An alien-abduction lamp. From dollar-store materials. Is that cool, or what? I found it (and directions for making it) here. And I found that in an article about “dollar-store culture”. Egads. Only the New York Times could discover that it’s trendy to be poor. This is not the only cool homemade lamp I’ve seen lately. I’ll soon be blogging about one I received. Very creative …
Category: Arts and Aesthetics
All things creative. All things beautiful, profound, and moving.
“Three deputies equals one SWAT team.” A memory from reader ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ (a former LEO) of a moment at the dawn of the “bad new days” of total militarization. Russian villagers defend their town. (Tip o’ hat to Matt, another.) A thorough history of “The Nixon Shock: How Nixon stopped backing the dollar with gold and changed global finance, a 40-year-old decision that still echoes in Greece, Ireland, and the U.S.” And a perfect example of how sloppily the most momentous decisions get made by Our Masters. AntiSec. Revenge of the nerds. Raising a fist to death in the Warsaw Ghetto.…
Okay, enough heavy stuff for the moment. On the lighter side … Have you ever wondered why those legions of Irish clog dancers almost never move their arms? Seems silly, doesn’t it, to flat-out not use such an expressive part of the body? Well, this brief video explains why by showing the origins of Irish dance. —– Shamelessly stolen from Patrice Lewis’s Rural Revolution blog
Crappy day today for reasons that will fade in importance in a few weeks or months. Not so big a deal. But I needed to work on something less brain burning than the third installment of the “Responsibilities in a police state” rant (part 1 and part 2 for those who may have missed them). So here’s Bradford, another late, lamented friend of a friend of mine. Bradford always liked to “help” pack up the plastic poinsettias after Christmas. I thought he looked like a statue, standing among the blossoms and greenery, so that’s how I drew him. Here’s the…
I’m working on one of those Big Thought blog entries for later in the week. Meantime, between that and ongoing deadlines, posting may be “lite” around here. In case you’re looking for good reads to get you through your Monday morning (or any other day) … “Jake MacGregor’s” novel The Advisor has grown by four chapters since I linked to it last week. A world-class read, truly. This guy can tell a story. Via Brad at WendyMcElroy.com (and indirectly via C^2), here’s a great old one: Vernor Vinge’s “The Ungoverned.” Who says an anarchist society couldn’t protect itself against invaders?…
Been a long time since I did a pet portrait. Out of practice again. But I thought I’d share this in-progress pastel. The execution needs work, but I like the concept. This is “Bark,” a boisterous boy who recently died. Like so many Australian shepherd mixes, he had strange, striking eyes.
Unexpected work struck today. Oh no! And it’s not even the kind that pays. Still, it’s the kind that has to be done during today’s five-second bursts of sunshine. So just some quick stuff for you: Manhattan-sized manmade floating island. Um … okay. Wonder how far that $50,000 will take the project? Wonder what that whiz-kid actually plans to do with it? Old-timers have seen this script before, but one of these days somebody’s going to succeed with the notion. “The prosecution rests, but I can’t.” Eloquent statement by a victim of “justice.” (Why do people always say they don’t…
In December, long-time comrade-in-(non-aggressive)-arms Mac the Knife revealed his latest endeavor: The
Speaking of writers who can be wonderful to read even when you don’t agree with their every utterance Matt Taibi has a new piece in Rolling Stone, “Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?” While I think a better question is “Why is the federal government in bed with Wall Street and why are they performing abnormal acts on millions of unconsenting adults?” it’s still a good read. Taibi is right up there with Glenn Greenwald, Robert Scheer, Sam Smith, and Nat Hentoff among writers I admire for their integrity, reasoning power, humanity, or writing skill, even though conventional wisdom says…
Seems that Facfebook gets all the press when it comes to online privacy. But it’s time to put in a bad word for Etsy, too. Now, maybe you don’t hang out at Etsy, which is, after all, an arts & crafts bazaar that may be of limited interest to the techies and political types hereabouts. But it appears that Etsy might be interested in you, even if you’ve never heard of it. This week, Etsy members are all getting emails that say (as if speaking to extraordinarily stupid kindergarteners): “Right now it’s hard to find people you know on Etsy,…