Astoria Bowl in Queens is "anachronism, a vestige of the sport's mid-century heyday era... an oasis in the truest sense of the word, a place of pure recreation and levity in a city where life tends to be serious and weighty."
A Place To Bowl from Turtle Down Films on Vimeo.
Via Boing Boing
Friday, July 31, 2020
Mew, a furry, purry theremin
Meow sounds are manipulated by the direction your hand moves. And this kitty won't scratch your furniture because it has no paws!
Mew from Emily Groves on Vimeo.
Via KFMW
Mew from Emily Groves on Vimeo.
Via KFMW
Pee-wee For President!
Since Pee-wee linked to my blog earlier this week (thanks Pee-wee!) I'm going to help with his presidential campaign by plugging his nifty merchandise.
Golly, I sure hope he wins!
Available for purchase at the Pee-wee Store
Golly, I sure hope he wins!
Available for purchase at the Pee-wee Store
Tweet of The Day
Via KFMWThe return of the disco goats, an instant cure for the midweek blues.— Daily Goats (@Daily__Goats) July 29, 2020
Sound on 🔊pic.twitter.com/49dR4uK8PM
Animate
Royal College of Art students collaborated with global technology company OPPO to design products focused on humanising technology.
Matthieu Muller's Animate robotic toy-building kit is targeted at children between the ages of six and 10. It introduces them to electronics by enabling them to create toys using cardboard, batteries, cables, buzzers, sensors, motors and LED lights.
Via Things
Thursday, July 30, 2020
All Inclusive
"The observational documentary All Inclusive drops viewers head-first into the strange rituals of tableside conga lines, captain meet-and-greets and pool cannonball contests that characterise the cruise experience."
Via Aeon Videos
Via Aeon Videos
Watch "The Last Days of Immanuel Kant"
Philippe Collin’s The Last Days of Immanuel Kant from 1996 follows the philosopher as he’s anticipating his death, "yet it’s a physical comedy filled with neo-slapstick intimacy—one of the rare cinematic heirs to the works of Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton."
Ultimately this is a movie about the body winding down while the mind is fully ablaze.
Read more: The New Yorker
Ultimately this is a movie about the body winding down while the mind is fully ablaze.
Read more: The New Yorker
How Ikea’s vegan meatballs are made
I like to add these little chunks of goodness to soups, pasta sauces, grain bowls, etc. I was hoping that the video would show me how to duplicate them at home since Ikea closed their pickup store in St. Catharines this past winter. Unfortunately this is not a DIY recipe but it is a good video. Stockholm-based 3D designers Studio Taktil made this advert detailing its ingredients and production process.
IKEA PLANTBALL from Studio Taktil on Vimeo.
Read More: It's Nice That
IKEA PLANTBALL from Studio Taktil on Vimeo.
Read More: It's Nice That
This Was a Wasteland. He Changed Everything .
Almost 50 years ago David Bamberger used his fortune to purchase 5,500 acres of overgrazed land in the Texas Hill Country. Working with Mother Nature, not against her, he planted grasses to soak in rains and fill hillside aquifers. He devoted the rest of his life to restoring the degraded landscape.
Tweet Of The Day
I can't let Roger Moore trend without someone posting the loveliest celebrity anecdote of all time. pic.twitter.com/Lh5Axo1Eri— James (@2Tweet2BeSour) July 29, 2020
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
New $2 coin features work of Haida artist
The Royal Canadian Mint has launched a new toonie to commemorate the legacy of Haida artist Bill Reid on the 100th anniversary of his birth. The coin features a red and black Haida grizzly bear painted by Reid in 1988
Read more: CBC News
Tweet Of The Day
Cat’s first taste of ice cream... pic.twitter.com/ekOWVMPgES— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) July 28, 2020
Mathematics Applied To Nature: How the bee Tetragonula builds its comb
Stingless bees of the genus Tetragonula construct a brood comb with a spiral or a target pattern architecture in three dimensions.
Read More: Journal of The Royal Society Interface
Via: SMITHSONIANMAG.COM"Bees from the genus Tetragonula specialize in sophisticated feats of architecture built from hexagonal beeswax cells. Each individual cell is both the landing spot for an egg and a building block for structures that can grow up to 20 levels high, Brandon Specktor reports for Live Science. Stingless bees’ hives can come in several shapes, including stacks of circles in a bulls-eye, a spiral, a double spiral, and a group of disorderly terraces"
Figure 1. Combs of two species of the stingless bee Tetragonula showing structures of (a) target patterns (Tetragonula carbonaria), (b) spirals (Tetragonula carbonaria), (c) double spirals (Tetragonula carbonaria) and (d) more disordered terraces (Tetragonula hockingsi). Images courtesy of (a) Elke Haege; (b–d) Tim Heard.
