Portrait by Remo Frangiosa

Philly-Bob’s Free-for-All 2024

One man's visual art, largely consisting of digital manipulations of images, taken from (1) my own photographs/videos, (2) downloaded from the Public Domain, (3) utilized under the Fair Use provision of copyright law or (4) uncopyrightable images produced by A.I. image generation. This page is designed old-style, for display on full-size computer, not on phones or tablets.

Click on a pic to enlarge. May take several clicks to get full-size.



PEERING INTO THE FUTURE (YUK!)
 

Three images combined to express my current grim and obscured vision of the post-election future.

  1. From Reddit, a photo capturing the moment a Secretary Bird closes its third eyelid as it catches a locust mid-flight (Link1)
  2. From 4chan's "K" (weapons) message board, an illustration of the internals of four handgun noise suppressors (Link2)
  3. From Reddit, an illustration for an article about how inside Chernobyl, scientists have found black fungus that feeds on gamma radiation (Link3)

The originals:
     

SOURCES:

Link1: https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1h6dv7i/photo_capturing_the_moment_a_secretary_bird/#lightbox
Link2: https://boards.4chan.org/k/thread/63013559
Link3: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1he5nl3/inside_chernobyl_scientists_have_found_black/#lightbox

December 14-16, 2024



TWO OCTAGENARIANS AND ONE TEENAGER
 

My snapshot from happy, love-filled family Thanksgiving: from left to right, my wife, my grandniece, my sister.

December 2, 2024



Political Note IV

Civil division can be awful. Consider the bitter division between Americans who wanted Independence ("Patriots")and Americans who wanted to stay with Britain ("Loyalists") during the 18th century. A grim tactic used by the Patriots was described by Donald Chidsey in his 1973 book "The Loyalists: The Story of Those Americans Who Fought Against Independence."

"The worst threat was that of tar-and-feathering.

"This beastly business was not new, nor had it always been extra-legal. The first record of it is dated 1191, when Richard I of England (the Lion Heart) was making preparations for a crusade to the Holy Land. He would go by sea, beause of the situation on the continent of Europe, and he had amassed at various English ports enormous supplies of beans, cheese, and salt pork, besides ten thousands horseshoes, in addition to those already on the hoses. His instructions to his fighting men, who it might be feared would wax restless on such a long trip, were specific, including as they did such provisions that if one murdered another he should be lashed to the corpse and then thrown overboard; also '... a thief or felon that hath stolen, being lawfully convicted, shal have his head shorne and boyling pitch poured upon his head, and feathers or downe strawn upon same, whereby he may be knowen, and so at the first landing place they shall come to, there to be cast up."

"...Pine tar ordinarily was used, a sticker, sharper substance than beech tar or the various kinds of coal tar. It was heated before the victim, so that he might see in its sulfurous bubblings the pain that would soon be his.

"...The wretch was stripped to the waist, or sometimes stripped naked. A ladle with a long handle was used, and the hissing, spitting stuff was poured over his shoulders his chest, his back. A little of it, or much, might be emptied upon the top his head, which could cause him to be blinded in one or both eyes: this had happened. If his breeches had been ripped off, and his underpants, a ladlefull might me dumped upon his genitals, rendering as likely as not, impotent for the rest of his life.

"...Getting the stuff out was the most painful part of the business. For all the oil that was used, skin would come off with the tar; and days, even weeks, were needed to finish the task, though in a larger sense the victim of a tar-and-feathering never did completely recover."

As I go off to Thanksgiving with my divided family in Richmond, VA, once the capital of the Confederacy in the Civil War, I resolve to practice two sentences aimed at heading off family political quarrel:

  1. "I don't agree" without going into argument.
  2. "I hope you're right."

November 26, 2024




Political Note III
 

Image shows President-elect Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin shaking hands in a 2019 Kremlin photograph (Link1).

Superimposed on the photograph is the international symbol for biohazard from the dingbat font "Nuclear Icons" by Spanish typographer Woodcutter (Link2).


The ticket I endorsed for the 2024 presidential election did not win, and I am frightened and disappointed. The Trump/Vance ticket will control the presidency, both houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court. There are many things to worry about, but as I highlighted in my October 31 note, my main concern is geopolitical. I feel the winners have been infiltrated by Russian "assets". Accordingly, I have added a list of links to Russian sources at the top of this page. I especially use the third link ("RT" or "Russia Times") to keep up with the Russian news.

That news has been especially worrisome with North Korean involvement in Ukraine war, cross-fire of missiles between Russia and Ukraine, and a new Russian military doctrine that would allow the use of nuclear weapons in some cases.

In the meantime, I have stopped contributing to the Democratic Party, reduced my watching of partisan cable news, and have been mindlessly "bingeing" on quality TV series like HBO's history series "Rome", ABC's long-running family comedy "The Conners" and nature documentaries.


Link1: By Kremlin.ru, https://commons.wikimedia.org
Link2: https://www.dafont.com/nuclear-icons.font

November 21 2024




Political Note/Endorsement II
 

I am not a Boomer but a member of the Silent Generation. Women and sex were popular subjects at my all-boys Catholic school, but not the intimate and clinical matters of women's sexual equipment. In my family, my father took us aside to forewarn about Mother's menopause. But the rest of sex education came from dictionary illustrations and the illustrations in my sister's Tampon boxes.

