Every single time, a failure is down to *multiple* factors: a series of failures that all manage to align when unforeseen circumstances make failure not just a possibility, but an inevitability. Factors include human negligence or ignorance, lack of training/education, under-designing, building with materials inadequate for the job (either from cutting costs or because they don't know yet that the materials aren't enough)...

Been watching a lot of disaster shows lately, specifically engineering disasters. Partly it's the morbid fascination with destruction, but another big part of it is the problem-solving that goes into a) figuring out what went wrong, & b) figuring out how to prevent it from happening again.

The tree wasn't terribly tall, and squirrels don't have much mass, so fortunately none got terribly injured, mostly just dazed for a while. We tried to keep on top of cleaning up the decaying plums, but weren't always successful.

Those little rodents would get absolutely shitfaced and turn into total clowns. They'd run halfway up the trunk and lose their grip and fall, or they'd leap from one branch to another and miss. When they sat up they'd wobble and fall over. Funniest was when they tried to leap at the trunk to climb it and would smash into it face first instead.

Inevitably, many would fall on the ground once ripe, and ferment there. Then squirrels would eat them.

If you have never seen a drunk squirrel, it is one of the funniest things on the planet.

When I was a kid we had an Italian plum tree in our yard. It was decades old and every year produced an abundance of the most luscious plums it's been my privilege to enjoy. Sometimes the branches would be so laden with fruit they'd actually break towards the ends.

The birbs visiting my feeder are Anna's hummingbirbs. Mostly females. Every so often a male will come around, and usually get chased off pretty quickly by the female already at the feeder.

Just refilled the hummingbird feeder. Those little gals are sucking the thing dry.

Also, can hummingbirds get drunk? I think the last bit of sugar water fermented slightly...

The construction is elaborate - it's like applied engineering, the way so much Tudor clothing was built. And it looks absolutely ridiculous. I mean that drum thing is bad enough, but then there were those massive poofy sleeves & the enormous ruffs that just got wider & wider & wider until they needed their own frames for support... utterly laughable. Reminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eej3_Zn8bD8

On a tangential note, I personally find late Tudor fashion to be a study in contrasts. On the one hand, the materials used to make them were stunning: the jewels & pearls to decorate them, the silk velvets & rich fabrics, the intricate embroidery, the color palettes - absolutely sumptuous & beautiful.

& then they have to go & ruin it by making people look like they're standing in a drum.

And speaking of the Ditchley Portrait, in 2022 an original showed up in an episode of 'Antiques Roadshow' in a small collection of Elizabethan textiles, along with the sleeve is likely supported, and some linens made by the queen and her ladies. The sleeve may have been the one worn in the famous portrait. https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/bbcstudios/2022/unique-500-year-old-tudor-sleeve-and-textiles-made-by-queen-elizabeth-i-turn-up-at-antiques-roadshow-in-nottingham

The farthingale sleeve served as the support for these big poofy leg-o'-mutton sleeves worn by the well-heeled towards the latter part of the 1500s. Elizabeth I is wearing a set in the Ditchley Portrait. She's also wearing a French or drum farthingale, so named because it made the wearer look as if they were standing in a drum. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw02079/Queen-Elizabeth-I-The-Ditchley-portrait

The farthingale *sleeve* came about later in the 16th century. It's the same principle as the farthingale skirt: a sleeve supported by a series of hoops of varying sizes, that go up the arm instead of down the skirt.

Portrait is about a quarter of the way down the page in that link.

A farthingale was a conical hoop skirt worn under gowns in the 16th century. It was invented by the Spanish & is commonly thought to have been brought to England by Katherine of Aragon, though apparently she didn't wear it much while she was there. Her daughter, Mary I, did wear them, as did Elizabeth I. Check out this Tudor family portrait for an idea: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/mary-i-facts-myths

Today I learned about the English farthingale sleeve. https://rosemarygriggs.co.uk/blog/22/

My late wiener dog once ate an entire stick of butter. That was an interesting couple of days...

I mean, up until literally the 1840s, every single piece of thread for every hank of yarn or piece of cloth, from children's smallclothes to the sails of ships, was handspun. Get rid of every spindle and spinning wheel, and you've basically gutted your fiber production on a fundamental level. I can't imagine the impact to the national economy.

So you know the whole thing in the story, Sleeping Beauty, where it was foretold she would die by pricking her finger on a spindle when she was 16 years old? And her dad, the king, thought it'd be a great idea to burn all the spindles and spinning wheels in the land? Did anybody ever think about the impact to the cloth and fiber trade that would have?

Well that was a ride. Holy mackerel. Five chainsaws out of five, I'll say. Highly recommended. Get a raw steak, some red wine, prepare for blood, and it fits the mood well.