Now you see it - Now you don't

The perils of Google Image Searching.

Well. My fine yeomen, I have been rather remiss the last couple of weeks. Not only have I not been updating my own blog, but I have not been checking out all of your wonderful entries. I have not even been checking out my messages – which is very naughty of me I know. Hopefully, I will go a little way to rectifying all of that today.

It is not that I haven’t been at my scribblings. The last month or so has seen me doing a lot of scribbling. The thing is that my creative juices have been channelled towards writing consultancy reports. Some may consider these dry and boring, but they put food on the table and quite often require a lot more imagination and creativity than you may realise.

There again, it could be that I need to keep my hand in at this blogging lark. The germ of an idea was in my head and I decided to search out an appropriate opening picture. The result is above. That, for those puzzled yeomen who don’t know, is David Copperfield. (Note 1)

While I may not have got back into the swing of picking the best images, the synaptic tangents seem remarkably intact – and boy, doesn’t David Copperfield give you a lot of scope for synaptic tangents?

I could go whizzing off on a political angle, linking one of Mr. Copperfields famous illusions, the disappearing of the Statue of Liberty, with the current state of American politics. If I really wanted to, I might launch into a sermon and make it into a complex metaphor. (Note 2)

I could spin away along the popularist, cult of celebrity route. A route I have to mention as an excuse to include a picture of Claudia Schiffer. It seems that even Wikipedia speculates on the apparent engagement between Mr. Copperfield and Ms. Schiffer. (Note 3)

For all of the opportunities, to go off on some wild, cerebral, white knuckle ride, the picture has to be set aside. For I was searching for a picture to illustrate this quote -

”Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

The better read and the intuitive amongst the prod phalanx of my yeomen will have already worked out the source of the quote. It is from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.(Note 4)

The quotation came to mind when I read this news story. A group of scientists have calculated that in 40 years or so, our consumption of the world’s resources will result in a major collapse of ecosystems. More importantly, the lifestyles we enjoy in the UK would require three planets if it was enjoyed by everyone on the globe.

There have been an absolute flood of environmental stories over the last month or so. The latest being a warning of the economic impacts of what we are doing to the environment.

I wonder when we will start to get it into our thick heads that unless we start living within our environmental means we are heading for misery?

Not wanting to end on a pessimistic note, I will hand out a few congratulations to a few loyal yeomen. It seems that while I have been writing about “Single Touch Processes”, those people at Yahoo have gone and got their sewing kit out. It seems that NikkiD and Mitch Rhave been ambushed and had the “interesting” label sewn into her UK & Ireland underwear. Meanwhile, across the pond, Delectable Pet suffered the same fate in her Canadian undergarments. Plus, an occasional visitor, Claudia also seems to have been caught out.

Congratulations to you all!

If you find that “interesting” label a touch on the itchy side or perhaps that it brings you out in a rash – Fear Not! It seems that those nice men at Yahoo (Those very nice men, very, very nice men) have set up a Support Group.

From 14th June, the industry standard Crozzy Standard has been applied to footnotes.

NOTE 1: Well, the search result said it was David Copperfield so I’m not going to argue. The photograph reminds me of someone though. If add a little bit of stubble, don’t you think that he reminds you of the interesting champion blogger, Marcus? Click to return

NOTE 2 : Or I could be really, really nasty and just give you a spoiler that takes away your childish wonder and innocence by telling you how the illusion was performed. For those of you who wish to maintain your childish wonder and innocence, I suggest you click here instead. Although my own theory is that he wore a frock coat with extra baggy sleeves. Click to return

NOTE 3: I admit that somehow this whole story passed me by. I cannot find a reputable link or anything to validate the truth, but I really appreciate the irony that both parties involved felt the need to issue a rebuttal to the tabloids claiming they DID have sex. That must be a first.Click to return

NOTE 4: Although Dickens would feature with at least two books on my ‘100 Books to read before you die’ list, David Copperfield wouldn’t really be one of them. I think I would rather see Great Expectations and Nicholas Nickleby on the list. Although I must admit that my choices are constantly changing.Click to return

TECHNORATI TAGS : Claudia Schiffer ; Life ; News ; Comedy ; Environment ; red1hols.