Friday Ephemeraren’t

As I was pushed for time this week, you’ll have to throw together your own pile of links and oddities in the comments. However, I’ll set the ball rolling with a demonstration of stealth, how to deal with lawn pimples, a life lesson, some marble and acrylic furniture of note, and the ball that didn’t fall. 

Oh, and if this isn’t serendipity, I don’t know what is. 

Comments

[Pogonip]

I want my own lawn bubble. All we ever get is giant mushrooms.

[sH2]

Toilet seat museum.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/toilet-seat-museum-barney-smith

[Hal]

demonstration of stealth,

Of course, the classic guide regarding How Not To be Seen.

[David]

Not-at-all-complicated hotel shower. Via Damian.

He has a cunning plan.

Everything wrong with Blade Runner. Also, poor structure and pacing.

[John D]

Everything wrong with Blade Runner. Also, poor structure and pacing.

*starts writing angry letter*

[David]

*starts writing angry letter*

Heh. I realise it’s heresy in some circles, but it’s never struck me as a great film - nowhere near as good as, say, Alien. It’s often pretty to look at, granted, and influential; but I can’t say I’ve enjoyed watching it, particularly, though I’ve seen it several times, in various edits. The script is unremarkable and not entirely coherent, and I doubt anyone could seriously claim that it’s Harrison Ford’s best performance. The structure and pacing are poor and there’s very little sense of dramatic momentum. It doesn’t engage concern for any of the characters, except perhaps when J F Sebastian receives his visitors (and then ends up killed off-screen). For the most part, it just sort of drifts by, albeit handsomely.

[Wh00ps]

It doesn’t engage concern for any of the characters

I get tears in my eyes for Roy Batty's death every time. Maybe that says more about me than it does about you ;)

[TomJ]

Sinister.

[Hal]

Every once in awhile I get offered a hotel room as a part of whatever local project I'm helping run.

Not-at-all-complicated hotel shower.

That is exactly why I turn down the hotel room in favor of staying at home and commuting in . . .

[David]

That is exactly why I turn down the hotel room in favor of staying at home and commuting in . . .

Once you get shampoo in your eyes, you’re pretty much doomed.

[Hal]

Everything wrong with Blade Runner.

That. is. funny.

. . . . For rather awhile, I've been thinking that a very interesting pair of movie projects would be to make a movie of The Bladerunner . . . and then also make a movie of Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep . . . .

[TomJ]

Meanwhile, in fable news…

[Jen]

Not-at-all-complicated hotel shower.

To turn on the shower you need a diploma in plumbing.

[David]

To turn on the shower you need a diploma in plumbing.

You have to cross-connect the phase modulator and then input the fourth and seventh letters of your mother’s maiden name…

[ Searing heat intensifies. ]

[Lancastrian Oik]

Just another day at the 11' 8" bridge in Durham, NC.

[Tim Newman]

Just another day at the 11' 8" bridge in Durham, NC.

You're not from Lancaster, NC are you?

[Pst314]

The shower was Bloody Stupid Johnson's senior thesis project.

[Joan]

Straw sculptures.

https://youtu.be/Gqh-4c0IRmM

[[+]]

Liking dogs means you're a racist.

https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/10-not-racist-at-all-things-white-people-do-that-make-m-1819152214

[Captain Nemo]

A touching tale of burgeoning love:

https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-scammer-reply-anil-khullar/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=BPFacebook

[Sam]

A touching tale of burgeoning love

Points for 'cock snorkler'.

[Darleen]

straw sculptures

More on the Wara Art Festival.

We didn't get there last year, but loved Japan so much, I'm noting this for future visits!

[Darleen]

Liking dogs means you're a racist

Poe's Law?

I know, it's The Root but, dayum, how exhausting to get up and spend every waking minute looking for signs of "hidden/unconscious" racism.

[Tom]

You have to cross-connect the phase modulator...

Whoa, whoa, whoa... you better reverse the polarity before cross-connecting the phases or... BOOM!

[MC]

it’s never struck me as a great film

I stopped reading after that.

I have torches to fashion and pitchforks to sharpen...

[Tom]

The shower was Bloody Stupid Johnson's senior thesis project.

Full marks that man! For the Discworld reference.

