Wednesday 27 May 2009

Paul Smith - An Extraordinary Man

Paul Smith, the man with extraordinary talent was born in Philadelphia on 21 September 1921, with severe cerebral palsy. Not only had Paul beaten the odds of life with spastic cerebral palsy, a disability that impeded his speech and mobility, but also taught himself to become a master artist as well as a terrific chess player even after being devoid of a formal education as a child.
When typing Paul used his left hand to steady his right one. Since he couldn't pres two keys at the same time, he almost always locked the shift key down and made his pictures using the symbols at the top of the number keys. In other words, his pictures were based on these characters...@ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ .
Across seven decades, Paul created hundreds of pictures of which he often gave the originals away, Sometimes, but not always, he kept or received a copy for his own records.
As his mastery of the typewriter grew, he developed techniques to create shadings, colours and textures that made his work resemble pencil or charcoal drawings.
This great man passed away on 25 June 2007, but left behind a collection of his amazing artwork that will be an inspiration for many.
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You can see some examples of Paul Smith's artwork in the article immediately following this. Further articles showing more of his incredible work will appear in the Journal over the next few days.
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Paul Smith - Typewriter Art

Following on from the previous article, here are the first batch of Paul Smith's pictures produced on his typewriter. Watch out for more pictures in the Journal over the next few days.










Brainteaser - Tuesday's Answer

In yesterdays Brainteaser you were asked to work out the correct order in which the jewels on a scroll case had to be pressed in order to open it. The answer was:
Garnet-Amethyst-Aquamarine-Diamond-Emerald-Pearl-Ruby-Peridot-Sapphire-Opal-Topaz-Turquoise
The reason being that the above order of the stones represent the birthstones for each month of the year Garnet (Jan), Amethyst (Feb), and so on.

Congratulations if you solved this somewhat difficult brainteaser!

The Human Body

It takes your food seven seconds to get to your mouth from your stomach.

One human hair can support 3kg (6.6lb).

The average man's penis is three times the length of his thumb.

Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

A woman's heart beats faster than a man's.

There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.

Women blink twice as often as men.

The average person's skin weighs twice as much as the brain.

Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.

If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.

Women reading this will be finished now.

Men are still busy checking their thumbs.

Wildlife Pictures No.20

This is cute! The latest picture from our
Wildlife Pictures series.

Definitions

Eyedropper
A clumsy ophthalmologist

Experience
The name men give to their mistakes

Fable
A story told by teenagers arriving home after curfew

Family Planning
The art of spacing your children the proper distance apart to keep you on the edge of financial disaster.

Maxine's World