Read More: Journal of The Royal Society Interface
Macramé Baby Yoda
Everyone fell in love with Baby Yoda from The Mandalorian TV series. Now you can craft one of your own!
You can make different sizes by varying the thread (or yarn) size.
Full instructions at Make
Only in Toledo
Only in Toledo from Dan Lior on Vimeo.
If you feel inclined you can donate to help buy him a truck at onlyintoledo.com
Cardboard UFO
This chain reaction experiment involves a cardboard flying saucer and 25,000 matchsticks.
Link
Via Memo Of The Air
Link
Via Memo Of The Air
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Pic Of The Day
 |
| The coffin of Representative John Lewis in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday. Pool photo by Jonathan Ernst |
Operation Fu-Go
In 1945 the Japanese launched 9,300 large, bomb-laden, hydrogen balloons, carried east across the Pacific Ocean by the jet stream at high altitudes to cause destruction and chaos in the U.S. and Canada.
Read more here
Via FB pal Hal
Read more here
Via FB pal Hal
103 years ago today African-Americans marched to declare that black lives matter
 |
| Image: Library of Congress |
On the afternoon of Saturday, July 28, 1917, nearly 10,000 African-Americans marched down Fifth Avenue, in silence, to protest racial violence and white supremacy in the United States. The “Silent Protest Parade" was the first African-American demonstration of its kind and marked a watershed moment in the history of the civil rights movement.
More here
Monday, July 27, 2020
Manhatta (1921)
Billed as ‘a study of the modern Babylon-on-the-Hudson’, the short film Manhatta (1921) captures the rapidly developing cityscape of New York in the early 1920s. It consists of 65 shots sequenced in a loose non-narrative structure, set to Walt Whitman’s poem of the same name.
Link: Aeon Videos
Via Perfect For Roquefort Cheese
Link: Aeon Videos
Via Perfect For Roquefort Cheese
The Life of Olivia de Havilland
In the 1940s she successfully sued Warner Bros in a landmark ruling that became known as the “de Havilland decision” that helped break the stranglehold of the US studio system.“I was told I would never work again, if I won or if I lost,” she later recalled. “[But] when I won they were impressed, and didn’t bear a grudge."
Read more about her life and see loads of fabulous pictures: if it's hip, it's here
The Amazing Aisling Bea
Everyone could benefit from a laugh to get the week started so here you are:
Why haven't I heard about this delightful woman before?
Via Memo Of The Air
Why haven't I heard about this delightful woman before?
Via Memo Of The Air
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Sunday Links
Wooden Figure Of A Lady With Built-In Clavichord And Draws, c. 1780, Germany (above) Very strange.
Robert Mahar's Pinterest account is indeed a Wunderkammer Via Memo of the Air
Six Cats Under: You are a cat lady who has died. Your challenge as a ghost is to get the cats to free themselves from your apartment. Via Miss Cellania
This is sweet: When Your Outdoor Harp Session Turns Into a Disney Movie
This converted 19th-century print house in London is full of character. I love the pair of stuffed peacocks.
The Winganon Space Capsule: Oklahoma, We Have A Problem
Easy peasy DIY: Make a teddy bear out of a towel. Via Memo of the Air
Visit Cats In Art History, a virtual exhibit.
This villa in the Costa Rican jungle is breathtaking.
Update on the urgent race to develop a #COVID19 vaccine It's not a slam-dunk. Thanks Bruce!
Social distancing signs and posters: how many kangaroos is 1.5m?
Trailblazing Example of Accessible Design: The Laurent House in Rockford, Illinois, was built 40 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. It's beautiful.
The Class Of RBG: The remarkable stories of the nine other women in the Harvard Law class of ’59. Thanks Bruce!
London has never been this quiet in 2,000 years
Bas Uterwijk uses AI to create portraits of famous historical figures This has made the rounds this week. It is worth a look if you haven't seen it.
The Victorian Spork
You are poet William Carlos Williams. It is late at night and you are hungry. Gotta Eat The Plums!
