Sunday Overnight Open Thread - August 16, 2026 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Sunday ONT. Open thread, as always. Fashion and music, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?

[Top photo: White pine tree remnant on the banks of Plymouth Harbor (short walk from Plymouth Rock). Photo taken in July 2026. Grok says the root ball / stump was spotted in September 2014 by the whale-watch boat Tales of the Sea about 2 miles off-shore then recovered by the vessel Protector. I am unable to find any information online about this. Weird.]

No Flock stuff tonight - but something else in the surveillance overreach realm

WALMART IS SELLING 75-INCH 4K TVs FOR $40 — AND PEOPLE STILL WON’T TOUCH THEM

Walmart has 75-inch 4K Roku TVs sitting on shelves with a $428 sticker price… but when you scan them in the app they ring up for just $40.

Similar deals are everywhere.
Costco is clearing 100-inch TVs for $499.
The shelves are still full because a lot of people have figured out the real cost.

These new smart TVs force you to create a Walmart or Vizio account just to turn them on.

Once you do, the operating system tracks everything you watch... even from cable boxes, game consoles, or streaming sticks.

It links that data to your purchases, your location, and your family habits so they can push personalized ads and dynamic pricing.

You’re not just buying a TV.
You’re buying a surveillance device that lives in your living room.

Would you take a $40 75-inch TV if it meant handing Walmart a permanent window into everything you watch… or is the “deal” actually the trap?

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Wholesome content

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College football season is almost here. The University of Miami at one point was a powerhouse (are they still? - I don't really know or care). Let's take a peek into their branding

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How many continents are there on Earth? Seven, right? Wrong!

Earth has had eight continents all along — the one missing from every map and school textbook is nearly twice the size of India, 94 percent underwater, and has been quietly sitting beneath the South Pacific for 85 million years

A political map shows New Zealand, New Caledonia and a scatter of islands surrounded by blue. A geological map asks a more revealing question: what kind of crust continues beneath that water? Follow the rocks, gravity, magnetism and seafloor shape, and the islands become the visible peaks of Te Riu-a-Māui / Zealandia, a coherent continent-sized body of crust almost entirely below sea level.

Geophysicist Bruce Luyendyk proposed the name Zealandia in 1995. The name gained force in 2017, when Nick Mortimer and ten co-authors set out the geological case in GSA Today. Their estimate put its area at about 4.9 million square kilometres, with roughly 94 per cent below present sea level. New Zealand and New Caledonia are among the largest portions above water, not isolated pieces floating independently in oceanic crust.

The argument was not that scientists had discovered a new landmass in 2017. Ships, satellites and coastal nations already knew the ridges and plateaus were there. The advance was classification. As the team’s research institute explained at the time, decades of geological and geophysical evidence supported treating those features as one 4.9-million-square-kilometre continent rather than a loose collection of submerged fragments.

Lots more at the link.

Here's an interesting (in my opinion, at least) video about Zealandia

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Have you decided on your preferred disposition for your remains after you are gone? How about rotting in some dirt for a while near Baltimore?

1st human composting facility on East Coast opens in Maryland

The funeral provider Earth has opened the East Coast's first composting facility.

The 37,000-square-foot facility, which has spaces to educate families and a private room to say goodbye, purports to be the largest of its kind in the world. The vessel room, where the soil transformation process is undergone, consists of 15,000 square feet and has the capacity for 126 vessels, cofounder and CEO Tom Harries told 7News.

“We’re accelerating the process through science and technology," Harries explained. "Completely natural. No chemicals, no insects.”

The entire process takes about 30 days, producing an average of 250 to 300 pounds of nutrient-rich soil, according to Harries. Families can choose how much soil they'd like to keep and have Earth donate the rest to conservation projects.

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More than a dozen states, including Maryland, have legalized human composting.

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Buermeyer said he feels cemeteries become wasted land after several generations, when people are less likely to visit their relatives buried there.

"For a couple of generations, you might go back and honor them with flowers or something like that, but two or three generations away? It's a whole different mindset that factored into my thinking," he explained.

What say you, Hordelings? You cool with the idea of being composted? I say whatever is most cost effective for my loved ones once I'm gone!

'Ette Couture (Courtesy of Piper)

It's that time of the week - when we turn the ONT over to our good friend Piper for a bit. Here's this week's fashion pr0n.

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From Battlefield to Red Carpet: The Surprising History of High Heels

High heels are one of fashion’s most enduring icons. Today they’re synonymous with femininity, power dressing, and red-carpet glamour. But their origins are far more practical (and masculine) than most people realize. Here’s the full story of how a tool of war became a symbol of status, sexuality, and style.

