Rather Odd &/Or Beautiful Things

[Idle Miscreant]

London 1900

London 1936

Paris in La belle époque

Coal miners

Pictures courtesy of Old Pics Archive

[Idle Miscreant]

In the midst of perfectly legitimate research, I stumbled upon these ray guns. Now there is nothing in the world I want more.
Bastards are prohibitively expensive though...I may have to build one...









Yes I know the last two aren't ray guns. But just LOOK!

[Idle Miscreant]

I was going to put this in Rampant Idiocy, but there's something strangely beautiful about it. Idiotic AND beautiful.
As an Antipodean, I'm not sure whether I should apologise for emus, or be immensely proud of them. The twats.

[ricardo shillyshally]

Emus? Not much oddness, but beautiful waves.

[queenoftheDales]

Speaking of waves, I came across this post the other day from the American Society of Microbiology and the agar art contest that just ended.  It's called Great wave of Candida


Submitted by: Cristina Marcos 


"Candida albicans is a yeast species that is part of the commensal microbiota of the body. Weakened or impaired immune system can lead to yeast infections mostly produced by Candida albicans, although other species like Candida parapsilosis, Candida glabrata and Candida tropicalis among others are increasing its incidence. So, like the great wave off Kanagawa, Candida albicans colonies are growing green in this chromogenic medium and supporting a wave crest formed by violet-smooth colonies of Candida glabrata and beige-rough colonies of Candida parapsilosis."

Now this is how you streak a plate....recreationally   .  Much better than the flowers and christmas trees I've seen done in the past.  

[Toad]

Japanese Straw Dinosaurs





More here...

[Nutz]

Japanese Straw Dinosaurs

Damn it, what did they do to Sheldon

[Toad]

The optics of a wine glass. Photograph: Mike Gal

[Louise]

This is neither odd nor beautiful, just a random Internet thing, but I was wondering if anyone else reads the Captain Awkward blog:

http://captainawkward.com/

I'd like to make it clear that I do not agree with *everything* posted there, but I feel like the site addresses a lot of the same subjects we've discussed here:

dysfunctional relationships, social awkwardness, geek culture, introversion, independence, setting boundaries, how to recognize toxic people and avoid/remove them, how NOT to make friends, et cetera, et cetera.

Basically, I think a lot of what is said there would be an excellent antidote to the terrible BBT canon ships and the now-warped and twisted "friendships." Reading it has emphasized to me that the canon ships are just SO unhealthy, and what this show portrays as "love" or "normalcy" is just SO twisted.  Captain Awkward is very much about encouraging people to take control of their own lives, set healthy boundaries, avoid/resist being abused or gaslighted, etc.  Again, I don't agree with everything that is said there, but it's very much about encouraging people to know that THEY are the sole determiner of whether or not they want to be in a relationship, and very much about informing people that they don't have to put up with toxic behavior. It's written with the awareness that some people have anxiety, depression, or other emotional/psychological issues which can make these situations extra difficult.

I saw one really excellent quote there, which I think fits the terrible BBT canon ships perfectly:

"Shrinking your desires down to nothing is not and never will be the price of good love."

I think I might even use that quote in one of my future fanfics or blog posts.  I'd love to see the author of this blog in a debate with Molaro & Co; she'd tell them off, point by point. To me, a lot of the material there feels like a perfect rebuttal to the ideas put forth by TPTB and pro-canons.

[Kimk26]

Oh, Louise, this is awesome. Do you regularly follow this blog?

I followed the link, and yeah, some really good stuff, there! In fact, it appears as though there are 'chapters' of a sort, that meet in different cities. Captain Awkward, herself, lives in Chicago, which isn't that far from me here in Milwaukee (about an hour away). So yeah, it looks like she and some other friends have get-togethers, and what they do interests me very much. I also like that she's a screenwriter/director, which is exactly the kind of work I'm trying to get into. I've taken some comedy writing classes over at Second City in Chicago..so maybe she and I may know some of the same people. Either way, it sounds like a very inclusive/friendly group. And..since I lost my best friend to diabetes this past winter..I need to get out and meet people again. So this is something I hope materializes/works out. Thanks for posting it.