INTERESTING STUFF – 31 August 2019
Saturday, 31 August 2019
ONE OF IRELAND'S FEW REMAINNG MATCHMAKERS
Willy Daly, the Youtube page tells us, is a professional matchmaker in County Clare, Ireland. He's been doing it for more than 50 years, as his father and grandfather did before him.
Timing is everything, he says. And a little drinking at the local pub can’t hurt.
THE STORY BEHIND A WORLD-FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPH
I am willing to bet there is not a TGB reader among us who has not seen the famous Dorothea Lange 1936 photograph titled Migrant Mother that came to symbolize the Great Depression.
Find out more that you probably don't know about the photograph, its subject and her children in this video. (Sent by Jim Stone)
IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT CROSSWORD PUZZLE CLUE
For 40 years I did The New York Times crosswords puzzle on the subway every morning on my way to work. In all those years, I never tried to create one. Here's a video from The New Yorker about how clues for crosswords are developed.
TRUMP FATIGUE
In last Wednesday's New York Times, columnist Frank Bruni wrote about Trump fatigue. It began like this:
”I woke up Saturday, made my coffee, shuffled to my computer, started to glance at the news and suddenly had to stop. I couldn’t go on,” wrote Bruni.
“Trump had yet again said something untrue, once more suggested something absurd, contradicted himself, deified himself, claimed martyrdom, blamed Barack Obama, made his billionth threat and hurled his trillionth insult.”
Further, writes Bruni:
”Trump’s instinct and strategy are to conquer by overwhelming. But there’s a difference between wearing people down and wearing them out. He’s like the last seasons of House of Cards — a riveting spectacle devolved into a repellent burlesque, so unrestrained in its appetites that it devoured itself.”
I'm with Bruni in regard to both Trump and House of Cards. Read the whole column here – it's a good catharsis (unless you turn on cable news again).
TINKERING WITH INTENT
TGB Reader Erika Brekke send this video about Blair Somerville who lives in the remote town of Papatowai, on the South Island of New Zealand, the Youtube page tells us. He uses found materials and other curious objects which he re-purposes into magical moving artworks.
Take a look:
COWS JUMPING OVER ROAD MARKINGS
Here's a Twitter gif of cows who think painted road markings are fences of some kind. Such a silly giggle.
Cows jumping over the road markings! pic.twitter.com/QH7we67FCD
— Nial Finegan (@NialFinegan) August 25, 2019
ALEX TREBEK RETURNS TO JEOPARDY!
As long as we're doing Twitter pictures, here's a Twitter video of Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek returning to work after a summer of chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer.
Alex is back in action! Join him on September 9 for the premiere of Season 36. pic.twitter.com/Vdv9t9vxDE
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) August 29, 2019
The program resumes broadcasting on 9 September.
QUOTATION WITHOUT COMMENTARY
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, had this to say in his new book, Call Sign Chaos, which he wrote with Bing West and will be published next week:
“If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you...”
More at The New York Times.
THE POWER OF WORDS
In the nearly 10 years it has been online, this video has garnered about 28 million views. I posted it way back when. It's still good and it feels like it goes with the Mattis quotation above.
Interesting Stuff is a weekly listing of short takes and links to web items that have caught my attention; some related to aging and some not, some useful and others just for fun.
You are all encouraged to submit items for inclusion. Just click “Contact” at the top of any Time Goes By page to send them. I'm sorry that I won't have time to acknowledge receipt and there is no guarantee of publication. But when I do
include them, you will be credited and I will link to your blog.
Good stuff, Maynard ... er, Ronni. Always love Saturday. Bruni certainly speaks for me. The cows? Go figure. I'll call it caution, not stupidity. And Trabek is 79. Hard to believe.
Have a pleasant, comfortable weekend, Ronni!
Posted by: Susan R | Saturday, 31 August 2019 at 09:04 AM
Absolutely fascinating video on the Migrant Mother — who she was and what she represented, and why. While the photograph is a documentary masterpiece the backstory reminds us that photos do lie... cropping, photoshopping, or contextualizing; viewer biases; and “thought” leaders and influencers (e.g., media, religion, school systems and other bureaucracies, politicians, corporate tycoons).
Posted by: Tamar | Saturday, 31 August 2019 at 09:32 AM
Thank you so much! Especially, for me, the migrant mother, and the tinkerer..........I want to go and play in his gallery with all the magical mechanisms!
Posted by: Salinda Dahl | Saturday, 31 August 2019 at 02:08 PM
Love the power of words, always have.
Posted by: Bonnie Blayney | Saturday, 31 August 2019 at 02:16 PM
Just found your blog, thanks to Lisa at The Blog Posts of Privilege. So happy to discover you, rather late in the game, but in time. :)
Ann in Missouri
Posted by: Ann in Missouri | Saturday, 31 August 2019 at 06:20 PM