Doorway to nowhere

This doorway was just carved into the face of the cliff at the monastery

One well-used hidden door and another

A Doorway to nowhere and another

Doorway to The Universe, located within the Hayu Marca mountain region of southern Peru and about 35 Km from Puno, has long been revered by local Indians as the "Place of the Gods"

A dappled sunset shades this almost invisible doorway

Death’s Door, as depicted by William Blake

The Lizard King on Rotten

Door Knockers in Florence, in Pau, France

A single stalk of bamboo framed by a highly unusual Chinese doorway

Cars with gullwing doors

Combo Kennel and Concealed Pet Door

The Traditional House Under Threat?

This is a post that I am “co-blogging” with Hanan Levin of Grow-a-Brain. Thank you, Hanan, for the links you suggested!

I asked, "Are there any questions?"

And a voice replied:


And then I stopped talking.

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

At lunch, I noticed that the new waiter at my favorite restaurant kept looking at me and smiling.  It was a lingering look, as if he wanted to say something.  But it wasn't until I was signing the credit card receipt that he worked up his nerve:  

"Are you ever in Wilmington?" he asked hesitantly, his eyes studying my face with equal amounts of boldness and terror.  His eyes reminded me of Don Knotts; I could see the mustered-up self-confidence begin to tremble under its own weight.

"No, never been there," I replied, wondering why he asked.  

"You look just like my friend Tom.  He lives in Wilmington.  He has the same hair style, same face, same ..."  He paused, looking me up and down.  "Same everything!"

I assumed that "everything" referred to my taste in clothing.

I chuckled, muttering something about needing to meet my clone some day.  But my mind was reeling from the UNSPOKEN question that the waiter seemed to be asking: "Are you my friend?  Are you Tom?"

The waiter kept staring at me with those Don Knotts eyes, as if still suspecting I was indeed Tom from Wilmington.  Deputy sheriff Barney Fife was determined to crack this case of false identity.

I got the hell out of there.

---

Later, the cashier at the hardware store bid me farewell with these words: "Have a sparkling day," spoken in a slow monotone -- a depressed drawl.  The words and delivery were so incongruous that it was all I could do not to laugh before I left the building!  Plus, it was the very first time in my life that anyone had wished me a "sparkling" day.

Ensnared


He offered me a chair.
Was it a snare?

He presented salty finger foods
and exotic beverages.

I said, "You tempt me."

He was looking for
companionship, security,

someone to take
out to dinner,

and then, perhaps,
yoga.
 
"Enticing," I admitted.

His daring fashion faux pas
were symptoms of an infectious joie de vivre.

But it was Eartha Kitty
who snagged me in the end.

I'm so glad I discovered this rare booklet.  Until I discovered it, I didn't know exactly why it was so important!  Nor how I could put the information to use! 

I know exactly where it will go on my bookshelves: after the beloved volumes Who & What and Where & When.

Now, if anyone ever asks me if I "have any questions," I'll have to say, "Well, yes and no!"

New Summer Course Offerings at the "Real World University"


Hmmm... I'd love to learn how to slander a celebrity and balance my checking account, but if I take Spanish Cognates then I won't have to buy a textbook!

The white cliffs of Dover, notable as a large natural chalk deposit, were originally connected by a land bridge to the Great Blackboards of northern France.
—Jonathan Caws-Elwitt, "What Passes for Science"

I accidentally scratched my left eye with my fingernail.  It wasn't a severe wound--there wasn't any blood or even tears, for that matter.  But the eye kept hurting, so I finally went to the eye doctor to have it checked out.  Luckily, the doctor said my eye was healing just fine, but the way he described the wound was intriguing.  Peering at my eye through his instruments, he said, "It's like I'm looking at a constellation of stars."  Apparently, there were some microscopic fragments of glass on my fingernail when I cut my eye (I can't imagine where they came from!), and they were twinkling at the doctor.  With my interest in astrology and the concept of the eyes being the "window of the soul," I found it fascinating that the doctor saw a star field in my eye.  Then he said something even more intriguing.  He described the tiny cut in my eye as a "comet trail," and he talked about how it was flying toward the corner of my eye.  I've been trying to analyze the symbolic significance of my diagnosis.  The left eye is traditionally associated with feminine insight.  A comet is traditionally considered a harbinger of some sort.  So does a comet trailing through my feminine insight toward my nose ("third eye" area) seem to announce a shift in my outlook?

The Lazy Novelist's Rough Draft

Chapter One

"Where have you been?"
"Oh, you know."
"Did you meet..."
"What's-his-name?  Yep, and that friend of his, Miss Thing."
"So what happened?"
"Don't get me started."
"I can just imagine it!"
"You don't know the half of it.  Words can't begin to describe what I went through with those two."
"You don't mean..."
"You read my mind."
"Say no more."

Walnuts take 60 years to grow, so every walnut we eat is a gift from a previous generation.

Best-Kept Secrets of the Graduate Teaching Assistantship

Assume the role . . . and take the roll!  That's all there is to being a Graduate Teaching Assistant.

