Blankbaby

Was I there for the photo, or for the adventure? We look at the photo as the goal, because it’s the thing we get to share. The adventure is our own, and it’s fleeting. And yet it’s the adventure I’ll remember, the morning’s promise of possibility even when I’d not lived up to my own photographic expectations. And I had to acknowledge that I was strolling empty streets in Rome, not sitting at my desk at home, with an espresso and a cornetto guaranteed before I arrived back at my hotel. And that’s still a good day.

Una Mattinata Frustrante a Roma – Jeff Carlson | Never Enough Coffee Creations

A good reminder for us all, from a talented photographer (and a nice guy!).

Soon Rowdy herself was on the receiving end of a chase, as her getaway set off a massive search involving airport and Lufthansa personnel, construction workers, and animal welfare advocates, as well as the use of wildlife cameras and safe-release traps.

Despite numerous sightings, Rowdy always eluded her pursuers — but now, a little calm has been restored.

Cat on the lam: Pet caught after weeks on the run at airport | AP News

LEGO Icons 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle is a massive, 4514 piece love letter to the theme that will be available to VIPs on August 3rd (and everyone on August 8th) for  US $399.99 | CAN $499.99 | UK £344.99.  This set is SO massive, in fact, that we had to split our our review of the twenty two included minifigures into “part two”. For starters, though, we take a very close look at the surprises and secrets in the Lion Knights’ Castle itself. Are you ready for a trip down memory lane?

LEGO Icons 10305: Lion Knights’ Castle : Part One – The Castle [Review] – The Brothers Brick | The Brothers Brick

I keep repeating “I don’t need a $400 LEGO set” to myself.

Julie Ross quit her job in human resources at Google this year to open Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, Pa., with two friends who left academia. They opened their “queer, feminist indie bookstore” — there is a table near the front with books about abortion — in a conservative part of the state, close to where one of her co-owners grew up.

The pandemic “burst the bubble of believing we had any control over what was coming,” Ms. Ross said. “We had this moment of, ‘What are we waiting for?’”

Some Surprising Good News: Bookstores Are Booming and Becoming More Diverse – The New York Times

See? Other people are doing it and it is working out. Strike just after the iron is hot. That’s what is say!

I have an apartment I go to Monday to Friday, nine to five. It’s fairly private, with no internet, so there’s no distractions unless there’s a cricket match and I’m listening to the radio.

Mick Herron: ‘I’m interested in incompetence, things going wrong’ | Thrillers | The Guardian

Well, that and a lack of talent.

But when the parcel service began, all kinds of cargo showed up in the mail stream, including coffins, eggs, dogs and, in a few cases, human young.

According to National Postal Museum historian Nancy Pope, the first known case of a mailed baby was in 1913 when Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Beauge of Glen Este, Ohio, shipped their 10-pound infant son to his grandmother’s home about a mile away, paying 15 cents in postage and springing for $50 in insurance (because they were worriers). Records do not indicate whether Grandmother Beauge received her mail in a mailbox or through a letter slot.

Mail that baby: A brief history of kids sent through the U.S. Postal Service – The Washington Post

Sadly, in 1914 the USPS enacted a “no humans through the mail” policy. This is why we can’t have nice things.