Channeling my Inner Da Vinci
Channeling in my inner Da Vinci.
Esoterica
Early U.S. Presidents in Today’s Suits
Digital artist Magdalene Visaggio uses her iPhone to transplant the portraits of U.S. Presidents into photo software and gives them modern clothes and haircuts as if they were U.S. politicians today. See her Twitter feed and meet George Washington (above) and others. Scot mountain biker Danny MacAskill is arguably the best bicyclist of any type in the world. Here are two video clips [each six minutes long] of proof. In the clip above, MacAskill treats mountains the opposite way rock climbers do: finding new and challenging routes to descend the peaks. And in the clip below, a tour de force, he cycles down the rooftops to the sea in my wife’s hometown of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The Greatest Mechanical Invention in History
Who, where, and how was the wheel first invented?
How Effective is Only One Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine?
The British Broadcasting Corporation reports how just one does of COVID-19 vaccine is mildly beneficial, but it is the second dose that truly brings immunological benefits. This Might Be a Topic of Controversy in the Other 49 U.S. States Yet FoodAndWine.com has hit the bulls eye in my native Connecticut! As are, I think, their choices for Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York. Absolutely perfect choices! Japanese Film Noir If you are like American Film Noir and don’t mind subtitles (in other words, you’re not the normal American), you’ll love the Criterion Channel’s new selection of Japanese film noirs from the 1940s-60s. I can particularly recommend Kurosawa’s Stray Dog and The Bad Sleep Well, Nomura’s A Colt is My Passport, or Suzuki’s Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter. I’m looking forward to watching others. (That last movie is an odd one: the Japanese studio wanted to get rid of the director, who it had under contract, so it cut his film’s costumes, sets, and location shooting budget the shreds. He decided instead to film anyway on that shoestring budget. The result is a surreal gangster film that looks like it was filmed on rejected sets from 1960s American TV ‘Batman’ TV series (see photo below.] Color-Blind Man Sees the Difference with Special Glasses One-and-a-half minute video from the British Broadcasting Corporation.
January 3, 2021
Earthquake Aftershock Live A video camera of RITV in the Croatian city of Rijeka captures live an aftershock from the earthquake that nation this past week. R.I.P., bassist Eugene Wright, 95. R.I.P. bassist Eugene Wright, 95, last surviving member of jazz legends the Dave Brubeck Quartet and a pioneer in racial desegregation of U.S. music venues. For those of you who don’t know who there are, see the video clip above, in particular from the 4-minute mark, to discover that a group doesn’t need to look hip to be verrrrry hip! Wright’s solo turn then begins around the 5-minute mark. Or click the this link to see one of the greatest single jazz performance ever given: The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s Carnegie Hall performance of their ‘Take Five’. I’ll miss him.
December 30, 2020
They Aren’t Coming for Your Jobs Yet, but Just Want to Dance And an Autonomous Ship will Retrace the Mayflower’s Voyage Speaking of Oceanic Voyages… A traditional ‘King Neptune’ certificate from August, 1944, as my namesake uncle, then a private in the U.S. Marine 3rd Division, crossed the Equator for the first time (at a militarily “censored” latitude) aboard the Dutch freighter Bloemfonteim, on the way to an amphibious landing at the Battle of Guam. When in 1941 the Germany invaded the Netherlands and the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, the ships of the Dutch Navy that escaped joined up with Australian, British, and U.S. navies. The Bloemfonteim became an Allied troopship. I’ve a similar Neptune certificate from 1942 when my father, then a U.S. Navy ensign, crossed the Equator for the first time, aboard the battle cruiser Santa Fe. The 20th Century in Manhattan (as well as the ‘Mad Men’ era) finally ends. No matter how important who think you are, no longer shall ye get ‘power lunches’ at the Four Seasons nor drinks at 21. And the perfect big-screen TV video for ‘Star Wars’ fans who want to feel cozy this winter. And back to robots: South Koreans, showing more acumen than American capitalists., purchase Boston Dynamics. Hyundai paid a reported billion dollars for it. Japan’s Toyota already is the world’s leader in the coming field of household robotics. Hyundai wants to be that for general-purpose worker robotics. Boston Dynamics is far more advanced at this than any other U.S. company.
December 8, 2020
Remarkable changes in the construction industry during the 2020s; Qantas airlines to require COVID-19 vaccination proof; and an interactive graphic about hiking to and climbing Mount Everest.
Reducing My Number of ‘Friends’
Why I am reducing my number of
friends’ and acquaintances.
November 10, 2020
Late autumn foliage.
November 9, 2020
R.I.P., Gordon Joseloff, 75.
November 8, 2020
Late afternoon along the Miamus River estuary in Connecticut.
October 24, 2020: Procrastinate with Confidence
Adam Grant delivers a counter-TED speech about the counter-intuitive nature of ‘originals’ thinkers who dream up new ideas and take action to put them into the world. “The greatest originals are the ones who fail the most, because they’re the ones who try the most.” He notes that “you need a lot of bad ideas in order to get a few good ones,” plus mustn’t let doubts about yourself get in your way. Who gets what from every dollar you pay for a cup of coffee or coffee beans? This chart from visualcapitalist.com answers that. General Motors has received permission from the State of California to begin operating completely driverless automobiles on the streets of San Francisco.