So… What Are Tomatoes? Exactly?

It looks like vegetables are pretty bigoted antitomatists.

Butbutbut… Aubergines, peppers, gherkins, chillis, cucumbers, and zucchinis are fruits too if one insists on being pedantic!

Poor tomato, its tribulations did not end there. Fruits are prejudiced against it too…

Truth be told, I would definitively not put tomatoes in fruit salad, the technicality of their status notwithstanding. Unless cucumber & tomatoes salad is fruit salad? Then again, cucumber got into both parties without a problem. I is offishully confused.

Serious problems of serious times.

Tits in Front of my Window

Not my window, but rather a window belonging to Avalus, who says,

Now I can finally make a tit-joke posting.
The pair just would not want to get close enough to each other. Cute little critters they are.
Also, a blackbird got in on the action.

©Avalus, All rights reserved.

©Avalus, All rights reserved.

©Avalus, All rights reserved.

©Avalus, All rights reserved.

The Art of …

… Victorian Christmas Cards

Commercially produced greeting cards hit the market in 1840, and by the 1860s, they had become very popular. The Christmas cards sent during the Victorian years had a much different sensibility than those we send nowadays.  Hyperallergic put together a good selection with many featuring animals doing some unusual things, and I’ve chosen a few of my favourites to share with you.  There are more to see at the above link.

Let’s start with a few just plain cute cards.

“A happy Christmas” (1908) (via NYPL) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“In silvery accents, whispering low – A happy, happy Christmastide!” (England, 1880) (courtesy Toronto Public Library) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

An example of one of the first Australian Christmas cards, collected by Bessie Rouse (via Sydney Living Museums) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“Wishing you a Merry Christmas,” featuring a goldfinch, bee, and cricket (via University of Glasgow Library/Flickr) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“A happy Christmas to you” (via TuckDB Ephemera) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“Every good wish for your Christmas,” with frogs! (via the Library of Birmingham) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“A joyful Christmas to you” (via Derbyshire County Council Record Office) Christmas card, from Hyperallergic

“I have come to greet you” (inside it says: “Loving Christmas greetings, may smiling faces ring around your glowing hearth this Christmas day, may fun and merriment abound, and all your world be glad and gay” (via TuckDB Ephemera) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

And now, a few more unusual cards.

“May Christmas be Merry” (19th-century Christmas card) (via Lilly Library at Indiana University, Bloomington) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

Christmas card by Wilhelm Larsen (1890-92) (via National Library of Norway/Flickr) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“May all jollity ‘lighten’ your Christmas hours” (via Lilly Library at Indiana University, Bloomington) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“Now dance and jump and make good cheer for Christmas comes but once a year” (L. Prang & Co., Boston, 1888)(via Special Collections Department, Postcard Collection, Enoch Pratt Free Library) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

 

and finally, a few cards that I consider downright frightening.

“A hearty Christmas greeting: Four jovial froggies / a skating would go; / They asked their mamma, / but she’d sternly said, ‘No!’ / And they all came to grief in a beautiful row. / There’s a sweet Christmas moral for one not too slow. / Just so!” (via Nova Scotia Archives/Flickr) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“A Merry Christmas to you” (via Horrible Sanity) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“A happy Christmas” (via Boston Public Library) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

The red ants have a flag that reads: “The compliments of the season” (via University of Glasgow Library/Flickr) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” (1876) (via National Library of Ireland/Flickr) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“May yours be a Joyful Christmas” (via Tea Tree Gully Library) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“With many merry Christmas greetings” (via TuckDB Ephemera) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

“A Happy Christmas” (1900) (via Missouri History Museum/Wikimedia) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

A Krampus Christmas card (via Tea Tree Gully Library) Christmas Card, from Hyperallergic.

My thanks to  Hyperallergic for putting together this interesting assortment of antique Christmas cards. There are a few more to be seen if you click the link.

TNET 39: Jelle’s Marble Runs

Previous thread.

I never was into sports of any kind, neither watching nor doing. But about two months ago I stumbled across this YouTube channel and I did watch quite a few videos of theirs. They are strangely captivating in their resemblance to real sports events, despite being decided solely by chance.

And yesterday I was reminded about its existence when watching John Oliver. He mentioned that if you are starved for sports events right now, then this might be something to satiate that hankering somewhat.

Open thread, talk whatever you want, just don’t be an asshole.

TNET 38 – Brooklyn 99

Previous thread.

Thanks to the wisdom of YouTube algorithm, I found out about the show Brooklyn 99 recently, and I have been watching it a lot. As far as LGBTQ representation in media goes, this is the best I have ever seen and I highly recommend it as the ultimate “woke” show. It shows that it is possble to make humor involving LGBTQ people without them being the butt of the jokes.

Open thread, talk whatever you want, just don’t be an a-hole.

Something Silly from the Quarantine

From Avalus,

©Avalus, all rights reserved

Hey there folks,

as I am sitting in quarantine, I remembered a silly fotoshoot I took with a friend of mine a while ago. I really want to share this picture from it.
I hope you all stay safe and keep your friends and relatives safe. For me personally, the pandemic is very serious as four of seven family members fall into more than one risk-category. So reducing the spread really hits home.

Ps: I was thinking about going shopping in this mask and gloves, but that would really not help anyone. So I did not.