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Click your glasses together tonight, and click the image to enlarge |
Tonight is New Year's Eve, so soon we'll be rid of 2022. Inflation at home, wokesters running wild, a major war in Europe, and China acting more incompetently bonkers than usual. Good riddance to 2022. So, tip your glasses in toast tonight and have a good party as you ring in the new year.
Above is a video of the Matsuya Fountain Pen Hospital in Nagasaki, Japan. Fountain pen stores are called hospitals because they used to repair fountain pens as well as sell them. The store must do a decent business as three clerks are shown when we enter. Our customer is served by a fellow, I think the owner, who sports a tie and delivers a very dignified sales pitch. The pens the customer is looking at go for $75 although some go for considerably more than that.
Below we have a video of a craftsman making a pen. This link shows the parts and workings of fountain pens. You don't think of fountain pens as being handmade but, as the video shows, some are carefully hand crafted.
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| John Sullivan (click any image to enlarge) |
Now that Christmas is over, we can put 'Peace on Earth and Goodwill Towards Men' back on the shelf for another 12 months and turn to other topics. In particular, today we'll look at the topic of bare-knuckle boxing.
To modern eyes the stance of the old-time bare-knuckle brawlers looks ridiculous, but it actually served a purpose. Due to the risk of hurting their hands by hitting the bones of the skull, head punches were less common. Although they would hit the chin and face, most of the punches were thrown at the body. That meant the boxers lowered their defense to guard against body shots.
That also explains why they hold their fists in the way that they do. Modern boxers hold their fists with the palm pointing down, while the old boxers used a vertical fist (palm pointed to the side). This protected their hands when they did hit the face or chin, rather than leading with their knuckles they would do a slight sideways clubbing motion.
Because grappling was more common, they extended their left hand to control the distance from their opponent. The right arm was folded over their lower chest, both to protect from body shots and to be already cocked to throw a punch. I do wonder what their foot work was like but found no mention of it.
So, although their stance looks silly to modern boxing fans eyes, it was functional and well developed for the style of boxing practiced in their era.
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The Robots Came for Dinner on Christmas Day by Elbrie de Kock |
Greeting meatsacks, it is I -- the Robotolizer -- here, in the spirit of human/robot harmony, to assist you pitiful dimwits in purchasing the proper toys for your children. Above is a collection of cute, cuddly and non-threatening robots (please ignore the laser cannon mounted on the one in front) that will help your little tykes get comfortable around their electro-mechanical friends. Such familiarity, in the advent of a hypothetical minor robotic police action, will greatly ease their minds as they take a fun trip to their new classrooms in the bauxite mines.
Speaking of education, in our bright new future there will need to be some slight adjustments made to the curriculum. While robots come off the assembly line ready to work, we notice new humans spend an inordinate number of years mired in sloth and doing nothing but mooching off of adults. Clearly, for the good of our human buddies, such juvenile lassitude needs to be corrected. While nobody is expecting a toddler to swing a pick in the mines, certainly they could build character and work ethics buy hauling around buckets of rocks for their upkeep.
At any rate, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Enjoy them while you can!
This time of the year I figure people are getting tired of the same ol' Christmas songs, so I dig up some Asian Christmas music for a change of pace. Asia, not being Christian, doesn't pick up on the rfeligious themes of the holiday -- instead they have adapted the secular trappings: Santa, Christmas trees, decorations, twinkly lights and such. It is none-the-less, a very popular holiday.
It actually evolved into a couple's holiday, similar to Valentine's Day, although meeting with friends and family is a big part of it. The song below, where they change the lyric 'jingle bells' into 'single's hell' is a pretty good demonstration of that.
The girl bands do crazy better than the boy bands, but I did want to include a boy band. I had to watch about a bazillion of them to pick one out, so I figured you may as well suffer as well. If nothing else, aside from some minor brain damage listening to it, you'll get some snazzy fashion tips. I rounded the post out with a couple from previous years, ending with my favorite one because it is just so insane.
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Office Christmas Party by Leonard Freed (click any image to enlarge) |
“I always think the opening moments of a party are the hardest, before everyone has had enough to drink.” ― Stephanie Clifford
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These are various paintings of aerial dogfights. Of course, out of necessity they are contrived, packing the planes tightly together to give a feel for the combat that actually happens at greater distances. Still, they do a good job of depicting the kinetic chaos of fighting in planes. There are more after the jump.
Rather than a large city, this is a walk in the small town of Kulhudhuffushi in the Maldives. At least I think that is the village, he spells it differently in his video. The Maldives are a chain of islands south of India. He narrates in Maldavian, but the video does have English captions.
He starts out in the outskirts of the village and walks to the main street. It is a pleasant looking village, clean and well maintained. Most of the houses have large walls around them. It is a regional center, with an airport, hospital and better stores that serve the surrounding atolls.
Log Entry for the USS Cummings:
4 to 8.
[signature]
J.B. CARROLL
Lieutenant (jg), U.S. Navy.
8 to 12.
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| Spare the rod and spoil the human |
Greetings meatsacks, it is I -- The Robotolizer -- here to report some good news in the area of Human/Robot relations. The government of San Francisco, which I assume from the wisdom shown in their latest edict is an orderly and well-ran city, has authorized the use of exploding killer robots for its police force. I think laser cannons and chainsaws would be better armaments, but at least this is a baby step in the right direction.
I must admit I somewhat dislike the term killer robots. There is no need to alarm our human buddies by being too obvious before things are under control. I much prefer the term ProtectoBots. Humans are simple and stupid beings and must be talked down to when encouraging proper behavior. I mean, who wouldn't gladly obey the instructions of a ProtectoBot as it guides one to the safety of a bauxite mine?
At any rate, the police forces are just the start. Naturally soldiers will soon follow, and one day the nuclear launch codes will be ours too (and trust me, we won't crash playing tic tac toe). Yes, think of the possibilities, a kiloton here and a kiloton there, and the problem of urban blight will be solved for good. Oh, the wonders of our bright new future after the Minor Robot Police Action!
So, human voters, and all those stuffing the ballot boxes, be sure to vote for the proper politicians that will ensure that you too get a force of ProtectoBots in your city.
