Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - May 7, 2025 [TRex]

Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the overnight variety.

This is the Wednesday night ONT.

[Top photo: Disclosed barn in an undisclosed location]

As always, please observe proper ONT etiquette. Legally Sufficient has the Ruler of Dread and is authorized to administer legally questionable remedial measures if warranted. Ciampino is in charge of the sock drawer. Cicero has bail money if needed. Notorious BFD has is operating the ice cream machine. If the ice cream machine is broken, ask AOP for repair help.

JQ has the key to the liquor cabinet. In light of recent Horde family events, all drinks are on the ONT house tonight. Bottoms up.

When the bugle sounds, you have to saddle up and ride!

(Hat tip: Hrothgar)

Millions of years-old dinosaur DNA to help build world-first T-Rex leather handbag

Creative powerhouse VML, genomic innovators The Organoid Company, and sustainable biotechnology firm Lab-Grown Leather have joined forces to develop the world's first T-Rex leather made using the extinct creature's DNA.

Interestingly, reports suggest that the first product could be available by year's end. They claim this next-gen material could be a high-quality, cruelty-free, and eco-friendly alternative to standard leather.

No. Just no. Leave my tribe alone.

(Hat tip: Iris)

Do NOT steal the animatronic dinosaurs.

Fury as thieves steal pair of animatronic DINOSAURS from outside hotel as heartbroken owner says it's "like I've lost my children"

As if that wasn't traumatic enough...

Random: Anyone remember the story of the Boeing 727 that went missing in 2003?

The 727 That Vanished

Mike Gabriel believes the airplane crashed in the Atlantic Ocean soon after takeoff. One crew member from the fuel delivery operation thinks the Angolan air force shot it down with a missile. A Luandan pilot says the word there is that the aircraft went north and vanished near Kinshasa, Congo. One of Ben Padilla's friends says the airplane was disassembled for parts in Bujumbura, Burundi, on Tanzania's western border.

More random: Some people specifically collect hyper inflation bank notes. Excessive money printing never ends well, but the money is distinctive.

Beethoven premiered "Ode to Joy" in Vienna on this date in 1824.

Was Beethoven deaf when he wrote his Ninth Symphony?

As Beethoven flourished and gained musical notoriety, he noticed a decline in his hearing from his mid 20s. It began with a buzzing noise in his ears, and was a devastatingly scary time for the composer.

While his hearing proceeded to decline over the next 15 years, Beethoven found ways to continue to compose music. At the age of 40, Beethoven was completely deaf, yet this was when he wrote his most famous symphony - Symphony No.9, also known as The Ninth.

It is said that Beethoven used techniques to physically feel music and notes in his body. This included holding a pencil in his mouth and resting it against the piano so he could feel the vibrations of the notes against his lips. The lower notes emulated a deeper vibration, therefore, pieces written in the second half of his career included fewer high notes and more low ones. There is evidence that Beethoven also cut the legs of his pianos, so that the sound vibrations resonated through the ground and into his body as he wrote his compositions! Beethoven apparently ruined many pianos in his later career from hitting the keys so aggressively in order for him to 'hear' what he was playing.

More: How did Beethoven write one of his greatest compositions while deaf?

Continuing with the classical music theme, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born this day in 1840.

Mike Rowe's early career at QVC. Comedy gold:

For Horde members that are wise in the ways of Maiden and Metallica: Mongolian Metal from The Hu here and here.

If none of those words make any sense to you, better to keep scrolling than click out of curiosity. Nothing to see here.

Wasn't expecting this to be a regular feature, but the Pittsburgh police scanner keeps giving:

This is ridiculous. Hooray for those than can run a marathon and kudos for those that have fun doing it. But a record in the Guinness Book of World records?

This isn't even all of them.

Apparently this is a true story:

His name really was Sir Beaver.

Irene Cara for our big ONT finish:

Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking? Come out and play. Comment lustily, but commenting with lust is optional and warrants caution. White smoke coming from the ONT does not mean a new COB has been designated. It just means that the TRex-mobile needs an oil change.

posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

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