Sarah Jamison

And the music goes down and round wooooooooooo

obolary
adj. poor or impecunious

inopious
adj. lacking wealth or resources; needy

ptochocracy
n. government by the poor

(Via princess-peachie:X)

If it seems to you that Geico advertises during every program you watch on TV, you’re not wrong. The insurance company spent $935 million on ads last year, and there cannot possibly be anyone left in this country who doesn’t know how long it might take them to save 15% on car insurance. Can there?

Whether it’s thanks to all that advertising or maybe just in spite of it, Bloomberg Businessweek reported today that GEICO has now overtaken Allstate as the country’s top auto insurer.

GEICO outspends its competitors on direct-to-consumer advertising by millions of dollars because direct-to-consumer is how they sell policies. GEICO does have local agents, but picks up new business through advertising.

Liberty Mutual spent only about $197 million on ads last year, but had impressive growth. Maybe it’s the company’s new ad campaigns, which are very intentionally the exact opposite of GEICO’s silly, off-topic spots. They not only lack cartoon animals, but they even address

Geico’s Silly Ads Are Working [GEICO]

(via tastefullyoffensive:craigslist)

aesart:

Poor Jean, can crack a  man’s skull in 5 minutes varying between a thousand ways to do it but can’t bring himself to hurt a little old lady. Jean is precious kay.

Grandma’s got your number, son.

Nazca will be seen at least once more in the ongoing (and final) major sequence of flashbacks in book 5, THE MINISTRY OF NECESSITY.

The timing varies with latitude and microclimate, but in general, common milkweed reaches its floral maximum in midsummer.    It would be a bit of an exaggeration to call the plants "magnificent" or "stately," but they are certainly impressive, rising 4-5 feet high with a thick stem to help support a half-dozen blossoms as big as softballs.


Through the summer months those compound blossoms provide an abundance of nectar and pollen not just for the Monarchs, but for other butterflies and innumerable solitary bees and other insects. 

I posted earlier this summer about the complex morphology of the blossoms and how their strategy for pollination makes the blossom occasionally lethal to unwary small insects.  That is an uncommon occurrence, and for the most part when one wanders through a patch of mature milkweed, there is an abundance of small insects hovering nearby (and often a resident crab spider lurking in the flower). 

The fragrance is strong and reasonably pleasant, but not a prominent feature of the plant.  Midsummer will also find the plant hosting a variety of other insects - aphids tended by ants, milkweed beetles and milkweed bugs, lacewings and their eggs, and the milkweed tussock moth.  The ecology is complex and worthy of a separate post (next summer).

Next step:  the spectacle of seed production.

chromeography:

1960s GMC Custom pickup truck (by jamiek

nevver:

The opposite of lost, Nathaniel Russel

Poodle with a mohawk

o-g-steve:

tiny-creatures:

Booted Racket-tail Inflight by Jeff Dyck on Flickr.

 

Take a meeting

ragincontagion:

"Your circulatory system, from the aorta to arteries to arterioles to capillaries and back up the venous side form a similar continuum. They start off massive and branch and branch again, becoming smaller with each branching until they become so narrow in your capillaries that the red blood cells slowly flow through them single file just in order to fit. The mechanism of how your blood vessels branch is fractal in nature. Physiologically speaking your cells depend on oxygen, without it they die and if enough of them die, you die. In order to effectively oxygenate your tissues your circulatory system has to perform an impressive feat of dimensional architecture. Like the Koch Curve, packing infinite surface area into a finite space, your circulatory system utilizes fractal geometry through branching so that no cell in your body is never more than 3 or 4 cells away from a blood cell. And the amazing thing about this feat is that your blood vessels and blood take up very little space: no more than around 5% of your body!"

For more fractal physiology and chaos theory in medicine check out these past posts.

Joan of Arc by Albert Lynch (1851-1912)

engraving from Figaro Illustre magazine, 1903

Possibly, the author is an idiot and has gritted his teeth many times over this slight continuity fuck-up. Or possibly he can just claim that his characters remember Budapest very differently.

Bite Beauty Matte Creme Lip Crayons for Fall 2014

BITE Beauty is introducing their Matte Crème Lip Crayon,BITE’s breakthrough matte yet moist formula that delivers a bold wash of color in a range of shades perfect for fall.

Naturally derived orange peel wax is extracted from organic oranges and provides the same benefits to this juicy fruit as it does for lips: naturally protects and seals in moisture while providing a waterproof layer on the surface of lips. These long-wearing creamy crayons boast rich, wearable color while delivering a delicious burst of citrus scent upon application.

