davidthompsontag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-12079022012-05-25T00:06:00+01:00TypePadFriday Ephemeratag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e2016766bd0e94970b2012-05-25T00:06:00+01:002012-05-25T00:06:00+01:00Attention, ladies. An end to the nightmare of camel-toe slacks. // Instant, fleeting inebriation. // Touchscreen with no touching. // “Stroud had discovered that magnets repel sharks.” (h/t, Dr Westerhaus) // Body armour made of meat. // The mysteries of...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/05/friday-ephemera-1.htmlThe Condiments of Tomorrowtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e2016305c00101970d2012-05-23T08:10:18+01:002012-05-23T08:51:27+01:00Because the world has been waiting for a low-friction ketchup bottle. MIT PhD candidate Dave Smith and a team of engineers and nano-technologists at the Varanasi Research Group have devised a “super slippery” coating ideal for clogged condiments. The coating...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/05/the-condiments-of-tomorrow.htmlElsewhere (63)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20168eba065f9970c2012-05-20T08:58:00+01:002012-05-20T08:58:00+01:00Stephen Hayes on Wisconsin, high passions and the caring, compassionate left: Unions and other Walker opponents have certainly shown a willingness to do anything to win. Walker and his family have been harassed regularly. Unions and their backers have marched...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/05/elsewhere-63.htmlBlow Jobtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20167668ea6e6970b2012-05-17T08:54:59+01:002012-05-17T09:36:43+01:00Tadao Cern’s photographs of people being blown by a whole heap of wind. Via Anna. See also: Spin Cycle.David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/05/blow-job.htmlEven More Agonies of the Lefttag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20168eb820866970c2012-05-15T08:01:59+01:002012-05-15T08:01:59+01:00Further to this and this, what men really, really want to talk about. Laurie’s language gaffe. If only we could discuss racism. Which we never, ever discuss. Laurie discusses racism. Elitism? I’m above that. Not quite grasping the issue. Do...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/05/even-more-agonies-of-the-left.htmlCrotch Funk as Art tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e201676671e528970b2012-05-12T11:24:02+01:002012-05-14T17:37:07+01:00Aesthetes that my readers are, you’ll no doubt be familiar with the name of Jan Fabre, a Belgian performance artist and “theatre-maker” who, we’re informed, “expands the horizons of every genre to which he applies his artistic vision.” Mr Fabre’s...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/05/crotch-funk-as-art-.htmlFriday Ephemeratag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e201676661b554970b2012-05-11T00:12:00+01:002012-05-11T07:04:09+01:00Hey, it could happen. // Hands up if your garage contains a Boeing 737 nose cone and flight simulator. // Bees that drink human tears. // Harvesting bees in the Himalayas. // Elephant chair. // Elephants have big innards. //...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/05/friday-ephemera.htmlThe Intellectual’s Temptationtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e201630567886e970d2012-05-09T19:12:16+01:002012-05-09T19:55:48+01:00I was doing some research on Detroit and its decline. They kept raising income tax and every time they raised the tax rate, the tax revenues went down. In 2008, Charles Gibson put this to Obama when he was a...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/05/the-intellectuals-temptation.htmlElsewhere (62)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20168eb41bd21970c2012-05-07T08:59:14+01:002012-05-11T15:54:02+01:00Daniel Hannan on a bloated state and the legacy of Gordon Brown: The lugubrious Fifer inherited a Chancellor’s dream scenario: falling expenditure, rising revenues, strong growth and low inflation. For two years, as promised in Labour’s 1997 manifesto, he stuck...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/05/elsewhere-62.htmlI Know, Let’s Follow These Peopletag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20168eb29910b970c2012-05-05T08:11:42+01:002012-05-24T08:12:41+01:00Further to this, Zombie again, this time on Occupy Oakland’s general disarray – sorry, “General Strike”: There was no purpose or goal to any of these confrontations; in fact, the act of confrontation was the goal. Everyone would mill around...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/05/i-know-lets-follow-these-people.htmlPlaying in the Dirt with Occupytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e2016304f68046970d2012-04-30T08:34:15+01:002012-05-02T16:10:46+01:00Zombie ventures into the moral wilderness of Occupy’s latest project: The farm they seized was not a working farm per se, but rather a “research farm” for the University of California, near its Berkeley campus. The only difference between the...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/playing-in-the-dirt-with-occupy.htmlReturn of the Random Paneltag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20168ead8cb77970c2012-04-28T14:25:00+01:002012-04-28T14:25:00+01:00Or, further to this, more damning evidence of a misspent childhood. From Avengers #2, November 1963. Ah, back when the Hulk used furniture and rumbled in his underpants. And Janet van Dyne was permanently in heat. Seriously. Even supervillains were...