Now they tell me! Why Painting Walls Gray Is a Mistake
The Handwritten First Draft of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing
Photographs that document the changing prairies of the Canadian West
You wouldn't have to circle the block for hours looking for a parking space if you had this Folding Car
What 100 Writers Have Been Reading During Quarantine
The untold stories of a working-class East London borough that pioneered rave culture
The Spawning Of Big Mouth Billy Bass Via MeFi
Saturday, July 25, 2020
Tweet Of The Day
Absolute magic. https://t.co/3T0LxYErw8— elsa bleda (@elsableda) July 21, 2020
Via Everlasting Blort
Niagara Falls tour boats highlight US and Canada's Covid-19 divide
This video shows the different approaches that Canada and the US have taken to tackling the coronavirus pandemic – and their dramatically contrasting outcomes.
The US side of the Niagara lies within New York state, an area with a population of 19.5 million, and which has seen 414,000 Covid-19 cases and 32,000 deaths.
On the Canadian side, Ontario – with a population of nearly 15 million – has seen 38,000 coronavirus cases and 2,755 deaths.
This is why a majority of Ontarians want the Canada-US border to remain closed for the time being
Read more: The Guardian
The US side of the Niagara lies within New York state, an area with a population of 19.5 million, and which has seen 414,000 Covid-19 cases and 32,000 deaths.
On the Canadian side, Ontario – with a population of nearly 15 million – has seen 38,000 coronavirus cases and 2,755 deaths.
This is why a majority of Ontarians want the Canada-US border to remain closed for the time being
Read more: The Guardian
Taylor Swift - cardigan
Official music video by Taylor Swift performing “cardigan” – off her album ‘folklore.’
Johnnie the Tractor-Driving Monkey
"I trust him with my life driving the tractor. He can hold it on a hill and keep it from slowing down. You should see him holding that wheel as he skirts the hill and I work behind.We take it in turns to drive and toss off the hay to the sheep and cattle." - Farmer Lindsay Schmidt
Source: Weird Universe
Friday, July 24, 2020
Tweet Of The Day
Via @Mekelliethey've had enough pic.twitter.com/qK3wngDJnB— Pablo Rochat (@PabloRochat) July 21, 2020
Qantas' last jumbo jet draws farewell message in the sky
After half a century Qantas has retired the Boeing 747 from its fleet. The last one to leave the country drew the Qantas kangaroo logo in the sky on its way to an airplane retirement home in the Mojave Desert in the United States.
Via Boing Boing
Photo Enhancer Uses AI to Restore Old Family Photos
Genealogy website MyHeritage has launched a free, easy-to-use Photo Enhancer tool that uses deep learning technology to turn blurry or faded family photos into sharp snaps in a single click. (You have to sign up for an account)
Here's one of my husband many years ago, chosen because it was the blurriest photo in my collection (not because of the epic hair).
See more: PetaPixel
**Edit** Note that you are only allowed a few free downloads so use your free downloads judiciously. After that you are asked to pay C$269 per year to use the software.
Here's one of my husband many years ago, chosen because it was the blurriest photo in my collection (not because of the epic hair).
See more: PetaPixel
**Edit** Note that you are only allowed a few free downloads so use your free downloads judiciously. After that you are asked to pay C$269 per year to use the software.
Man-Spider
Radioactive metamorphosis is a two-way street. So what about the spider who bit Peter Parker? What ever became of him?
MAN-SPIDER from Tom Oxenham on Vimeo.
MAN-SPIDER from Tom Oxenham on Vimeo.
Japan's New Bullet Train Is Earthquake-Proof
Japan intended to roll out this new train for the now cancelled 2020 Tokyo games. It can go 224 miles per hour, but will be capped at “just” 177 for operation. The makers also say the train is earthquake-proof because of its onboard power source and different modes for tackling dangerous track.
Read More: Popular Mechanics
Read More: Popular Mechanics
An Italian Land Artist Carved Joe Biden’s Face Into a Field of Wheat
 |
| Image: Dario Gambarin |
Italian land artist Dario Gambarin took 10 hours, using a tractor, plow, and rotary harrow, to carve this performance piece in a field near Verona, Italy. He titled it “Jump and Fly” (2020).
Gambarin was inspired Biden’s words: “My own father had always said the measure of a man wasn’t how many times or how hard he got knocked down, but how fast he got back up.”
Via Hyperallergic
Pic Of The Day
Here is another old autochome I've restored for you, taken 111 years ago at the first Paris Air Show in September 1909. (It isn't colourised). pic.twitter.com/jgvG4n5Zgi— BabelColour 🎞 (@StuartHumphryes) July 22, 2020
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Elderly Taiwanese Couple Model Clothes Abandoned At Their Laundromat
83-year-old Wan-Ji and his wife, 84-year-old Sho-Er are dressing up and posing on social media in the clothes left behind at their laundromat and they look stunning.
