Friday Ephemera

A compendium of intriguing hairy stumps. || The customer is always right. || Automated cat noises. || The thrill of carrots. || Suboptimal driving conditions. || Diversity on demand. (h/t, Jonathan) || She’s an academic. || Returner 77 is a game. || The Room: Old Sins is also a game. || Good deed. || The Great Wall of China, in fog. || He fell well. || “Women’s art.” || “Postqualitative research.” || Riposte of note. || “Will there be construction equipment to move the heavy parts?” || His tiny worlds are more detailed than yours. || More BBC sound effects than you could shake a stick at. || New Zealand does not exist. || Four seasons in the life of a small Finnish island. || To reignite hope, or failing that, to shorten the fall. || And finally, refreshingly, the eternal quest for sambuca.

Comments

[Captain Nemo]

"Women's Art".

Such inspiring. Very beauty. Much wow. After all, what is rubbish like this: https://twitter.com/womensart1/status/989561586896527361 compared to that?

[Pogonip]

Yay! You got something!

[Sam Duncan]

“The thrill of carrots.”

Fun carrot fact: modern carrots are orange rather than the various shades of purple or white of ye carrottes of olde because they were originally cultivated by the Dutch. I am genuinely not making this up.

“Suboptimal driving conditions.”

More roads that stretch the definition to breaking point.

[Pogonip]

I saw that Great Wall picture on the Prufrock newsletter a few days ago. It (the Wall) looks like something a tourist would see in Middle-earth.

[pst314]

To reignite hope, or failing that, to shorten the fall

Reminiscent of what Hari Seldon said to Galactic Empire's Commission of Public Safety.

[lotocoti]

His tiny worlds are more detailed than yours.

Unless you are Chuck Doan.

[R. Sherman]

New Zealand does not exist.

Neither does Bielefeld.

[Lloyd]

Diversity on demand

That site is evidently run by members of affirmative action minorities who (understandably) both resent and revel in their sacred cow status. Their testimonials have something of the same tone as pretty women complaining/humblebragging about the kind of attention they get.

[pst314]

New Zealand does not exist.

Which is proof that Hobbiton does not exist. Or is that vice-versa?

[pst314]

Drug uses shooting up in San Francisco BART stations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gT5NULvRSk

YouTube has lots of videos documenting the situation.

[Spiny Norman]

His tiny worlds are more detailed than yours.

Yep. They certainly are.

35-odd years ago, when I was on a scale modeling binge, I used to super-detail the airplane and tank models (if anyone out there knows the term "kitbashing", you're a kindred spirit) and make little dioramas as display stands. Nothing remotely close to as elaborate as these, just a "realistic" base. I thought they were decent enough to display at the local hobby shop. I did get a photo of one published in Fine Scale Modeler.

Unfortunately, my then-3-year-old sister thought they were cool toys.

[Hal]

“Will there be construction equipment to move the heavy parts?”

Oh, just use enough dynamite, that'll be just fine. Really.

[Spiny Norman]

A bit of grim, but utterly fascinating Twitter ephemera:

https://twitter.com/PaulMMCooper/status/989100350044082176

[Alice]

To reignite hope, or failing that, to shorten the fall

Faith in humanity almost restored.

[David]

Faith in humanity almost restored.

It’s quite a potent bit of symbolism. One that sometimes, as in this case, is just enough.

[Daniel Ream]

His tiny worlds are more detailed than yours.

Bull-shit they are.

[Connor]

To reignite hope, or failing that, to shorten the fall

Hats off to the truck drivers.

[David]

Hats off to the truck drivers.

Well, yes. And to whoever devised the response. The news item presents the thing as a practical measure to shorten any fall, but the symbolism strikes me as just as important, if not more so. I should imagine that the sight of dozens of strangers, ordinary people, prioritising you over their own deadlines and commitments, for hours, and doing it in a rather dramatic and unusual way, in the hope that maybe you’ll change your mind, can be quite affecting. At a time when it’s most needed.

[David]

No Safe Spaces.

[Rafi]

And finally, refreshingly, the eternal quest for sambuca.