[R. Sherman]

And it wonders why we don't take their calls for alumni dollars anymore.

[Rafi]

[ Searing heat intensifies. ]

It's a shower for people who think being scalded and blinded by shampoo isn't enough of a challenge.

[David]

It’s a shower for people who think being scalded and blinded by shampoo isn’t enough of a challenge.

“The capital of Slovenia…? Um, er, give a minute…”

[ Klaxon sounds. Shower cubicle begins to vibrate alarmingly. ]

[pst314]

And it wonders why we don't take their calls for alumni dollars anymore.

"...asking students to consider having 'a counselor present' for 'potentially triggering' events."

"Counselor" = "Commissar".

[David]

The robotic cat you’ve always wanted.

[Darleen]

The robotic cat you’ve always wanted.

Tribbles got tails?

[pst314]

Tribbles got tails?

To determine if it is indeed a Tribble, speak to it in Klingon.

[pst314]

The robotic cat you’ve always wanted.

I'm not sure whether to laugh at the absurdity or weep at what the proliferation of robotic companions says about modern life.

[MC]

The robotic cat you’ve always wanted.

I'm a big fan of all things Japanese, but things without heads are not cute and strokey.

[PiperPaul]

"looking for signs of "hidden/unconscious" racism"

Can't you get expensive, advanced degrees in just this sort of thing and then go on to a profitable career in parasitism?

[R. Sherman]

“The capital of Slovenia…?"

For the love...it's Bratislava!!! I didn't use Google, I swear! There are four..five..whatever...fingers!

[R. Sherman]

No...really. I meant Ljubljana...Turn it off! Turn it off!

[David]

it’s Bratislava!!!

[ Shower cubicle now juddering violently. Tiles shake loose. Through dense clouds of superheated steam shrieking can be heard. ]

[David]

I know, it’s The Root but,

It appears to be a publication for racial monomaniacs, whose Angry Studies degrees are eating them from the inside out.

[jabrwok]

but things without heads are not cute and strokey.

Put on some googly eyes and glued-on cat ears and call it an Anime cat!

Re: racist dog owners.

Fine. I'm a racist. I like dogs and am of northern European extraction for probably the last 20 or so generations (if we ignore the Persian great-grandmother).

Don't care.

Pity all these oppressed PoCs are chained to the radiators here in the Evul White CisHeteroNormative Patriarchy of America (EWChnPA). Elsewise they could just up and move to a better place, surrounded by Sun People, and show us evil Ice People how to live in peace and harmony.

[SumDumGuy]

This might actually be cultural appropriation..

[David]

When you start from a faulty, self-flattering premise, mental garbage will tend to pile up.

[Darleen]

This might actually be cultural appropriation..

Rachel Dolezal, courtesy phone please.

[jabrwok]

Bill Clinton, Trump supporter before it was cool! (via Ace)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=51ojuOt-TnU

[Darleen]

Never lose a shoelace.

[Angus]

Is loving dogs still racist if I love black labradors? Or is that even worse?

[Hal]

You have to cross-connect the phase modulator and then input the fourth and seventh letters of your mother’s maiden name…

. . . In which language? And isn't one of those inputs for cuneiform?

[Hal]

This might actually be cultural appropriation..

She said on ITV's This Morning: 'I want to go to Africa to learn about the culture'

the culture.

Lesseee . . . .

[Hal]

Is loving dogs still racist if I love black labradors? Or is that even worse?

There could be a question of what sauce is served on the dog in question, or which side dish along with.

[Daniel Ream]

For the most part, it just sort of drifts by, albeit handsomely.

William Gibson has said that while he was writing Neuromancer he went to see Blade Runner and came home despondent and ready to quit because everything he'd been trying to evoke in prose was right there, on screen.

I think the thing with Blade Runner is that like so many "classic" SF movies it's Big Idea SF. We appreciate the fact that someone raised the idea without being too critical of the execution. (cf. also Run, Logan's)

[Pogonip]

She better choose her "Africa" carefully; I've read that the click languages are impossible to learn as an adult.

If you want to hear a sample of click language, track down Miriam Makeba's recording of "Pata Pata." She's not making those clicks for rhythm, they're in the words she's singing.

