NB: Newyorkette will try to do a few less fluffy stories now and then in the future, but we’re very sensitive here, and the stuff going on in Gaza, and murders, and that sort of stuff, well, we find it hard to draw. Sometimes it’s enough to just get really really upset. But we’ll try.

 (Click on the image for the article in the New York Times)

One way or another these dancers will find their way to keep dancing in their lives. What I found most interesting was their weight. Personally, I don’t care for ballet and it’s body-deforming ways, but it’s always interesting to see a ballet dancer short on grace, and with at least a little body fat on her.

Arab women earn their wings and take to the skies, but not necessarily to the culture clash back home: In Booming Gulf, Some Arab Women Find Freedom in the Skies

There was something nice under that suit, if one’s to go by the hullabaloo over the pics of Obama shirtless in Hawaii.  And Michelle looks pretty good, herself!

UPDATE: this illo got picked up by 23/6, here.

Guest “newyorkette times” news cartoonist, Michael Crawford weighs in on the Repairs on undersea cable, as reported by the BBC.

There’s some serious trouble in Zimbabwe, in case you haven’t heard.

Above is how time flies for me. I did this doodle this morning while drinking my coffee. Suddenly I realized it was time to run to my day job! Thus, “time” and “carrots.”

As far as cartoons go, here’s my latest in The New Yorker:

And here’s my debut on 23/6, the Huffington Post’s comic relief site, with a musing on President Bush and the Shoe Incident.

Whatever whole animal you fund, I’ll send you a drawing of it (or another animal, if you prefer). First come, first serve. But these are not the last drawings. I plan on doing more. Click on the goat above for more pics of other beasties!

UPDATE: if you’re having qualms about spending a whole animal amount, we can work something out if you’re only buying shares of a few animals to give in some of your friends’ names.

The idea is that if the water levels are at equal levels (from the floor) at the outset, the tree will drink the water from it’s reservoir, causing the water level in the reservoir to lower, which in turn will cause the tube to suck in more water from the number 2 reservoir automatically. It’s basic physics!  All you need to do is check the water level in the reservoir doesn’t get too low for the trick to work.  Put a mark at the good high level. My tree seems to drink it down to about a quarter inch below that marker a day.

The hardest part is getting the water to go through the tube and into the tree reservoir’s pan without an air bubble. To do this, suck the water from reservoir 2 into your mouth (just a little, no need to chug it), then quickly block the end of the tube with your thumb without allowing an air gap, then insert that end into the water in the tree reservoir’s pan. Pin it under the tree trunk if there’s a little space there, the opening needs to be in the lowest part of the reservoir. 

Check on the water level every now and then.

UPDATE: it works! the water level in reservoir 2 has gone down by a quarter inch. Success!!!

NEW UPDATE: put the tree trunk in a bucket of water the first night — it really drinks like crazy the first night or two. Then put it in the tree stand.

ALSO: if you notice the water is not moving in the tube once the water gets to a certain level, put a towel under the tree stand, and fill the reservoir to a point a little higher than the tree stand. This will cause it to overflow very slowly onto the towel. By slowly, I mean you won’t be able to perceive it if you watch it. Go take a shower or something. When you come back, just skim off the excess, and it should be sipping away fine for the next few days.