humour – Star strewn sky

First we must ask, does it have to be a whale?

This made me laugh.

From a publisher’s rejection letter to Herman Melville, on his submission of Moby Dick:

‘First, we must ask, does it have to be a whale?

…For instance, could not the Captain be struggling with a depravity towards young, perhaps voluptuous, maidens? ‘

More rejection letters sent to notable authors, here

Inspirograph

January is a bleak month of dwindling hopes (after a fair start, the jogger stops and wheezes in the crisp air, plump hands on knees, dark frown-lines of defeat griddled onto their red raw mince face) but February carries with it the dancing sound of a distant spring, that encourages the heart and enlivens the step.

With that (whatever that was) in mind, here are a few inspiring things I’ve found about the place:

“People say why don’t you give it up? I don’t think they quite understand. I’m not doing it just for the money, or for you. I’m doing it for me.”

Keith Richards

And how about this? A gorgeous work by Rashad Alakbarov, ‘Flight to Baku’, using perspex ‘paper aeroplanes’ to cast coloured shadows that paint a scene.

And here’s a pep talk from ‘Kid President’ that made me smile.

If that doesn’t do it for you, that’s fine, here’s a dog in a top hat:

I didn’t know that

Random facts gleaned from here and there:

One of the two brothers who founded the Laphroaig distillery, Donald Johnston, died two days after falling into a vat of partially made Whisky.
Stewardesses is the longest English word you can type with your left hand only, Lollipops the longest with solely your right.
The male Duck Billed Platypus has a venomous spur on its hind leg
The Human body on average contains ten trillion cells. In those ten trillion cells, there are seventy five trillion foreign cells. Yes that’s seven and a half times more cells of different creatures living in or on you right now. So how can you call yourself you? (from Weirdimals)
Albert Einstein’s last words were lost to posterity as the night nurse attending him did not speak German (from Time magazine, 1955)

Sound advice

A collection of the best advice I have ever received:

‘Always have your tea or coffee black when you visit someone’s house. People go to the fridge and drink milk straight from the carton’, a vociferous lunatic, speakers’ corner, Hyde Park
Boys, always marry an ugly girl, because she’ll never leave you – and if she does, you won’t care. A country and western song.
Be the change you wish to see in the world, Gandhi