Sunday, January 31, 2021

Tweet Of The Day

 

Korean Cake Factory

"It is a video that has been well received by many viewers."

R.I.P Henri

I just learned that Henri, the French cat who oozed ennui, passed away in October. I posted his videos many times over the years. Here is one that perfectly expresses the angst of the  Pauvre Petit Chat:



Sunday Links

View from the Centre Pompidou - Marilyn Bellamy

Zinc: One could argue that zinc roofs say “Paris” every bit as much as the Eiffel Tower.

The London Locations In Netflix's Bridgerton

When I saw QAnon, I knew exactly what it was and what it was doing. I had seen it before. I had almost built it before. It was gaming’s evil twin. A game that plays people. (cue ominous music) A Game Designer's Analysis Of QAnon Thanks Bruce!


NYT Haikus (@nythaikus): the output of a bot that scans the NYT for Haiku.

Would you like to get away from it all? 17 of these 1960s midcentury modern holiday chalets in Ponte Cremenaga, Switzerland are for sale. Via Things


The woman who read Hank Aaron's's hate mail. In 1973, the baseball legend got 900,000 letters. It was Carla Koplin Cohn’s job to report the threats to the FBI.

They are strangers, arms outstretched, waiting for the boy to fall. If you read only one story this week read The Catch


The reported extinction of this Tasmanian tiger has always made me feel sad because they looked a lot like my dog, Liz. I was glad to read this news. New sighting of a thylacine, a thought-to-be-extinct carnivorous marsupial

Victims of telemarketing scams in the U.S. lose a few billion dollars each year. Who is making all these scam calls? Here's a related story about a woman who knows how to handle scammers. 

Climbing up Europe's tallest chimney in Slovenia Thanks Bruce!

 Marathon Typographer Lorenzo Petrantoni crams more type in a square centimeter than a warning label or phone directory. Via Perfect For Roquefort Cheese.


The Playground Jungle examines the "Folk Process" in playground jokes, songs and customs. Thanks Bruce!

 Documentaries of the Decade with links to where you can watch them.


Where unsold items end up after Oakland's huge White Elephant Sale I really don't need any more white elephants but I couldn't resist subscribing to their mailing list.


Panoramas and city views of Russia.

I have found the car of my dreams. The auction is in May, just in time for my birthday (hint, hint): 1954 Swallow Doretti Roadster

Music For Sunday Morning


Saturday, January 30, 2021

Franziska, the hospital-cleaning singing robot

Franziska can clean floors, chat about her day, sing a song or tell a joke. She works at a hospital in Munich, where she cheers up staff and patients.

 

Tweet Of The Day

 

Mountain of Hell

In the world's biggest mountain bike race you can begin in 1000th place and end up winning.



Thanks Bruce!

Skier meets a capercaillie

I didn't know that there are ski hills in Scotland nor had I heard of this type of gamebird.They are the size of a turkey and live in the forests of Scotland. This one looks friendlier than the vicious wild turkeys we have in Niagara-on-the-Lake.


Thanks Bruce!

Mood Ring Car

This automotive paint job turns your car into a mood ring.

Jacques Pepin Makes Fried Eggs

I thought I knew how to make fried eggs but evidently I was doing it wrong. 

 

Want more? See how he makes scrambled eggs and two different omelets here

Friday, January 29, 2021

Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers

Six drummers participate in a well planned musical attack in the suburbs. 


Via The Kid Should See This

Tweet Of The Day

 

Holy Ghost People

This 1967 documentary gives us a glimpse into the snake-handling churches of Appalachia.

Thursday, January 28, 2021

St. Louis Zoo penguins take a field trip through the snow to visit polar bears


Link

Why Different Parts of a Coffee Mug Produce Different Pitches

 The Stanford mathematician Tadashi Tokieda demonstrates one of his physics “toys”: the curious higher and lower notes you hear when tapping a coffee mug with a spoon.

Via TMN

Bittu

“Bittu” tells the story of a close friendship between two girls (played by Rani Kumari and Renu Kumari) that is eclipsed by an accidental poisoning. The film is based on a real life incident in July 2013 where 23 students died, and dozens more fell ill at a primary school in the Saran district of the Indian state of Bihar after eating a midday meal contaminated with pesticide.

A.I. Brings Historical Paintings to Life

Nathan Shipley uses artificial intelligence to make figures in historical paintings photorealistic. In the examples below we see Marie Antoinette and William Shakespeare as persons we might know today. 



