Lara Seven
@laraseven
Current artcar: Memento Mori. Co-author of "Taking Your MLIS Abroad: Getting and Succeeding in an International Library Job." Jeopardy Silver medalist. Portlander.
This New Yorker article on tick-bourne diseases lists the following Australian animal names: the numbat, the boodie, Gilbert’s potoroo,wobbegongs, jelly blubbers, swamp wallabies, fairy penguins, weedy sea dragons and beach worms up to nine feet long. Is this some kind of a prank?
In the Perrault and Disney versions, it's pumpkin into carriage and rat into coachman. I'm not sure how this version is fitting a pigeon and a bus into the story. And frankly, it should be the fairy godmother's responsibility to stop the pigeon, not Cinderella's. She's got enough problems already.
Yesterday we went to a movie screening event near Silverton, OR that involved overnight camping. We got several downpours, a hailstorm, and then a giant rainbow. Happy "one week since Summer Solstice", everyone. Also glad we decided to outfit a vehicle to sleep in; a tent would have gotten soaked.
This is a photo I took when visiting the old state Capitol Bldg in Baton Rouge in 2025, it's now a Louisiana history museum. This is from their Huey Long exhibit. Imagine that people earning that much money were a thing almost 100 years ago.
Although it was only moving from one parking area to another, when someone asks you if you'd like a ride in the banana, you say yes.
"Yes, school funding and road maintenance got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time, we created a lot of value for Dundon Capital Partners."
So many possible captions for this vehicle with what I assume is an air freshener in the guise of Nick Cave. "Straight to you/I'll come a-smellin' / one more time "The Good Smell/ he curses his father"
Arizona Ice Tea taught us the lesson Sprite will learn soon: if your beverage color even slightly resembles urine, sell it in an opaque container. If your beverage is known to be clear, adding ice tea to it just makes it look like a Trucker Bomb. Attention @discontinuedfoods.bsky.social
Screenshot of town called Scenic Rim that thought scenicrimjobs.com.au was a good URL for an employment website is making the rounds. But the amazing thing is if you look in archive.org, URL dates back in 2020 and appears to have lasted until 2025, when it was redirected to jobsinscenicrim.com.au
Today I worked on my art car all day, or as I like to call it, I'm back on my Ship of Thesus bullsh1t.* *all of the plastic grapes and the fabric flowers pretty much have to be replaced annually for wear and tear and the plastic getting something that looks like eczema. I have spared you a pic.
My cat was given this toy that looks like a bird. It flaps and chirps. He is super indifferent to it. I though it would terrify him if past toys of this ilk (floppy fish, scuttling crab) could predict future results.
From the print ed of the April 6 2026 New Yorker. Appears that, like Stephanie Hsu, the fact checker for this article had never seen RHPS, either. (The show's director, also mentioned in the article, -is- named Sam, but still).
What is "a 1964 board game for sale for $1.99 at goodwill"? The one round we idly played shows the challenge: category Elections a:"state with most electoral votes after 1960 census" q: the answer is now number 4 in rank. I'll bet there are questions about Trini Lopez and U Thant in here.
I know train maps are not supposed to be directly representational as far as exact distances and position, but this MAX diagram drives me nuts. The most egregious thing is that the river should run N/S, and the blue line should go east. Unless Gresham moved north of the airport and no one told me.
Went to the Portland Art museum today for free* for the first time since the renovations that connect the wings (without using a passage that resembles an airport concourse). My favorite piece was a sculpture that looks like a giant quilt block, but when you look close, its made of circuit boards.
I am an AFSCME member. Not sure how the national leadership feels about that video, but rank and file love it. I got this pin (unofficially, not sanctioned merch) from a shop steward:
"Which of these seems sticky, and which seems sticky with slightly different properties?"
I watched the Judee Sill documentary because of a review by @kcfennessy.bsky.social, and now when I see people who look like Judee Sill, like this Karaoke singer, I wonder if they know they look like her.
This thrift store mannequin is still haunting me weeks after first seeing it.
FINALLY. What a difference 5 days makes. My cherry blossom tree has finally decided to join the party. Picture on the right is what it looked like on April 5th, left photo is April 10th. Everywhere else in Portland has had blooms for like 4 to 6 weeks.
Update on our developmentally delayed cherry blossom tree: beginning to bud, but not at full flower. Other trees in the area are not only done blooming, they are beginning to drop their flowers on the ground. What is up with my tree?!
I keep seeing photos of all the cherry blossoms around town blooming. This is mine as of Sunday March 22. The very definition of a late bloomer. Get with it, pinky.
Back from trip to my hometown, which is a state capital and college town, but airport is small (8 gates total). For the last 8 years or so they've been adding Star Wars figurines to the top of their metal detector/body scanner. You only see this when looking behind you when getting your bag. (1/2)
When you are definitely Gen X but maybe also need to have your glasses prescription updated: