Ha, these are great, and exactly what I need this weekend. The only one that raised an eyebrow though was:

"Make a pointless rule - You can’t end sentences with words that begin with a vowel. Or you can’t have more than one word over eight letters in any paragraph. Limits create focus and change your perspective."

This is not sound advice and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!

Wow. It seems these were all done within a ten-day period. Very nice work.

Dear Siegfried,

Thanks for posting. It wasn’t my intention to question your methodology, but rather to point out that the Musician poses a very big problem for your argument. Attributions aside, we can’t ignore the fact that the portrait, even if it suggests self-likeness, seems a very odd format for LDV to use as self portrait. I do think you have something, but now you need to plug the holes that art historians, unfortunately, are trained to pick out.

Start with the sheet music because it’s the biggest hole. God knows what happened during the 1905 restoration, but can you compare the music to anything else by the hand of LDV? Looks like a lot of it got scrubbed, but even with the little that remains, can it be compared to examples of written music in the LDV notebooks? Can music historians identify the tune? Or at least place it stylistically into the time period you want it to fit into? (I almost wish it were written in reverse!) Are there documents related to Gaffurio that can be held up to the music in the portrait? If the written music is analyzed and compared to a (pray God) existing record of Sforza court music and the results show that it is not typical or Gaffurio’s œuvre, perhaps you can debunk the Beltrami attribution once and for all. Is the music jibberish? Is it overpainting? It’s too significant a component of the portrait to be ignored.

You’ve got likeness and chronology on your side, but move away from the faces now and try to further support you claim with peripheral evidence. I find the idea of the Vitruvian Man being a self portrait absolutely captivating, and a fitting context for such a prolific figure. Keep going.

Why can't you do it? Why can't you set your monkey free?

““We know he was a good looking man...” Very objective criteria...I call shenanigans.”

Contemporary accounts testify to the attractiveness of Leonardo, particularly Paolo Giovio. Vasari, although writing later, also attested to his reputation as a physically beautiful man.

“I'm just saying there is a strong case for Leonardo being trans or at least having some transgender feelings and Siegfried's research here only strengthens it.”

Much has been made of his supposed homosexuality, and such evidence as is available suggests homosexual rather than heterosexual inclinations, but it is doubtful whether the notebooks and other documents provide sufficient material for a full-scale psychoanalysis in the Freudian manner.

As for Siegfried Woldhek’s claim, I have a few reservations:

The traditional attribution of the portrait image of Leonardo in old age originated at a time when people still recalled his appearance, but the so-called self-portrait drawing cannot be taken unquestionably as representing the painter himself. It may have originated considerably earlier than its customary date of circa. 1512 and could not therefore be a portrait of the artist himself as an aged man. None of the supposed portraits of the young Leonardo in his own works or those of others (such as Verrocchio’s David) possesses a secure foundation in fact.

Also, Woldhek himself states the 1485 portrait’s title; The Musician. A simple image search for the painting will reveal that the figure holds a sample of sheet music and a quill pen. Even though Leonardo is known to have written music, the presence of such objects in a self-portrait of Leonardo do not seem likely. Luca Beltrami suggested at the turn of the century that this musician is a certain Francesco Gaffurio who was master of the music at the court of Lodovico Sforza in Milan. There is nothing inherently improbable in this identification, and the conjecture is supported by the apparent age of the portrait and the known dates of Gaffurio's life. There also exists another portrait by Ambrogio de Predis that resembles the musician and is attributed as a representation of Gaffurio.

My biggest problem with this video is that Woldhek is trying to pass off his work as art history when it is not. Until he learns to decipher and analyze the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century documents that are related to these artworks, I suggest he stick to caricatures.

On another note, I had never heard of TED talks before and now I love them! Thanks BoingBoing!

No, the fourth eye is patched.

That stareater in slide six is going to give me nightmares for a very long time...

Not the only kinky gift at that party!

must... reach... five... hundred!...

"The squid hangs from the ceiling of France's National Museum of Natural History, where its long pink tentacles stretch down towards a terrified-looking shark."

Why can't I picture a terrified-looking shark?

This is the 2ND post in a row that bizzarly lacks a coffee table where there should be one.

Dargaud:

click the interactive fold-in gallery link.

Every issue of MAD magazine had a fold-in located on the inside back cover. Some went straight for them, some saved them for last. All loved them.

God bless Al Jaffee

wrong, that's art criticism.

Magic Whiskey:

I completely agree. After reading the thread I went back to look at everything everyone had pointed out and when she loads it's still a heart attack. Ugh, I hate when she looks at me.

