It’s not called the wheel. It’s called the carousel.

I have watched all 92 episodes of Mad Men three times. This scene makes me want to watch them all again.

The brilliant Kodak Carousel pitch scene.

MAD MEN (2008)#JohnHamm

pic.twitter.com/fpKvstocFt

— Michael Warburton (@MichaelWarbur17) February 29, 2024

Why do we have leap years?

Bychykhin_Olexandr/Getty Images

The simple explanation for why we have leap days is that it takes 365.2422 days for our planet to complete one revolution around the sun. That means each typical 365-day year ends a quarter-day’s worth short of the complete orbit. If we abolished leap years right now, sometime in the 2400s, January would drift into summertime for the Northern Hemisphere. 

Tomorrow we add a leap day, as 2024 is a leap year. I made a video to show why we do that and what happens when we don't

Have a nice extra day tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/uBtB9Vhxe1

— Dr James O'Donoghue (@physicsJ) February 28, 2024

Read more

via Perfect for Roquefort Cheese

Largo do Carmo

We recently stayed in a hotel overlooking this historic square in Lisbon which was the site of the Portuguese Carnation Revolution in 1974. Also on the square is the impressive Museo Archeologico do Carmo, a fine example of historic preservation of a convent that was partially destroyed in the earthquake of 1755. It holds over seven centuries of history.

 

 

The weather was perfect for enjoying a vinho verde or porto tonico at the kiosk on the square at the end of each day.

How To Spot AI-Generated Video

OpenAI's Sora is an AI video generator that can create lifelike, minute-long videos from simple text prompts. They are so realistic that it is almost impossible to tell AI videos from reality. This raises concerns that fake videos on social media may be used to erode public trust in political leaders, institutions and the media. Here are some things to look for to determine the difference between real video footage and those that are generated by AI.

 

(Kraftfuttermischwerk) 

1959, the Year that Changed Jazz

via  3 Quarks Daily

The Zone Of Interest - Trailer

 

Rudolf and Hedwig share a well-appointed home with their five children. Their existence is an idyllic one – they picnic at a nearby river, and Hedwig lovingly and proudly tends to her lush garden and greenhouse. Just over the garden wall, however, lies the Auschwitz death camp. Rudolf is Auschwitz's Commandant.

 

Petograph of the Day

Henry Pointer, “The Old Batchelor” (post-1860s) (image courtesy BG/OLOU / Alamy)

See more Early Pet Photographs

I Was a Fake Boy Scout

Comedian Whitmer Thomas revisits a childhood memory: the time he, a 10-year-old skater boy, had to fake his way through Boy Scout camp for a summer.  

via Aeon Videos

Analog House

This breathtaking architect's home in California’s Martis Valley echoes its alpine surroundings and becomes part of the forest floor through conversational design. And it has a treehouse tower!

First Swim

 

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The Boston Typewriter Orchestra Goes Electric

The Boston Typewriter Orchestra is a collective endeavor which engages in rhythmic typewriter manipulation combined with elements of performance, comedy and satire. “Selectric Funeral” is their entry for this year’s Tiny Desk Contest and their first piece to include an electric typewriter. 

via Laughing Squid

Join or Die - Trailer

The half-century story of America's civic unraveling through the journey of legendary social scientist Robert Putnam. Join or Die is a film about why you should join a club — and why the fate of America depends on it.

via Kottke

Photo Of The Day

It’s about time they locked these guys up. We can all feel safer now.

Link

via Memo Of The Air

Private Jet Villa

This Boeing 737 airplane was transformed into a luxury holiday rental perched 150 meters above the ocean on Bali’s Nyang Nyang Cliffs in Uluwatu. 

I visited Bali a number of years ago and spending more time on a plane would have been the last thing I wanted to do but chacun a son gout… 

See more: Toxel

Every Single Frame

Are you a cinephile? Matt Brooks built this site where you can explore a curated collection of critically acclaimed movies frame-by-frame in random order. I could look at stills from Barry Lyndon and The Grand Budapest Hotel all day long.

via Kraftfuttermischwerk

Harlem Fashion Scenes in 1950

Photographer Eve Arnold’s year-long study of backstage scenes at community fashion shows in Harlem, shot in black and white at the start of her career in the early 1950s.

See more: Vintage Everyday

Inheritance - The Lockerbie Collection

We search for meaningful stories, because otherwise, there’s just too much to take in.