So in my last explanation of my presidential endorsement, I skipped over my reasoning on abortion. Certainly, part of my opposition to the Trump/Vance ticket was its role in the destruction of our independent, balanced, credible Supreme Court. But another part of my opposition was because I recently learned of the grisly effects of the Court's reversal of decades of American abortion policy on American women from Linda Logdberg, who I went to school with 60 years ago and went on to get a Ph.D. in Anatomy.

She explained to me about Ectopic Pregnancy, in which the fertilized egg is implanted in the wrong location in the woman's body. Instead of the roomy uterus where it normally develops, say, it ends up in the narrow Fallopian tube. When this happens -- about 2% of the time -- the fertilized egg will never become a living baby. There is not room for the fertilized egg to grow and when it can't grow any more, the tube ruptures.

Before the Supreme Court allowed states to ban abortions, the treatment for this condition was to remove the fertilized egg chemically or surgically. But now doctors and hospitals are afraid to do this. Women are told to come back when they start to have a miscarriage or agonizing pain. So women go home or wait in the hospital parking lot, knowing their child is dead but forced to go through the motions for legal reasons. Many women die or suffer irreversible damage to their reproductive organs.

Assuming 4 million pregnancies per year in the U.S., this means that 80,000 women per year will face this nightmare. That human toll is why I oppose the Trump/Vance ticket. Trump's cavalier treatment of Covid-19 is already responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. Isn't that enough?

Source: Embroidered textile handkerchief by Diane Weymar; https://hyperallergic.com/962549/not-ready-to-have-this-baby-diana-weymar/

November 4, 2024




Political Note/Endorsement

The Washington Post and the L.A. Times declined to endorse a candidate in the upcoming election -- presumably because their corporate masters feared post-election retribution. As a former journalist, this makes me heart-sick.

I endorse Harris/Walz because of deep opposition to the Trump/Vance ticket.

Trump is enmeshed in the plans of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Google "Trump Putin". This makes Trump a Cold War traitor. Also, because Trump and his allies (1) stacked the Supreme Court in order to restrict women's reproductive rights and (2) encourage hatred, even violence, between groups of Americans.

The free press, the peaceful transfer of political power, and the Supreme Court -- three among many American institutions weakened by Trump.

On the other hand, Harris seems like a competent, upbeat politician. And she has expressed support for extending Medicare to cover home health care visits. This measure would allow Janice and I to avoid being forced to either divorce or do a "Medicaid spend down" of our nest egg to move to a costly nursing care facility someday.

So I'll be voting Harris/Walz. I urge you to do so.

October 31, 2024




AI CAMOUFLAGE AND ETIQUETTE IN THE TREETOPS (:46)
 
A composition in patterns. First, a set of rather ordinary camouflage patterns produced by over-hyped AI and second a set of slides demonstrating how trees "avoid" touching each other. Music is by a Bulgarian improv group. SOURCES: Artificial Intelligence-generated camouflage patterns uploaded to 4Chan's "\k" (Weapons) board by anonymous user (Link1) Images from thread "The Phenomenon of Crown Shyness where trees avoid touching" uploaded to Reddit's "r\interesting" board by user 'ButterLustSiren' (Link2) Selection of song 'Zu' from album "Escape Path" by Bulgarian music group 'Particules' (Link3) Link1: https://boards.4chan.org/k/thread/62666875 Link2: https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting/comments/1g1urj1/the_phenomenon_of_crown_shyness_where_trees_avoid/ Link3: https://archive.org/details/mhrk389/

October 25, 2024




FAMILY VICTORY
 

Commemorating niece Maureen's recent victory in a small sailing boat regatta.

October 1, 2024



SUMMERTIME SWEETNESS
   

Visited my niece Maureen's lovely new cottage on Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. Maureen is repainting it, and consulting nephew's wife Molly on decoration decisions. Molly has approved two of my works, above, for display: (1) a green self-portrait (which has a touch of powder blue in the center that matches the living room walls) and (2) this variation of an old illustration from a 1913 "Harper's Weekly" fashion magazine. (Link1)

There's also one of Janice's art works up.

All this makes it a "family" spot, suitable for generations of use.

Let's hope the Atlantic Ocean water-levels cooperate to keep this a setting for happy summer memories.

SOURCES:

Link1: archive.org/details/harpersweekly58harp_2

September 14, 2024



MEMENTO MORI
 

A complex image. In the background, two pictures of industrial metal (Link1, Link2). The background is overlaid with graphic design elements used in the 2024 Summer Olympics. (Link3) To the right, an AI-generated figure of a young woman (Link4). To her left, a Chinese symbol for longevity (Link5) and an image from the Ukrainian War of a blown-up Russian tank turret that resembles a skull (Link6). The font for the lettering is Woodcutter's Amunt Espanya (Link7).


I dreamed I was on a train journey across the snowy Northern border of Russia and China. There were people and objects in the dream, now forgotten, NPC's -- non-playing characters, as gamers call them. But the main thing I remembered was the absolute certainty that my railroad journey was 0.95 (95%) complete. That 0.95 figure was firm. Assuming that train journey was my lifetime, I sat down and did some spreadsheet math.00 At 79, I have lived 29,084 days. Assuming that is 95% of my lifetime, we multiply by 1.05 and find that my lifespan is 30,538 days, according to this dream, So I have some 1,453 days until the day that I die: August 1, 2028. Which means I can watch the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, July 14-30, 2028. But I will miss the 2028 presidential election, November 7, 2028. I can legally copy from works published before 12/31/1932 Books, Periodicals, etc.