Scraping, Scraping, Scraping Or A Slow Descent Into Madness

Julian Baumgartner of Baumgartner Fine Art Restoration in Chicago demonstrates the skill and patience that goes into conserving a painting that has seen better days. This small oil on canvas by Mathias J. Alten had been glued onto plywood and coated with a very thick and yellowed surface layer which obscured the delicate brushwork and true colors.

 

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Bromance

Some Wednesday weirdness.

A 9-Year-Old Dancer Clocks 10,000 Steps in Three Minutes

I wish I had the energy this little girl has! This campaign by the Swedish nonprofit Generation Pep aims to get young people on their feet. This music video features a choreographed dance with the 10.000 steps often referred to as the daily recommendation for physical activity.

Putin's Crib



Images made by Aleksei Navalny's anti-corruption team reveal the astonishing scale and luxury of a property on Russia's Black Sea coast purportedly used by Vladimir Putin as his personal "palace." 


Via perfect for roquefort cheese

Relax With The Art Of Studio Ghibli

This half hour of peaceful visuals from Studio Ghibli will soothe your soul.



Pic Of The Day


This is what the Velociraptors looked like during filming on Jurassic World before CGI was added.

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

This is hypnotic

 I don't know how I thought chicken wire was made but I sure didn't think it was like this.


Via Everlasting Blort 

Godzilla vs. Kong – Official Trailer

Who In The US Is Against Vaccinations?



"A survey conducted by Carnegie Mellon University’s Delphi Lab suggests that more than 25% of Americans would not get vaccinated. If 1 in 4 people refuse to be vaccinated then the USA will struggle to ever escape from Covid-19 lock-downs."

Read more: Maps Mania

"Who's Yellen Now?"

 A hip hop tribute to Janet Yellen, new Secretary of the Treasury Via Boing Boing

Pic Of The Day


Is this "The Most Intelligent Photo Ever Taken"? Taken in 1927 at the Solvay Council Conference, it includes Einstein, Bohr, Curie, Heisenberg, Schrodinger & more.

A COVID-19 SOUND MAP

Photo: Rahme Veziroglu/iStock

Covid-19 has brought many changes to our way of life including a changing soundscape. Pete Stollery, a British composer specializing in electroacoustic music, has been creating sound installations or online sound maps since 2005. During the pandemic he has developed a crowd-sourced sound map, built in the Google Earth Web environment, containing more than 230 sounds from 24 countries around the world that illustrate what life sounds like under lockdown.
With no planes in the air and hardly any traffic on the roads, we began to hear more and more natural sounds, even in cities. 


The COVID-19 Sound Map can be found here using Chrome, Edge or Firefox web browsers. If you are interested in submitting a sound, please use the form here.

Cocktails with a Curator

First Fridays at the Frick Collection in New York City offered free admission, mini lectures, live performances and open sketching in the beautiful Garden Court. During this period of pandemic restrictions the museum is presenting weekly episodes of Cocktails with a Curator. A Frick curator gives insights into a selection from their wonderful collection matched with recipes for make-at-home themed drinks, with or without alcohol.


Gorilla Treated For Covid-19

 Some of the gorillas at the San Diego including Winston, an older gorilla with underlying health conditions, got Covid-19 . He received monoclonal antibody therapy that is not intended for human use and is now recovering.

Read more here 

Monday, January 25, 2021

Repurposing The Scarves Of Margaret Thatcher

Berlin-based artist Simon Denny repurposed scarves from the estate of Margaret Thatcher and secondhand down from garments sourced in San Francisco to create custom versions of sleeping bags and  puffy vests for a show last year. Denny describes them as "individual Bay Area insulation units".



Kamenstein MKI Design Rocket Kettle

I want one!

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Tweet Of The Day

 

Thirteen-Year-Old Skier Kai Jones

This kid is awesome!


Thanks Bruce!

Sunday Links

Image: Wil Sands

A View From Washington's Streets On Inauguration Day (image above)

Sweet: Two groups of penguins meet and exchange information 

Science Museum Group Collection: Explore over 350,000 objects and Science and Industry Museum, National Science and Media Museum, National Railway Museum and Locomotion. Via Things Magazine

Bruce, a frequent contributor to this blog, sent me this video. It made me laugh.

