Thursday, April 1! | The Bleat. 10/29/13, 9:28 AM ABOUT Search New Links Friday, April 2 RECENT COMMENTS polymathamy on 06.14.12 Bleat THURSDAY, APRIL 1! Amanda from Michigan on Boo. Hiss on APRIL 1, 2010 · 43 COMMENTS · in DOMESTIC LIFE, THE THIRTIES Julie on Testing the new RSS feed idea shesnailie on Autobots and Bruckner Walked around downtown on Wednesday, and almost worked up a small Wagner von Drupen- Sachs on Autobots and sweat. Which makes this amusing: Bruckner 140 OR SO Error: Twitter did not respond. Please wait a few minutes and refresh this page. CLICK – AND SAVE! A BOOK I RECOMMEND http://lileks.com/bleat/?p=6423 Page 1 of 13 Thursday, April 1! | The Bleat. 10/29/13, 9:28 AM Child 44 Tom Rob Smith Best Price $0.29 or Buy New Privacy Information THE PAST AT YOUR FINGERTIPS OCTOBER 2013 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 « Jul THE DISTANT PAST July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 It may be that there’s still ice lurking up there, up in the crevices of the January 2013 courthouse tower. A single hard shard compressed since December, waiting to drop down with ninja skill and pierce the skull of a passerby – then melt! December 2012 Leaving no evidence! I think that was an Alfred Hitchcock episode. Or, it’s November 2012 someone’s job to take the sign away, and he hasn’t gotten the order yet, October 2012 because the person in charge of telling him to take the sign away hasn’t September 2012 gotten around to asking building maintenance if it’s safe to stop warning people about falling ice. You know, what with it being seventy degrees this August 2012 week. So the sign stays, because even though there’s someone who works in July 2012 the building who could pick it up and bring it in, there’s no reason for him to June 2012 do it. May 2012 Imagine the trouble a man could get into if he took that sign back inside April 2012 without approval. November 2011 I am unusually sensitive to the subject, because there’s a traffic warning October 2011 signal outside my house, if that’s the term. No, that’s the right term; a September 2011 http://lileks.com/bleat/?p=6423 Page 2 of 13 Thursday, April 1! | The Bleat. 10/29/13, 9:28 AM dwelling is a house. And a traffic warning signal is one of those folding August 2011 orange things with a flashing light on top, placed over a particularly July 2011 egregious pothole or a dead body or some other road obstruction. It’s been June 2011 sitting in the gutter since September, and I have no idea what it’s supposed to warn us about. If I put it in the middle of the street and spray-painted an May 2011 orange circle on the ground and added some words that suggested utility April 2011 work – BURIED COPTIC CATACOMBS – it would cause great confusion to the March 2011 city workers: we don’t have any work orders on this. Well, catacombs, that’s February 2011 the Archeology Department’s problem. January 2011 It has company: last year we requested, and received, a big orange piece of December 2010 wood with an orange metal bracket to block off a street for a party; we do this every year, and a few days later they come by, pick it up. November 2010 October 2010 That’s still sitting there. Granted, on public property, but it’s there. Big ugly September 2010 orange wood the city should have picked up five months ago. And in one sense it’s not public property. August 2010 July 2010 It’s mine. June 2010 MINE, I tell you. Or would have been, if not for some decision made decades May 2010 ago for the greater good; the original property description of Jasperwood April 2010 includes the small grassy island, but a street was cut through it. Sensible: makes for better traffic flow. But I still find myself standing on the tip of what March 2010 one was the farthest reach of the Jasperwood property, considering ways to February 2010 annex it, if only to give the dog more territory to call his one. Poopensraum. January 2010 Daughter tonight: AUUUGGGHGHGHGHG! December 2009 November 2009 What? October 2009 THEY CHANGED YOU TUBE. September 2009 And so they had. The design has been simplified and dulled-down a bit. This August 2009 agonized her greatly, since she chose this week to upload her new July 2009 background template, and now it’s all wrong BECAUSE THEY CHANGED