The originals:
        &nbnsp;  

SOURCES:

Link1: https://www.reddit.com/r/IndustrialMaintenance
Link2 :NA 
Link3: https://boards.4chan.org/k/thread/62195688
Link4: https://boards.4chan.org/gd/thread/456466
Link5: https://archive.org/details/lifesymbolsasrel00gold
Link6: https://www.deviantart.com/kamidako/art/Endure-1048705131
Link7: https://www.dafont.com/amunt-espanya.font

August 9, 2024



CAITLYN TAKES A BREAK
 

Women's basketball star Caitlyn Clark on the bench (Link1). On a cover of an old religious text, "Compendia de Teologia" (Link2).


I uploaded the following message to my long-standing political message board, "Democratic Underground" on Friday, July 29. The next day, I was told by forum management that my post was removed.

It was pleasant to get together tonight with old friends and talk politics. Much discussion of 2024 presidential race. It was nice to be able to speak freely of Biden's chances and alternative strategies. I am saddened that such frank discussion is forbidden on DU, by management demand and by loud attacks on dissenters. I am sure such discussion is taking place privately in many circles.

A polite letter explained that it "interfered with forum moderation."

The originals:
   

SOURCES:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/libros-biblioteca-para-leer-7/Compendio%20de%20Teolog%C3%ADa%20Moral%20II%20%E2%80%93%20P.%20Juan%20B.%20Ferreres%2C%20S.%20I.%20/
Link2: https://boards.4chan.org/sp/thread/142852787
July 23, 2024

DAMGRAM AUTHORITY FIGURE
 
A combination of pictures from an old book of architectural ornaments (Link1) and camouflage pattern (Link2).

The originals:
     

SOURCES:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/sargent-artistic-hardware-1902
Link2: https://files.catbox.moe/gm00nq.rar


July 19, 2024


COFFEE PLANT ECOSYSTEM ON CAMOUFLAGE
 

An illustration from a 1705 Dutch nature book "Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium" (Link1; trans: 'Metamorphosis of Surinamese Insects' ) showing foliage of coffee plant, along with a monitor lizard and two butterflies.

The image is overlaid on a Ukrainian military camouflage pattern ("TTsKO") published in a compilation of camouflage (Link2).

The originals:
   

SOURCES:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/jbc.bj.uj.edu.pl.NDIGSTDR008894
Link2: https://files.catbox.moe/gm00nq.rar


July 16, 2024


DEFORMED CAPILLARIES CAUSE SWOLLEN FINGERS
 

Another illustration from the 1924 medical text "The circulatory disturbances of the extremities, including gangrene, vasomotor, and trophic disorders" (Link1). The photo's caption explains "Giant Loops in a case of erythromelalgia."

The original:
 

SOURCE:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/circulatorydistu00buer/page/n5/mode/2up

July 14, 2024


DEFORMED CAPILLARIES CAUSE COLD FINGERS
 
An illustration from the 1924 medical text "The circulatory disturbances of the extremities, including gangrene, vasomotor, and trophic disorders" (Link1). The photo's caption explains "Elongated, dilated and deformed capillaries of the subcapillary nexus in severe vasoneurosis at margin of nail." The disease is Reynaud Syndrome. A capillary is where blood turns from red to blue.

The original:
 

SOURCE:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/circulatorydistu00buer/page/n5/mode/2up

July 13, 2024


CRAB-HANDED DAMGRAM DINGBAT
 

The originals:
   

SOURCES:

NA

July 9, 2024


CAMOUFLAGE SCHEMES OF WW1 AND TODAY
 
Center image is a World War I aerial photograph captioned "a pumping station, Frau Forenhau's farm." It is from a 1920 book called "Strategic Camouflage." (Link1) WW1 German camouflage techniques consisted of lean-tos, paint, canvas, and artfully-arranged scrap wood. The frame around the photo is a modern digital camouflage pattern from a discussion thread on Reddit's "/k weapons" board.

The originals:
   

SOURCES:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/StrategicCamouflage1920
Link2: https://boards.4chan.org/k/thread/61975558

July 4, 2024



DANGRAM DINGBAT IN MEDIEVAL MELEE
 

SOURCES:

Link1: https://www.dafont.com/damgram-next.font?sort=date
Link2: https://archive.org/details/sim_speculum_1928-01_3_1

June 30, 2024


A WILD DAMGRAM DINGBAT
 
A setting of a single character ("A") from the rather silly dingbat font "Dangram" (Link1) by the German type designer Ekkehard Beck. Beck uploaded the font with interesting instructions: "This font is intended for free use. Attribution is not necessary and undeniable." [Note: Sorry for this attribution, Ekkehard.] He adds one additional condition: "Please use the font only in the Kantean sense: Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." Hmmmmm.

The various backgrounds include an AI-generated color image, a confusing images from Reddit's "Find the Sniper" board, a carved wooden diptych from 529 A.D., apparently used as a cover for a bible, and the wooden pattern for medieval armor (inside the character) (Link2).

SOURCES:

Link1: https://www.dafont.com/damgram-next.font?sort=date
Link2: https://archive.org/details/sim_speculum_1928-01_3_1

June 23, 2024


PROMORPHOLOGY OF AN OSTEOBLAST
   
Illustration from the 1928 "Outlines of scientific anatomy : for students of biology and medicine" by Dr. Wilhelm Lubosch (Link1), showing several osteoblasts, which produce bone in the body.

