Timmy the Tooth

If you don’t capture every minute detail of your life and post it on social media, did it even happen? That’s one question that comes to mind when you first get a look at the RokShok – a new, highly Instagrammable way to propose to your partner. This (hopefully) one-time-use $40 smartphone case puts the engagement ring you’ve purchased on a pedestal right in front of your phone’s camera so you can capture whatever facial expressions pass over his or her face. Ah, just the ring presentation we’ve all dreamed of since we were kids, huh?

With roughly the profile of a phone case with a built-in backup battery, the RokShok is relatively incognito until you get to your chosen location, drop down on your knee and flip the case open to reveal the ring you’ve mounted inside. Then, both the ring and the subject of your proposal are right in the frame for a point-of-view shot of the action. Hopefully you won’t accidentally trigger it to open at the wrong moment, like when you’re walking over a sewer grate.

Once you propose, you’ll either have a memory you and your future spouse will want to look fondly on for years to come (and post all over Facebook at every opportunity, along with your future baby photos, meals, vacations and blurry sunsets) or a spectacularly masochistic play-by-play of the moment your heart was broken. Just be sure to give your special friend a moment to recover from their confusion about this phone-centric proposal before you make assumptions, start crying and throw the ring into an adjacent body of water.

Clearly, this kind of proposal isn’t for everyone. Not all of us want technology inserted prominently into our most special moments. But for others, it’s a cool way to document a life event that can be all too fleeting. It’s available for preorder on the RokShok website.

The Berkeley Media Studies Group has a new framing brief on food-industry targeting of minority communities, how it works, and what to do about it.

Here’s an illustration from the report:

If you want to stop this sort of thing, here’s how.

These designs convey all of the diverse wonder of coral reefs without having to walk along an actual sea floor (and presumably slice open a foot in the process.

Porto-based Portuguese textile artist Vanessa Barragão crochets, weaves and latch-hooks her textiles with inspiration from coral, algae and fungi, often from exotic, remote and underwater environments.

Her works range from entire round Earths (and other abstracted planetoids) to small ecosystems constructed at 1-to-1 scale, creating a sense of visual realism without compromising creature comforts.

2017 was an amazing year! Got to do a lot of special projects and meet great people on the way. Really thankful for all of your support!??? Today my work was featured in @colossal and it couldn't have been a better way of finishing this year. Pay a visit at www.thisiscolossal.com for the full article ? ? #rugdesign #textile #latchhook #textiledesign #textileart #textiledesigner #textileartist #wool #wallhanging #rug #tapestry #weaversofinstagram #woventapestry #wovenwallart #makersgonnamake #makersmovement #handmade #handcraft #surfacedesign #wovenwallhanging #craftposure #fiber #fiberart #fiberartists #abmcrafty #cylcollective #creativelife #coralreef #bleachedcoral @textileoftheday #textileoftheday

A post shared by Vanessa Barragão (@vanessabarragao_work) on Dec 29, 2017 at 12:35pm PST

Carving the Full Moon II ? with 200cm in diameter ? #textile #latchhook #textiledesign #textileart #textiledesigner #textileartist #wool #wallhanging #rug #tapestry #weaversofinstagram #woventapestry #wovenwallart #makersgonnamake #makersmovement #handmade #handcraft #surfacedesign #wovenwallhanging #craftposure #fiber #fiberart #fiberartists #abmcrafty #cylcollective #creativelife #coralreef #bleachedcoral #textileoftheday @textileoftheday

A post shared by Vanessa Barragão (@vanessabarragao_work) on Dec 11, 2017 at 11:58am PST

Happy new year to all of you, filled with healt, happiness and a lot of love!! ?? #textile #latchhook #textiledesign #textileart #textiledesigner #textileartist #wool #wallhanging #rug #tapestry #weaversofinstagram #woventapestry #wovenwallart #makersgonnamake #makersmovement #handmade #handcraft #surfacedesign #wovenwallhanging #craftposure #fiber #fiberart #fiberartists #abmcrafty #cylcollective #creativelife #coralreef #bleachedcoral @textileoftheday #textileoftheday

A post shared by Vanessa Barragão (@vanessabarragao_work) on Jan 4, 2018 at 11:23am PST

Artist bio: “My name is Vanessa Barragão, I’m from the south of Portugal but right now I’m based in Porto. I took a degree in Fashion Design and when I was doing the master degree I started exploring more about handcrafted textile techniques and the wool process.” She then dedicated herself to “doing artworks such as tapestries using several techniques: latch hooking, crochet, weaving, knitting, basketry and felt.”

I’m really rich¹

I’m very proud of my new crystal collection²
I have a Gucci store that’s worth more than Romney³
I order thousands of televisions a year⁴
Six people do nothing but sort my mail⁵
Sorry haters and losers!⁶
He who has the gold makes the rules⁷

1. Presidential bid announcement at Trump Tower, 16 June 2015
2. Tweet promoting his ‘Elmsford’ crystal collection, 13 September 2011
3. Interview with the Des Moines Register, 1 June 2015
4. Speech in Hilton Head, South Carolina, 30 December 2015
5. Playboy interview, 2004
6. Tweet congratulating Rush Limbaugh on 26th anniversary of broadcast career, 5 August 2014
7. Tweet sharing the golden rule of marketing, 21 March 2013

I am the least racist person there is¹

I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks²
I remained strong for Tiger Woods during his difficult period³
Oprah, I love Oprah. Oprah would always be my first choice⁴
Kanye West – I love him⁵
I think Eminem is fantastic, and most people think I wouldn’t like Eminem⁶
And did you know my name is in more black songs than any other name in hip-hop?⁷
You are the racist, not I⁸

