Newsletter #0045 – “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

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“It is likely that in every society, there are quotes by persons of vision and significance regarding the importance of caring well for our children as they hold our futures. One such quote in the USA is by the abolitionist leader and author Frederick Douglass who in 1855, in dialogue with white-slave owners about the immortality of slavery, wrote, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41134-019-00106-z#

 

I only thought of this Douglass quote because after 2012-present politics, 2020-present pandemic, <1900-present climate change, 2022 sketchy ground war… aren’t we also creating broken children?  The psychic damage of the last few years needs to be addressed, so we can gear up to move forward for the real battles yet to come. That being said, in relation to the quote, this fact:

 

DNA can carry memories of traumatic stress down the generations:

Animal and human investigations indicate that the impact of trauma experienced by mothers affects early offspring development, but new research is also discovering that it is also actually encoded into the DNA of subsequent generations. https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/122740-dna-can-carry-memories-of-traumatic-stress-down-the-generations

 

 

 

On a notecard on my bed at a hotel of ours, it made me immediately in the here and now:

“If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything” – Thich Nhat Hanh

 

 

 

To be a ghost with means is the new fame. – me

 

 

 

  • Books? The Southern Reach Trilogy is quite good. If you’re looking for three books to read:

There are certain kinds of deaths that one should not be expected to relive, certain kinds of connections so deep that when they are broken you feel the snap of the link inside you. – Biologist, p. 46

 

 

 

  • Things don’t get easier. We handle hard better. This is what leadership looks like. PHENOMENAL lesson.

 

 

  • OOF… Denzel is an interesting dude at every level. This truth-bomb about journalism, walking the razor’s edge between being informed vs misinformed vs uninformed, and where media and culture is at now with money vs ethics… JUST WOW.

 

 

  • Really smart, and REALLY funny. States have suggested they will track people who go out of state to have an abortion and prosecute them for murder, part of which is subpoenaing data from fertility apps to prove the woman was pregnant. The result: creative tinkering with data reliance, ie… make the app’s data so unreliable it can’t be used as evidence. The modern world is so weirdly horrifying, we get to see some of our mischievous grins pop out of the woodwork, methinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • WOW Chouinard… he gave up the company, and every dime goes to fight climate change. Sort of wonder if North Face’s Thompkins will follow suit: https://www.patagonia.com/ownership/

Earth is now our only shareholder.

If we have any hope of a thriving planet—much less a business—it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have.
This is what we can do.

By Yvon Chouinard

 

 

Lastly, having been in Paris and almost becoming a smoker because HOT DAMN do they smoke, something I noticed identical to smokers were the inbetween moments of cell phone usage, and that the toxic damage is still there in the same way.

We hold our smart phones like cigarettes when we’re not smoking them.

SPACE

 

  • I’ve not shared this in a few years, and as it is the 25th anniversary of Zemeckis’ adaptation of Sagan’s “Contact”, I’m Sagan heavy (there’s a lecture down below that is less of his optimistic and soaring attitude, but his worried and needling skepticism looking to a chaotic future. That being said, hearing his voice is always good, and I just want to know one thing about this fan made NASA video called “THE FRONTIER IS EVERYWHERE”…

 

 

 

“Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” ? Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

 

 

 

This happened on Monday, 7 million miles away from the earth, and it was a success! This is literally about planetary defense and protecting a human extinction level event. Unreal.

It was seen from HERE, telescopes recorded it: https://www.space.com/dart-asteroid-impact-telescope-videos

 

 

 

  • In line of Guns, Germs & Steel, or Collapse, I’m always wondering about Drake’s question… How long do civilizations last? In that, my assumption about our own world, and alien life, is that of COURSE there’s more life out there… but they may have already passed away after evolving, or they simply don’t exist or haven’t evolved *yet*. The universe is pretty mean. Okay okay… it’s an uncaring, endless void. I get it.

Frank Drake has passed away but his equation for alien intelligence is more important than ever https://theconversation.com/frank-drake-has-passed-away-but-his-equation-for-alien-intelligence-is-more-important-than-ever-189935

 

 

 

  • The largest lightning strike ever recorded wasn’t even supposed to be there, like it wasn’t even supposed to be in the area… ‘Gigantic jet’ that shot into space may be the most powerful lightning bolt ever detected By Brandon Specktor published 5 days ago This lightning bolt over Oklahoma was one of the rarest and most powerful on Earth. “The charge transfer is nearly double the previous largest by a gigantic jet and is comparable to the largest ever recorded for cloud-to-ground strokes,” the researchers wrote in the study. https://www.space.com/most-powerful-gigantic-jet-lightning-ever

 

 

  • China’s space junk “we don’t care” problem for the world: In late July 0f 2016, in the middle of nowhere Southern Utah, my wife and I saw another rocket re-entry, and there was a moment we were like “this is it?” lol It’s so dramatic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comparing the new Webb images vs Hubble will blow your mind. This is the basic page, but make it full screen and zoom. It’s like a whole new universe we couldn’t even comprehend. https://johnedchristensen.github.io/WebbCompare/basic.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • INFRARED JUPITER VIA Webb!

 

 

  • Hubble got jealous. This shot it took of Jupiter auroras is AMAZING!

 

 

  • This is a camp with a view of the Milky Way in Kyrgyzstan. Note the scary nature below of what I like to believe is the same camp the next day, witnessing an Avalanche a wee bit too close.

 

 

 

 

 

  • If, *&* WHEN, Webb discovers biomarkers that prove a planet’s atmosphere has been altered by the existence of life, I’ve got to imagine the ennui and colossal desperation of wanting to see it, communicate with it, or understand it will simply open us up to further pangs of being incomplete within this universe, and hone our desperation to connect with something out there in this cold and uncaring void:

To search for alien life, astronomers will look for clues in the atmospheres of distant planets — and the James Webb Space Telescope just proved it’s possible to do so: The ingredients for life are spread throughout the universe, we just have to find them. https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-exoplanet-atmospheres-explained

 

 

  • Launch Photos:

Delta IV heavy rocket and it’s final launch from the West Coast.

 

 

SpaceX Launch in Southern California:

 

 

  • Well the Vulcan test is bonkers:

 

 

  • Spaceforce unveiled it’s official song:

 

IF IT ISN’T ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUSLY EMBARRASSING, IT WAS LIFTED FROM MEL BROOKS “Jews in Space”. I am ASTONISHED.

 

  • NASA, SpaceX to Study Hubble Telescope Higher Orbit Reboost Possibility

NASA and SpaceX signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement Thursday, Sept. 22, to study the feasibility of a SpaceX and Polaris Program idea to boost the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit with the Dragon spacecraft, at no cost to the government. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-spacex-to-study-hubble-telescope-reboost-possibility

 

SCIENCE AND TECH

 

  • By being informed, believing in reality and data, science, and facts, and practicing skepticism, we can ensure that we are the ones running the government, and not the government controlling us:

 

 

 

 

AND, here is your main course:

THEY PUT GPT-3 INTO THAT ROBOT WITH CREEPILY REALISTIC FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND YIKES “NOTHING IN THIS VIDEO IS PRE SCRIPTED.” https://futurism.com/the-byte/gpt-3-ameca-robot-facial-expressions

There will be no desert. And the lashing will continue until human morale improves:

 

 

  • Ferro-fluid robot… too big to pass through? Break up and finish the job, then recombine when job’s done!

