samutara

@samutara

Rides a bicycle. Knows a few things about a few things. Eng / 日本語 (下手ですけど…)

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samutara@samutara· 18d

今朝カラスさんはわがままお子ちゃんを連れていた。お子ちゃんは自分でピーナツを拾いたくなかった。「母のピーナツをくれ！」って言ったと思いました。

母カラスは歩道に歩いて、ピーナツを拾いています。後ろに、子供は貰ったのピーナツを持って行きます。

samutara@samutara· 18d

'Black Arms to Hold You Up' is a work of beautiful, heartbreaking, heart-rebuilding comics by @benpassmore.bsky.social

The cover of 'Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance', by Ben Passmore.

A page from the same book. The top three panels show a police helicopter flying in a dark sky. Something drops from the helicopter in the second panel. The bottom 2/3 of the page is a drawing of a fortified house being destroyed by explosives. The page illustrates the 1985 bombing and killing of the MOVE activists by the Philadelphia police.

A page from the same book. A full-page illustration of a blood-red skeleton running and holding a revolver; radiating from the skeleton are jagged panels illustrating various white attacks on Black American communities throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.

samutara@samutara· 22d

Screenshot of a tumblr post by user bewvitched. Text reads:
"a single distant, but very loud, yeehaw"

samutara@samutara· 23d

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange...

Poster for the 1995 Strange Days. The tagline reads "new year's eve 1999. anything is possible. nothing is for forbidden."

samutara@samutara· 29d

Is she trying to look like one of those optical illusions where the convex parts are concave instead?

samutara@samutara· 29d

昨日の朝ごはん出会いで新入りが来た New face joined the breakfast meeting yesterday.

ピーナッツを持っているカラス。
A crow holding a peanut.

ピーナッツを持っているカササギ。
A magpie holding a peanut.

他のピーナッツを持っているカラス。
A different crow holding a peanut.

samutara@samutara· 29d

Way back in ye olden times (1998 or so), older Americans who hadn't heard of email or instant messaging might have remembered a running guy like Mr Zip, the old post office character who taught them that zip codes made mail faster.

A b&w image of the USPS mascot "Mr Zip", a simplified cartoon mail carrier striding forward at a comically tipped-forward angle, wearing a U.S. Mail satchel and carrying a oversized envelope.

samutara@samutara· Jul 12

1. Arc Festival London. 2. RIP to my wallet for this month. @arcfestivallondon.bsky.social

A photo from the Arc comics/zine fair, showing a large room full of tables laden with people's comics, zines and artwork.

samutara@samutara· Jul 11

I mean, we saw what the Great British Bake Off did to Mexico on (inter)national TV, so this "take" on Appalachia isn't surprising. It's not good, but it's not surprising.

Photo of two British men, contestants from the Great British Bake Off, standing in a field during the show's "Mexican Week"; they are wearing cheap serape-style ponchos and cheap, mismatched sombreros. They look like extras in a knock-off Speedy Gonzales cartoon.

(Not pictured are the cakes decorated with comically oversized Pancho Villa-esque mustaches.)

samutara@samutara· Jul 9

Which is how you get that mid-century notion of a US main street drug store being both a medicinal supply point and a place where teens slurp up fizzy drinks and eat ice cream or hot dogs. /End!

A 1948 color photo of a pharmacist and his assistant serving youthful customers at a soda fountain counter. There are three young women seated at the counter, drinking from conical stem glasses. The pharmacists is wearing a grey suit jacket and neck tie. The assistant is wearing a white shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and a blue necktie. Visible behind the counter are shelves and cabinets full of bottles and boxes of medicines, as well as a large display of canned Heinz soups.

samutara@samutara· Jul 9

Because it came into existence around the same time as mass production & distribution, we get premade syrups & regional drink brands sold to locally owned pharmacies and drug stores. But a soda fountain was considered a modern offering from a health-supplier before it was a sweet treat for teens. 🧵

1920s photo of a soda fountain inside a drug store. Two men wearing white shirts and vests (waistcoats), black neckties, white aprons and name badges stand behind a large, marble-faced counter. There are soda fountains visible to one side, and behind the men are rows of fountain glasses and bottles of syrups. On the wall behind them are strips of paper with the names and prices of the various fountain drinks (eg. 'Fresh fruit lemonade 10¢', 'Vermont Maple Nut Soda 15¢'). A large sign offers "Soda Books containing 24 5¢ soda checks - $1.00"

samutara@samutara· Jul 9

Soda waters and "fountain drinks" were sold by US pharmacists and druggists as wholesome "soft drinks" (as opposed to dangerous "hard drinks" like... well, whiskey or gin). So the installation of a soda fountain wasn't initially about selling sweet drinks to kids - it was a health food thing. 🧵

A 1930s print ad for Dr. Pepper. There is a black and white illustration of a smiling young man wearing a white suit and tie and a brimless forage-style cap - he's a prototypical soda fountain worker. The text reads:
Man! He's a "Specialist"- and How!
D. I. Spenser, the lad who puts live energy into glass
"Waco"... "Physician" or "Lunch"... they're all the same to the soda man... They all mean Dr. Pepper to him. No matter how fast they come he never muffs a call. For swift sure action he's a wham and no mistake. Speed is his dish. Accuracy his meat. Service his middle name.
He grasps the shining glasses; two, three or four at a time. He scoops the chipped ice, each glass exactly one-fourth full. In the same motion he dashes in syrup; precisely one ounce to the glass. And then carbonated water; sparkling and bubbling to give it just the right zip. He's a specialist... and how. He knows his art. He ought to. Practice makes perfect, you know... and he gets plenty of that.