Love the phrase (in the comments) "tactical chunder".

[Hector Drummond, Vile Novelist]

"More BBC sound effects than you could shake a stick at."

But where's the handwringing sound effect?

[David]

Love the phrase (in the comments) “tactical chunder”.

Ah, it’s the language of Shakespeare, you know.

And I suspect poor Meg hasn’t yet realised that aniseed flavouring is something best used sparingly, not gargled in a club.

[PiperPaul]

"But where's the handwringing sound effect?"

Also, is there a "PING!"?

[David]

Also, is there a “PING!”?

Ah, the sweetest sound of all.

[David]

Love the phrase (in the comments) “tactical chunder”.

Speaking of inebriated ladies, some scenes from Belfast.

A description favoured in the comments is “feral little slags.” Which is not entirely unfair.

Via Holborn.

[David]

I recently saw the new trailer for the re-release of Kubrick’s 2001. The trailer is cut for an audience most likely familiar with the film. So then I wondered what an audience that didn’t know anything about the film would make of it.

[Sonny Wayze]

...tiny worlds, etc:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24796741@N05/

[Franklin]

“Postqualitative research.”

Relevant Homestar Runner.

[Chris Ivey]

Re: rent a minority - the sad truth is that this site is actually the work of a woke minority, (Arwa Mahdawi) who feels we need to do a whole lot more to address institutional inequality, by making things a little less equal for those of the paler persuasion.

[jabrwok]

Speaking of non-existant countries. I like San Seriffe the best.

Ping!

[WTP]

Waitaminute...I thought that rent-a-minority/diversity-on-demand thing was sarcasm/parody/whatevs. Rudy Kipling? Cecil Rhodes (COO of Fox News)? But are you saying it's a so-woke-it's-more-woke-than-woke, yet not woke from being woke? This hall of mirrors crap is getting old. Way old. Or I am.

Did I mention that recently we hired a lawyer to do our Wills and in the contract with the lawyer they actually recommended that we hire a lawyer to review the contract, you know, the one we were signing with THE LAWYER? When I mentioned this absurdity to some other lawyers, they were very, very adamant that the lawyers were suggesting that to protect me. Of course. Because they can't be trusted. One wonders WTF people do at the Bar Association anyway? This crap is nuts.

[Clam]

tactical chunder

Band name.

[Fruitbat44]

Small Finnish Island. You really could imagine the Moomim's living there. :)

[Governor Squid]

In 1999, artist Miriam Schapiro created etchings of handmade bonnets, doilies, and antimacassars. The work 'Anonymous was a Woman', honoured the labour of women whose names are lost to history, their handmade items having been relegated to 'crafts' rather than artworks.

Relegated? I've spent more time at the V&A than all the other museums and galleries in my world travels combined, because I adore useful things crafted skillfully and beautifully far more than I value Yet Another Pastoral Landscape painted in oils. I'll spend five times more time looking through the Creative Arts building at the State Fair than I do at the Fine Arts exhibition, because I find woodworking and quilting and knitting and embroidery far more impressive than whatever pile of chewing gum and twine is coughed up by the tortured souls who insist we recognize them as artists. If such artists feel themselves on a plane above 'mere' artisans, that's no reflection on the relative value of the work, but rather because of the relative need for praise and constant validation between the two groups.

The women who made these lovely and practical objects enjoyed the love of their families and the respect of their neighbors and fellow artisans. They valued this love and respect for their skill during their lives, and I doubt any of them could care less that Miriam Schapiro made doodles of their work so that they could be "elevated" and appreciated by a bunch of pretentious dimwits long after the fact. Far better a blue ribbon at the County Fair than some little brass tag on a pedestal in some obscure gallery. And far better that one's daughter have a warm sweater and a wedding sampler than some bronze sculpture with no more use than a paperweight.

Schapiro's not fit to launder the stockings of the women whose work she's co-opting in order to make a name for herself.

[PiperPaul]

For the engineers...

Yeah, baby!

[WTP]

Mate that with an old hit-and-miss engine for a real good time...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN7g5E88vto&feature=share