Friday Ephemera

Apollo 17 in real time. // Real-time Titanic sinking. // Thrill small children with an E.T. barbecue. // The bohemian coffee bars are coming. (1959) // The museum of talking boards. (h/t, Coudal) // Lovely, nasty molecules. // 100 years of memorable shots. // Overly dramatic moray. // Sid James admires various markets, where you can buy sarsaparilla, eels and other “queer grub.” // Heavy Metal Parking Lot, 1986. // Hong Kong fog. // Other people’s trash. // The northernmost town on Earth. // Indulge yourself by shopping for your own private island. (h/t, Things) // Where the Earthlings live. // Can you spot the speakeasy? // “I’ve met people who said my father ruined them.” // And finally, it’s 1954 and John Gielgud is Sherlock Holmes with Orson Welles as Moriarty.

Comments

[Hal]

Real-time Titanic sinking.

Don't forget to go before you go.

or

Sing along everyone!

[Hal]

Thrill small children with an E.T. barbecue.

Ooooooh. So someone else went there too when reading that!!!

[Hal]

Lovely, nasty molecules.

Hello?

Lazarus? This is O'Niel. I'll see you in the hospital right away.

Do you know what time it is?

Yes.

You'd better be dying.

ls this going to take long?

You're kidding me.

What does that mean?

Nothing much. Blood type, cholesterol count. This blood is from a dead person.

Very good.

No alcohol. He ate dinner. Protein, carbohydrates... more carbohydrates. He didn't eat his vegetables. No nicotine. Some tranquilizers. Yeah, they're Company tranquilizers. Standard issue. Blood sugar and hemoglobin are normal. Hello.

What?

I don't know. Shit. Such a smart piece of equipment, and a wreck like me trying to run it. You know, you haven't your medical all-star here. Company doctors are like ships' doctors. Most are one shuttle flight ahead of a malpractice suit.

Something's there, isn't it?

Maybe. I spend my days dispensing tranquilizers to the workers... and certifying that the prostitutes don't have syphilis. I don't know how to analyze a new molecule. Hello.

Is it a drug?

You just won a prize.

What kind?

Some kind of narcotic. Nothing I've ever seen before. Synthetic. Bingo. Polydichloric Euthimal. Those stupid bastards are taking Polydichloric Euthimal!
It's an amphetamine. Strongest thing you ever saw. Makes you feel wonderful.
You do 14 hours of work in six hours. That kind of nonsense. Especially manual labor. It makes you work like a horse. The Army tested it a few years ago.
It made everybody work, all right. Then it made them psychotic. It takes a while,
ten, maybe eleven months. And then it fries your brain.

---Outland, 1981.

[Hal]

100 years of memorable shots.

Puuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Must file for later . . .

[Hal]

Overly dramatic moray.

Onnneeee Grecian Urn!!!!!!!!

Twooooo Grecian Urnsssss!!!!!

[Hal]

. . . various markets, where you can buy sarsaparilla, eels and other “queer grub.”

Oh. Something other than a triple martini, size 13 stiletto heels, and a feather boa?

[Hal]

Hong Kong fog.

Ooooooohhhhhhhhhh, Niiiiiiice . . .

Contrast with footage of the Hong Kong harbor, circa 1973.

[Captain Nemo]

Other people's trash

Is it just me, or is there something rather sad about photograph number 9?

[Hal]

Other people’s trash.

. . . . and a partridge in a pear tree.

[R. Sherman]

So, there are nine comments already and still five hours to Friday where I am. Is this legal?

[Hal]

The northernmost town on Earth.

A bit reminiscent of Logan's Run.

No, not the fun parts of the movie: The Book. Because---Box.

[Hal]

Can you spot the speakeasy?

Hmmm. V for Vendetta meets Tron?

[Hal]

So, there are nine comments already and still five hours to Friday where I am.

Oh, as I'm typing, it's 17:24 on Thursday afternoon for me . . .

