Friday Ephemera
This versus that. // There was an awful lot of dancing in 80s movies. // Sweet Dreams, orchestrated. // Wooden skyscrapers and tall timber buildings. // For Weird Tales enthusiasts. // Lift your spirits with levitating glassware. // Candles of note. // At last, a title capitalizing tool. // Old NYC, a Google Street View of yesteryear. // Gender role test. It’s cutting edge science, people. // Ski slopes are sexist. // Sponge holder of note. // Meals made of paper. // Atomically thin transistors. (h/t, Peter) // Art. // Dissolving drugs. // Composite birds. // Elevated bus carries 300 passengers. // His balloon animals are better than yours. // Bespoke joints, only $7000. “What Monet was to Impressionism, Tony is to the art of joint rolling.” // And finally, informatively, how to chop an onion.
I showed the ski slope article to wife earlier this week. She was a competitive ski racer in Europe in her younger years before she got her Ph.D. in linguistics. A summation of her learned opinion: The author is full of shit.
There was an awful lot of dancing in 80s movies.
That would be because MTV was spawned in 1981, where the decision to create such involved the all too common theory of jump first, think later.
In this instance, the jumping involved the idea of pointing cameras at musicians, and only after that finally having the realization of Oh, Crap, we’re stuck with watching what one listens to, and doing all that at very close range, and doing that for hour after hour after hour.
You would have thought they would have learned from when Andy Warhol made movies, but such learning requires thought instead of merely hearing someone quoting what the fellow may have said.
No, having nice sounding copies of the music was not the point, the CD got invented about the same time. And unfortunately for the MTV producers—and everyone else—not everyone manages to be James Burke, with Connections, in 1978, to be Gwynne Dyer, with War, in 1981, or to be Clive James, with Postcard From bloody everywhere, in 1989-1995 . . .
And thus the MTV producers were left floundering about, desperately trying to figure out what moves a lot and will be cheap. Apparently first they tried hoping that yanking the camera all over the place would distract from the utter lack of visual subject material presented by musicians. Following that, they apparently resorted to throwing lots of bodies all over the place while again attempting to resort to yanking the camera all over the place . . . .
And from there, once that was done, among the results would be all those MTV production crews, and casts, and even then, HollywoodIsh wannabe producers running out of ideas. All this as a lot of audience started staying staying home to watch cable TV—also from the Nineteen Empties— and the new fangled thing called the VCR, again also from the early Nineteen Empties. Therefore, the resulting attempt at logic of Oh, Gee, if MTV is getting audience with that, then we’ll try it too, so that There was an awful lot of dancing in 80s movies. . . . .
Wooden skyscrapers and tall timber buildings.
I’ve already commented Oh Good God No to a friend of mine who’s had a long career with Habitats For Humanities, particularly commenting after reading that;
Ohhh, lesseee, as long as you wait long enough for the next round to grow, or if you have enough buildings on hand to salvage from, but then for that salvage version, you’re getting bits and pieces and having to tear apart something else . . . and then . . .
Hmmm. I missed the memo about gathering around the warmth of the concrete fueled fire . . . At some point more recently than not, I also ran across Gigacrete, particularly when noting that:
Old NYC, a Google Street View of yesteryear.
San Francisco, 1938.
Ski slopes are sexist.
Oh, perhaps they should add a bit of skydiving to make it all better.
Art.
Clearly just keeping abreast of things.
Elevated bus carries 300 passengers.
For some reason this sort of story keeps turning up. Literally.
His balloon animals are better than yours.
I went looking for the weasel, but I couldn’t find it.
HEY YOU GUYS! I’M CASUALLY MASCULINE!
53% masculine; 19% feminine
Might explain why I have such trouble attracting hetero men, or why my first two boyfriends were closet cases.
Ski slopes are sexist.
Er, aren’t mountain peaks reminiscent of something decidedly feminine?
After all, the Tetons are named after a French name for, you know, the female chesticular area.
And then there’s this whole Wiki article on the phenomenon.
Though come to think of it, skiing down female anatomical analogs is Yet Another Example of Teh Patriarchy dominating women’s bodies or something.
Sheesh, you just can’t escape sexism these days, can ya?
Bespoke joints, only $7000.
“On a counter sat a trio of mason jars, each brimming with the butt-ends of run-of-the-mill joints. ‘We hand those out to the homeless,’ said Courtney, a weed photographer who has 270,000 followers of her own on Instagram.”
Giving back to the community.
Morning, all.
