Grilling shrimp in Borneo

This video takes place in Borneo. It is shrimp season, so they travel down a river to get some shrimp and then return to their home, which is in a long building divided into apartments. They grill and pan fry the shrimp and enjoy their dinner. After eating they relax on the patio area in front of their apartment and then take a walk through the village.

If you want to get some sense of what they are talking about you'll need to turn on Captions>Auto-translate>English. Much of what you'll get will be gibberish, but you can follow along here and there.

 

Mail-centric paintings

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Email has largely replaced written mail, but back in the day it was as feature of life. Now it is little but bills and advertising flyers. These are pictures from the time when the letter was king: postmen, postal workers, mail delivery, reading letters, and mailboxes. 

Cry Me A River

Get ready for a waterlogged weekend with Von Smith backed by

Jacob Scesney, Lemar Guillary, Adam Kubota, Todd Schroeder, and Otis Hayes III. 

 

Taroko Gorge

The Taroko National Park in Taiwan is centered around a rather spectacular gorge. The marble cliffs that surround the river that created the gorge are steep and very tall. Along with marble, there are a lot of jade deposits. It is a very impressive natural wonder.

I've been to it. In fact, the hotel he shows is the place that I stayed in. Within walking distance of it is a small village with street stalls, the tall pagoda, and various other temples and monasteries. Throughout the gorge are many other temples. It is well worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood. The gorge itself is spectacular. 

  

George du Maurier's illustrations

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George du Maurier (1834-1896) was a French novelist and artist who settled in London. He was a caricaturist whose illustrations appeared primarily in the satirical Punch weekly magazine. His subjects were the upper class of the Victorian era. 

George du Maurier'

He Stopped Loving Her Today

Get ready for a deactivated weekend with Lauren Watkins.

  

Happy Tax Day!

16th Century Russian tax collectors
conducting an audit

Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.

- Calvin Coolidge -

What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue.

- Thomas Paine -

A fine is a tax for doing something wrong. A tax is a fine for doing something right.

- Anonymous -

The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.

- Albert Einstein -

We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.

- Leona Helmsley - 

 

Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower

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Henri Rivière (1864-1951) was French artist. When Japan opened up in the 1850s a wave of goods had entered Europe, including woodprints which considerably influenced European artists. They were to influence Rivière as well. 

In 1888 the construction of the Eiffel tower began. Inspired by Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji Rivière decided to do a similar portfolio featuring the tower. He started by trying to replicate the Japanese printing process, although he actually didn't know how it was done. His experimentation led to two prints, but it was a costly and time-consuming process, so he abandoned it for lithography for the rest of the series.

These images are from the Public Domain Review' post Henri Rivière’s Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower (1888–1902). There are more images at that post, as well as a discussion of his series. 

Henri Rivière

Ahora Me Da Pena

Get ready for a compunctious weekend with Son Qba.

 

End of the road

A fellow decides to investigate where the Zzyzx road goes. Because of its odd name I had heard of the road, although I had no idea where it was. It turns out that it is in the Mojave Desert. At the end of it was a mineral springs and health spa founded by Curtis Howe Springer, a mid-20th century quack who was peddling medicinal potions. It is now used as a university's research station.  

   

Happy Easter

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The eggs have been decorated, the Easter Bunny has hidden them away, if you're of the mind you've gone to Church, and an Easter meal awaits. Below, in keeping with my habit of posting artwork on Sunday, I offer a small sample of lily paintings.

Happy Easter all.

  

You Don't Own Me

Get ready for a manumitted weekend with the EastSide Band.

 

Contemplating minutia

A fallen feather

knows as much about return

as any wandering comet.

Small things keep their own sky.

― Monika Ajay Kaul ―

Nothing is small when you magnify it by eternity.

― Reed S. Hansen ―

It’s a big world but we are small.

Every little thing matters a lot.

― Bhuwan Thapaliya ―

I guess I love the small things in life.

― Daisy Lowe ―