Newsletter #0042: The answer to life, the universe, and everything.

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LIFE IS COMPLEX AND BUSY, SO THIS MAY NOT BE DOUBLE NOR TRIPLE… BUT A QUADRUPLE ISSUE!

KEEP IT OPEN AS A TAB, OR DON’T, BUT THERE’S SOME 4D CHESS IN THE CURATION HERE. =)

 

COME ON YOU DON’T GET TO READ THIS NEWSLETTER WITHOUT KNOWING THE TITLE’S PROVENANCE!!

 

It’s from Douglas Adams’ 5 book trilogy, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. The movie is REALLY cute (Hulu and Amazon), but the 1981 BBC series was a splendid production (on Hulu).  But it all started with the original radio series, which was absolutely a mind blowing 6 hours that changed the course of my life. You can find them here as a podcast. Primary Phase 1-4 and Secondary Phase are wonderful listening.  What’s funny is that it all started (for me) with the Infocom (Zork, “West of House” creators) text based game of the same name, and I kept getting hit in the head with a brick (in game), so I read the book to figure it all out, and the humor was just perfect for me at the time. But the game came with all this quirky and cute and funny stuff, and it was a real happy place. Ahhh the late 80s and early 90s. But I was into this, Fawlty Towers, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galax, Monty Python, Black Adder, and Red Dwarf… and I think later Are You Being Served? Whatever the case PBS KQED yo. Anyhoo, I spoke and spelled like a Brit for ridiculously too long. But I got better.

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish - Song Lyrics and Music by Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy arranged by LadyEstellaRose on Smule Social Singing app

 

 

  • RELEVANT: I am completely tired of Elon Musk. He reminds me of that old saying about Libertarians:

r/WhitePeopleTwitter - Libertarians - House Cats

 

BUT: Historian Says Elon Musk Is Misinterpreting Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “That is Musk’s guide for living, yet he is using that guide to justify doing the very thing that the story is opposed to.” https://futurism.com/elon-musk-misinterpreting-books

Lastly, people worked out a cosmological, mathematical, and universal constant that means, yes in fact, 42 is the answer, and solved the “sum of three cubes” problem:

The answer to life, the universe, and everything Mathematics researcher Drew Sutherland helps solve decades-old sum-of-three-cubes puzzle, with help from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” https://news.mit.edu/2019/answer-life-universe-and-everything-sum-three-cubes-mathematics-0910

 

 

  • STOP EVERYTHING AND WATCH THIS NOW:

 

It’s called Omega Mart, it’s a surreal escape room concept by an art collective. There’s one in the Southwest, one in Denver, and this one in Vegas. Here’s WAY WAY MORE with weird commercials, employee training, and walk throughs of this art experiment gone Warhol vs Lovecraft:

WHAT IS OMEGA MART? YEAH, WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS OMEGA MART? WHAT? YEAH.

 

  • I am reading a book about a luxury hotel, “PARADOX HOTEL”: it’s a noir detective romance in a weigh station for time travelers. It’s not bad, but I’d say don’t go in expecting Moby Dick vs delightful pulp. I think it’s a bit more elevated than that, but holy cow this is just absolutely a fantastic quote… when your day is good, and you can’t believe the next day is horrible… or if you counter a terrible day with an amazing one… just remember this:

“There was once a student who went to his meditation teacher and said, ‘My practice is horrible. I feel distracted. My legs ache. I’m constantly falling asleep.’ And the teacher said, ‘It’ll pass.’?” I put down the mug. “I’m not one for parables.” She holds up a finger. “Not a parable, but we’ll get to that. So the next week the student went back to the teacher and said, ‘My meditation is wonderful! I’m so peaceful! So alive!’ And do you know what the master said?” “Good for you?” She shakes her head. “It’ll pass.”

 

 

  • Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy (or me):

Social media weaponizes blandness. It makes everyone online look like they just got out of a halfway house.

 

 

  • This ties into a film review down below for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” – I found this VERY amazing. Learn from the past. Move forward. This is like multiverse stuff! It’s so en vogue (Yes, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a brilliant film and you’re a dolt if you miss it in theatres. Matinees are EMPTY, BTW)!