1. Fox & Friends, Fox News, 9 May 2011
2. Interview on Talk1300 AM, 14 April 2011
3. Tweet referencing Tiger Woods’ marital infidelity and later victory at Trump National Doral, 20 March 2013
4. In answer to a question about possible VP picks in an interview with Larry King, 7 October 1999
5. Press conference, 3 September 2015
6. Playboy interview, 1 October 2004
7. Playboy interview, 1 October 2004
8. Annotation by Trump on article by Jonathan Capehart, which he sent to the journalist – tweeted by Capehart, July 8, 2015

Everybody loves me¹

Tom Brady loves me²
The people of New York, they love me³
Upstate New York, I’m like the most popular person that’s ever lived⁴
The bikers love me⁵
You know who loves me? The Tea Party, the evangelicals⁶
My children could not love me more if I spent fifteen times more time with them⁷
The vets love me⁸
The African Americans love me⁹
The Asians love me¹⁰
Many Hispanics who love me¹¹
Most conservatives love me¹²
Society loves me¹³
You are going to love me¹⁴
Or I will spill the beans on your wife!¹⁵

1. Interview with Anderson Cooper, CNN, 8 July 2015
2. Interview with Bob Woodward and Robert Costas, 8 April 2016
3. Address to supporters in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, CSPAN, 20 May 2016
4. Interview with CNN, 21 February 2016
5. Washington This Week, CSPAN, 3 April 2016
6. CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, CNN, 30 September 2015
7. New York Magazine, 13 December 2004
8. Morning Joe, MSNBC, 24 July 2015
9. Media Buzz, Fox News, 25 January 2016
10. First Look, MSNBC, 4 September 2015
11. America This Morning, ABC, 9 October 2015
12. Meet the Press, NBC, 24 January 2016
13. Anderson Cooper 360 GOP Town Hall, CNN, 19 February 2016
14. Remarks at Iowa State Fair on how he believed people would respond to his immigration policies, 15 August 2015
15. Tweet threatening Ted Cruz, 22 March 2016

My hands are normal hands¹

I buy a slightly smaller than large glove²
The five fingers represent the five key factors every
entrepreneur dreaming of success must master³

1 Meeting with the Washington Post editorial board, 21 March 2016
2 Interview with Wolf Blitzer, CNN, 21 March 2016
3 Tweet promoting (and quoting from) his book The Midas Touch, 6 April 2012

What’s going on? What’s going on?¹

Does my family like me?²
Where are the women?³
Why is this reporter touching me as I leave news conference?⁴
What is in her hand?⁵
I don’t know which microphones to hold⁶
My hair – should I change it?⁷
I’m sort of like, what am I doing?⁸
I don’t want to be President. I’m 100% sure⁹

1. Victory speech in New Hampshire, 9 February 2016
2. Presidential bid announcement at Trump Tower, 16 June 2015
3. Referring to Syrian refugees at a campaign rally in Newton, Iowa, 11 November 2016
4, 5. Tweet, 29 March 2016. It was a pen.
6. First solo White House press conference, 16 February 2017
7. Tweet, 10 March 2013
8. Campaign rally in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Key Capitol Hill hearings, 8 December 2015
9. Playboy interview, March 1990

For more beautiful words from this stable genius, buy Rob Sears’ “strictly unauthorized” collection, The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump.

Hidden at the bottom of Gulf of Naples in Italy for 1,700 years, the ancient Roman city of Baiae has been revealed to the world after divers were permitted to explore and photograph the site. Historians call Baiae “the ancient Roman version of Las Vegas,” a getaway for the rich and famous where hedonism ran wild. The fashionable resort was popular with the likes of Julius Caesar, Nero and Hadrian, and it was once filled with luxury vacation villas and party houses echoing with rumors of corruption.

Italian photographer Antonio Busiello captured these incredible images of the now-submerged city, whose mosaics, statues and cobblestone streets are now located many feet below the surface of the water where they’ve been taken over by marine life. Researchers studying Baiae have discovered that its villas were made with marble shipped from quarries in Turkey and Greece. Can you guess why it ended up this way? Just look to nearby Pompeii for clues.

That’s right, the very same volcanic activity that provided Baiae and other regional hotspots with natural hot springs for its spas and baths ultimately destroyed it. The city was once located right along the water’s edge, but was eventually claimed by the Gulf. It wasn’t found again until 2014, when heavy flooding south of Naples caused landslides that exposed portions of the city’s old walls.

Experts have been able to identify the individual villas of various Roman historical figures, including Pliny the Younger, who witnessed and documented the 79 C.E. eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

“The beautiful mosaics, and the villas and temples that have reemerged or are still underwater show the opulance and wealth of this area,” says Busiello. “It was considered one of the most important Roman cities for centuries. Diving here is like a dive into history, looking at ancient Roman ruins underwater is something hard to describe, a beautiful experience indeed.”

Useless, defunct and more than a little surreal, ‘thomassons’ are the remnants of architecture and infrastructure left behind during demolition to leave behind a ghostly imprint of the past. These architectural relics are like scars: evidence of damage that never fully healed. Some passersby never even notice the stairs that end in a brick wall, the outlines of buildings that no longer exist, the doors that open to the air many stories above ground level. But for others, they have a sort of melancholy romance as a physical, tangible connection to bygone eras in a rapidly changing world, even if that ‘bygone era’ was just a few years ago.

