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Strandbeest Evolution

Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests are massive, wind-powered kinetic sculptures designed to roam Dutch beaches. Conceived in the late 1980s as a way to kick up sand that would replenish nearby dunes, the beests have grown into a decades-long obsession for the artist and his followers.  (Video and image credit: Veritasium) Read the full article

*sigh* Reminding all of you once again...

AI art is stolen art.

If you're pro-AI art, you're harming human artists. Full stop.

At this point, I don't care if it's "real art" or not because that's not even what the real issue is, it's that it's already hard enough to succeed as an artist without having our work stolen, thrown into a digital blender, and spat back out in our faces, so we can be replaced because the value of our creativity and skill has been reduced to "content" and dollar signs. Do we mean nothing to you? Is your convenience worth telling us we don't matter?

These programs and everyone who uses them no matter how many times we've told you this can get fucked. I'm done being nice about it.

Sincerely, your salty neighborhood artist.

Source: homebuildingsmart.com

ℍ𝐚𝓵ｌ נ𝐀 𝔳คĻǤẸ

Mulled Wine Recipe

All right, folks, ‘tis the season: winter.

And you need a hot beverage, and you need alcohol, and you stupidly think, I heard of mulled wine once, and search for a recipe, and find only pages of strange ingredients and paragraphs of far too much information on people’s lives. Every year I lose my recipe, and every year I regret it, poring fruitlessly and sadly sober over ingredients like star anise, cranberries, and demerara sugar.

So, to save you my grief, here is my very basic recipe, which my family–who does not drink the other 11 months of the year–finds so irresistible that they get tipsy and wonder why. (This is the recipe for one bottle, but I always make at least two.)

1 bottle red wine (cheap red wine, red blend or merlot, etc.)

½ cup - ¾ cup white sugar (you can add to taste)

¾ cup orange juice (you might want at least 1 actual orange, here’s why:)

10 whole cloves

(life is much easier if you peel the orange so that you get just the outer layer with as little rind as possible, then stab these little guys through, so you don’t have to go fishing them out later on, but feel free to fish away)

2 cinnamon sticks

Mix it all together and simmer it on low heat (don’t boil it, the alcohol boils off) until the sugar blends in. I tend to do it for 30 minutes or so, or just leave it on low and turn down to keep warm in a slow cooker.

¼ cup orange liqueur or brandy – I add this last, to make it as alcoholic as possible, but you can add it earlier. I also add both, and tend to steal the family’s brandy, but you can do this to taste.

Voila! Go, wrap your hands around a warm mug of mulled wine, reheat as desired, and spend the winter pleasantly tipsy.

old gods are waking

tumblr: on languages

Long-Tailed Tit/stjärtmes. Värmland, Sweden (December 17, 2016).

Irises in morning mist

tomo