User:Texture

Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. (Invictus)

"abandoning leap seconds would break sundials"

Ernest Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. He and three companions established a new record Farthest South latitude, 112 miles (180 km) from the South Pole, as part of the Nimrod Expedition of 1907–1909; Shackleton was knighted on his return home. He planned the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 but his ship, Endurance, became trapped in pack ice and then sank on 21 November 1915. The crew escaped and used the lifeboats to reach Elephant Island and ultimately the island of South Georgia in a stormy ocean voyage of more than 700 nautical miles (800 mi; 1,300 km), Shackleton's most famous exploit. He returned to the Antarctic in 1921 with the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition but died of a heart attack on South Georgia, where he was buried at his wife's request. This photograph of Shackleton was taken by George Charles Beresford before 1909.Photograph credit: George Charles Beresford; restored by Adam Cuerden

Archive – More featured pictures...

After I die I promise not to perform any miracles

Did you know...

Olive Swezy

... that zoologist Olive Swezy (pictured) appeared in the 1944 American Men of Science?
... that the communist-era science-fiction novel Małe zielone ludziki presents a futuristic depiction of Africa that reflects Polish perceptions of the continent during the Cold War?
... that Bill Pulte describes himself as the "inventor of Twitter philanthropy"?
... that the Andu Masjid, which might have been built as a women's mosque, banned the entry of women?
... that copies of 7 Wonders Duel sold twice as fast as the board game of which it is a spinoff?
... that Oliver Cromwell's decision in 1648 to launch the attack that became the Battle of Preston was an enormous gamble and hardly credible?
... that Allbirds invited Amazon to copy its materials after look-alikes appeared on the site?
... that Chinese embroiderers created seven tapestries about the Trojan War in the 1620s?
... that Jin the otter went loose for almost a month after escaping Auckland Zoo?

Favorite Books:

The Time Traveler's Wife

Favorite Wikipedia articles:

I met a man who wasn't there

"Yesterday upon the stair I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. I wish that man would go away." Hughes Mearns (1875-1965)

What is Texture reading?

Empress Orchid (audiobook on audible.com)

Newsweek, Wired, National Geographic, Hawaii...

Books based in Japan:
- Cloud of Sparrows
- Autumn Bridge
- Accross the Nightingale Floor

Fun new words

Mokusatsu

Looking at:

Theo van Gogh (film director)

The problem of Hell - Cool article

Strange attractors (constantly vandalized articles):

What is Texture watching?

Time altering/paradox movies:
Question reality movies:
- The Matrix
- The Thirteenth Floor (better than the Matrix in plot and concept)
- Existenz
Mind movies
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
God and the Devil

The Kizilbash (red-heads) were Turkmen tribes

http://angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif

Standard diving dress - grandpa's picture (on the right)
Codd's 12 rules - of RDBMS

The following is a JOKE

This Wikipedia page is considered semi-tractor-trailer-policy. Semi-tractor-trailer-policy pages are an attempt to jack-knife any real policies and present herculean efforts in codification to questionable purpose. These long-standing unwritten unapproved unthought unrules have widespread support since no actual vote ever becomes real. They should be treated as law, unless they do not support your flame war.

It is so terribly sad that I have to explain that the above is a JOKE

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

For unique design and interesting content, I present you with this Excellent User Page Award. –**Frater5** (talk/con) 16:12, 29 May 2006 (UTC)