 

 

 

 

 

  • AI art is getting better… feed a text string, and out pours unbelievable works:

 

 

  • Hacker puts submachine gun on robot dog. The feet are scary sounding:

 

 

 

 

  • The era of predictive and personalized biological and genetic health mapping is almost here:

‘Holy Grail’ Blood Test Can Diagnose Cancer Years Before Symptoms https://www.newsweek.com/holy-grail-blood-test-can-diagnose-cancer-years-before-symptoms-1726444

Signs of Alzheimer’s in Blood 17 Years Before Symptoms Begin https://neurosciencenews.com/blood-alzheimers-amyloid-beta-21085/

 

 

 

  • This is insane technology. Absolutely insane. The creature is a Licker from Resident Evil, and I’ve seen the Hong Kong cat, the Star Trek one, etc… but this is next level in making you feel massive anxiety in public. THIS IS A BILLBOARD PEOPLE:

Impressive, most impressive.

 

 

SCIENTISTS HAVE A HACK FOR HAVING MORE SEX IN LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS IT’S SO SIMPLE THAT IT JUST MIGHT WORK. https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-relationship-desire-hack

 

  • And, in lieu of that, an interesting read on sex researchers and studying the history of monogamy as white oppression from colonialism redefining social structures to fit their religious values for native americans, and other cultures. I’d never thought of this, but the upshot of that lesson is you get to listen to your body, let your freak flag fly, and live your best sexual life by understanding what turns you on!

“To destroy sexuality as it is known in the Western world is for Kim TallBear the same as revealing an aspect of colonialism that hits us in the most intimate: The imposition of monogamy and singular marriage as a way of domination over the land and its lives. This Dakota thinker, affirms that her practice of polyamory does not focus on sex but on the multiple relationships that she maintains with different human and non-human people. About the current pandemic, she says there are too many monogamists moralizing contact and that it would do us good to learn from polyamorous agreements on risk management”.

https://dame.com/a-guide-to-learning-what-turns-you-on/

 

 

  • I definitely know this is true, at least anecdotally. I don’t mean physical pain, but during the pandemic there was nothing better than being terrified by androids and an alien while trying to escape a decommissioned space station in a decaying orbit around a gas giant. Horror Gaming is therapy because it helps you understand that it can always be, or get, worse.

Study finds surgery patients wearing VR headsets needed less anesthetic Virtual worlds could distract you from the pain. https://www.engadget.com/patient-vr-surgery-less-anesthetic-study-213044578.html

 

 

 

  • PHILOSOPHY ALERT: It used to be “a struggle with brevity and bandwidth”, and we’ve been tricked into thinking there is some digital permanence, and that it even might mean something.  We have so many endless unskilled photos we never look at, it reminds me of the saying, “When you believe in everything, you truly believe in nothing.

“When memories were tied to physical objects”… Even floppy disks did that, but then “the cloud” changed it all. Yes, I miss when cameras had 24 pictures and there was economy and intention. But also, digital stuff disappears all the time. Look at “Vine”, or the early Swedish teen websites in the late 1990s (mentioned in the article)… nothing is forever. I thought the BBS (bulletin board system from the late 1980s) I was dialing into would be there for my whole life.  But this philosophical and existential walk down the path of how we control and form our memories and history through totemistic physical objects (a small souvenir figurine, a photo, a keepsake) is enriching to consider.

The way we experienced our youth, and how we process our memories, is going to be the last time humans ever processed reality in that physical way. Your children’s experience of youth, memory, and culture is so significantly different, we’d be like aliens that can’t understand one another. I do fear that the children really have no concept of digital impermanence. But I also have a giant bag of old photos I have no fucking idea what to do with.

Kodak Disposable Cameras, from an era where you needed to efficiently plan 24 shots over the course of a vacation, weekend, or experience, and when the 24 developed, the photos meant so much more than 5000 you barely look at in the cloud.

Fleeting Memories of Youth and the Increasing Impermanence of Culture: How will we remember our personal past in the future? https://www.datagubbe.se/fleeting/

 

 

  • What is smart dust and how is it used?

Imagine a cloud of sensors, each the size of a grain of sand or even smaller, blown aloft by hurricane winds and relaying data on the storm to weather stations below. Picture an invisible sensor network embedded into a smart city’s roads to monitor traffic, road surface damage and identify available parking spaces – all in real time. Or billions of nanosensors distributed over forests and other areas with fire hazards to detect a fire at its very beginning. Or envision programmable smart dust that triggers an alarm signal when invisible microcracks are detected in a turbine blade. https://www.nanowerk.com/smartdust.php

 

 

 

  • My brain finally gets this! Essentially: “a structure under compression within a system of constant tension will create a stable shape”

 

 

The Mine Kafon is much cheaper than traditional mine-clearing devices.

 

 

 

  • It’s a vehicle, but the design, engineering, and tech is what is impressive here. This is called a Mine Flail, a tank that is used to brute force clear minefields.  And I’ll tell you… mines are an EVIL piece of inhumane and cruel wartime munition.
@toolthew77

? suono originale – Greenthe?

 

 

 

  • CIA revealed a “heart attack” gun in 1975. A battery operated gun which fired a dart of frozen water & shellfish toxin. Once inside the body it would melt leaving only a small red mark on the victim where it entered. The official cause of death would always be a heart attack:

 

 

  • VIDEO GAME AND VIRTUAL REALITY ALERT: The physics of specific VR games is always astonishing. Baudrillard’s simulacrum, and I’m not saying it’s kayaking. I’m saying it’s interesting, and the point of simulacra if the end user isn’t heady and thinks, and sorta believes they’re sorta kayaking, they’re sorta kayaking.  It’s akin to the time I heard some prototypical Americans in Vegas say that they didn’t need to go to Paris or New York because they saw both. Hey, if that’s how your mind works and you believe it? Ok? But this example goes even further. This was posted on a VR community I frequent, and like many of the 3D space dogfighting games, “Do not play if you get seasick” with a ?. You’re not at sea, but you’re getting sick? Simulacrum indeed.

There’s an intriguing new documentary on HBO, first to ever be fully shot within VR, about relationships people built in a goofy and fun community called “VR Chat”, from friendships, to support, to love. Very high RT ratings for “We Met In Virtual Reality”: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/we_met_in_virtual_reality

 

 

 

 

  • The ethics of genetic data may be a moot point… you can’t opt out if your family opts-in. So be it, but it’s fascinating to look at the history of war and sabotaging or targeting specific audiences. I haven’t done 23&Me or Ancestry because I’d always heard vague notions of losing control of your genetic code to a company that can utilize it without your knowledge and permission. The rosy side of this is “we have anonymous aggregate data that shows populations who will get diabetes, alzheimer’s, etc” and it can be a revolution in tailored health care. But that bad side of this? Accidental hacks of your DNA, or it being sold to a shadowy 3rd party data broker.

