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Open Thread: Castles Are Forever
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Open Thread: Castles Are Forever

Fridays are for learning and contemplation

Rusty Foster
Apr 2, 2021
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Open Thread: Castles Are Forever
www.todayintabs.com

Yes, I saw the Gaetz news, but there’s probably nothing you or I can do about that today. Fridays are for learning and contemplation.

Learning:

Anil Dash on how he and Kevin McCoy invented NFTs, and how it didn’t go the way they expected:

The idea behind NFTs was, and is, profound. Technology should be enabling artists to exercise control over their work, to more easily sell it, to more strongly protect against others appropriating it without permission. By devising the technology specifically for artistic use, McCoy and I hoped we might prevent it from becoming yet another method of exploiting creative professionals. But nothing went the way it was supposed to. Our dream of empowering artists hasn’t yet come true, but it has yielded a lot of commercially exploitable hype.

Contemplation:

Let’s look at castles! “Scottish Castles Are Rare, Huge and Very Expensive” in the Wall St. Journal has some sympathetic burbling about how it’s a shame Lord Whosis and the Countess of Whatshershire have to sell the family seat, but honestly we’re all just here for the glamour shots.

An incredible yellow and blue kitchen in Earlshall castle
“The kitchen at Earlshall Castle, installed by its current owners Josine and Paul Veenhuijzen.” (via WSJ)
Picture of topiary and the exterior of Earlshall Castle
“Earlshall Castle, which is close to Scotland’s famous golfing location St Andrews.” (via WSJ)

And via Laura Olin, who has an excellent weekly newsletter herself, here’s Introspective Magazine on Jeremy Irons’s Irish castle and passion for interior design. It’s a couple years old but castles are forever. Don’t miss the bedroom with a wicker ceiling!

The living room of Jeremy Irons castle, with life sized wooden horse.
“The actor says he positioned the horse to ‘stand and watch the door into the main living room, the way white horses would face the enemy.’” (via Introspective Magazine)
Two detail pictures from Jeremy Irons castle, a bunkbed and a Gothic-arched doorway
Classic as heck. (via Introspective Magazine)

It’s an open thread! Happy Friday, happy weekend, next week the new Intern starts! Who will it be? I don’t know yet, I’m deciding today, but there are some very strong applicants. If you’re a subscriber, hit the 💬 and say hi.

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Open Thread: Castles Are Forever
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Rusty Foster
Apr 2, 2021Author

I just made a meatloaf sandwich with swiss cheese and wasabi mayo, it was extremely good. I think my least favorite thing about pandemic has been making lunch every day, but today I nailed it.

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Mark Slutsky
Writes Something Good
Apr 2, 2021Liked by Rusty Foster

Years ago I was on a whisky-tasting tour of Scotland on behalf of an online publication. One of the events was a dinner at Ballindalloch Castle. (As you many know, these old estates can significantly reduce their tax burden if they open themselves up to the public.) The castle's... owners? inhabitants? were there to play host and chat with us, and I will always remember the Lord of the castle, bedecked in a kilt, leaning in to me and asking in confidence, in the plummiest of accents, "Presumably you 'Twitter'?"

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