Making bowling balls

This is a Korean company that makes Swag brand bowling balls. I know nothing about bowling and was surprised by how varied the core of the balls were. Some illumination from the comments to the video:

This brings back a lot of memories as in the early 90’s  I learned to drill bowling balls and had my own pro shop, eventually drilled for highly talented tournament bowlers.   I drilled balls for almost 20 years. This particular ball that they are manufacturing is a high-end ball with a symmetrical or non-symmetrical weight block which allows the driller to position that block in a location That will handle different oil conditions for the bowler plus allowing them to hook or not hook the ball more or less. If you notice on the label of the box each ball at the end of the process is weighed in a way that tells the driller where the center of gravity is, where and how the weight block sits, how much top weight is Positioned in various places on the ball and allows for more flexibility in the drilling process. The simple “ house balls“ that bowling alleys carry for every day bowlers to use off the rack have a pancake weight block or no weight block at all and the process is 90% straightforward and easier as it’s just a simple solid pour and a clean up label and shine.    Nice video as it brings back many memories of my pro shop in Alaska. - rickalford

  

Samples of Medieval art

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The Medieval period spanned nearly 1,000 years, from 476 A.D. to the mid-15th century. The Medieval art style was formed by a blend of Roman and northern European barbarian art. It was later to get an infusion of oriental influences via Byzantium. Although some of it was secular, it was primarily religious in nature.  

It did not strive for realism. Rather, since European peasants were illiterate, it was used to illustrate common stories and the lessons they conveyed. Many of their artistic conventions look odd to modern eyes. There is no perspective and so the images look flat. The figures are also elongated and their proportions can be askew. 

A lot of the images are allegorical and the symbols they use, which would have been well understood by their viewers, are baffling to us, which gives them a surreal feeling.  

Alone Again (Naturally)

Get ready for a sequestered weekend with The Moon Loungers. 

 

Walking through a terraced rice paddy

Terraced farming lends itself to some amazing photos. They're usually taken from a distance so you can see the full hillsides covered with terraces. This video is a walk through some Indonesian paddies. It gives a good look at them up close and gives an idea of the engineering and labor needed to build them, much less raise the crops. 

 

Tropical beaches

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I figure many of my regular readers are from northern climes where you are currently freezing to death and covered in snow. For that reason, I decided to give you a picture post full of tropical beaches that you could enjoy between bouts of snow shoveling, scrapping ice off your car's windshield, and being stupid enough to sit on top of a frozen lake trying to fish.

Last Kiss

Get ready for a terminal weekend with the Marty Ray Project.

 

Railroad crossings

We've all sat at railroad crossings watching a train go by. I'm always struck by the fact that the graffiti artists are generally careful to avoid painting over logos, reporting marks, and other codes on the cars. It is a dance between the railroad companies and the graffiti painters. One thing I don't think about is how the crossing signals work, I just take them for granted. The above video discusses that, and it is interesting what they have to do to get the whole process to work properly.  

 

Paintings by Waldemar Fink

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Waldemar Theophil Fink was an early 20th century Swiss artist. He started as a commercial decorative painter. He then studied art in Munich and moved onto becoming a landscape painter. His works featured the Swiss Alps. He painted in the impressionist style, and so his palette is much brighter and more vibrant than you usually see in landscape paintings of mountains.

Waldemar Fink

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Get ready for a supplicating weekend with New Buffalo.

 

Cooking a block of soup

On a cold day in Azerbaijan a fellow prepares a meal. In the title for the post I joked that it was a block of soup, it is actually a dish known as an aspic or a meat jelly. It is made by, after cooking the ingredients, placing them in a mold and pouring the broth over them which, when cooled, becomes gelatinous.  

In the video it comes out looking good. However, as I've mention before, my grandmother was Slovakian and she would make this from time to time and I found it to be ghastly, although some people do like it.    

 

Monorails in art

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Because they are associated with sleekness and modernism, Monorails have a cachet in certain circles. Originally presented as a competitor to traditional rail, their limitations have reduced them to competing, none too successfully, against buses and light rail in urban areas. 

While a lot of monorail art is representational, a lot of earlier monorail art leans into the futurism monorails offered. The futuristic cities are always entertaining.

I have posted about monorails before. The most recent being Boynton’s Bicycle Railroad, about an early attempt to run a monorail, and earlier about the Shonan Monorail, which is a small commuter monorail in Japan. 

A Rita

Get ready for a jilted weekend with the Armengou & Macià Duo.

 

Le mot juste

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We relied primarily on these USTR [United States Trade Representative] officials in the Office of China, Affairs, the Office of Innovation and Intellectual Property, the Interagency Center on Trade Implementation, Monitoring, and Enforcement, and the Office of the General Counsel, and their work was invaluable in ensuring that there were no gaps between the English text and the Chinese text.