But this is real:

Image

 

 

 

Also relevant:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Lagunitas Brewery with their sparkling hop water non-alcoholic warning label is my favorite thing ever.

 

 

 

 

  • PROLLY MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF CURRENT AFFAIRS IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

This interview about Putin from a massive intellect and powerhouse expert, Julia Ioffe, is riveting and fascinating and ultimately frightening, because Putin is backed into a severe corner and haunted by paranoia and a silo’d experience of people incapable of being honest with him, or telling the truth, so he’s made one of the most dangerous miscalculations ever. It is also interesting that Trump fed Putin’s ego so much, he lost the thread of reality and believed too much in his abilities, or was blind to his lack of them. Putin’s Road to War is a Frontline special that I will link when it was released on the 15th of March. Also, she started a news site with some other journalists called “Puck”, and has a newsletter aptly titled “Tomorrow Will Be Worse”.

This is the full Frontline Documentary, and frankly this 1h30m total of the two videos should be required viewing for political, economic, or state-building buffs:

 

 

  • LASTLY? This is how you host an awards show, and make jokes. Watch this in context of legitimately everything.

 

 

SPACE

 

  • When stars die and rip planets apart, they scream. For real.

Crumbling planets might trigger repeating fast radio bursts It’s one more hypothesis among many for the source of these flares https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fast-radio-burst-planet-neutron-star-cosmic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Brave or stupid? I’m going to say brave, but they claim it wasn’t a secret message… because the gulag awaits, one might assume. They picked the colors 6 months ago, but who know! =)

“A colour is simply a colour. It is not in any way connected to Ukraine. Otherwise, we would have to recognise its rights to the yellow sun in the blue sky. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-20/russian-cosmonauts-say-suits-not-inspired-by-ukrainian-flag/100924792

 

 

  • LOL the Banana:

 

 

 

  • Phobos transited between Mars and the Sun, and now we have our first eclipse from another planet!

 

 

 

 

 

  • Webb mirror alignment:

“Better than our most optimistic prediction” – first images from James Webb exceed all expectations Images of a non-descript star within our own galaxy reveal the James Webb telescope’s deep-field capabilities. https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/james-webb-telescope-first-images/

 

“the highest resolution images taken from space ever!” “performing better than the models predicted it would”

FULL ALIGNMENT:

 

 

 

  • UPSHOT: Dark Matter might be a power source behind our wildest dreams, and could possibly be harnessed for space flight. Also… you’re in a room with Dark Matter, currently. It’s everywhere and about 90% of the universe. Don’t look behind you!

Inside NASA’s Bold Proposal to Probe the Mysteries of Dark Matter “Is there dark matter in the room with me right now?” https://futurism.com/scientists-dark-matter-probe

 

 

 

  • Mars is in space! Everything is!

 

 

  • It’s wild how quickly things are being released, immediately, and publicly, vs privately sharing with other nation’s intel. It’s likely to combat disinformation as well as daylight Russia’s botched false flags all over the place, for example.

Commercial satellites test the rules of war in Russia-Ukraine conflict Companies are releasing images that once were seen only by intelligence agencies https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/10/commercial-satellites-ukraine-russia-intelligence/

 

 

  • This belongs in vehicles, but after 50 years of space service:

Artemis 1 moon rocket rollout: Meet the NASA crawler carrier doing the heavy lifting: NASA’s crawler-transporter 2 is the size of a baseball infield and weighs more than 6 million pounds. https://www.space.com/nasa-artemis-1-rollout-crawler-transporter-2

 

 

  • Astrolab Advances Lunar Mobility with FLEX Rover: Recently tested by retired astronaut Chris Hadfield, the adaptive, multi-use rover can autonomously swap payloads, mobilize astronauts and more, enabling the next generation of planetary exploration and discovery https://astrolab.space/news/blog/1

 

SCI AND TECH

 

Advertising in Dreams is Coming: Now What? An opinion piece on recent developments in dream incubation technologies and their ethical implications https://dxe.pubpub.org/pub/dreamadvertising/release/1

In June 2021, Science Magazine reported that Coors, along with others including Xbox and Burger King were working with scientists to “engineer” ads into volunteers’ dreams using audio and video. Sound familiar? The Science report also noted that 40 dream researchers signed an open letter calling for the regulation of burgeoning “targeted dream incubation” experiments like Coors’, because although this sort of dream manipulation is current voluntary, “it is easy to envision a world in which smart speakers — 40 million Americans currently have them in their bedrooms — become instruments of passive, unconscious overnight advertising, with or without our permission.”