The ‘Everything Wrong With’ series takes on Batman V Superman. Needless to say, it’s one of their longer videos.
And, unexpectedly.
Renewal wood resources do exist, a 25-26 year growing to harvesting cycle using pinus radiata for example. When you want higher strength beams you laminate, and treated laminated wood burns very slowly and holds its strength longer than steel does in a fire. Concrete, even reinforced concrete doesn’t always fare well in a fire, and is relatively expensive and heavy.
Wood isn’t everything, but it can be a useful building material for even medium size buildings. High rise I’m a little less sure of.
Branding!
Er, aren’t mountain peaks reminiscent of something decidedly feminine? After all, the Tetons are named after a French name for, you know, the female chesticular area.
I’m staring intently but boobs aren’t coming to mind. Maybe that’s just me. I suppose it’s possible that women secretly yearn for boobs that are jagged and hard as granite.
The author is full of shit.
I suspect he is what Clint Eastwood would consider part of the “pussy generation” (spits on ground). Can’t say I disagree.
unlike concrete and steel, wood is a renewable resource…
Recycled concrete.
I’d bet that the same people touting these wooden buildings are the same ones wailing about “deforestation”, and though the 1888 year old concrete Pantheon is still standing, I have noted a large lack of Roman wooden structures still intact.
@ Dicentra
The Tetons from a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile in California and speaking of buildings, the Chancellor of UC Berkeley has himself an escape hatch built so he can escape all the protesters.
Not sure why he would want that seeing as how peaceful and reasonable they are.
I suppose it’s possible that women secretly yearn for boobs that are jagged and hard as granite.
You say jagged and hard, I say perky and firm for millennia to come.
You say jagged and hard, I say perky and firm for millennia to come.
Clearly, I’m out of my depth here.
I’m staring intently but boobs aren’t coming to mind.
Well, you have to allow for the fact that the trappers who first named them probably hadn’t seen a woman, let alone a woman’s “chesticular” area, in a long long time. So a little poetic license should be granted.
Letting the Gender Role…Apparently I’m “casually masculine”. Yet I sometimes I wear a tie even when I don’t have to, but that wasn’t one of the questions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paps_of_Anu
. . . I sometimes I wear a tie even when I don’t have to . . .
Women wearing ties.
Ties don’t indicate gender, just—happily—being utterly contrived and completely out of date. Even when more prevalent, the most that wearing a tie was ever hoped for was attempting a pharaoh’s fake beard . . .
Paps of Anu
I learn so much from these threads.
Rate my tea.
Ties don’t indicate gender
Beg to differ, there. The attraction of the “Women wearing ties” meme is the suggestive nature of it. Rather like the “Women wearing man’s shirt” meme, which takes it a little step further by intimating that she grabbed the shirt in a hurry after an activity that has led to her clothing, as well as said shirt, having been previously removed by their respective wearers.
the most that wearing a tie was ever hoped for was attempting a pharaoh’s fake beard
Actually, the origin of the necktie seems to come from the habit of Croatian Hussars to wear a scarf tied around their neck, variously thought to be used for (scant) protection in a sword fight, or as a reminder provided by their wives to ensure that they think of them and remain faithful. At any rate Cardinal Richelieu hired a bunch of Croatian Hussars as mercenaries during the Thirty Years War. When they showed up in Paris with their trademark scarf around the neck, a fashion was born: l’écharpe à la croate, which became cravate.
Rate my tea.
I’m not a big tea drinker, but some of those look way too beige and foamy.
variously thought to be used for (scant) protection in a sword fight, or as a reminder provided by their wives to ensure that they think of them and remain faithful.
Got it. Being the early version of a hipster thinking that having a bathtub ring or comb under on one’s face might get mistaken for a benefit or being one . . .
Topical humor
http://a.disquscdn.com/get?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FCpEHUu2WEAMv0Qq.jpg&key=E19x90Sc32C5nfBJBdUIVA&w=600&h=258
OK, your daily stupid in a double dose.
The alphabet usurped female power and caused the rise of the patriarchy. No, really.
Damn that literacy, life was so much better when no one was literate, and happy days were spent scratching in the dirt and dying at 35.
Moving on, lowering crime could contribute to global warming.
How you ask, it is obvious.
I see, good thing all those people who have, say, cars stolen don’t replace them, or the thief who boosts a guy’s wallet never spends the money in it. Yay crime ! If we all become criminals we’ll get this global warming thing licked, and the seas will recede, and the polar bears will have a party.
