All done!

This is my hand silkscreen printed rock poster for the lovely Inara George's shows on Friday September 23, 2011 at Bootleg Theater in LA and Saturday November 5th at The Getty Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Simple, sweet but not always straightforward and deceptively complex. Hand silkscreened poster for 2 shows for the incomparable Inara George.

Mid-century throwback style always seems fresh, just like the lady herself. This is our all hand silkscreen printed poster for Inara George with hand mixed scarlet red and transparent cyan water-based acrylic screenprinting inks. Edition: 50, each of these limited edition posters are signed & numbered (by me, strawberryluna) Size: 16x22 inches (39.4 cm x 55.9 cm.) Paper: archival Cougar, White 100lb cover weight.

the police officer thought he'd seen everything until he spotted Wonderwoman squeegeeing cars on Robson and Thurlow on a Saturday night....

Whyte Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta

Here are the images and details for the next LEGO Creator Expert modular, Corner Garage [10264].

LEGO 10264 Corner Garage

Available 1st Jan

AUD299.99

shop.lego.com/en-AU/Corner-Garage-10264

PRESS RELEASE

===========================================

The Corner Garage will be available for purchase starting January 1st (with no early access for LEGO VIPs). The full press release from LEGO as well as an expanded photo gallery are included below.

LEGO 10264 Corner Garage

Ages 16+. 2,569 pieces

US $199.99 – CA $269.99 – DE 179.99€ – UK £159.99 – FR 189.99€ – DK 1,499DKK – AU 299.99

Discover surprises on all levels at the Corner Garage!

Drop by the LEGO Creator Expert 10264 Corner Garage, where you’ll discover a world of fun and surprises! This amazing model comes with removable building sections for easy access to the highly detailed interior and comprises 3 stories. On the ground level there’s a 1950s-style gas station with fuel pump, kiosk and a vehicle workshop complete with a roll-up door, vehicle lift and tire mounter. At the mid-level animal clinic you’ll find an examination table, fish tank, and a waiting area with sofa, while on the upper level you’ll discover a well-equipped apartment with kitchen, TV, sofa, bed and a staircase that leads to a rooftop terrace with sun lounger, parasol and flower garden. The exterior of the building features a classic 1950s facade with signage, detailed windows and a decorative roofline, plus a sidewalk area with a tree and an ornate streetlamp. This charming addition to the Modular Buildings series has been designed to provide a challenging and rewarding building experience, full of nostalgia. Also includes a scooter, tow truck and 6 minifigures, plus parrot, bunny, dog, frog and fish figures.

Includes 6 minifigures: gas station owner, mechanic, vet, woman, man and a girl, plus bunny, parrot, dog, frog and fish figures.

The 3-level Corner Garage advanced building set comes with an array of brick-built details, including a detailed 1950s-style facade with gas station signage, windows, bay windows, arched doorway, roll-up vehicle workshop door, decorative roofline and a rooftop terrace, plus a detailed sidewalk area with tree and ornate streetlamp. This set also includes a tow truck and a scooter.

Ground level features a gas station with a bucket and a fuel pump with a flexible hose, plus a kiosk and a vehicle workshop for car service and repairs, featuring a cash register, tool rack and trolley, oil drum, tire mounter and working vehicle lift.

Mid-level animal clinic features an examination table, parrot perch, fish tank and a waiting area with sofa, armchair, table and flowerpot, plus the animal doctor’s desk lamp, microscope, mug, newspaper, envelope, scissors and syringe.

Upper-level apartment features a well-equipped kitchen with cookies baking in the oven, sink, pan, mug, salt and pepper, spoon and spatula, plus a sofa, bed, an old-fashioned TV, and a bathroom with toilet.

Rooftop terrace features a sun lounger, parasol and flower garden.

Tow truck features a working hoist.

Accessory elements include a window squeegee and a crash helmet.

Help the gas station assistant fill up the 1950s-style scooter.

Roll up the door to access Jo’s vehicle workshop, complete with tire mounter and working vehicle lift.

Remove the modular building sections to access the detailed interior.

New-for-January-2019 decorated elements include an animal clinic window, service station sign and a printed octane gas pump.

Special elements include new-for-January-2019 black ice skates, 2x6x2 window in sand blue, 1×1 medium gray roof tiles, 1×1 angle plate in dark blue and rare dark-orange elements in various shapes and sizes.

Collect and build an entire town with the LEGO Creator Expert Modular Building 10243 Parisian Restaurant, 10255 Assembly Square and 10260 Downtown Diner.

This set includes over 2,560 pieces.

Measures over 12” (32cm) high, 10” (26cm) wide and 9” (25cm) deep.

Tow truck measures over 2” (6cm) high, 5” (14cm) long and 1” (5cm) wide.

Available directly from LEGO Stores & shop.LEGO.com starting January 1, 2019.

Why, Arizona - March 23, 2019: Blonde adult woman washes the windshield with a Squeegee while filling up the car with gas at a gas station

This is a full color 6x9 transparency of my brothers and sister. The acetate has "POLAROID" imprinted on it. You can see where the emulsion is lifting from the acetate. If you remember vintage Polaroid, you remember having to squeegee the surface. I think that might be causing the streaks.

Caffenol attempt number 2. This time I used the Caffenol-CM(RS). I believe the streaks are from the squeegee I used, but if it's from something else, please let me know

Camera: Yashica Electro GSN

Film: Ilford Pan F+ 50

all frames are right from the scanner. No adjustments made.

The Birkenau paintings are based on four photographs secretly taken in the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. After a yearlong attempt to render the photographic images, Richter gradually veiled his initial figurative drawings with color, scouring each coat of paint with a squeegee to produce layered, ruptured surfaces. The canvases' distinctive facture and relatively subdued palette reflect the artist's conscious struggle to address the grim documents of historical trauma while curtailing the spectacular nature of the reproduced photograph. Together, the series holds in tension the complex relationship between representation and abstraction, and the opposing forces of destruction and reconstruction.

SQUEEGEE AND INK

20:20

2015

Both of my kitties are getting on in years. Barrymore is about 14 now, and has many health issues. I have started taking more pics of them lately with the knowledge that it may not be long before he and Squeegee are gone. It's the part of pet ownership that no one wants to face, but it's inevitable, and a part of life.

Barrymore has become quite mellow and sweet with age, and would plaster himself on my lap if he could! I try to accommodate him about half the time, and more lately, since back in February the vet said he probably had 2-6 months to live, suspecting lymphoma. He's doing well, though, and although he has some rough days now and then, he seems to be okay most of the time.

The interesting thing about Barrymore is that his eyes change color. I've never known a cat to have eyes that did that before, but his will go from almost white to a little deeper blue, like they were today. He certainly is a beautiful boy!

Window washers keeping clean One Kansas City Place office building in downtown Kansas City Missouri. Someone has to do it, just not me!

A friend gave me a box with a few Polaroid slide films and a Power Processor.

The processor had some rusty rollers and stuck bearings but after some cleaning and a bit of grease it works well.

The films expired in May 1991.

I shot a roll of Polagraph 400 at 50 ISO (one stop per decade) in my T90 and set developing time to 3 instead of the specified 2 minutes.

The results are better than expected. The film seems to be lower contrast and actually yields some halftones.

As with all expired instant 35mm films the black layer sticks to the positive (slide) instead of the egative and has to removed manually.

It can be trubbed off under running water but that and the squeegeeing produces some scratches in the delicate emulsion.

If anyone knows a better way to remove the black layer please let me know.