Spotting these anomalies can feel like the discovery of hidden portals, as if you could stand in front of them and magically transport yourself right out of the space-time continuum if you just had the password or the secret handshake. For others, they’re like glitches in the matrix, just out of place enough to give you a momentary sensation of your surroundings being not quite real. An intrusion of the digital world into the physical.

So maybe it’s not surprising that communities have developed around finding, documenting and appreciating these urban oddities. The word ‘thomasson,’ if you’re not aware, was coined by Japanese artist Akasegawa Genpei in the ’80s, referencing a basketball player with a useless position on his team. He was a bit of a pioneer in the world of thomasson-spotting, archiving the vestigial objects he found around Japan in a magazine column, and then a 1985 book titled Chogeijutsu Tomason.

Maximum Thomasson

A post shared by craig eee (@mrcraige) on Nov 24, 2017 at 12:08am PST

Discovered by Sophia Brown? 9/26/2017? Manitou Springs, CO? useless Window #thomasson #hyperart

A post shared by Thomassons (@hyperart_thomassons) on Oct 28, 2017 at 1:07pm PDT

#???? #???? #thomasson #japan #architecture hyperart

A post shared by Naotoy ?? (@ymgsnot) on Oct 22, 2017 at 4:43am PDT

The book was published in the United States in 2009, bringing the phenomenon stateside. But search for ‘thomasson’ on Instagram, Flickr, tumblr, Facebook and other social media platforms and you’ll see that, for whatever reason, this hobby remains most popular in Japan.

Discovered 9/27/17 by Cire Ruffin? Manitou Springs? #thomasson #hyperartthomassons

A post shared by Thomassons (@hyperart_thomassons) on Oct 18, 2017 at 8:48pm PDT

Thomasson stairs

A post shared by craig eee (@mrcraige) on Oct 9, 2017 at 6:34pm PDT

???????? ?????? #????#??#??????? #?????#

A post shared by uu_architects (@uu_architects) on Dec 24, 2016 at 5:22pm PST

?????? #????

A post shared by ??????/masataka matsuoka (@masatakamatsuoka) on Dec 23, 2016 at 8:37pm PST

Akasegawa referred to thomassons as ‘hyper-art,’ explaining that they may not have been created with artistic expression in mind, but nevertheless, they’re more artistic than intentional art itself. Indeed, they have more than a little in common with Dadaism, the early 20th century avant-garde art movement that “rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest.”

Would the construction workers who are ordered to tear down or alter part of a structure without erasing all evidence that it ever existed think of themselves as artists? Probably not, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t. When they become self-aware, does the whole movement threaten to become a mockery of itself? Hard to say, though it’s kind of fun to imagine. The idea of cities becoming more maze-like than ever, full of intentional dead ends, is either frustrating or delightful, depending on your particular perspective. You’d have new and creative excuses for being late to work.

For Akesegawa, a true thomasson meets two criteria: it must be totally and completely useless, and also regularly maintained, which adds another layer of absurdity to the object’s continued existence. That means ruins and abandonments don’t really count. The objects must be folded into a newer incarnation of their surroundings as if nobody could be bothered to remove them altogether, and possibly cleaned or repaired on a regular basis. Demolish that section of spiraling stairs that lead to the sky? Nonsense! Put a fence around it instead!

In our era of rapid urbanization and development, it’s easy to see why thomassons are so intriguing. Cities change so quickly, it can seem like the realities we’ve lived in during our own lifetimes have already been lost, despite how little time has actually passed. And who doesn’t dream of reconnecting with those old familiar environments, whose memories may already be fading in our minds?

OK, Christmas is one week from today, so I’m not going to waste any of your valuable time here. Are you still casting about for Christmas breakfast ideas? Baking with eggnog is a great way to share the Christmas spirit(s). After all, what’s eggnog? Well, the homemade version includes eggs, cream, sugar, and the spirit […]

The post Baking with eggnog appeared first on Flourish - King Arthur Flour.

Which multi-level marketing scheme Aunt Janice is into now

What Dan’s ex-fianceé is up to these days

Carl and Alan – gay, or just roommates?

Which diet everyone is going on as soon as this meal is over

Uncle Rick’s WebMD cancer diagnosis

At what point we consider someone an alcoholic

The moral superiority of people with rescue dogs

How much money I’d have if I’d gone to college in-state

How much money Uncle Rick would have if he’d bought Bitcoin

Who at the club has had work done

What vegan Claire can actually eat

Who gets the timeshare when Nana passes

Screen time for toddlers: the downfall of a generation, or the only way to get baby Cameron to shut the hell up?

Smartphones at the dinner table: the downfall of the modern family, or the only way to get Uncle Rick to shut the hell up?

When I’m planning on starting a family (so Mom can get a head start on some needlepoint projects)

Star Wars spoilers

Is Nascar a sport?

Vietnam

Our cartoonist checks in on the Etihad idyll and how Pep Guardiola’s vision could be used to fix more pressing problems in society

• View all of David’s cartoons in his archive of strips
• Need a Christmas present? David’s only got another book out

Eric, 35

Lots of women in Eric’s co-op complained that one male member of the co-op board was aggressive, verbally abusive, and physically intimidating when they disagreed with him about matters pertaining to building maintenance. When that member landed in prison on charges of misdemeanor assault, Eric stepped up to the plate and announced, “I always knew there was something off about that guy.”