Inception totem GIFs - Get the best gif on GIFER

 

 

 

  • Giant Gundam robot built for train maintenance in Japan is operated by a user in VR. Unreal times at the, uhhh… end of time.

 

 

 

  • And yes… time will end while the earth is still here.

Time Likely To End Within Earth’s Lifespan, Say Physicists There is a 50 per cent chance that time will end within the next 3.7 billion years, according to a new model of the universe https://www.technologyreview.com/2010/09/28/200231/time-likely-to-end-within-earths-lifespan-say-physicists/

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • It Turns Out People Who Don’t Believe in Evolution Are Racist Jerks:

Syropoulos and his colleagues found that in the United States — as well as in Eastern Europe and the Middle East — that a low threshold of belief in the theory of evolution corresponded with higher prejudices both within one’s own group as well as bigotry towards people of other creeds, races, and nationalities. “Our findings were consistent across cultural, religious, and national contexts, for majority and minority groups, and even towards groups that were fictional (i.e., created by the research team),” Syropoulos told PsyPost. https://futurism.com/evolution-racism-link

 

 

  • IT IS GIF LIKE GIRAFFE, STOP YOUR INTERNAL MONOLOGUE:

It is truly mystifying that people have this bizarre passion to use a hard “G” with gif, disrespecting the unequivocal truth of the creator and inventor of the Gif, pronounced like “Giraffe” (hence Imgur’s logo). Out of respect, I ask you all to stop saying the hard G, and let’s celebrate this man who created a new form of communication that has brought so much joy to people.

Stephen Wilhite, creator of the GIF, has died 76 It’s pronounced ‘jif’ https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/23/22992066/stephen-wilhite-gif-creator-dies

“The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations. They are wrong. It is a soft ‘G,’ pronounced ‘jif.’ End of story.”

The 17th Annual Webby Awards - Backstage

This is his 5 word acceptance speech:

 

 

 

Robot Dogs Join the New York Fire Department - The New York Times

 

 

 

Nervous Sweating GIFs | Tenor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Using sci/tech to debunk UFO footage. This is truly one of the most expert-level take downs I’ve EVER seen, and you really won’t convince believers that this footage is just “glare” from the gimbal camera, but holy cow this was so well done:

Famous Navy UFO Video Was Actually Camera Glare, Evidence Suggests https://petapixel.com/2022/03/14/famous-navy-ufo-video-was-actually-camera-glare-evidence-suggests/

This injects complexity, as the glare may be hiding a shape, and it’s complex: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30702319

And play around with it here on this gimbal simulator: https://www.metabunk.org/gimbal/

 

 

 

  • Discovery of Novel Brain Fear Mechanisms Offers Target for Anxiety-Reducing Drugs Summary: Researchers have identified a new target in the brain that underpins the freezing response associated with anxiety and fear. The findings could provide a new drug target for anxiety-related disorders. https://neurosciencenews.com/anxiety-taget-fear-20153/
This shows the outline of a person and a brain

 

 

ON A DENSITY CONJECTURE ABOUT UNIT FRACTIONS https://arxiv.org/pdf/2112.03726.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

  • Candidate to the french presidential election held a rally in 12 different cities at once through holograms…

 

 

  • These are basically counter-measures for an ICBM. VERY rare / unseen technology that is VERY important to Russia, but they are either desperate or don’t care, and are using it knowing that the West will reverse engineer this design to thwart said counter measures:

Russia deploys mystery device in Ukraine https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/russia-deploys-mystery-device-in-ukraine