The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project
The British Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France have worked together to digitise 800 illuminated manuscripts from the period 700-1200, sharing them online for the first time. The project was funded by The Polansky Foundation. 400 manuscripts held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and 400 held by the British Library were selected because of their importance for the history of French and English relations in the Middle Ages, as well as for their artistic, historical or literary value.
The manuscripts can be viewed here and here
See highlights from The Great Canterbury Psalter
Digital Sculptures Visualize Amazonian Birdsong
Australian artist Andy Thomas created responsive abstract interpretations of bird sound recordings from his 2016 trip to the Amazon in 2016.
VISUAL SOUNDS OF THE AMAZON 2 from Andy Thomas on Vimeo.
Via Colossal
VISUAL SOUNDS OF THE AMAZON 2 from Andy Thomas on Vimeo.
Via Colossal
Wall Art Made From Exposed Wiring
Usually electrical wiring is hidden within walls, but September Architecture and Interiors exposed it to create wall art for a Vancouver restaurant.
More here
Pic of theDay
A truly remarkable aerial view of Edinburgh in 1920 by Alfred G. Buckham (1879-1956).— Davenant 📸 (@SirWilliamD) July 21, 2020
He used to tie one leg to the seat to stop him falling out of the plane when he stood up to take his photos. pic.twitter.com/GIEnRtdIcT
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
In the Garden
It's been a long time since I posted garden pics. That's because it's been so hot I have to wait until dusk to venture outdoors. Kind of like a vampire.
Rock 'n' Roll Marionettes
George Miller is a Glasgow-based artist, singer, musician and iconic pop figure who, unlike me, used his lockdown time productively. He created marionettes that are the spitting image of some of the biggest stars of rock ‘n’ roll, country, and R&B. Aren't they fabulous?
More: Dangerous Minds
Via Rusty's Electric Dreams
More: Dangerous Minds
Via Rusty's Electric Dreams
Pic Of the Day
Tweet Of The Day
A Weddell seal vocalizing while sleeping in Antarctica 💭 Weddells have a wide vocal repertoire, typically making such vocalizations underwater in social interactions.— Mark Malone (@soundmigration) July 17, 2020
Rare occasion captured by @johnbozinov pic.twitter.com/a3FYqFS0fp
Music & Clowns
"Jamie has a rich personality – he’s empathetic, funny, and a lover of some of the finer things in life, including music, food and clowns. But because he has Down’s syndrome and is close to nonverbal, his internal world is all but a mystery to his loving family."
Music & Clowns from Alex Widdowson on Vimeo.
Via Aeon
Classical Gas - 3000 Years of Art in 3 Minutes.
This video for Mason Williams' hit "Classical Gas" debuted on The Summer Brothers Smothers Show in 1968. It was one of the earliest records to use a visual to promote it on television, making it one of the earliest music videos. Each image lasted only two film frames, or twelve images a second!
Via Boing Boing
Via Boing Boing
Lost Motions
This amazing stop-motion video by Fernando Livschitz of Black Sheep Films is created from 800 laser-cut figures.
'Lost in motions' from Black Sheep Films on Vimeo.
Via The Awesomer
'Lost in motions' from Black Sheep Films on Vimeo.
Via The Awesomer
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Scream And Shout And Let It All Out In Iceland
Remember Arthur Janov's primal scream therapy in the 70s? Now you can scream your lungs out into the vastness of the Icelandic landscape. The “Let it Out” campaign draws inspiration from psychological theories about the stress-relieving effects of screaming. Record your scream on the site and they’ll release it in Iceland’s beautiful, wide-open spaces.
Link
Via perfect for roquefort cheese
Tube train treadplates for sale
 |
| 148cm x 10cm. Heavy metal treadplate from Craven Ltd of Sheffield |
ianVisits cautions that they are being sold in the condition they were removed from the train in and it might take a bit of elbow grease to clean them off.
Meander Maps of the Mississippi River (1944)
Harold Fisk, a geologist and cartographer working for the US Army Corps of Engineers, drew maps of the ever-shifting banks of the Mississippi River from southern Illinois to southern Louisiana.
They look like beautiful art and you can purchase prints at The Public Domain Review.
Eight of the world's greatest gardens
I enjoy watching garden videos, even as my garden becomes dessicated and overrun with weeds. This series from NOWNESS is absolutely stunning.
Here's a preview:
Watch the whole series
Via Boing Boing
Here's a preview:
Watch the whole series
Via Boing Boing
Advice from 100 Year-Olds
LifeHunters asked three unique and lovely centenarians what their most valuable life lessons were, and also their regrets.
