I was roofing the house yesterday. The turret on the front had two panels left wanting after the last roofing soiree. Deuced difficult to get at. The roof is tall and pointy, and has eight sides. More or less, my house has a well-deserved dunce cap. There’s a sloping, curved porch roof blocking ladder access to the last two sides of it. I have a forty-foot ladder, and if you put the feet way out on the lawn you can just clear the lower roof and lay the top of the ladder flat on one roof panel, so I did. With the shallow angle it’s at, you don’t climb it so much as creep along it. My neighbors drive by and gawp, and think I’m a little nuts. I am, but the roof has nothing to do with it.
I’ll have to sweep the metal porch roof when I’m done, and while you’re waiting to see if I survive the bees, the furnace of the sun, and Mr. Gravity, let’s sweep some browser bookmarks into the interbin at the same time. After all, I’m pretty sure it’s Tuesday.
Burtynsky’s Shipbreaking photographs, like all his works, appear to us as images of the end of time. The abandoned mines and quarries, the piles of discarded tires, the endless fields of oil derricks, and the huge monoliths of retired tankers show how our attempts at industrial “progress” often leave a residue of destruction.
Absolutely stunning photographs, and I mean that every which way. The subject matter is staggering, and the photographer takes images brilliantly.
A ruined building in the middle of the Pyrenees records a tragedy for the people who lived there—a devastating fire that burned a settlement to the ground, destroying almost everything except a hidden gold earring. Now archaeologists’ excavation of Building G, in the strategically placed Iron Age site of Tossal de Baltarga, reveals a way of life derailed by violence: potentially, a forgotten episode of the war between Carthage and Rome.
Oh jeez. We’re back to the Punic Wars. Pretty interesting find, but I read it twice, but I still don’t understand what this has to do with Radar Love.
Actor Scarlett Johansson said she turned down OpenAI‘s request for her to lend her voice to a conversational ChatGPT system — and that she was “shocked” and “angered” that the company went ahead and used a voice that sounded very similar to hers anyway.
Open AI says they hired another person to do the voice. Someone who sounds like Scarlett Johansson. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Man, I swear these tech titans enjoy being sued. Here’s some free advice for Sam Altman: next time, steal stuff and re-use it from people without enough money to hire an army of lawyers, and without a publicist on speed dial to every major news outlet in the world. You know, like this guy.
GLEWBOT scales buildings like a gecko to inspect wall tiles
GLEWBOT climbs up walls like a gecko and taps on tiles like a woodpecker to evaluate wall integrity. Like cleaning the windows on a skyscraper, the traditional inspection method requires specialized tools and skills. GLEWBOT can perform the same functions autonomously, dramatically reducing costs.
Free advice for the GLEWBOT people: Just add a camera and tap into the ever-so-much larger market for peeping toms.
Google cuts mystery check to US in bid to sidestep jury trial
The Justice Department, which has not said if it will accept the payment, declined to comment on the filing. Google asserted that its check, which it said covered its alleged overcharges for online ads, allows it to sidestep a jury trial whether or not the government takes it.
Hmm. Being cute with Scarlett Johansson is probably expensive. Being cute with Uncle Sam can get you droned theses days. Maybe Google should have made the check out for 110% of the amount. You know, just to make sure.
How an intrepid New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead (1962)
Su and her husband Burt, a secretary and schoolteacher, had married a year earlier and drove north from Boonton, New Jersey to build a new life in Alaska. To find the couple, Whicker and his television crew had to take a plane journey followed by another hour’s drive “along a do-it-yourself road”. Sleeping in hammocks and with not much shelter, it was clear the Lums had chosen a difficult path for themselves. And Su was due to have a baby in 10 days’ time.
There are about a zillion YouTube videos of people doing the whole alaskapocaloffgridhomeprepsteadingexpealedocious. I’m sure they’ll all eventually end up like the intrepid New Jersey couple.
The efficacy of duct tape vs cryotherapy in the treatment of verruca vulgaris (the common wart)
Patients were randomized using computer-generated codes to receive either cryotherapy (liquid nitrogen applied to each wart for 10 seconds every 2-3 weeks) for a maximum of 6 treatments or duct tape occlusion (applied directly to the wart) for a maximum of 2 months. Patients had their warts measured at baseline and with return visits.
I won’t spoil the surprise at the link, but remember, there’s nothing that it can’t do.
Mortgages are a manufactured product
A mortgage is a product, which is built by specialist workers using an immense and costly capital edifice, to be sold into a supply chain for consumers of that product. It incidentally happens to involve a house and a loan, but those two facts do not drive most behaviors of the mortgage industry. The structure of the manufacturing process, and the consuming supply chain, do.
Remember, if you’re feeling down, and all alone in this world, just miss a mortgage payment or two, and find out just how many people care if you’re alive or dead.
Well, that’s it for this Tuesday. By close of business today, my roof will be incrementally less leaky, and my bookmarks toolbar slightly lighter. You can vote for your favorite item in the comments. But remember: no wagering.
2 Responses
Many condolences on the roofing. I don’t do that anymore, as ladders are a no-no.
Burtynsky likes him some bleak, don’t he? I like the shot of the marble quarry with a portacan on a shelf on a level that says, the boss thinks you’re taking too long on the climb.
As far as duct tape goes, Red Green said “Duct tape is the handyman’s secret weapon”.
McMaster-Carr actually sells aviation and nuclear grade duct tape. Some things you don’t want to know about, like sausage ingredients.
Hi Ed- Thanks for reading and commenting.
I have never in my life been able to take a single photograph one-tenth as illustrative or interesting to look at as Burtynsky’s. I’m sure Burtynsky has technical skill. But that’s not enough. Some people have an third eye for things like art and photography beyond regler people, and that’s that.