January 19, 2025 Who Is In Space right now? End of the line for the Hello Kitty shinkansen. California's Wine Tasting Train Rides. January 15, 2025 Suggestion from Entropic Thoughts: every kitchen should have a slide rule. Perhaps, although in my case the amounts for the half-recipes I usually concoct are easily calculated in my head. Nevertheless I am prepared, my cohort being the last who were taught the slip-stick, use of which was mandated during exams since only the rich kids could afford the new pocket calculators, at that time. Every Noise is an algorithmically-generated, readability-adjusted scatter-plot of the musical genre-space with samples of all the genres derived from Techno. Search with ctrl-F. Vocho is how they call a VW Beetle, in Mexico; and the indigenous Huichol tribes there create amazing art with beads. The Vochol is a VW Beetle that has been decorated with traditional Huichol beadwork. Have to go to Mexico City to see it, or watch this video. America's problems are solved problems. Adam Bonica's refreshing optimism in a time of democratic decay. January 12, 2025 At Weird Universe, a cracker, a mustard seed and a $2 bill - Because 1976 was a Bicentennial year, quite a few Time Capsules were buried throughout the country. Many of them are scheduled to be opened in 2026. This is about one of those, in Richmond, Indiana. I've heard when they've opened these it's sometimes discovered that outgassing from certain of the buried objects has ruined the rest. The Whole Collection of dreamy AI steam-punk visions from Retrofutura. Slop to some, but I love it. January 2, 2026 Located deep inside the Internet Archive, from an early 17th-century book of emblems, or allegorical illustrations. The Latin reads "Faithfulness." (Via the Vault Editions Facebook group.) Shake Hands With Danger: the original 1970 safety video, and a Jim Stringer page where you can read more about his song, and even download the version Caterpiller gave away on cassette. He passed away a couple weeks ago (obit). The vocalist was Charles Oldfather, one time Dean of the University of Kansas Law School. The War on Street Music in NYC -‌- Mayor LaGuardia banned busking in 1935 (JSTOR article). Japan or Die explains Alien Jones. Tommy Lee Jones has been promoting Boss Coffee for almost twenty years in a series of amusing commercials. Unfortunately, the newer ones lack sub-titles but here's the 15-minute collection of them. December 30, 2025 Three WWII submarines which shot themselves with their own torpedoes: the Grunion, the Tang and the Tullibee. Curious about the longest night, shortest day, earliest sunset and latest sunrise, I look to this Readers Digest article, the US has already experienced its Earliest Sunset [and] it's Not on the Winter Solstice. The exact date depends on your location but the latest dawn isn't until early January while the earliest sunset is early December. December 27, 2025 This early Tintin frame from The Blue Lotus grabbed my attention -‌- that elliptical mirror in his Shanghai hotel room, so elegant! Highbrow essay in Aeon: Undefinable yet Indispensable -‌- why is ‘religion’ impossible to define? The latest iteration of Woody Allen's Rags in "Sleeper" -‌- the Casio Moflin, a plush, Smart Companion Powered by AI, with emotions like a living creature! Yours (in silver or gold) for only $430. Mental Floss: 'Tis the season to say "'tis the season" -‌- but why only now? December 22, 2025 A little late with this one but I just noticed, about 7 minutes in to the Great Pumpkin Lucy's on the cover of the TV Guide she's reading here. Recursion! At Flashbak, Alastair Philip Wiper's photographs: the Unintended Beauty of Big Industry in the 21st Century. Condé Nast Traveler asked folks from other countries to show what an American is like. 70 People from 70 Countries Imitate Americans. The Swiss guy wins. Listicle at Autoweek - the smallest cars in US history. That last one's almost a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, allegedely the world's best selling car. Red and yellow? Single-seater? You know the one. December 18, 2025 Two fronm the BBC, unrelated: Surfers and swimmers pay tribute to victims of Bondi shooting and (from 2022) The overlooked benefits of real Christmas trees. Note that although I've arranged lights into conical forms, and decorated new plants that were then transplanted outside, I've never had a traditional Christmas tree. Bruce Sterling compiles Every Drink in “Casablanca” (1942). 15 most famous opera songs and arias. December 16, 2025 (updated) Random illustration from one of the Japan In Your Pocket books. And while we're there, Why Japan's internet looks weird -‌- unless you live there. They seem to prefer cluttered web-pages; the article begins by criticizing the 2025 Expo site, which I can confiorm was teh suck. Attendees were stymied by the shoddy user experience of a world’s fair meant to show us the future. CNN: the Leader says small cars can bring down big prices. Here’s why that’s unlikely in the USA. One word: Demand. Not enough of it, since Americans find driving in smaller cars scary. Three or four more unrelated Wikipedia articles: the post-War Baby Scoop Era (in which my sister was an unwilling participant); the enormous Angel Oak, a live oak tree on a South Carolina island, near Charleston; and the unofficial mascot of Wikipedia, Wikipe-tan, indentifiable by her puzzle-pieces. December 13, 2025 When I was young, neck-tie wearing men were still hunched over drafting tables, paid to produce images like this with compass and straight-edge. No longer, I reckon. Glad I was taught the trade's rudiments in Junior High shop class. Dick Van Dyke made it to 100 today. He recently reacted to His Life in Photos. Only indirectly Dick, a team recently resurrected Disney's lost Chromascreen sodium vapor process which was used instead of green- or blue-screen to make "Mary Poppins." GQ: Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack nails something no other Christmas album can. The way the contemplative passages in some songs suddenly give way to swinging rhythms is a bit like how you can find yourself ping-ponging between extremes of emotion during this period. (This music is rated #1 in misc/Christmas Songs.) More Rash IRL: there's a park in Baltimore named after Clarence H. Rash, who donated the land. December 10, 2025 1932 Popular Science cover The Leader Appears to Approve Kei Cars for the USA. Really? And what about the LBJ tariff still in effect, which severly limits smaller pickup truck imports: the chicken tax? Santa Con -- the San Francisco tradition that snowballed into 'bro-mageddon'. Some people even call it the first flash mob. I was receiving the LA Cacaphony Society's newsletters when this began, in the early 1990s, and probably read about it then. Slate: Moondoggle. Everyone agrees: It's a complete disaster. (archive link) A YouTube about reality, Why Buildings Stopped Spinning; and some more 'slop': the excellent Driving Tomorrow: Fantastic Future Vehicles of the 1950s at AI Retro Rewind, and the Brass Streets of London, New York, Paris & etc. by AI Art. The latter's music is hypnotische but the similarity of the effects becomes tiresome. However, jet-packs!
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	Current reading: The Man With The Golden Arm by Nelson Algren, Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata and Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti
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