Five hundred years of women in art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDIoN-_Hxs

The baseball song you didn't know you knew

from King Kaufman's Sports Daily:

June 19, 2007 | Ever heard of Katie Casey? Even if you haven't, you've probably sung a song about her dozens if not hundreds of times. In fact, you probably know the lyrics of that song by heart, or at least the chorus of it.

"Katie Casey was baseball mad/Had the fever and had it bad/Just to root for the hometown crew/Every game Katie blew," it begins.

Familiar? No? Here's the rest of the verse: "On a Saturday her young beau/Called to see if she'd like to go/To see a show, but Miss Kate said 'No, /I'll tell you what you can do.'"

In "The Baseball Songbook," musicologist and folk singer Jerry Silverman collects Katie's tale and 40 others from the first half-century or so of baseball history. The book features sheet music from songs written between 1867 and 1922, as well as an introduction to each song by Silverman and a CD of him singing unadorned versions of the first verse and chorus of each, accompanying himself on the guitar.

It's a fascinating look at a time when baseball songs were a staple of mainstream popular music, none more popular than that one about Katie Casey. And what is it that Katie wanted her beau to do? Let's go to the chorus:

"Take me out to the ballgame ..."

http://www.salon.com/sports/col/kaufman/2007/06/19/tuesday/index.html?source=rss

The end of Harry Potter, Sopranos-style

http://www.slate.com/id/2168397/

Top Office Pranks

Be it quick vacation or long lunch, whenever you leave your office there's always the chance it will be changed in your absence.

Sandcastles

http://www.gadling.com/2007/06/11/the-worlds-tallest-sandcastle-and-other-sandsculpture-marvels/

The Island and Lake combination

Largest Island
Largest Lake
Largest Island in a Lake
Largest Lake on an Island in a Lake
(repeat to absurd levels)

Mini-garden in a pack of matches

Mini-garden in pack of matches

Matchstick Gardens resemble a pack of a matches but instead of each strip laden with sulfur, powdered glass, and an oxidizer, these sticks are impregnated with seeds. You just stick one into soil and add water. "Books" of wildflowers, herbs, and other varieties are available.
Link

Previously on BB:
• Business card that sprouts Link
• Johnny Applesandal with seeds in the soles Link
• Keychain-sized plants are big in Japan Link

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/06/11/minigarden_in_pack_o.html

Who says cats sleep all day?

This one has a web camera on its collar, so you can see exactly what it does.

Images of the day

Contrails can be beautiful.