Author: Hashi

cute(icle)

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Excuse me while I wax lyrical about plants: carnauba wax is obtained from the fronds of the carnauba palm (Copernicia prunifera) of Brazil. Valued for its hardness and high melting temperature, carnauba wax is employed as a vegan food-grade polish and as a hardening or gelling agent in a number of products. Despite the widespread adoption of cheaper synthetics, it is still common as a component of certain furniture, leather, car, and shoe polishes and is used in cosmetics such as lipsticks. It is also used as a polish for candies and medicinal pills, as a thickener for solvents and oils, and as a hardener for printing inks.

P.S. So fun to actually see stomata with my microscope. They’re not just simple holes! They have guard cells that open and close the holes. Very cool.

wonky restrooms

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Large concrete cylinders of varying heights, with slanted roofs, assymetrically arranged. Area lighting on high poles set at random angles. The restrooms at San Buenaventura State Beach look architect- or artist-designed, but I haven’t been able to find the creator.

I wondered if it was Dennis Oppenheim, who has a famously off-kilter piece in Ventura, but his body of work is more ‘out there’ than this installation. And anyway, I don’t think California State Parks could have afforded his services. Still, it’s nice to see a public restroom a bit more visually interesting than a cinder block box.