We have the capacity to build virus’ that target specific DNA or genetic code / lineage. If the No Time To Die Bond film was any indication in fantasy, this stuff isn’t far from being a real problem. Probably delivered by drone mosquitos, or some wild delivery system we don’t even know about.  But as much as this could be the “sky is falling”, I just don’t my genetic code in the wild. I guess it already is… but this is amazing:

“People will very rapidly spit into a cup and send it to 23andMe and get really interesting data about their background — and guess what? Their DNA is now owned by a private company,” the lawmaker reportedly claimed. “It can be sold off… with very little intellectual property protection or privacy protection, and we don’t have legal and regulatory regimes that deal with that.” https://futurism.com/neoscope/rep-bioweapons-kill-people-dna

Biological weapons could target DNA, food supply, two U.S. lawmakers say https://www.axios.com/2022/07/24/bio-weapons-target-us-joni-ernst-jason-crow

 

 

 

  • I want to call attention to the 25th anniversary of Zemeckis’ adaption of Sagan’s “Contact” once again… a beautiful, heart wrenching film that truly relates Carl’s universe-view of human existence. It seems impossible, but also it’s the most romantic sci-fi film ever! =) It’s truly beautiful, and Sagan should stay with us forever, as he does in this blog.

Science and Civil Liberties: The Lost ACLU Lecture of Carl Sagan Around 1987, Sagan gave an uncannily prescient lecture to the Illinois state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. https://quillette.com/2022/07/01/science-and-civil-liberties-the-lost-lecture-of-carl-sagan/

Excerpts:

Despite our best efforts, some things we believe are probably wrong. We certainly are very keen on recognizing the errors of past times and other nations. Why should our nation, why should our time, be different? If there are things that we believe, if there are institutions in our society that are in error, imperfectly conceived or executed, these are potential impediments to our survival. How do we find the errors? How do we correct them? I maintain: with courage, the scientific method, and the Constitution. Sooner or later, every abuse of power must confront the Constitution. The only question is how much damage has been done in the interim. Now, it’s no good to have such rights if they’re not used: a right of free speech when no one challenges the government; a right of assembly when there are no protests; universal suffrage when much less than half the eligible electorate votes, and so on. It is not enough merely to have these rights in principle; we must exercise them in practice. And the Constitution itself is not only a body of knowledge fundamentally about human behavior, but also a continuing and adaptive process. In some sense, the Supreme Court, when it sits, is a continuing Constitutional convention.

One of the dangers when a democracy is in confrontation with a totalitarian adversary is that the democracy slowly, perhaps unwittingly, becomes more and more like the adversary. Democracies are in danger of losing the very thing that they are ostensibly fighting for—and this is one of many reasons it seems to me why Americans should welcome and support the Gorbachev revolution that is going on—for how long we do not know—in the Soviet Union. If there is any place in the world where an extremely steep gradient, a steep rate of change in the views on the virtues of civil liberties is happening, it’s, astonishingly, in the Soviet Union today.[18]

Well, to conclude about this country: during the last decade, it seems to me there has been a terrible backsliding on Constitutional and democratic issues in this country. I don’t just mean that the regulatory agencies are, by and large, in the hands of those being regulated. I don’t just mean that arms control is in the hands of those who are in favor of the arms race. I don’t just mean that social justice is being administered by the ideologues of privilege. I don’t just mean that government agencies designed to protect people’s rights are in the hands of those who would abolish those agencies. And I don’t even just mean that there is what seems to be a conspiracy of high government officials to subvert the Constitution (I’m referring to Irangate.[19]) It’s not just that.

 

 

 

  • No EIRs in Saudi Arabia, but I do wonder about that mirror heating up the surroundings. That being said, this plays like a trailer for a futuristic movie (on purpose).

 

 

 

  • So, Lauren and I save every spider, even the Opiliones (which are arachnids, but not spiders, colloquially known as Daddy Long Legs).  FIRST: They do not have the most poisonous venom in the world but mandibles too small to bite humans. MYTH BUSTED. SECOND: Why Daddy? Who thought to call that spider Daddy? Someone that didn’t know it wasn’t a spider, presumably, but DADDY??

Anyways, this is less about whether “pain” is stimulus and response, ie “pain” as in autonomous “I better get away” without *sensing* pain, vs actually being able to process the many notions of feeling actual pain. The question here is not whether there is pain as self-preservation, or these little critters truly feel and process pain?

We save everything… spiders, bees, even wasps. But if that fly can’t be ushered out the patio door by nighttime, it better be wary of shadows. Mosquitos are the deadliest creature on earth, so I will turn into a crazed hunter at 3am if they’re around.  Lastly, ants are a smart colony of workers, but they better get an academic up in there to study my property line. That’s some no holds barred war, like battling zombies until the end.

Whatever the case, this is a VERY VERY interesting philosophical conversation:

Insects Probably Can Feel Pain, Researchers Say: In a new paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, scientists from the Queen Mary University of London argue that insects most likely have central nervous control of nociception (detection of painful stimuli); such control is consistent with the existence of pain experience, with implications for insect farming, conservation and their treatment in the laboratory. https://sci-news.com/biology/insect-pain-10993.html

 

 

 

  • The robot was playing four games at once, and it hadn’t finished it’s move apparently, so it basically placed it’s piece on the kids finger and pinned it. Whoah, that thing would not release the death stomp: RUSSIAN CHESS ROBOT BREAKS CHILD’S FINGER DURING TOURNAMENT “THIS, OF COURSE, IS BAD.” https://futurism.com/the-byte/russian-chess-robot-child-finger

 

**VIDEO WITHHELD** (not *that* bad, but sorta spooky.

 

  • We Asked DALL-E to Imagine What’s Just Beyond the Frame of 10 World-Famous Works of Art. Here’s What the A.I. Saw DALL-E’s new Outpainting tool lets users see beyond the bounds of any image, including the ones art historians know best. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/dall-e-outpainting-2171195

 

 

 

 

  • I am including Rainbolt (the nice guy who says “nice”) here because although it’s simply competitive geographic guessing in a game called Geoguessr, the strategies these people use on the fly are INSANE. What talent, and I would watch this on TV. It’s SO intense. But these people see a random streetview image from around the world, and guess the proximite location in seconds.

 

 

 

  • From the era of Moby Dick and before, to Life of Pi and beyond… the fantasy is a reality:

Eerie Photo Proves the Existence of Milky Seas—A First A night photograph taken from a sailboat near the island of Java validates a satellite image of a giant, glowing “milky sea” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eerie-photo-proves-the-existence-of-milky-seas-a-first/

https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/assets/Image/Nijhuis%20photo_glowing%20sea%20stitch.png

 

 

  • 3,700-year-old Babylonian stone tablet gets translated, changes history – “The huge mystery, until now, was its purpose – why the ancient scribes carried out the complex task of generating and sorting the numbers on the tablet. Our research reveals that Plimpton 322 describes the shapes of right-angle triangles using a novel kind of trigonometry based on ratios, not angles and circles. It is a fascinating mathematical work that demonstrates undoubted genius.” “The tablet not only contains the world’s oldest trigonometric table; it is also the only completely accurate trigonometric table, because of the very different Babylonian approach to arithmetic and geometry. This means it has great relevance for our modern world. Babylonian mathematics may have been out of fashion for more than 3,000 years, but it has possible practical applications in surveying, computer graphics and education. This is a rare example of the ancient world teaching us something new.” https://www.upworthy.com/3700-year-old-babylonian-stone-tablet-gets-translated-changes-history-rp

Written in stone: the world’s first trigonometry revealed in an ancient Babylonian tablet https://theconversation.com/written-in-stone-the-worlds-first-trigonometry-revealed-in-an-ancient-babylonian-tablet-81472

 

 

 

  • Mid 1960’s looking toward the future!

 

 

  • Nuclear powered cruise ship sky hotel? There’s some concerns, but interesting nonetheless.

 

 

  • 1918 Science and Technology for the pandemic… even for the cat!