Ted, 28

When Ted’s friend Laurel confided in him that Andrew (their mutual acquaintance from college) was acting creepy, Ted had trouble believing her. Ted knew that Andrew was awkward, but Laurel’s request that Ted stop inviting both of them to the same events just seemed like a crazy overreaction to Andrew’s total lack of game. Instead, Ted decided that he just wouldn’t tell Laurel that Andrew was coming to next week’s Beer Garden hang.

That night, though, Ted’s whole perspective changed: he noticed that Andrew really was invading Laurel’s space, and when she and her friend Steph tried to leave, Andrew followed them and tried to block the door. It was ugly, threatening behavior – Andrew had definitely crossed a line. For seven heroic minutes, Ted felt just a little bit bad about that.

Louis, 23

Three months ago, Louis found himself in a position he could never have anticipated: he witnessed his superintendent exposing himself to Louis’ female roommate. Louis was shocked and appalled. When his roommate told their super that she was uncomfortable and would call the police if he didn’t leave, their super became belligerent and threatened to shut off their heat. Eventually, he left.

Once he was gone, Louis went into his roommate’s room and boldly declared, “Wow. That was fucked up.”

Danny, 47

Danny, an outspoken feminist, has spent years of his life-fighting misogyny and helping the women around him to fight misogyny by telling them exactly how they should do so. When a female friend suggested that perhaps Danny’s habit of speaking over women was counter to his feminist goals, Danny fearlessly explained that her willingness to alienate male allies meant that her actions were detrimental to the cause of feminism, and her behavior was harmful to women everywhere. Danny expounded upon his point by reminding her that feminists have a bad enough rep without her living up to all the negative stereotypes about them. Danny even generously lent his time and energy to educating her about how true feminists behave, and how she might be a better asset to the feminist cause in the future.

Micah, 42

When Micah’s coworker told him that their boss had repeatedly asked her to come to his hotel room during a business trip, and implied that she’d be passed over for a promotion if she didn’t comply, Micah bravely replied, “Oh, shit. That sucks.”

Jason, 30

When Jason’s female friend told him that his killer joke about lonely overweight women was actually pretty sexist, Jason really wanted to tell her that feminists ruin everything and that she wasn’t fun to have at parties. But, given all the media noise about sexual assault lately, he thought it might look bad if he did. In an admirable act of restraint and self-determination, Jason just rolled his eyes instead.

"This weekend, [Kristen Roupenian’s New Yorker short story ‘Cat Person’] went unexpectedly viral. Or, perhaps, in this #MeToo moment, it went expectedly viral, by revealing the lengths women go to in order to manage men’s feelings, and the shaming they often suffer nonetheless." — The Atlantic, 12/11/17

I [34/M] went on great date with [20/F]. Now she’s avoiding me. Might have messed everything up through drunk texts. Please help??? [Dating]
Submitted 25 minutes ago by thisisaredvinesfamily

Backstory: I’ve been in kind of a drought and I’m a little out of practice. I’ve been hurt a lot by women who were selfish and shallow and manipulative and I don’t know how to relate to woman anymore. So now I screwed up this really promising relationship.

I met this really cute girl and I thought she was out of my league/too young (I know, I know, age gap, but I live in a college town, all I meet are college girls) so I was really surprised when she started flirting with me. I got her number and we started texting. She was really witty, a lot smarter than other girls, so I thought we had the foundation of something real even if it was just memes and jokes about our cats.

I got her a few little gifts and kissed her on the forehead one night when we met up during her finals and I don’t know, it was super romantic. But then she went home and I assumed she’d lose interest, I don’t know, I’ve been cheated on before and it’s left me with a lot of baggage. But then she mentioned that she mentioned me to her parents, and doesn’t that seem like something someone would only do if they’re trying to communicate real interest and not just stringing me along with a BUNCH of other guys?

But she kept texting me, so she made that decision right I guess. So we set up a date. I was really hopeful and we had such great text chemistry that I was sure it would translate on our date.

It was a little awkward at first — she didn’t like the movie, one of those girls who think that she knows everything because she’s taken a film class — and she was copping a slight attitude. Then I had to rescue her from a situation and we had this AMAZING first kiss, and then we had some more drinks and then SHE asked ME to take her home. I wasn’t creeping on her, she wanted it. SHE initiated it.

I really tried to make her feel safe during our encounter, but she did laugh when I asked if she was a virgin. She wasn’t, but maybe she was nervous? I have a lot of bad history with being laughed at in bed, sexy times are not a time to laugh, so it put me off a little bit. But after that it was pretty great. I know I shouldn’t say this, but she had a great body. Yum.

I know she had a good time, I could feel it. I totally delivered in that department. We watched a movie afterward, and maybe it wasn’t trendy or hip or highfalutin enough for her, because she was acting weird during that too. But then I took her home and we said goodbye with another amazing kiss, so I was feeling really optimistic for the first time in a long time.

I texted her — nothing weird, not love poems or declarations of undying committment or whatever, just some jokes and emojis bc young women love emojis — but she was busy with finals so I figured I’d give her time. And then, all of a sudeen, I get the rudest text message I’ve ever recieved in my many sad years of dating. No consideration. Nothing about the times we’d shared or a connection that meant a lot to me. Just “stop textng me [SIC]” – RIGHT after she said she’d text me. It was one of the lowest moments of my life.

But I’m a feminist, so I respected her wishes, sent a kind and classy goodbye text. And I put her out of my mind and moved on. I totally forgot about her.

And then I saw her at a bar. It was a total coincidence — small town, we’re bound to see each other eventually — but maybe she didn’t see me, or maybe she was avoiding me, or maybe the boyfriend that she probably cheated on me with kept her away from me. So — and I know I shouldn’t have done this — I texted her again. And I was pretty nice, but I just wanted to know what happened and if maybe we could just be friends.