@ #42 techdeviant

"Now I am sooo happy that I chose to land in Gatwick instead of Heathrow for my vacation in a couple weeks :)"

I wouldn't be so sure that Gatwick is going to remain uneffected by this mess. Especially if it takes as long to clean up as we fear. A lot of people will probably try EU/gatwick transfers to get to London now instead. Isn't Gatwick a huge BA hub as well?

Can we get a bacon-double-cheeseburger for table 45? Hold the tits.

I agree that if this company truly wanted to reflect the world we have created for ourselves and our children that the dolls should be sold individually, and unlabled, let children assemble their own doll families.

Hey everybody

I checked out the links posted above last night and got lost in his book for about four hours before falling asleep.

Absolutely incredible. Thanks BB for posting this and thank you readers 2 & 3 for posting the link to his book.

What an amazing person.

Elephants suck at photoshop.

How about Red Herring?

Rococco. Unbelievable.

God forbid the defenders of freedom actually use a French term.

So, why are they hosting the Olympics again?

So is all the initial dialogue him trying to tell her exactly which, er, sucker cup is itching?

The deer may have been snaired?

IANAL, but Christopher M. Fairman, Associate Professor of Law at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, published a 78-page study on the implications of the F-word in legal proceedings that I came across a few years ago (doing god-knows-what.) It is available online as a PDF download aptly titled “Fuck”. It’s a fun read and this post made me think of it. From his introduction:

“A trilogy of events motivated me to start this project. The first occurred during my second year of law teaching. In my Professional Responsibility course, the lesson for the day was attorney racist and sexist behavior. The case I assigned from a leading casebook was liberally sprinkled with fuck, cunt, shit, bitch and the like. Sensitive to the power of language, I recited the facts myself rather than ask a student as was my norm. After the course was over, I was reviewing my student evaluations and discovered this: “I was a little disturbed by the way he seemed to delight in saying ‘cunt’ and ‘fucking bitch’ during class. I think if you’re going to say things like that in class, you should expect it to show up on the evaluation.” Now I was the one a little disturbed. How could any educated adult, much less a graduate student in a professional program, be offended by hearing these words read from a court opinion? I decided then to explore this topic…”

I’m not very e-savvy or I would’ve linked to it directly. It’s easy enough to find, though.

Enjoy

This is perfect for penis-straw Walmart mom!

#70

Florence Italy? Which sex shop? I want these!

Good thing this woman has never been here- with the amount of 'private areas' in our 'public areas'(rock-hard mind you)she'd likely combust.

I'm happy Walmart is looking into it though, they could free up a lot of shelf space for more ammunition. (sigh)

@ 21

perform tasks without a head?

Is non-aspirin pain reliever really going to help you survive ... anything?

And a TEA BAG?! LOL! (I want one)

This reminds me (the vacation, not the grandmother clock, ew.) of the Duvet day.

I can't remember which country it was but I'm pretty sure it was either Sweden or Norway. My friend told me that, like sick days vs. personal days, the government mandated at least one 'Duvet' day for workers each year- the point being that in the middle of winter and darkness etc., everyone encounters those mornings when the thought of getting out of bed just seems so horrible that you're probably better off staying under the covers. I always liked the idea- imagine calling your boss and being able to say "sorry man, I have GOT to just stay in bed all day- not sick, just cuz" and have him say "alright, just this once. see you tomorrow- enjoy". Seems so human and evolved to me. And I bet you'd be so productive the next day. Can any Scandinavians confirm this wonderful benefit?

What, so they didn't name the bear Mohammed? oh.

living as long as life permits

or

never really worried, resting in peace

djyuckfou:

BUT- could you recogniz(s)e your fellow brits in Times Square if they were covered in spray tan?

31-

just being snarky, but those were my thoughts exactly- shouldn't racism have been portayed by a student with, er, lighter complexion? perhaps a skinhead? there are plenty of those running around highschools these days...

So,...what, the guy had to have put his house up for sale, left the keys with the agency, and THEN killed himself? It was the owner hanging by the belt, right? yikes.

"...tracing the hereditary links between different styles as different groups of Italian immigrants spread across the nation."

At first I wanted to post in order to defend my fellow Italians/Ex-pats who posted above, but then I re-read the title.

So, ok. I agree that the only pizza is in Italy, and when I go to the States, the stuff grosses me out. But when I consider that Chinese food here is made with spaghetti instead of noodles, I think, 'well how authentic could it really be?' All immigrant cultures in a new home must 'domesticate' their cuisine in order to sell it to people there. So in the end I guess that pizza types in America should just be accepted, like language differences between old countries and new ones.