 

 

 

 

 

  • In 1984, the UK tested their nuclear waste “flasks” that they carried along their passenger toting railways, to make sure if there was ever some sort of disaster, no nuclear radiation could leak out or cause issues. So how does science work? Take technology, in this case a train, and run that at 100mph into the nuclear waste storage vessel. OF COURSE! SCIENCE!

This is amazing… that flask looked like a rock and tore through the train like tinfoil. Amazing. Here’s an article on the test event: https://www.thedrive.com/news/36668/crashing-a-100-mph-train-into-a-nuclear-fuel-container-is-our-kind-of-science

 

 

  • Laser Guided Knife Throwing Machine:

 

NATURE YOU SO SCARY

 

 

 

  • ICELAND IS BACK! (Don’t call it a comeback, it’s been here for years)

The 2010 eruption that diverted flights all over the planet? We’re not there yet, but this is exciting and that livestream of the other volcanoes in 2021 were one of the most fun things of the year! =)

Volcano near Iceland’s main airport erupts again after pause Authorities in Iceland say a volcano in the southwest of the country is erupting just eight months after its last eruption officially ended https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/volcano-begins-erupting-southwest-iceland-airport-87873754

 

 

 

 

  • Apparently, nature is so scary that you test Grizzly Bear protection without Grizzly Bears.

LESSON #1: The Canadian inventor does not understand how concussions work.

LESSON #2: This is why women live longer than men.

 

 

 

  • Little know job facts, #239- dead animal removal in parks:

The US Forest Service Guide To Completely Obliterating A Horse With Explosives | IFLScience

https://www.iflscience.com/the-us-forest-service-guide-to-completely-obliterating-a-horse-with-explosives-65031

 

 

 

  • Could tornadoes act like a fork and spaghetti up all the fire in a forest fire? No. No they can not, but it looks sorta like a solution. It’s not, just to be clear. Spooky stuff here…

 

 

  • It’s the two year anniversary of 9-9-2020, the day the Bay Area looked like Blade Runner because of smoke:

 

 

 

 

 

DAMN NATURE YOU SO BEAUTIFUL

 

 

 

 

  • I’ve a whole playlist of “Slow TV” from around the World… just background vibes to chill to. The music that starts usually ends within a few minutes, so you can put on what you like, and just relax! =) This one also includes a few other users: Raining while in a cozy cabin on the water, a spacecruiser stardrive hum, and a creaky pirate ship. But the rest are Luberon in Provence or South of France hiking and driving, and Western US National Parks like Glacier, Yellowstone, Arches, and the like.

 

 

  • Ok, long story short? Dogs have empathy, it’s real, they mirror us, and the technical aspects of this are also interesting, you rabbit-dog-holers, you.

Rapid mimicry and emotional contagion in domestic dogs https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.150505

 

 

COMEDY

 

  • PRAYERS ARE JUST WISHES. So great. perfect. Let me put this a different way for believers… IMAGINE IF PRAYER REALLY WORKED, and any of our freakshow weird prayers were heard and answered.

AND, how are prayers answered? Is it like a deli with a number ticket thing? Doesn’t seem like the big power up there is listening, or answering. Hell, “I don’t want to start any blasphemous rumors, but I think that God’s got a sick sense of humor, and when I die I expect to find him laughing”. (Depeche Mode)

@800pgm

Wishes and prayers… same thing #davidcross #standupcomedy #wishes #prayers

? original sound – 800 Pound Gorilla Media

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • This is a rabbit hole, if the newsletter isn’t. There are SO MANY weird and worthy subreddits. The full bot subreddit called “SubredditSimulator” is AMAZING.

Here’s a list of weird subreddits to ruin your day When is a Furby too long? That’s right, never. https://thenextweb.com/news/heres-a-list-of-weird-subreddits-to-ruin-your-day

 

 

 

 

  • It’s like I am watching Mitch Hedberg. This woman… I hope she’s serious and works some mics because this is VERY good and really missed.
@worsegirlfriend

stream of consciousness tbh #foryou

? original sound – Erin

 

  • Do you know Ken Dolenz? This is the funniest thing… when you mishear someone.

 

 

  • Fred is the best, but some of the best physical humor
@teamcoco

How’d he do? #impressions #fredarmisen #conan #teamcoco #conanobrien

? original sound – Team Coco

 

 

  • Speaking of, this is Conan and Bob Odenkirk in the late 1980s.

 

 

 

  • There’s at least 3 world class dad jokes in here:
@robertmac.com

Replying to @shadow8lade Ask and you shall receive more from the Granddaddy of Dad jokes. Some might argue these are the best Dad jokes of all time, Aka MoY. #standupcomedian#dadjokescomed?#funny#comedian#robertmac

? original sound – Comedian Robert Mac

 

 

 

  • I LOOOooooove this kid. “YOU WANT TO TAKE MY GUNS? MY FIREARMS?

 

 

 

@bencooleygolf #golf #golftiktok #theopen #tigerwoods #letsgotiger ? original sound – Ben Cooley

 

 

 

  • The DUET feature of Tik Tok yields so much weird hilarity.
@dularianss

#duet with @batman8142 skeletor #dularians #xyzbcaaa #FilmTeyvatIslands

? original sound – Isac Leon Espinoza

 

 

@teamcoco

Hit the plus sign for more #CONAF

? original sound – Team Coco

 

 

 

 

 

MOVIES & TV (& Tonys!)

 

  • If you’ve not watched My Dinner with Andre (1981), watch it. If you’ve not seen it in 5 years, or like me since the 1990s, watch it immediately.  It’s so relevant, it’s frightening. And it is just masterful of what essentially becomes a dualist vs monist, or “out there” vs “grounded”, but in a dance that will leave you incapable of picking a side.

“Since I’ve come back home, I just find the world we are living in more, and more upsetting.”

we live in such ludicrous ignorance of each other

I love Wally’s speech when the dam gates break open.

Wally’s Brilliant Speech in “My Dinner With Andre” https://charlesbursell.com/2016/01/28/wallys-brilliant-speech-in-my-dinner-with-adre/

And I think the required reading about the film is, once again, Ebert. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-my-dinner-with-andre-1981

But the bit about the fortune cookie provides one of my favorite lines in film history, and I want it tattooed on me somewhere.

“the cookie is in no position to know about that”.

 

You’ve been curious and wanted to watch My Dinner with Andre for decades. So here it is, free. It’s on HBO Max, better quality, as well. Actually, Autumn Sonata and almost all of Bergman’s stuff is on HBO Max too (relevant because of conversation in Andre).

HBO MAX – MY DINNER WITH ANDRE: https://www.hbomax.com/feature/urn:hbo:feature:GXk3jxwaTuZ4_wwEAAAfa

 

 

 

 

André De Shields – “Slowly Is The FASTEST way To get To Where You Want TO BE…”

 

 

  • Damon with a two minute “Hot Ones” breakdown of what happened to traditionally independent or narrative / character driven one off films, which then became a by the numbers IP Tentpole land of soulless business vs art. THANK YOU A24. A LOT.

 

 

  • The source of the Muppets “Statler and Waldorf”, from Milton Berle. The man is Irving Benson.

 

 

 

The Story Behind I Think You Should Leave's 'Coffin Flop'

 

 

  • Here’s a few film recs!

