This Tom and Jerry cartoon, Johann Mouse, is inspired by the work of Viennese composer Johann Strauss II. It won the 1952 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons, giving the cat and mouse duo their seventh and final Oscar win. (via Ursi’s Blog)

She’s leaving home (again) … The woman who inspired a Beatles classic has had to quit the Spanish house she built illegally
In a fit of what seemed to be adolescent pique, Melanie Coe, aged 17, ran away from home in 1967 – and became part of pop music legend.
It was her story of sneaking out of her parents’ comfortable North London home, which made front page news in those days, that inspired Paul McCartney and John Lennon to write one of their most beautiful ballads – She’s Leaving Home…

Wednesday morning at five o’clock as the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more…

Four decades on, Melanie, now 58, is on the move again, and this time it’s not by choice.
Caught up in Spain’s complex rural planning laws, she has been forced to demolish her home that was built illegally on protected parkland.
Amazingly, McCartney’s reading of her escape in the newspapers was not the first time he had come across her.
“I first met Paul when I was 13 on the pop show Ready Steady Go!
“He presented me with first prize for miming to Brenda Lee’s Let’s Jump The Broomstick, which meant I danced on the show for a year,” says Melanie.
YouTube video:

(link to full article)

To The Moon

Originally uploaded by rgdaniel

Join NASA’s Return to the Moon! Send your name to the moon. Names will be collected and placed onboard the LRO spacecraft for its historic mission bringing NASA back to the moon. You will also receive a certificate showcasing your support of the mission.

The deadline is June 27, 2008 for the submission of names.

Go to the Moon! It’s easy – just type your name and add it.

The above is a PHP-generated dynamic image, which calculates the amount of time that has passed since the date you put in the image URL. This fun little coding idea, which I plan to steal, comes courtesy of Drew Myers, who has recently quit smoking, and was apparently looking for something to do with his hands…

Boundaries

Originally uploaded by rgdaniel

Patrick contemplates his role in a world where tulips can leave the garden, but gnomes cannot. (Merged to HDR in CS3 from two exposures, selective Lens Blur applied)