[R. Sherman]

Is it just me, or is there something rather sad about photograph number 9?

Yeah. That's why I hate going into one of those "hillbilly chic" restaurants or bars where someone's scoured estate sales for old photos to use as decoration.

Ambiance, you know.

I recall one such locale (a Cracker Barrel knock-off) in urban Chicago where we were seated at a booth above which was a "mourning portrait" of a mother and "sleeping" child from the 19th Century. I knew what it was because I have several from my family taken after various epidemics in the 1870s. Upon leaving, I suggested to the manager that having photos of dead children on the walls was not conducive to the vibe they were trying to create. Based on the look on his face, I don't think he believed me.

[R. Sherman]

Oh, as I'm typing, it's 17:24 on Thursday afternoon for me . . .

Somewhere on the west coast. Canada perhaps, with the "17:24" reference?

[Nikw211]

OT

Another day, another opportunity for Poe’s Law to be proved true.

I don’t know much about the fine art of film-making - but I think even I can tell that the symbolism and absurd stereotyping on display in this absolute car-crash of a party political broadcast is somewhat … heavy-handed … to say the very least.

[Hal]

Is it just me, or is there something rather sad about photograph number 9?

Um, mebbe. Yes, that is the collection of the recorded lives of a number of people, but that collection was assembled from thrown out garbage, regardless of the contents of the garbage.

Yeah. That's why I hate going into one of those "hillbilly chic" restaurants or bars where someone's scoured estate sales for old photos to use as decoration.

Oh, now in that sort, y'mean something like the restaurant that had a customer use table decorated with the commemorative photo of someone getting lynched?

[David]

Students simultaneously demand tuition freeze and $20M increase in ‘diversity’ spending.

Because piety is so easy, and maths is hard.

[Hal]

Somewhere on the west coast. Canada perhaps, . . . .

As commented the other day, near a Bart station, aka the general SF bay area.

Spent this evening at a rather interesting startup company related event in SF's Chinatown, where I did get some interesting contacts, but yes, still bloody job hunting for the foreseeable future . . .

. . . with the "17:24" reference?

That's me a bit more than a geographical reference, where I tend to think in 24 hour time . . .

[Joan]

Can you spot the speakeasy?

Guild of Evil...?

[David]

Guild of Evil...?

Of course all the really good stuff’s in the sub-sub-basement.

[Hal]

I don’t know much about the fine art of film-making -

Here in the early 21st century it's actually dead easy---consider the number of video capable cell phones floating around, for one thing.---Basically, point lens, start recording, stop recording, you have a movie.

Now, regarding the content of a movie, that's what goes on or gets arranged in the front of the lens, such as a choice between Shakespeare or Johnson vs bear baiting and cock fights . . .

but I think even I can tell that the symbolism and absurd stereotyping on display in this absolute car-crash of a party political broadcast is somewhat … heavy-handed … to say the very least.

The commentary on that page certainly agrees with you . . . I didn't watch the entire piece, but it bloody well does start with the subtlety and light touch of a plastique laden cinderblock through a cathedral stained glass window . . .

[David]

And this, via Damian.

[Hal]

. . . the subtlety and light touch of . . .

Come to think of it, and also apt for this thread, consider a not too well known discussion of getting movies made.

[Joan]

And this,

Lolling.

[Liz]

And this,

Snork. I'm showing that to my eldest.

[Richard Powell]

This is worth a look - if you want to see American students deny the evidence of their senses in a way that Orwell could only have dreamed about, all achieved without obvious cruelty or coercion. Is it a fear of giving offence that creates such extreme credulity? Or a wish to avoid confrontation? Either way the wilful detachment from reality is awesome.

[Richard Powell]

Apologies - my hyperlink seems not to have worked - "This" should lead to http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/434158/watch-college-kids-cant-explain-why-short-white-man-isnt-tall-asian-woman

[Dr Cromarty]

Meanwhile, a little light weekend reading...

https://medium.com/@joe_brewer/the-pain-you-feel-is-capitalism-dying-5cdbe06a936c#.rxbze27vq

https://medium.com/@joe_brewer

Joe Brewer
I am a change strategist working on behalf of humanity, and also a complexity researcher, cognitive scientist, and evangelist for the field of culture design.