Now she’s totally blocked me, on text, on all forms of social media. Granted, I’d had a few, and when she didn’t reply I got a little mad, and I might have gotten a little heated in text. But it was nothing compared to her rudeness to me, and by all rights I should have another chance to at least talk to her.

I just want to apologize and see if I can’t make it up to her. I really cared about her and she was a big person in my life. Even if we’re not going to be together I need to get right with her.

I know where she works. Can I go see her and explain myself to her? Or is that too much?

TL;DR: Went on a great date with a sweet girl after lots of flirty texts. We said some awful things to each other. Is there any way to fix this?

Edited to correct a few typos

Elis James and co assess the Champions League last 16, how José Mourinho will approach the Manchester derby and the reason behind his first pub visit

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

Elis James guest hosts as Barry Glendenning, Andy Brassell and Archie Rhind-Tutt return for a Football Weekly Extra as five English teams make it to the last 16 of the Champions League, while in the Europa League competition may be fiercer than ever (sorry, Celtic).

Cornel Borbély, Fifa’s ethics committee chairman, was investigating the alleged role of Russia’s deputy prime minister for sport, tourism and youth policy, Vitaly Mutko, in state-sponsored doping when world football’s ruling body abruptly removed the Swiss from his job in May.

Mutko was banned this week from all future Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee, which accepted evidence that he was centrally involved in systematic doping of athletes, but Fifa has taken no action. Formerly a Russian minister of sport, Mutko was alleged to have overseen the vast doping programmes before the 2012 London Olympics and 2014 Sochi Olympics. He is still president of the Russian football association and the organising committee for the World Cup next year.

• Controversial former goalkeeper becomes ninth candidate in the race.
• ‘I know exactly what US Soccer needs to do, I know exactly how to do it.’

Hope Solo, the controversial former United States goalkeeper, is running for president of the US Soccer Federation. The 36-year-old announced her surprise candidacy on Thursday night on Facebook.

Solo, who brings a crowded field to nine candidates, is the second woman to announce a bid for the job, joining Soccer United Marketing president Kathy Carter.

It says a lot for how badly things have panned out this season for Swansea and West Bromwich Albion that when they meet at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday with their minds beset by relegation worries, both clubs may choose to omit the signings about whom they were most excited in the summer. For Swansea and West Brom to attract talents of the pedigree of Renato Sanches and Grzegorz Krychowiak was a coup but so far both midfielders have been spectacular flops.

Rather than reignite their careers by leading their clubs to a higher level, each has sunk to personal nadirs, losing their places as their teams have tumbled down the league. Club and player alike must be wondering whether they have made terrible mistakes.

7amxG first half – Arsenal 1.64 – 0.43 Man U
7amxG full time – Arsenal 4.07 – 1.78 Man U*
7.33 – Manchester United’s expected goals for over the last four matches
12 – Goals Manchester United have scored over the last four matches
4 – Goals United scored from outside the 18 yard box against Watford (total xG for in that match just 1.12 for United)
7.69 – Man United’s expected goals against over the last four matches
4 – Actual goals Man United have allowed over the last four matches
7 – Big Chances saved by de Gea in the previous 14 Premier League matches
4 – Big chances saved by de Gea against Arsenal tonight
45 – Percent rate that all Big Chances are scored in the Premier League
11 – Big Chances Arsenal have created in the last two matches
5 – Big Chances Arsenal scored in the last two matches
1 – Coincidence that the scoring rate exactly matches the season average over the last two matches but it’s funny because Arsenal scored 4 (of 6) big chances in the match against Huddersfield and just 1 (of 5) against United

7 – Shots by Lacazette
4 – Big Chance shots by Lacazette
1 – Big chance goals by Lacazette
3 – Big Chances taken by Lacazette, saved by de Gea
19 – Minute Lacazette got his first big chance (Xhaka header)
31 – Minute Lacazette got a second big chance (Alexis cross blocked)
48 – Minute Lacazette scored a goal (assist Ramsey)
55 – Minute Lacazette got his last big chance (Iwobi)
55 – Minute Alexis got Arsenal’s last big chance (rebound off Lacazette’s shot)
63 – Minute Lingard scored United’s third goal (assist Pogba)
11 – Shots Arsenal took after United’s third goal
3 – Shots on goal by Arsenal after United’s third goal
2 – Number of those shots that were headers
1 – Shot in the 91st minute, on target, with a foot, from near the penalty spot, by Aaron Ramsey
0 – Big Chances for Arsenal after the 63rd minute

18 – Missed passes by Arsenal in the first 11 minutes
3 – Bad passes by Mustafi in the first 11 minutes (of 6)
4 – Bad passes by Kolasinac in the first 11 minutes (of 8)
3 – Bad passes by Lacazette in the first 11 minutes (of 7)
2 – Bad passes by Alexis in the first 11 minutes (of 7)
1 – Bad passes by each of Ozil, Ramsey, Xhaka, and Bellerin in the first 11 minutes
1 – Bad pass by Koscielny (he went 6/7) in the first 11 minutes (led to a goal)
0 – Bad passes by Monreal in the first 11 minutes
2 – Interceptions by United in the first 11 minutes
3 – Interceptions by Arsenal in the first 11 minutes
1 – Tackles by United in the first 11 minutes (led to a goal)
3 – Tackles by Arsenal in the first 11 minutes

Like I said in my preview this was always going to be one of those games where the stats didn’t matter. They do tell a story – Arsenal dominated passing 655 – 222, matched United in tackling with 24 each, forced United to make 65 clearances (they average just 25.5), took 33 shots to their 8, got 15 shots on target, and cut them open with 5 big chances. And it was literally just two poor actions from Koscielny and Mustafi which put Arsenal behind. Arsenal fought back and should have won the match but for the heroics of de Gea.

