Scotland's Turntable

 In a bygone era, musical discoverability was an easy thing - if you had money to burn and the ear of an influential program director or two. Some bands and artists ran up the charts with almost supernatural dexterity and a seemingly permanent exemption from the laws of gravity. Others played their hearts out and it was never enough. Today, new platforms have made it both easier and harder to get noticed. Algorithms analyze your choices on platforms like Spotify and YouTube to craft new suggestions. But sometimes good old word of mouth survives in hallowed spaces such as this Facebook group which combines nostalgic vinyl imagery with song suggestions. It's an elegant fusion of past obsessions conquering new horizons. Music varies from the eclectic, mystical pop of Kate Bush, the gritty realism of Tom Waits, hard rocking Led Zeppelin, Blue Oyster Cult and Scorpions, Marillion to the electronic work of Kraftwerk, Gary Numan and Ultravox. As expected, there's a fair amount of eighties Britpop classics and rarities, but there are also new vinyl re-issues and limited editions featured. I loved seeing records in non-standard colors or even picture disks. In a few cases, even the label art was beautiful. And occasionally something truly obscure gets to be aired again.

Members: 34.1k, at the time of writing.

Trigger warnings: None.

Go here to visit or join. 

Related Posts: 

Dance Accepts Everyone

Weird (and wonderful) secondhand Finds That Just Need to Be Shared

Show Your Home Library

Keep the Dream Flowing - A Podcast About Woodstock 1969

Dance Accepts Everyone

Founder Adam Boreland created the dance-positive Facebook Group Dance Accepts Everyone in response to a news anchor's comment about Prince George's ballet lessons. According to an online biography, Adam is a highly trained professional dancer who has taken on principal roles in productions of Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Moulin Rouge and Peter Pan. From the perspective of someone with zero training in dance like myself, Adam's beautiful dexterity and grace seems almost super-human and impossible to achieve, but his infectious joy opens the door for anyone to join in. There is a somewhat humorous clip of a high kick gone wrong and the triumph of a smiling, tap-dancing granny of almost 102. A sinuously emotive sidewalk performance. A vintage Audrey Hepburn clip. Catch Adam himself live for his inspiring Monday Motivation sessions. Other posts highlight the way dancing informs other aspects of lives. Its ability to heal and rejuvenate. The way dance celebrates the union of music and movement.

Members: 412.2k, at the time of writing.

Trigger Warnings: None.

Go here to visit or join.

Related posts:

Medieval Mirth & Jollity

New Cranky Old Women

Film Locations - Then and Now 

Windmills

In the arid Karoo of South Africa, windmills are lifelines, to supply scarce water to man and beast. They also serve as lone landmark in a landscape that seems almost featureless. One could almost say that they emphasize the atmosphere of desolation. But they can also be found in Namibia, Texas, Kansas, Michigan, Iowa, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya. In the American Great Plains, windmills transformed the terrain from desert to breadbasket of the nation. Penong in Southern Australia features 20 restored windmills as a roadside attraction. Dutch windmills are a completely different kettle of salted herring, partly because they fulfill a different function. Shorter and stockier, the iconic windmills of the Netherlands serve to take charge of an over-abundance of water, in a country that is partially below sea level. From the Middle Ages, mills stood at the heart of a community's economic activity, used in the production of flour, mustard, snuff, cocoa, oil, chalk and even paint. They can even be used for communication - the position of the sails can be used to share important messages such as deaths, weddings or even warnings during time of warfare. If you know of a windmill you'd like to share with the world, this Facebook group is the platform to show it.

Members: 67k, at the time of writing.

Trigger warnings: None.

Go here to visit or join. 

Related Posts:

Death Stairs

Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies

Footplate Memories

Snapshots of the World

Death Stairs

 They can be found lurking below trap doors or behind secret corners, at the apex of precarious yet scenic trails, in tourist hot spots, on Airbnb, navigating public transport or even forming a nail-bitingly dramatic backdrop to fictional thrills on the big screen. Like it or not, death stairs are everywhere. While Amsterdam seems to be the world capital of death stairs, and China takes particular delight in terrifying innocent travelers with jaw-dropping engineering feats such as the Staircase to the Sky, British double-decker buses can compete with the best of vertical challenges. Whether you are looking at asymmetric mal-alignments, industrial spaces from hell, obsessions with efficient design that toss user safety to the wayside, rail-free circular steps or even wheelchair access ramps that are strangely inaccessible to the disabled, the users of this Facebook Group track down offenders to shame them. Even the Great Pyramid of Giza, with its claustrophobically narrow interior and the fabulous dwarven kingdoms of Tolkien are not spared.

Members: 952k, at the time of writing.

Trigger Warnings: Vertigo by proxy.

Go here to visit or join.

Related posts:

Film Locations - Then and Now

Show Your Home Library

Steps and Stairs appreciation society

Weird (and wonderful) secondhand Finds That Just Need to Be Shared

We all love a bargain, or even just the opportunity to peer at an anonymous someone's pre-loved treasures. After all, one man's trash, as the saying goes... Whether it's Goodwill, Facebook Marketplace or just some anonymous car boot sale, if you're stumbled upon something random and truly awesome, snap a pic and share your story to this fascinating Facebook group. Items range from the quirky and the gorgeous to the occasionally gory. There are plenty of ceramics, for some reason, but other finds include hand-crafted dolls, music boxes, salt and pepper shakers, antique lamps, art and an extensive collection of bowling balls, but you will also see vintage telephones, miniature cottages, whimsical paintings, antique silver mugs and even a many-spouted tea pot (or should we say tea pot shaped porcelain folly?). Scrolling through the posts filled me with awe for the most eclectic collection of random wonders. 

Members: 3.5 Million, at the time of writing

Trigger Warnings: None.

Go here to visit or join. 

Related posts:

The Art Portal

Paper Mache on the Wild side

Barbie Vintage, Silkstone and Reproduction Collection

I Love Cappybara

 Despite the fact that they are the size of a large dog, and can weigh as much as an adult human, cappybara are still classed as rodents. And yes, they do exist outside the strange reality of jaw-dropping social media memes. For scale, they are frequently portrayed with pets, such as cats, their rodent-like features at odds with their gigantic size. Even without captions, cappybara are effortlessly instagramable with their distinctly unphased expressions. Although many photos show them interacting with members of their own species, there are also snapshots of cappybara chilling in domestic environments. The I Love Cappybara Facebook Group is linked to Capybara's Planet, a group that promotes Cappybara-themed merchandize.

Members: 9.4k, at the time of writing

Trigger warnings: None.

Go here to visit or join. 

Related Posts:

Animals in Art Through History

Furries in Unusual Places

Assateague Island Pony Pictures

Sunrises and Sunsets of the World

Whether it be the silvery slithers of new light that signify the start of another day, or the golden, sun-drenched glory that marks the end of it, there is something romantic and special about sunrise and sunset. Both prompt you equally towards self-reflection with their beauty. When travelling, a sunset infuses the watcher with the magic of transitions - be they temporal or geographical. But they also touch of the timelessness of our shared appreciation of beauty. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's wise Little Prince exalted in the sunsets of his tiny home planet and mourned the fact that Earth's sunsets were a whole twenty-four hours apart. He might have loved this group, where you can experience a thousand sunsets around the world, simply by scrolling further. Goodnight, beautiful planet. Here's looking at you. 

Members: 114.1k, at the time of writing.

Trigger Warnings: None.

Go here to visit or join. 

Related Posts:

The View From My Window

Snapshots of the World

The Cloud Appreciation Society

Sketch in Travel

Photo Credit: dakzxz on Pixabay.