Canon T90, FD 17mm F/4

Polaroid Polagraph 35mm Black and White Slide Film. High Contrast. HC135-12 ISO400, EXP MAY 1991

Shot and processed May 6, 2023

Location S10 (Staines), S12 (Dorking), S20 (Esher), S26 (Farnham), S29 (Woking), S34 (Horley), S35 (Banstead),

Crew x 4-6

Foam Capability B Class

Standard Operational inventory

Water capacity 2000L

Pump 2010 (200L/Min) @ 10 Bar pressure

Foam tank B class 60L

NAF flow rate 400L/Min

Equipment carried

Cab:

1 x Sharps Box

1 x Trigene Bottle

4 x BA Sets

2 x Wolflite – LED

1 x Nominal Role Board

1 x O/2 Cylinder

1 x Disposable Gloves (box)

4 x Handheld Radios

4 x Spare Batteries

1 x Vehicle Extinguisher

1 x Vehicle Accident Recording

1 x Main Scheme Radio (Airwave)

1 x Mobile Data Terminal

1 x Mobile Phone

6 x Conspicuity Jackets

1 x Surrey Atlas

1 x Symbol Seeker

1 x Haz/Chem Board (Plastic)

1 x Forms Folder

1 x Vehicle Log Book

1 x Vehicle Fuel Card

1 x Manual

1 x Thermal Image Camera

1 x ICS Wallet

1 Set of Keys

Box RADOS Meter & Dosimeter

1 Set of Disrobe Packs

Box Particulate Masks

5 x Life Jackets

1 x Digital Camera

1 x BA Set Impound Pack

1 x Blue Roll

Offside Rear – Top:

3 x Hose Reel Tubing – 19mm

1 x Ladder Gantry Operating Handle

1 x Basket Strainer

Offside Rear – Middle:

7 x Hose 70mm

Offside Rear – Bottom:

2 x Hose 45mm Flake (Red)

1 x Winding Handle

1 x Branch (Hand Controlled)

2 x Hose Ramps

1 x Short Length

1 x Suction Adaptor – 4010 only – 6” Male to 4” Female

1 x Suction Adaptor – 4010 only – 4” Male to 6” Female

1 x Collector Head 4” Suction

Offside Middle – Top:

4 x Salvage Sheets

2 x Light Duty Salvage Sheets

1 x 30m GP Line

1 x 15m GP Line

1 x Hearth Sheet

1 x BA Guide Line

1 x Rise Bag

Offside Middle – Middle:

1 x Chimney Bag

1 x BA Wipes

1 x Electrical Box

1 x Throw Line

1 x Guy Line

Offside Middle – Bottom:

1 x Fuel Can and Spout

2 x Buckets

1 x BA Box

1 x Smoke Detector Toolbox

1 x Radiation Box

1 x Working at Height Kit

Offside Front – Top:

1 x Hose inflation Kit

Offside Front – Middle:

2 x Gas Tight Suits

1 x GTS De-con Kit & ADSU

1 x Step Ladder

1 x Hearth Kit

Offside Front – Lower Middle:

2 pairs Back Packs

1 x EA Grab Pack

Offside Front – Bottom:

1 x LPP and PPV Fan

Pump Locker:

1 x BA Board

1 x BA Bag

1 x Driver’s Kit Bag

8 x Food Packs

24 x Bottled Water

1 x Gas Stove

2 x Gas Cylinder for stove

1 x Kettle

2 x Suction Wrenches

1 x Ladder Gantry Lock Release

1 x ‘A’ Foam Pick-up Tube – 40/10 pump only

1 x ‘B’ Foam Pick-up Tube

1 x Foam Probe – 40/10 pump only

1 x Blanking Cap

1 x Goose Neck

½ x Whale Pump Handles – 2 on 40/10 & 1 on 20/10

1 x Standpipe

1 x Key and Bar

Nearside Rear – Top:

3 x Hose Reel Tubing – 19mm

1 x Ladder Gantry Operating Handle

Nearside Rear – Middle:

2 x Space Lights

4 x Blue Flashing Beacons

4 x Hose 45mm – 40/10 – 4 x yellow 45 mm

Nearside Rear – Lower:

1 x Stortz Short Length (yellow) – 40/10 Pump Only

1 x Rewind Handle

1 x Hand Controlled Dividing Breech

1 x Branch (Hand Controlled)

1 x Elephant’s Foot Strainer

A quantity of Hose Suspend/Bandage/Washers

1 x CAFs Branch Male Coupling – 40/10 Pump Only

1 x Branch – Water Wall

1 x Male-McGregor Adaptor

3 x Hydrant Spindles

1 x ‘D1’ (Male-Roundthread) Adaptor

1 x Gantry Handle

2 x Foam Sleeves – 20/10 Pump Only

2 x Pit Cover Keys

Nearside Middle – Top:

6 x Road Cones

2 x Police Accident Signs

2 x Accident Signs tripods

2 x Tripod for BA Board & MDT

Nearside Middle – Middle:

4 x Air Lines in Bag – 2 x airbag + 1 x 5m & 1 x 10m

Nearside Middle – Bottom:

1 x Tool Box

5 x Tirfor Pins

1 x Tirfor Handle

1 x Strop

2 x Chains (Set)

2 x 1 x ‘D’ & 1 x Bow shackle

1 x Tirfor

1 x Tirfor Cable

1 x DP Extinguisher

1 x Barrier Tape (Box)

1 x Fire Blanket

Nearside Front – Top Front:

4 x JAFCO Handles

4 x JAFCO Beater Heads

2 x Wading Poles

Nearside Front – Top Rear:

1 x First Aid Bag

Nearside Front – Middle Front:

1 x JAFCO Squeegee

1 x JAFCO Broom

2 x FF Axes/Belt/Pouch

1 x Bolt Croppers

1 x Bow Saw & Spare Blade

1 x Large Axe

1 x Pick Axe Head & Handle

1 x JAFCO Pitchfork Head

1 x JAFCO Manure Drag Head

1 x JAFCO Ceiling Hook Head

1 x Airbag Restraint Set

Nearside Front – Middle Rear:

1 x Air Bag Controller with Regulator

1 x High Pressure Connector

1 x Low Pressure Connector

1 x Mobile Data Bracket

Nearside Front – Middle:

1 x Stabfast Set

1 x Sill support

4 x Step Blocks

2 x Step Blocks

2 x Weber Hose

2 x Hard Protection Shields

2 x Blocks & Wedges bags

Nearside Front – Lower:

1 x Weber Power Pack

1 x Weber Large Ram

1 x Weber Small Ram

1 x Weber Compact Cutter

1 x Weber Combination Tool

1 x Weber Dedicated cutter

Nearside Front – Lower Front:

2 x Ratchet Straps

1 x Sharps Cover Bag

1 x Sledgeammer

1 x Halligan Tool

1 x Spade

1 x Wrecker bar

1 x Winsaw

1 x Shovel

1 x Large Crowbar

1 Tool Box

Nearside Front – Lower Rear:

1 x 36v Dewalt Saw

2 x HP Airbags

Roof:

1 x 135 Ladder

1 x Triple Extension Ladder

1 x Roof Ladder

3 x 6” Hard Suction – 40/10 Pump Only

3 x 4” Hard Suction – 20/10 Pump Only

1 x LED Mast Light

Horley has a Scaffpack.

Argus 320 Thermal Image Camera(TIC):

Dimensions:

Height 203mm

Width 96mm

Depth 71mm

Camera weight 580g (21oz) without battery 755g (27oz)

Camera weight with standard battery 835g (29oz)

Battery type Lithium Iron Phosphate Rechargeable Battery

Battery dimensions

Standard batteryHigh capacity battery

Height 88mm88mm

Width 76mm76mm

Depth 27mm 35mm

Weight 175g (6 oz)255g (9oz)

Capacity 1100 mAh, 6.6V2500 mAh, 6.6V

Standard Battery life: in excess of 2hrs

High Capacity Battery Life: in excess of 5hrs

Charger dimensions

Height 167mm

Width 112mm

Depth 120mm

Weight 550g (19oz)

Standard Battery charge time: less than 2 hours

High Capacity, Battery charge time: less than 4.5 hours

Charger input voltage 11V – 30V DC (12V and 24V vehicle systems)

Start-up time: 5 seconds typical

The packing case contains the following items:

Camera with lanyard loops

Charger station

Quick Start Guide

Rechargeable battery packs x 2

USB lead

Retractable lanyard

Power Supply Kit:

Mains power supply

Set of interchangeable plugs

Vehicle power lead (12 V)

Pocket clip

Picatinny rail accessory with 2 mounting screws

Universal mounting plate for charger with 2 mounting screws

3mm hex key

2.5mm hex key

All Front Line Appliances (FLA) carry either an Argus 4 or an Argus 320 TIC.