One last thing: Arsenal are now -8 in expected goals difference to actual goal difference which makes us one of the most “unlucky” teams in the League. Arsenal are creating chances, tons of them, and great ones at that, but they aren’t finishing them. Meanwhile Man U continue their run of “lucky” performances and they are +17 in expected goals difference versus actual goal difference. With Arsenal the problem is finishing (-6.4), United is leaning on de Gea and their defensive difference is +12.9.

*Orbinho is putting the xG for Arsenal at 5 and 1.82 for United. I know that Opta (where he works!) have much more detailed shots data than I do and I can think of at least 4 reasons why their xG is a whole goal higher than mine: Arsenal had four shots inside the 6 yard box against Man U, three of which were big chances. My (simple) xG model counts all the big chances the same (0.45) and at least two of those shots (Alexis and Lacazette) were point blank and almost certainly added more than 0.45. Think about Lingard’s third: what odds would you assign for that shot? 90%? I don’t have the data but it has to be pretty huge. Same with Alexis’ rebound shot that de Gea made a kick save on. Unbelievable stop from the United man.

Good morning, folks. Circumstances prevent me from doing a post-match stats blog tonight but since I am an early riser and I have time this morning I thought I’d do the next best thing and offer a match preview. A sort of “things to look out for” while watching the match.

The first thing you have probably already heard is that in Premier League play (all these stats below are for Premier League play only) Arsenal have won 11 straight home matches. If the table is sorted by home form Arsenal are in 2nd place behind only Man City.

Arsenal have played 6 home games this season and scored 15 goals (of 23 total goals scored) and allowed just 4 (of 16 total goals allowed). What’s crazy about Arsenal’s home defensive record isn’t just how much better it is than the away record, it’s that Arsenal have allowed just one goal in the last five home matches. And one major reason for Arsenal’s great defensive home form is the center back trinity of Monreal, Mustafi, and Koscielny (MMK?). When they have played together (home or away) Arsenal haven’t conceded a single goal.

Wenger is probably going to have to rotate Koscielny. When Arsenal have played Holding, they have conceded 9 goals in 5 matches. When they have played Mertesacker they have conceded 5 in 3. It’s obviously not entirely those two player’s fault for all those goals but there is a hint of weakness in the Arsenal defense when Wenger chooses one of them.

Meanwhile, Huddersfield’s away form is dreadful. They have played 6 scored 3 and allowed 11. I don’t know which crazy person was saying that they did well against Man City in their last match (it was a home game for them) but the stats show that they did not: they gave up five big chances to Guardiola’s team and only City’s profligacy in front of goal prevented that match from being a huge blowout.

Huddersfield’s last two away games were both blowout losses: 4-0 to Bournemouth and 3-0 to Liverpool. In the match against the Scousers they only took one shot. ONE SHOT. It was from distance and it was off target.

Huddersfield’s problem is that they can’t hold possession and they can’t counter attack. Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey leads the League in counter attack shots with 3 (he hasn’t scored one YET) but Huddersfield’s leading counter attacker is Aaron Mooy. He has just one counter attacking shot (which he scored). This combination of not being able to control the game with the ball and not being able to counter attack is the main reason why their away form is so bad.

I’m not expecting Arsenal to just waltz all over them but anything less than three points today would be a huge disappointment. They are 3rd in the League in tackles in away games with 20 and they lead the League in away fouls with 13.5. And they lead the League in yellow cards in away games with 2.5 (no reds) per game. They are also the most dispossessed team in the League on away days (13 per game). And they have zero key passes off corners and free kicks in away games as well. The stats I’m seeing here are a team that doesn’t possess the ball well, isn’t a long ball team, doesn’t counter well, and doesn’t do set plays well..

For Arsenal it might be smart to start Jack Wilshere and Olivier Giroud. I know that Giroud did his “Inanimate Carbon Rod” imitation in the last match but with Alexis in the team and Wilshere I expect a lot more close control and ability to break down opposition defenders. Wilshere averages 7.8 dribbles per game in Europa League play (4.8 successful) and Alexis averages 3.4 successful dribbles per game in Premier League play. If Huddersfield is going to sit back and soak up pressure, having Arsenal’s two best dribblers on the field should lead to some openings for the forwards.

Also, in away games, the Huddersfield players who foul the most are their center backs. We could see a lot of set plays for Arsenal today and in those types of games having one of either Giroud or Welbeck in there to take the hits and give Arsenal an aerial presence in attack could be key. Giroud has scored 26 Premier League goals with his head.

One final thought: as measured by expected goals, Arsenal are the fourth most underperforming team in the League. They are off pace by over 5 goals, which is to say that by averages on shots taken, you would expect Arsenal to have scored five more goals than they have so far this season. That is entirely down to Arsenal’s rather poor big chance (one on one with the keeper, counter attacks, open headers from close range, etc.) conversion rate of just 29%. Arsenal have created a third best 35 big chances this season but only converted 10. If they had converted at the League average of 46% they would have scored 6 more goals and almost certainly would have taken a point at Stoke and may have won the match against Chelsea. I expect Arsenal to get plenty of Big Chances today – the Gunners have created 21 big chances in our six home games for an average of 3.5 per game – and hopefully they will convert.