[Rafi]

if you want to see American students deny the evidence of their senses in a way that Orwell could only have dreamed about,

I bet they'll judge you for judging their non-judgementalism.

[Tom]

"Students simultaneously demand tuition freeze and $20M increase in ‘diversity’ spending."

That $20 million will bump their spending on 'diversity' up to €100 million. How can you spend €100 million on 'diversity', really, where does that money go? And as it's a public university those are tax dollars being flushed down the metaphorical, and possibly literal - there could be performance art grants in there somewhere, toilet.

I'd say there's a career in investigative journalism to be made there for a brave soul but the media seems to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the DNC so that's a non-starter.

And Friday was starting off so well...

[Tom]

@Dr Cromarty

I find it hard to take anyone seriously when they can use the phrase "The Global Politics of Wealth Extraction" without irony. I've been working in a wealth extraction mine myself now for a number of years and the local seam is starting to run dry. Have to gird the loins to move to another wealth extraction strip mine soon.

I'm sure our host has written about this before but as I get older I find it harder to overlook glaring stupidity in the media I read\watch\listen to. I was reading a book the other day on Babylon and the start of human civilisation and chucked it aside when the author compared the move to cities in the Fertile Crescent with the 'creation of the proletariat' in the Industrial Age. Anyone who uses the word 'proletariat' in either a non-ironic way or as part of a discussion on the evils of communism is not to be taken seriously. The mention in the author's bio that he worked for the BBC most of his life should have been a dead give away but hope springs eternal.

[Trevor]

How can you spend €100 million on 'diversity' ...

Janice Fiamengo makes a conservative estimate of the cost of 'Women's Studies' in Canadian higher education, and it's not to be sniffed at.

[Darleen]

Is it just me, or is there something rather sad about photograph number 9?

Not just you.

It's a break in family continuity - for one reason or other, the people in those pictures have become unmoored from time with no one to remember.

[Darleen]

@Dr Cromarty

What's fun about the author is that after the first couple of paragraphs I could just skim and pick out the Progressive buzzwords and phrases, written in such humorless earnestness I could only wish such a pajama boy could actually find himself dumped into the "natural world" without even a capitalist produced knife and told, "now, go feed yourself."

[[+]]

"TALES FROM THE WORKERS PARADISE: Venezuela cuts power for four hours a day to save energy. Venezuela, it should be remembered, is an OPEC member and ranks number one in the world for proven oil reserves."

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/232090/

[Hal]

Beware hamsters as well . . . .

[WTP]

Regarding #9...reminds me a bit of Photos of a Family that Probably Once Owned a Liquor Store, if anyone remembers that. You can still find a couple photos from that collection but I'm guessing relatives were found and had the photos removed. Which is a shame, but of course the Internet and such people can't be respectful.

[Hal]

"TALES FROM THE WORKERS PARADISE:

Oh, apparently it gets even worse . . .

Venezuelans face threat of a new ignominy -- a beer shortage

Empresas Polar, the country's largest privately-held company and biggest brewer, said Wednesday that it will be forced to stop producing beer because it has been unable to obtain the foreign currency it needs to purchase malted barley.

. . .

President Nicolas Maduro in February called Polar's billionaire owner, Lorenzo Mendoza, a "thief" and a "traitor" and blamed the company for the country's economic woes.

[Steve in Greensboro]

Apollo 17 was beautiful. A memento of when Americans respected themselves, at least enough not to elect a punk like Obama.

[mojo]

"First the whiskey run out, then the beer run out, and finally the people run out..."

[R. Sherman]

"First the whiskey run out, then the beer run out, and finally the people run out..."

"I notice when you get to dislikin' somebody, they ain't around for long neither."