In December of 1988, 25 year old David Dornstein died in Lockerbie, Scotland when the plane he was travelling on was bombed, killing all 259 people on board. A few of his belongings were found in the wreckage and his younger brother, Ken, inherited them.  Twenty-seven years later Ken examines the collection of items. Some he will return to their box, others he will decide to let go.

This infographic tells his story. It is incredibly moving.

(via Things Magazine)

Cats are jerks

Cats, can’t live with them, can’t live without them. When we found our cat, Carmen, she was just ten weeks old but was a wee terrorist. We hung in and, at 5 years old, she has become more sedate.

(Kraftfuttermischwerk)

Chillin’

 

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The “Canned Ham” Radio

A lovely art deco-style Phillips radio from 1931

Sunday Links

Image: KÖR Kunst

Do you think Vienna’s $2 million water fountain (above) the ugliest in the world? Many people are critical of its aesthetic.

Rotating house for sale in New Zealand can rotate continuously like a carousel.

“I meet the proposition with unutterable scorn and contempt” A letter from a freed slave to his former owner’s wife.

Don’t put your phone in rice if it gets wet.You’ll wreck it.

A lovely archive of modern illustration from 1950-1975 (thingsmagazine)

How to Succeed with Brunettes, 1967. 

“There is no forest without as much brushwood as will burn it.” From a  collection of Irish proverbs.

In search of the last saola, an animal last photographed in 2013.

The most iconic nose injuries in the history of (crime) film. (via everlasting blort)

Weird information to dispense on a first date (via the new shelton wet/dry)

Hybrid Cities A mashup of iconic places, skyscrapers, climates and world powers. (Moscanbul, Rio Londoneiro and more)

Woodblock prints known as namazu-e are rooted in a myth that earthquakes were caused by the movements of a great catfish (public domain review)

Why is one side of aluminum foil shiny and the other dull?

An opera diva, a queen of surveillance and Selfridges’ ‘secret service’ head were among the women who rivalled male private eyes but were written out of history. A new book tells their stories.

RIP Flaco, the beloved New York owl who died after colliding with a building 

A small town in Alberta, Canada, is the self-proclaimed "World Capital of Dinosaurs". 

Ballerina on the Boat, with choreography help from members of the Bolshoi.(via perfect for roquefort cheese)

The Street Names of Budapest: A mapped analysis of who Budapest's streets and public spaces were named after and what this reveals about the city's history.

Brothers dancing in sync Siblings dancing and-roller-skating.

Music For Sunday Morning

Have I ever mentioned that this is one of my favourite pieces of music? 

Via Kraftfuttermischwerk

A Blogation

 I’m travelling and blogging on my phone is a terrific pain so I’m afraid you’ll have to carry on without me for a few more days. See you soon.

Sunday Links

Frozen Flowers of Capetown South African photographers Bruce Boyd and Tharien Smith froze flowers in blocks of ice and captured unique snapshots that preserve the vibrancy of the blooms. (image above)

In the real time world, no one sees her at all. They all say she's crazy. She’s a maniac (via everlasting blort)

Before the mid-19th century pets survived on table scraps. The dogs and cats who are guinea pigs for the pet food industry today live in state-of-the-art facilities. The dogs have heated squares for sleeping and bunk two to a room to prevent loneliness; the cats have specially designed climbing nests that look like spiral staircases. All the animals can access the outdoors from their living quarters.

Van Morrison’s lesser-known work (via Rusty’s Electric Dreams)

Oldest known Scottish tartan brought back to life The 16th-century Glen Affric tartan shows its true colours.

Obituary scraping Google has found another way to pollute the web.

A robust middle class is vital for any democracy but the lower middle class isn't middle-class anymore.

In the mid 1700s, parents leaving their babies at the Foundling Hospital in London would also leave a small object as a means of identification. The hope was that one day they'd be able to reclaim their child. Heartbreaking.  You can explore the token collection. (first posted here 13 years ago)

How do you mend a broken heart?:A clinical trial at a psychiatric hospital in Montreal sought to ease the pain of romantic betrayal.

Today I learned that snails can do this

Jack Baty photographed 500 Meals he ate over the course of a year. (via Web Curios)

Banned book rainbow: LeVar Burton has been an advocate for the freedom to read for generations. Now he responds to book bans with a video highlighting books that have been challenged. via perfect for roquefort cheese

Ian Bremmer’s annual ranking : 10 Biggest Threats to the World in 2024

Music For Sunday Morning

Happy Caturday

https://tilbageidanmark.tumblr.com/post/741708229646696448

Florence As It Was

Florence As It Was has as its mission the gradual reconstruction of this major cultural center, one structure at a time, city block by city block. 

