The tornado in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The depiction of the tornado in the 1939 film was intense and remarkably well-executed, even by modern standards.  I found a relevant Instagram post (which I don't know how to embed) that describes the basic technology used.  

The tornado isalso discussed at some length in an article at the Oz Museum.  English majors and other wordsmiths will appreciate this aspect:

“Cyclone” is the word L. Frank Baum chose to describe the Kansas storm in his story, although he clearly meant “tornado.” Shortly after THE WIZARD OF OZ book first appeared in 1900, Professor Willis L. Moore, then Chief of the United States Weather Bureau, wrote Baum’s publishers to urge them to correct the inaccurate usage. He received a response from Frank K. Reilly of The George M. Hill Company, offering that the change would be made in the next edition.  This, however, was never done, and any who purchase a copy of THE WIZARD OF OZ reprinting Baum’s original language will find that “cyclone” remains, again and again – as colloquial and as factually incorrect as ever. (MGM got around the issue in the movie by having Bert Lahr exclaim, in idiomatic fright, “It’s a twister! It’s a twister!” Later on, however, the screenwriters were loyal to Baum, and Judy Garland’s Dorothy explains to Toto, “We must be up inside the cyclone!”)

The article goes on to discuss the various static artistic depictions of the tornado in different publications of The Wizard of Oz, including this one -

- in which the tornado is still present in Munchkinland.  The Oz Museum article is nicely illustrated, but for explication of the movie technique, see the Instagram account.

Manes

This image of Icelandic horses at play in Germany was one of the Photos of the Week at The Atlantic.  It got me wondering whether horses' manes provided evolutionary advantages that might have led to selection pressures affecting their size.  I'm not a "horse person," so there is a fuckton of stuff I didn't know, nicely summarized at the relevant Wikipedia page. 

"Radiator thing on a basement pipe"

A curiosity posted in the whatisthisthing subreddit by someone who saw it while visiting an open house.  Informed discussion thread at the link indicates that this is in fact a "radiator thing" (properly termed "hydronic heater") in a "fin tube" style, and similar in intended function to a baseboard heater.

I agree with this comment that it looks like an amateur hack:

That's not going to do much to heat the space because a slant fin radiator is meant to move air by convection. The normal installation is down low near the floor, not up high. Also usually below a window. They work by heating the cool air that's coming off the window and falling down on them.

And I find it curious that traversing the same room is what appears to be a hot water pipe wrapped to prevent heat escaping into the basement.

Re the shooting incident yesterday...

"Meghan McCain bleated out, “I don’t want to hear one more fucking criticism of Trump’s new ballroom at the White House,” which — briefly — seemed likely to be the most vacuous comment of the evening. Even by Meghan’s increasingly wooly standards, using the shooting at the DC Hilton as a pretext for building the $400 million ballroom seemed like a non-sequitur.

But it was quickly followed by what I am sure was a completely spontaneous and not at all coordinated flood of almost identical comments from the MAGA toady gallery, which didn’t feel the need to change the wording or the message.

One does not have to be a member of the august punditocracy to note that MAGA reacted this way because MAGA was told to react this way..."

Text and image excerpted from the Charles Sykes substack To the Contrary.  I'll append Trump's own tweet at 05:46 this morning about his "Militarily Top Secret Ballroom" -

- which has been demanded by every President for the last 150 years.  For fox ache.

Fake invitation phishing scam

The invitation was addressed from a high school classmate and sent to me personally and not to a group.  Note that it requires not just a reply, but the downloading and installation of a program in order to validate the invite.

A dangerous scam, which was recently featured in a NYT article about fake invitations:

Phishing scams involve “two distinct paths,” Ms. Tobac added. In one, the recipient is served a link that turns out to be dead, or so it seems. A click activates malware that runs silently as it gleans passwords and other bits of personal information. In all likelihood, this is what happened when Mr. Lantigua clicked on the ersatz invitation link.

Another scam offers a working link. Potential victims who click on it are asked to provide a password. Those who take that next step are a boon to hackers.

“They have complete control of your email and, in turn, your entire digital life,” Ms. Tobac said. “They can reset your password for your dog’s Instagram account. They can take over your bank account. Change your health insurance.”

Me at age 4 months

Photo taken in the front yard of our post-wartime (1946) government housing in Arlington, Virginia.  The address was 3422 A South Utah, which I see on Google maps is still a housing complex (our unit was under the red dot).

I'm held by my mom, who had to retire from her career as an American Airlines stewardess when she became pregnant with me.  Dad was a Navy lieutenant stationed stateside.  Mom's sister Ona, on the right, was in the WAVES.   

Posted to share with family and as a relief from doomscrolling.

Washington D.C. turning blue

I found this on Facebook, but also found confirmation (without a photo) at Northern Virginia magazine.  Since the image was provided by Trump, it could be altered.  The color is "American flag blue. That’s the color of the industrial-grade pool topping that is going to applied to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as part of renovations on the century-old monument."  Here's how the reflecting pool used to look:

In any case, the discussion thread at the source immediately focused on how this foreshadows the "blue wave" coming in the mid-terms.