Follow me @7amkickoff on twitter or on 7amkickoff.com

Sources: WhoScored.com and my personal database

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If you’ve ever wished you could shrink yourself to live inside a book, these incredibly charming miniature houses made of hollowed-out books will only encourage further fantasizing. Florida-based artist Shannon Moore has been crafting these truly tiny houses since the 1970s, and you’re going to want to take a closer look, because those aren’t just doors and windows slapped onto the spines of old unwanted books.

Moore hollows out stacks and creates little rooms inside each one. The doors and windows are actually functional, so you can open them up, peer inside and check out the tiny wallpaper, wood floors, real LED lighting and other details. The miniaturist sometimes creates dollhouse scenes inside, with furniture, figurines and common household objects. The book houses are often made with encyclopedias and other outdated volumes.

She calls her creations ‘Bookboxes,’ and sells them for $200-$700 depending on the size and complexity. Some are up to three stories tall. You can even make special requests and get your own little custom hollow book house. It would be cool to put them on a bookshelf alongside your collection, blending in to all but the most observant visitors.

h/t Messy Nessy Chic

Isn’t it irritating when you’re having a baking problem and, for the life of you, can’t figure out what’s happening? Sunken yeast bread, dull-crusted brownies, cookies that spread into a puddle… sigh. At this time of year, if you’re like many of the bakers who call our Baker’s Hotline, how to keep pumpkin pie from […]

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His photographic manipulations are uncanny, creating bizarre effects and optical illusions, all while remaining highly realistic and (perhaps most impressively) quite true to the original real-life source material.

By working from actual photographs, Erik Johansson manages to capture but subvert everyday built environments. Take Under the Corner, for instance, a photo montage he worked on for months.”I shot all the buildings in Prague,” he explains, and “combined the photos using Photoshop. No CGI or illustrated elements.”

He also spent a long time with one of his latest works, Self Supporting, which he says was an “idea I’ve been carrying with me for a long time. I find the structural properties of an arch interesting, where each part is supporting the other. If you remove one it will all collapse but as long as the structure is untouched it will remain strong.”

The landscape for Self Supporting was shot in Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic and the houses were photographed in Prague and Stockholm. One of the constituent structures is shown above. “The sketches start very simple but over time become more detailed.” He sometimes uses SketchUp to model his ideas, but says they also get reshaped by the source material he photographs.

Full Moon Service is about as surreal as the come, but there is a surprising amount of reality baked in per the behind-the-scenes video above. “I brought out 7 rice lamps, 7 light bulbs, an electric generator, a car and two models out in a field” in Sweden, recalls Johansson. It still required some magic, though. “The main part that has been retouched in this photo is to replace the rice ball with a moon texture, the light and the mood was very close to what you see in the photo.”

More from the artist’s website: “Erik Johansson (born 1985) is a photographer and image creator from Sweden based in Prague, Czech Republic. His work can be described as surreal scenes created by combining different photographs. Erik works on both personal and commissioned projects with clients all around the world. In contrast to traditional photography he doesn’t capture moments, he captures ideas with the help of his camera and imagination. The goal is to make it look as realistic as possible even if the scene itself contains impossible elements. In the end it all comes down to problem solving, finding a way to capture the impossible.”

By now, most of us are aware of the abandoned, once-forgotten subway stations and other underground wonders hidden beneath the streets of cities around the world. There are even entire cities beneath cities, like Seattle’s Underground. But what about the more obscure secret spaces right under our noses, that we may pass every day as we go along our routines, never knowing of their existence? You could be walking over a reproduction of the Holy Land, a beautiful Art Deco time capsule, a secret canal or a (literally) underground drag racing strip without having a single clue.

Secret Entrance to the White House

(images via Elliot Carter, Atlas Obscura)

Residents of Washington. D.C. probably walk or drive past this unremarkable alleyway all the time, never paying particular attention to the vehicles that go in or come out. But it’s actually a secret back door to the White House created in the 1940s, and the only reason we know that is through archival newspaper reports from the time, when it was just a matter of relatively yawn-worthy public interest. Perhaps the Secret Service would rather we didn’t know about it, especially since they have installed a bulletproof kiosk into the wall at the entrance for their own staff. The secret route winds around the block, into an IRS building and ultimately empties into a subterranean granite vault built during World War II. No doubt, it’s just one of several such routes, and though it’s low-key public information, you probably don’t want to march right up to the H Street entrance unless you’re looking to get some special Secret Service attention.

Lower-Lower Wacker Drive Under Chicago

(images via: Chicago Reader, digiwonk)

Some people call it the Bat Cave. Others, the Magic Road. You need a special pass card to gain entrance at either end, which makes it feel exclusive to those who zip through its cramped quarters full of concrete pillars. Lower Wacker Drive, which first opened in 1926, is unknown to many Chicagoans, while those who’ve been aware of it for decades roll their eyes at every person who thinks they ‘discovered’ the ‘secret’ passage designed for service vehicles and convention buses. Many skyscrapers along the route open directly to Lower Wacker Drive at basement level for deliveries and garbage trucks. But many a proudly in-the-know Chicago resident may still be unaware that there’s actually a Lower Lower Wacker Drive, built in 1975 for parking and storage. Most people only find out about it when their vehicle is towed to a notoriously hard to access impound lot located on this level. Others who live in the skyscrapers nearby may just wonder if they’re losing their minds when they hear the echoes of the illegal drag racing that goes on along this subterranean route every weekend.

