I was not 100% sure if I understood all the subtle humor in this cartoon, and enlisted the Chat GPT chatbot’s help to explain it to me.
The cartoonist is Edward Steed (born 1987), a British cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his work for in The New Yorker magazine.
Here is the explainer from Chat GPT: The humor comes from the contrast: ‘Polite cocktail-party etiquette’ versus ‘Wild-animal behavior’. It’s the absurd mix of manners (“Could you hold my drink?”) with the expectation that something ferocious is about to happen (such as the lion devouring the zebra). The rest of the party acting like all this is totally normal adds to the surreal deadpan comedy. [From The New Yorker magazine, the Dec 18 & 25, 2017 issue].
Cartoon by Eldon Dedini. (That must be Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in the distance, and on the canvas— elevation 19, 341’/ 5,895 m). From a hardcover book called ‘The Dedini Gallery’, published by Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York (1961). The cartoon first appeared in The New Yorker magazine in 1959.
Happy Friday and happy Halloween.
We have 50°F (10°C) and a steady rain here— early evening in Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
In spite of that, the trick-or-treaters (and their parents for the young ones) were out in full force at 5.30 pm, with umbrellas and rain coats.
Whoah! was my reaction as I rounded the corner and came up against this giant Halloween skeleton with blinking eyes. It made me think of the Terminator*— even though the terminator had red eyes, and a metal skeleton.
*From the 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron. It starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose unborn son will one day save mankind from extinction by Skynet, a hostile artificial intelligence, in a post-apocalyptic future.
[From Wikipedia]
The entrance of The Maryland condominiums on 13th Avenue East on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
Just a small town girl Livin’ in a lonely world She took the midnight train going anywhere Just a city boy Born and raised in South Detroit He took the midnight train going anywhere
A singer in a smokey room A smell of wine and cheap perfume For a smile they can share the night It goes on and on and on and on
Strangers waitin’ Up and down the boulevard Their shadows searchin’ in the night Streetlights, people
Livin’ just to find emotion Hidin’ somewhere in the night Workin’ hard to get my fill Everybody wants a thrill Payin’ anything to roll the dice Just one more time
Some’ll win, some will lose Some are born to sing the blues Whoa, the movie never ends It goes on and on and on and on
Strangers waiting Up and down the boulevard Their shadows searching in the night Streetlights, people Livin’ just to find emotion Hidin’, somewhere in the night
Don’t stop believin’ Hold on to that feeling Streetlights, people
Don’t stop believin’ Hold on Streetlights, people
Don’t stop believin’ Hold on to that feeling Streetlights, people
– Lyrics from Don’t Stop Believin’, a song by Journey from their album Escape (1981)
Go Mariners!
The Mariners* are in Detroit for the third and fourth games (Tuesday night & Wednesday night) in the playoff series against the Detroit Tigers.
The Mariners and Tigers are drawn 1-1 in the series.
*Baseball team from Seattle that competes in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) West Division.
“The M’s,” named for Seattle’s nautical heritage, have never won a World Series. They have won the AL West Division four times and appeared in the playoffs in 2000, 2022, and now this year, 2025.
A sunset picture from last night (sunset now at 6.40 pm), from where I was standing at East Mercer St & 13th Ave East. That’s the Mariners flag on the Space Needle. The graffiti on the ‘Stop Sign Ahead’ sign reads “Don’t Stop Believin’ “, likely a reference to the 1981 classic pop song with the same title, from Journey.
I made it to Expo 2025 Osaka!
It’s hot and it’s crowded with very, very long lines at most pavilions— the ones that allow you in without a reservation, that is.
Entrance to the top-rated pavilions are pre-allocated by a lottery system. I struck out despite diligently applying, as far out as three months before my visit today.
No matter, once you have made it into the entrance gate (with 180,000 others), you are in a world onto its own, inside the Grand Ring. The Ring is the world’s largest wooden structure, constructed on Yumeshima (夢洲), the artificial island located in Osaka Bay.
The USA pavilion is a structure designed by Trahan Architects with two triangular wings and a raised translucent cube flanking a central plaza. It features video imagery that features the Plains, the mountains and the cities in the US— and hey! Seattle’s Pike Place market made an appearance as well.
