Portobello

Just trying to keep up with the news :)

[Portobello @cati62]

@Loislane6045 @JamesLucasIT Who is the painter? It's simply beautiful.

[Portobello @cati62]

@bostonwriter Let me just note that:
- it's damn rude from these paparazzi to shot such unflattering photos...what the heck, how is this news?
- how is it possible that Affleck still looks good with his mouth wide open like a damn fish?
It must be a nightmare to be a celebrity...sometimes 👀

[Portobello @cati62]

@velvetstarh @Brink_Thinker The wall of water did not photobomb it, that was the whole point, and the kids knew that. The first on the right was scared from the beginning because he knew what they are waiting for. This was the whole point, to have a memorable photo where all of them are hit by the wave.

[𝟑 𝐞̀𝐦𝐞 𝐎𝐞𝐢𝐥 @_3emeOeil]

✈️ Éclipse solaire vue du cockpit d'un avion à réaction 😳

[Portobello @cati62]

How cool is that?! 😎

[marqix ☆ @fwmarqix]

I noticed Tokyo has DECORATIVE MANHOLE COVERS.

Different designs in each district.

Thought it was cool. Took a photo.

Week 2: Took photos of 5 different ones.

Random guy approached me: "You collecting?"

Me: Collecting what?

Him: Manholes.

Me: ...no?

Him: disappointed, Oh. Thought you were one of us.

Me: One of WHO?

Him: walks away

Month 2: Kept seeing the SAME GUY at different manholes across Tokyo.

He'd show up. Take photos. Leave.

Finally asked him: "What are you doing?"

Him: There are 347 unique manhole designs in Tokyo. I have 289.

Me: You're collecting MANHOLES?

Him: We ALL are.

Him: *shows me a LINE GROUP*

"Tokyo Manhole Hunters" - 1,240 members.

Month 3: Joined the group out of curiosity.

They were SERIOUS.

Member 1: "Found a rare Taito-ku cherry blossom cover today!"

Member 2: "PHOTOS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!"

They had RANKINGS. COMPETITIONS. TRADING CARDS.

Me: This is insane.

Admin: This is HERITAGE PRESERVATION.

Month 4: Got addicted.

Started hunting manholes at 5 AM before work.

Found a rare Meguro design from 1983.

Posted in the group: CHAOS

Admin: "WHERE?!"

Me: "Not telling yet."

Admin: "WE'LL FIND YOU."

Month 5: They found me.

Seven members showed up at the location at 6 AM.

All taking photos.

One guy CRYING.

Him: I've been looking for this for 3 years!

Me: It's a MANHOLE!

Him: It's HISTORY!

Month 8: Became top 10 in the rankings.

Started getting SPONSORSHIPS.

Company: "We'll pay you ¥50,000 to wear our camera strap while manhole hunting."

Me: People WATCH manhole hunting?!

Company: Your YouTube channel has 40,000 subscribers.

Me: I HAVE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL?!

Turns out the admin was posting my finds without telling me.

Admin: You're our best hunter! Free promotion!

Me: DELETE IT!

Admin: It's making us all money! You get 40% of ad revenue!

I'd made ¥340,000 WITHOUT KNOWING.

Month 10: Quit my job.

Became full-time manhole hunter.

¥600,000/month from YouTube, sponsorships, and selling "manhole location data."

My parents: "What do you do for work?"

Me: "Urban infrastructure documentation."

Dad: "That sounds important!"

Me: taking a photo of a sewer cover, "Very important."

Present:

Found 312 out of 347 designs.

The remaining 35 are LEGENDARY.

One hasn't been photographed since 2009.

It's in a restricted area near the Imperial Palace.

I'm planning a heist.

Not really.

But kind of.

The group is WAITING.

This is my life now.

[Portobello @cati62]

@NBCNews I'd like to know what authority does he have in the classroom faced with students of the same age as him or older. Do they take him seriously?

[Portobello @cati62]

His mind hops around like a drunken kangaroo. Terrifying 😳

[Jim Stewartson, Decelerationist 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇺🇸 @jimstewartson]

This is psychotic behavior. It’s not just malignant narcissism and dementia. He has lost contact with the objective world and expects everyone to live in his alternate reality with him. It’s all manufactured by his own psyche and no amount of evidence will change it.

