…shit as flat-out farcically nonsensical as possibly-the-most-batshit-conspiracy-theory-to-ever-elect-its-faithful-to-office can get actual people who can remember to breathe…even if they can’t remember to wear a mask or not actively try to render the nation they profess to love so dearly a hostage to a disease that has already taken the lives of over 170,000 citizens
Wow. A lot to digest here. But reading new Senate Intel report about Paul Manafort's relationship with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian intelligence officer, & who should pop up but Frank Mermoud. This has never been properly explored. But Mermoud is Arron Banks's business partner pic.twitter.com/0LrY11c2Et
Facebook Braces Itself for Trump to Cast Doubt on Election Results
…which reminds me…wired (you know, the ones who always want to tell you that vinyl’s dead…or the internet is dead…or music’s dead…or just generally seem to go in for headlines that use death as a metaphor of some sort) did a piece about killing off cookies to resuscitate the publishing industry…but here’s a side of when-you-think-about-it to go with
If you care about future of advertising, media, journalism and downstream effects of disinformation, ad fraud, democracy harm, this may be the most important perspective you’ll read this year. Please read and then I’ll amplify some nuance in thread. /1 https://t.co/SODpqPACsP
Reminder that Gary Larson has newer stuff on his website and it’s worth a peruse. He basically got sick of cleaning his pen every year to do the wife’s Christmas card, and discovered that an IPad is a lot of fun…
I found myself surprised about how many Feelings I had about the White House Rose Garden renovation. Sorry in advance. I’m not a worshiper of the Kennedy’s or well versed in the finer arts of plants, I’m just a plant fancier. I also believe that people can care about coronavirus, children in cages, and the Rose Garden at the same time.
I understand they needed to renovate the garden. That’s fine! Gardens need a refresh to keep them productive. Not everything that is old should be kept just because it’s old; some things need to be adapted for the current occupants and for modern comfort (miss me on taking down interior walls to make an old house open concept, though). If those crab apple trees were making it difficult to plant anything, and shade plants wouldn’t do, fine! They needed to go. It’s especially fine! that they added the sidewalk so disabled people could access the garden.
What’s not fine is the “new” garden. I spent yesterday looking at the new design and I could not get myself to like it. Everyone calling it a garden for the entrance of an HOA, or landscaping for a cemetery, or a cheap hotel garden is correct. The design is boring, it’s flat. A proper garden should draw your eye to the rest of the garden, and in the case of the White House, should draw your eye to its’ architecture.
People on defense were saying it wasn’t fair to compare the spring garden of old to the current garden in August. They argued that the spring garden will be beautiful. If Melanoma and co. wanted praise for their work, why would you reveal this bland design in AUGUST? Why would you brag that the renovation only took three weeks? Oh, right, because this was a rushed job so that they could give their ILLEGAL RNC speeches from the garden.
I wonder what the thought process was. I wonder if the design firm in charge (no doubt paid millions they didn’t deserve) presented Melania with several designs with this one included. They included this design, thinking that only a putz would choose it. And she chose it. That’s speculation on my part, but it’s verified that she chose the color scheme.
I suppose what’s galling about all this might come down to how you compare Jackie O the Melania as a First Lady (an outdated, sexist role, but whatever). Jackie O was the daughter of privilege but she understood that our country has a heritage, and the heritage belongs to the American people. Jackie truly believed in noblesse oblige. Whereas the Trumps, who don’t even own a pet, choose to live in a tall tower and vacation at horticulturally dead private golf courses, precisely because they disdain other living things.
…if you call it a rose garden you’d think the focal point of the thing might be the roses, for a start…& I’m mostly averse to uprooting trees, as a rule
…but it’s just a lawn with a rather unprepossessing border that has some roses…& although it’s a nice thought that the paths might make it more accessible the fact that it seems more likely they were thinking of camera crews than wheelchairs is hard to ignore
…& the overall effect is that it doesn’t feel like an improvement?
The trees probably should have been kept, regardless of their impeding the growth of the other plants. Putting more heuchera/coral bells and hostas in there would have modernized the garden a tad. The trees really framed the area from where the president usually speaks. Allegedly, they’ve been moved to the greenhouse and will be planted elsewhere on the grounds.
As for the sidewalk, if the end result is that people in wheelchairs have more access then I’ll take it as a net good. As a sidewalk it’s very plain though and definitely looks very stark with the other visuals in mind.
This redo is an improvement if you’re the type who loves not having to think about plants. You just want to pass through this place to get to another place. I’m sure you could have workshopped a new design for free with garden enthusiasts across the country and you would have gotten something 100x better. When they first announced the renovation, they said it was to get it back to how the designer Bunny Mellon intended. This definitely doesn’t match her intentions at all.
Overall, it’s just a disgrace that this is what became of a beautiful garden.
“If those crab apple trees were making it difficult to plant anything, and shade plants wouldn’t do, fine! They needed to go.”
I completely agree with this sentiment, AND just want to point out, for the sake of posterity, that Crabapple trees (and any OTHER Malus tree, fwiw!) are infinitely re-start-able!!!
if “Melania” had *truly* wanted to take the gardens back to their Jackie-O roots,** young buds/branches could have been taken off of the old trees last (or ant OTHER!) winter, and grafted onto new, small, rootstock–allowing for the trees to grow back to the current size & ready for *another* re-set, in… 50+ years from now.
That’s the AWESOME thing about the Malus genus–you can literally make and REmake apple/plum/etc trees, again, and again, andagain,andaggain,andagain!
(**puns *NOT* intended, but i’m TOTALLY leaving my phrasing as is!😉)
…whereas on an adroid phone running chrome it shows in full for me
…honestly the header images can be a pain because they auto-crop with some degree of whimsy but that shit is confsing the hell out of me even more now than it was
Early in your post, you mentioned “simple decency”. I miss that.