I was mesmerized by the installation of shiny cubes called null². The sun bounced off the surfaces, and a low sound was emitted from the structure.
Developed by Yoichi Ochiai, the pavilion’s structure is based on a cubic grid of voxels measuring 2 to 8 m (6 ft to 26 ft) wide. The facade is covered with a membrane that resembles a mirror. [Source: Wikipedia]
Look for a few images (towards the end) beamed out from the enormous high-resolution screen outside the Korea pavilion. The three-story pavilion has a high-resolution screen on its facade that is 27 m (89 ft) wide. The screen displays on a spectacular series of animated images and videos.
South Africa withdrew from Expo 2025 Osaka in late 2024 despite repeated invitations from the Japanese government, citing the country’s ‘financial constraints’.
The warm weather of the last four or five days is behind us here in Seattle.
The high was 78°F (26°C) today.
These stills are from a Japanese anime called The AC Is Broken EP 392 | Atashin’chi | [ENG sub]
[Anime] Atashin’chi Official Channel on YouTube
Background (from the YouTube page): The Tachibanas are the quintessential Japanese family, unassuming and infinitely relatable. There’s Mother, who isn’t the best cook, and is quite lazy, and Father, who always leaves the bathroom door ajar. The high school daughter Mikan seems a bit of a buffoon, and the middle schooler son Yuzuhiko appears to be quite the cold fish at first glance. They’re a bit peculiar— but they are a family everyone could relate to.
In this episode, Father comes home to find Mother exhausted on the sofa.
The AC is broken, and the repairman can only come out tomorrow.
Luckily, the ACs in the kids’ rooms still work, and Father could sleep in son Yuzuhiko’s room, and Mother in daughter Mikan’s room.
Here’s a weird chess game: one in which I ended up with three queens.
I kept thinking Oscar (the Duolingo chess program bot) would throw in the towel and resign, but no.
He let me promote two pawns to become queens, and then let me checkmate him.
(Note: Yes, Oscar is obviously not a grandmaster. I will have to keep playing and be patient. He is supposed to improve his chess prowess if he gets beaten too frequently by me.)
I had a queen and a rook, (and an extra pawn), and Oscar had nothing. He should have already resigned three or four moves ago, before two of my pawns reached the eighth row, and were promoted to queens.So I simply boxed his king in with two queens, and then delivered check mate. The player with an overwhelming advantage need to be careful to avoid a stalemate (a draw). A stalemate happens if the player whose turn it is has no legal moves (such as a move that will put the king in check).
Here’s a cartoon from today’s Seattle Times— the ‘Loose Parts’ cartoon by Dave Blazek that frequently features animals.
I added a few notes. 😉
Vultures have special digestive systems adapted for consuming carrion (dead animals). Their digestive system is unique due to the presence of extremely strong stomach acid*, which helps them break down bacteria and toxins present in decaying meat. They also have specialized gut microbiomes: despite the harsh stomach acid, some bacteria survive and thrive in the vultures’ lower intestines (high levels of Clostridia and Fusobacteria, which are pathogenic to most vertebrates). *The most acidic stomach acid in the animal kingdom, in fact, with a pH level that can be as low as 1.0. This high acidity is crucial for neutralizing harmful bacteria and pathogens that are often abundant in decaying flesh. [Source: Google AI Overview]
Whether you are pro or anti Or could not care less We are here to tell you We are here to sell you chess
Not a chance of you escaping From our wiles We’ve locked the doors We’ve blocked the aisles
We’ve a franchise worth exploiting And we will (yes we will!) When it comes to merchandising We could kill
When you get up When you get up in the morning ‘Til your bedtime book You will have to live your life With bishop, knight, and rook
Clean your teeth with checkered toothpaste Wear our vests Our kings and queens On bouncing breasts
You could even buy a set And learn to play We don’t mind We’ll sell you something anyway
We’ve done all our market research And our findings show That this game of chess Will be around a month or so
Maybe it’s a bit confusing For a game But Rubik’s cubes Were much the same
In the end the whole world bought one All were gone By which time we merchandisers Had moved on!
By which time We had moved on!
– The merchandisers, singing a raucous interlude in the introductory song “Merano” of the 1984 double LP “Chess”.
