Sunday Overnight Open Thread - May 17, 2026 [Doof]

From Nature Pictures

Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Sunday night ONT. You made a great choice for how to end your weekend. Open thread, as always. Fashion and music, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?

Bringing back The Hut

Pizza Hut with the plastic red cups and a jukebox -- take me there NOW!

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Wes Moore is asshoe

Wes Moore’s Afghanistan story starts to unravel

In a commencement speech at Valley Forge Military Academy on May 9, Gov. Wes Moore told graduates the academy had taught them “something that I wish more people in this society understood — that we will not lie, cheat, nor steal, nor tolerate those that do.”

For two decades, Moore’s own accounts of his Army service and Afghanistan deployment have tested whether he lives by that standard.

In an April 2014 interview with the USO’s magazine”On Patrol,” Moore was asked about his duties in Afghanistan. “I was an infantry officer, military police officer and then became special ops when I joined the 82nd Airborne Division,” Moore said.

Based on Army records, his answer was not true.

Those records show Moore was not an infantry officer, was not qualified in any special operations field and did not deploy to Afghanistan to perform either role.

Check out the whole thing. Very detailed article.

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Dino -- you here tonight? Maybe you can answer this question?

Why did Tyrannosaurus rex have such short arms?

One T. rex mystery has to do with this giant predator’s relatively tiny arms. Why would it have arms so short that it couldn’t even reach its own mouth? How did it use them?

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Some scientists have recently hypothesized that T. rex‘s short arms were an adaptation to competition with other carnivores. If multiple predators were feeding on a carcass, one could get hurt by accidental bites or even intentional warning bites for getting too close. Shorter arms would be less likely to get chomped. Similar things occur today with territorial carnivores, like Komodo dragons.

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Another possibility is that the arms served little or no purpose at all, so over time, they became vestigial. That’s the scientific term for body parts that don’t have clear purposes anymore, but are still passed down through evolution.

On the subject of "maybe there's no reason" - here's a classic from Bill Engvall

'Ette Couture (Courtesy of Piper)

It's that time of the week - when we turn the ONT over to our good friend Piper for a bit. Here's this week's fashion pr0n.

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The Sunny (and Slightly Scandalous) Rise of the Sundress

Long before morons debated what counts as a “sundress,” the idea was simple: something light, sleeveless, and waiting to welcome the gloriously warm weather. The term “sundress” popped up in the early 1940s, but the garment we know today was born from wartime rationing and postwar relief. Women were done with restrictive corsets and heavy fabrics. They wanted clothes that breathed and looked cute doing it.

The real birth happened mid-1940s, thanks to American sportswear pioneers. Claire McCardell (often called the mother of American sportswear) and Carolyn Schnurer designed easy, unfussy dresses with soft silhouettes, lightweight cotton, racerback straps, and room to actually move. No restrictive foundations, no Paris-level drama, just practical, flattering pieces for active postwar women.

Claire McCardell in one of her signature easy pieces, and period patterns showing the breezy direction fashion was heading.

These were the anti-New Look dresses. Dior’s structured extravagance was for the runways; McCardell and Schnurer were dressing real American women who wanted to hop in a convertible or chase kids at the beach.

By the 1950s, the sundress was everywhere. Lightweight cottons, ginghams, and playful prints ruled the day. Women wore them to picnics, beach days, and backyard barbecues. They were flattering on most figures, easy to sew at home, and perfect for the explosion of leisure time and family travel.

1950s real-life and catalog sundresses

Then came the 1960s and the queen of the sundress, Lilly Pulitzer. The story is pure gold: A Palm Beach socialite running a juice stand in the 1960s, she asked her dressmaker for a shift dress that would hide the inevitable orange and pink stains. The result? Bright, bold, sleeveless wonders in wild florals and patterns. Jackie Kennedy (a friend) helped popularize them, and suddenly every woman wanted that carefree, colorful vibe. Lilly’s dresses were double-lined so you could skip underwear. Scandalous! And liberating.

Lilly Pulitzer and the bold, joyful prints that defined 1960s resort wear.

By the late 1960s, the sundress had cemented itself as the ultimate summer uniform: short A-lines, wild florals, worn with sandals, cat-eye sunglasses, and smiles. It captured postwar optimism—more freedom, more fun, and clothes that finally worked with women instead of against them.
The sundress is still winning today. You will find them in breezy linen and cotton, in both minimalist neutrals and bold patterns. The versatility make them work for everything from beach days to city sightseeing to backyard barbecues

Current Lilly Pulitzer and Farm Rio

The sundress didn’t chase trends; it survived them. From wartime necessity to Palm Beach icon, it remains one of the smartest, most packable, and most flattering pieces in any vacation wardrobe. It is timeless and cheerful after all these decades.

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Thanks, Piper!

Don't forget to check out Piper's X page.

On the subject of sundresses

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As for guys' fashion, this guy is levels above the rest of us

DJ Doof - Inspired by the Horde Edition

Yup - covered them all!

H/T - Hour of the Wolf

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posted by Open Blogger at 10:10 PM

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