This book was really enjoyable, by a guy named Paul Tremblay. I’ve concerns, because it’s M. Night, and for whatever reason he’s not crediting the author of the adapted book, which sucks and is bizarre. The only thing I imagine is that he’s trying to make sure spoilers don’t happen prior to the movie being released? But everyone knows it’s “Cabin at the End of the World”, so cynically is M. Night trying to take credit for the work? Whatever the case, Bautista’s career is really something and I am so proud of the roles he’s getting and taking. They’re calling it “Knock at the Cabin”. It comes out soon… and I’d say skip M. Night and read the book!

 

Watcher is an eerie and atmospheric masterclass from Chloe Okuna and new-timey scream queen Maika Monroe of It Follow, Greta, and Tau.  The first two acts are a slow burn of paranoia, with the final act just comin’ for ya.

Come to Daddy is a TRIP. The definition of one. It’s like walking around the backrooms not knowing what’s leering around the corner… tempo change? Plot right turn?

Aubrey Plaza in the very weird and meta “Black Bear” is a film about making films, and it is purely indie spirit in script, filmmaking, and presentation.  But the ole switcheroo during the 2nd act means the film gets far more interesting, nuanced, and is a character study in flipping roles, and seeing GREAT actors and especially the main actresses chew up and devour scenes. It’s a noir style meta mystery, of sorts, and we really enjoyed seeing the indie filmmaking spirit for the first time in a bit.

Krisha is a freshman entry from Trey Edward Shults, who also directed “It Comes at Night” with Joel Edgerton. This film is ostensibly a horror film, but think of it as “the most cringeworthy and awkward Thanksgiving Dinner of all time”. It just keeps descending into disconnected dissonance and the chaos of hidden toxicities within families. If you think Thanksgiving is a horror movie for *you*, this film is up your alley. Really well crafted, and we thought the location scouting of the disconnected, horrible home was perfect… but it turns out he used his home, and his family, as actors. The woman who plays Krisha isn’t a professional actor, but she just delivers a “tour de force”, as they say!

“Z is for Zachariah” is a post-apocalyptic character study that is sparse, slow, and a refreshing take on comprehending the “post” reality we all anticipate.  This is not the typical action type post-apocalyptic film like a zombie film or “A Quiet Place”, but a real look at people.  It is from 2015, so it highlights modern major stars really well during their up and coming moments, and it’s a slightly small indie venture for such a big tentpole of cast members: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie, & Chris Pine. Robbie is truly one of these “Bradley Cooper Syndrome” people, where they look more attractive than being possibly talented to any degree.  She is an amazing actress, and Chiwetel is a “must see” for me, in anything he does. Pine is good in this, not mugging for the camera. Ponderous, thoughtful, and worth a look. This could actually be a stage play to some extent, to give you a sense of it being less about post-apocalypse, and more about “current situation”.

Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent isn’t just charming, well executed, well conceived… for insider film fans you’ll get a lot of movie making easter eggs, and although Cage is always a jaw dropping joy, It’s Pedro Pascal’s boyish charm that will always round out this cast and concept. Really fun, adorable, and worth a watch, immediately.

Meet Cute with Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson was something of a surprise for us. It’s a Groundhog Day genre concept, and I don’t want to divulge more than that, but it’s weird that they had decent chemistry, and it further reminded me that she is a TERRIFIC actor, and Pete hung in there, tight, acted really well, and his signature “I’m Pete” laconic and typical personality faded out into what I imagine was actual acting.

X was superb, and you have to listen to the dialogue foreshadowing almost EVERYTHING in the film. What’s more, it starts as homage to the 4:3 aspect ratio of the 1970s, and pans inward to reveal the actual film’s aspect ratio, but that scene is so perfect in setting tone and history. Loved it… but the best is yet to come! Crimes of the Future, and Kristen Stewart’s breathlessly whispered “Surgery is the new Sex” is just perfect, and I cannot wait. The new “prequel” to X, called Pearl, is out now.

Why do we like horror films? Because it reminds you, it can always be worse than it is: The Best Horror Movies of 2022 So Far, Ranked — From ‘Black Phone’ to ‘X’ https://variety.com/lists/best-horror-movies-2022/

HOLY MOLY THE NEW PREDATOR… PREY ON HULU! If we start getting period pieces as a genre for this IP, I AM DOWN. Feudal Japan immediately, please.

And Netflix’s The Grey Man was super great for me. Ryan Reynolds and more in a knock ’em down and drag ’em out spy caper thriller.

Rebecca Hall in ANYTHING is amazing, but the Night House led to The Gift and led to Resurrection, the latter of which is the WEIRDEST HORROR FILM IN A LONG TIME. I can’t even explain it, but it’s REAL WEIRD NO SPOILERS.

Cronenberg’s new “Crimes of the Future” is superb and very much Cronenberg.

Rewatched films (and some started and not finished background fun):
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Anchorman, Gumball Rally, Krull, The Faculty, Top Secret, THE TOY, Total Recall, and Hot Shots
HBO Max has a CRAZY awesome and fun catalog (for now).
Lauren falls asleep to Dune, I fall asleep to The Batman.

TV

I finally started Taskmaster. woot. What a fun show, and I hope a good version comes to the US.

Barry is required viewing. Hader is all types of genius.

We’re wrapping up S11 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and that Odd Couple pair is the greatest ever. I hope he does more.

Old Man is phenomenal fun. Only 7 eps tho.

The Rehearsal with Nathan Fielder is Inception level Meta, and episodic and descending into a weird reality hell. It’s VERY interesting, but to understand him watch Nathan for You and then How to with John Wilson

Midnight Gospel with Duncan Trussell on Netflix is something very special, but really really “flashlight in glass mannequin head” trippy.

Under the Banner of Heaven is horrifying, slow, and easy to sleep to, but great! lol

Each season of “The Hot Zone” deals with different near outbreaks. Marburg virus w/ monkeys S1, Anthrax S2. Good, gripping.

Resident Alien‘s Season 2 at the mid-season break came back written INCREDIBLY well. Really enjoyable, charming, and surprising, and yes, I can’t stop thinking about the weird similarities between that show and Dexter: New Blood. AND SEASON 3 GREENLIT A FEW DAYS AGO WOOT!

 

 

  • Speaking of Patagonia’s Chouinard and North Face’s Thompkins, this charming road (sailing) movie about purpose, adventure, love and life ends with a chat with those two in Patagonia (country). It’s quite good:

 

 

 

  • HERE, have some random Jason Alexander commercials. The McDonald’s one is THE BEST.

 

 

 

  • Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog… This film was REVILED. Herzog self-proclaimed he was “Conquistador of the Useless” for hauling a 350+ ton steamer up a hill with no special effects. The read about the film is wild: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzcarraldo

I still read Ebert, because he got almost everything right: The Werner Herzog film Roger Ebert called “one of the great haunting visions of the cinema” https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/roger-ebert-film-great-haunting-visions-of-the-cinema/

 

 

 

  • This is the greatest death scene in cinematic history, but it’s the score I want. The film is a Turkish production called “Karate Girl”.

 

 

 

  • 48 years ago, a 27 year old directed a small film about a shark. It changed cinematic history. They’re releasing it in theatres again this late summer… GO SEE IT! It’s truly an amazing film that is as perfectly crafted as a film has ever been.

