Frog Applause by Teresa Burritt for May 28, 2024

The artwork is lovely. Wouldn’t it be fun if that was what the cave paintings actually meant?

New horizons in the unkindest cut of all. Bloody good show.

I used to have one, back in the day. Stung like a banshee.

Spider silk poultice not doing the trick?

I’m losing the thread of this.

I have one. Haven’t actually used it in a long time. If I had to shave with a sharp rock, I might need it more often.

I think it fell in the septic tank.

Didn’t they ban styp mining?

An antiseptic anti-coagulant stick! What more can a man ask for?

I’m agog. Today’s artwork is just transcendent.

cave people used blood to draw?

I can never find the styptic pencil, but I can always locate a little patch of toilet paper. A couple on my neck make a nice conversation starter.

Keep your blades sharp and use hair conditioner instead of a soap based cream.

Love the feel of this artwork!

Bite the silver buttet for pain relief.

Silver Bullet Coors® too.

Artwork beautiful!

The active ingredient in the white styptic pencils is aluminum sulfate, Al2(SO4)3. Another coagulating agent is sold as a coarse light-orange powder in small vials, and the active ingredient in that is ferric subsulfate, Fe4(OH)2(SO4)5. There’s a thickened liquid product with ferric subsulfate in water, called Monsel’s solution, that doctors paint over minor wounds after procedures that cause damage to a small area, like biopsies.

Oh look! It’s the Annual Amputees Pub Lurch/Crawl. Drinks are on me, just raise your hand if you’d like one.

Thea alum deposits are just to the left of the spirally thing.

Archie: “Go styptic yourself, Edith!”

Edith: “Ohhh, Archieee” …!

…I went to a barber in the next town over…

…once…

…for a haircut…

…and noticed his sign for a shave…

…I’d always thought that the warm towels wrapped around my face…

…and the freshly made shaving cream brushed upon my face …

…would be absolutely amazing…

…and I was not let down…

…yeah, dawg, this is the ticket…

… I was giddy with excitement over what i expected to come next…

…the long razor slapping against the leather strap…

…alas…

…it didn’t happen…

…the barber pulled out a pink disposable plastic razor…

…"It’s used"…

…he said…

…"but still pretty sharp"…

…I admit…

…I should have stood up and walked out…

…but I didn’t…

…he knicked me where I always knick me…

…right on the chin & jaw…

…he slapped on his special formula aftershave…

..Mennen aftershave…

…and when I left…

…I even left a freakin’ tip…

…with so many styptic dots I looked like Alfred E Neuman…

Riffing on rock art, Tassili n Ajjer, Berber “Plateau of Rivers” in SE Algeria. Also recalls Cromwell: Round Heads.

Styptic pencil (Ouch! I remember having and using one in the Way Back Days) is a diversion, not unlike the currently buzz-wordy Intentional Distraction (a.k.a. Deliberate Distraction). Yup: Rock Art’s your Dada!