Via Hypnophant
Via Hypnophant
Inspired by the buzz of crickets
"Types Of Crickets" is an ambient composition inspired by stories of the beach and features a mesmerising computer-generated landscape. The crickets from the track's title were recorded by one of the artists at the very beach where the famous napalm scene from “Apocalypse Now” took place.
More: The Calvert Journal
More: The Calvert Journal
Monday, July 20, 2020
How To Make An 11-Layer Cake
Just look at this 11-layer cake by Brooklyn-based baker Auzerais Bellamy (no relation) made with ganache, buttercream, blondies, and devil’s food cake!
It looks too complicated for a mediocre baker like me but I've provided a link to the recipe so you can bake it and send me a slice. Please!
Recipe: Eater
It looks too complicated for a mediocre baker like me but I've provided a link to the recipe so you can bake it and send me a slice. Please!
Recipe: Eater
Tweet Of The Day
I could not do that. I’m running like a motherfuc pic.twitter.com/wG6S7j9oBX— jamie (@gnuman1979) July 19, 2020
Via Everlasting Blort
Dr. Wise on Influenza
"During the 1918 flu pandemic, unmasked protesters against mask laws also abounded, but coverage of their stunts took months to move from local papers to national outlets, who eventually covered the San Francisco Anti-Mask League's strident refusals. The devastating epidemic, however, estimated to have infected one third of the world, was almost entirely absent from silent film at the time."
Read more: Open Culture
Meditating on Bonington's 'An Estuary in Northern France'
Do you need to clear your mind? Paintings can transport us to other places. The National Gallery, London encourages us to escape to the sandy bank of a quiet shore for a slow look at 'An Estuary in Northern France'.
Sunday, July 19, 2020
Pic Of The Day
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| Moxibustion therapy at a hospital in Fujiang province. Dried plant materials are burned near the surface of the skin. This is considered healthy practice in hot weather. Wang Dongming/CNS/Peple Visual |
Celui qui tombe
Yoann Bourgeois trained in trampoline, juggling and trapeze. Between 2006 and 2010, he performed with choreographer Maguy Marin’s company and combined the disciplines of circus, dance and acrobatics.
Thanks Bruce!
Thanks Bruce!
Sunday Links
Johnny Swing makes furniture from coins (above) with each design requiring thousands of nickels, quarters, half-dollars or dollar coins.Via bookofjoe
Swan Lake Bath Ballet
20th-century garden landscapes A showcase of Britain’s most extraordinary gardens and landscapes from the twentieth century to present day.
Townscaper : An instant town building toy.
100 Wishes Of Hatcham: Residents of Hatcham, New Cross Gate, London have created 100 Delft Blue ceramic tiles to visualise their wishes and words of wisdom.
AIDS Memorial Quilt Is Now Entirely Online: The 48,000 panels share stories of care and craftsmanship, memorializing 125,000-plus victims of HIV and AIDS since 1980.
Hot water freezes faster than cold. Now you know.
The annoying boxes puzzle
The Secret History of Washing Machines It began with The Drum in 1782…
With this shortcut all you need to do is say ‘Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over’ and it will kickstart a chain of events.
How to stop your glasses from fogging up when you wear a mask Via Pasa Bon
Larry Burrows took this iconic photograph in Mutter Ridge, Nui Cay Tri, South Vietnam in October 1966. Here's the story behind the photo
In 1854, a new railway station opened in London, but only the Royal Family was allowed to use it — this was Queen Victoria’s private railway station at Nine Elms.
If a Centaur and a Gorgon Had a Child
Beer Mats of the 1970s Satire Via FB pal Hal.
Now you can live like a Golden Girl The iconic ranch house used for the exterior shots of Blanche Devereaux's Miami home is on the market and it's lovely.
Andean condor can fly for 100 miles without flapping wings Condors are expert pilots but we just had not expected they would be quite so expert.
Hue love it : A fantastic collection of old paint charts, catalogues and home colour books.
How to rescue a raccoon from a dumpster
Behold Vermont Beautiful aerial photographs of my favourite American state. We took a lot of holidays there when my sons were growing up and I have many fond memories of those times.
Why so sad? Your chicken has no arms? No problem Via Rusty's Electric Dreams
Krasnoyarsk Compared to New York
A Forgotten Futurist's Vision of Paris Albert Robida was a graphic novelist who has been described as a lesser-known Jules Verne.
Cambridge University Professor Cooks 4000-Year-Old Recipes from Ancient Mesopotamia Is it vegetarian if you use blood?
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