This is a terrified inner psyche constructing a protective world. He’s insane and existentially dangerous.

“Jeanine Pirro made a mistake. It was vandalism. I just told you we did, I think, 78. One of the things was to reflecting pool, hasn’t worked since 1922, because it always leaked. It always leaked from 1922. You know, it's the largest longest pool ever, all that. The concept is beautiful, but it always leaked because of the size, because of maintenance, whatever. But it was built in 1922, and from the day it was built, it like, Biden spent $58 million. Barack Hussein Obama spent much more than that. He said, "I have an idea. Let's take the river from, let's take the water from the Potomac." So they took the water from the Potomac, and it was putrid. It was putrid. It was a disaster. Biden was a disaster. I said, "I'm going to get that face." Along with Doug Burgum, Department of Interior, and we worked harder than that. Now we worked harder in all '70s. It's actually, I think, '81 now. You saw the new horses that just opened by the bridge with the gold. That was the way they were many years ago. Now they looked better than they did many years ago. But these monuments looked better than they did when they were originally built. Not just a little fix up. We made them the way they were plus, and everyone's so proud. The biggest, one of the bigger jobs was not really the biggest, believe it or not, but one of the biggest was the reflecting pool. And we did a great job. We sandblasted the stonehouse at his granite, so it has a long life. We did a great job. We got very expensive material to put on top of the surface that always leaked, because it was stone. It was a stone, sir. Always leaked. And we put it on, and it was beautiful. Now we have photographs of tapes, like moving cameras, right? We have them where people are on the side, cutting it with a box knife. So now I'm not saying I was 100% thrilled with the contractor, but the contractor was rushing. We wanted to get it open for July 4th. And we got it done. But in addition, there was mandalism. Number one, look at the grass, where the grass was all knocked out with a very powerful ingredient. We know very well what it is. But like I say, the name, because people get ideas. But they put a terrible phrase, I won't say that either, but a terrible phrase, on a massive piece of grass that we had just replaced. Kill the grass. We had to replace the grass. A lot of grass. In addition, they took knives or cutters, and they cut the material. And they put their hands and they pulled it. And there was also some maintenance things that we would have routinely fixed. But we had that up, and it was perfect. And then you had the bubblers, which get rid of what forms in the water. And that works great, but they turned it up because of the fight. Because it competed a little bit of noise during the fight. They turned it off, and it grows very rapidly in the water. But that actually works very well. And that's all. So now we're just about set to reopen it. And we had to replace cut areas where they cut it and ripped it. But there's a tape. And Jesse Wooders, by the way, did a whole big thing on it. There's a tape that's out there that I posted on truth. Where you have people leaning over the side, the weakest part, because of the flexibility. You know it moves. It's very complicated. It moves. And the softest part has to be flexible. And that's the stuff you can cut. And these guys knew what they were doing. And they cut all the way along the base, cut, cut, cut. Now, when you need to look at it, it was a day after the 4th of July, with the largest fireworks display in the world.”

[Portobello @cati62]

@Grid_grinder @Daractenus I was wondering the same. How do they even wipe their ass? It must be scratched to hell.

[Portobello @cati62]

@kirawontmiss How is this a crime?

[Portobello @cati62]

@Ceaserzp29 Who is this kid?!

[PurelyFootball ℗ @PurelyFootball]

The talent in Barcelona’s youth system is ridiculous.🔥

These kids are 11/12 years old.🤯🔵🔴

[Portobello @cati62]

@Saskiaaa_____ Give Dirvus a companion FFS! Poor guy 🥺

[Portobello @cati62]

Superb job! ⚽❤️⚽

[LIBERTA DEPRE @liberta___depre]

Foi dessa maneira que a “BBC”, da Inglaterra, terminou a transmissão da Copa do Mundo 2026, com o resumo de todo o Mundial. Espetáculo!

📽️@BBCSport

https://t.co/aW4hBZumTe

[Man City Brazil @ManCityBrazil]

O comentarista suíço David Lemos, encerrou a transmissão resumindo com precisão os problemas desta Copa do Mundo, ele foi perfeito.

🗣️"Não há dúvidas de que esta foi a Copa do Mundo mais comercial da história e também uma das mais politizadas."