The year a railway ran inside Westminster Abbey

Is your house too small? Do you need more space? Check out these Additions Made From Vehicles 

The Tiny Doors in the U.S. Capitol

Canadian political cartoonist Michael de Adder wrote this  obituary for his mum

Warren Craghead drew more than 1500 pictures of Trump on his Tumblr over four-and-a-half years: TRUMPTRUMP 

The Holiday Inn in Perrysburg, Ohio is being demolished. It is one of the nicest hotels in the chain and has flourished for more than a half century. Nice photos.

The Painting Thieves Love : What is it about a painting housed at a tiny Dutch museum that has made it so popular with thieves, who have stolen it three times since 1988?

Wagashi Maker Creates Pandemic-Themed Sweets Via Everlasting Blort

52 Places to Love in 2021 I have visited 6 of these - so many more to go!

Dr. Walter Freeman  travelled the country in his lobotomobile performing a crude procedure he touted as "a cure for mental illness". He performed over 3500 operations before the lobotomy was discredited. Via MeFi

 The Three Stooges Drilling Company

Crowden and Keeves Sheet Metal Workers and Hardware Merchants A catalogue from 1930.

Who wants to move to Wales with me? I have roots there. My mother was born in Wales and I remember my grandmother singing to me in Welsh when I was a little girl. This entire village on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park is up for sale for the price of a London flat.

This Instagram account is kind of unusual.

How to make a Spherical Cake Containing the Earth's Layers  Via MeFi

Can you guess what it is? Sony's First Product (1946) 

This week's house envy: A private island where the Thames meets the Wey

Monarch fostering: After missing migration, Freddy the monarch butterfly settles in for winter with Manitoba family 

How To Make Laser Cut Maps Of Your City

The Rainbowt is a clear kayak with  lights. Via Perfect For Roquefort Cheese

This seems insane to me: America's largest and priciest home is a Los Angeles estate with 105,000 square feet of living space and a nearly $350 million price tag. Thanks Bruce!

American girl behind the camera: The photography of Ruth Orkin

Have you got the time and energy to give your house a facelift? Here are 35 Never-Fail Wall Paint Colors recommended by interior designers.

Everything Your Coconut Milk Can Do  I use it often in a quick and easy Brazilian fish stew.

Music For Sunday Morning

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Why Japanese Call The Color Green Blue


Via Digg

The Earliest Colour Films Were Hand-Painted by Female Artists

Frame scan from nitrate film print of Voyage sur Jupiter, 1909, from Fantasia of Color in Early Cinema, 2015. Published by Eye / Amsterdam University Press


An estimated 80 percent of early films were made in colour - tinted, toned, and painted with bright dyes that produced a surreal effect. The films were made by Edward Raymond Turner from London who patented his colour process in 1899. They were laboriously hand-coloured by women who spent their long days peering into powerful magnifying glasses as they applied dye with brushes as fine as a single camel hair. Colouring each print of Méliès’s work, Trip to the Moon (1902), required painting a grand total of 13,375 film frames. The Serpentine Dance by the Lumière brothers is a fine example of this cinematic art.



Read more about these female artists: Artsy

Stop Snacking!


Via everlasting blort 

France Gall et Lio - "Be My Baby"

I am a fan of cheesy French yé-yé from the 80s. France Gall was a big star of the genre.


Friday, January 22, 2021

Trippy

OMEGA II - Sébastien Guérive

Pic Of The Day


Tweet Of The Day

 

"Light a Candle"

Light a Candle is a song from Neil Young's 2009 album, Fork in the Road. It seems appropriate right now.

Vaquero

Director Blake Myers crafts a portrait of the Spanish and Mexican cowboys of California, known as vaqueros.


Read more: NOWNESS 

Off-Grid Tiny House Made From A Shipping Container

Design studio Pin-Up Houses has designed a tiny house that measures in at just 20ft x 8ft and is made from a small shipping container. It is equipped with solar panels, as well as a wind turbine, ensuring that the batteries can be charged at all times of the day and year-round. There’s also equipment to retain rainwater, which is then filtered and distributed through to the bathroom and kitchen.

Dr. Jill Biden's Inauguration Evening Dress

 

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Tweet Of The Day

 

A Tribute to Urban Horsemen



A Tribute to Urban Horsemen, a Philadelphia mural by Jason Slowik, melds contemporary society with themes of the Old West. 
"A team of horses and riders move through old Philadelphia streets, while a mythic Buffalo Soldier figure gallops through the sky, haloed in a golden sunset. Modern-day children enjoy the scene from trompe l’oeil windows, while others play in the old-fashioned cobblestone street lined with tracks for horse-drawn trolleys."