[David]

The Milo roadshow rumbles on:

An Yiannopoulos supporter attempting to film the student protest was prevented from doing so after several protesters obstructed the lens on his camera with their palms. Eventually, another protester shoves the man while several bystanders shouted “Fuck that guy!” “Kick him out! Kick him out! Kick him out!” the protesters then shouted. Later, the student protesters demanded that public safety officers remove the individual who was attacked, saying his presence was a threat to them.

Also, “I think you need to calm down.”

[WTP]

"I notice when you get to dislikin' somebody, they ain't around for long neither."

"Well, you gonna pull them pistols or whistle Dixie?"

[Spiny Norman]

Captain Nemo,

Is it just me, or is there something rather sad about photograph number 9?

Yes, quite so.

A couple of years before my grandmother passed away at 97, she was going through boxes of old photos, marking on the back who was in the picture and where it was taken, and throwing away those she couldn't remember. I was struck by one photo of my grandfather taken around 1940 in front of a shop on Prospect Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. I immediately recognized the street corner as it had appeared prominently in an episode of the A&E crime show The First 48 about serial killer Terry Blair. Needless to say, the neighborhood where they once lived is not the same as it was 76 years ago.

I saved all the old photos she didn't want to keep, thinking I might scan some of those with recognizable buildings or landmarks and post them on Facebook to see if anyone else might know where it was taken, but there are close to a hundred of them and it seems a Herculean task at this point. But still, I don't want to throw them out, because many are 80 or 90 years old, and to me are like a bit of history.

[wtp]

Spiney, there are businesses, at least here in the States, I'm sure elsewhere, that will image them for you. I've had it done with slides, which isn't quite as expensive, but it is somewhat reasonable.

I've got photos of family going back over 100 years now. Not sure who most of the people are but since some are taken at grave sites I can piece bits of them back together and some do have family resemblances. Some are dated but no names, however.

[PiperPaul]

Just take decent digital photos of the pictures for the time being, that way at least you'll have something before finishing that scanning project that'll likely never get started before you lose the originals or they are damaged (I speak from experience).

[Spiny Norman]

wtp,

I used to work for an imaging company in San Diego that did that (among many other things), and I assume they still do. I have a scanner and could do it myself, but if I were to pay someone to do the drudgery of scanning them en masse, that's who I'd call. They seem to have survived the last two recessions, but they're in a much smaller, but nicer facility than when I worked there. I'm guessing that the photographic lab department I was a part of no longer exists.

[mojo]

"Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy."

[WTP]

"Yeah, well, I always heard there were three kinds of suns in Kansas, sunshine, sunflowers, and sons-of-bitches."

[mojo]

True enough.

Oh, BTW, how y'all like our asshole of a President? Understand now why HM wanted nothing to do with the arrogant lout? "Back of the queue" indeed.

Thank god he's gone in January.

[R. Sherman]

"I never surrendered. They took my horse and made him surrender. Got 'im pulling a wagon up in Kansas, I bet."

[WTP]

OK, my last but favorite volley.

" It's sad that governments are chiefed by the double tongues. There is iron in your words of death for all Comanche to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life... or death. It shall be life."

[Hal]

. . . , but there are close to a hundred of them and it seems a Herculean task at this point. . .

Relatively, not at all. Have a good current computer and a flatbed scanner, which I have, and you're set---Last week I helped with an upcoming awards show where I scanned ~152 photos of various sizes over about five hours, no problems . . .

And, as noted, there are companies that do scanning.

[Hal]

. . . now why HM wanted . . .

HM?

[mojo]

Her Maj, Liz Deuce

[R. Sherman]

My last:

"Red Legs? They're with the Union. You'll find 'em up in Kansas. And, we're 'a goin' up there to set things a'right."

"I'll be comin' with you."

[R. Sherman]

I lied:

"Well Mr. Carpetbagger, we have something 'round here called "a Missouri boat ride."