Caption reads: "Promorphology of the osteoblasts. The nucleus is everywhere pressed to the base as though forming a cap to the cell. The free end is in continuity with the bony-ground substance which shows a fine fibrillary form. Ihe cells (on the right above, two cells visible) are everywhere surrounded by the bony- ground substance. At the lower border a clear space = blood-vessel with one red blood- corpuscle (filling the space above). Embryo of cow, 12 cm. crown rump length. "

The second image includes text in a font called "Skullphabet" (Link2) by Noah Scalin, a type designer from Richmond, Virginia.

The originals:
 

SOURCES:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/b31363969
Link2: https://www.dafont.com/skullphabet.font

June 15, 2024


WILD INDONESIAN CAT
 
A rare photo of a Bornean Clouded Leopard (Link1); photo taken in Indonesia. In the background, a photo of a rug (Link2) from Reddit's "Find the Sniper" board. The uploader dropped a black hair tie on the rug and the challenge is to find it on the confusing pattern (Find the Sniper).

The originals:
   

SOURCES:

Link1: https://www.democraticunderground.com/122889049 ((Image credit: Whitworth Images via Getty Images)
Link2: https://www.reddit.com/r/FindTheSniper/comments/1ddj4mp/dropped_my_hair_tie_the_cabin/#lightbox

June 14, 2024


MORE ANATOMICAL ART
 
Continuing exploration of images created from anatomical illustrations. The larger image here is a combination of two images from the 1875 "Digestion and dyspepsia" (Link1), labelled, top, "Lymphatics of Jejunum and Mesentery" and, bottom, "Mesenteric Glands." On top of that, a diagram showing a woman doing an exercise recommended for overcoming constipation, from the 1904 "Building of vital power : deep breathing and a complete system for strengthening the heart, lungs, stomach and all the great vital organs" (Link2).

The originals:
   

SOURCES:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/digestiondyspeps00trai
Link2: https://archive.org/details/buildingofvitalp00macfuoft

June 9, 2024



ANOTHER INTESTINE
 

May 30, 2024


TWO PEAS IN AN INTESTINE
 

Combined images of the coiled human intestine, with two silly peas to illustrate its role in digestion.

Includes all my various artistic adornments (composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo).

May 27, 2024


BENIN OVER MEASLES
 

Three layers: One, an African sculpture from Benin (Link1), two, a slide of measles, and three, a fractal in concrete from DeviantArt.

Includes all my various artistic adornments (composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo).

Decorative element at top and bottom from Dingbat font Auseklis by GGBotNet (Link4).

The originals:
     

SOURCES:

Link1: https:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Museum_Room_25_Cast_brass_plaque_from_Benin_City_17022019_5071.jpg
Link2: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/a-young-child-in-ontario-ha
Link3: https://www.deviantart.com/dreamyfractalend/art/Fractal-Made-Of-Concrete-1051989001
Link4: https://www.dafont.com/auseklis.font?sort=date

May 18, 2024


BACK TO ART
   

Two versions of a massive C-130 freighter dispersing flares while landing in hostile territory to defeat heat-seeking missiles. Also, a young girl reclining with black braids shot from above.

First version includes all my various artistic adornments (composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo).

Second version includes only the adornments of the image itself.

The originals:
   

SOURCES:

Link1: https://www.quora.com/If-air-to-air-missiles-travel-faster-than-their-targets-how-do-fighter-planes-manage-to-dodge-the-same
Link2: https://boards.4chan.org/b/thread/916010745

May 10, 2024



WAR DREAM III
 

More evidence of my feeling that this is a time that will be defined by military issues. Here, a 2019 chart of military drones (Link1). Drones are changing the modern battlefield. (Link2) There is heart-breaking video from drones hovering over a soldier and then dropping a small bomb on him.

What especially caught my eye in this chart is the variety of shapes and sizes of the drones, much like a chart of birds or worms, a sign of evolution by engineering.

SOURCES:

Link1: https://www.a13x.com.au/aircraft-size-comparison/
Link2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_combat_aerial_vehicle

May 8, 2024



WAR DREAM II
 

Another image caused by my fascination with/worry about the number of ongoing military conflicts.

Background is repeated copies of a manipulated diagram illustrating the curves of an F-4 fighter jet.(Link1).

The foreground is an Asian swordsman from Daniel Zadorozny's dingbat font "Gods of War" by Iconian Fonts (Link2).

Note lack of my usual framing.

The originals:
 

SOURCES:

Link1: https://soyuyo.main.jp/f4/f4e-1.ht
Link2: https://www.dafont.com/gods-of-war.fo

One of my favorite political figures is Robert Reich. Recently he met with a group of students (some Jewish, some Palestinian) to discuss the current situation, and came to consensus on these points.

  1. What Hamas did on October 7 was morally despicable.
  2. Hamas's avowed aim to murder all Jews is morally despicable.
  3. What the Israeli government has done since then in Gaza is also morally despicable.
  4. The murder or kidnapping of innocent civilians is morally wrong.
  5. Israel's policies toward Palestinians have been segregation andd discrimination, based on ethnicity and religion, which are morally wrong.
  6. It is morally wrong to urge genocide against any group -- whether they constitute a religion, ethnicity, race, or nation.
  7. All of have a moral obligation to do everything within our power to prevent and stop all forms of genocide, all killing of innocent civilians and the promotion of hate.

Occasionally, I include a song that has recently brought literal tears to my eyes. Here is Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Your results may vary. Sticks with me: "I don't know what to do, I'm always in the dark / I'm living in a powder keg and giving off sparks." Lyrics are here.

