This should prove entertaining. If the lawsuits are even halfway successful it will be interesting to see what changes happen in the world of social media and online insta-outrage.
BREAKING NEWS: Covington Catholic High School lawyers have sent legal letters to The NY Times, Maggie Haberman, Washington Post, CNN, NPR, Savannah Guthrie, Andrea Mitchell, Joy Reid, Chuck Todd, The Hill, The Atlantic, Kathy Griffin & GQMagazine. 7 lawyers are now working on it. https://t.co/cUw0tNGoUw
Elliot McLaughlin, Michelle Boorstein, Emanuella Grinberg, Cleve Wootson Jr., Antonio Olivo, Joe Heim, Michael Miller, Eli Rosenberg, David Brooks, Isaac Stanley-Becker, Kristine Phillips, Sara Mervosh, Emily Rueb, Shannon Doyne, Kurt Eichenwald, Bill Maher, HBO, Warner Media
…but cool nonetheless. A kitchen knife made of of bismuth, a low-melt-temperature metal with some interesting crystallization properties. The end result is not a practical tool, but it would seem to be a snazzy piece of art. So the final fate here is a little disconcerting.The video does almost make me want to procure some bismuth and try some of the crystallization steps myself.
There is also something of a little bit of a “How To Basic” vibe here. Almost surprised that a couple dozen eggs weren’t sacrificed…
Interestingly: on the same day I learn that a friend who has had several Jeeps for quite a number of years has finally, at long last, gotten rid of the last one because the thing, like its predecessors, was a buggy piece of junk, I see an ad by the Jeep corporation that might actually make people want to buy Jeeps. The ad says little about how good Jeeps are, how rugged, reliable, low-cost, maintenance-free and fuel efficient (according to my friend: none of those); what it does is try to uplift.
Compare and contrast with Gillette’s trainwreck of a campaign which smeared half the population in an attempt to sell that half overpriced bits of sharpened sheet metal. Don’t misunderstand me: Jeep doubtless could care less one way or the other about patriotism, nationalism, American exceptionalism; they just want to sell Jeeps. But *this* ad does that cynical thing in a way that a whole lot of people see as uplifting. It’s also simultaneously simple *and* a little clever. Behold:
Advertising and PR just ain’t my thing (if they were I’d be a *hell* of a lot better off, financially. Seriously: subscribe). This is a “Superbowl ad,” so no matter what, it was destined to be seen by a bunch of people. Whether it was good or bad, interesting or dull, controversial or mundane, I have no idea if that would have sold more Jeeps. But I do know this: this ad has been on YouTube since January 30 and it has been viewed 32 million times, with a like/dislike ratio of more than 11 to one. The Gillette ad, designed from the get-go to “get people talking,” has been on YouTube since January 13 and has been viewed 28 million times, with a like/dislike ratio of 1 to 1.7. Maybe don’t insult your customer base, I dunno.
All that said: I don’t know if this America-loving ad is the best one. It will be hard for anyone to top this Dodge Challenger ad:
The only ad I know of off the top of my head that was better was simple modification of the same ad with better music:
The “Russian propaganda machine” no more cares about getting Gabbard elected than it did about getting Trump elected. All it cares about is sowing chaos in the American electorate, something it has proven to be quite good at.
One thing I won’t ever do again is build a snow dalek. I did that when we lived at our old house as the kids were into Dr Who. I learnt that when snowdaleks start to melt they upset the neighbours #snowman#snowdalek#drwhopic.twitter.com/YrK8vJqAJr
On the 29th, APR Patrons and Monthly Historical Documents program subscribers were sent emails containing links to the January, 2019 rewards. This months set of documents and diagrams included high-rez copies of:
Document: “ASTRO A Manned Reusable Spacecraft Concept,” a Douglas Missiles & Space brochure from August, 1962, describing a two-stage Shuttle-like vehicle
Document: “Status update Ramjet Propulsion 1978” a brochure from the Marquardt Company
Document: “Rocket Blitz Form the Moon” an article from the October 23, 1948 issue of “Colliers” magazine describing the use of the Moon as a missile base, with some helpful Bonestell illustrations of Manhattan getting nuked.
Diagram: A large format color scan of the 1970 North American Rockwell PD-157-17-2 HIPAAS V/STOL jet fighter
CAD Diagram: isometric view, Bernal Sphere space habitat
If this sort of thing is of interest and you’d like to get in on it and make sure you don’t miss any of the forthcoming releases, sign up either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.
Which, by modern outrage-insta-mob mentality, means one of the current leading contenders for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2020 is a Nazi-supporter.
One is an opera singer, the other a conductor, both married by human cloaking device test subject Ruth Bader Ginsberg. This should make them pretty well shielded by the magic of liberal privilege. But there’s that whole accusation = guilt thing…
You know, I’m a fan of the capitalist system. I’m a fan of people getting wealthy by taking advantages of opportunities that arise. If you make your money legally, theoretically I have no problem with it. But there are instances where I get a pain… right here.
Two trailers have been released for this movie. Set in the 1950’s, it *seems* to be about a UFO causing chaos in a small town. The first trailer is done in the usual trailer format; the second trailer is quite different and makes effective use of “Roar,” the one piece of music made for the original “Cloverfield” movie.
