Stuff with sand...

Oh, I love these!

 

Okay, that Kseniya Simonova video was amazing!!! Amm0, do you do anything but surf the net looking for this stuff?

According to some of the comments on the YouTube site, the sand animation tells the history of the Ukraine, from peace with old Russia, through the wars, invasions, good and bad periods with the Soviets, etc., up to the present. Which is why some of the audience were crying.

I think this is my new favorite YouTube video.

 

The 27th "letter" of the alphabet:


The word ampersand is a conflation of the phrase "and per se and",
meaning "and [the symbol which] by itself [is] and". The Scots and
Scottish English name for & is epershand, derived from "et per se and",
with the same meaning.

Traditionally, in English-speaking schools when reciting the alphabet,
any letter that could also be used as a word in itself ("A," "I," and, at
one point, "O") was preceded by the Latin expression "per se" (Latin for
"by itself"). Also, it was common practice to add at the end of the
alphabet the "&" sign, pronounced "and". Thus, the recitation of the
alphabet would end in: "X, Y, Z and per se and." This last phrase was
routinely slurred to "ampersand" and the term crept into common
English usage by around 1837. [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand]Ampersand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


300&65 Ampersands

 

:hail: :cheer2: :kiss: :wub:

 

An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a
thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as
long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane in Japan is one of
the mystical or holy creatures (others include the dragon and the
tortoise), and is said to live for a thousand years. In Asia, it is
commonly said that folding 1000 paper origami cranes makes a
person's wish come true. [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_origami_cranes]Thousand origami cranes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


To help you get started:

'K?

 

I think it's rather a stretch to include ampersand in a thread about "stuff with sand." I used to make folded paper cranes. I made bunches of them when I was in prison, being as I was there for a peace protest. I have no idea what they have to do with this thread, however. Unless it's because the crane is a water bird and there is sometimes sand next to water.

 

Daniel,

It is a matter of perception... my perception at any rate.
This is kind of like trying to explain a joke.

"Sand" being only the uncountable grains of silica that forms the majority
of the land/water littoral seems to me to be a pedantic point of view.

Sand could lead through its being mostly silica to glass.
Many beautiful and useful associations there, but still mundane.

Taking small liberties, s-a-n-d, as a string of four letters appearing
in an English word, opens the options immeasurably. Which yields both
ampersand and thousand. Stuff, words as stuff in this case, with s-a-n-d.

As to the cranes, The Thousand Cranes, I cannot think of a more
uplifting, open-ended way is to illustrate thousand.
Conceptually, it is meant to connect to this.

That's my story, and I'm sticking with it.