Bardi di Vernio Chapel Low Poly by Florence As It Was 

Paintings produced by artists during the early period that feature buildings constructed before 1500 – including those that no longer survive – have been used to recreate the exteriors of churches, municipal offices, and city gates. (via Web Curios)

Making Pastry

They make it look so easy.

 

Artistic pastrypic.twitter.com/2eMMwwIItx

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 16, 2024

Drone pilot and photographer Joshua Turner captured footage of the 3 tallest towers in Shanghai. At 632m (2,073ft)Shanghai Tower is the tallest building in China and the 3rd tallest in the world.

(Kraftfuttermischwerk)

Wondrous Boy - Donna Dunlop

 I love this song by my Facebook friend Donna Dunlop.

Hear more of Donna’s music on Episode 602 of Folk Roots Radio.

Cherry Blossoms in Shizuoka, Japan

The Kawazu-Zakura cherry blossoms

Shizuoka’s Kawazu City hosts of one of Japan’s earliest cherry blossom festivals.  Roughly 8000 cherry blossom trees line the Kawazu river. 

More: Spoon & Tamago

YouTube 10th anniversary video compilation

198 videos!

via TYWKIWDBI

Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution

Leonard Bernstein hosts this 1967 documentary by David Oppenheim about young pop and rock musicians producing music as "a symptom and generator" of social unrest and generation gaps.

via  3 Quarks Daily

Don’t worry about a thing

This is the sweetest thing ever!

 

Someone somewhere needs to see this right now and if that’s you, I’m glad you found this.pic.twitter.com/1YYkSLFiLQ

— Scottacular (@Scottcrates) February 10, 2024

via everlasting blort

Take Her Around the World for Valentine’s Day…Without Ever Leaving the Kitchen (A repost)

"While dinner and a movie are fine for a typical Friday night, Valentine’s Day should be different–a cut above. Looking back over the years, the dates that stand out in my memory are the ones that prompted good conversation, created memorable experiences, and were filled with the unexpected. So this year skip the crowded restaurants and take your sweetheart for a trip around the world.

What’s that you say? Don’t have the dough to whisk your lady from Rome to Timbuktu? Then give her a global experience via “stovetop travel.” By whipping up a meal that includes a dish from each of the world’s continents, you can give your special someone a charming dose of both culture and amore without ever leaving the kitchen. No jet lag either!"

More at The Art of Manliness

Visible Mending

A group of knitted objects tell stories about how they have used knitting to mend themselves, even if the repair was temporary.

Visible Mending from Samantha Moore 

what life is like for polar bears in a warming world.

Polar bears are bearing the brunt of human-caused climate change. Less ice means a less extensive feeding season, so polar bears need to find ways to adapt, from eating new foods to expending less energy. A new research study by USGS and Washington State University uses collar cameras to document the activity of the bears through the summer season.

This study brings home the message that there’s no salvation from terrestrial feeding to help polar bears through the ice-free period.

Read more: Vox

Wild Magnolias

Black revellers wear elaborate artworks at Mardi Gras that are inspired by ceremonial Native American outfits, dating back to at least the 19th century.

Wild Magnolias from Alexandra Kern on Vimeo.

via Aeon Videos 

Batman Sings Bohemian Rhapsody and does a damn good job of it

(Tacky Raccoons)

Chameleon Bursts Into Colour just before death

With her last ounce of energy this female Labord's chameleon (Furcifer labordi)  covers her eggs.

Link 

via Memo Of The Air

St. Valentine’s Day Date Ideas

Image: Wellcome Library, London. CC BY 4.0.

Time is running out and you want to give your special Valentine a nice surprise. Here are some fun date ideas that honour the life and faith of Saint Valentine, the patron saint of love, engaged couples, and happy marriages . . . as well as epilepsy, beekeeping, fainting, and the plague. 

• Cook a seductive homemade third-century Roman meal of millet and turnips lightly drizzled in your finest vinegar
• Enjoy the thrill of a full-day beekeeping course
• Delight in the magic of a 5 a.m. Latin mass
• Titillate your mind and learn about an amorous topic such as epilepsy or the plague

Read More: McSweeney’s Internet Tendency

World’s Fastest Shed

The record for fastest shed in the world is held by Oxfordshire mechanic Kevin Nicks, who in 2015 mounted a steel frame and wooden bodywork on a broken-down Volkswagen Passat. He’s broken his own record twice and most recently he reached 114.7 mph in 2018.

