As some of you may be gorged on bank holiday goodwill, now seems a good time to remind patrons that this rickety barge is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant for a while longer, there’s an orange button below with which to monetise any love. Debit and credit cards are accepted. For those wishing to express their love regularly, there’s a monthly subscription option top left. Additionally, any Amazon shopping done via this link or the search widget top right, or for Amazon US via this link, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.

For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last decade, and in over 2,000 posts and 60,000 comments, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start. If you can, do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads too. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found. And do please join in.

Again, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company. 

More scenes from UC Berkeley, where a group of College Republicans are having a barbecue, and a burly, ill-tempered transgender lady takes umbrage at this display of “fascism” and says she doesn’t “believe in property.” When it’s someone else’s.

Do watch to the end, when said lady discusses her busy afternoon of social engagements.

The joy of painting.

Via Metrolander.

They grow up so quickly. (h/t, Tim) // Swedish ladies gymnastics, 1905. // At last, black ice cream. // Sweaty vest and power loader not included. // London’s ganglands. // Thomas Sowell on the greed fallacy. // Battle of the sexes. (h/t, Obo) // Iceberg Alley. // His name was Bill Hitler. // 200-watt laser bazooka brings instant death to cardboard and balloons. // Cargo cult. // One-bean cup of coffee. // On earworms and chewing gum. // Tiny shrimp tempura. // Irony. // Robot game-play is an acquired taste. // Robot knife game. // An interview with a serial killer. (h/t, Jordan Peterson) // Recognition. // Morricone and Theremin. // Anamorphic sculptures. // If you fix the stars in place. // Artificial uterus. // Rutland State Fair, 1941. // And finally, the Great Emu War of 1932.

Because I know you heathens are all starved of high culture, here are edited highlights of Shannon Cochrane and Márcio Carvalho performing their colossal work Untitled at the 2013 Miami Performance International Festival. For those who may be confounded by the profundity of the piece, a handy walk-through guide is available here. Said guide points out that the performance will encourage among onlookers “a deeper level of critical thought.” Of the many ruminations that will doubtless be inspired is the following:

After seeing someone wrap their head in meat twice, does it still hold the same weight as it did the first time?

The guide notes, rather earnestly, that the first attempt, by Mr Carvalho – to envelop his head in bread, string, and assorted meat products – prompted more amusement from the tiny audience than the subsequent repetition of it by Ms Cochrane. This is presented as an invitation to “a fundamental shift in paradigm” and some allegedly profound insight into gender politics. Or, how “different actions are read on different bodies.” Our artistic deep thinkers are seemingly unaware of the concepts of novelty and diminishing returns.

“This usage of time” is, we’re told, “an interesting one.” So brace yourselves.

Yes, I know. You’ve been rendered giddy by those shifting paradigms.