Thermal Image Camera Argus 4 (TIC):

Dimensions:

Height 130mm

Width 185mm

Depth 185mm

Camera weight 1.3kg (2.8lb) without battery

Camera weight with battery 1.6kg (3.4lb)

Battery type Ni-MH Rechargeable Battery

Battery:

Battery charge time: 2 hours

High Capacity Battery charge time: less than 4.5 hours

Charger input voltage 11V – 30V DC (12V and 24V vehicle systems)

Start-up time: 5 seconds typical

The packing case contains the following items:

Camera with handle and side straps

2 x Rechargeable battery packs

Battery charger with mains leads

Battery charging shoe

Neck strap

User guide

Remote control

CD with customer software and datasheets

USB Data lead

All FLA carry either an Argus 4 or an Argus 320 TIC

Trauma Bag:

Trauma kit:

2 x Adult O2 Masks

2 x Child O2 Masks

1 x Adult Neb Mask

1 x Child Neb Mask

1 x Adult BVM – Disposable

1 x Child BVM – Disposable

1 x Guedel Airway – No 1

1 x Guedel Airway – No 2

1 x Guedel Airway – No 3

1 x Guedel Airway – No 4

1 x NP Airway – 6

1 x NP Airway – 7

3 x Water based sterile lubricating jelly 5gm sachet

1 x Suction Easy

2 x Disposable face shields

1 x Laerdal mask

1 x Laerdal valve

2 x Medical razors disposable

1 x Tough cut scissors

1 x Ring cutter

3 x Sterile x large dressing amb No 3

2 x Triangular bandage calico

1 x CAT Tourniquet

1 x Prometheus blast bandage

1 x Prometheus Olaes modular bandage (4 inch)

1 x Prometheus Russell chest seal

1 x Instant ice pack

1 x 120ml Water gel bottle

1 x water gel face mask

1 x Sterizar hand sanitiser (small bottle)

1 x Alcohol-free wipes (Clinicell Pack – 10)

5 x Clinicial waste disposal bags

1 x Disposable medical gloves (box) 6 pairs per bag Lg

10 x Saline solution pods 20ml

3 x Sterile x large dressings amb no 3

2 x Triangular bandage calico

1 x CAT Tourniquet

1 x Prometheus blast bandage

1 x Prometheus Olaes modular bandage (4 inch)

1 x Prometheus Russell chest seal

1 x Microporous tape 2.5cm x 10m

2 x Foil blankets

4 x Low adherent dressing pad 10cm x 10cm

4 x Eye pads

1 x Plasters (pack 20 assorted)

1 x Medi Wrap blanket

1 x O2 Cylinder and cover

1 x Ambu collar Adult

1 x Ambu collar Child

1 x Clingfilm roll

1 x Pen torch (pupil dilation)

25 x Patient Clinical Record (PCR) forms

1 x O2 Therapy log book

1 x Trauma rucksack – green

Defibrillator Inventory:

1 x Lifepak 1000 Defibrillator

2 x Disposable razors

1 x Tough cut scissors

2 x Disposable face masks

1 x Metronome

My brother has moved in, and my three nephews, Drake, Alaric, and Frazier, have descended upon me! This is how Drake greeted me yesterday! No, life will not be the same around here, and the decibel level has risen dramatically, but it's nice to have new life in this place!

All three boys are smart and are practical jokers like their dad. The first night they were here, I walked into my bathroom to discover an almost life size stand up poster of Batman. They really like to get a rise out of me! Batman is guarding the family room now, which has been converted into a bedroom for the boys.

My cats are in differing stages of acceptance and freak out, and much to my surprise, the outgoing, people greeting Tigger has remained in hiding under my bed whenever the guys are around. My brother is 6'3 1/2" tall, and speaks with a booming voice, as do all the boys, so he's terrified! Squeegee ventures out because his curiosity gets the better of him, and retreats when he's had enough. Barrymore, usually the most timid of my cats, is enjoying attention like never before, climbing in everyone's lap, and loving every minute of stroking and sweet talk he can get! He simply loves the boys. They are adamantly "dog people", but they can't seem to help liking the fact that Barrymore chooses to schmooze them!

It's a wild ride, with tomahawk throwing, guitar playing, skateboarding kids wearing gas masks, and carrying pellet guns, and I have to admit that the blowing up confetti Drake set off to greet me when I came home from work the other day about ruptured my eardrum, but I'm starting to get used to it. The boys' sister is getting married in Tennessee, so they are leaving Friday to be with her, and I'll miss the little boogers, even if I will get a little peace and quiet for a week and a half. After all, who could resist a guy in a gas mask? :-)

Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, August 1990. 42-inch gauge railway abandoned 1988.

Nikkormat 35mm SLR with 50/2 Nikkor non-AI lens, on black-and-white film.

I drove my brother's '73 Beetle from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland that summer. Notice the roof rack, which made a lot of wind noise. The wiper motor crapped out so I got a squeegee in Corner Brook and rolled down the window and reached around with it regularly in rain. My brother still has it and maybe I'll buy it from him, now 22 years later. He got it in '85 while working as at Michelin in Bridgewater as a summer job.

www.instagram.com/p/BKtIdo8j_gQ/ via shirts101.com

SQUEEGEE AND INK

20:20

2015

Darek & I ran some errands today.

It was so humid that Xi Lan's adoring fans had to keep the squeegees going in order to see. Xi Lan was amused.

A squeegee would be great right about now.

Set Description: Still trying to prove that the best time to visit the skydeck is when the weather is at its worst.

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My church meets in a rec hall next to a marina. Sundays are a great time for bird shots! One of the members feeds them bread after church, and you can see they each have a piece in their mouths! Fish were hopping, too, so they were having a field day!

(P.S....Thanks to all of you who've been praying for Squeegee, my cat. He is better! You can read the full account here: flickr.com/photos/celticsong22/3256468914/

View On Black (Large)

I took this pic of my beloved cat, Squeegee, last year. I have just re-edited it to reduce some of the noise. I have always loved the look in his eyes in this pic, and like it a lot more now that it's cleaned up a bit.

From my "Squeegee" set- Please visit!

View On Black

View On Black (Large)

The original caption reads "A prairie detour out from Imperial, Nebraska." The Spallholz family spent the night of June 24, 1919 in McCook, Nebraska, and continued west on Route 6 the next day. Here, west of Imperial, they've had to make a detour for some reason. There's no information available regarding the cause of the diversion, but a common reason for leaving the normal route (if unpaved) is a wash-out from flooding. Here Ernie and Walter are taking a break, walking around while Henry snaps this pic. They've both got rags and might be wiping away sweat. Early summer sun is pouring down and it's probably pretty hot. Imperial is in southwest Nebraska (Chase County), on Route 6 about 25 miles east of the Colorado state line. I can't help wondering how big the Haynes gas tank was, and what kind of mileage they got.

The image emulsion suffered damage before mounting the lantern slide cover glass. There were significant scratches, possibly from grit present when the film was wiped or squeegeed. There were also a large number of irregularities that could have been caused by bubbles in the developing solution.