The music was composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with lyrics by Tim Rice and Björn Ulvaeus (the Swedish translation)
Happy International Chess Day.
International Chess Day is annually celebrated on 20 July, the day the International Chess Federation was founded in 1924.
The very popular language app Duolingo that I use to dabble with German and other languages, now offer lessons and challenges in chess as well. Here’s Oscar, offering a hint as to what the best move for white would be. (Oscar sometimes quips ‘Don’t let my moustache distract you’.) But which white pawn should be sacrificed? Seems to me it’s the one on c7 that needs to go to c8 and be promoted to queen, checking the black king. Yes, the black rook can capture the new queen, but then falls itself to the white queen, a big win for white.
Funny— that these two stamps were on the envelope from Great Britain containing my Ebay stamps, yesterday.
Paul McCartney (83) announced yesterday that his “Got Back” concert tour later this year in the USA is a go.
(He’s not coming to Seattle).
Paul McCartney in the Studio Issued May 28, 2021 Perf. 14 | Engraving: International Security Printers Ltd. | 2 stamps from a miniature sheet containing 4 stamps 4376 ENK 1st Class Mail | Black & white photo image | McCartney in the studio, 1970 4377 ENK 1st Class Mail | Black & white photo image | McCartney recording ‘RAM’ album, 1971 [Source: stampworld.com] P.S. McCartney was 27 in 1970. That was also the year that The Beatles broke up. From a Facebook page called ‘This Day in Music’: On 10th April 1970, 27 year-old Paul McCartney issued a press statement, announcing that The Beatles had split, (one week before the release of his solo album). McCartney said, “I have no future plans to record or appear with The Beatles again, or to write any music with John”. John Lennon, who had kept his much-earlier decision to leave The Beatles quiet for the sake of the others, was furious. When a reporter called Lennon to comment upon McCartney’s resignation, Lennon said, “Paul hasn’t left. I sacked him.”
Happy Friday.
I bought a few 1960s magazines at the Friends store in the Seattle Public Library for a dollar each on Monday.
This cartoon is from The Saturday Evening Post of Sept. 9, 1967.
(That would be the Empire State Building. It opened on May 1, 1931).
I had lunch at the Washington Athletic Club in downtown today, and took these pictures.
The U.S. Bank Center building between 5th and 6th Avenue is 44 stories tall and opened in 1989. I had worked inside it on occasion— once upon a time, and years ago now. The American Eagle clothing store that used to be in the domed structure on the corner is long gone.There are still lots and lots of empty storefronts downtown. This used to be the Nike store in downtown Seattle (formerly NikeTown), on 6th Ave and Pike St. It closed down permanently in January 2023.A line of lavender taxi cabs at the entrance to the Sheraton Hotel. (So yes, they are still in business and have not been completely supplanted by Uber drivers).Here is where I had my lunch, on the second floor. It is open to Washington Athletic Club members only, and I was invited by a member of the club 🤗.Done with lunch and now I am snapping a few more pictures on the way to the Seattle Library. The Skinner building was built in 1926 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I love the detail on the frames above the entrance.A close-up view of Park Place building on 6th Avenue. It is a 21-story office tower built in the 1970s and fully renovated by international architect and tenant Gensler in 2012. Is this an example of brutalist architecture*? I wondered. *Brutalist architecture is a style known for its use of raw concrete, bold geometric forms, and functional design, often characterized by a rough, unadorned aesthetic.The Crowne Plaza Seattle-Downtown on 6th Ave is a 34-story hotel that was built in 1980 and renovated in 2019. That’s the Park Place building from the previous picture, in the reflection.Looks like Seattle International Film Festival 2025 is about to start. That first frame on the film negative below is from the 2023 romance/drama movie Past Lives. (I have seen it and I liked it a lot).Arrived at the Seattle Public Library‘s entrance on 5th Avenue, and I’m taking the obligatory shot (obligatory for me) of the diamond pattern of the outside frame.Done in the library and waiting for the G-line bus. In the reflection is the 1928 building of what is today the nine-story Executive Hotel Pacific.And here comes the G-line bus on Spring Street, to take me back up to Capitol Hill.
The video is short — just 19 seconds — and not particularly compelling. A viewer would be forgiven for clicking away before it ends.