April 24, 2024



WAR DREAM
 

Image from dream of military equipment.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

April 24, 2024




DUTCH WOMAN CHOOSING EUTHANASIA
 

Photograph of Zoraya ter Beek, a 28-year-old, physically healthy Dutch woman who plans to commit medically-assisted suicide next month because of continuing depression.

Placed against engraved machinery and a telescopic view of a bird.

Here is discussion of case from Indian feminist perspective.

Update:
She is dead

April 24, 2024




CANNING EQUIPMENT AND CAMOUFLAGE
 

Collage of three printed images from a 1928 edition of "The Canning Trade" (Link1): a border, a canning machine, and some advertising text.

Two samples of digital camouflage from Reddit's "\K (Weapons)" board (Link2)

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

The originals:
  &pnbsp;    

Link1: https://boards.4chan.org/k/thread/61193039
Link2: https://boards.4chan.org/k/thread/61252495


April 4, 2024




JDF: FLUMMOXED ELEPHANT FELL IN DITCH
 

A reminder of the only physical discipline I avow: Just Dont Fall. Apostrophe is missing from the contraction "Don't" as a grammatical amplifier.

A baby elephant stuck in a ditch after slipping from a railway embankment in India (Link1)

Font is Fowell, a new font by Wahyu Eka Prasetya (Link2)

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite .logo by Bob Moore.

The originals:
 

Link1: https://imgur.com/gag4Pbe
Link2: https://www.fontspace.com/f-fowell-font-f89303

April 3, 2024




THREE GIRLS AT CRUCIFIXION: EASTER POST
 

A collage of top images.

Top: One of a thread of "Easter Sunday" pictures -- mainly Asian women with frilly dresses -- on 4Chan (Link1).

A cartoon from 4Chan (Link2) although I can't quite decipher its meaning.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite .logo by Bob Moore.

The originals:
   

Link1: From a thread of images from one of 4Chan's or Reddit's cosplay board labelled "Easter Sunday"
Link2: https://boards.4chan.org/k/thread/61233792

March 30, 2024




WW2 SELFIE, CAMBODIAN VICTIM
 

A collage of three images.

Top: A picture (Link1) from an album of World War II photos, tracked down by online sleuthers, showing photographer Franz Krieger taking a 'selfie' in a truck's rear view mirror.

Below that, inserted into similar circles, the face of a prisoner photographed during the infamous Cambodian genocide by the Khmer Rouge (Link2);

Finally, from Reddit's \K board, a photo (Link3) of a weird British war device called a 'panjandrum,' intended (but never used) to attack German fortifications.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite .logo by Bob Moore.

The originals:
     

Link1: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/arts/design/mystery-of-a-nazi-photographer-solved-by-online-readers.html
Link2: https://allthatsinteresting.com/cambodian-genocide
Link3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panjandrum

March 21, 2024




FLYING WING, HUBCAP, AND SAD AI-GEN GAL
 

A collage of three images.

Top: from a "What is your 'guilty pleasure' military aircraft?' thread in Reddit's \k (weapons) board, a photo of a 1940's Northrop XP-79 early flying wing. The pilot laid prone at the controls. Designers envisaged it intercepting bombers by physically colliding with them.

Below that, a photo (Link2) uploaded to Reddit's "Mechanic's Advice" board, showing an anti-lock screw on a Toyota hubcap.

Finally, from DeviantArt.com, barely visible, two copies of an AI-generated image "The Pain We Feel" (Link3) by an American artist Jsongunn.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite .logo by Bob Moore.

The originals:
     

Link1: https://boards.4chan.org/k/thread/61193039
Link2: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/co,mments/1bikcml/anti_theft_bolt/
Link3: https://www.deviantart.com/jsongunn/art/THE-PAIN-WE-FEEL-2-1032769037

March 20, 2024




WHEN THE STREETS WERE PAVED WITH WOODEN BLOCKS (:37)
 

Photos of wooden paving blocks on Camac Street (Philadelphia) by Bob Moore, approx. 2016-2017 Music: "Music for Microwaves", on 2009 'Netwaves' collection of songs from various musicians (Link1). License: by-nc-sa/3.0 (Link2)

Link1: https://archive.org/details/nws.bpm005
Link2: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

March 18, 2024




BETTER THINGS, BETTER TIMES, FROM TURMOIL
 

A collage of four advertising images from a single 1928 issue of "Hardware Age" (Link1). Done over the weekend, discombobulated, with my mind on friends M.& S.N.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite .logo by Bob Moore.

The original:
       

Link1: https://archive.org/details/sim_hardware-age-home-improvement-market_1927-12-29_120_26/page/n62/mode/1up

February 28, 2024




MOTT BLOOD CELLS
 

A user on Reddit's "medialabprofessionals" board uploaded this microscope slide of some blood cells, joking "Mott much to see here." (Link1) The blue slide in the center is what clinicians call a "Mott cell" (Link2). The cell images was placed inside a Mandala-like design from a DeviantArt user (Link3).

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

The original:
   

Link1: https://www.reddit.com/r/medlabprofessionals/comments/1aqq5v3/ope_mott_much_to_see_here/
Link2: https://www.cellwiki.net/en/aberrations/lymphocytes-mott-cells
Link3: link not available, file name dgwr5zq-0218950f-4e0d-4fc1-a123-54c0924dc473021924D

February 22, 2024




COOLANT FILL TUBE
 

A user uploaded this photo to Reddit's "AskMechanics" board worrying about why it appeared that ordinary engine oil had appeared in his engine coolant (Link1). I overlaid that image on top of another engine photo uploaded by another user (Link2). I love the look of cold sculptured mechanics.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by .Bob Moore.

