June 29, 2022
What's New Pussycat?
This morning, a soft rock station in Vancouver, Canada, played Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine. And then again. And again. They're taking calls for requests!
That's one way to launch
The Naphtha Engine: "After steamboats got a reputation of danger from explosion, the Coast Guard required operators to be licensed, thereby removing steamboats from small owner/operator utilization. The outboard motor would solve this problem eventually, but in 1885 it didn’t exist. In 1883 Frank W. Ofeldt took out a patent on a naphtha engine which was essentially a closed loop steam engine that used naphtha instead of water." A Twitter thread on naphtha launches from Dreadnought Holiday. Some extant examples: "Anita" and "Frieda." See also: Powered by Boiling Petrol.
Canon Balls
Over the past decade or more, the conquest of the cultural landscape by quippy spandexed superheroes has been Napoleonic. The idea that a citadel of bookishness has fallen to this siege of adolescent fantasia could easily take on outsize importance. from Prestige Comics: On the Penguin Classics Marvel Collection [more inside]
Viva Terlingua?
Farewell to the Last Frontier. "For those who live here year-round—among them, cave-dwelling desert rats, sun-scorched river guides, musicians, alcoholics, survivalists, artists, eccentrics, wanderers (and millionaires camouflaged as one or more of the aforementioned figures)—that sense of isolation is often experienced as a kind of primordial liberation. The feeling of being free from convenience and unshackled from expectations—of existing in “Terlingua time,” as locals put it—has always been as appealing to the flag-waving pilot of a forty-foot RV as to the tent-dwelling, peyote-smoking vagabond. But like some Daoist riddle, the more newcomers seek out Terlingua’s magic, the harder it is to find." (SL Texas Monthly)
You really should watch a manhole entrance get replaced
This German video of a manhole cover replacement [SLYT] is surprisingly soothing in a kind of How It's Made / Slow TV way, even for those who don't speak the language. (Content Warning: efficient and methodical; discussion of DIN standards)
Where are all the assheads?
Colin Morris scraped 15 years of Reddit comments to perform a detailed analysis of the frequencies of compound-word insults. The results are presented in the document
Compound pejoratives on Reddit – from buttface to wankpuffin.
The Only Thing to Do Here is Walk Around the Desert
Terrible National Park Reviews (Illustrated). Designer Amber Share took one-star reviews of American National parks and “put a positive, fun spin on a negative mindset” by creating a set of travel posters.
Ten Million Power
I don’t want no other baby but you; Paul after Linda
Glastonbury reminded the world of the power of Paul McCartney, but in 1999 Paul McCartney had to remind himself. And he used Rock 'n' Roll. Following the death of Linda McCartney in early 1998 saw Paul McCartney take time away from music to grieve. His return was the late 1999 release “Run Devil Run”, a quickly recorded collection of covers from the 50s with a few friends… Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates’ Mick Green. and Deep Purple’s Ian Paice on drums. McCartney mostly stuck to bass, just as in the early Beatles days. [more inside]
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