Russia Deploys a Mystery Munition in Ukraine: Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles are releasing a previously unknown decoy designed to evade air-defense systems, an American official said. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/russia-ukraine-weapons-decoy.html

Image

 

 

 

  • A team of physicists recently discovered a new phase of water ice, after they put ordinary ice under extraordinarily high pressure and melted it before letting it refreeze. The previously unknown phase—called Ice-VIIt—is organized differently from typical water ice. It doesn’t occur naturally on Earth’s surface, but it may exist in the mantle or on distant moons and planets. https://gizmodo.com/physicists-defy-haters-create-tetragonal-ice-1848682806

 

REAL SCIENCY: Highlights Recent Accepted Collections Authors Referees Search Press About Staff Pressure-driven symmetry transitions in dense H 2 O ice: https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.104109

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • This is technology because it’s about how someone might connect an old school blade’s “tang” (a word worth this entire newsletter) to a handle. So this is basically the glue superheating and removing the sheath such that YES THIS IS A KNIFE POOPING.

 

 

 

 

COMEDY

  • Think “Information Technology” –

MRW I’m “good with computers” and a coworker asks me for help with her laptop, even though we have an ENTIRE DEPARTMENT dedicated to helping with these things TRUDY!!

 

 

 

 

 

  • Speaking of… this old clip of Dave and Conan talking about Jay is fantastic:

 

 

 

  • This is edgy, but he is alive as I type this, so this is humor, even if not your flavor:

 

 

 

 

 

  • Pretty good:

 

 

 

  • Seriously, what?

 

 

 

  • Literally on the back of a restroom in a restaurant:

 

 

 

  • “Our new virtual beer, Heineken Silver is an ironic joke. It is a self-aware idea that pokes fun at us and many other brands that are jumping into the metaverse with products that are best enjoyed in the real world,” Westenbrink said. “Nothing beats the taste of a refreshing beer.”

 

 

 

Jeff Goldblum ASMR:

 

 

Captioned Sea Lion:

 

 

 

 

  • Comedy? When not comedy becomes so.
@polterguysofficial“Oops Mr. Waiter I’m a coffee pot”? original sound – Ron Solomon

 

Movies, TV, and counterfeiting wine

 

  • Because of the planet being LV426, we just passed the official “Alien Day” to celebrate the franchise and especially Ridley Scott’s first film. 4/26

For Alien Day (April 26th, ie 426 from LV426, the main planet from Ridley Scott’s initial film) I grouped a bunch of fan art of movie posters, one-sheets, and other random drawings I found online. ENJOY!

 

 

 

  • Some new stuff!

A doc about the legend Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku. More on his life here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Kahanamoku

WATERMAN SURFING LEGEND. OLYMPIC SUPERSTAR. HAWAIIAN ICON. AMERICAN HERO. https://sidewinderfilms.org/films/waterman/

 

The extraordinary surfing life of Duke Kahanamoku

 

 

  • If you like Skyrim (game), Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, folklore, Norse mythology, or Viking stuff…. see this before its dismal performance at the box office nixes it from theatres. This was just legendary filmmaking, and stunning. VERY VIOLENT. But Eggers, director of The VVitch (Anya Taylor Joy’s first film before being the Queen’s Gambit darling), and The Lighthouse (Pattinson and Defoe magnetic in a Lovecraftian madness spiral), this is an Icelandic poet’s Viking Revenge Fantasy Fever Dream. The cast is Alexander Skarsgård · Nicole Kidman · Claes Bang · Anya Taylor-Joy · Ethan Hawke · Björk · Willem Dafoe. This is going to be, pardon my french, batshit insane.

*THIS IS THE SOURCE MATERIAL FOR SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET”

 

  • Alexander for the above got RIPPED. Holy cow. But his brothers are also amazing, and here’s Bill’s audition for Pennywise the Clown. HOLY MOLY.

