Friday Ephemera
eLEGS unveiled by Berkeley Bionics. // Chocolate covered bacon and bacon pancakes too. // A visual timeline of the boombox. // The Pope-Waverley electric runabout, circa 1905. // The panhandlers of San Francisco: “The defining characteristic of all these ‘travelers’ seems to be an acute sense of entitlement.” // Printing with foam. // Florida from above. // Lego aircraft carrier. // The inconstant Batman logo. // Waiting for Superman. (h/t, TDK) // Mexico City’s public library. // Million-dollar London properties that may leave you disappointed. // How to degauss a cat. // The grass roofs of Norway. // Underwater scooters.
Thanks for the ‘panhandlers’ article. Heather MacDonald is always a good read.
“I ask the group on the blanket: Why should people give you money? “They got a dollar and I don’t,” Cory replies. Why don’t you work? “We do work,” retorts Eeyore. “I carry around this heavy backpack. We wake up at 7 AM and work all day. It’s hard work.” She’s referring to begging and drinking. She adds judiciously: “Okay, my liver hates me, but I like the idea of street performance.”
Maybe Eeyore imagines that framing her hustle as “street performance” is somehow endearing. The lack of self-awareness is almost – almost – touching.
“A visual timeline of the boombox.”
Eighties flashback… I used to own #7. Twin tape decks!
From the panhandling article, it seems that self awareness is at least not totally dead in the States:
‘Some are runaways; some are college dropouts; others are years older. Eeyore says she got kicked out of her Riverside, California, home at 14 because she was “a punk and an asshole.”..’
“Florida from above”
Ah. Memories. I’m still amazed I managed to last so long there without going insane. Hey, shut up you in the back.