Although there were extensive battles over the translations of various terms, the most difficult fight was over whether the term "ying" or "jiang" should be used as the Chinese translation for "shall" in numerous instances throughout the agreement. Our Chinese-language experts at USTR insisted that "ying" was the appropriate Chinese term to use for "shall" because it represented an obligation, whereas "jiang" represented the future tense relating to something a party merely planned to do in the future. However, the Chinese side vehemently disagreed, arguing that the use of "ying" was inappropriate and even insulting. We even decided to consult outside Chinese language experts on this issue, including one who had worked on important agreements with China over several decades while serving with the US embassy in Beijing. They all confirmed that if we wanted the term to convey obligation, we should continue to insist on using "ying." That is exactly what we did. After several conference calls between Ambassador Gerrish and Vice Minister Liao on this issue, the Chinese finally relented and agreed to use "ying." As we went through this "ying versus jiang" discussion internally at USTR, I asked my staff to bring me the famous cyber-intrusion agreement that President Obama had made with President Xi. I wanted to see which Chinese word that agreement had used. After some delay and checking around the government, my staff discovered that neither word had been used in Obama's agreement. That was because the agreement had never been written down. There had not even been a joint press release agreed to. This vaunted "agreement" was nothing but a US press release. I realized again why the Chinese side was so surprised by our approach. They were used to dealing with Americans who were more interested in a show than actual enforceable agreements.

- Robert Lighthizer, No Trade is Free: Changing Course, Taking on China, and Helping America’s Workers. New York, NY: Broadside Books, 2023. (via Language Log)

Happy New Year

Cocktail Party by Joe Vandello

Tonight, wherever you are, when the clock strikes midnight, you'll be able to put 2023 to rest and move on to 2024. While in a macro sense, 2023 wasn't a particularly good year, hopefully for you it was fine. And hopefully 2024 will treat you even better.

If you're at a party tonight enjoy yourself and try to avoid getting falling-down drunk in the process. Tomorrow morning, if you must, take whatever hang-over cure you fancy. Then write your New Year resolutions knowing full well that by half-time of the afternoon bowl game you'll already have broken most of them.

At any rate, have a happy New Year's Eve and New Year Day all.

 

My Blue Heaven

Get ready for a cocooned weekend with Lucy Yeghiazaryan.

 

Planning your New Year's Eve party

Among its many vital functions, Flares strives to be an educational resource. So, with New Year's Eve almost upon us, I decided to provide information on how to plan the perfect New Year's celebration. The video I selected is a bit old, so you'll have to make a few minor adjustments. For example, you shouldn't expect your guests, particularly if they are younger, to be wearing modest dresses and suits with ties. Instead, they'll likely be wandering around with phones up to their faces filming content for TikTok or Instagram. Humor them.

Should the alcohol percentage of your planned refreshments be high enough you can probably skip the hat decorating game. Instead, just hand out lampshades and let your guests dance around with them on their heads in wild abandon. That will also give your younger guests some good social media content.

Finally, when you gather around the piano for a sing-along, the lyrics to Blue-Tailed Fly (Jimmy Crack Corn) may elude them. I've included the Yodeling Slim Clark version of it below. You can transcribe the lyrics to it and hand them out to the party goers to assist their singing.

Remember, plan well and you'll have a successful New Year's Eve party!   

Merry Christmas

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This Lord of natures today was transformed contrary to His nature; it is not too difficult for us to also overthrow our evil will. - Ephrem the Syrian 

  

Santa on his rounds

Santa's Big Night by R.j. Mcdonald
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One Christmas Eve in my childhood, my dad asked if I wanted to leave alcohol out for Santa. I agreed but said to only leave a little as I was afraid I'd wake up on Christmas morning and see Santa drunkenly circling over our house in his sleigh. ― Stewart Stafford

  

Christmas TGIF

This TGIF music post will be a bit different. By this time of the year we've heard all the Christmas songs about a million times. So, for a change I bring some Japanese Christmas music. 

The Japanese do celebrate Christmas, but because they are a Buddhist and Shinto, they do it differently. The Christian elements are largely absent while secular elements remain: Santa Claus, Christmas trees, lights, decorations, snowmen, and so forth. The Japanese have also added a few of their own touches: A bucket of KFC chicken for the Christmas meal and Christmas cake being the most notable.

While Christmas is celebrated over several weeks and is a time to spend with your family and friends, Christmas Eve has morphed into a couple's holiday, more akin to Valentines Day than anything. Hence the above Japanese Christmas song, where they've changed 'jingle bells' into 'singles hell' as they bewail their dateless quandary. 

A lot of their Christmas songs are sappy and sentimental, but of course, Japan being Japan, some of it is quite frantic and insane. Immediately below is my favorite. It starts out rather energetically and gets more ridiculous as it proceeds. Following that we have a boy band doing a schmaltzy Christmas love song, but at least the video is nicely done. Then we have a girl group singing about a Funky Glitter Christmas, whatever that is. 

The final video is A Winter Fairy is Melting a Snowman. I have no idea why the fairy is doing that, but it is, However, be forewarned -- the song has an ear worm that, if it burrows its way into your noggin, may cause some temporary brain damage. 

Anyway -- Merry Christmas to all my regulars, visitors and faithful spam bots.

Making glass Christmas ornaments

This factory is Krebs Glas Lauscha. They specialize in glass Christmas ornaments. If you follow their link you can see their offerings.