 

 

  • Think Brazil vs Sliding Doors vs Dr. Strange vs Mindwalk? I am sure there’s a better explanation, but “Everything Everywhere All At Once”:

I am breathless. a seemingly $1 Billion dollar budget film made for $25 Million, which initially was marketed as a sci-fi kung-fu multiverse film, but has become one of the most amazing artistic, film, theatre, media experiences I’ve ever had, and I had no idea I’d be snifflin’, then BAWLING. It’s a beautiful story about that life path thing from the top: all the things we chose or didn’t choose to close past life paths, to know which one we are truly on. It’s difficult to explain, but if you’ve ever wondered “What if I went through that yellow light?”, or “What if took a left out of the door instead of a right”, and your whole world would be different? This movie touches the heart, phenomenal acting from a stellar cast… and just the most amazing and touching film in a long time. Also, a24 just rebooted independent filmmaking and they’re seriously one of the most important parts of my life. Don’t hate. It’s true. Also, keep track of the circles: laundry, mirrors, bagels, googly eyes, and way more:

 

  • MERCHANDISING. Where’s the Flamethrower?

 

 

  • Cruise is a meticulous entertainer. I loathe the Scientology thing, and for YEARS it colored my ability to watch him. But I’m past it… he’s basically a high school dropout that has been in the machine since 14 years old. Wow.. I was so wrong. He graduated, but wow:

Cruise briefly took a Catholic Church scholarship and attended the St. Francis Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio; he aspired to become a Franciscan priest before being expelled from the seminary for drinking and becoming interested in acting.[15][16]:?24–26? In total, he attended 15 schools in 14 years.[17] In his senior year of high school, he played football for the varsity team as a linebacker, but was cut from the squad after getting caught drinking beer before a game.[16]:?47? He went on to star in the school’s production of Guys and Dolls.[18] In 1980, he graduated from Glen Ridge High School in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.[19] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cruise#Early_life_and_education

 

Still, this being a practical effect is INSANE. It’s truly next level stuff, and he does it for people who like movies. Pretty wild.

 

 

 

  • Pretty exciting. nb: series, not film.

Maya Erskine replaces Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Donald Glover’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith series https://ew.com/tv/maya-erskin-replaces-phoebe-waller-bridge-mr-and-mrs-smith-series-donald-glover

Maya Erskine; Donald Glover

 

 

 

  • This is a real movie one sheet and tagline. For real. Unreal.

 

 

 

  • 5 minutes of Nic Cage humanizing himself and being charming. Still wish he was nominated for Pig.

 

 

  • For having not seen it til now, the author nails the sentiment vs modern day. It reminds me of the precursor in Bo Burnham’s “That Funny Feeling”, about what’s here and what’s coming.  I thought I was watching something like Disney’s “Black Hole” (I say Disney to clear up any assumptions about what film I was looking for, because without Disney I bet that search goes south pretty quick), but I watched Silent Running when I was probably 13. I saw the cover and the robots and I’m like “this is for me”.

This movie broke me. Just tore me apart, and it’s where all my global and environmental awareness began and comes from. But this quote:

50 Years Later, Silent Running Is More Relevant Than Ever Bruce Dern stars in Douglas Trumbull’s 1972 sci-fi film about environmental conservation. https://gizmodo.com/50-years-later-silent-running-is-more-relevant-than-ev-1848638632

 

 

 

  • A documentary about the famous Burgundy wine counterfeiting of the 00’s is free on youtube, named “Sour Grapes”. It’s one of the best documentaries ever, both gripping and unreal that someone could do what he did (it’s age restricted so only exists on YT or I’d embed it!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXF6JqrauW0

 

 

  • LITTLE TINY BABY MOVIES!

 

MUSIC

 

  • Bo Burnham finally released the “video” from his last special for “That Funny Feeling”. I dunno about you, but you might cry, maybe. Maybe you might.

 

 

 

  • Still looking for the “chase” sample, this is the full breakdown of Daft Punk’s Face to Face samples.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Sick moves!

