Camden Town, London (UK)

The renowned street artist’s latest(?) intervention, as seen along the Regent’s Canal…

New York, New York

The images above are but a few from a lovely post that I stumbled across by ephemera-nut Eric Baker on Design Observer.

(poster by the talented and prolific McRay Magleby)

Ypres, Belgium

95 years ago today, late on Christmas Eve in 1914, a remarkable impromptu truce took place on the Western Front of World War l. British and German troops entrenched in freezing mud began serenading each other with songs and carols. By the following day, a full truce was on, with soldiers and officers from both sides meeting in no-man’s land to bury fallen comrades, fraternize, and exchange gifts of food and drink. There was even an informal international soccer match played with teams comprised of warring soldiers… read more about this remarkable day of peace here. Find lots of video tributes and historic photographs by simply Googling “Christmas truce.”

The quotations above are from a first-hand account written by Henry William Williamson, who had just turned 19 at the time.

Prince George, British Columbia

The worldwide climbing community was shocked earlier this month to learn that acclaimed Canadian ice climber Guy Lacelle was swept to his death (while momentarily un-roped) during an ice climb in Hyalite Canyon (when a team climbing above him triggered a spindrift avalanche into the gully) in a competition at the Bozeman Ice Festival in Montana. Our collective hearts go out to Guy’s widow Marge, and to the many, many friends and climbing colleagues whose lives this master touched…

A 2008 Alpinist interview with Guy worth reading is here.

Twas the night before Christmas…

(Acoustic listening devices developed for the Dutch army as part of air defense systems research between World War l and World War ll… )

Toronto, Ontario

Tired of weeding through rows and rows of cards, looking for just the right one? Say goodbye to that! And say hello to Overly Generic Greeting Cards. They say just enough to apply to all situations. Nothing else says, “I care… but not quite enough to find the perfect card” like Overly Generic Greeting Cards.

We go to great lengths to be as overly generic as possible. But sometimes, it’s not quite enough. That’s why we’re giving you the chance to create your own Overly Generic Greeting Card. Go ahead, leave out the details. Be vague and non-committal about how you feel. This is truly the art of omission… (more here).

(A somewhat tongue-in-cheek “thanks” to Bob Roach for this link).

An insightful piece by Stephen Hansen…

Calgary, Alberta

My “X-mas present” just arrived by e-mail from friends Gregor & Janice… four more down-loadable clock screen-savers to choose from. (I’ve expressed my enthusiasm for clocks like this previously here, here, and here, so that made shopping easy, eh?) Thanks!

All this to-do about clocks and time does however bring to mind this cautionary old maxim: A person with a watch always knows what time it is; a person with two watches is never sure.