"Não esqueceremos os preços que pessoas sem grande poder aquisitivo tiveram de pagar para viver sua paixão pelo futebol."

"Em alguns casos, sequer puderam entrar no país por causa de sua nacionalidade, fossem torcedores, jornalistas ou até árbitros, como o somali Omar Artan."

"Também lembramos do tratamento inaceitável dado à seleção do Irã, que não pôde defender suas chances de forma adequada durante o torneio."

"E há ainda o caso de Folarin Balogun. Vimos um presidente se vangloriar de ter ligado para o presidente da FIFA para conseguir retirar a suspensão de um jogador."

"A política se infiltrou no coração do futebol, embora a FIFA afirme querer mantê-la acima de tudo. Fica claro que isso só vale até certo ponto."

"Foi uma Copa do Mundo em que todas as partidas foram disputadas em quatro tempos, e cuja final teve um intervalo de quase 30 minutos."

"A crise tem dois nomes: dinheiro e poder. Hoje existe uma crise de confiança entre muitos dos envolvidos no futebol e a FIFA."

"Nas próximas semanas, muito dinheiro será distribuído a diversas federações e a muitos agentes do futebol, que serão educadamente convidados a permanecer em silêncio."

"Esperamos que tudo isso seja levado em consideração e que não volte a acontecer."

[Portobello @cati62]

@SomtoCS "Your friend at the gate told me you were divorced for 15 years"? It wasn't a friend, it was Marcus' mom herself. And Chloe's father is present when she shows them the cookies she brought, but later on he is presented to her as if that is the first time they see each other?

[Portobello @cati62]

@animallover7878 @GBNEWS @Benleo Yes, and that was great. But the "americanization" of this beloved sport is shameful. This guy talks specifically about the WC, don't mix things up.

[Portobello @cati62]

@slipfanejc @GBNEWS @Benleo America as a country is one thing and what happened with the World Cup is totally another. This guy talks about the latter, pay attention.

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

The Champions Who Forgot to Play Football!

Here is a statistic to frame above your fireplace and show your grandchildren: Argentina’s first shot of any kind in Sunday’s World Cup final arrived in the 115th minute, a record of futility for a World Cup. Spain finished with 20 shots to Argentina’s two, twelve on target to none. Not one. In a final. ESPN called it arguably the worst World Cup final in living memory, and that was the polite version.

NBC Sports put it plainly: Argentina were more concerned with fouling and fighting than playing football, and the way several players behaved was a disgrace that tarnished their legacy.

According to Football365, Scaloni’s men committed more first-half fouls than they completed passes into the attacking third. Their 12.29 fouls per game was, per NBC, far and away the highest of any semifinalist.

The punditry class reached for the thesaurus. “It’s a disgrace,” said Gary Neville on ITV. Alan Shearer told the BBC that Leandro Paredes “threw two or three haymakers into someone’s face” in the post-whistle brawl that earned him a red card after the final had ended. Joe Hart called it “disgusting.” Lee Dixon called it “anti-football.” Wayne Rooney simply shrugged: we’ve seen this from Argentina before.

And where was the captain? Sitting on the turf, weeping, while his teammates disgraced the shirt he made famous. Sorry, but no. A captain’s job in that moment is not to cry. It is to get up, wade into the scrum, grab the idiots by the collar and order them to behave like gentlemen. Messi shook every Spanish hand, as Hart noted, and fair play. But leadership was required, and leadership stayed seated.

Consider the route, too: a group of Algeria, Austria and Jordan, then Cape Verde in the round of 32. All the jeopardy of a heated driveway.

Spain were everything football should be. One goal conceded in eight matches, the fewest ever for a champion. Rodri took the Golden Ball, Ferran Torres the trophy. As Norwegian commentator Trond Johannessen put it: mighty scenes, but the right outcome. The victory bandits were finally caught.

Wherever Argentina play next, anywhere on Earth, they will walk out to a wall of boos. They earned every decibel.

Stay connected,
Follow Gandalv @Microinteracti1
https://t.co/92j54Rs2tM

[Barca Banter @BarcaBanterX]

No true Messi fan will scroll without watching this video. Can’t believe his journey is ending😞

[Portobello @cati62]

@Doug39270057204 @WolfofX Aren't you a ray of sunshine? 🙄