The supposedly staid, unglamorous field of accounting is in fact packed, to some degree, with exciting adventures. Accountants rarely divulge this fact to persons outside the profession, but three monographs, all produced in Australia, document some of the adventure and even some of the excitement.
Great Adventures in Accounting (1967) In 1967, a paper by Professor R.J. Chambers of the University of Sydney essayed to describe the essentially adventurous nature of the accounting field.
“Prospective Adventures in Accounting Ideas,” R.J. Chambers, Accounting Review, vol. 42, no. 2, April 1967, pp. 241–53. Looking both backwards and forwards, Professor Chambers enthuses ruefully:
These fifty years have seen quite a few potentially fruitful ideas, with wide implications, brought to notice, noticed scarcely at all and almost abandoned.... Some 43 years ago, Hatfield said “Let us boldly raise the question whether accounting, the late claimant for recognition as a profession, is not entitled to some respect, or must it consort with crystal-gazing... and palmreading?” I wonder what Hatfield would think today, to see how far some would have us go in the direction of crystal-gazing. I leave you to think about what I am referring to.
Have you ever noticed that most women in old paintings look unimpressed, bored, and even frustrated? It’s probably because they had to sit and pose for some slow artist, but Mallory Ortberg at The Toast has some better ideas, and she captioned paintings to show what these women are really thinking.
i thought we were going to cover the whole harp in roses but if these were all the roses you could find i guess that doesn’t have to ruin everything
hey girls i have a fun idea try playing something good just for a change just to see what it would be like
WheezyWaiter has been on YouTube a long time -years, in fact. This is his thousandth video! But why is there a question mark in front of the title? It’s because he’s been planning this video for some time, and the question mark is crucial for asking Chyna to marry him. Yes, it’s a proposal, and it’s darn cute. -via Digg
With the recent hipster obsession with Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte, and the other foods that jumped on the pumpkin spice bandwagon, it only makes sense that we eventually have a pumpkin spice hamburger. And here it is. As a play on the latte, Pornburger calls their creation the Pumpkin Spice Fatte. But this one goes the latte one better: it actually contains a bit of pumpkin! And coffee, too! If the list of ingredients is too small on the picture, see it full-size at Pornburger.
You might love it, but I’m an old fart a purist. The cinnamon, ginger, and clove combination (with occasional allspice, nutmeg, and mace) is what makes pumpkin pie special. Or at least edible. If we put it in everything, we may as well just forget the pumpkin. -via Time
Even though Maru now has his cat friend Hana to play with, he still loves boxes. He recently received a new set of boxes, and each one had to be tried out and tested individually. It must have been like Christmas for this cat! -via Tastefully Offensive
We’ve posted an awful lot of restaurant dishes that are super expensive in order to generate publicity, and their price is justified by ingredients such as edible gold leaf and the jewel-encrusted souvenir dish they are served in. This is different. The list at Cracked contains dinner orders that come with theatrics or gimmicks, such as the Octopop.
The terrifyingly named octopop was conceived by Australian chef Adam Melonas at Dubai's Burj al-Arab hotel, presumably after he read the Necronomicon and mistook it for a confectionery handbook. Its basic idea is actually pretty simple: It's a piece of roast octopus on a stick.
However, in true mad scientist fashion, Melonas has added to the process until the end result barely resembles octopus or, for that matter, food. The waxy sheen and structure of the octopop are achieved by vacuum-cooking the octopus for 12 hours, then using a knife and an enzyme called transglutaminase (a substance commonly used to glue bits of meat together) to turn the perished cephalopod into a pretty, flower-like construct. The end result is dipped in spiced gel and stuck on a stick with some dill for you to try and figure out what the hell you're chewing on.
Finnish heavy equipment operator Juha-Pekka Perämäki shows off his skills by constructing a LEGO truck with an excavator! A Hitachi ZX210-11, With Engcon EC30 rototilt, to be exact. I know a heavy equipment operator who can’t even put LEGO blocks together with his hands. To be honest, I don’t even know how hard it is to put LEGO blocks together with your hands, much less with an excavator. -via Tastefully Offensive
If mainstream religions leave you cold, why not spice things up by throwing a few UFOs in the mix? Here’s a look at some “religions” that draw inspiration from extraterrestrials.
THE SEEKERS
Close Encounter: In the early 1950s, a suburban Chicago housewife named Dorothy Martin began receiving “mental messages” from what she said were extraterrestrial guardians from a planet called Clarion. She attracted a little band of followers and formed them into one of the earliest UFO cults, which she called “The Seekers.” The aliens reportedly told her that they’d discovered unstable fault lines in the Earth’s crust while observing the planet from their flying saucers. The faults were going to rupture before dawn on December 21, 1954, and cause floods that would destroy much of North America. The good news: Just before midnight, a UFO would take Martin and the Seekers to safety on the planet Clarion.