Actual Philly Cowboys have been known to ride by the mural. They are part of a century-long tradition of black urban cowboys and horsemanship in Philadelphia, local horsemen maintain and care for horses and teach neighborhood youth to do so.

Via

Pic Of The Day

 


French actress Jeanne Moreau at the Cannes film festival in May 1958. More photos here.

The Otherworldly Photography Of Teresa Freitas

Portuguese photographer Teresa Freitas mixes pastel hues with vibrant and bolder tones, creating a paradox for our eyes and mind.





Burned dog inspires other burn victims

Taka, a dog who was trapped on a burning porch in a house fire,  has become an inspiration to others.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

I Need One Of These So Bad!

I'm so fed up with fogged-up glasses when I go indoors with my mask on.  

@sleevzmask

SLEEVZ made it to Canada 🇨🇦 thank u @makeupbeanmua ##sleevzmask ##sleevz ##wearamask ##maskup ##winterfashion ##winterfashiontrends ##makeupartist ##mystyle

♬ original sound - SLEEVZ Mask

Via  

The Grateful Dead on 'Playboy After Dark' in 1969

The Grateful Dead Performed Live on 'Playboy After Dark'  after the band and several Playboy After Dark employees had been surreptitiously dosed with LSD that was added to the coffee pot on set. They did a much better job than I would have done. 

Grateful Dead on "Playboy After Dark" * 1969 from moontroll on Vimeo.

Hef apparently liked the performance:


More about the show here


Midcentury Trailer Is The Cadillac Of Mobile Homes


This 1959 travel trailer is a Spartan Imperial Mansion model, created by the Spartan Trailer Company and recognised as the top end of midcentury trailers. The 47-foot long trailer comes with period furniture and details including an Eames rocker, walnut cabinets and a wooden bathtub. 



It is coming up for auction on 22 January 2021 at RM Sotheby’s.

Folklore Generator

Michael Reeve created a folklore generator inspired by The Loremen Podcast, which covers local legends.


Grooming Transforms Dog's Appearance

 

@catherrera

Saving dogs one groom at a time ❤️ #fyp #fypシ #InLove #catthedoggroomer #doggrooming #matteddog #doglove #transformation #foryoupage #foryou

♬ Steven Universe - L.Dre

Via Digg 

Mountain Talk

This documentary illustrates the variety of language and culture of Southern Appalachia. 


 

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Hang Glider Makes Critical Error



Via  Digg

Covid From Space

The humans furthest from the global pandemic watch it unfold from orbit.

 The Guardian on Vimeo.

Bubbles In a Bubble

Chang Yu-Te blew 783 individual soap bubbles into the middle of one larger soap bubble before it eventually popped, setting a Guinness World Record.


The Painting Process of Kazuo Oga

Background artist Kazuo Oga demonstrates the inspired work that goes into the paintings of Studio Ghibli anime films.

A Very Close Look At Vermeer's Girl With A Pearl Earring



The Hirox digital microscope gives us a detailed view of Vermeer's Girl With A Pearl Earring, down to individual brushstrokes and pigment particles. The microscope scanned the whole surface from a motorized stand above the painting. This created a 20 billion pixel panorama image at 35x magnification. Then they took some close-ups at 140x, providing scans of these details in 3D. 

Thanks Bruce!

Tweet Of The Day

 

Via Everlasting Blort 

Monday, January 18, 2021

Tweet Of The Day

 

DIY Donald J. Trump Presidential Pardon

Everyone's getting one, now you can too!




Download and save the PDF. Open your downloaded Pardon with a PDF program that allows editing. Change the name to your name and save the pdf. 

The Westinghouse Home of The Future

A midcentury all-electric home for Westinghouse presented by Betty Furness. 

The Strange World Of Outsider Music

These musicians and artists aren't the most polished in the world, but they make up for it with passion and creativity.


Via Boing Boing

Previous posts about outsider musicians here  and here

Pic Of The Day

 The Old Battery in St. John's, Newfoundland after some fresh snow. CBC/Adam Pearce


Human Murmuration

This dance, choreographed by Sadeck Waff, is like an avian murmuration forming waves in the sky.

The Line

The Line is a city of a million residents with a length of 170 km that preserves 95% of nature, with zero cars, zero streets and zero carbon emissions.


Sunday, January 17, 2021

Space Oddity

Stanley Kubrick asked a young publicist to write a track for his movie,2001, but didn’t use it. Now it's been released after 52 years and we can all hear it. Actually I can see why Kubrick rejected it.