This image is from a scan of the original 3.25" x 4" glass lantern slide, part of a collection of photographs taken by H. A. Spallholz, his wife Lizzie, in the summer of 1919. He was the manager of the Manhattan Shirt Company in Salem, NY at the time, and took his family on a drive to the west coast and back in a Haynes automobile, possibly a Haynes “Light Six”. He was careful to label each image, something every photographer should do. All the photos of the trip were taken with two cameras, a Kodak 3A Autographic and a 3A Graflex. They both used the same "post card" sized 3A film ( 3 1/4" x 5 1/2"). Each camera appears in a few of his trip images.

This shows the front half of the carpeted plywood floor I built for the Subaru to correct the problems of sleeping diagonally. It extends all the way to the back end of the car. The rear portion is not visible.

At upper right is the the edge of the driver's seat. At bottom is the area of the front passenger seat. The portion with the rounded corner straddles the floor where rear-seat passengers placed their feet. The book and squeegee are above the rear bench seat. The hole is a finger hole for removing a small panel that gives access to storage beneath the plywood floor. When sleeping on this floor I had my head at this end.

To create this system I had to remove the front passenger seat and the rear bench seat. Removing and storing them them was easy.

One of my photo sets contains a detailed history of my systems for sleeping in a car.

Twenty-five years ago today, on March 1st, 1994, Geffen released the album Mellow Gold by Beck. There are a lot of records that I love that are quite old now and have hit milestone anniversaries. Very few are as important to the person I turned out to be as Mellow Gold is.

It’s hard to quantify how much impact the three albums that Beck released in 1994 had on me. In many ways they completely changed my life and put me on the path to become the person I am to this day. Other than the Blues Brothers, Beck is probably the most influential musician in my life. While bands like Rocket From The Crypt, Snuff and Leatherface far eclipsed Beck in how much I enjoy their records and how impactful their music is to me, the truth is that I would have never gotten to them without Beck.

In a lot of ways, I’ve always felt a little bit like a poser as I didn’t get into punk rock quite as early as some of the other folks that I would eventually befriend. Yes, I jumped into the deep end of the pool right away and I certainly learned a lot quickly, but since I started listening in 1994 and not 1991, I’ve always felt like the newcomer. At this point I’ve been into these types of bands for two and a half decades, but some of those feelings I had in 1994 still linger.

In 1994 I was seventeen years old and a junior in high school growing up in Sussex County in New Jersey. Sussex County is the north westernmost county in New Jersey and is about an hour and change from New York City. While it probably seems reasonably close to a gigantic city to people who aren’t from the area, it couldn’t be more dissimilar from the New York metropolitan area. The town I lived in was small to the point where it didn’t have its own post office, we had to share one with the neighboring town. It was mostly clusters of residential developments, lots of farms and a ton of trees. My high school was a regional school that funneled kids from 5 different towns into it. Even with all those towns, my graduating class was still only about a hundred and ten people. In New Jersey you can’t get a driver’s license until you are seventeen years old, so in the prior sixteen years, you’re essentially trapped in whatever town you happen to be living in.

I moved to Sussex County in the third grade and most kids already had their groups of friends. Being a kid who was super into the Blues Brothers and Weird Al, there wasn’t a ton of common ground right away, which was weird to me as that didn’t seem to be an issue in the town I had moved from. Regardless, over the years I was usually hanging out with a small group of close friends. Musically I never really was interested in the sort of music that others seemed to be into. Van Halen, Guns N Roses, Metallica…these were bands that I just didn’t care about. What really hit me more than anything else was hip-hop. That was the first music that I listened to that was current, starting around 1989 or so.

I was an avid watcher of Yo! MTV Raps during the so-called ‘golden age’ of hip-hop. The first groups that I remember grabbing my attention were Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy. I remember the shift when things started getting more innovative with Tribe Called Quest, Nice & Smooth, Gang Starr and groups like that. Then my mind was blown when I came across Del The Funky Homosapien and the rest of the Hieroglyphics crew. Not only was I amazed by this music, I could actually find out about it on television because Yo! MTV Raps was taking a lot of chances at the time. Hip-hop was an emerging artform so a lot of groups were given a platform to see what would hit. Way more snuck through to a giant mainstream outlet than probably could have at another time. I was very lucky, and I devoured anything I could get my hands on. Did anyone else buy that Kurious album A Constipated Monkey? Probably not. It wasn’t very good, but I just wanted to hear more.

While this was going on, the alternative explosion hit. Nirvana, Pearl Jam – those sorts of bands. They didn’t register with me at all. My friend Pat (who would later be my introduction to Karl Hendricks Trio, Archers of Loaf and Operation Ivy) gave me a tape of Nevermind my freshman year before I had ever heard it mentioned anywhere else. He suggested I listen to it as he thought it was great. I gave the tape back to him the next day and told him I didn’t get it. I had so much great music to listen to, it didn’t really matter to me what was going on in rock and roll.

Then in 1992, The Chronic came out by Dr. Dre. I was excited, having been pretty into NWA, and I remember buying that CD when they still came in long boxes. Little did I know at the time was that The Chronic essentially killed innovative mainstream hip-hop dead. Suddenly, that record was gigantic. Everyone at my high school had it and as I watched Yo! MTV Raps there was a big shift to soundalike groups. It didn’t happen overnight, but every week the playlist got more and more similar. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I hate that Warren G & Nate Dogg “Regulate” song. By 1994, I was getting a little desperate for new tunes. Sure, I had Fear Itself by Casual, but there weren’t a lot of other records that were as exciting.

I vividly remember the first time I heard Mellow Gold. I was in my friend Scott’s car - A Plymouth Sundance, I believe - and he played it for me on our way to Rockaway Mall. I hadn’t heard the song “Loser” and I had never heard of Beck before that car ride. Scott wanted me to hear a song called “Soul Suckin’ Jerk” as he thought it sounded like the Beastie Boys. Since I did like the Beasties I was certainly up for it. He popped that cassette into the tape deck and my whole world changed.

Yes, “Soul Suckin’ Jerk’ did sound like the Beastie Boys to me, but as the album kept playing, I couldn’t believe the craziness that was coming out of the speakers. I had never heard anything like this. It was as if someone made an album that was purposefully difficult to listen to. Like it was a gauntlet thrown down to see who could get through it. Songs like “Truck Drivin’ Neighbors Downstairs” and “Nightmare Hippy Girl” were lyrically very funny, but they were minimal acoustic songs that were a stark contrast from the hip-hop leaning songs on the album. “Beercan” had an amazing bassline and was catchy as hell but was almost a pop song. “Sweet Sunshine” and “Steal My Body Home” were bizarre and confusing and “Mutherfuker” was an uncontrollable burst of yelling and screaming. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it sure wasn’t this wild mix of styles.

It was weird to then realize that Beck was actually quite popular because of the song “Loser.” I only watched Yo! MTV Raps on MTV and didn’t listen to the radio, so I had no idea what else was going on in the music world. I wondered if most of the people who liked Beck had heard the whole album. Looking back on things now, I highly doubt it. I bought Mellow Gold and wanted to hear more. That’s when I figured out that Beck had other records out.

The next one I bought was Stereopathetic Soulmanure. This was the album that turned my fandom into a full-blown obsession. I could not believe how weird and random this record was. There were no hip-hop songs at all, but there were noisy punk songs like “Pink Noise” and “Thunderpeel,” Slower country songs like “Rowboat” and “Modesto,” weird tape collages and of course, “Satan Gave Me A Taco.” What an incredible song to hear. Here was a guy that was writing music and just being weird and random. It spoke to me like nothing else really had before.

The next thing I found was One Foot In The Grave. This one also took me completely by surprise. It was essentially a barebones folk album with a couple of indie rock songs mixed in. This was the album that made me realize that Beck wasn’t just a wacky dude, but he was also writing deeper serious songs. Prior to hearing it, I can’t say I would have ever thought I would listen to a record like that, but I loved it so much and to this day it’s my all-time favorite Beck record.