(Futility Closet)

Max Beckmann Goes For A Walk (Ellen Harvey 2022)

This video by British-born conceptual artist, Ellen Harvey, shows the "walk through life" of the famous German painter using numerous postcards of the places Beckmann visited, arranged chronologically.

via everlasting blort

Painting Of The Day

Amy Sherald, They Call Me Redbone but I’d Rather Be Strawberry Shortcake, 2009; National Museum of Women in the Arts

NMWA

Via 3 Quarks Daily

Photograph Of The Day - A Monkey’s Mask

This photograph by Jasper Doest was the overall winner of the 2020 GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards. It is part of a series about the Japanese Macaque called Sacred No More.

At Utsonomiya's Kayabuki Tavern, Japanese macaque Fuku-chan takes off its paper mâché mask during its performance practice with Yume-chan, Mr Otsuka's oldest monkeys. Following dinner in the tavern, customers have the opportunity to watch the macaques perform tricks on a makeshift stage with the help of a variety of stage props.

via Memo Of The Air 

 

The Beatles - I'm Only Sleeping

To celebrate the 2022 Special Edition release of the Beatles’ Revolver album, artist and director Em Cooper explored the space between dreaming and wakefulness. She created 1300 individual oil paintings and transformed them into animation, a frame-by-frame process which took many months. The animation won the 2024 Grammy for Best Music Video.

 

via everlasting blort 

Sunday Links

Arquitectura Libre is a colourful collation of the buildings of India and Mexico (image above). via Present and Correct

How 50,000 meals are made every day at Singapore Airlines 

Notably, the rioters briefly paused to observe a respectful silence when a brass band began playing God Save The King, but then they went back to rioting. James McLeod: A lesson from Newfoundland's history: We can never take a break from democracy

How to find your dominant eye

Japanese food artist Daisuke uses raw fish, vegetables, rice, and baked goods as the medium for his Edible Miniatures

The exact moment a tv station switched from colour to black and white (April 14, 1967)

Twelve Chinese architecture projects completing in the Year of the Dragon

My Movie Theater: Isaac Fitzgerald on sneaking in concessions, shoplifting DVDs, and recreating the experience at home.

Mutiny in Space: Why These Skylab Astronauts Never Flew Again 

 Seven writers board a train. At the end of the line, five will leave it alive. One will be in cuffs. Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect is a mystery novel by Benjamin Stevenson that takes place on the Ghan, the famous train that goes from Darwin to Adelaide. I haven’t read it yet but have it bookmarked.

The 'Benjamin Button' effect: Scientists can reverse aging in mice. The goal is to do the same for humans. 

Turning beets into beats: Vienna's Vegetable Orchestra 

Do Elephants Have Souls? “There is mystery behind that masked gray visage, an ancient life force, delicate and mighty, awesome and enchanted, commanding the silence ordinarily reserved for mountain peaks, great fires, and the sea.”
– Peter Matthiessen

Check out this beautiful writing

King Charles III is being treated for cancer. That’s likely to mean a more prominent role for other senior members of the royal family. Here’s the current line of succession.

The Best Mews Streets in London Whenever I’ve visited London I’ve been drawn to these pretty, traffic-free streets and dreamed of living on one, preferably in Hampstead.  

I’m looking forward to making this mushroom bourguignon.

Dig, If You Will, the Underground World of Hobby Tunneling

Fancy a pizza made in an active volcano? How about a 50 year old soup? 50 Places to Eat and Drink Before You Die 

Behind the Scenes at the PuppyBowl

These cute microscopic animals are basically indestructible and can survive a host of conditions that are too extreme to ever occur on Earth. What makes them so resilient? (via Memo Of The Air)

Here’s something you don’t see everyday: Kevin Bacon singing to a llama.

Music For Sunday Morning

Starting your day off with this will make your Sunday a little bit better.

Istanbul, Where the Art and History of Three Great Empires Come Together

In A Cultural Tour of Istanbul curator, gallerist and art lover James Payne introduces Istanbul as having been “the capital of three great empires, Roman, Byzantine,and Ottoman.”

The Art Of Building

National Mosque of Bangladesh by Azim Khan Ronnie - Public's Choice Winner, 2023

The Art Of Building photography competition is an international showcase for the very best digital photography of the built environment. 

Cosmic Connection - Nina Kloss

Silk road art gallery - Sen Wei

See More

A brief history of Valentine's cards

From floral bouquets and scented hearts, to casual insults and a pig in human clothes...