Amazing behind the scenes photos from the making of the film ‘Jaws’, 1975 https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/jaws-behind-the-scene-photos/

 

  • Like Freddy Krueger, Max Headroom took up a GIANT part of the 1980s headspace.  Music, Commercials (ironic considering the anti-capitalist satire of blipverts and advertising)… This would only work *with* Frewer, and I am super curious as 1980s coupled with anti-capitalism might be a good look right now. Remaking Trading Places shouldn’t be out of the equation, too.

‘Max Headroom’ Series Reboot Starring Matt Frewer In Works At AMC Networks From Christopher Cantwell & Elijah Wood’s SpectreVision https://deadline.com/2022/07/max-headroom-reboot-matt-frewer-star-amc-networks-christopher-cantwell-amp-elijah-wood-spectrevision-1235081130/

Art of Noise!

 

 

  • Retconning art? I am not sure it’s so bad.

It’s an interesting evolution for the history of art: A painting is a painting. It takes a viewer to see an artist’s work to create a connection & experience. Now, that is growing w/wild interplay & meta connection, like some amplification of that historic symbiotic relationship. What’s more, it becomes this endless, amorphic, endlessly breathing experience, vs being some static notion. This stuff hurts my brain in the best way:

Netflix retroactively editing Stranger Things is the beginning of a dangerous TV trend Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers have openly discussed making tweaks to old episodes on Netflix. But where do we draw the line in the retconning of art? https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/stranger-things-netflix-retroactively-editing

 

 

 

  • First… remember how weird 1970s and 1980s Disney films were? Boatniks? Cat from Outer Space? Watcher in the Woods? Shaggy DA, Million Dollar Duck, the Computer that wore Tennis Shoes, Return to Oz? Etc. Black Hole wasn’t good but it was a favorite. And now… we need to celebrate the grandaddy of all the sci-fi tropes born from Tron, 40 years later. Without it, The Matrix, Ready Player One, Wreck-it-Ralph, Free Guy and other films wouldn’t have been imagined (possibly). Here’s a fun read on the 40th anniversary of what was a major failure for Disney, and how it changed film. https://www.fatherly.com/entertainment/tron-40-year-anniversary-disney

Remember that awe you had the first few times you saw Tron? I know it wasn’t a great narrative.  But, I remember those giant solar sailor ships arriving. I’d need to rewatch it, but the frame is just on two people talking and these massive things appear in the frame. This movie was a pacing trainwreck, but Ebert was smart enough to get it! https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/tron-1982

 

  • In celebration of Nichelle Nichols, of Star Trek fame and who just passed away, a reflection on the first interracial kiss in the history of television:

How One Of Star Trek’s Directors Felt About Shatner And Nichol’s Interracial Kiss https://www.cinemablend.com/television/1529499/how-one-of-star-treks-directors-felt-about-shatner-and-nichols-interracial-kiss
Star Trek interracial kiss

 

 

  • In the most anxiety induced moments of dread and uncertainty during the pandemic, Joe held our hands and took us back off the ledge. If you’ve never heard of Joe Pera, I welcome your newfound rabbit hole. He’s a charming mid-westerner that will calm your jangled nerves, and maybe teach you something about presence and calm.

Joe Pera Talks With You was the perfect handbook for an era of compounding crises The recently canceled Adult Swim series was too good for this world https://www.polygon.com/23200706/joe-pera-talks-with-you-review-lookback-eulogy

 

 

  • Pretty cool… theatre person showing differences in artistic style across pixar, claymotion, and normal motion picture.
@lovegodlovepeople

#duet with @J A C K I E ? had to do it in my style #claymation #pixar #theatre #actingchallenge #actingwars #actingskills #actingcomparison #fyp #foryou #trend #actor #netflix #fleabag

? –

 

 

  • This is INSANE toxic poison, and I cannot help but think it’s leaning into the inequality that TV wanted to break free from. But what’s more, for talented showrunners, how are you supposed to make tweaks?  It’d be like making a baseball or basketball coach have zero data on how the team played, the results, and what to do for “re-tooling” the next season.

‘I Don’t Know How My Show Is Doing’ Streamers run on data, but that doesn’t mean they’re sharing it with showrunners. https://www.vulture.com/article/streaming-showrunners-data-transparency-tv-ratings.html

 

  • Talking about some of the most amazing moments in TV history, I was brought back to Hawkeye’s revelation in MASH, as well as when he couldn’t save the North Korean and helped dig a grave. But then Big Bird dealing with Mr. Gordon’s death, and Sesame Street pulling no punches.  It’s an incredible medium, and versus movies, it has impacted and changed culture so progressively, it’s hard to imagine these moments not existing.

 

  • Might as well look at the good stuff too. Representation existed and worked well before scared white dudes started yelling “woke”. I was just musing the other day that no one trustworthy nor serious uses the term “woke”. Absolutely no humans.

Not only is this representation that helps everyone realize we are all the same, I couldn’t memorize this now nor in the day, and let me tell you, “A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter” could be on my tombstone because I’ll never forget it now. Thanks little girl!

 

 

  • Fame is so awful. Being anonymous is the new fame:
@womensprize

Minnie Driver on why Hollywood isnt good for your soul, on the #WomensPrize Podcast with Vick Hope #minniedriver #womenoftiktok #booktokuk

? original sound – Women’s Prize for Fiction

 

 

  • ‘Light & Magic’ Director Lawrence Kasdan Explains Why He Made a Docuseries About the History of VFX:

Kasdan tells TheWrap about the Disney+ show’s most candid moments and why it’s really a story about George Lucas

“Light & Magic” is so special, so engrained in the nitty gritty of one of modern cinema’s most delicate and transcendent artforms, that you wish it was longer than its six hours. With the kind of ground that ILM is constantly breaking, we wondered if there was a chance that Kasdan might come back and produce some new installments. “I never want say never,” Kasdan said. “I only look for these things to be satisfying in and of themselves., I’ve written a lot of sequels, but I’m not drawn to sequels.” Still, “Light & Magic” is the story of making the impossible possible. If anybody can (and should) continue to tell their story, it’s Kasdan. https://www.thewrap.com/light-and-magic-lawrence-kasdan-interview-disney-plus/

(there*might* be more installments, but don’t get your hopes up!)

 

MUSIC

 

  • This song? Legit jam. TASTE THE BISCUIT.

 

  • This is massively interesting on how music is inserted into TV and Movies, down to how they price it and the psychology and science of relating an artist’s creative vision through specific styles of songs.

“The Longest TV Negotiation I Have Ever Seen”: Behind Kate Bush’s ‘Stranger Things’ Sync Deal Warner Music Group executives break down how “Running Up That Hill” was added to the Netflix hit and elaborate on how digital platforms have opened up new opportunities for artists. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/kate-bush-stranger-things-sync-warner-music-1235197021/

 

 

  • This surprising duet w/ a guy who had something going around Tik Tok… a little more professional of a duet than normal.
@billieeilish

#duet with @sheridan_coldstream

? original sound – Sheridan

 

 

https://www.tiktok.com/@fnmeka

 

 

  • Miss this guy:

Inside the liner notes of the last album Nirvana ever released prior to his death, In Utero, Cobain solidified his willingness to put human rights over album sales, writing, “If you’re a sexist, racist, homophobe or basically an asshole, don’t buy this CD. I don’t care if you like me, I hate you.” https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kurt-cobain-feminism/

 

 

 

 

  • Peter Bastian, virtuoso double reed player, producing amazingly rich sounds on a fast food straw. This is massively amazing.