I essentially went insane at this point trying to find every single Beck release I could find. He became the first musician that inspired me to collect records. I’d long had the collecting bug because of toys and I remember buying a couple of Del The Funky Homosapien cassette singles so I could get the remixes, but this was the first time I ever actively was trying to search for every single record by someone.

So many important firsts in my life were because of Beck. The first time I went into NYC to go record shopping was to try to find Beck stuff at Generation Records (found some bootlegs – and I found the Western Harvest Field By Moonlinght 10” at Second Coming). The first time I went on the internet, I did so to try to look up information about Beck at a friend’s house. I eventually ran an online Beck discography from a Geocities page early on in college. The first concert I went to was Lollapalooza in 1995, to see Beck (and Pavement) and that’s where I saw Superchunk for the first time. The first time I tried to play guitar was to learn to play Beck songs. He inspired me to do so many things I wouldn’t have done previously.

The other big part of this was that Beck was a huge gateway drug for me to other music. I started looking into the names of other people who played on his records and I started looking into other bands that were on labels that Beck was putting out records on. Beck is a direct link to bands like Lync, Built To Spill, Halo Benders, Superchunk and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Those bands helped me branch out into other bands like Rocket From the Crypt (who were discovered on a Merge records compilation my friend Joe bought), Supersuckers, Snuff and Leatherface. Asking questions at record stores led me to more and more discoveries until I ultimately turned into the weird asshole that I am now, obsessed by a constant barrage of random bands that never seem to get the attention that I think they deserve.

As the years went by, Beck records got less and less interesting to me. As much as I tried to convince myself that Odelay was just as good as his ’94 releases, I never liked it as much. Mutations was a letdown as I was expecting Two Foot In The Grave. He’s had good songs on just about every album and it’s always interesting for me to hear his latest tunes, but it’s never been like it was that first year I was buying his records.

The sheer amount of songs he has, particularly from the ’94 and ’95 era, that were never commercially released is staggering. You could fill several albums with the songs I’ve heard on radio performances and concert bootlegs. A giant compilation of this material is a release that I wish would come to fruition, but Beck seems embarrassed by these songs at this stage in his career. While I won’t pretend to be the same person I was in 1994 either, I find it strange that he would turn his back on such an important chunk of his career. Not only is this a time period beloved by many but it is also the reason he ever had the spotlight shined on him in the first place. He wouldn’t have been able to have the career he has without these early songs.

Beck may be a serious and mainstream artist now, but he was never more exciting to me as he was when he was just a complete nutcase, setting his guitar on fire and singing about squeegees. He’s no longer the guy wearing a stormtrooper helmet and playing a banjo, but he was exactly what I needed in 1994, and for that I will always thank him.

Beck - "Nightmare Hippy Girl":

www.youtube.com/watch?v=908rhVHQfoY

Beck - "Pay No Mind":

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHjjqYQpBQg

Beck - "Painted Eyelids"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyCj98DoRI4

Beck - "Steve Threw Up":

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQEvq2WDh9Y

Beck - "Satan Gave Me a Taco":

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RSTbT7BByM

Beck - "Totally Confused":

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oWtgaD77ek

Times Square, NYC

by navema

www.navemastudios.com

Times Square is a major intersection in Manhattan, a borough of New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. The Times Square area consists of the blocks between Sixth and Eighth Avenues from east to west, and West 40th and West 53rd Streets from south to north, making up the western part of the commercial area of Midtown Manhattan.

Times Square, nicknamed "The Crossroads of the World," has achieved the status of an iconic world landmark and has become a symbol of New York City. Times Square is principally defined by its spectaculars, animated, digital advertisements.

HISTORY:

Before and after the American Revolution, the area belonged to John Morin Scott, a general of the New York militia where he served under George Washington. Scott's Manor House was at what is now 43rd Street, surrounded by countryside used for farming and breeding horses. In the first half of the 19th century it became one of the prized possessions of John Jacob Astor, who made a second fortune selling off lots to hotels and other real estate concerns as the city rapidly spread uptown.

In 1904, New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs moved the newspaper's operations to a new skyscraper on 42nd Street at Longacre Square. Ochs persuaded Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr. to construct a subway station there, and the area was renamed "Times Square" on April 8, 1904. Just three weeks later, the first electrified advertisement appeared on the side of a bank at the corner of 46th Street and Broadway.

The New York Times, according to Nolan, moved to more spacious offices across Broadway in 1913. The old Times Building was later named the Allied Chemical Building. Now known simply as One Times Square, it is famed for the Times Square Ball drop on its roof every New Year's Eve.

Also in 1913, the Lincoln Highway Association, headed by entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, chose the intersection of 42nd Street and Broadway, at the southeast corner of Times Square, to be the Eastern Terminus of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States, which originally spanned 3,389 miles coast-to-coast through 13 states to its Western Terminus in Lincoln Park in San Francisco, California.

As the growth in New York City continued, Times Square quickly became a cultural hub full of theaters, music halls, and upscale hotels. Celebrities such as Irving Berlin, Fred Astaire, and Charlie Chaplin were closely associated with Times Square in the 1910s and 1920s. During this period, the area was nicknamed The Tenderloin because it was supposedly the most desirable location in Manhattan. However, it was during this period that the area was besieged by crime and corruption, in the form of gambling and prostitution.

The general atmosphere changed with the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Times Square acquired a reputation as a dangerous neighborhood in the following decades. From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the seediness of the area, especially due its go-go bars, sex shops, and adult theaters, became an infamous symbol of the city's decline.

In the 1980s, a commercial building boom began in the western parts of the Midtown as part of a long-term development plan developed under Mayor Ed Koch and David Dinkins. In the mid-1990s, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (1994–2002) led an effort to "clean up" the area, increasing security, closing pornographic theaters, pressuring drug dealers and "squeegee men" to relocate, and opening more tourist-friendly attractions and upscale establishments. Advocates of the remodeling claim that the neighborhood is safer and cleaner. Detractors, on the other hand, argue that the changes have homogenized or "Disneyfied" the character of Times Square and have unfairly targeted lower-income New Yorkers from nearby neighborhoods such as Hell's Kitchen.

In 1990, the state of New York took possession of six of the nine historic theatres on 42nd Street, and the New 42nd Street non-profit organization was appointed to oversee their restoration and maintenance. The theatres underwent renovation for Broadway shows, conversion for commercial purposes, or demolition.

The theaters of Broadway and the huge number of animated neon and LED signs have long made them one of New York's iconic images, and a symbol of the intensely urban aspects of Manhattan. Times Square is the only neighborhood with zoning ordinances requiring building owners to display illuminated signs. The density of illuminated signs in Times Square now rivals that of Las Vegas. Officially, signs in Times Square are called "spectaculars", and the largest of them are called "jumbotrons."

Times Square now boasts attractions such as ABC's Times Square Studios, where Good Morning America is broadcast live, an elaborate Toys "Я" Us store, and competing Hershey's and M&M's stores across the street from each other, as well as restaurants such as Ruby Foo's, the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Planet Hollywood Restaurant and Bar and Carmine's, along with a number of multiplex movie theaters. It has also attracted a number of large financial, publishing, and media firms to set up headquarters in the area. A larger presence of police has improved the safety of the area.

On February 26, 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that traffic lanes along Broadway from 42nd Street to 47th Street would be de-mapped starting Memorial Day 2009 and transformed into pedestrian plazas until at least the end of the year as a trial. The same was done from 33rd to 35th Street. The goal is to ease traffic congestion throughout the Midtown grid.

Times Square is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop. On December 31, 1907, a ball signifying New Year's Day was first dropped at Times Square, and the Square has held the main New Year's celebration in New York City ever since.

A friend gave me a box with a few Polaroid slide films and a Power Processor.

The processor had some rusty rollers and stuck bearings but after some cleaning and a bit of grease it works well.

The films expired in May 1991.

I shot a roll of Polagraph 400 at 50 ISO (one stop per decade) in my T90 and set developing time to 3 instead of the specified 2 minutes.