 

 

 

One factor that may play a role? Widespread delays in vinyl for new releases leading to consumers picking up the CD instead. A similar factor is at work in electronic music, where labels shut-out thanks to vinyl pressing plant backlogs have instead released what would be digital-only records on cassette tapes too. https://5mag.net/news/cd-sales-increase-in-2021/

So how did CD sales increase? Well, you can thank the holy pop trinity of Adele, Taylor Swift and BTS. Adele sold nearly 900,000 CDs in 2021, harkening back to the good ol’ 1990s. As for Swift, Fearless sold 263,000 discs, Red 237,000 and last year’s evermore 213,000. We guess you can call this “CD sales (Taylor’s Version).” Meanwhile, BTS sold 210,000 copies of Map of the Soul: 7 and Be moved 187,000 units. Not to leave out Gen Z, Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album, Sour, sold 195,000. Yes, CDs! So to put all in perspective, the last time compact disc sales went up, Zune was still a thing, Blink-182 didn’t break up and AIM was the preferred online communication. Oh, and you were probably reading this in a print magazine, preferably (likely? hopefully?) this one. That’s enough nostalgia for one day. https://www.spin.com/2022/01/cd-sales-increased-in-2021/

 

  • RELEVANT AND STUPID:

‘I Need to Use My CDs Again’: Social Media Infuriated with Snoop Dogg After Staple Death Row Records Go Missing as Speculation Builds About Rapper’s Metaverse Transition https://atlantablackstar.com/2022/03/14/i-need-to-use-my-cds-again-social-media-infuriated-with-snoop-dogg-after-staple-death-row-records-go-missing-as-speculation-builds-about-rappers-metaverse-transition/

 

 

  • What do famous musicians do in their spare time? Well….

Rod Stewart Spent 23 Years Building An Elaborate Model Train World — And It’s Unbelievable https://allthatsinteresting.com/rod-stewart-model-trains

 

 

 

 

@giantrooks mad to see how many of you are loving this cover!! @AnnenMayKantereit ? Tom’s Diner – AnnenMayKantereit & Giant Rooks

 

 

@moonsoundstudios #producer #speaker #speakers #audio #audioequipment #singer #tiktokproducer #songwriter #musican #prince #moon #studio #recordingstudio #fyp #foryoupage #beat #hashtag #music ? Hip Hop with impressive piano sound(793766) – Dusty Sky

 

 

  • Music? “Music”, but really… Music. A novelty but labor of love… Someone recreated Kind of Blue in 8-bit:

 

 

Society, People, Culture, and True Heroes

 

  • The end of that GOP graph is horrifying. As soon as Trump came down that elevator, GOP tanks on reality and science. Feels super 1930s to me. I’d be curious what the post 2015 spike that precipitated a drop was all about, but boy the left went to the moon in the same time.

Why Being Anti-Science Is Now Part Of Many Rural Americans’ Identity And why that will make communication around the next crisis so much more challenging. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-being-anti-science-is-now-part-of-many-rural-americans-identity/

 

  • Don’t feel bad for inanimate objects:

 

 

  • Pinball was outlawed between the late 30s & 1972 and 1976 in New York and LA, respectively:

Pinball was banned beginning in the early 1940s until 1976 in New York City.[43] New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia was responsible for the ban, believing that it robbed school children of their hard earned nickels and dimes.[43][44] La Guardia spearheaded major raids throughout the city, collecting thousands of machines. The mayor participated with police in destroying machines with sledgehammers before dumping the remnants into the city’s rivers.[44] The ban ended when Roger Sharpe (a star witness for the AMOA – Amusement and Music Operators Association) testified in April 1976 before a committee in a Manhattan courtroom that pinball games had become games of skill and were not games of chance (which are more closely associated with gambling). He began to play one of two games set up in the courtroom, and – in a move he compares to Babe Ruth’s home run in the 1932 World Series – called out precisely what he was going to shoot for, and then proceeded to do so. Astonished committee members reportedly voted to remove the ban, which was followed in other cities. (Sharpe reportedly acknowledges, in a self-deprecating manner, his courtroom shot was by sheer luck although there was admittedly skill involved in what he did.)[45] Like New York, Los Angeles banned pinball machines in 1939. The ban was overturned by the Supreme Court of California in 1974 because (1) if pinball machines were games of chance, the ordinance was preempted by state law governing games of chance in general, and (2) if they were games of skill, the ordinance was unconstitutional as a denial of the equal protection of the laws.[46] Although it was rarely enforced, Chicago’s ban on pinball lasted three decades and ended in 1976. Philadelphia and Salt Lake City also had similar bans.[47][48] Regardless of these events, some towns in America still have such bans on their books; the town of Kokomo, Indiana lifted its ordinance banning pinball in December 2016.[49] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball#:~:text=Pinball%20was%20banned%20beginning%20in,city%2C%20collecting%20thousands%20of%20machines

