If you happen to pass by Gothenburg, Sweden, next week...

[Ann]

Click to view full size image

...don't miss the exhibition of images by Swedish cartoonist and storywriter Jan Lööf. This picture is from Lööf's book "Pelle på planetfärd", Pelle on a Journey to the Planets. Isn't the picture delightful?





Ann

[neufer]

Perhaps my 3 year old grandson Kai's favorite book
to read together is Jan Lööf's WHO'S GOT THE APPLE

[orin stepanek]

Hi Ann! I passed by Gothenburg; but it wasn't in Sweden!

Click to view full size image

[Beyond]

Click to view full size image

...don't miss the exhibition of images by Swedish cartoonist and storywriter Jan Lööf. This picture is from Lööf's book "Pelle på planetfärd", Pelle on a Journey to the Planets. Isn't the picture delightful?





Ann

Umm.... Ann, how come there's a shark sticking out in back of the house

[Ann]

It's probably the whale from Douglas Adam's The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

Zaphod leapt out of his seat.

"Then what's happened to the missiles?" he said.

A new and astounding image appeared in the mirrors.

"They would appear," said Ford doubtfully, "to have turned into a bowl of petunias and a very surprised looking whale ..."

"At an Improbability Factor," cut in Eddie, who hadn't changed a bit, "of eight million seven hundred and sixty-seven thousand one hundred and twenty-eight to one against."

Zaphod stared at Arthur.

"Did you think of that, Earthman?" he demanded.

"Well," said Arthur, "all I did was ..."

"That's very good thinking you know. Turn on the Improbability Drive for a second without first activating the proofing screens. Hey kid you just saved our lives, you know that?"

"Oh," said Arthur, "well, it was nothing really ..."

"Was it?" said Zaphod. "Oh well, forget it then. OK, computer, take us in to land."

"But ..."

"I said forget it."

Another thing that got forgotten was the fact that against all probability a sperm whale had suddenly been called into existence several miles above the surface of an alien planet.

And since this is not a naturally tenable position for a whale, this poor innocent creature had very little time to come to terms with its identity as a whale before it then had to come to terms with not being a whale any more.

This is a complete record of its thoughts from the moment it began its life till the moment it ended it.

Ah ... ! What's happening? it thought. Er, excuse me, who am I?

Hello?

Why am I here? What's my purpose in life?

What do I mean by who am I?

Calm down, get a grip now ... oh! this is an interesting sensation, what is it? It's a sort of ... yawning, tingling sensation in my ... my ... well I suppose I'd better start finding names for things if I want to make any headway in what for the sake of what I shall call an argument I shall call the world, so let's call it my stomach.

Good. Ooooh, it's getting quite strong. And hey, what's about this whistling roaring sound going past what I'm suddenly going to call my head? Perhaps I can call that ... wind! Is that a good name? It'll do ... perhaps I can find a better name for it later when I've found out what it's for. It must be something very important because there certainly seems to be a hell of a lot of it. Hey! What's this thing? This ... let's call it a tail - yeah, tail. Hey! I can can really thrash it about pretty good can't I? Wow! Wow! That feels great! Doesn't seem to achieve very much but I'll probably find out what it's for later on. Now - have I built up any coherent picture of things yet?
No.

Never mind, hey, this is really exciting, so much to find out about, so much to look forward to, I'm quite dizzy with anticipation ...

Or is it the wind?

There really is a lot of that now isn't it?


And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like ... ow ... ound ... round ... ground! That's it! That's a good name - ground!

I wonder if it will be friends with me?

And they did get to be quite friendly with one another, as you can see!

Ann

[neufer]

Umm.... Ann, how come there's a shark sticking out in back of the house

It's probably the whale from Douglas Adam's The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

And they did get to be quite friendly with one another, as you can see!

You really don't know?