The original:
   

Link1: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskMechanics/comments/1awb035/head_gasket_whats_my_problem/
Link2: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskMechanics/comments/1aw0t8s/what_is_going_on_here/

February 21, 2024




F-35 PILOT'S HELMET
 

Perhaps for an upcoming exhibition at the Plastic Club on faces: a photo of the complicated helmet of an F-35 pilot, from a United States Air Force website (Link1).

Set against an AI-Gen image by an American artist Dogsledder on DeviantArt.com. Dogsledder's prompt: "Leviathan part octopus a demon hybrid making a calendar of cycles of the end times with its ink"

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

The original:
   

Link1: https://www.acc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2719295/an-inside-look-at-f-35-pilot-helmet-fittings/
Link2: https://www.deviantart.com/dogsledder/art/Leviathan-part-octopus-a-demon-hybrid-making-a-cal-1018465813
https://www.deviantart.com/dogsledder/art/Leviathan-part-octopus-a-demon-hybrid-making-a-cal-1018465813

February 11, 2024




INVERTING A CIRCLE II
 

A photograph from microscope of guinea pig blood from the 1928 book "Recent advances in biochemistry" (Link1).

A drawing by current Ukrainian artist KateQR from Kyiv (Link2) from DeviantArt. Katerina also sells cool T-Shirts based on her designs online (Link3) and framed prints (Link4). I ordered one of her T-shirts.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

The original:
   

Link1: https: https://archive.org/details/recentadvancesin0000jpry/page/162/mode/2up
Link2: https://www.deviantart.com/kateqr/art/My-thoughts-Abstract-art-paintings-Graphics-1018604395
Link3: https://www.teepublic.com/user/kateqr/albums/278193-abstraction
Link4: https://www.redbubble.com/people/kateqr/shop?artistUserName=kateqr&asc=u&collections=2475743&iaCode=u-prints&sortOrder=top%20selling

February 9, 2024




INVERTING A CIRCLE
 

Was fascinated for a sleepless night by the following problem: take an image inside a circle. Edit it so that the imagery inside the circle moves to the outside of the circle and leaves the circle blank. I was not strictly successful, but found a workaround.

The starting image in this case was an AI-generated DeviantArt image "Exercice de Style" by French digital artist Akherat-Horus (Link1). That's where I did the circle inversion.

For the now emptied center circle, I used the image I removed from the February 3 image of a fashionable lady with a cigarette holder and a parasol from a 1928 issue of "The New Yorker" (Link2).

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

The original:
   

Link1: https://www.deviantart.com/akherat-horus/art/Exercice-De-Style-1017478608
Link2: https://archive.org/details/sim_the-new-yorker_1928-12-29_4_45/page/8/mode/2up

February 7, 2024




LAB IMAGES II:
 

This is a collage of two images: in the center, a medical image (Link1) from the Reddit "medlabprofessionals" board, uploaded with the explanation: "My coworker got this awesome picture of a macrophage eating a pyknotic neutrophil in a pleural fluid. She let me post this because she is not on reddit. I thought it was pretty cool though."

Framing that image is a design from an ad for Saks Fifth Avenue in a 1928 "New Yorker" magazine (Link2).

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

The original:
   

Link1: https://www.reddit.com/r/medlabprofessionals/comments/1acrygg/macrophage_eating_neutrophil/
Link2: https://archive.org/details/sim_the-new-yorker_1928-12-29_4_45/page/8/mode/2up

February 3, 2024




LAB IMAGES I:
 

I have been fascinated lately by specimen images shared on the Reddit \medlabprofessionals board. This is my first attempt, collaging two blood samples (?) together to get a sense of the color palettes created by the light blues and pinks.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

February 3, 2024




OLD MAMAS AND PAPAS SONG
Song has been rattling around my head for two days. A lovely example of 60's "Sunshine Pop" with a daring theme of a music industry love triangle. See Wikipedia treatment and this for the story behind the song. You Gotta Go Where You Wanna Go

January 30, 2024




PIPES: BREAKING A SEVEN-DAY LOG JAM
 

The edge of AI: an image showing a "plumber's nightmare", from a recent article in "Chemical World" (Link1). The article explains: "The stability of the plumber’s nightmare structure – so called because the structure is so convoluted, an intricate tangle of tubes – is attributed to the interplay between the strength of the end–end interactions and the initial shape of the curvature. ".

I don't understand the science, but the image seems relevant because over the last two weeks we've had a variety of plumbing problems in my building-- a deposit that had to be removed, no heat, no water, scalding water.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

The original:
 

Link1: https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/thermodynamically-stable-plumbers-nightmare-structure-self-assembles-from-block-copolymers/4018757.article

January 28, 2024




TIP-TOEING AROUND THE TABOO
 

A collage of three images: top, views of an aircraft said to show an anthropomorphic "smile" (Link1); bottom left, an AI-Gen gay male orgy (Link2); and bottom right, a "creepshot" from a hidden camera in a bathroom, showing a woman adjusting her thong (Link3). All overlaid by a subtle pattern (Link4)

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

Link1: https://boards.4chan.org/b/thread/912523614 (removed)
Link2: image by Anonymous on 4-Chan's /b board; no link recorded. 
Link3: image by Anonymous on 4-Chan's /b board; no link recorded.
Link4: image by user Xozmoss on DeviantArt; no link recorded.

