Sally Cruikshank and laughingsal

I've added a video bar to this blog that shows some videos from laughingsal's channel on YouTube.  These films are by cartoonist and filmmaker Sally Cruikshank, who goes by the handle laughingsal on YouTube. I believe this screenname comes from an automated funhouse character, manufactured in the 1930's.

(Public Domain photo of Laughing Sal from Wikipedia)

 

You can hear the laughter of this automaton on the website of the Musee Mechanique:

 

http://www.museemechanique.org/

Sally Cruikshank is perhaps most familiar from numerous animated sequences she made for Sesame Street from 1989 to 2000, but "Quasi at the Quackadero" earned her fame.  This 1975 animated short was selected as one of the 50 greatest cartoons in a poll of 1000 animation professionals.  It's in the National Film Registry.  You can find it on her YouTube channel.  Cruikshank's own website is http://www.funonmars.com/.

My favorite of Sally Cruikshank's films is "Face Like a Frog" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOptGLEOsJ8

My information on Sally Cruikshank comes from Wikipedia, Cruikshank's YouTube channel and her website.

My Younger Daughter and I Like a Browser Game Called Crimson Room

I haven't played very many of the games available on the Internet.  Far behind the times in my knowledge of such things, I stumbled upon Crimson Room today.  I spent a few minutes on the game and enjoyed it.  My younger daughter, age 7, saw me playing the game and asked if she could play as well.  I consented because I needed something to keep her busy while I vacuumed the floors.  Yes, I know that's a poor reason.

She didn't solve any of the "escape-the-room" games on the website (and neither did I), but she enjoyed herself.  I am very cautious about letting my daughter play games on the Internet, for I don't believe it's the best choice of activity for her most of the time.  Despite my principles, I do occasionally succumb.  After all, she saw me playing the game!

Here's a screenshot of the web page of Toshimitsu Takagi, the creator of the game Crimson Room.

You can find this amusing page, which has a link to the Crimson Room game at http://takagism.net/index_e.html.
 

Nuclear Plant Near Atlanta, Georgia Leaking Radioactive Material
 

On October 1, 2011, I wrote an article about radioactive water leaking from a nuclear plant in Baxley, Georgia.  The article is posted on Triond's Scienceray website.  To the left you'll find a tag cloud for the article generated by wordle.net, a very useful site.  Below is a link and some info about the article.

Nuclear Plant Near Atlanta, Georgia Leaking Radioactive Material
A report of the morning news on the website of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports radioactive water was found in in two test wells under Plant Hatch near Baxley, Georgia, about 200 miles from Atlanta.
Published on Scienceray, Oct 1, 2011 

Castro Manipulates Foreign Media

I'm working on another piece about Fidel Castro. I believe he's manipulating the foreign media to portray him as healthier than he is. He's also tending to his image, strange as this is to say, by not appearing in public or being photographed. How his absence makes helps his image and how Castro is now having foreign leaders write most of his "Reflections" will be the foci of the article. Watch this space for news of this article.

A review on Amazon and several new topics I'm writing about.

I'm working on a few new ideas for articles. Watch this blog to see where I put them.
1. How amateurs have contributed to the search for exoplanets.
2. How to read a Kindle book without a Kindle--or any other mobile device.
3. Things the trailer for the new movie "John Carter" can tell us about how closely the movie follows the book "A Princess of Mars."

My most recent writing is a review of Tony Leather's "Dancing with the Devil and other twisted tales" on Amazon.com. I gave the book five stars because it deserves them. By the way, I read this Kindle book without a Kindle.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to switch to writing in AP Style.

My New Articles On Triond

Winning Auction Bid for Golden Eye Diamond Only $2.8 Million Did an Ohio couple get more than their money's worth?

News Media Announce Discovery of Habitable Planet, But Scientists More Cautious Recent news articles about the habitability of a newly discovered world 35 light-years from Earth are overblown, Scientists made a much weaker claim in the published report. The planet is as likely to be another furnace-like Venus as another Earth.

Is Fidel Castro Dying? Rumors about poor health abound because the former Cuban leader has been absent from the limelight for two months. A family member has denied the rumors, but some Cuba watchers draw different conclusions.

Fetch Saving the girl you love from yourself isn't always easy, and maybe you shouldn't always try to be yourself, whoever that is.

I've Recently published another half dozen articles on Triond.  You can find more information and links on the widget at the left.  Here are the latest:

"The Keepsake"

"'I'll be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You': Louis Armstrong and Betty Boop in Short Films You Can See Online Free"

Deathdealer: A Documentary : a Short, Dark, and Comic Film Starring Henry Rollins

Leading Chinese Dissident Lashes Out

Cats and Carpet
   
The Comic Books of India: Nagraj

My Cat and His Thyroid Tumor