Thanksgiving Day Parade
The early Thanksgiving Day parades often had a circus orientation, and hence the animal elements. Actual lions, tigers, and bears were trucked down city streets, traumatizing them and causing the elicitation of roars and growls that frightened observing children. Wisely, the use of living animals was abandoned after a few years, with animal balloons and floats substituted, together with some great vintage cartoonish stuff that was rather surreal.
[Image and text found here; previous Thanksgiving posts here.]
Ancient Engineering – Yellow Dragon Cave Water Mill
Wooden waterwheel in front of Huanglong Cave (Yellow Dragon Cave) is a karst cave located near the Wulingyuan District of Zhangjiajie City, Hunan, China.
“Turns out the area that these wheels were traditionally in was flooded as part of the 3 gorges dam, so this is a reconstruction for people to see what they would have looked like.” -comment on Reddit
Everything ancient in China is almost always a reproduction, including this. It’s an elaborate kinetic sculpture – the water mill doesn’t appear to mill anything. China lets you look around the cave a bit on Google Maps street view: 29°22’1.62″N 110°36’47.79″E
Mujeres en una tina caliente de hidromasaje
Una construcción maravillosa para alojar los placeres que las mujeres de San Petersburgo se daban en 1973.
[Image and caption found in here.]
I found a button hole.
The Niva button factory in Patisia, Greece, opened in the 1940s and remained in operation for decades before being abandoned.
“The photo was available on various international websites. Most of them state that it is an abandoned button factory in China. […] With a little searching and a lot of luck, we found where the ghost factory really is! It is not in the Chinese city of Longhua Shenzhen, as mentioned in most posts, nor are we talking about a set photo. The abandoned button factory is located in Patisia!”
[Top image found in here, other images and story here via here.]
Psephographic Hot Links
Dance of the Rona, Shardcore (2020) from The Sounds of Covid-19“NIH released the DNA sequence of Covid-19, so I decided to convert it into musical notes and hear what it sounds like.”
The excerpt is from the .midi file download, speed x2, and chopped down to six minutes. I like the uncut electromix version better.
[h/t Lucy Dynamite]
I Don’t Look Good Naked Any More.
Something’s in the air over Moscow.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. [h/t Innocent B.]
Colorized jitterbuggery of “Hellzapoppin.
The first Ronald McDonald was Willard Scott.
A photo of mating weevils is available at FineArtAmerica.
Bulletproof Enterprise Jeffrey Epstein Air Freshener (1 Pack)
Nestlé Australia decided its “Red Skins” candy might offend some people so they renamed it “Red Ripper,” the nickname of serial killer Andrei Chikatilo.
Map of Pornhub search terms by state (for Election Week 2020).
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.
Saturday Matinee – The Gunfighter, Freddie Bell & the Bell Boys, The Bus Boys, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
“In a small town in the old west, a lone and weary gunfighter enters a saloon.” The Gunfighter is a classic short by Eric Kissack (narrated by Nick Offerman). NSFK content, language.
[h/t Andy D.]
Freddie Bell & the Bell Boys “Giddy Up A Ding Dong” (1956) as performed in Rock Around The Clock, (a showcase movie featuring DJ Alan Freed). The song was written in 1953 by Freddie Bell and his friend Peppino “Pep” Lattanzi.
The Bell Boys played covers of black R&B artists, including Big Mama Thornton’s Hound Dog. Elvis Presley heard Bell’s version and decided to record it in 1955. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band covered Giddy Up A Ding Dong (with matching choreography) in 1973.
The Bus Boys had a great retro sound and were featured on SNL and in the 1982 movie 48 Hours.
New Orleans’ famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band was founded by Pennsylvanian Allan Jaffe in the early 1960s as a dixieland revival group, and that song wasn’t at all what I expected.
Have a great weekend, folks. Be home by 9:59pm so the ‘rona don’t gitcha, or stay out to 10:01pm and you’ll earn some serious ‘vid-kickin’ braggin’ rights.
The .Gif Friday Post No. 657 – Morphing
There’s a huge bug in the tent.
A Slight Chance of Showers with Busty Winds
[Found here.]
Tacky Raccoons 