bookofjoe

'Seated Female Nude' — Lyubov Popova

I first learned of the existence of this artist when the painting above appeared on my Page-A-Day Gallery desk calendar.

I always try to guess the artist before reading the fine print description; in this case I was sure it had to be Picasso, Braque, or Gris.

Wrong!

Lyubov Popova (April 24, 1889–May 25, 1924) painted this oil on canvas in the years 1913/14/15; it's now in a private collection.

This only goes to confirm me in my belief that for every artist who's known and famous, there are a thousand more equally talented who will forever remain unknown because of bad luck, chance, and circumstance.

OSS Guide to Disrupting Meetings (1944)

From Authentic Communications:

The guide was written by the OSS, predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency which was founded in 1947.

It was created during the Second World War, to instruct and guide sympathetic Axis citizens to stir up sh*t (technical phrase).

The general idea was to create chaos at the coal face; empower potential allies and equip disgruntled citizens with the tools to disturb and disrupt businesses and organizations, with an apparent aim to cause rumbling difficulties in the economy.

Some instructions are out of date, as you'd expect, while others sound oddly familiar. The section entitled "General Interference with Organizations and Productions" (top) is bang on.

The guide was declassified by the CIA in 2008.

More here.

[via Clive Thompson]

Fire Extinguisher Lighter

Ooh, kind of a physical oxymoron.

I wonder if there's a word for such.

Shades of R. Mutt.

But I digress.

$7.49.