And now time for another edition of Random Word Wednesday, the feature where we go beyond the words to dig at the roots of society's issues today.
1. Going
Here's a little soundtrack for this week's first entry.
Although the concept of the auction has been around since ancient times (as early as 500 BC, in fact), modern auctions as we know them today did not become the popular way to sell goods until relatively modern times. The oldest known auction house, that is the say the oldest building strictly dedicated to the purpose of holding auctions. is the Stockholm Auction House in Stockholm, Sweden, established in 1674. In 18th Century England, auctions were often held by candlelight whereby bidders would make their bids in ascending order until the candle ran out sputtered out. Auctions became very popular in Britain and by the early Nineteenth Century, the city boasted many large auction houses. In fact. the standard format of auction that we are mostly familiar with where bids continue in ascending order until all other bidders drop out, is known an English Auction. Other formats include the Dutch Auction where the auctioneer starts at a certain price and lowers until there is a bidder, the Sealed First-Price Auction where all bidders submit their bids privately and simultaneously whereby the highest bid win, and the Japanese Auction where when the bidding starts no new bidders can join, and each bidder must continue to bid each round or drop out.
2. Hero
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| Whoa! That's bad ass! I want goggles with eyes painted on them! |
Meet
Mr. Xtreme. This gentleman is member of an organization known as "The Real Life Superhero Project", and he has dedicated his time, effort, and a pair of super kick ass goggles to making the city of San Diego a better place anonymously and without any expectation of personal fame or fortune. According to their website, "there is a real subculture of genuine heroes, that bridge the
gap between the fantastic and the practical. Anonymous and selfless,
they choose every day, to make a difference in the world around them.
Whether it be feeding the hungry, comforting the sick, or cleaning up
their neighborhoods, they save real lives in very real ways. These are
not 'kooks in costumes,' as they may seem at first glance. They are,
simply put, a radical response… to a radical problem." I've seen a few of these guys, both on their website and on YouTube, and I wouldn't want to be the guy attempting to knock over a 7-11 in their neighbourhoods.
3. Share
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| This is a really nifty work of art by Matthew Lehman, one of many really nifty works on this website. |
Last week, I dedicated the word "Exhibit" to Andy Warhol and tonight I'm dedicating the word "Share" to some more pop art. What he good folks at
www.sharesomecandy.com have done is they've created a really nifty place where the works displayed are a very interesting blend or art and commerce. The site features a variety of works ranging mundane things like labels and logos that have been jazzed up by brilliant graphic artistry to more edgy stuff like graffiti sculpture. This is some seriously cool stuff here and does a fine job of bridging the gap between art and practicality in a phenomenal way. Dozens and dozens of amazing artists contribute to this website, and you can even buy some of their works there, too. Bonus! The coolest thing of all for me, I think, is that websites such as this really take the image of faceless, evil corporations with focus groups fretting over every detail of every advertizement and replaces it with genuine art and expression made by real people with real souls.
4. Lemon
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| No they don't. |
Broadly considered to be one of the worst motor vehicles ever produced, the 1985 Yugo GV sold for four grand off the lot in the United States. This sweet ride cranked out 45 HP and boasted a blazing top speed of 112 km/h while featuring such standard modern amenities as "carpet". If the specs aren't blowing you away, though, the engine itself might. The need for frequent timing belt replacements led to the destruction of more than a few Yugo engines, and apparent shoddy construction led to a host of other mechanical failures, which in turn led to a host of jokes at the Yugo's expense.
Q. How do you double the value of a Yugo?
A. Fill the tank with gas!
Q. What comes with every Yugo User’s Manual?
A. A bus schedule.
And, of course, who could forget
this classic?