The results are better than expected. The film seems to be lower contrast and actually yields some halftones.

As with all expired instant 35mm films the black layer sticks to the positive (slide) instead of the egative and has to removed manually.

It can be trubbed off under running water but that and the squeegeeing produces some scratches in the delicate emulsion.

If anyone knows a better way to remove the black layer please let me know.

Canon T90, FD 50mm F/1.4

Polaroid Polagraph 35mm Black and White Slide Film. High Contrast. HC135-12 ISO400, EXP MAY 1991

Shot and processed May 6, 2023

Credits:

Screenplay – Jose Squeegee

Photography – Jose Squeegee & Kristina Taov

Styling – Kristina Taov

Produced by The Poetic Device

Aircraft:

Laminar Systems – Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140

Sandra Lounge:

HEAD – MOON {Hair} Laceration (GROUP GIFT)

TOP – ~Sugar Button Boutique~ Bell Sleeve Top Reindeer (December Group Gift)

BOTTOM – KITJA CHERIE Noir Pants GREY

SOCKS – RONSEM* Prim Socks

NAILS – [MANDALA] – Sinra Nails/Silver

BAG – [NikotiN] “Pinole” Bag & Knife

Nicholas Lounge:

EARS – MANDALA Stretched Ears Omimi

TOP – [Sleepy Eddy] Crew Neck Sweater (Maroon)

BOTTOM – Sheep Door Jersey Pants Black

Sandra Pijamas:

HAT – ABAR Christmas Hat

TOP & SLIPPERS – BLARABY Christmas Outfit

BOTTOM – DeeTaleZ Winter Wool Tights White Norway

Sandra Christmas:

HEAD – MOON {Hair} Flowers of December (GROUP GIFT)

TOP – Izzie’s Winter Turtleneck Red

JACKET – [Foxes] Aviator Jacket – Black @N21

UNDERWEAR – Mimi’s Boutique Doll Panties

BOTTOM – !BeUp! Baggy Pants Unisex Gray

TATTOO – The Poetic Device Dream Hangul Tattoo

GLOVES – Avatair Winter Gloves (GROUP GIFT)

SHOES – *Tentacio* Snow Boots @Xiasumi School Festival

Santa Claus:

AVATAR – Meli Imako Full Perm Rigged Mesh Complete Santa Avatar

HEADPHONES – GridTalkie Aviator Headset

GLASSES – SORGO BLOW Shades – Carbone

Locations:

Valmorel Airfield

Laptev Ice Bay

Credits:

Screenplay – Jose Squeegee

Photography – Jose Squeegee & Kristina Taov

Styling – Kristina Taov

Produced by The Poetic Device

Aircraft:

Laminar Systems – Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140

Sandra Lounge:

HEAD – MOON {Hair} Laceration (GROUP GIFT)

TOP – ~Sugar Button Boutique~ Bell Sleeve Top Reindeer (December Group Gift)

BOTTOM – KITJA CHERIE Noir Pants GREY

SOCKS – RONSEM* Prim Socks

NAILS – [MANDALA] – Sinra Nails/Silver

BAG – [NikotiN] “Pinole” Bag & Knife

Nicholas Lounge:

EARS – MANDALA Stretched Ears Omimi

TOP – [Sleepy Eddy] Crew Neck Sweater (Maroon)

BOTTOM – Sheep Door Jersey Pants Black

Sandra Pijamas:

HAT – ABAR Christmas Hat

TOP & SLIPPERS – BLARABY Christmas Outfit

BOTTOM – DeeTaleZ Winter Wool Tights White Norway

Sandra Christmas:

HEAD – MOON {Hair} Flowers of December (GROUP GIFT)

TOP – Izzie’s Winter Turtleneck Red

JACKET – [Foxes] Aviator Jacket – Black @N21

UNDERWEAR – Mimi’s Boutique Doll Panties

BOTTOM – !BeUp! Baggy Pants Unisex Gray

TATTOO – The Poetic Device Dream Hangul Tattoo

GLOVES – Avatair Winter Gloves (GROUP GIFT)

SHOES – *Tentacio* Snow Boots @Xiasumi School Festival

Santa Claus:

AVATAR – Meli Imako Full Perm Rigged Mesh Complete Santa Avatar

HEADPHONES – GridTalkie Aviator Headset

GLASSES – SORGO BLOW Shades – Carbone

Locations:

Valmorel Airfield

Laptev Ice Bay

16" x 20" on stretched canvas. Sealed.

So I took a 5 minute snapshot of the Twitter search mechanism for the word WINDOW and these are the tweets that came up:

Window washer came today at work. Dude with suction cups, squeegee, and cables dangling from a 30 story bldg. Couldn’t pay me enough money.

Woke up to a bird fling into my window this morning. :/

Haha! I just convinced my little brother that I can transport places cause I climbed out of my window and came back into the house. 

Just looked out the window and saw a kid face plant from a bike what a dumb kid he needs to learn how to use his breaks.

I apologize for making out with that mannequin. I thought it would lift my sagging window dressing career like in that documentary I saw.

When choosing aisle or window seat on plane you need only ask yourself one question: Do I go to the bathroom more or less often than the average person?

Being entertained by a child I cannot see. All I see is a tiny little arm stuck out the window of an enormous RV.

What ever happened to common sense? Did it really fly out the window?

So my kitchen window looks out on the road and across our street was a rooster peckin around making noise. Weird.

Creepy neighbor alert! I’m washing dishes and see the old man neighbor walk by, turn around, and strain his neck to look in my window.

The tramp who lives across the street is playing the harmonica. My bedroom window is wide open, I can hear it clear as a bell.

There is a bright red dragonfly sitting on a bush just outside my office window. It is awesome with a wingspan 5 inches across. Beautiful.

Just saw a tow truck with this across the back window: “We don’t want an arm and a leg, just your tows!” LOL

This beautiful, Great Egret was fishing for its dinner when I happened upon it. They are such good hunters that I seldom manage to capture the actual catch before they swallow it, but this time I got lucky!

Bear with me, Folks, I have a lot going on right now, and not much time to be on Flickr. I will be back soon. Barrymore is worse, and Squeegee isn't well, either, and I'm trying to get some stuff done around my house in order to hopefully pass an inspection to get insurance. I've been without for four years! We need your continued prayers right now. Hugs....Chris

Here are the images and details for the next LEGO Creator Expert modular, Corner Garage [10264].

LEGO 10264 Corner Garage

Available 1st Jan

AUD299.99

shop.lego.com/en-AU/Corner-Garage-10264

PRESS RELEASE

===========================================

The Corner Garage will be available for purchase starting January 1st (with no early access for LEGO VIPs). The full press release from LEGO as well as an expanded photo gallery are included below.

LEGO 10264 Corner Garage

Ages 16+. 2,569 pieces

US $199.99 – CA $269.99 – DE 179.99€ – UK £159.99 – FR 189.99€ – DK 1,499DKK – AU 299.99

Discover surprises on all levels at the Corner Garage!

Drop by the LEGO Creator Expert 10264 Corner Garage, where you’ll discover a world of fun and surprises! This amazing model comes with removable building sections for easy access to the highly detailed interior and comprises 3 stories. On the ground level there’s a 1950s-style gas station with fuel pump, kiosk and a vehicle workshop complete with a roll-up door, vehicle lift and tire mounter. At the mid-level animal clinic you’ll find an examination table, fish tank, and a waiting area with sofa, while on the upper level you’ll discover a well-equipped apartment with kitchen, TV, sofa, bed and a staircase that leads to a rooftop terrace with sun lounger, parasol and flower garden. The exterior of the building features a classic 1950s facade with signage, detailed windows and a decorative roofline, plus a sidewalk area with a tree and an ornate streetlamp. This charming addition to the Modular Buildings series has been designed to provide a challenging and rewarding building experience, full of nostalgia. Also includes a scooter, tow truck and 6 minifigures, plus parrot, bunny, dog, frog and fish figures.