 

 

  • This is a real book series:

Crabs: The Human Sacrifice https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2737134-crabs

First published back in 1988, ‘Crabs: The Human Sacrifice’ later became somewhat of a scarce rarity for Guy N Smith’s signature ‘Crabs’ series. This instalment forms the sixth full length addition into the ever popular series.

Like within Smith’s 1984 novel ‘Crabs’ Moon’, Smith has once again inserted a quick passage to explain exactly where this next instalment falls within the complex chronology of the crabs series. Smith’s opening statement is as follows:

“Whilst the giant crabs were slowly dying from cancer, as told in Crabs on the Rampage, a massive battle was still to be fought on the east coast where the crustaceans were to make one final attempt to overthrow Mankind. This is the story of that final battle set against the background of a macabre cult of crab-worshippers and human sacrifice – GNS”.

So the scene is set, its place within the crabs saga established, all that’s left is for some gruesome click-click-clickety-click fun…

 

 

  • To shuffle off this mortal coil, you need to know what coil meant. “Coyle”, or “the mess” of life, and the confusion of existence. So it’s to shuffle off this messy confusion of life. Wonderful.

‘Coil’ is an ancient word, commonly used centuries before Shakespeare, and spelt ‘coyle.’ It was a noun and referred, for want of a better way of expressing it, to a mess – a mixture of messy things such as noise, confusion, uncertainty, bustle and so on. We don’t use it like that anymore but most of Shakespeare’s audience would have received it in that way. So what we have is Hamlet talking about is how one could relieve oneself of all the messiness of life by stabbing oneself with a bodkin (a large needle used for sewing sacks of flour). ‘Coil’ now makes sense. https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/mortal-coil/

Remember this riveting read? Andrew Scott from Fleabag nails the soliloquy from Hamlet.

 

 

  • Other than my family, this man is 100% fully responsible for me loving Food & Bev as a kiddo. He was my first cooking show, and sorta my Julia Child. It was actually around 10 years old I would switch from Saturday morning cartoons to him and julia on PBS. He’s hilarious and just super nice, and infectious. He’s a kind, brilliant, kind, charming, engaging dude.

So he just won a lifetime achievement award from the James Beard Foundation, “sorta” a nobel prize for food people. That might be slightly overstated, but it’s a big honor, and Martin said it sorta validated his whole career. He’s done some amazing work bridging other cultures like Bourdain set out to do.

KNIFE SKILLS ALL DAY!

 https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/03/16/james-beard-legendary-bay-area-chef-martin-yan-wins-lifetime-achievement-award/ via @mercnews

martin yan Archives | KQED Bay Area Bites Master chef Martin Yan on 'Yan Can Cook,' Julia Child and the future of Bay Area restaurants

 

 

 

  • Hardest photo ever

Swedish Major Eric Bonde smokes a cigarette after being ambushed and shot twice, Congo, 1961 https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/swedish-major-eric-bonde-1961/

Eric Bonde, a friend of Von Horn’s, was chosen to join the Swedish UN Battalion in Katanga. During a train transport, Swedish troops, Major Bonde included, were attacked by rebels. The Swedish unit won the consequent battle, but not without losses. He was himself was hit by two bullets that penetrated his chest, but he survived. One of his soldiers yelled to him: “Sir, your shirt is red. You are bleeding. “ He replied: “Don’t be impertinent. My blood is blue.” https://cyprusscene.com/2021/01/21/how-a-kyrenia-nobleman-was-shot-60-years-ago-in-the-congo/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • The Baby Sloth is too cute not to share. Yes the person taking the video is either crushing on the girl, dating the girl, or has some demons to work out but look at the sloth:

 

 

Dispatch: “Can you put her on the phone?”