An funny thing though- one thing you hear all the time here spoken by American tourists: "Peppers? I asked for a pepperoni pizza!" Be advised- in Italian, pepperoni literally means big peppers. And that's exactly what you'll get- even if they know perfectly well what you're intending.

Lothar?

Greg Brady! Sweet Lord! Ha!

w000t

My first thought as well. I'd avoid pasta lunga with that fork cap though!

@JDHARPER

Yeah but you could still do all those good things with only an email address. IF my bear is lost, email me, and I'll email you my home address. What if build-a-bear employs someone that they shouldn't? They get access to my kid's data?

Toestubber

Excellent point.

There were quite a few problems in America and Europe over the holidays with delays and snow. I'm sure that wifi- even if it were made available only under such circumstances- would have been appreciated by travelers trying to advise loved ones of their delays. Same for armrest-free spaces to recline.

Takuan- or anybody

What price would you be willing to pay for an hour of outlet access?

I'm surprised with all of this talk of litter.

It's Italy- Is Naples not in the headlines back in the States?

I like Ethan.

What's a pumpkin bar?

My Aussie friend was just telling me the other day that down under they're referred to as "trough lollies"

I thought that was hysterical (sorry #25)

@ 20:

SHILROBOT, a ha!- nice! that was the funniest thing I have seen all morning!!!

Don't maul me, bro!

"We think she fell from the third floor of a building. Contrary to popular belief, cats don't always land on their feet - Baby landed on her back."

So what happened to her legs?

DANHEEB @ 6: As a professor or a student? As professor I doubt you threatened to fail the entire class, ... right?

I wonder what happened to the guy whose case it actually was.

Or if it was the cellphone of one of the officers!

This reminds me of a spot I saw in Europe a few years ago for (I believe) Eastpack backpacks- two backpackers feeding pigeons in some piazza, birds storm the screen, and when they leave, nothing is left except the backpacks- presumably eluding to the durability of the product. Cute enough, but I remembered this Far Side cartoon when I saw it- particulary because of the overcoat that remains intact for the punch line.

But if they're able to do this, why don't they just 'impound' the objects in the first place and give you the option of paying fine to get them back when you return from your trip? The sheer numbers of confiscated goods? I wonder how many people are looking for their grandmother's cuticle scissors on ebay...

(ha- sheer/shear..uh huh)

Is no one interested in how big this thing was? The Guardian article doesn't say. I just think it's so crazy that these guys would have no other means of even guessing the age of the clam without opening it. Do they just stay the same size from, say, 200 - 400 yrs old?

I have to snicker at the fact that half of these *imponderables* are questions that were answered ages ago in Europe. Foot pedals? Timers on lights? Recycling??

Maybe the questions should have been phrased *why have these examples not been followed in the United States?*

I laughed the hardest at: Why aren't laptops allowed to be used during take offs?... you've got to be kidding me. Why don't they let you hand-cuff yourself to the armrests?

What an idiot.

@TEHMOTH: They can. And now, thanks to this post, Amy Crehore will hopefully have new fans commenting directly to her that were previously unfamiliar with her work. That's the beauty of a directory. Sheesh.

Keep 'em coming Boing Boing, your art posts are some of my favorites on the site.

I think 'oonsk' is the best spelling I've seen to date. Gives a more techno feel to the cymbal. Bravo Joel.

As for the cutlery (and I'm not even a parent) I think they kind of make you want to run around waving them. Or throw them high up in the air...

Family BBQ nightmare!

I live in Italy and I have to travel frequently by train for work.

Even though there is no risk of derailing a train by talking on a cellphone, a few moments after leaving each station, a recorded message announces in several languages to keep cellphones set to vibrate, and to limit conversations while aboard.

Why? because it's f*cking inconsiderate to force 100 other people to follow your conversation.

The reality is that no one pays any attention to these requests, and most people feel absolutely intitled to speak for as long as they want - regardless of whether or not the conversation is urgent (usually it is not).

Even if cellphones cause no harm to a plane's electronic devices, they're annoying.

Perhaps airlines play up the "no, you'll crash the plane" bit because it is friendlier than saying "no, because we know you're a bunch of indignant assholes who would love nothing more than to test our patience by carrying on with a phone call while we try to communicate safety infomation or other announcements to our passengers".

And as for the super important business calls? If you are travelling for work, don't your business partners realize that you are arriving...on...a...plane?

I've had a disgruntled flight attendant or two in my day, but when you stop and consider the number of passengers these people must work with, who is more likely to turn out the cock?

Just because you should be able to doesn't mean you should.