The grainy footage, uploaded on April 23, 2005, of a man standing in front of the elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo — “All right, so here we are in front of the elephants” — does not look like the sort of thing that would touch off a video revolution.
And yet, two decades after that inauspicious start, YouTube is now a cornerstone of the media ecosystem. It’s where people go for music videos and four-hour-long hotel reviews. It is a platform for rising stars and conspiracy theorists. It’s a repository for vintage commercials and 10 hours of ambient noise. It has disrupted traditional television and given rise to a world of video creators who make content catering to every imaginable niche interest.
-Amanda Holpuch writing for the New York Times
Text by the New York Times and video still image from YouTube. Says the narrator, Jawed: “The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long trunks. And that’s cool”.
Uh-oh.
I started playing one of the games that Neflix offers: Underwatermelon.
I like it. (It reminds me a little bit of Tetris from wayy-back when I first started working).
I hope I don’t get too addicted to it .. but what if I do?
A random sequence of little fruit (strawberry, plum, lemon, apple or orange) appears below, and you can move it from left to right before you let go. Two of the same fruit combine and make the bigger fruit, up to a watermelon (see the sequence on the left in the C-shaped line). The space will fill up if you don’t let the fruit combine, and if any fruit floats below the red line, it is GAME OVER. The levels of the game are indicated by Gate numbers. This is Gate 4 and I still have to earn 35 points (by combining fruit), before the gate will open up, and the fruit float up to a new gate. The nice thing about going to a new gate (a new level), is that the biggest fruit floats to the top quickly, collide and combine into one bigger fruit, and leave a little more space to work withe in the new gate.I did get a watermelon .. the watermelon is big and takes up a lot of space, but still less than two pineapples or four melons. I read online if you do get two watermelons, and you can make them collide, they will cancel each other out and disappear, leaving you with a lot of new space to work with.
Well, I woke up Sunday mornin’
With no way to hold my head it didn’t hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad
So I had one more for dessert
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt
And I shaved my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day
I’d smoked my brain the night before
On cigarettes and songs that I’d been picking
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Cussin’ at a can that he was kicking
Then I crossed the empty street
Caught the Sunday smell of someone fryin’ chicken
And it took me back to something that I’d lost
Somehow, somewhere along the way
Refrain
On the Sunday morning sidewalk
Wishin’, Lord, that I were stoned
‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday
Makes a body feel alone
And there’s nothing short of dying
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleeping city sidewalk
Sunday mornin’ comin’ down
In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl that he was swinging
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs that they were singing
Then I headed back for home
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing
And it echoed through the canyons
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday
Refrain
On the Sunday mornin’ sidewalk
Wishin’, Lord, that I were stoned
‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday
Makes a body feel alone
And there’s nothing short of dying
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleeping city sidewalk
Sunday mornin’ comin’ down
– Lyrics from “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” (1970)
“Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” was written by Kris Kristofferson, and first recorded in 1969 by Ray Stevens before becoming a No. 1 hit on the Billboard US Country chart for Johnny Cash.
Kristofferson himself recorded and released the song on his album ”Kristofferson” in 1970.
The fiftieth season of the American sketch comedy late night television program Saturday Night Live premiered tonight.
‘Vice President’ Kamala Harris (portrayed by Maya Rudolph) and ‘Second Gentleman’ Doug Emhoff (portrayed by Andy Samberg) doing a skit during the cold open* tonight. Nothing about the future is certain, but let me be optimistic. The American people will confirm in 38 days that the real VP Harris will become President Harris, and that her husband Doug Emhoff will become the first First Gentleman on Jan 20, 2025. *Cold open: jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. [Screen shot from Saturday Night Live on NBC broadcast television].
I confess that I fast-forwarded through some (okay, most) of a recording of the three hours of the closing ceremony of the 2024 Games.
I liked the Golden Voyager and the mummies— and was that a spry 62-year old Tom Cruise ‘sky diving’ into the arena to receive the Olympic flag, and take it to Los Angeles on a motorbike? (Yes, it was).
Arthur Cadre as Golden Voyager performs at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games at the Stade de France in Paris. [Photo by Sven Hoppe/Deutsche Presse Agentur]