Dr. Pepper
Good for life
5¢
10 - 2 & 4 O'CLOCK

samutara@samutara· Jul 9

This built on an 1800s notion that carbonated water was a sort of modern, scientific drink, akin to health-restoring mineral waters from natural sources. The 1851 Exposition in London featured soda water stands, and Victorian officers mixed quinine with carbonated soda water as an antimalarial. 🧵

1883 print ad for Schweppes beverages. The text reads:
SCHWEPPE'S MINERAL WATERS
Soda Water
Lemonade
Malvern-Seltzer
Potass Water
Ginger Ale
1st Prize Paris 1878
These waters have always had the patronage of Royalty & continue to be supplied to the QUEEN
Every bottle of the genuine is protected by labels bearing the "Fountain" Trade Mark
RETAIL OF ALL CHEMISTS WINE MERCHANTS & GROCERS

samutara@samutara· Jul 9

Developed in the 1880s to compete with morphine-based drugs, Coca-Cola originally got its effects from kola nut derived caffeine and coca plant derived cocaine, and was sold by druggists and pharmacists. Through the turn of the century, drinks like Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper were sold as 'medicinal'. 🧵

An 1880s print advertisement for Coca-Coal. The text reads:
COCA-COLA
SYRUP * AND * EXTRACT
For Soda Water and other Carbonated Beverages.
This "Intellectual Beverage" and TEMPERANCE DRINK contains the valuable TONIC and NERVE-STIMULANT properties of the Coca plan and Cola (or Kola) nutes, and makes not only a delicious, exhilarating, refreshing and invigorating Beverage, (dispensed from the soda water fountain or in other carbonated beverages), but a valuable Brain Tonic, and cure for all nervous affections - SICK HEAD-ACHE, NEURALGIA, HYSTERIA, MELANCHOLY, &c.
The peculiar flavor of COCA-COLA delights every palate; it is dispensed from the soda fountain in same manner as any of the fruit syrups.
J. S. Pemberton
-Chemist,-
Sole Proprietor, Atlanta, Ga.

An 1896 coupon for two free glasses of Dr Pepper, redeemable at pharmacies or druggists in the Texas area. The text on the coupon reads in part:
Dr. Pepper's Phos-Ferrates
THE MOST DELIGHTFUL TONIC BEVERAGE IN THE WORLD
BRACING AND INVIGORATING
RESTORING YOUTHFUL VITALITY
When correctly served each drink of DR. PEPPER should be placed before you in two tumblers.

samutara@samutara· Jul 9

...Most of those patent medicines were quack cures, mostly made of alcohol, and sold as cure-alls to promote health. And that culture of selling cure-all tonics? That was still a thing in the mid-20th century. That I Love Lucy when she's selling 'Vitameatavegemin'? That was 1952! 🧵

A still from a 1952 episode of the TV show 'I Love Lucy', showing the series heroine Lucy Ricardo (played by Lucille Ball), trying to sell 'Vitameatavegamin' health tonic, which is 23% grain alcohol.

A still from the Simpsons, showing Grampa Simpson wearing a white linen suit and running an "olde timey" medicine show in order to sell a fake sexual potency tonic to unsuspecting suckers. This episode first aired in 1994, and was meant to show grampa relying on an antiquated sales technique.

samutara@samutara· Jul 9

...Antibiotics (ie penicillin) weren't available til the 1950s/60s. Before that, "medicine" was kinda limited to morphine, quinine, digitalis, aspirin or alcohol. But sick people always wanted cures and folks could profit from that! From 1800s-1930s, roaming "medicine shows" sold patent tonics... 🧵

A photo of a traveling medicine wagon taken around 1909. The sepia photo shows a horse-drawn wagon with the name "Rawleigh's Remedies" painted on the side. Below that are the words "Flavoring Extracts Cooking Spices". A man in a dark suit is standing by the wagon, holding a large, leather suitcase.

samutara@samutara· Jul 7

Wait, hold on. Did I only just realize that the Smashing Pumpkins' song "Tonight, Tonight" is like, thematically the same sentiment as Gurren Lagan? genius.com/25987973

Covert art from the 1997 Smashing Pumpkins' album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Against a dreamlike sky with stars and planets visible, a young woman seems to be riding a large golden star, and she looks upwards into the endless vista.

A screen grab from an episode of Gurren Lagan, showing the protagonist riding a stubby, star-like robot into a hazy blue, cloudy-streaked sky. His head is tipped upwards, as if he is looking beyond the horizon.

samutara@samutara· Jul 2

[Unc voice] "Maybe now some of you are ready to be a little more patient when your older cousins try to talk to you about album cover art and liner notes, maybe?"

