Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin

The Poison Ivy Site

According to the Wall Street Journal, research soon to be published in Weed Science indicates that poison ivy has gotten way nastier since the 1950's. Leaf size and oil content are way up. This site has poison ivy, sumac, and oak information, stories, and photographs. They sell posters and cards to help you avoid the plant. There's even information about The Poison Oak Festival. But the real attraction here is The Skin Rash Hall of Fame with its user submitted rash photos. Be warned, this slide show is not for the squeamish. I've spared you with a film pic above and besides The Poison Ivy Site says that if I use their images without permission I'll get a case of poison ivy that won't quit. If the mere thought of urushiol gives you a rash then, play with the Flaming Cursor link this week.

Poison Ivy

Flaming Cursor

Seth steals Horus' eye again.....

Total lunar eclipse next Tuesday

A total eclipse of the Moon will occur in the early morning of Tuesday, August 28, 2007. It will be widely visible from the United States. August's lunar eclipse lasts about three and a half hours. It takes just over an hour for the Moon's orbital motion to carry it entirely within the Earth's dark umbra. During totality the color and brightness of the Moon can vary, but since no major volcanic eruptions have taken place recently, it will probably take on a vivid red or orange color. NASA's website has all the charts, maps, and diagrams you need to set your alarm. Shadow & Substance even has animations of the eclipse and its position in the constellations. Mr. Eclipse and the New York Institute of Photography have your analog and digital camera instructions. There are up to three lunar eclipses per month but at an umbral magnitude of 1.481 this should be a notable one for US observers. Besides, the next total solar eclipse visible in North America won't be until 2017.

NASA - Total Lunar Eclipse: August 28, 2007

Shadow & Substance

Lunar Eclipse Photography

How to Photograph the Lunar Eclipse

You know you want to...

You know you want one.

ScreenSmasher comes with software on a CD, a special whacking sensor that plugs into your USB port, an 8" foam axe; and is complete with realistic glass-shattering graphics and sound. Visceral virtual vengeance for $20.00. It has a 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee, after which you may want a Custom Throwing Tomahawk. Apple users can be smug that ScreenSmasher is not available (necessary) for non-Windows users. But hey, for $20.00 you can say your computer has a special whacking sensor.

ScreenSmasher

ScreenSmasher in action

Custom Throwing Tomahawk

Not the snowmobile

Skidoo

I stumbled across this on YouTube over the weekend. Otto Preminger's famed LSD comedy, Skidoo (1968). The once in a life time cast features Jackie Gleason, Frankie Avalon, Frank Gorshin, Cesar Romero, Peter Lawford, Mickey Rooney, George Raft, Burgess Meredith, Carol Channing, right-wing talk show blowhard pioneer Joe Pyne; and a personal favorite, Arnold Stang. Last but not least, in his final screen appearance, Groucho Marx playing God, an LSD kingpin. There's hippies, gangsters, politicians, Slim Pickens on acid, dancing garbage cans, and the Green Bay Packers naked. The Harry Nilsson soundtrack even has him singing all of the film credits. Otto Preminger and Groucho Marx both experimented with LSD to prepare for this film. Groucho's trip is the subject of the article "My Acid Trip with Groucho" by Paul Krassner, Yippie founder and editor/publisher of famed satirical magazine The Realist. A counterculture favorite Skidoo missed the mark with critics and box-office. Skidoo surfaced briefly on cable in the 1980s, but no official home DVD or video release was ever made. I've posted a link to the opening sequence and you can watch the entire movie in ten parts (just search for "Skidoo part 2", "Skidoo part 3", etc.). Now if I could only find The Big Bus on YouTube.

Skidoo part 1

My Acid Trip with Groucho

Natalia's Peruvian Hiccup Remedy

Hiccup Archive

I can't tell if this is schadenfreude or some kind of epiglottal voyeurism. It hasn't been updated in over a year and is apparently the archive of what was the Hiccups Warehouse. The hiccup sightings, fantasy stories, and links seem to be missing. However there are still a couple of hundred audio and video files which were either found or donated to the site. Included are "the famous phoned-in hiccups".

Hiccup Archive