On Photo Referencing

Stop copying photographs!
Seriously, I keep seeing this. Even in tutorials, I see image after image that is just reproducing a photo. The point of photo references is not to reproduce the photo, but to use it to help with an image. The key word there, is "help."
Think of it like writing a paper, for school. If you just copy the encyclopedia entry, you're cheating and you're not really learning much. The point is to use multiple sources and points of reference to create something your own, hopefully something new.
Copying a photograph or another painting or drawing can be a useful exercise. But that's all it should be: exercise.  If all you know how to do is copy photographs, what are you going to do when you don't have references? Anyone can copy, it takes an artist to create, from nothing.

Just Because

The days of the week have strange names. Ever wonder how they got those names? You can read Wikipedia, but briefly,

Sunday - named for the sun, the Sun's Day
Monday - named for the moon, the Moon's Day since the sun already got one
Tuesday - named for the god most commonly referred to as Tyr. Those old Germanic spellings will get you.
Wednesday - Woden's day, another Anglo Saxon/Germanic/Norse god
Thursday - Thor. Did you not see the movie?
Friday - The only one named for a goddess, sometimes spelled Fryja, Freja, or even Frigg. So yes, Friday is friggen sweet.
Saturday - Saturn, apparently the only non-Germanic/Norse/Anglo Saxon deity that got a day (in English) But it seems it was actually named for the planet, which was named after the god.