Includes 6 minifigures: gas station owner, mechanic, vet, woman, man and a girl, plus bunny, parrot, dog, frog and fish figures.

The 3-level Corner Garage advanced building set comes with an array of brick-built details, including a detailed 1950s-style facade with gas station signage, windows, bay windows, arched doorway, roll-up vehicle workshop door, decorative roofline and a rooftop terrace, plus a detailed sidewalk area with tree and ornate streetlamp. This set also includes a tow truck and a scooter.

Ground level features a gas station with a bucket and a fuel pump with a flexible hose, plus a kiosk and a vehicle workshop for car service and repairs, featuring a cash register, tool rack and trolley, oil drum, tire mounter and working vehicle lift.

Mid-level animal clinic features an examination table, parrot perch, fish tank and a waiting area with sofa, armchair, table and flowerpot, plus the animal doctor’s desk lamp, microscope, mug, newspaper, envelope, scissors and syringe.

Upper-level apartment features a well-equipped kitchen with cookies baking in the oven, sink, pan, mug, salt and pepper, spoon and spatula, plus a sofa, bed, an old-fashioned TV, and a bathroom with toilet.

Rooftop terrace features a sun lounger, parasol and flower garden.

Tow truck features a working hoist.

Accessory elements include a window squeegee and a crash helmet.

Help the gas station assistant fill up the 1950s-style scooter.

Roll up the door to access Jo’s vehicle workshop, complete with tire mounter and working vehicle lift.

Remove the modular building sections to access the detailed interior.

New-for-January-2019 decorated elements include an animal clinic window, service station sign and a printed octane gas pump.

Special elements include new-for-January-2019 black ice skates, 2x6x2 window in sand blue, 1×1 medium gray roof tiles, 1×1 angle plate in dark blue and rare dark-orange elements in various shapes and sizes.

Collect and build an entire town with the LEGO Creator Expert Modular Building 10243 Parisian Restaurant, 10255 Assembly Square and 10260 Downtown Diner.

This set includes over 2,560 pieces.

Measures over 12” (32cm) high, 10” (26cm) wide and 9” (25cm) deep.

Tow truck measures over 2” (6cm) high, 5” (14cm) long and 1” (5cm) wide.

Available directly from LEGO Stores & shop.LEGO.com starting January 1, 2019.

Barrymore has been hanging in there, but every now and then, like last night, he will space out on me, and have a bad reaction to medications or something. He was better this morning, but still acting strange. I'm hoping that he's okay when I get home from work.

Both of my remaining kitties are seniors now. Squeegee hasnt been well, either. He has been throwing up, too, and I'm becoming afraid that he might have the same thing Tigger and Barrymore had- lymphoma. Squeegee's eating has been off since Tigger died, and I know he misses him. With Barrymore being off his regular schedule, too, Squeegee is responding badly, and since he is the oldest at nearly 16, I am concerned. More-More is doing well most of the time, so unless he really takes another bad turn, I will just try to keep him comfortable and hope for the best. Squeegee will be next to go to the vet to see what is wrong, and I dread it.

Please keep both of my beautiful boys in your thoughts and prayers. They need them now.

The National Zoo’s 31-year-old male harbor seal, Squeegee, died shortly after a diagnostic medical exam Feb. 1. The median life expectancy for male harbor seals is 25 years in the wild and more than 30 years in human care. American Trail keepers had been monitoring Squeegee closely for several weeks after he presented with blood in his urine. On Wednesday, veterinarians anesthetized him and discovered several kidney stones. Bloodwork revealed that his kidneys were compromised. Squeegee was stable during the procedure, but during recovery he stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. The veterinary team's attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

Native to both the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, harbor seals have the widest distribution of any seal species. Along the coasts of North America, they can be found in both the North Atlantic and Northern Pacific oceans. On the West Coast of North America, their distribution spans from the Southern Arctic down the California coastline, and on the East Coast, their distribution ranges from South Greenland, to the coastline of the Carolinas. They spend half their time on land resting, breeding and raising their young on both rocky and sandy beaches. Harbor seals are classified as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Zoo visitors can see Luke, a 32-year-old male harbor seal, along with a gray seal colony at the American Trail exhibit.

# # #

Photo credit: Chelsea Grubb, Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Here are the images and details for the next LEGO Creator Expert modular, Corner Garage [10264].

LEGO 10264 Corner Garage

Available 1st Jan

AUD299.99

shop.lego.com/en-AU/Corner-Garage-10264

PRESS RELEASE

===========================================

The Corner Garage will be available for purchase starting January 1st (with no early access for LEGO VIPs). The full press release from LEGO as well as an expanded photo gallery are included below.

LEGO 10264 Corner Garage

Ages 16+. 2,569 pieces

US $199.99 – CA $269.99 – DE 179.99€ – UK £159.99 – FR 189.99€ – DK 1,499DKK – AU 299.99

Discover surprises on all levels at the Corner Garage!

Drop by the LEGO Creator Expert 10264 Corner Garage, where you’ll discover a world of fun and surprises! This amazing model comes with removable building sections for easy access to the highly detailed interior and comprises 3 stories. On the ground level there’s a 1950s-style gas station with fuel pump, kiosk and a vehicle workshop complete with a roll-up door, vehicle lift and tire mounter. At the mid-level animal clinic you’ll find an examination table, fish tank, and a waiting area with sofa, while on the upper level you’ll discover a well-equipped apartment with kitchen, TV, sofa, bed and a staircase that leads to a rooftop terrace with sun lounger, parasol and flower garden. The exterior of the building features a classic 1950s facade with signage, detailed windows and a decorative roofline, plus a sidewalk area with a tree and an ornate streetlamp. This charming addition to the Modular Buildings series has been designed to provide a challenging and rewarding building experience, full of nostalgia. Also includes a scooter, tow truck and 6 minifigures, plus parrot, bunny, dog, frog and fish figures.

Includes 6 minifigures: gas station owner, mechanic, vet, woman, man and a girl, plus bunny, parrot, dog, frog and fish figures.

The 3-level Corner Garage advanced building set comes with an array of brick-built details, including a detailed 1950s-style facade with gas station signage, windows, bay windows, arched doorway, roll-up vehicle workshop door, decorative roofline and a rooftop terrace, plus a detailed sidewalk area with tree and ornate streetlamp. This set also includes a tow truck and a scooter.

Ground level features a gas station with a bucket and a fuel pump with a flexible hose, plus a kiosk and a vehicle workshop for car service and repairs, featuring a cash register, tool rack and trolley, oil drum, tire mounter and working vehicle lift.

Mid-level animal clinic features an examination table, parrot perch, fish tank and a waiting area with sofa, armchair, table and flowerpot, plus the animal doctor’s desk lamp, microscope, mug, newspaper, envelope, scissors and syringe.

Upper-level apartment features a well-equipped kitchen with cookies baking in the oven, sink, pan, mug, salt and pepper, spoon and spatula, plus a sofa, bed, an old-fashioned TV, and a bathroom with toilet.

Rooftop terrace features a sun lounger, parasol and flower garden.

Tow truck features a working hoist.

Accessory elements include a window squeegee and a crash helmet.

Help the gas station assistant fill up the 1950s-style scooter.

Roll up the door to access Jo’s vehicle workshop, complete with tire mounter and working vehicle lift.

Remove the modular building sections to access the detailed interior.

New-for-January-2019 decorated elements include an animal clinic window, service station sign and a printed octane gas pump.

Special elements include new-for-January-2019 black ice skates, 2x6x2 window in sand blue, 1×1 medium gray roof tiles, 1×1 angle plate in dark blue and rare dark-orange elements in various shapes and sizes.

Collect and build an entire town with the LEGO Creator Expert Modular Building 10243 Parisian Restaurant, 10255 Assembly Square and 10260 Downtown Diner.