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/return-of-the-random-panel.htmlFriday Ephemeratag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e2016765bb9b75970b2012-04-27T00:04:00+01:002012-04-27T00:04:00+01:00Caught with the cameras of Voyager and Cassini. // Czech citizens, as seen by the secret police. // Painting with light in 3D bullet time. // Bubbles inside bubbles inside bubbles (in space). // “Zambia’s forgotten Cold War space programme.”...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/friday-ephemera-3.htmlReheated (25)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e2016304b99699970d2012-04-25T08:23:17+01:002012-04-25T10:53:48+01:00For newcomers, three more items from the archives: Militantly Nude. A San Francisco “nude-in” reveals more than intended. Some of you may register a whiff of disingenuousness in exhibitionists accusing their critics of being repressive and stuffy. Exhibitionists may be...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/reheated-25.htmlOur Betters Speaktag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20167658affd7970b2012-04-22T15:59:54+01:002012-04-24T08:09:02+01:00Today’s Observer’s editorial is concerned, very concerned… Only radical action will begin to win the challenge of obesity. …and swollen with the usual urges: If the answers, whatever they are, involve challenging corporate power and practices, legislating to improve the...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/our-betters-speak.htmlRadical Samenesstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e201630489292e970d2012-04-21T10:47:44+01:002012-04-21T10:47:44+01:00Why do men become communists? And more particularly, why do they become communists despite everything that we know about communism? In the last century, as many as 120 million people were murdered by Marxist-inspired regimes. And yet, certainly in the...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/radical-sameness.htmlThe Thrill of Condensationtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20163047b4b4f970d2012-04-20T07:50:36+01:002012-04-20T07:50:36+01:00“F-15 Eagle fighters intercept two Soviet MiG-29 fighters.” Photographed over the Bering Sea by Kevin L. Bishop, August 1, 1989. Larger version. Found via this collection of contrails, booms and vortices.David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/the-thrill-of-condensation.htmlFriday Ephemeratag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20163046a11c1970d2012-04-20T00:08:00+01:002012-04-20T06:50:47+01:00I must have one, and so must you. // Lakes, oceans and depth. (h/t, Peter Risdon) // The dilemmas of victimhood poker. // The androids are coming. // Kangaroos have three vaginas. // Cat wakes owner with repeated boings. //...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/friday-ephemera-2.htmlElsewhere (61)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e201630468b234970d2012-04-19T07:33:17+01:002012-04-19T07:33:17+01:00Heather Mac Donald on poverty and behaviour: We are supposed to assume that a 21-year-old mother of two should not have been expected to assess whether she and her male sexual partners were ready to support a family; it is...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/elsewhere-61.htmlTerrorising Coffee Drinkers for the Greater Goodtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20168ea320a11970c2012-04-16T08:38:53+01:002012-04-17T08:28:22+01:00It’s really about sensing and knowing that a system is no longer right or just or fair and no longer [being] willing to be an exploited member of that system… Occupy Wall Street is now having, and will continue to...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/terrorising-coffee-drinkers-for-the-greater-good.htmlI’m Not Familiar with the Kind of Thing I’m Seeingtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20163043574e1970d2012-04-15T18:19:04+01:002012-04-15T18:19:04+01:00It’s part of a series, in case you wanted to know. Via Anna.David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/im-not-familiar-with-the-kind-of-thing-im-seeing.htmlElsewhere (60)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20168ea188fd1970c2012-04-14T08:36:10+01:002012-04-14T08:36:10+01:00Or, Because No-One is Stopping Them. Further to this and, well, just about anything here tagged ‘academia,’ Zombie visits the campus of U.C. Berkeley and hears a plan for our enlightenment: The main drawback of Professor Brown’s verbal style (at...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/elsewhere-60.htmlFriday Ephemeratag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e201630405fc88970d2012-04-13T00:04:00+01:002012-04-13T00:04:00+01:00“Social interactions determine the garments’ level of transparency, creating a sensual play of disclosure.” // Spinge. // Sushi-making robot. // Why old books smell. // Yes, it exists: bacon on a stick. // Ace on the Patriarchy: “Straight men have...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/friday-ephemera-1.htmlTransgressive Art Shocks Educatorstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e20168e9e1444c970c2012-04-10T07:34:34+01:002012-04-10T07:34:34+01:00The student artist, 17-year-old Liz Bierendy, said that she depicted the man and woman as married with wedding rings. According to [School Superintendent, Peter] Horoshack’s press release, the scene was painted over because “some of the members of the Pilgrim...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/transgressive-art-shocks-educators.htmlFriday Ephemeratag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451675669e2016764aaf5c9970b2012-04-06T00:07:00+01:002012-04-06T00:07:00+01:00We’ll start with this, I think. // Panoramic Dubai. It’s one of these. // Weighing atoms. // Max and Harvey versus Woob. // The quietest room in the world. // Headphones of note. // Tornado versus 18-wheeler trucks. // OMG...David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/friday-ephemera.html