Pipe School and Flopsy

Adventures, Anomalisms

MG writes:

“I’ve seen that pipe school! Is that around here?1 I remember wondering, due to the ambiguity of the name, what type of degree you’d walk away with having attended said Pipe School. Musical? Fabrication? Smoking? Looks pretty small. I’m guessing it’s more like a tech school of sorts. Maybe they have a website…NICE.”

MP writes:

“While picking strawberries yesterday, Bogey P, K-Krank, Fred, and Anny2 lazed in the garden. K-Krank skulked in between the raspberry rows when I heard the frantic skreeches of ‘Benjamin Bunny’. KK proudly showed her squirming bunny when it leapt from her teeth and ran toward Anny, who headed it off, so it ran back to KK. KK once again trapped it with her claws and teeth, this time giving it a shake or two. It was medium size, difficult to carry, so she walked over to Anny, and handed it off to her. Seriously! Anny took the still struggling Bunny over to Trina2 and dropped it. KK came back to the garden and once again skulked through the Raspberry bushes. A couple minutes later, another skreetching, probably “Flopsy”, and KK struted out with her load. She dropped it at Anny’s feet again, but Anny wasn’t quick enough, so the bunny ran toward Bogey and me. It made a fatal decision to stop upon seeing us, giving KK another opportunity to pounce and shake. KK AGAIN brought the prey to Anny, who AGAIN brought the limp bunny to Trina. Where is the video camera when I needed it. This is a true story.”

1 The Pipe School is on I-10 between Waupaca and Wis. Rapids

2 Bogey P, K-Krank, and Fred are cats. Anny and Trina are dogs.

Coldplay – X & Y

Observations

Just picked up the new Coldplay — X&Y. I’m pleased that Coldplay, or the label, or the suit that makes these decisions kept the FBI anti-piracy warning very small, nearly unreadable, on the disc and case. Especially, there is not the gimcrack FBI seal that I’ve seen on a few albums. These things make me want to *not* buy music.

Oh yeah, the music is enchanting, the melodies are well-crafted, the lyrics are keen. It is good. That is to say, it is just, pure, and lovely. It is of good report and I shall think on it for quite some time to come.

…Oops, just caught the gimcrack FBI seal on the back of the case. Well, it’s small and unobtrusive (that is, it doesn’t take up 1/4 of the “behind the disc” space and isn’t in colour…ugh).

MG, a graphic designer responds: “Indeed. That FBI notice is a designer’s nightmare. It’s like someone painting a huge ‘do not touch’ sign right into the Mona Lisa before hanging it back up in the Louvre. It’s really disgusting, and I’m sure it’s not effective enough to justify making it that much more difficult on the eyes of so many brilliant designers and the album consumers.”

(It’s sad that a quick comment on such a beautiful record has degenerated into a discussion of the FBI anti-piracy seal.)


I don’t know what it is but I’m going to go with “the weather.” For two days, we’ve been able to hear almost every jet aircraft that flies overhead. Normally, you’d see the planes by their vapor trails and not hear them. Now you can’t see them but you can hear them. Really, it’s uncanny. But it’s been hot and humid for exactly that long so the things coincide and that would be the only logical explanation anyway. How fascinating!