What Happened: On Martin’s orders, Seekers quit their jobs and gave away their money and belongings in anticipation of a new life on Clarion. Some even divorced their spouses. About 20 Seekers gathered at Martin’s house on December 20 to await the UFO. Midnight came …and went… and no spaceship arrived. The terrified Seekers huddled together until 4:45 AM, when Martin claimed to receive another message from the aliens. More good news! The “God of Earth” was so impressed by the Seekers’ devotion that he’d decided to spare North America. The crisis averted, the alien rescue saucer had returned to Clarion without picking up the Seekers.
Aftermath: Martin fled Chicago to avoid being sent to a mental hospital. She lived in Peru from 1954 to 1961, then returned to the U.S. Now calling herself “Sister Thedra” and leading a group called the Association of Sananda and Sanat Kumara, she continued to relay messages from space aliens until her death in 1992. The Association of Sananda and Sanat Kumara, headquartered in Sedona, Arizona, is still active.
SUMMUM
Close Encounter: One afternoon in October 1975, a former aerobic instructor named Claude King was relaxing, eyes closed, on the couch in his Salt Lake City, Utah, apartment. He’d had some ringing in his ears lately, but this time it was much more intense: King claimed he was “engulfed” by the sound and teleported to an alien world. When he opened his eyes, he was standing next to a giant pyramid on a green lawn, under a blue sky filled with stars. It was the first of many visits to the world of “angelic Beings” known as Summa Individuals, who transmitted their Summum philosophy (“Nothingness and Possibility come in and out of bond infinite times in an infinite moment”) to King via mental telepathy.
What Happened: King had his named legally changed to Summum Bonum Amon Ra (although he still went by his nickname Corky). He then founded the ancient-Egyptian-themed Summum religion, which today is headquartered in a pyramid-shaped temple in Salt Lake City and promotes the “Seven Summum Principles: Psychokinesis, Correspondence, Vibration, Opposition, Rhythm, Cause and Effect, and Gender.”
Kevin Weir takes public domain photographs from The Library of Congress and makes them into surreal and sometimes creepy animated gifs. He gives new life to old photos, but it’s not like any life we’ve ever seen. Don’t blink or you’ll miss ..a possible spark for your nightmares tonight. We’ve featured Weir’s works before, but I thought this one was particularly worth sharing. See more of his imaginative gifs at Flux Machine. -via HuffPo
Legendary Australian diver and environmentalist Valerie Taylor tells how she made friends with an eel. It took quite a few years, but sometimes that’s what it takes to build trust. I’m sure the gift of fish didn’t hurt, either. Look at them together! That's amore. I mean, a moray. -via Viral Viral Videos
Finally, a comic convention came to the doorstep of our Canadian friend Kiltak at Geeks Are Sexy, and he got the pictures to prove it! See a gallery of some the best cosplayers from the three-day Comic Con Montreal/Le Comiccon de Montréal, which is just now wrapping up. There will be more pictures tomorrow. Glad you had so much fun, Kiltak!
Jürgen Horn and Mike Powell are living in Macedonia for 91 days, and recently took a sightseeing trip to the town of Tetovo. There they saw the Šarena Džamija, the Painted Mosque. The mosque lives up to its name, with intricate and colorful decorations painted inside and out. The other town attraction is a dervish monastery named Arabati Baba Tekke.
The Arabati Baba Tekke was established in 1538 by Ali Baba, the brother-in-law of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. After his sister had angered the Sultan, Ali Baba was exiled to the fringes of the Ottoman Empire. In Tetovo, he decided to spend the rest of his years as a Bektashi monk, devoting his life to Sufism.
The tekke is still in use by a single dervish: a very tall man with a very long beard, whom we had the opportunity to meet. We saw his quarters, along with the graves of the babas who have led the tekke throughout the centuries. And while German Jürgen was a hit at the Painted Mosque, here it was American Mike’s turn to shine. Flying above the door to the dervish’s quarters was a big USA flag. Perhaps our government helped with funds, or maybe there’s some personal connection — I can’t say for sure, but I sure liked it.
One of the adages I grew up with is that when you move to a new house, you should rub butter on your cat’s paws. Mom said it made sense, because it would keep the cat busy. That advice is older than I ever thought possible, having been published in medieval times.
"If you have a good cat and you don't want to lose it, you must rub its nose and four legs with butter for three days, and it will never leave the house."
The Distaff Gospels
This trick will certainly prevent your cat from running away. It's less clear whether the cat will stick around because of adoration or poor traction.
That’s an entry from Ask the Past, a blog by Johns Hopkins history professor Elizabeth Archibald. She quotes advice from old books, often very old books, whether it’s good advice or not. Mostly not. Here are some other example posts.
Steve Simons takes the images on ancient Greek vases and makes them move! Some of the vignettes he creates tell stories from Greek mythology, the Olympics, or everyday life. This one, however, puts those ancient characters into a modern setting as they stage a short dance battle. The story was conceived by the students of Maiden Erlegh School, who did the storyboards for it. You can see more of Simon’s ancient Greek vase animations at his YouTube page and read about what went into this project at his website. -via Everlasting Blort