Filling the time on Mon.-Wed.-Fri.:

    Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes are only 50 minutes long.  Here's a sample daily schedule:  
    1. If you take attendance slowly, you can use up ten minutes.  (If the class has fewer than 25 students, stretch out the roll by asking each student how he's doing that day).  
    2. Then, to break the ice, chat with the class about movies and current events for five to ten minutes.  On Mondays you can discuss what everybody did over the weekend, and on Fridays you can talk about everybody's plans for the weekend.   
    3. Give a quiz and let the students exchange papers and grade each other's (that saves you from doing homework).  By the time you read the questions aloud, allow time for the students to write answers, repeat questions, exchange papers, read the answers aloud, and explain the answers to the slower students, you'll have taken up at least fifteen minutes.
    4a. Now it's time for class discussion.  (Forget lectures: no one wants to hear them, and you don't want to prepare them).  If the class remains silent, just sit there and look at them.  If they don't want to learn, you can't make them.  Their education is their own responsibility.
    4b. (alternate) Divide the class into groups of four or five.  Have them discuss the day's subject or work on short assignments.
    4c. (alternate) Show a video.  Your library or university resource center probably has hundreds of educational videos.  If you run out of time, show the remainder next time.
    4d. (alternate) Since only 15 minutes remains, let the class out early, saying "It's such a nice day out . . ." or "Use this time to work on the assignment at home."

Filling the Time on Tue.-Thurs.

    Tuesday-Thursday classes are 75-minutes long.  But you only meet twice a week, which leaves you with a four-day weekend.  The sample daily schedule is the same for Mon.-Wed.-Fri. except for parts 4c and 4d.:
    4c. Show a video.  With 35-minutes remaining, you'll probably have time to watch the whole thing.
    4d. Let the class out early, but tell them to go to the library.

Give Yourself and Your Students an Occasional Break

    When planning your syllabus, allow at least three "individual study" days per semester.  Always put them on Friday (or Thursday, for Tue.-Thurs. classes).  That way you'll have a three-day weekend.  Explain it to your students this way: "On Friday the class will meet at the library for individual study.  I won't take the roll.  You may study anywhere in the library you'd like.  I may not see you, since the library is such a big place."
    Or work a few "catch-up days" into the syllabus.  In theory, such days allow the course to progress smoothly and not get behind.  In practice, you can cancel class on those days since you always make it a point not to get behind.

Planning the First and Last Day

    Don't plan anything.  On the first day, hand out the syllabus, show the class the textbook, and dismiss everybody.  On the last day, have a party or call it "individual review day for the final exam."

Teacher Evaluation Time

    Once or twice a semester, a professor may sit in on your class to evaluate you.  It's unlikely to be a surprise visit.  Rather, the professor will schedule the visit in advance.  You may be asked to suggest a day yourself.
    On the day before the visit, tell your class that a professor will be visiting.  Promise them that if they are particularly enthusiastic that day, they'll get Friday off.

Oral Reports

    Up to one-half of the entire course can be filled with oral reports.  Divide the students into groups of four or five and allow them to choose a topic themselves (this will take a day in itself, and may even require "library days").  You can go around to each group and approve their subjects.  Each student should give a 10 to 15 minute presentation.  Allow five minutes after each presentation for questions.  On Mon.-Wed.-Fri., two reports can be made per class.  On Tue.-Thurs., three reports (or possibly four shorter ones) can be made.

Though you only just graduated yourself, you can have the authority of a full professor.  When you write your name on the board the first day, add Dr. before it.  The students will never know.   By the end of the semester, you'll feel like one.

David, of Ironic Sans, had a great idea for a special "skip" button on jukeboxes:


That idea made me realize I'd be quite willing to pay five dollars in a restaurant if I could cancel an adjacent table's order of a fried calamari appetizer.  Fried calamari is, in my experience, the stinkiest dish one can order in a restaurant, followed by fish 'n' chips.  Fried calamari truly reeks, as even rabid seafood lovers will admit.  And if you're a vegetarian, fried calamari is a direct whiff of hell.  I'd gladly pay five dollars not to have my own meal ruined by someone else's second-hand fried calamari fumes, and the restaurant would still profit.

My five-year-old neighbor attended her first day of Bible school.  Her class went outside, and each child was given a paper bag.  The teacher told them to collect things that God made, such as leaves, rocks, and twigs. 

When the girl came home, her mother said, “So you learned that God made all things in the world?” 

“No,” she replied.  “He only made what’s in the bag.”

I decided to see the world through rose-colored glasses. But I didn't read the warning label: "Caution. All red objects will seem to disappear. Prolonged use may cause headaches, eye fatigue, disorientation, and/or apathy."

In Alaska, I was the only one who couldn't see the Northern Lights.

In Australia, Ayers Rock (Uluru) was invisible.

In Bermuda, I got sunburned and didn't know it.

In Switzerland, the Matterhorn was fuzzy and bright pink. I felt a headache coming on, but I didn't really care. I finally took off the glasses and gave them to a milkmaid.

My final stop was the Grand Canyon. At sunset, the sky turned purple, the sun was orange, and the clouds were pink.

"My God!" I gasped. I had worn the rose-colored glasses too long. My eyes had stuck that way.

beautiful

This is what David, a photographer and visionary thinker, saw when he reached for the last tissue in the box.  He calls it "Georgia O’Kleenex."

This homemade radio might be just the thing for picking up The Threepenny Opera.