It must be to scare off aliens , no ?
(Sort of like a fake Owl. )

[Beyond]

Ah! Yes, we'll call it a whale shark. That way it will fit both your conversations

[Beyond]

Wow, Ann, you just passed my post count like i was sitting still. Must be because I've been trying to figure out who's got the apple in neufer's post above. So far all i can figure, is some rich looking guy. You got any ideas

[Ann]

Wow, Ann, you just passed my post count like i was sitting still. Must be because I've been trying to figure out who's got the apple in neufer's post above. So far all i can figure, is some rich looking guy. You got any ideas

As for why I passed you, I feel like a littering pickpocket - with one hand I seem to be pilfering posts, and with the other I seem to be scattering them to the wind. Maybe I've got a hole in one of my pockets and a magnet in the other one?

I love that story by Jan Lööf, Who's got the apple. I don't own the book myself, but I've read it, and it's full of delightful pictures. My favorite picture is one of an anatomical poster of a "muscle-guy" - you know, the kind of poster which shows the human musculature, and the "poster-boy" who gets to show his muscles has somehow mislaid his skin. Anyway, this muscle-guy is shown in a sort of half-profile in his poster. But when the pair of apple-thieves come running in, the muscle-guy apparently turns around in his poster so that he can sneak a peek at the thieves. Because the next time we see the muscle-guy he is showing us his other half-profile!

Ann

[Beyond]

Hmm... seems like the muscle guy is having a little trouble getting himself together.

[neufer]

I love that story by Jan Lööf, Who's got the apple. I don't own the book myself, but I've read it, and it's full of delightful pictures. My favorite picture is one of an anatomical poster of a "muscle-guy" - you know, the kind of poster which shows the human musculature, and the "poster-boy" who gets to show his muscles has somehow mislaid his skin. Anyway, this muscle-guy is shown in a sort of half-profile in his poster. But when the pair of apple-thieves come running in, the muscle-guy apparently turns around in his poster so that he can sneak a peek at the thieves. Because the next time we see the muscle-guy he is showing us his other half-profile!

"Muscle-guy" is emulating the thief in the first instance
and emulating Bert's teacher in the second instance.

• On the blackboard: √(√(512)) = 8

[Ann]

"Muscle-guy" is emulating the thief in the first instance
and emulating Bert's teacher in the second instance.

• On the blackboard: √(√(512)) = 8

I don't remember the story well enough to really get the "emulating" thing ... does it mean that the posture of the "muscle-guy" is the same as the thief's in the first case, and the same as the teacher's in the second case? Or does it mean that the "muscle-guy" wants to help the thief steal the apple in the first case, and wants to help the teacher do whatever the teacher is doing in the second case?

Wow, that formula! I'm a math illiterate. Is it possible to write a math formula in that way in the first place? And if it is, is the formula correct? Or is Jan Lööf just trying to tell us that the math lessons he had at school were Greek to him?

Ann

[bystander]

• On the blackboard: √(√(512)) = 8

It's not accurate. It should be:

√(√(4096)) = 8

√(√(512)) ≈ 4.75682846

[geckzilla]

He made that mistake on purpose just to see if anyone was paying attention.

[neufer]

"Muscle-guy" is emulating the thief in the first instance
and emulating Bert's teacher in the second instance.

• On the blackboard: √(√(512)) = 8

I don't remember the story well enough to really get the "emulating" thing ... does it mean that the posture of the "muscle-guy" is the same as the thief's in the first case, and the same as the teacher's in the second case?

Yes.

Wow, that formula! I'm a math illiterate. Is it possible to write a math formula in that way in the first place?

Yes. (Stick 512 in your computer's calculator and hit the square root sign twice.)
It is equivalent to stating: ⁴√(512) = 8.

And if it is, is the formula correct?

No. ³√(512) = 8.
(In fact, just above it on the blackboard is: 8³ = 512.)

Or is Jan Lööf just trying to tell us that the math lessons he had at school were Greek to him?

I'd try to get inside of Lööf's mind if it wasn't for the fact that it has a plastic shark's head sticking out of it.

[Beyond]

I'd try to get inside of Lööf's mind...

Neufer, if you succeeded, wouldn't that make you -aloof-