This set includes over 2,560 pieces.

Measures over 12” (32cm) high, 10” (26cm) wide and 9” (25cm) deep.

Tow truck measures over 2” (6cm) high, 5” (14cm) long and 1” (5cm) wide.

Available directly from LEGO Stores & shop.LEGO.com starting January 1, 2019.

View on Instagram ift.tt/2SccpB3

This is how my home-made stencil shirt came out - totally cool. This is the tutorial I used. I'm going to do more. Having worked at a screen printer for 10 years, I couldn't help but bring a bit of that experience to this - I used a stiff flat paint brush and sort of mimicked the way we'd pull ink on a real screen print. First load some paint on the tip of the brush, flood part of the screen with a thin sheen of paint, then on the next pass let the brush "squeegee" it through. That worked pretty well, and if I'd just de-greased my screen (wash with dishsoap once stencil is complete and dry - allow to dry before using, duh), it would have been perfect.

At the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, the seals of American Trail are ready to splash down and make their big debut ! To help the seals acclimate to their new surroundings, animal care staff added 24,000 pounds of salt to the 125,000 gallon pool last week. Yesterday, three gray seals—Gunther, Kara and Kjya—and two harbor seals—Luke and Squeegee—entered the water together for the first time and explored their new digs. Visitors can view the seals up close and watch training and feeding demonstrations at 11:15 a.m. and 2 p.m. every day. The Zoo’s elderly gray seal, Selkie, is expected to join the other seals in the coming weeks. To follow the latest updates, follow the Zoo on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #PinnipedParty.

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Photo credit: Abby Wood, Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Fake bird shit from Squeegees window wall set.

A mixture of cement and water. Effectively this is a lot like tile grout. I squeegeed it into the holes with a grout float, which I had left over from a tile project a couple of years ago.

Workers wash and squeegee the Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York July 10, 2008. The store was closed at midnight to prepare for the launch of the new 3G iPhone that would happen the next morning. Photo by www.JasonSmith.com

Credits:

Screenplay – Jose Squeegee

Photography – Jose Squeegee & Kristina Taov

Styling – Kristina Taov

Produced by The Poetic Device

Aircraft:

Laminar Systems – Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140

Sandra Lounge:

HEAD – MOON {Hair} Laceration (GROUP GIFT)

TOP – ~Sugar Button Boutique~ Bell Sleeve Top Reindeer (December Group Gift)

BOTTOM – KITJA CHERIE Noir Pants GREY

SOCKS – RONSEM* Prim Socks

NAILS – [MANDALA] – Sinra Nails/Silver

BAG – [NikotiN] “Pinole” Bag & Knife

Nicholas Lounge:

EARS – MANDALA Stretched Ears Omimi

TOP – [Sleepy Eddy] Crew Neck Sweater (Maroon)

BOTTOM – Sheep Door Jersey Pants Black

Sandra Pijamas:

HAT – ABAR Christmas Hat

TOP & SLIPPERS – BLARABY Christmas Outfit

BOTTOM – DeeTaleZ Winter Wool Tights White Norway

Sandra Christmas:

HEAD – MOON {Hair} Flowers of December (GROUP GIFT)

TOP – Izzie’s Winter Turtleneck Red

JACKET – [Foxes] Aviator Jacket – Black @N21

UNDERWEAR – Mimi’s Boutique Doll Panties

BOTTOM – !BeUp! Baggy Pants Unisex Gray

TATTOO – The Poetic Device Dream Hangul Tattoo

GLOVES – Avatair Winter Gloves (GROUP GIFT)

SHOES – *Tentacio* Snow Boots @Xiasumi School Festival

Santa Claus:

AVATAR – Meli Imako Full Perm Rigged Mesh Complete Santa Avatar

HEADPHONES – GridTalkie Aviator Headset

GLASSES – SORGO BLOW Shades – Carbone

Locations:

Valmorel Airfield

Laptev Ice Bay

Van Morrison - Cleaning Windows

With so many photos being taken "in" Times Square, I decided to be different. I took a few looking south from 48th St. to Times Square - mostly playing around with long exposures.

Click Here to view the larger version.

Times Square is a major intersection in Manhattan, New York City at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. The Times Square area consists of the blocks between Sixth and Eighth Avenues from east to west, and West 40th and West 53rd Streets from south to north, making up the western part of the commercial area of Midtown Manhattan.

Formerly Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed after the Times Building (now One Times Square), the former offices of The New York Times, in April 1904. Like the Red Square in Moscow, Trafalgar Square in London, and Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Times Square has achieved the status of an iconic world landmark and has become a symbol of its city. Times Square is principally defined by its animated, digital advertisements.

In the early 1900s, New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs moved the newspaper's operations to a new skyscraper on 42nd Street in Longacre Square. Ochs persuaded Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr. to construct a subway station there, and the area was renamed "Times Square" on April 8, 1904. Just three weeks later, the first electrified advertisement appeared on the side of a bank at the corner of 46th Street and Broadway.

The New York Times moved to more spacious offices across Broadway in 1913. The old Times Building was later named the Allied Chemical Building. Now known simply as One Times Square, it is famed for the "ball" which "drops" from a tower on its roof every New Year's Eve.

As New York City's growth continued, Times Square quickly grew as a cultural hub full of theaters, music halls, and upscale hotels.

Celebrities such as Irving Berlin, Fred Astaire, and Charlie Chaplin were closely associated with Times Square in the 1910s and 1920s. During this period, the area was nicknamed The Tenderloin because it was supposedly the most desirable location in Manhattan. However, it was during this period that the area was besieged by crime and corruption, in the form of gambling and prostitution; one case that garnered huge attention was the arrest and subsequent execution of police officer Charles Becker.

The general atmosphere changed with the onset of the Great Depression during the 1930s. In the decades afterward, it was considered a dangerous neighborhood. The seediness of Times Square, especially its adult businesses, was an infamous symbol of New York City's decline and corruption from the 1960s until the early 1990s.

In the 1980s, a commercial building boom began in the West 40s and 50s as part of a long-term development plan conceived under Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins. In the mid-1990s, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (1994–2002) led an intense effort to "clean up" the area, increasing security, driving out pornographic theaters, drug dealers and "squeegee men" and opening more tourist-friendly attractions and upscale establishments. Advocates of the remodeling claim that the neighborhood is safer and cleaner. Detractors, on the other hand, argue that the changes have diluted or "Disneyfied" the character of Times Square and have unfairly targeted lower income New Yorkers from nearby neighborhoods such as Hell's Kitchen.

See the blog post for more info: Zombies Invade San Francisco!

This photo is licensed under a Creative Commons license. If you use this photo, please list the photo credit as "Scott Beale / Laughing Squid" and link the credit to laughingsquid.com.

(foto tomada con camara escondida y disponible bajo licencia Creative Commons. San Luis Potosi, 2007)

A veces aún parece tener el rostro y la voz de un adolescente. Son las nueve de la mañana y ya está ahí. Las primeras veces que lo vi pensé que no duraría mucho, por algo todos los que habían intentado ganar unos pesos en esa esquina se habían ido. Regresé a las nueve de la noche y seguía ahí. Pasaron varios meses y no solo no se fue, llegaron más.

Yo no entendía qué era lo que lo motivaba a pasar doce horas bajo el sol, a estar ahí todos los días de la semana. Luego noté que suele sonreír, que intenta lavar tantos parabrisas como le es posible y a veces hasta le da un trapazo a todo el auto. En un alto vi que no se bajó de la banqueta a seguir con su trabajo, se quedó en la entrada de un local abandonado con el otro, diciéndole que el sol estaba muy fuerte y que permaneciera en la sombra, que lo esperara un poco más. Con ese otro que corrió hacia él en cuanto le dio la espalda y le dijo “papá”.

Hace tiempo que no los veo y cada vez que paso por ahí me pregunto en dónde están.