Premium triple-milled pigments provide powdery-light, vibrant color, while organic fruit butters, jojoba and castor oil leave lips baby-soft and hydrated. The unique matte finish adds a level of sophistication and versatility to these timeless shades, without drying the lips

Five milligrams of antioxidant rich Resveratrol fights free radicals that cause aging around the lip line. The twist-up pencil and built-in sharpener offers precise application for achieving a one-swipe bold finish. For smoothest finish, exfoliate lips with Whipped Cherry Fruit Scrub prior to pencil application.

BITE Beauty is created with natural and food-grade ingredients for beauty that’s better for you. BITE Beauty lip products do not contain parabens, sulfates, petrochemicals, phthalates and is certified gluten-free.

Matte Creme Lip Crayon (Part 1) ($24.00)

• Glace
• Tatin
• Sucre
• Peche
• Fraise
• Framboise

Matte Creme Lip Crayon (Part 2) ($24.00)

• Leche
• Amaretto
• Cognac
• Brandy
• Aubergine
• Truffle

Availability: Part 1 launches July 15th, 2014 at Sephora; Part 2 launches August 2014 at Sephora

See more photos!

Bite Beauty Matte Creme Lip Crayons for Fall 2014

Bite Beauty Matte Creme Lip Crayons for Fall 2014

earthstory:

This is Salar de Uyuni, a salt flat measuring 10,582 sq km located in Bolivia’s southwestern regions of Oruno and Potosi. Around 400,000 years ago this location was part of the great Lake Minchin, which has since dried out leaving behind two lakes, Poopo and Uru Uru, and two salt flats, this being the largest. 

When it rains, the flat surface becomes covered with a shallow pool of water, this acts as a gigantic mirror reflecting the sky, and everything else effortlessly! 

Cool eh? But wait, there’s more!

The area is so reflective it is utilised as a calibration tool for satellites, or more specifically; remote sensing instruments. It is considered to be 5 times better for calibration than the surface of the oceans. Impressive!

-Jean

For more photos and information on the salt flats see here:http://www.kuriositas.com/2011/08/salar-de-uyuni-spectacular-sea-of-salt.html

Photo courtesy of: Diego Salgado Mohor

fireflyca:

randomhouse:

When you see it…

“Why I began to write for children,” by Isaac Bashevis Singer:

1. Children read books, not reviews. They don’t give a hoot about the critics.
2. Children don’t read to find their identity.
3. They don’t read to free themselves of guilt, to quench the thirst for rebellion, or to get rid of alienation.
4. They have no use for psychology.
5. They detest sociology.
6. They don’t try to understand Kafka or Finnegans Wake.
7. They still believe in God, the family, angels, devils, witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other such obsolete stuff.
8. They love interesting stories, not commentary, guides, or footnotes.
9. When a book is boring, they yawn openly, without any shame or fear of authority.
10. They don’t expect their beloved writer to redeem humanity. Young as they are, they know that it is not in his power. Only the adults have such childish illusions.

(From his 1978 Nobel banquet speech.)

Ernest Thompson Seton called his father “the most selfish man I ever knew, or heard of, in history or in fiction.” In 1881, on Seton’s 21st birthday, his father called him into his study, took down an enormous cash book from a high shelf, and opened it at E.

In the book he had recorded every expense he had ever made on the boy, including the day and date of each outlay, all the way back to the doctor’s fee for his delivery. The total was $537.50.

“Hitherto,” he said, “I have charged no interest. But from now on I must add the reasonable amount of 6 per cent per annum. I shall be glad to have you reduce the amount at the earliest possible opportunity.”

Stunned, Seton staggered to his feet and left the room, refusing his father’s offer “to furnish without expense a full copy of the indebtedness.”

His father called after him, “God bless you, my son. In the natural course of events, you cannot much longer be an inmate of my house; but I must prayerfully trust that, wherever your lot is cast in the near future, you will never forget the debt you owe your father, who is to you on earth the next to God.”

Seton paid the bill and never spoke to him again.

Urban Decay x Pulp Fiction Collection for Fall 2014

Debuting July 16th, Urban Decay has created a limited edition collection of products inspired by Pulp Fiction. When I have more information, I’ll be sure to update.

We're diehard Pulp Fiction fans! That's why we created this limited-edition PULP FICTION lineup. Coming 7.16.14. pic.twitter.com/s9WfnAKz3V

— Urban Decay (@UrbanDecay) July 8, 2014

YUMM!

(via monstersincorporeal)