (rolling eyes, muttering): Oh this should be good for a laugh...(Looks at Moses with a sly grin.) Very well then. Why don't you tell me what you know about the Earth?
Moses (eagerly): Very well, Sir! It's a big flat disc. The sun and moon circle it, each taking turns travelling across a big bowl we call the sky, above which there's a lot of water...
God: I think your tutors rode the short chariot to school.
Moses: Sir?
God: Nothing. Say, Moses, what holds up the Earth? What supports this big flat disc?
Moses: Our best research indicates that a turtle does, Sir. We even have independent confirmation from the Babylonians.
God: A turtle.
Moses: Yessir. A really big one. (Moses holds his arms outstreched to explain the size of the turtle.) Twenty, maybe thirty thousand cubits a side.
God (learning forward): Let’s assume for a moment that it is a turtle that holds up the earth. What does this turtle stand on then, hmmm?
Moses (almost leaping from his chair): I knew you were going to ask me that, Sir! That’s the really clever part – it’s turtles all the way down!
God: Oh, Jesus Christ.

Another door opens and through it, Jesus pokes his head into the office.

Jesus: Mmmmmyes?

This fine play is in The Adventures of AccordionGuy in the 21st Century, where Accordian Guy states...

Back in high school, after reading Space- Time and Beyond for the umpteenth time and drinking one too many zombies with my friend Henry Dziarmaga, we came up with the theory that in the infinite set of universes -- the multiverse -- there was one particular universe in what happened to us right here was being watched as a TV show over there. We then made a solemn vow to live in such a way that we kept our ratings up.

This is the continuation of that story.

I know the feeling.

There—I feel much better now.