Neighbor: “She’s bleeding.”

Dispatch: “Does she need an ambulance?”

Neighbor: “No, she’s a nurse. She says call an ambulance for the guy. He may be dead.”

 

 

  • Andrew Garfield on art, grief and loss, talking about his mother on Colbert. “Grief is all the unexpressed love we have for that person”:

 

 

r/funny - John Steinbeck's letter to Marilyn Munroe from 1955

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Man tried to seduce undercover officer with chicken alfredo. Chef’s kiss.

 

 

  • This is an absolutely remarkable video: Russian POW talking about their brainwashing, their lack of any information let alone internet, & a plea to treat Russian POW well so they can go home to Russia and explain the war crimes & genocide, to work on the hearts and minds of ????????

 

 

VEHICLES

 

  • One tree, it’s game over:
@motorsportfanzone #rally #rallycar #wrx #wrc #cars #motorsport #racing #timeattack #forest #codriver #speed #fast #fyp #fyp? #foryou #foryoupage #viral #insane #balls ? original sound – MotorsportFanZone

 

 

 

 

 

  • 16 year old finding out how to do the new rodeo:

 

 

  • Manual fans? This is just the best. Always has been.

 

 

Overlanding Survival UNICATOverlanding Survival Zetros 2733

And there’s always the Space Cowboy Unimog!

 

 

A (sailing yacht) - Wikipedia

 

 

  • Toyota ad that isn’t an ad, incoming. Holy cow I need to tell you that the Landrcuiser is great, but the driver nailed it. So 3 tires did all the work til the front right saved the day? Holy holy holy moly.

 

 

  • “First stolen tank”. Farmers will have gas guzzling tractors for decades, tax-free (because Ukraine isn’t going to charge taxes on found/stolen Russian equipment).

 

 

  • Here’s an entire thread of “Grand Theft Auto: Ukrainian Farmers”:

 

 

 

 

SKY YACHT! That hot tub would be odd… splashy? splishy?

AIRYACHT

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To wit!

We need a future of environmental travel, and it could be Luxury Airships. This isn’t your grandma’s zeppelin (but some old pics too)!

Like this:

 

 

 

 

 

Used 2020 Honda Accord LX 1.5T for Sale Nicholasville KY | Car Town Kia USA VIN: 1HGCV1F1XLA129030

 

 

 

 

  • VERY UNIQUE LANDING GEAR:

 

 

 

 

And lastly….

War, Russia, Animals, and Pets.

Russia’s 19th century strategies are atavistic and brutal: the goal is to remove anything that gives you comfort or makes you happy, leaving a black void of despair. “Mission Accomplished”?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heavy stuff below the shopped but hopeful pic, hence the spacing. Stop here to keep it blue.

 

 

I decidedly did not put the most heart wrenching photos, but to bear witness to the evacuation and chaos is important.

Once you get to the end of these pictures, there are very dark, very sad truths about the Russians and what they do in war, even to pets.

 

Russia-Ukraine war: Audio obtained by Ukraine suggests Russian troops are now eating dogs https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/russia-ukraine-war-audio-obtained-by-ukraine-suggests-russian-troops-are-now-eating-dogs/NUJBTRJL3MKGEHDUDX7RC4NWLM/

 

Russia’s War Is Hell on the Pets of Ukraine—and Their Rescuers https://www.thedailybeast.com/russias-war-is-hell-on-the-pets-of-ukraine-and-their-rescuers

 

Russian soldiers murder volunteers helping starving animals near Kyiv https://kyivindependent.com/national/russian-soldiers-murder-volunteers-helping-starving-animals-near-kyiv/

 

More than 300 dogs found dead in Ukrainian shelter after weeks without food or water due to the war, charity says. Russia occupied the city and let them die. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-russia-war-shelter-dogs-die-borodyanka/

 

Ukraine Zoo To Euthanize All Animals After Russia Destroys Enclosures https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-zoo-kharkiv-feldman-ecopark-euthanize-animals-war-1695118

 

Slava Ukraini!!

About Uncle Fishbits

I'm.. just this guy, you know?