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Dear Puffin
I found these via DesignWorkLife, one of my favorite sites for randomly drooling over pretty things. Dear Blank Please Blank and Sapling Press have teamed up to make these freaking genius note cards. I tried, I really tried, to pick my favorites, but I seem to have picked all of them.
That last one is going to be framed, I think, and posted in the bathroom of my yacht.
A couple of other interesting stationary/artsy type things have caught my eye recently.
First there are these great Facebook like/dislike stickers from 55his, which amuse me because I rather like being meta about Facebook and applying it to real life. Also is it bad that I want to stick one of these on the hipster bear trap and write Admiral Ackbar on it?
And this is the most graphically lovely of the aid for Japan posters I’ve seen. They’re all gorgeous and I would buy every one if I could, but this one just really touches me somehow. Available from Zac Neuleib for $22.50, all proceeds go to aid for Japan.
And this is just cool. Apparently this is origami and you can buy it from the artists Etsy shop.
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I also love this alt Mad Men poster from Needle Design. They also have a lovely Inception poster, and I know you adore Inception Puffin.
All my love
MacGuffin
Dear Puffin
Captain Jack is skeptical
Rep King (R-Iowa) is today’s contender for asshole of the day. (Incidentally this is not the Rep King who had the brilliant idea to hold hearings on radical Islam. Paging Joe McCarthy, anyone? The United States Congress currently boasts two separate assholes named King. Round of applause, everyone.)
Rep King-from-Iowa has teamed up with co-asshole Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) to introduce the English Language Unity Act of 2011, requiring that all US government functions be conducted in English.
“A common language is the most powerful unifying force known throughout history,” King said in a release. “We need to encourage assimilation of all legal immigrants in each generation”
So I guess multiculturalism is gone, and we are now the Borg. Well done. Russ, of Filtered News, makes an excellent point.
If we’re going to go “English only” we’re not going to have much left to say. English gets at least half of its common words from non-Anglo-Saxon stock, and I don’t want to give up half my vocabulary.
I second his point. My favorite English etymology is buccaneer, which derives from the word barbecuer (you totally knew they were related and if you didn’t then you don’t know enough about pirates). Buccaneer is a bastardization of the French word boucanier, which refers to a person on the islands of Hispaniola and Tortuga who hunted oxen and boars and smoked the meat in a barbecue frame known in French as a boucain. People who barbecue meat in a boucain are boucainiers. The original barbecuers/boucaniers seem to have subsequently adopted a more remunerative way of life (piracy) which accounts for the new meaning given to the word. So buccaneers were once barbecue pit masters who turned to piracy. This explains so much about both. (From the AHD, the best source for fun word derivations other than the OED)
Captain Jack is not amused
So if we throw out all “non-English” words we lose both barbecue and buccaneers. I’m not sure I’m willing to sacrifice them. This man threatens the two core pillars of MacGuffinhood- ribs and piracy. He must be stopped. Life without BBQ or piracy is simply not worth living.
Yours, in an Anglo-Saxon huff
MacGuffin
Update: rep King-from-Iowa may not be the radical Islam guy but he is the guy who thinks that NOAA funding for the tsunami warning system should be cut because we “over react” to natural disasters.
“The tsunami warning centers… I would ask people to come forward with the facts on this — how badly do we need them and do the tragic events in Japan give us a different perspective. I would look at it from a different perspective. I don’t know I would at this point know say that I’d be willing to make that change. I think we often over-react to emergencies, especially natural disasters, before we assess the limit of the damage.”
Of course, King is just following in the footsteps of Ron Paul who thinks that our reaction is “overblown” and Bill O’Reilly who said that “worldwide media is hyping the nuke situation in Japan a bit too much.” Well Bill, when you have a nuclear reactor potentially melting down 20 miles from your house, and leaking radiation all over the tiny area of arable land on which most of your food is grown, then I’ll give one single solitary shit what you think. Via ThinkProgress. Oh and you know what Rep King? If there was any justice in the world you would have forfeited your right to any federal relief for Iowa’s annual spring floods.
Dear Puffin
You raise a good point about the tastelessness of ads placed without consideration of context. I myself have been griping about this issue at length, to you among others.
This morning, for example, CNN.com’s adsense system had a floating March Madness banner over the coverage of the melting reactor and a truly heartbreaking story about a Japanese first responder who has only just returned from his duties to find that his entire family is GONE. But don’t be too sad, we can still watch March Madness LIVE on NCAA on Demand!!!!! Now I’m entirely aware that the ad-sense system is automated and no one made a decision to float that discordantly cheerful ad over such tragic stories. Perhaps, however, this is a glitch that should be addressed. This is merely frustrating and off-key:
But I have seen much much worse. So far the worst I have seen was when I was trying to watch footage of the recent conflict in Egypt. While trying to access a live feed of Tahrir Square, where people were literally being shot before my eyes, I was forced to sit through a 60 second commercial for adult pink footie pajamas. Of course, I can’t find that ad anywhere, but rest assured, it was…. not good. It was pretty similar to this:
Now Puffin, you are well aware of my stance on footie pajamas. I think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread and I own more pairs than I care to admit. But this was…..not the right thing. In fact I think I have whiplash. One minute Im watching pink dancing ladies clutching their teddy bears and the next Im watching the secret police goons mowing down protesters. Again, it’s an automated system and it’s not really anyone’s fault. It just kind of sucks and it would be great if it didn’t happen.
Someone should find a way to tweak the system.
All my love
MacGuffin
These pictures are courtesy of ABC News‘ excellent site. I highly recommend going through all the pictures, just to see for yourself the level of magnitude of destruction they are enduring.
As you can see the destruction is nothing short of catastrophic. It’s hard to imagine how long these areas will take to rebuild.
This next picture is the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. The long term effects of this won’t be known for a long time, perhaps generations.
One last one.
I don’t know any particular relief organizations to donate to, but a safe choice is always The American Red Cross.
