first rule – don’t talk about fight club: bacterial cock-fighting may lead to new antibiotic therapies, via Dangerous Minds
don’t pay the ferry man: mysterious figuring punting in an Australian lake dressed as an undertaker, traveling via open casket
nightmare of dishpan hands: vintage laundry shaming
disrobed, disarming: 3D printed model of the Venus de Milo allows art history scholars to guess what she might have been doing with her hands
gravity assists: a thoughtful explanation and reflection of the slingshot effect in space propulsion via BLDGBlog
Sunday 5 July 2015
5x5
malkunst oder we’re having a heat-wave, a tropical heat-wave
I have always had a fondness for such murals cast onto the rather monotonous concrete (Beton) faรงades of buildings—celebrating perhaps a hobby of the owners, industry, religious and regional motifs, hope or hospitality, especially vintage 1960s and 1970s (during the rebuilding boom mainly of the post-war period) for their abstract, modern design—and have used a lot of these images previously, like this homage to pigeon-fanciers or this mosaic on the side of the bank in Bad Karma and many others that I struggle to find as I have not bothered curating them properly.
On the hottest day since a dozen years, when the mercury rose to 40ยบ Centigrade (an unnatural, wilting and disgusting 104° Fahrenheit) we ventured out to have a refreshing dip in a pool in a the nearby village of Schรถnau.
Along the way towards the bathing installation (which was quite nice and didn’t feel overly crowded even though everyone else in a twenty kilometer radius had the same idea as us), I noticed quite a trove of such decorations, and I knew that I had to return, despite the unflagging heat, and take a few pictures before the go the way of the Gartenzwerge (lawn gnomes) or church bells (something that people aren’t always sentimental for or even tolerant of) and are torn down or spackled over in the name of progress.
On the hottest day since a dozen years, when the mercury rose to 40ยบ Centigrade (an unnatural, wilting and disgusting 104° Fahrenheit) we ventured out to have a refreshing dip in a pool in a the nearby village of Schรถnau.
Along the way towards the bathing installation (which was quite nice and didn’t feel overly crowded even though everyone else in a twenty kilometer radius had the same idea as us), I noticed quite a trove of such decorations, and I knew that I had to return, despite the unflagging heat, and take a few pictures before the go the way of the Gartenzwerge (lawn gnomes) or church bells (something that people aren’t always sentimental for or even tolerant of) and are torn down or spackled over in the name of progress.
Saturday 4 July 2015
siss boom ba
Just in time for US Independence Day (and probably equally valid for Bastille Day), Mental Floss presents an animated field guide for identifying the various standard effects used in pyrotechnic displays. I never knew that they had specific names, other than “ohh” and “ahh.” The image used of a frozen firework in bloom is a long-exposure image captured deftly by the brilliant photographer David Johnson at a show in Australia with more examples at the link.
catagories: ๐บ๐ธ, holidays and observances, revolution
Friday 3 July 2015
manifest destiny
Though the timing and the title of columnist Dylan Matthews’ piece for Vox, ‘Three Reasons Why the American Revolution was a Mistake,’ is perhaps a little overboard and ire-drawing—surely begging commentary that begs whether one actual read the article, it is something that’s worth the read and reflection.
catagories: ๐ฌ๐ง, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐, ๐, foreign policy, revolution