Thalia's clickless Spanish version is good too.

[Ray]

Loving black Labradors is racist because Guy Gibson.

[Triumphant Ape]

Has this been here before?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n8fn7k9NiE

[Achillea]

It's Friday. Time to relax.

[Hal]

Has this been here before?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n8fn7k9NiE

Back in May, second line.

[David]

It’s Friday. Time to relax.

Heh.

[TomJ]

Is loving dogs still racist if I love black labradors? Or is that even worse?

Ask Guy Gibson…

[David]

Higher indoctrination.

What’s interesting isn’t so much the professor’s political idiocy, which I kind of assume these days, but her impropriety and presumption. She evidently doesn’t think that anyone in her class will dare to disagree, or will dare to point out that what she’s doing is unprofessional.

[Andy]

She evidently doesn’t think that anyone in her class will dare to disagree, or will dare to point out that what she’s doing is unprofessional.

Students need to start standing up to this crap. Record it and complain.

[David]

Students need to start standing up to this crap. Record it and complain.

Yes, record it, absolutely. Though complaining, at least in class, is easier said than done. If your teacher feels entitled to use class time to mouth her adolescent politics, at length, as if they were facts, then what else does she feel entitled to do – say, regarding grades? It isn’t fanciful to suspect that her disapproval of being challenged, either on facts or unprofessional conduct, might be reflected in grading or some other leverage. Clearly, there’s an assumption of impunity.

But when students feel that they can only object to a teacher’s inappropriate political ramblings when out of earshot, anonymously, then I’d say that’s a problem. And that this problem is, as we’ve seen, hardly uncommon, suggests an institutional dysfunction.

[Crawford]

"Is loving dogs still racist if I love black labradors? Or is that even worse?"

Hey, hey! Black labs matter!

[David]

However bad your day has been, spare a thought for those who really suffer.

[pst314]

"spare a thought for those who really suffer."

Time to re-post the link to the video of of eco-nuts weeping hysterically for trees slaughtered by the eevil logging industry?

[David]

This one?

[Spiny Norman]

Daniel,

William Gibson has said that while he was writing Neuromancer he went to see Blade Runner and came home despondent and ready to quit because everything he'd been trying to evoke in prose was right there, on screen.

Replace "despondent and ready to quit" with "stunned and thrilled" and that was Philip K Dick's reaction. The film he saw was nowhere near finished, and he died before the film was completed*, so never saw the final product.

(*Considering how much time Ridley Scott has spent messing with it over the years, I'd say it has never actually been completed.)

[Pogonip]

Leave Brittany alone!

[bgates]

spare a thought for those who really suffer

Point: The ‘tears of joy’ emoji is the worst of all – it’s used to gloat about human suffering.

CounterPoint.

[David]

Considering how much time Ridley Scott has spent messing with it over the years, I'd say it has never actually been completed.

That would explain a lot.

[pst314]

This one?

Yes, that's it. One would have to have a heart of stone to not laugh at those people.

[Patrick Brown]

I went to the Emoji article, and was delighted to find that at the comment thread there is a "Guardian Pick" comment by staff member Martin Belam, that reads:

Your regular reminder that if you are about to moan about this being published, we publish about 600 articles a day, of which this is one, and you can find all the news is over here -> https://www.theguardian.com/uk

followed by

And yes, I did get paid for writing that comment :-)

Can almost... reach... self-awareness...

[David]

Can almost... reach... self-awareness...

The Guardian has an extensive emoji section. Yes, a whole section. Six pages (to date) of emoji-related commentary.

[David]

Can almost... reach... self-awareness...

What’s also eye-catching is the number of comments that get deleted over there. At the moment it’s close to 30%. A new Guardian record, surely?

[Hal]

However bad your day has been, spare a thought for those who really suffer . . . Can almost... reach... self-awareness...

Arson, anyone?

[Hal]

Perhaps we should hose these fantasist parasites into the sea . . . Until they starve or die from pestilence.

Gee, David, you seem to have gotten rather more relaxed over the years.

The everclear martinis must have been helping.

[WTP]

On a more bitter-sweet note, 90,000 Gator fans sing tribute to Gainesville's hometown music hero, Tom Petty. May he rest in peace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNmf_zHIGQE