 

K’NEX Full-Sized Pinball Machine!

This pinball machine made out of parts from a children's construction toy system is pretty cool. 

   

 Via Digg

Pic Of The Day

 

The Game at Kawartha Lakes.
Photo by Fred Thornill

Via Chung Wong

Music For Sunday Morning

Always been a favourite.

 

Sunday Links

AFP-JIJI

The underground reservoir protecting Tokyo from floods (above) looks like an underground cathedral and is an amazing feat of engineering. Official studies have credited the facility with having saved ¥148 billion in disaster clean-up costs so far.

Very cute: Hedgehog Mobile Home Lets You Carry Your Pet Pygmy Wherever You Go 

Britain from the Air: 1945-2009 Unique archive capturing 70 years of change to UK's cities and landscapes.

SHOOTFACTORY provides some quirky and unusual film locations in London. Via Things Magazine.

Presidents Who Skipped Their Successors' Inaugurations  Via Miss Cellania

This week's house envy: A Modern House In A Floating Village In The Netherlands

Feeling crafty? Here's a way to use up leftover wallpaper scraps: How to Wallpaper a Lampshade - Step by step guide

Here's a list of everything Murakami has compared to writing

Revisiting Frank Lloyd Wright's Vision for "Broadacre City" This new democratic city would take advantage of modern technol­ogy and communications to decentralize the old city and create an environment in which the individual would flourish. Via Things Magazine

'Not that good': Montreal restaurant's brutally honest menu pulls in the customers 

The people whose homes are portals to the past  Five people explain why they made their home into the perfect replica of an earlier era.

Here's your chance to become a real hotdogger 

The Pigs of Celebrities In 1899 Strand magazine asked famous Victorians to draw a picture of a pig while blindfolded.

Magical Ice Bubbles Appear on the Surface of Lake Nukabira in Hokkaido

This is Lanie Gardner, a 21 year old singer from Nashville. She's pretty good. Thanks Bruce!

David Lynch's Projection Instructions for Mulholland Drive (2001) 

A Long, Lonesome Look at America Photographer Stephen Hiltner shares a collection of images from across the United States.

I'm not sure if this is lovely or creepy: Beauties Of The Past Brought To Life Via Memo of the Air

'Float houses' are popping up all over New Orleans for Mardi Gras 2021  Via

The Men Who Eat Like Boys I know men like this and I have to admit I get very impatient with them. Mr. Nag has never met a food he won't eat and I like that about him. 

The Magnificent Beauty of Different Owls at Various Stages of Life Via Memo Of The Air

I like this artful Ikea hack kitchen


The Art Of Whaling

A whale chase depicted in the log of the ship Washington kept by James G. Coffin (1842–1844) — Source


Prior to the arrival of the pilgrims Nantucket, whose name in Wampanoag means “sandy, sterile soil tempting no one”, was home to a small and sustainable population of Native Americans but was too infertile to support the agriculture necessary for a growing population. So the settlers turned to the sea and the brutal business of whale hunting. During their downtime the whalers created some lovely art. Public Domain Review  brings us researcher Jessica Boyall's exploration of illustrations from the logbooks and journals of Nantucket whaleships.

More drawings of whales in the log of the ship Indian Chief kept by Thomas R. Bloomfield (1842–1844) — Source



Saturday, January 16, 2021

Pic Of The Day


Edward Burtynsky, Three Gorges Dam Project, Yangtze River, China, 2005

Via Duck Soup 

Find Satoshi , A Six Degrees of Separation Puzzle



Is it possible to locate a man given only his photograph and first name? In 2006, UK-based game company Mind Candy tested the theory of six degrees of separation as part of an Alternate Reality Game. They provided a photograph of a man, a name, and the Japanese characters that translate to “Find me”. 14 years after the hunt began, Satoshi has been found!

It's an excellent story. Read it here.

Oh My Goodness, Flying Cars!

At last, the urban air mobility we've been waiting for since we watched The Jetsons when we were kids. Hyundai offers solutions to free future cities and people from the constraints of time and distance. And yes, it includes flying Personal Air Vehicles (PAVs)!



Missing

A clairvoyant man has dedicated his entire life to helping families find their missing loved ones but it has taken its toll on the relationship with his own family. In this video he must choose whether to help another family at the expense of his own.

Savnet / Missing from Hyæne Film on Vimeo.