Last Weak  |  Index  |  Next Weak

Weak XXXV

28 August 2011

No. 653 (cartoon)

I’m elated and drunk.

I’m drunk and elated.

Channels change, but rivers always reach the sea.

29 August 2011

Looking Over Things Previous Overlooked

I’m spending today looking over things previous overlooked. This endeavor will take some time, possibly the rest of my life. That’s art.

30 August 2011

The California Department of Transportation Defines Incompetence

Sally hates hates hates the California Department of Transportation; she hates hates hates the government agency for its bungling management of roads in the region. That’s why she spent an hour on the telephone taking a survey in order to complain complain complain.

“The agency is incompetent,” she concluded.

“How do you spell that?” the interviewer asked.

“My point exactly,” she replied.

31 August 2011

Craps in a Bock

English is a ridiculously difficult language. That’s why I’m not really being critical of Tim’s Chinese wife, Mae. She made a simple, but understandable mistake of confusing the singular with the plural and vice versa.

“Put your craps in a bock,” she commanded Tim.

Tim knew better than to argue; that’s why they’re still married.

1 September 2011

Slightly Imbecilic Work

Julian frequently nags me—although he’d call it constructive criticism—about my lack of a proper job. After ignoring him for years, I finally gave up and sent him a Marcel Duchamp quote.

“I consider working for a living slightly imbecilic from an economic point of view. I hope that some day we’ll be able to live without being obliged to work. Thanks to my luck, I was able to manage without getting wet. I understood, at a certain moment, that it wasn’t necessary to encumber one’s life with too much weight, with too many things to do, with what is called a wife, children, a country house, an automobile. And I understood this, fortunately, rather early.”

That shut him up; even Julian knows better than to argue with Duchamp.

2 September 2011

Urinal Selection Probabilities

Klara’s back from La Biennale di Venezia; she reported that a piece featuring urinals was one of the most interesting works she saw there.

What is it about art and urinals? I have no idea, but there it is. I couldn’t resist the appeal, so I didn’t. That’s why I finally got around to fabricating a piece I’ve been thinking about for decades, Urinal Selection Probabilities. It was simple; I only needed to photograph urinals at the Internet Archive and add this text.

Visitors to a small bathroom with two urinals located at 37°46'55.85"N, 122°28'17.86"W were monitored by surveillance sensors from 1 September 2010 through 31 August 2011. The resulting data predict that fifty-seven percent of future users may be expected to use the left urinal, with the remaining forty-three percent taking advantage of the right urinal.

In the first version of the piece, I added the geographic coordinates and and percentages to the image. I later decided to simply present the photograph along with the text. After all, what can go wrong with urinals?

Last Weak  |  Index  |  Next Weak
©2011 David Glenn Rinehart