Category: Friday Unrelated Information

1. A headline from The Guardian, of all places: ‘This machine bonks fascists’: US student protester’s water jug becomes symbol of resistance. Click through for some excellent memes and an embedded song, plus serious eyewitness interviews:

Ryan Hutson, an independent journalist who covers the northern California region where Cal Poly Humboldt is located … was inside the protest when the bonk took place.

2. I’m always going to read other writers’ tips on writing. Here are John Steinbeck’s.

3. If you’re still thinking about prep (I am), here’s a Tumblr of vintage Ralph Lauren ads. Why do I want to make a pair of khakis now? I hate everything this look represents but I am so compelled by the look itself.

1. The the New York Times Style Magazine has a huge issue about creativity–getting started and keeping going. This quote from Joan Baez was what I needed to hear this week:

“I realized that the music needed my time and attention if it was going to be any good. Learning to live with the state of the world’s a daily practice. Everything we do, we do against the backdrop of global warming and fascism. I never dreamed I’d live in a world this chaotic and discouraging, and I’m overwhelmed but I’m also a great believer in denial—I think that’s where you have to be in order to create, or have fun or dance—providing that we set aside a certain amount of time to come out of denial and actually do something to help.”

2. “Why Jesus Never Ate a Banana,” or the global origins of the foods we eat.

3. An account for the appreciation of the designs of Paris bistro chairs.

4. Hehehehe

1. The college kids are all right:

 

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2. Those kids (and professors too) are also getting beaten up and arrested. Cops in riot gear going up against teenagers, what heroes.

3.  I dunno, friends. Things seem bad. But the kids are showing up and singing songs, so I can too. Gotta remember this: (by Devon Blow)

1. Causal Archivist is a sporadic newsletter that features themed ephemera, like Dutch cookie trading cards and ham radio operators QSL cards. This week’s issue was about insulator collector zines, very cool. (The hand-drawn ads! Remember the times before desktop publishing?!)

2. A scholarly article on where crazy patterned carpet in hotels and casinos comes from.

3. A rat learning to drive a tiny car:

 

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Plus the best comment:

1. Is Toby the reincarnation of Raymond Chandler’s cat? Sounds like it:

2. This article tells me that Matisse collected fabric, so me failing my “don’t buy fabric this year” goal after three months just means I’m collecting a library of inspiration. Yeah.

When he moved house, he also moved his fabrics, describing them as ‘my working library’. He added to the collection all his life, from markets in Algeria, Morocco and Tahiti to the end-of-season sales of Parisian haute couture.

3. This article includes a map that has everything and a fresco with a dog from ancient Pompeii

If your week left you feeling like this Roman dog, good news: it’s the weekend!

1. Union drip appreciation time:

International insulators union logo goes hard. That lizard is the exact right temperature. He’s lounging, thanks to the union pic.twitter.com/JCpnvjTAO7

— Shane Woolley🌹 (@shwoolley) April 2, 2024

(Turns out the lizard is a salamander and asbestos has been around since ancient times! Salamander still goes hard, tho.)

2.Women’s History Month is over, but here are some facts anyway. (“Did you know that women are the second most respected gender?” Wow!)

3. Scientific and not-so scientific list of things that don’t work, from mathematical notation to my favorite, explaining board games. (I immediately glaze over.)

1. This week I learned about the saola, “by far the largest terrestrial animal in the world (of certain existence) that has never been seen in the wild by a biologist.” It’s a bovine that lives in the mountains of Vietnam! It’s only been known about since 1992! And it’s critically endangered. 🙁

2. I also learned about “The Great Green Wall” being built across Africa to stop the expansion of the Sahara. I can only think of terraforming Arrakis.

3. Um…

1. Hard to read but important. Burnt Offerings: Aaron Bushnell and the age of immolation

It the rawest testament to the absence of effective courses of action. When war consists primarily of unelected men in undisclosed locations pouring fire on the heads of people we will never know on the other side of the world, there is very little that ordinary people can do to arrest its progress. But we still have our bodies, and it is in the nature of fire to refuse containment.

2.  Kind of the only segue possible, from writer Vinay Krishan:

3. Uh, sorry for the downers at the end of the week. We’re still here, though. And we’re getting swole.

@the_swoletariat_ #duet with @🎀The hog🎀 #BodyBuilding ♬ Soviet National Anthem – The Red Army Choir

1. Do you want to customize a little ghost and pick their hat and shoes and sheet pattern? You probably do: Krista Perry’s Ghost Machine

2. Presented without comment:

3. Do I need to dabble in embroidery this year too?

 

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