[Rich Rostrom]

Interesting thing about that Russian "speakeasy" (it's not illegal, so not really a speakeasy): the permanent signage of the noodle-shop front is in Chinese and English - not Russian. It looks something one might see in a gritty U.S. urban area: the worn wooden floor, the flaky neon sign in the front window, the dingy overhead sign, the color pictures of the dishes on offer, the rusting air conditioner. The panel over the Tsingtao beer cooler says "BIERE BEER CERVEZA", so perhaps not Britain, but I think it's a standard Tsingtao sign. (Also the neon sign says "TAKE OUT", not "TAKE AWAY".) Next to the beer cooler is a soft drinks cooler with Arizona Iced Tea, Fanta soda, Sprite, Nestea, Green Tea (all U.S. brands).(The cooler has a shelf of Bright fruit drinks in cans - mango, guava, lichee. Bright is a Filipino brand, but I've seen similar displays in the U.S.)

I think it must be a deliberate creation.

There's one deliberate breach in the illusion - the glass-front display box next to the door holds a calendar of performers at the club for November 2013. And of further interest, the calendar is in English, too. However, there are whiteboards on the noodle shop's left wall with prices marked up in Russian and English, and another next to the counter, so the illusion is not allowed to interfere with the noodle business.

Is it perhaps an implicit homage to the look of U.S. streets, perhaps as filtered through movies, or maybe one specific movie?

(BTW, one can explore the place in such detail with Google StreetView; there's a link in the TwistedSifter page linked by David. One can also turn, look down the street, and... it is Russia.)

[Hal]

I think it must be a deliberate creation.

Oh, absolutely.

[hws]

The Milo roadshow rumbles on

Sorry, still don't like him.

[David]

Sorry, still don’t like him.

The thing is, you don’t have to like the man to register the protestors’ reactions to him and what they reveal. I.e., an authoritarian impulse, wrapped in role-play and passive-aggressive hysteria. Such that not being allowed to queue-jump is immediately denounced as “white supremacy.”

Imagine, for instance, that Laurie Penny were speaking at a campus near you, or near me. She would most likely say lots of things you or I disagree with, perhaps quite emphatically, and her supporters would most likely be idiots with equally pernicious and objectionable views. But I somehow doubt this would be enough to make either of us feel entitled to spend the evening haranguing those wanting to hear her speak, or to shove them and scream abuse at them, or to physically obstruct them and push them to the ground, or to set off the fire alarm, or to summon the police, or to demand that she be prevented from sharing her idiocy on any campus in the country. For the sake of our mental wellbeing.

There’s an asymmetry, and it’s interesting.

[Ten]

A liberal petitions for the end of quasi-official social justice. And it's working.

https://youtu.be/vN0oKIMlHyI

https://www.change.org/p/universities-suspend-social-justice-in-universities

Evidently liberalism is not dead.

[Hedgehog]

Apollo 17 was beautiful.

Yes, gives you a healthy respect for men in white shirts and narrow ties and short hair cuts and horn-rimmed glasses. Where did they all go?

[Hal]

Yes, gives you a healthy respect for men in white shirts and narrow ties and short hair cuts and horn-rimmed glasses. Where did they all go?

Weeelllll . . . If you're looking for the outdated costuming, find the nearest hipster.

If you're looking for the adult, mature, competent, scientist and engineer, they are around and are doing excellent work.

The complication is the current situation where the initial starting tools for doing such work are currently swamped in hipsters that are actually doing marketing, not engineering, and claiming that a startup that does the same thing as forty other startups is to be recognized as significant . . .

[Jonathan]

OK Go - White Knuckles .With Dogs!

Via Steve Sailer

[Captain Nemo]

It's nice to know it's not just me who finds photograph number nine quite poignant. I also think I agree with many of the points raised by Darleen and Spiny as to why it's sad. And Hal, I should explain that I'm happy that they have been preserved; I just think it's sad that they ended up in the rubbish in the first place. Incidentally, my apologies for being tardy with this response, but I have been dealing with a private personal matter.