Friday, August 25, 2023
Hello again. You may have heard there's a big strike on. If you want to support labor, you can buy some union-made WGA t-shirts and other merch here (you can get SAG-AFTRA stuff too but I feel a deep kinship with the ink-stained wretches in the WGA). For $20 you get normal shirts. For $30 you get Taylor Swift-themed shirts (at least until her reps hear about this).
I have a bunch of stuff for you today. Let's see what it is.
Item 1: a link
You might be wondering what is going on in the photograph immediately above this paragraph. These unfortunate gentlemen are transporting a boat through a tunnel by "legging", an activity created by necessity when a bunch of industrialist fat cats decided to save money by building canal tunnels too narrow for a towpath:
This was a time when engineless narrowboats—pulled by horses that walked along a canal’s towpaths—transported mass quantities of goods like coal, iron, and pottery along a “super highway” of inland waterways and their locks, tunnels, and aqueducts throughout Great Britain, eschewing muddy and rut-filled primitive roadways for these easy-to-use, large-capacity canal systems.
. . .
Legging is the act of moving a narrowboat through a canal tunnel, while lying on your back either atop the boat or—as was most common—on a plank jutting out across its bow at both sides, and walking along the tunnel’s roof or walls. It usually requires two people, one on either side of the boat and each holding onto the plank for stability, keeping their legs at a 45-degree angle as they “leg it” with equal pressure through tunnels that could stretch over three miles long.
You may be wondering if this was fast, comfortable, or safe. It was not. Thankfully they eventually invented non-horse boat propulsion methods and everyone moved on to new underpaid, exploitative, dangerous jobs.
Item 2: a list
La Croix sparkling water flavor can designs, ranked
- Lime
- La Cola
- Múre Pepino
- Berry
- Lemon
- Cubana
- Passionfruit
- Orange
- Black Razzberry
- Melón Pomelo
- Pamplemousse
- Cherry Blossom
- Hi-Biscus!
- Guava Sáo Paulo
- Razz-Cranberry
- Pure
- Kiwi Sandía
- Piña Fraise
- Coconut
- Pastèque
- Cerise Limón
- Peach-Pear
- Tangerine
- Key Lime
- Pomme Bayá
- LimonCello
- Apricot
- Mango
- Coffee Exotica
- Coconut Cola
- Beach Plum
Item 3: a media recommendation
Item 4: word of the week
Epigonic
I won't desecrate my multi-room Sonos system with Rich Men North of Richmond [or link to it - ed], which is merely Welfare Line's twisted, epigonic shadow.
Item 5: a photograph
See ya!
Thanks for reading. Have a sparkling weekend - see you in September.
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