May 8, 2012
May 7, 2012
Must Pick Up
I don’t know if this made it to the Alexandria Freecycle list, but after a lot of commotion in the street at 7:30 AM, I emerged to find this on my sidewalk. Spring cleaning!
May 5, 2012
smoke signals
@deronbauman Fort Spunky.
— Sheila Ryan (@Cirinda) May 5, 2012
@deronbauman Fort Spanky. Fort Stinky. Fort Punky. Fort Skanky. Fort Rinky-Dink. Fort Honky. Fort Monkey Butt. Fort Yankee. Fort Wonky.
— Sheila Ryan (@Cirinda) May 5, 2012
@deronbauman Fort Sphincter. Fort Laughter. Fort Spinster. Fort Munster. Fort Muenster. Fort Mustard. Fort Bustard. Fort Custard.
— Sheila Ryan (@Cirinda) May 5, 2012
May 4, 2012
We bought a house
Or — more accurately — Amy and her mother bought a house in which they, I, and Amy’s sister live. I’ve learned a few things by living in an owned home for the first time since I started college.
- Mowing an acre with a push mower is no less ridiculous now than it was when I was in high school
- I don’t have nearly enough tools
- There are certain things you should pay someone else to do.
- If it can be done with a hammer, pliers, a screwdriver, and a utility knife, you should probably do it yourself
- Don’t trust anyone to whom you will be giving money
- Sometimes you have to put the cart before the horse for your own sanity
Any tips on home ownership/maintenance would be welcome.
May 2, 2012
May 1, 2012
Sugar Street Art
Montreal artist Shelley Miller puts up these pieces of sugar street art that are incredibly detailed. From afar, it resembles the blue and white finesse of Delft ceramic ware, but in reality all of these outdoor murals are made entirely out of frosting and sugar.
April 30, 2012
April 28, 2012
White Lily
Laurie Anderson / Rainer Fassbinder
Verbatim
“You didn’t get yourself completely blasted last night, which helped.”
Silence.
“One little more bite of lasagna, and it’s all gonna be gone.”
Silence.
“That was good lasagna, and it came with a salad.”
Silence.
“Are you gonna be awake enough to get home?”
April 27, 2012
Death in the sky
Kate, who’s married to Mark, 35, wants to warn other owners of small dogs about the “death in the sky” threat.
Red kites. Snatching up Pomeranians, sausages — even fully-grown male mallard ducks.
It’s an ignorant and forgetful generation. I’ll wager Kate’s granny could tell her about death from the sky.
The Fundraiser
Barbara is a supervisor in the accounting department. She also volunteers at work for something called “Dining for a Cure,” the proceeds of which are supposed to be donated in support of cancer research. Each Wednesday, Barbara caters lunch and sells it along with a dessert choice that without variation is stale chocolate-chip cookies. Everyone participates.
Nutella is not a health food
Maker of Nutella settles with consumers over ‘healthy food’ claims; will pay out $3 million.
Nutella is the stuff with the hazelnuts. Hazelnuts have lots of the good kind of cholesterol.
No one has ever gone into anaphylactic shock from eating hazelnuts.
Chocolate + hazelnuts kick free radicals’ asses.
dismissive phrase of the day (twitter version)
Was looking for a simple weather iPad app. Ended up with Aelios which is just a ridiculous steampunk nonsensecake. twitter.com/peteashton/sta…
— Pete Ashton (@peteashton) April 27, 2012
I’m stealing “ridiculous steampunk nonsensecake,” and I encourage you to do so as well.
The Chicago Food Truck Saga Gets Legal
Chicago is the only big city that does not permit food truckers to cook on their trucks.
Long story short, in the battle of truck verses brick, a small group of those with a special interest are doing the best they can to fight the natural order of competition, free economy, and consumer demand by wrapping it up in veil of public health and safety. I understand the other side, and the other side has been my livelihood for the better half of my adult life, but at the end of the day it’s classic Chicago politics, and we are simply not comparing apples to oranges. As everyone on the panel agreed, there’s enough room in this city for both to coexist, and we have to wonder how long Chicago can sit on this fence when the rest of the country has jumped on board. I mean, when coverage of the city’s backward policies make the Wall Street Journal, ludicrous is right.
April 26, 2012
In Defense of the Diaeresis
The New Yorker‘s Mary Norris responded to criticism about the diaeresis, recently maligned repeatedly by The Atlantic.
Which side are you on, boys? (and girls)
Photo out of context
The online article announcing the grand opening of the mega-grocery store, Giant Eagle, has readers giddy about the new Hot Asian Buffet.
Read their comments here
Quote out of context
The video starts by looking up into space and then goes down to see Ladyhawke playing her guitar. Then everything goes blue but Ladyhawke continues to play her guitar. Then things start to move and you see an eye while Ladyhawke keeps turning back to look at something. She continues to play her guitar while the people moving are now clearly dancing around. There is what appears to be fire but turns out to be her outline. While she sings you start to see more than one of her; also a light starts to shine on her. You see shadows dancing while lights shine onto them. While Ladyhawke sings you see other people run across the screen. The video ends with Ladyhawke singing and fades into the darkness.
From Wikipedia.
Perhaps the world needs musicvideosasprose.tumblr.com?
April 25, 2012
May/June elimae
is now up.
Sea creatures
Perfectly preserved specimens from an epoch when the Driftless Region was the bed of a vast sea.
April 24, 2012
quote out of context
A group that raised more than $5,000 to fight a $30 million bond referendum for a new Franklin library gave those on the other side a reason to snicker. “Citizens Apposed to the Library Project” filed their official financial disclosure documents April 20 with the Johnson County clerk.
Daffy’s Elixir
Bryan Scary, my favorite currently-active musical artist, has just released his fourth album, Daffy’s Elixir. I’ve been listening to it for the past week, and it’s easily some of his best work yet. I’m apparently not very good at writing album reviews, but you should totally check it out anyway.
A few weeks ago, he brought his band to do a live show for BreakThru Radio’s Live Studio:
(Definitely stick around for the piano solo at the end of the first song.)
MIT’s Latest Prank
MIT students turned the infamous campus Green Building into a giant, playable game of Tetris. This feat has been described as the “Holy Grail” of MIT pranks.
April 22, 2012
How to make Tiny Furniture
With tiny trees, of course. Kim Keever makes some fascinating miniature landscapes and photographs them in a 200 gallon tank.