 

 

  • This chill channel of lo-fi hip hop beats is low key the greatest thing out there. AND… she got super tons of exposure through a frustrating copyright take down of her original music, because of Youtube’s antiquated reporting tools and brigading by malicious take down trolls. So dumb, but now more people know of her wonderful and relaxing cozy vibes.

 

 

  • Dean Martin, Little Ole Wine Drinker Me:

 

 

  • OK.. the famous Record-rama 8min documentary about Paul Mawhinney’s unbelievable record collection? A bus magnate from Brazil bought it, built a purpose built facility, has interns documenting all of it, and is working with an american company to catalogue everything, as well as build it as a public museum. What a guy! We thought this was lost ot history. FIRST: the original short doc, and then follow up stuff!!

THE ARCHIVE from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

 

The Brazilian Bus Magnate Who’s Buying Up All the World’s Vinyl Records https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/magazine/the-brazilian-bus-magnate-whos-buying-up-all-the-worlds-vinyl-records.html

Gravity, scientists explain, is a function of mass. The more massive an object, the greater the pull it exerts. The same applies to collections: once a certain volume has been attained, their mass increases almost exponentially. Libraries take over entire homes and record collections balloon until they fill acres of warehouses. https://cfi.co/editors-picks/2017/09/zero-freitas-all-yesterdays-parties/

Inside the world’s biggest record collection: An interview with Zero Freitas https://thevinylfactory.com/features/inside-the-worlds-biggest-record-collection-an-interview-with-zero-freitas/

 

 

THIS SONG IS 25 YEARS OLD. When it came out, I had no idea how to find the sample, and thought about it in a section of my brain, probably weekly, for a decade. I’m realizing maybe it was in the liners, etc, but I never found it. Now there’s Shazam, so as things have changed, this downtempo track was a masterful influence on the future of electronic music.

 

 

 

  • Man, Bob Fosse had quite the impact on Michael Jackson’s dance moves. Sheesh.

 

 

  • In the “there’s never been a bigger pain in the ass and time suck in history that produced a horrible quality sound you won’t ever play or use”

Here’s how to rip your vinyl to digital, and why you should never, ever, ever do it:

 

  • A WONDERFUL STORY about a wonderful song. As if you knew everything about SF, did you know that French Tourists constantly visit a Victorian that isn’t the Three Sisters? It’s based on a song from the 1960s… Maxime Le Forestier singing about the shared cultural values of the French and San Francisco, and admiring their social movement and hippy experience.

And, in 2011… they blue themselves! =)
The French Get Their Blue House Back https://missionlocal.org/2011/07/the-french-get-their-blue-house-back/

 

NSFW

  • OKAY… so this, frankly, isn’t MY comfort zone for a public newsletter, but I have to get these tabs off my desk top, and I cannot listen to these two songs FOREVER. If my DJ life brought me into the Castro, I would be dropping these two jams EVERY NIGHT OF THE WEEK.

But if you’re conservative, or if you’re confused by modern culture… or if you sometimes see someone with a certain color of hair, or piercings and tattoos, and you grimace? You can skip these two tracks. If you are a loving person who celebrates all lifestyles and cultures and allows people to be themselves and wave their freak flags… well, my friends, these are two of the greatest songs ever.

Samwells, What What in the Butt is well known and cherished:

BUT SO FEW PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT “YOU CAN SPEND THE NIGHT… IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT” by Boy Funk X Nathaniel Knows

This is like a Portlandia skit.

 

PEOPLE, CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND ART!

  • VERY NICE. So cool. During the pandemic we watched a bunch of 4K “slow TV” travel videos, and played some Geoguessr, but I still am not sure where this is! =)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by TSN (@tsn_official)

 

  • Miss a lot of people in this pic!

 

 

  • Jamie Lee Curtis is a national treasure, and this “5” rule is gold:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis)

 

 

  • THESE LIGHTS ARE MAGIC!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Don’t call it pole dancing, because it’s Cirque De Soleil. I do wonder who and how they programmed and planned this, and how much dev costs into the concept. Just brilliant. I noted an Australia’s Got Talent where this Kristy Sellars does a fully different type of set. Amazing work.

 

  • OFF THE RAILS is the true story of Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger’s syndrome whose overwhelming love of transit has landed him in jail 32 times for impersonating New York City bus drivers and subway conductors and driving their routes. As a boy, Darius found sanctuary from school bullies in the subway. Befriended by transit workers, who taught him to drive trains, Darius drove a packed train 8 stops by himself at age 15, making all the stops and announcements. Over the next three decades, Darius commandeered hundreds of trains and buses, staying en route and on schedule, without ever getting paid. Although Darius has never damaged any property or hurt anyone, he has spent 23 years in maximum security prison. Darius’ recidivism embodies the criminal justice system’s failure to channel the passions of a harmless, mentally challenged man into a productive career and purposeful life.

 

 

 

  • Lambchop was an adult variety show joked prior to being retooled for the family audience!:

 

  • WONDERFUL origami

 

  • This is apparently called “Inception Art”. Someone reversed the original zoom in to become a zoom out from the bottom rung all the way to the sleeping artist’s studio. Quite amazing. I wonder the artist, and the time it took to do this. I don’t really even understand it… which reminds me of the first time I saw the Medicine Cabinet scene in Contact.

 

 

 

 

  • Prescient Frank Zappa. There’s also a 18 min Larry King clip, and a 5 min Charlie Rose clip… people have forgotten how intelligent and forward thinking he was, with a total awareness of political hypocrisy.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Midjourney Generates AI Apocalyptic Images of the ‘Last Selfie Ever Taken’:

The selfie images, which were generated by the prompt “selfie at the end of the world,” have proven to be incredibly popular with one of the creator’s videos receiving over 13 million views and over two million likes. https://petapixel.com/2022/08/01/dall-e-2-generates-ai-apocalyptic-images-of-the-last-selfie-ever-taken/

 

 

  • The “Do you love your wife?” “I like her very much” was perfect, but this is amazing about culture, work, identity, and how we are not always the “same” human depending on our environment. And of course, shout out to my wife’s workplace culture. =)

https://www.tiktok.com/@mintmillions/video/7122623239385287979

 

  • This artist is bonkers talented with makeup!

 

 

 

  • Setting aside Scientology, which is something I apparently am wont to do in recent times (Tom Cruise too, and you just gotta feel for all these famous and uneducated people that are preyed on and then blackmailed by the “church”…).  But this story is ADORABLE and sounds like two really good people found each other:

‘The Simpsons’ Star Yeardley Smith Marries Former Detective She Met During Springfield Appearance (Exclusive) While working as a detective, Dan Grice was hired to protect Smith and the chance encounter led to love and marriage: “We’ve seen it in movies and you always wonder, wouldn’t it be great if life was like that? Sometimes it is.” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/simpsons-star-yeardley-smith-wedding-marriage-detective-dan-1235178433/
The Simpsons voice actor Yeardley Smith ties the knot with Dan Grice | Daily Mail Online

 

 

 

  • Why don’t men wear hats anymore?:

Hat-wearing was at its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was essentially entirely out of fashion by the 1960s. Many of the reasons for this share the same basic factor – as life modernised, the needs for hats became increasingly fewer. Sunglasses and sunscreens were available by the late 1940s, meaning there was no need for a hat to protect the wearer from the sun. Standing showers and shampoo meant that every time a man removed his hat, he’d have to recomb his hair. As more styled hair became the style in the 1950s (think the hairstyles of Elvis or James Dean) and people copied them, it didn’t make sense to cover them. One of the key factors was the advent of the closed car. As covered cars became more popular, the height of the roof meant you generally couldn’t wear a hat when driving and there was no need to anyway. When people were walking through the streets, riding horses or travelling in open carriages, a hat was useful protection from the elements, but with fewer people using public transport and walking due to the rise of the car, it simply wasn’t as necessary. https://theboar.org/2021/07/men-dont-wear-hats/

 

 

  • FELT IN MY HEART:
@randomguyintn

Greatest hits volume 6 #adulting

? original sound – RandomguyinTN

 

 

  • This is cute. Forced? Maybe. Trying too hard? Maybe. Someone just happy? You bet. Surfin’ since 1959!!
@therealsurfersusie

WARNING…. Language….. ?? Ya gotta love it even if its oniy one great ride, just sayin’ #stokecity #yewww #surfsesh #surfergirl #teambetty #jbayteamrider #local #video #calilife #california #ohana #nevertooold #surf #lifesabeach

? original sound – Susie

 

 

  • NEUROPSYCH — OCTOBER 22, 2018 The value of owning more books than you can read Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love my tsundoku.

KEY TAKEAWAYS Many readers buy books with every intention of reading them only to let them linger on the shelf. Statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb believes surrounding ourselves with unread books enriches our lives as they remind us of all we don’t know. The Japanese call this practice tsundoku, and it may provide lasting benefits. https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/do-i-own-too-many-books/

 

  • The two gain seeking parties, Democrats and Republicans, no longer serve their constituency, and have rigged the system. Michael Douglas was hired to break it down simply, and this is a fantastic summation. Hardliners rewarded, compromise is vilified. How do we fix it?

 

 

“For some, it will be a shock,” said Max Hollein, the director of the museum. “But one has to understand that our current, whitewashed idea of Greek and Roman antiquity is wrong. It’s false.”

Met NY exhibit: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2022/chroma

 

 

  • NORD STREAM SABOTAGE: Putin did it. Why?

Destroy EU economy, get oligarchs in line, etc? Maybe Putin did sabotage the Nord Stream on purpose. It makes the most sense… Thanks Occam’s Razor!

Vague suggestions he did it:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2022/09/29/russian-sabotage-of-the-nord-stream-pipeline-mark-a-point-of-no-return/

Better centered journalism: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/world/europe/pipeline-sabotage-mystery-russia.html

But also hard right leaning heritage foundation outright blaming Russia for weaponizing energy: Heritage foundation aren’t MAGA, but crazy hard right and still hate Russia, I guess: https://www.heritage.org/global-politics/commentary/russias-attack-nord-stream-pipelines-means-putin-has-truly-weaponized

 

 

  • My knees broke watching this woman. Is this jitterbug, flapping, swinging, or what? It’s broken exploded knees to me. And AWESOME. Funny enough, at Jones’ Drug on the Hill in Boulder in the mid 90s, I worked with Tim Allen’s pharmacy brother who was a world ranked Jitterbugger, and hated his loathsome and awful brother who was an evil jerk.

 

 

 

  • CLEAN THE RAMEN NOODLES WITH CHOCOLATE *YUPPPpp*!

 

 

  • When you lose the secular intellectuals, it’s all censorship and drab fashion, let me tell you. The pre-Shah photos of a progressive Iran are unbelievable, and it is a testament to just how fast repression and fascist mentality can alter society. YES THAT IS A WARNING.

Vintage photos capture everyday life in Iran before the Islamic Revolution, 1960s-1970s https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/iran-before-revolution-photos/

 

 

The Russians had a colony at Fort Ross. Amazing. The present could be SO different. All the permutations of human society, culture, and existence… it’s uncanny, really.

“The Mexicans who were already in California, who had begun calling themselves Californios, argued that long experience had shown that the natives were incapable of becoming farmers and that handing over the lands to them would be disastrous, both for the native people and for the province’s economy. But they were also driven by self-interest: they wanted the lands themselves.”

 

 

 

 

 

  • Essentially, putting in text strings like “Perfect Day in Delores Park in the Style of a Renaissance Painting” and the artificial intelligence does it’s stuff:

We asked AI image app DALL-E 2 to show what the San Francisco Bay Area could be: https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/dall-e-imagines-san-francisco-17292967.php

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Charles Fossey is a LEGEND. This is a guy I want to eat ribs with too, and man… please live in my neighborhood, sir.

 

 

 

  • A lot of you won’t get this, but we call this “A Boring Dystopia” or “Late Stage Capitalism”, but the hint here is that it isn’t about video games.

 

 

 

  • There’s nothing really out of the ordinary here, and then a delivery robot just rolls by, using its sensors to trundle along and blissfully ignore the situation as it delivers some tasty tikka masala down the road.

 

 

  • This is a marble quarry in Italy. It’s a construction job of sorts, but it’s also a maestro controlling a hauntingly beautiful process of care and professionalism. It’s a fascinating and artistic look at a world you might not think of when looking at a kitchen counter.

 

 

VEHICLES

  • Is there a greater unification and integration of machine and human in our history? Am I being thick brained and dull witted here, because I think the manual transmission is the greatest unification of machine and person, and until we get Ripley’s loader from Aliens, we’ll wait as the manual dies. Long live the manual. It’s you car nuts that keep begging for them and then not driving them. What is up with that?

The End of Manual Transmission – Stick shifts are dying. When they go, something bigger than driving will be lost. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/08/stick-shift-manual-transmission-cars/671078/
Manual Gearbox Preservation Society Sticker – Buy Stickers Here

 

 

  • This is time lapsed and sped up, but it’s still astonishing. This is Port Amsterdam.

 

 

 

  • The outtakes from Cannonball Run are SO very pure and adorable:

 

 

 

  • Hyundai’s restomods are an absolute dream, and I’ve highlighted at least two in the past year. But this hydrogen “rolling lab” concept is so AMAZINGLY COOL, I just want them to keep designing all the cars. It’s true both Kia and Hyundai are not the car companies they used to be known for. Unreal work, beautiful, and interesting:

Hyundai N Vision 74 First Look: Build It Now Retro supercar styling and high-performance hydrogen fuel cell plug-in hybrid powertrain! https://www.motortrend.com/news/hyundai-n-vision-74-first-look-build-now/
WAY MORE INFO FROM HYUNDAI’S DEDICATED WEBSITE: https://www.hyundai-n.com/en/models/rolling-lab/n-vision-74.do

 

 

 

 

“a 1965 Jaguar S-Type powered by a 13-foot-long pulsejet engine producing 1,200 pounds of thrust”.

 

 

 

It’s more than the $3 million you’d pay for an AMG One but less than the $142 million someone paid for the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe.” https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/mercedes-vision-eqxx-prototype-review-range-specs-driving
Mercedes EQXX rear

 

 

 

 

  • Speaking of, their futuristic concept cars at Audi are something else:

https://www.progress.audi/progress/en/concept-cars/audi-grandsphere-concept.html and https://www.progress.audi/progress/en/concept-cars/audi-skysphere-concept.html

Skysphere:

 

Far shorter promo for the luxury sedan, the Grandsphere:

 

 

Whatever, it’s just a really sexy picture:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Total, unhinged chaos. And dig the pilot car seeing his rear view mirror and getting out of dodge. That was impressive skill too!

 

 

 

About Uncle Fishbits

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