5. Prompting
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| LOAD"SKYRIM",8,1 |
The noble Commodore 64 first hit desktops around the world in 1982. Boasting a keyboard, 5 1/4 inch floppy dish drive, two joystick ports, the ability to play data cassette tapes and cartridges, and full on 8-bit graphics, it was a dream machine for the age. Sales of the machine over its lifetime reached 17 million units at top end estimates. After a run that saw the machine achieve 30%-40% market share through the 80's, the Commodore 64 was finally discontinued in 1995. The manufacturer filed for bankruptcy later on that same year, but fear not! In 2011 the brand was repurchased and
a successor machine to the Commodore 64 was made and distributed. With contemporary specs and a keen retro look, you too can have your own brand spanking new Commodore once again. The basic (no pun intended) model will run you $295.00 (all currencies USD), and it goes up from there depending on how tricked out you like your rides.
6. Year
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| So, I went to FurAffinity to get a cool dragon pic. This (by Bumblegoo!) is the best I could do on short notice. |
Forget about all this Mayan calendar nonsense for a minute. 2012 is the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar. Rawr! Turns out Skyrim was released a few months too early. The Dragon is the only fictional character of the Chinese Zodiac, and those born in 2012 are said to be Water Dragons. Cool! Those born under the sign of The Dragon are said to be associated with the colour red, rubies, wheat, poultry, and several countries including China. Well, I guess that if it's your calendar you can pick the coolest sign. Canadians, by the way, got are ruled by The Dog. Could be worse, I guess.
7. Alignment
I was hoping to avoid this, but after mentioning comic book heroes, 8-bit gaming, and furries, let's go whole hog geek this week.
Pictured above is a Samurai Pizza Cats Alignment Meme that I made custom for this entry's purpose. The nine schema character alignment system was formerly the system used to distinguished a certain character's alignment, or in other words how they would act in a certain situation and what their motive is. I say formerly because although this system was used in the first three versions of Dungeons and Dragons, the fourth version, released in 2008, narrowed it down to the five schema system of lawful good, good, unaligned, evil, and chaotic evil. Nonetheless, alignment as an internet meme has become popular over the last two year, as a simple google will demonstrate.
8. Literature
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| You know, if I had to be in a wheelchair permanently, I'd dig a gold paint job, too. |
There's literature, and then there's
literature. Larry Claxton Flynt, Jr. has made his fortune with the latter version as the president of Larry Flynt Publications, best known for the pornographic magazine Hustler. That much most people know about him, but what people may not know is that he isn't all about the cash and porn. He has always been a fearless advocate of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, which essentially grants people unlimited freedom of speech. As a matter of fact, the movie "The People vs. Larry Flynt" is dedicated to his free speech advocacy, and it is quite a good movie, if you can get past Courtney Love. Furthermore, Flynt has been an outspoken critic of the United States' war in Iraq, and an advocate for gay rights and gay marriage. However, one of his finest hours occurred during Bill Clinton's impeachment. Flynt offered
a substantial cash reward to anyone who could offer evidence of any Republican infidelities. The resulting evidences that were collected led to the resignation of several prominent Republican politicians including Speaker of the House Bob Livingstone.
9. Local
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| Things that make me homesick. |
Thanks to Wikipedia, here are a few examples of some local words and phrases that we use out here on the prairies that,
apparently, aren't used elsewhere.
- Bluff: small group of trees isolated by prairie
- Bunny hug: elsewhere hoodie or hooded sweat shirt (mainly in Saskatchewan, but also in Manitoba)
- Ginch/gonch/gitch/gotch: underwear (usually men's or boys'
underwear, more specifically briefs), probably of Eastern European or
Ukrainian origin. Gitch and gotch are primarily used in Saskatchewan and Manitoba while the variants with an n are common in Alberta and British Columbia.
- Jam buster: jelly-filled doughnut.
- Porch climber: moonshine or homemade alcohol.
- Pot hole: usually a deeper slough; also used to refer to slough in plural. Pot hole more commonly refers to a hole in a paved road caused by the freezing and thawing cycle.
- Slough: pond – usually a pond on a farm
- Vi-co: occasionally used in Saskatchewan instead of chocolate milk. Formerly a brand of chocolate milk.
10. Final
Huh! How cool is that? The final word is this week's entry
is the word "final", Well, then. Here are a half dozen pictures to end on a nice, melancholy note. Good night!
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| Final jam |
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| Final game |
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| Final glimpse |
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| Final czar |
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| First and final |
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| Saddest final episode ever |
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