Pocketkamera Stories

A plastic procession. A cabal of color. A throng of things carefully lined up for our viewing but only for the adventurous who journey to the land of lost toys. Our hero (name withheld because I forgot to ask) seeks and finds the lonely, discarded extruded polymers that once filled Toys-R-Us but which have been outgrown and forgotten. He is drawn to markets and yard sales where he discovers the treasures that he brings back to his enclave hidden deep […]

I don’t hate fishing. I just don’t think I like it. It has a romantic aura. Dip your line peacefully in calm water. Relax and wait patiently. Feel a nibble and catch a prize. What’s not to like? It’s more slippery than it’s image. First you have to bait the hook, maybe by torturing a poor earthworm and then drowning it. If it survives long enough underwater, it may then have half its body bitten off by a hungry fish. […]

He is hyper-cautious and rarely ventures out in the day. It’s just not safe, or so he believes. He may be right. There are many things to be on the lookout for. The streets are dangerous places that we often take for granted. Big rolling masses of metal piloted by Twitter-following operators pass by frequently. There are curbs and sidewalks to navigate. Chewing gum and occasional dog droppings to avoid. Falling clouds, fingerprint thieves, binary crayons, overripe avocados, feral tinsel…. […]

I’m definitely getting some messages, here. I’m pretty sure it is intentional, on purpose, meant for intellectual consumption. I think I know what I’m being messaged. Let see if I’ve got this right… Someone in the family likes to run, That someone is a woman. The man in the photo must be an anthropologist, having discovered humanoid remains that he silver plated and put on display. These humanoid had very unusual ear structures. This apparently make birds angry. One simply […]

A happy face set in stone must be a good sign. Combined with a flag is extra assurance. Americans are known (sort of) for being positive friendly people. I saw this yard art and stopped to admire and photograph it (from a public street). I was spied by the happy-face owner who was not happy. Yelling at me from her porch she challenged my intent. Perhaps she thought that in the middle of the day on a modestly busy street […]

They may not be “perpetual” perpetual motion machines but they seem that way. They run off of biofuel so I guess that means they are actually just regular machines. Biochines. There is plenty of research, experimenting, prototyping and exploration around sources of alternative energy to produce electricity. I bet this source holds promise. At a minimum I bet you could light your house and maybe run your AC if you could figure out how to tap it. It runs on […]

I always though cicadas were just big, goofy insects. They don’t seem too bright, often bumping into things and crash landing with a surprised and slightly vacant look. But, I’m way off. Totally wrong, misinformed, entomologically ignorant. They are among the smartest insects in the world with an I.I.Q. rivalling such brainy bugs as the Madagascar toe jam beetle and the Asian rough-bellied lizard mantis. They aren’t great flyers when they first emerge because they need a little time to […]

It must take nerves of steel and an unbending will to dive off of great heights into a raging current. Courage is the act of doing something that scares you. It is the ability to move forward into the abyss if that is where your future lies. These divers know no bounds. They leap with conviction and confidence never being 100% certain they will survive to leap again.

Is there a little statue of a man (or a statue of a little man) on your lawn? Is it holding an imaginary horse or maybe a lantern? Who decided to have a person who races horses stand in a front yard? How do real jockeys feel about this? Originally they were supposed to be representing footmen, a male domestic worker. You could could actually hitch your horse to it. Sometimes they held a lantern. Legend has it that Jocko […]

The NJ Pinelands are interesting. Except for rapidly encroaching development along the edges the region is mostly natural area, much of it protected. You can drive for miles through the pine forests and then suddenly come across something interesting. While passing through the region I came across a patch of road that for some reason was covered in graffiti for no apparent reason. It was deep in the Pinelands far from any towns or buildings. When I stopped to get […]