IT. June 2009 She told me to call up her page and see how wretched it looked, and I was stunned: her main video was Captain Kirk vs Trolololo Guy. I’d shown that to May 2009 her a few weeks ago. Why did you put it up? April 2009 I don’t know. It’s funny. It’s a meme. March 2009 February 2009 So I said “now I am going to blow your little mind, as Donovan said,” and I January 2009 called up the video where the singer, Eduard Kihl, appears in 2010 and speaks in Russian of his gratitude that his song has become famous in the international. HOST WITH THE MOST “He still looks weird,” she said. Agreed. But well-preserved. And alive! Think of it, child – the original video was done when there was the Communist Russia, okay, where you could go to jail for just speaking out against the government, and no one knew about him anywhere else, and now the whole world knows him and his song, because of http://lileks.com/bleat/?p=6423 Page 3 of 13 Thursday, April 1! | The Bleat. 10/29/13, 9:28 AM the internet. “So he’s famous now as an old dude for something he did when he was young.” That’s correct. He must be absolutely delighted. World-wide fame as a meme! That’s the great thing about the internet! “So he’s rich now too?” Well, no. That’s the other thing about the internet. UNTOLD RICHES AWAIT YOU It’s a column night, so I’ll leave you here. One more thing: trying out a new program that lets you pretend you’re a watercolor painter. This is an iPhone This is just a fragment of the site, you know. Head shot of the magnificent Telephone Company Building, run through one of the HERE for the full menu. Enjoy! settings: BLEAT PREMIUM Go HERE to join - for as little as you like. You'll get an email with your passwords. The page for your bonus-secret ulta links is HERE! http://lileks.com/bleat/?p=6423 Page 4 of 13 Thursday, April 1! | The Bleat. 10/29/13, 9:28 AM It’s a building full of voices and ghosts. If only the stones had recorded what the wires passed along, eh? No extra links today – more tomorrow. Oh, okay, here’s the almost-last batch of 30s magazine ads. HERE. Pass it along, if you wish 43 RESPONSES TO thursday, april 1! Richard C. Moeur says: April 1, 2010 at 1:59 am “Folding orange thing with a flashing light on top” sounds much more evocative than Type I Barricade. Wonder if they’ll let us change the name? ed in texas says: April 1, 2010 at 5:32 am re ice and show warning: But what you fail to take into account is that it’s colder at high altitudes; e.g. snow peaked mountains. Just how tall IS this building you’re talking about? I’ll stop now… DrBear says: April 1, 2010 at 6:04 am If it’s a good picture, it’s a Miracle. Jim T says: April 1, 2010 at 6:29 am Ha “BURIED COPTIC CATACOMBS” LOL seriously. Speaking of memes, catch Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 160 best movie lines all in one fantastic 10-minute YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDxn0Xfqkgw Content warning for language!! Mxymaster says: April 1, 2010 at 6:53 am I’d heard the color myth about Oz, too. I guess it came from the color change in Oz, which may have been the first time both B&W and color were used together in a major picture. Grampa Barrymore’s work still holds up well, unlike a lot of stagey actors of that era. Lionel’s, too. Drew, not so much. “General Crack” sounds like a lousy picture, though–or maybe the code name for the evil government plot to destroy the inner cities through dope. http://lileks.com/bleat/?p=6423 Page 5 of 13 Thursday, April 1! | The Bleat. 10/29/13, 9:28 AM Matt says: April 1, 2010 at 7:53 am ‘Poopensraum’ is the funniest thing I’ve read in a month. Thank you. Chuck says: April 1, 2010 at 7:57 am This is Minneapolis – It’s more cost effective to leave a ‘Falling Snow and Ice’ sign up, than to remove it only having to put it back a few weeks later. All seriousness aside, our lake still has ‘Thin Ice’ signs up. browniejr says: April 1, 2010 at 8:32 am “Falling Snow and Ice” – Isn’t that defined as “Winter?” As dylan once said, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows…” browniejr says: April 1, 2010 at 8:32 am That’s Dylan… Maharincess says: April 1, 2010 at 8:37 am John Barrymore had a Mohawk??? (At least in front) Lars Walker says: April 1, 2010 at 8:41 am Lew Ayres was a Minnesota native.