January 21, 2024




AWAITING RESULTS OF BIOPSY
 

An AI-Gen face with spaghetti-like tendrils, by DeviantArt user Diagramjamals (Link1) displayed on top of a blood sample being discussed on Reddit's \medialabprofessionals board (Link2).

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

The originals
 

Link1: https://www.deviantart.com/diagramjamals/art/Splash-Neural-Art-By-Splash-Neural-Photorealistic-1011370459
Link2: https://www.reddit.com/r/medlabprofessionals/comments/198ac6e/this_patient_got_a_blast_count_of_90_in/

January 18, 2024




ORNAMENTAL DESIGN, NOT GENERATED BY A.I.
 

An illustrator and digital artist by the psuedonym of "ToughCrest" posted this hand-drawn design on DeviantArt (Link1). ToughCrest is a digital artist of long standing. This design he suggested for tattoos or t-shirts. In his accompanying notes, under "License," he says:

"License:
Free for Personal and Commercial use. Attribution is required.
No AI. Please don't redistribute the artwork on stock or wallpaper platforms."

This is very sophisticated language. He lets folks use his work, but he insists that he gets credit, and then, by saying 'No AI', he indicates that his work is NOT covered by current copyright policy of no copyright for AI work.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

The original:
 

Link1: https://www.deviantart.com/toughcrest/art/Cosmos-Ornamental-Artwork-1011401960

January 18, 2024




HAIR ON FIRE: AI-GEN GALS IN DARK AND COLORED LIGHTS
 

An unnamed artist (well, technically named "Anonymous"; Link1) did a series of portraits of girls posed in shadow and illumined by colored lights.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore

Link1: Images appeared on 4-Chan's "b" bulletin board; links not available.


January 15, 2024




COMPOSITION IN ILLUSTRATOR CIRCLES
   

A collage of four images from the February 1928 Popular Science. (Link1). The background image is the magazine's collage representing "Nine Wonders of the Modern World," to accompany an article by the president of M.I.T. The note on Internet Archive explains that "The core belief that Popular Science and our readers share: The future is going to be better, and science and technology are the driving forces that will help make it better."/

On top of that are (1) a central circle that is empty, (2) a circle showing a steering wheel and gear shift, (3) a circle showing how to use a hand file tool, (4) a circle advertising a device that sharpens razor blades, and (4) a motorist kneeling next to his car.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore


.

Second version is for entry in Plastic Club's "Back to Basics" show in February. It has bothered me that my web pictures (with their small source thumbnails) are different than the images I enter in Art shows. The public domain sources are important.
     

Link1: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_VycDAAAAMBAJ


January 12, 2024




FACES IN CROWD
 

A collage of four AI-generated images downloaded online.

Topmost is a haunting image of four ghoulish faces, "Untitled," by user Stacksteads, uploaded to DeviantArt (Link1).

It is superimposed upon a grid of faces showing various extreme emotions, titled "Expressiones Motus" (trans: 'Expressions of Emotion') by DeviantArt user Lagan Lefredes (Link2)

Faintly visible in the background are some faces: a beautiful woman from an images called "Feelings" by Deviantart user "TwoDearMy" (Link3) and the face of Mickey Mouse, only recently released to the Public Domain, from an image on 4Chan's "\b" board. (Link4)

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

       

Link1: https://www.deviantart.com/stacksteads/art/untitled-1007292909
Link2: https://www.deviantart.com/laganlefredes/art/Expressiones-motus-1007445276
Link3: https://www.deviantart.com/twodearmy/art/feelings-1006848755
Link4: https://boards.4chan.org/b/thread/911842883 (image has since been removed)

January 6, 2024




PLANE THAT NEVER FLEW
 

A jet designed by Lockheed in 1939, the L-133, it was turned down by the Air Force as "too advanced." It was posted in the Reddit "K" board in a thread on good-looking prototypes (Link1). It's placed on top of a painting of a trilobite fossil uploaded to the Reddit trilobite board by the artist Jaybenn1889 (Link2)

The dancing men and the fanciful invention come from a 1928 issue of "The Judge", a satirical magazine that published from 1881 to 1947. (Link3)

I lost the location of the tiny joke of a granite engraving that says "Nothing is written in stone."

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

         

Link1: https://boards.4chan.org/k/thread/60540831
Link2: https://www.reddit.com/r/trilobites/comments/18vveb6/isotelus_maximus_trilobite/
Link3: https://archive.org/details/sim_judge_1928-12-29_95

January 4, 2024




FIRST VIDEO OF 2024: AI-GEN ARCHITECTURE (:30)
 

Four AI-Generated images in Midjourney done by an English user called "DirectorJumpy9872" (Link1) and animated in Photoshop.

Music is from a 1956 album "Cha-Chas And Mambos" by 'Conjunto Nita Almanza' (Link2; trans: 'Nita Almanza Set')'.

       

Link1:https://www.reddit.com/r/midjourney/comments/18v3kqq/inspired_by_concrete_spirals/
Link2: https://archive.org/details/lp_cha-chas-and-mambos_conjunto-nita-almanza


On the first day of the year, a number of works come into the public domain. See details here. I'm going to celebrate later, after an online event on January 25.