Practical Beginnings: Persian Cavalry (10th Century Onward)
The high heel wasn’t invented for fashion. Shoe historians, including Elizabeth Semmelhack of the Bata Shoe Museum, trace the earliest heels to Western Asia, particularly Persia (modern-day Iran) as early as the 10th century. Mounted archers wore heeled boots to lock their feet securely into stirrups. This gave them stability to stand and shoot arrows while riding at speed.85
These were functional tools of warfare and horsemanship, not decorative accessories and remain so today.

Crossing into Europe: Status Symbol for Men (Late 16th–17th Century)
Heels arrived in Europe around the turn of the 17th century through diplomatic and trade contacts with Persia. Shah Abbas I sent missions seeking alliances against the Ottomans, and European aristocrats were captivated by the exotic, masculine Persian style.

What began as practical riding footwear quickly became a pure status symbol. Only those who didn’t perform manual labor could afford the impracticality of elevated shoes. Heels grew higher as a way for the elite to distinguish themselves.

No one embodied this better than France’s Louis XIV (the Sun King). Standing around 5’4”–5’5”, he favored red-heeled shoes (often 4 inches or more) as a mark of royal privilege. Red dye was expensive, to boot (see what I did there?). Louis restricted red heels to the king and favored courtiers, an early form of fashion as social control.

Platform Interlude: Venetian Chopines
While true heels were rising in northern Europe, Venetian women (especially courtesans and the wealthy) wore extreme platform shoes called chopines. These could reach extraordinary heights, sometimes over a foot, to keep skirts out of muddy streets and signal status. They were more stilts than heels, but they show the long European fascination with elevated footwear.

The Gender Shift and Decline (18th–Early 19th Century)
By the early 18th century, Enlightenment ideals and changing ideas of masculinity pushed heels out of men’s fashion. They came to be seen as frivolous and feminine. After the French Revolution, anything associated with aristocratic excess (including high heels) fell sharply out of favor.
Heels largely disappeared from both men’s and women’s wardrobes for a time, replaced by more practical low-heeled or flat styles.

Revival and the Birth of the Modern Heel (Mid-19th to Mid-20th Century)

Heels returned for women in the mid-to-late 19th century with the rise of more fitted, feminine silhouettes. By the early 20th century they were firmly established in women’s fashion seen on flappers, movie stars, and everyday wearers in varying heights and shapes (T-straps, Mary Janes, etc.).

The true game-changer arrived in the 1950s: the stiletto. New materials technology (a thin but strong metal shank or rod inside the heel) made extremely high, narrow heels possible without breaking. Designers including Salvatore Ferragamo, Roger Vivier (often credited with refining the “aiguille” or needle heel for Christian Dior), and André Perugia all contributed to its development and popularization.

Named after the Italian dagger, the stiletto transformed the silhouette of the foot and the way women walked. Hollywood icons like Marilyn Monroe helped cement its sexy, glamorous image.

20th Century and Beyond: Cycles of Height and Meaning
Heels have risen and fallen with fashion ever since:

 • 1960s–70s: Platforms and chunkier styles mixed with the classic stiletto for both men and women

 • 1980s: Power-dressing spike heels.

 • 1990s–2000s: Everything from kitten heels to sky-high versions popularized by designers like Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin (whose red soles echo Louis XIV’s signature).

 • Today: Heels remain a red-carpet staple and personal style statement, even as comfort-focused alternatives (sneakers, flats, chunky soles) dominate everyday wear.

Why Heels Endure
From Persian battlefields to Versailles, Hollywood, and modern runways, high heels have always been about more than height. They signal status, reshape the body, convey power or allure, and reflect the cultural values of their time. What began as a practical tool for warriors became one of fashion’s most potent (and debated) symbols.
The next time you slip on a pair or simply admire them from afar, remember: you’re participating in a story that stretches back more than a thousand years.

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Thanks, Piper!

The rest of you - Don't forget to check out Piper's X page.

DJ Doof - King and Queen Edition
From thisdayinmusic.com

Today marks the anniversaries of the deaths of The King (of Rock and Roll) and The Queen (of Soul).

On this date in 1977 - Elvis Presley was found dead lying on the floor in his bathroom by his girlfriend Ginger Alden, he had been seated on the toilet reading 'The Scientific Search For Jesus'. He died of heart failure at the age of 42.

On this date in 2018 - American singer and songwriter Aretha Franklin died in Detroit at the age of 76. Known as ‘The Queen of Soul’ and one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide was diagnosed with cancer in 2010.

They both had some acting credits too

Tonight's ONT brought to you by improvisation

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