…it comes from that mythical time when courtesy & sense were common
*checks to see if tennesee got mentioned*
here
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/22/politics/tennessee-felony-camping-law-right-to-vote/index.html
happy sunday!
Stormy’s Money shot.
She earned it.
bet she’s not sick of winning yet.
Reminder that Gary Larson has newer stuff on his website and it’s worth a peruse. He basically got sick of cleaning his pen every year to do the wife’s Christmas card, and discovered that an IPad is a lot of fun…
https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/136/squid-cove
I found myself surprised about how many Feelings I had about the White House Rose Garden renovation. Sorry in advance. I’m not a worshiper of the Kennedy’s or well versed in the finer arts of plants, I’m just a plant fancier. I also believe that people can care about coronavirus, children in cages, and the Rose Garden at the same time.
I understand they needed to renovate the garden. That’s fine! Gardens need a refresh to keep them productive. Not everything that is old should be kept just because it’s old; some things need to be adapted for the current occupants and for modern comfort (miss me on taking down interior walls to make an old house open concept, though). If those crab apple trees were making it difficult to plant anything, and shade plants wouldn’t do, fine! They needed to go. It’s especially fine! that they added the sidewalk so disabled people could access the garden.
What’s not fine is the “new” garden. I spent yesterday looking at the new design and I could not get myself to like it. Everyone calling it a garden for the entrance of an HOA, or landscaping for a cemetery, or a cheap hotel garden is correct. The design is boring, it’s flat. A proper garden should draw your eye to the rest of the garden, and in the case of the White House, should draw your eye to its’ architecture.
People on defense were saying it wasn’t fair to compare the spring garden of old to the current garden in August. They argued that the spring garden will be beautiful. If Melanoma and co. wanted praise for their work, why would you reveal this bland design in AUGUST? Why would you brag that the renovation only took three weeks? Oh, right, because this was a rushed job so that they could give their ILLEGAL RNC speeches from the garden.
I wonder what the thought process was. I wonder if the design firm in charge (no doubt paid millions they didn’t deserve) presented Melania with several designs with this one included. They included this design, thinking that only a putz would choose it. And she chose it. That’s speculation on my part, but it’s verified that she chose the color scheme.
I suppose what’s galling about all this might come down to how you compare Jackie O the Melania as a First Lady (an outdated, sexist role, but whatever). Jackie O was the daughter of privilege but she understood that our country has a heritage, and the heritage belongs to the American people. Jackie truly believed in noblesse oblige. Whereas the Trumps, who don’t even own a pet, choose to live in a tall tower and vacation at horticulturally dead private golf courses, precisely because they disdain other living things.
…I’m with you on this, I think
…if you call it a rose garden you’d think the focal point of the thing might be the roses, for a start…& I’m mostly averse to uprooting trees, as a rule
…but it’s just a lawn with a rather unprepossessing border that has some roses…& although it’s a nice thought that the paths might make it more accessible the fact that it seems more likely they were thinking of camera crews than wheelchairs is hard to ignore
…& the overall effect is that it doesn’t feel like an improvement?
The trees probably should have been kept, regardless of their impeding the growth of the other plants. Putting more heuchera/coral bells and hostas in there would have modernized the garden a tad. The trees really framed the area from where the president usually speaks. Allegedly, they’ve been moved to the greenhouse and will be planted elsewhere on the grounds.
As for the sidewalk, if the end result is that people in wheelchairs have more access then I’ll take it as a net good. As a sidewalk it’s very plain though and definitely looks very stark with the other visuals in mind.
This redo is an improvement if you’re the type who loves not having to think about plants. You just want to pass through this place to get to another place. I’m sure you could have workshopped a new design for free with garden enthusiasts across the country and you would have gotten something 100x better. When they first announced the renovation, they said it was to get it back to how the designer Bunny Mellon intended. This definitely doesn’t match her intentions at all.
Overall, it’s just a disgrace that this is what became of a beautiful garden.
Hard to believe the epitome of taste that brought you this…
https://www.vox.com/2018/11/27/18113451/melania-trump-white-house-christmas-decorations-meme-2018
could wreck the rose garden! Next we’ll learn that Eric Trump’s wife’s best friend was payed 20 million for the design.
“If those crab apple trees were making it difficult to plant anything, and shade plants wouldn’t do, fine! They needed to go.”
I completely agree with this sentiment, AND just want to point out, for the sake of posterity, that Crabapple trees (and any OTHER Malus tree, fwiw!) are infinitely re-start-able!!!
if “Melania” had *truly* wanted to take the gardens back to their Jackie-O roots,** young buds/branches could have been taken off of the old trees last (or ant OTHER!) winter, and grafted onto new, small, rootstock–allowing for the trees to grow back to the current size & ready for *another* re-set, in… 50+ years from now.
That’s the AWESOME thing about the Malus genus–you can literally make and REmake apple/plum/etc trees, again, and again, andagain,andaggain,andagain!
(**puns *NOT* intended, but i’m TOTALLY leaving my phrasing as is!😉)
the caption on the first cartoon was cut, so:
…the header image makes the text annoying to read but there’s something wrong if it was clipped for you
…shows for me on phone or laptop?
it was clipped for me, too (Samsung phone, running Chrome, if that matters any?)😉
…whereas on an adroid phone running chrome it shows in full for me
…honestly the header images can be a pain because they auto-crop with some degree of whimsy but that shit is confsing the hell out of me even more now than it was
…thanks all the same, though
it shows clipped on desktop (firefox, windows). right-click and ‘view image’ still shows clipped.
…except not for me on either…full image whichever browser/device…so kind of a mystery