Muldoon: A quick read of the book review you cite about literacy and the patriarchy suggests two things to me:
1) The author and reviewer are saturated in gender-and-feminism as a POV from which to regard the whole of creation. It’s the contemporary “hammer” which makes everything look like a bunch of nails. Useless.
2) The underlying thesis, which seems to be that the invention of alphabets and grammar led to the dominance of analytic thinking, v. holistic / synthetic thinking, does not sound too implausible at first glance. I think I will put some time into that idea.
Well, dicentra, turns out I’m “casually feminine” … 59% male 72% female.
I’m all hands-on earth mom and come from a very huggy family, but dad also taught me the finer art of analytical thinking and persuasive debate over the dinner table …
oh…
and how to hit like a boy.
Hmm. I come out 47% M & 44% F.
First, I want to know what happened to the missing 9% of my gender persona? Is this some kind of scam, like shaving tenths of pennies in bank account transfers? Someone is accumulating the missing bits? Someone is plotting to build a world-dominating droid powered by the stolen fragments of everyone’s personality?
Second, the whole thing reminded me of a bit from Weinberg’s “The Psychology of Computer Programming”: A bunch of programmers (c. 1980?) are about to fill out a psych quiz. One asks “How are we supposed to answer these questions?” Shrink says “Honestly, of course.” Programmer says “Do we look like idiots?”
(Note to self: Adjust meds. Again.)
Teenager jailed for eight years after spraying acid on group of friends . . . and related observations . . .
. . . As the saying goes, with friends like that, who needs an enema?
Being an arrogant, ill-informed, narcissistic wanker and obstructing traffic for hours, including emergency vehicles and people trying to catch flights, deserves “huge solidarity,” says Laurie.
Fred,
The underlying thesis…does not sound too implausible at first glance.
One difficulty is believing that there ever was female power to have been usurped, another that females are incapable of analytic thinking.
Being an arrogant, ill-informed, narcissistic wanker and obstructing traffic for hours…
To those of you in the UK, what the hell do they have their panties in a wad allegedly over ? Correct me if I am wrong, but haven’t all the persons of color (but not colored people) in the UK and/or their ancestors arrived their voluntarily and not in chains, and aren’t being shot by anyone ?
I take it this is just another “look at meeee” exercise ?
Meanwhile, speaking of ephemera, this is beyond amazing – extreme photomicrographs of chemical bonds forming. The process was apparently developed by those evil corporate bastiges at IBM.
One difficulty is believing that there ever was female power to have been usurped, another that females are incapable of analytic thinking.
Among many feminists, there is the belief that in the dark, dark past, a grand matriarchal society of perfect harmony existed, which the Patriarchy overthrew and then erased from consciousness. See, e.g. the rantings of Andrea Dworkin for examples. This belief, in turn, makes everything evidence of nefarious patriarchal dominance. One could substitute mathematics or the moldboard plow for literacy in the linked essay and still reach the author’s conclusion.
“At last, a title capitalizing tool.”
Ummmm, WordPerfect has had one since the 1980s.
I never quite understood how the much less useful Microsoft Word became dominant in the market.
Check Your Privilege ! I am a Shitlord with a score of 180.
I take it this is just another “look at meeee” exercise?
The ‘protestors’ felt obliged to announce that their actions were also intended to bring down “sexism, Islamophobia, classism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia.” Which probably tells you all you need to know about their immense seriousness. From a cursory glance at the comments following coverage in mainstream newspapers, the reaction of the general public is basically: (a) students are wankers, especially leftwing ‘activist’ students, and (b) the penalty for any frivolous, attention-seeking obstruction of the highway should be ramped up dramatically.
So, job well done.
Eat your heart out, Johannesburg. Rio is then new home of the global vagina http://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2016/08/06/people-keep-comparing-the-openingceremony-to-a-part-of-the-female-anatomy/
@Farnsworth
I, too, scored “Shitlord,” though I didn’t find the appropriate answer to the “physical attractiveness” question. Strangely, “not grotesque” was not an option.
In any event, I suggest a “Shitlord” organizational meeting/smoker to be held next Friday in the basement of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Amidon, North Dakota. BYOB. Set-ups and snacks provided by the Shitlord Ladies Auxiliary, provided they can get away from the quilting club.
Strangely, “not grotesque” was not an option.
Yes, I had the same problem but was looking for “Does not normally frighten children and small animals.” I see Amidon has both a bar and a restaurant, but we may have to set up a fest tent for the overflow.
Rio is then new home of the global vagina
Looks more like a vulva.