Saturday Overnight Open Thread (2/27/21)

There must be a shit load of people in Washington D.C. playing marbles.
(H/T Legally Sufficient)

“The hobos who work and wander, the tramps who dream and wander, and the bums who drink and wander” – The Hobo: Sociology of a Homeless Man, Chicago, IL

Hobo Symbols From The Great Depression : The Secret Language Of America’s Itinerant Workers
60 hobo signs, used in the Great Depression by transient working class men and women who traveled by train, looking for jobs and sustenance

Couples Reveal How Love and Sex Has Changed During the Decades They've Spent Together

VICE: You’ve been married for 76 years. What was flirting like when you met?
Lambert: I fell in love with her immediately, I couldn’t control it. I was close friends with her brothers, so we’d see each other often. When I went to their house I would sit in one corner [of the room] and she in the other. That’s how we courted each other. And one day, I made the first move.
Clémence: When we got married we didn’t have a party or anything. It was during the war and there was a 6PM curfew. We wouldn’t have been able to do much anyway.

How has your love evolved over the years?
Lambert: When we were younger I would come home every evening from work at midnight and leave again at 7AM. We had five children to feed. Time in bed was just about all we shared.
Clémence: We didn't see each other that often. But now we’re older, we can enjoy our time together more. It’s allowed us to rediscover ourselves. When we got married, we never imagined we would stay together for so many years. In fact, 76 years is very short. People congratulate us on it, but it’s natural for us. Since we got married, we have never been apart, so we can't imagine ever separating.

A company town mixed with Big Brother and you get: Woven City.

Toyota Motor Corporation started construction this week on a 175-acre smart city at the base of Japan's Mount Fuji, about 62 miles from Tokyo, the company announced Tuesday.

The city, which Toyota has dubbed the "Woven City," is expected to function as a testing ground for technologies like robotics, smart homes, and artificial intelligence. A starting population of about 360 inventors, senior citizens, and families with young children will test and develop these technologies.

These residents, who are expected to move into the Woven City within five years, will live in smart homes with in-home robotics systems to assist with daily living and sensor-based artificial intelligence to monitor health and take care of other basic needs, according to the company.

So when you see "Organic" on the label, is it really safe? In this instance. No.

Annie’s Homegrown, largely known for its "organic" macaroni and cheese line, is taking steps to remove a potentially harmful class of chemicals, called ortho-phthalates, from its products and packaging materials.

These chemicals make plastic flexible, and phthalates have already been banned in many kids' toys over health concerns. Some scientists say the chemicals harm fertility, health of babies, disrupt hormones key for development and damage genetic material in sperm. One 2016 study in particular tied exposure to the chemicals to "diminished sperm count and deteriorated sperm quality, which may lead to infertility."

It turns out that cockfighting is a dangerous activity, for the human.

A rooster fitted with a knife for a cockfight turned on his owner and killed him while trying to escape, reports the Express News Service in Hyderabad.

Police said the animal was being readied to take part in a fight when it tried to escape. Its owner attempted to catch it but was struck by the 7cm-long (three inch) knife on the animal's leg during the struggle. Those involved in the event face charges of manslaughter, illegal betting and hosting a cockfight

Police said the animal was being readied to take part in a fight when it tried to escape. Its owner attempted to catch it but was struck by the 7cm-long (three inch) knife on the animal's leg during the struggle. Those involved in the event face charges of manslaughter, illegal betting and hosting a cockfight

I enjoy reading. I have never thought of it this way: How Reading Is Like Love: Italo Calvino on the Ecstasy of Surrendering to Other Dimensions of Experience

“Lovers’ reading of each other’s bodies… differs from the reading of written pages in that it is not linear… What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space.”

This a H/T from Weasel, more of an ONT song than a Pet Thread song.

Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Looking for adventure
In whatever comes our way
Genius Award Winner.

FEBRUARY 22--In what may be the worst explanation for driving 50 mph over the posted limit, a 21-year-old motorist told cops that he was speeding on a Florida highway because he was “listening to a song named Ciento Veinte, which means 120, so I was driving 120.”

Cops allege that Richard Lee Ortecho, 21, was spotted weaving in and out of traffic Saturday evening on Interstate 95 near Vero Beach. Ortecho, driving a Volkswagen, was clocked at “speeds ranging between 120 mph and 127 mph” in a 70 mph zone.

Ortecho barely missed striking other vehicles, according to an arrest affidavit, and did not immediately stop when a cop car with its lights flashing gave chase.

When Ortecho finally pulled over, he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know driving reckless was illegal,” cops report. Asked why he was driving in excess of 120 mph, Ortecho offered an odd answer.

Ortecho said he was driving while listening to the song “A Ciento Veinte,” a cut on an EP released last year by the rapper Track Insano. Ortecho noted that, “ciento veinte means 120, so I was driving 120.”

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by No Explanation Necessary*:

Notice: Posted with someone's permission. We aren't sure who. No one is around tonight.

posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:54 PM

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