A vinyl record copy of "Raise!", by the band Earth, Wind and Fire. The cover art shows a monumental statue of a woman in ancient Egyptian style, that transitions on one side to a futuristic structure of metal pipes, storage tanks and a massice speaker where the headdress would be.
The record itself is half out of the cover, showing the red label in its center.

The liner notes to the album "Freak Out!", by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. It is printed on a square cardboard sleeve approximately 30cm each side. The dense text includes a list of the names of the musicians and technicians involved in making the record, jokes about what and how they played, "biographical triva" about Frank Zappa (which may or may not be true), composition notes for each track, and an explanation of "Freaking Out" which concludes with an invitation to "join us... Become a member of the United Mutations".

samutara@samutara· Jul 2

“There’s no question in my mind that we have the right answer,” [Dean Kamen] continues. “I would stake my reputation, my money and my time on the fact that 10 years from now, this will be the way many people in many places get around.” time.com/archive/6905...

A photo from the early 2000s of millionaire and inventor Dean Kamen standing on a "Segway", a self-balancing electric scooter he designed and sold. To demonstrate its stability, he is riding with both hands extended outwards, almost like he's waiting for applause, or perhaps a grateful hug.

A photo of Dean Kamen and a police officer both on Segway electric scooters. Kamen is wearing blue jeans, timberland boots and a green parka-coat, the police officer is wearing a standard, long sleeved uniform. Both of them are also wearing protective bicycle helmets.

samutara@samutara· Jul 1

Around 1998-2005, the answer was almost minidiscs - wee 'lil rewritable CDs that could still carry 80 min of near lossless audio in a player a little smaller than the size of a Ritter Sport chocolate.

A pair of hands holding up a Sony MiniDisc player and a single, turquoise blue minidisc. A pair of corded headphones with an inline controller are visible in the foreground.

samutara@samutara· Jul 1

Sometimes the night sky here is pretty good. Sometimes.

A photo of the moon, shining through scattered clouds.

samutara@samutara· Jun 16

Not only Uncle Sam - on Monday the UK gov't announced a social media ban for under-16s which will require EVERYONE in the UK to present IDs or face scans to use any app which "enable[s] social interaction and which allow[s] users to post material". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A screenshot from a BBC article describing the UK government's proposed social media ban for under-16s. The text reads:

"How will it be enforced?

The government said "highly effective age assurance" measures would be used to check the age of those using social media.

This typically involves requiring companies to use tech that accurately estimates or verifies someone's age - such as face scans or asking for ID."

The full article is available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceqdny4l3jdo

samutara@samutara· Jun 11

No one else flashed back to those kids shoes with the hidden pocket (used to store the single, unlabelled house key your parents gave you to let yourself in after school)?

samutara@samutara· Jun 10

Wait, is that a fruit-bearing fig tree, growing behind that dirty, neglected fence on a miserable scrap of dirt between a parking lot and a train station?

A view looking down at the pavement. A weathered wooden fence is visible. Dirt and twigs clutter the weedy spaces near the fence. A number of bruised, yellowish fruits are scattered along the pavement, and they look a lot like figs.

A view looking up through the leafy branches of a tree. Visible in the middle, dangling from a branch, is a yellow fruit which looks a lot like an unripe fig.

A view of the same pavement as the first picture, but in the foreground a hand is holding a yellow-green fruit between the thumb and first two fingers. The fruit looks a lot like an unripe fig.

samutara@samutara· Jun 9

Mental check-in… meme only

A screengrab of pro wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage from an interview with Arsenio Hall. He is a heavily muscled man with a thick beard and long black hair, wearing a black and white suit patterned with large 5-pointed stars and fringes along the arms, a matching cowboy hat and visor-like sunglasses. The caption reads "I've cried a thousand times, I'm gonna cry some more"

samutara@samutara· Jun 8

友人一緒に朝ごはん

samutara@samutara· Jun 8

Breakfast meeting with my pal.

A crow, sauntering in a small, satisfied circle, the peanut in its beak not visible.

samutara@samutara· May 22

Radithor, the radium cure-all, is here to stay. We need to stop fearmongering about Radithor, the radium cure-all, and start finding ways that Radithor, the radium cure-all, can be used ethically and to support our causes. Naysayers need to realize that this technology is inevitable.

A bottle of Radithor, a patent medicine from the early 1900s responsible for the deaths of multiple people from radiation poisoning.
The label reads:
RADITHOR
Certified
Radioactive water
Contains
Radium and Mesothorium
in triple distilled water

samutara@samutara· May 12

QRP with a doctor you'd trust leading hantavirus response instead of RFK Jr

Radio DJ Dr Demento, best known for playing comedic and parody songs. He also inspired and debuted Weird Al Yankovic.

samutara@samutara· May 7

UK election today. Somehow unchanged commentary from 1905 Daily Mirror (courtesy www.oneletterwords.com/weblog/?id=1... )