Chattanooga’s Secret Underground City

(images via: picnooga)

There’s a whole other Chattanooga under the current Chattanooga, and nobody knows why. When you descend into the basement levels of many old businesses built in the 19th century, you’ll find windows and doors that lead nowhere, evidence of a lower level that disappeared underground when the city built up its roads between 1875 and 1905. Some people think they did this to avoid flooding from the Tennessee River, while others believe they may have thought it would help stop the spread of infectious diseases like cholera that ravaged residents at the time. It’s hard to really get a sense of the size and scale of this forgotten layer, because it’s almost entirely located on private property. Documentation of construction at the time is almost non-existent, so there’s no digging through archives to solve the mystery. Historians don’t even know where the city got the soil to fill it all in. Naturally, the owners of some of these structures have turned them into tourist attractions with various kinds of tours, and legends of ghosts have proliferated.

A Hidden Stream Beneath Indianapolis

When it’s mentioned in the novel Underground Airlines by Ben Winters, the subterranean river called Pogue’s Run under Indianapolis seems fictional like everything else in the story, which imagines a reality in which slavery in America was never officially abolished. But it’s actually real, running under the city for two and a half miles, a popular destination for urban explorers, who often traverse it by bike. It’s dark and dank, infested with terrifyingly robust rats and gigantic insects. It was directed under the city back when urban streams were essentially open sewers, and mostly hidden under structures like an old parking lot that was removed in the ‘90s, revealing a stretch of it to the public. It lies beneath the only stretch of the city that isn’t perfectly gridded and symmetrical, its own proportions screwing up the plan, and ends where the canal converges with the White River.

Catacombs of Washington

(images via: Mr.TinDC, Lawrence OP, David, Flickr CC)

Of all the many secrets that can be found beneath street level in our nation’s capital, this complex of dim passages might be one of the strangest and most unexpected. Guests who want to explore it enter through a dramatic ‘secret’ gated entrance located near the pulpit of a Franciscan monastery. What they’ll find inside is an almost Disney-like recreation of ‘The Holy Land,’ full of fake graves and reproduction grottoes cast from aggregate cement. The Catacombs of D.C. were created by the monks for North Americans who can’t afford to take a trip overseas. For all the fakery, there’s one grave that’s actually real, containing the skeleton of a seven- or eight-year-old child believed to be a martyr from the second century.

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Secret Spaces 12 Architectural Easter Eggs Hidden Under Our Noses

Premier League chairmen have voted unanimously in favour of a broadcast tender under which between 190 and 210 games will be shown live on British television each season from 2019-20.

The tender will go out to broadcasters before Christmas and will almost certainly make the world’s richest league even wealthier with a significant increase in the 168 games now aired live each season.

Ukrainian pastry chef Dnara Kasko is at it again, this time with an algorithmically-modeled desert made up of 81 distinctly shaped pieces.

Kakso drew inspiration from artists and engineers and used Grasshopper, a digital program, to create a fresh take on a traditional pyramid cake.

Inside: each slice features mousse, ganache, and meringue of chocolate ruby. The berry confit at the center is complimented by a biscuit below.

But this is far from the chef’s first creation. Kasko is known for artistic collaborations and the use of modeling programs to play with materials, shapes and gravity.

Above: The Streusel — an almond sponge cake, confit blackberry-blueberry, mousse with blackberry and mascarpone tart .

In many cases, the results are starkly architectural, looking like Postmodern or Deconstructivist structures designed by the likes of Venturi, Gehry or Libiskind. Reportedly, they taste quite amazing as well.

If you’re sober, pregnant or otherwise unable or unwilling to consume alcohol, you can still enjoy whatever cocktails you crave with a high-tech drinking glass that simulates three layers of senses to trick you into tasting flavors that aren’t really there. Invented by Nimesha Ranasinghe, the ‘Vocktail’ or ‘virtual cocktail’ glass can either augment the ingredients of your choice to make your real cocktail more complex, or make a glass of plain water taste like expensive scotch.

The first ‘layer’ of sensory simulation is the color cast onto the liquid by LED lights, giving our brains an idea of what to expect from the flavor. The second is tiny pumps of scent located along the rim, spraying these all-important molecules right in front of our noses. But the third, and most impressive, is a series of electrodes that send signals to the tongue, altering the flavor of what we think we’re tasting.

The glass is interesting (and potentially game-changing) in and of itself, but consider how technology like this could dramatically alter our experience of the internet and virtual reality. As part of his research work at the National University of Singapore, Ranasinghe also developed TasteXML, a markup language for flavor, as well as Taste Over IP, a protocol for transmitting flavors over the internet.

The inventor describes the latter creation thusly:

“Taste Over IP (Taste/IP) is a new methodology (framework) for integrating the sensation of taste with the existing digital communication domain. Taste/IP has three core modules: the transmitter, form of communication, and receiver. The transmitter is an AndroidTM mobile application, where the sender formulates a taste message to send. At present, we are conducting research on transferring basic taste sensations known as sour, salty, bitter, and sweet.”

“Then, for communication, we present a new extensible markup language (XML) format, the TasteXML (TXML) to specify the format of taste messages. TasteXML is a Remote Procedure Calling protocol that works over the Internet. TasteXML messages are set of encrypted requests and responses. The body of both request and response are in XML format. As the receiver (actuator), we use the Digital Taste Interface, a novel method for stimulating taste sensations on human.
We believe, in the future, this technology may use to implement digital taste sharing platforms and social networking services.”