My first hospital bill

When I was two years old I fell ill while my family was visiting relatives in the small town of Ada, MN (west of Leech Lake and Itasca, near the ND border). I was hospitalized for four days. Above is the complete hospital bill (I've photoshopped out my mom's name, but the rest is undoctored). How things have changed, not just re pricing, but in terms of the complexity of billing.....

Reposted from 2007, because the more I think about this, the staggering change is in the complexity of billing.  

Addendum:  I may have posted this one before as well.  It's from 13 years later (1961) for orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic to correct some of my polio deformities:

Surgeons fees $375.  Three xrays $54.  Seven blood tests $29.  Grand total $648.  Balance due after Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance: $75.   How things have changed...

Patches in plywood - Dutchmen or biscuits?

Image edited for size, color, brightness, and contrast from a garish photo at the whatisgthisthing subreddit.  The discussion thread is reasonably focused and includes an explanation of termionology:

"They’re called Dutchmen, they’re shaped like footballs to cover long knots or splits.... That’s not a Dutchman. Dutchmen are also called bow ties because that’s what they are shaped like.  This is a biscuit.... No. It’s a Dutchman. A Dutchman can be any shape and is used to hide blemishes. A bow tie is a Dutchman key and is used either for decoration or to stop cracking. This may be the same shape as a biscuit but it’s not a biscuit because of how it’s used. Biscuits are for joining wood... Can confirm, I work maintenance at a fulfillment center and if a conveyor belt suffers damage one of the options is to cut out the damaged section across its entire width and then lace in a length of new belt to fill the gap.  We commonly do 8 ft Dutchmans to allow the entirely of the patch to be inside the pulleys of the main drive and still have both lacing visible and accessible, should the lacing fail then the Dutchman isn't all wadded up in the drive..."

And as to why one would cut knots our of plywood: 

"Knots in wood are much more dense than the stringy, normal wood. When they make plywood, they layer thin strips (plys) of wood together and glue them to one another like a wood-and-glue sandwich. The problem arises when there is a dense, brittle knot on either of the two exposed plys on the plywood sheet. Shaving a slice of a dense knot gives you a super brittle portion that often ends up crumbling out in crumbs.

Think of it like having a sheet of paper with a small section of equally as thin glass embedded into the paper. You can bend the paper portion, cut the paper portion easily with scissors, but the little glass portion has different properties. It's more dense, but you can't bend it or stress it or else it will shatter."

Hat tips to the commenters.  More at the link.  I know this is TMI, but I'm desperately trying to keep my mind off that clusterfuck of the U.S./Israel/Iran war ruining the world economy.

Addendum:  As I continued on this topic, I found an entire Wikipedia page on Dutchmen.  Evidently the term is used regarding replacement/repair material in a wide array of otherwise unrelated professions: woodworking, masonry, shipbuilding, railroading, theater, boilermaking.  The etymology and connection to the Netherlands remains unexplained in what I've read (maybe it's an allusion to putting a finger in a leaking dike).

A longwatch about cybersecurity

A link to this video was sent to me this morning by a reader in response to my post yesterday about an online extortion attempt.  I've only watched part of it so far, but I think it's worth reposting, especially in light of recent information regarding Anthropic and its Mythos AI model.

Over-the-top online extortion

Here's the text of an email I found today in my spam folder:

Call was lost, as usual.

Ok. I don't have much time, so let's get straight to the point.

I want to make you an offer that you can refuse, but only once.

Here's what I have:

Your complete personal information: full name, date of birth, home address.

Your social security number and driver's license details.

All your email account login credentials, including this account.

Other login details and your private messages.

A multitude of files found on your devices.

Access to your bank accounts.

The details of your credit cards: number, expiry date, and cvv.

I have compiled this entire package into a single folder. I can and intend to do two things with it. It is up to you to decide which one:

I will send this entire package to darknet markets, where other criminals will buy it.

It is unknown how they will use this information. They may purchase something illegal in your name, or they may not, but you will definitely not like it.

Or you can buy it from me for a small fee of 600 usd.

Changing the entire package of documents and data is very expensive, very time-consuming, and unsafe.

I already know that you have just read this text. Do not try to ignore this.

I only accept payment in bitcoins at the exchange rate at the time of transfer.

Transfer money here: [redacted for posting]

After payment, I will delete the folder containing your data, and you can continue living as before or, if you don't trust me, take your time changing all your data. It's more profitable for me if you pay me. It's easier and better for everyone.

This is a unique offer. Take advantage of it. I will wait for 1 day.

The "from" address was one of my own email addresses.

The south celestial pole

This was the Astronomy Photo of the Day, showing a time-lapse image of the sky as seen in the Southern Hemisphere, looking toward the south celestial pole.  Discussion at the link.

Very interesting

Copied from Facebook.  I hope I or a reader can find reliable documentation online.

Just realized it gives new meaning to the old phrase "you can't step into the same river twice" previously meaning the river changes.  But now it also means "the you changes..."

1987 cartoon. And the "Strait of Schrödinger."

Credit Chris Clarke for finding this old Gary Larsen premonitory cartoon and posting it on Facebook.

Addendum:  I can't resist adding this "dad joke" I also found on Facebook.

I'll see myself out...

A Brief History of Kinetic Sculpture Racing

Found by reader smittypap, who posted the link in a comment at my previous post about art cars.

Another example of people having fun.  No war posts today.