January 1, 2024




VAPORWAVE-COLOR EMBRACE UNDER TWO AI-GEN. PATTERNS
 

An image posted on Reddit's Vaporwave Art board: a couple embracing, done in vaporwave colors but not in vaporwave style, according to commenters (Link1). Texture and background from two AI-Generated patterns (Link2 and Link3).

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

     

Link1: https://www.reddit.com/r/VaporwaveArt/comments/18b8m55/my_take_on_vaporwave/ 
Uploader removed the image after controversy over whether it was 'true' vaporware art.
Link2: Black and white AI-generated pattern "Untitled" by 'mrutunjaywait1_dgmtae1', downloaded from Deviant Art.
Link3: Color AI-Generated pattern "Quantum" by 'Dmitriy Jakubovich' downloaded from Deviant Art: https://www.deviantart.com/dmitriyjakubovich

December 29, 2023




TWO ELEPHANTS POSE IN TAXIDERMY
 

Two skillfully stuffed and posed elephants from the 1927 "Taxidermy and sculpture: the work of Carl E. Akeley in Field Museum of Natural History" (Link1). In the background, an illustration from an ad for Westclox alarm clocks from a 1927 "McCall's" (Link2) and an AI-Generated piece showing a girl in a field of writhing weeds (Link3).

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

     

Source:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/taxidermysculpturefmn1927
Link2: https://archive.org/details/sim_rosie_1927-12_55_3
Link3: Unfortunately, the source for the AI-Gen image is not recorded, probably either 4-Chan or DeviantArt. My sloppiness.

December 28, 2023




I'M YOUR PANCREAS
 

On my 79th birthday:

An illustration from the 1722 "Experimenta Nova Circa Pancreas" (Link1; trans: 'New Experiments Concerning the Pancreas'). Background composed of "Surreal Pattern 1" A.I.-generated by DeviantArt user BloodDiamondRose1238 (Link2) and a 1927 catalog of paint colors, "Moore's pure linseed oil house paint" (Link3).

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

     

Source:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/42-experimenta-nova-circa-pancreas
Link2: https://www.deviantart.com/blooddiamondrose1238/art/Surreal-pattern-1-1003978639
Link3: https://archive.org/details/moorespurelinsee00benj.

December 23, 2023




COLLEGIATE DIVER/A.I.-GEN PATTERN
 

In an empty pool, a student practices her dive, over two AI-Generated images: (1) a curious pattern of blacks and (2) a fake parchment manuscript. The prompt for the AI-Generator was:

"Create an intriguing visual composition that explores overlapping geometric shapes. Imagine an image in which thirteen points stand out, formed by squares of equal size, each rotated at different angles overlapping each other. Within each square, there is a sequence of three triangles, also overlapping at specific angles. The squares and triangles have solid black outlines, giving a sharp contrast."

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

     

Source:



December 20, 2023




JOHN HELD. JAZZ AGE CARTOONIST
 

Inside cover for the 1927 "My pious friends and drunken companions, songs and ballads of conviviality" by Frank Shay illustrated by John Held, Jr.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.

   

Source:

Link1: https://archive.org/details/mypiousfriendsdr00shay 

December 18, 2023




OLD ART AND NEW TRILOBITE
 

Playful composition/construction of 1927 New Yorker advertising matter and a recently found trilobite fossil.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.


Originals:
       

December 15, 2023




ARTIST'S ANNUAL CALENDAR
 

Our artist friend and teacher Alice Meyers-Wallace handed out her annual calendar at the Plastic Club holiday dinner.

December 15, 2023




MONOPOLY MAN FACES GREEKS
 

A composition of (1) a Greek vase illustration, (2) an AI-generated pattern, and (3) the old Monopoly moneybags man -- but with empty pockets

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.


Originals:
     

 

December 13, 2023




WARTIME COLLAGE
 

A composition of (1) a photograph of a woman carrying a rifle in Ethiopia and (2) a morgue photo of a woman who died from anorexia.

Text, composition, framing, surface texture, coloring, and winged-trilobite logo by Bob Moore.


Originals:
   

 

December 12, 2023




ARCHIVE: Webpage Proprietor's Portraits II
         
         


       
 
Time to change my image at top of this web page. The new image is a small pencil portrait done by Remo Frangiosa. It was done while I sat for Remo's portrait class over a two-week period at Philadelphia's historic Plastic Club in September, 2015.
The second image is a larger painting I commissioned from the Plastic Club's Andy Hoffmann.

Next are two other images also used as masthead portraits. Third image is an iPad self-portait in a coffee shop (approx. 2014). It is probably the best representation of my revulsion at the aging process and my sadness at the prospect of diminishing cognitive powers.
Fourth is an attempt to limit portrait to the fewest number of facial features and still be recognizable (approx. 2012). (Sorry: unlike the other images on this page, these masthead pictures don't enlarge when clicked...)
Fifth is a drawing done in our Open Studio workshop by Meri Collier, a Toronto-based artist and member of the Plastic Club.


Next row: three photos of pictures done when I sat for our Portraits class, followed by an image by Paul Jones and a self-portrait done in my recent frame/winged trilobite style.
Last are five new images from Mike Nathan of our Tuesday Digital Share. Mike spent a lifetime doing wedding photographs and uses those skills to craft "Digital Compositions" poking fun at Tuesday Share members -- especially long-bearded Bob.

To contact Philly-Bob, email me at bobmoore [at symbol] pobox.com (of course, replace "[at symbol]" with "@"].

Masthead Portrait by Remo Frangiosa, 2015

12/16/2023