#Westminster 2025

[fidgetspringer]

I would talk about the ESS at Westminster, but as always I continue to be disappointed by the lack of freckles on the Springers in the US.

Like what's the point then?

[theborzoiarebackintown]

We’re half a day in and Westminster already pissed me tf off 😂 the judge put up the worst dog in the ring and then WITHHELD select dog. Two of the other males are speciality winning dogs (of huge specialities beating out over 60 dogs) under well respected breeder judges, and the other male is multi-group winning and has I think three owner handled best in shows.

I hate all breed judges gdi.

[pawsitivevibe]

Watching the Westminster sporting group..

The Irish Red & White Setter needed some more grooming time.

Love the American Water Spaniel. I feel like I've seen a lot of poor examples of the breed, but this is a nice one.

Not overly impressed by this Boykin.

[southerntchiorny]

May we have the Non-Sporting group in the ring please!

• Bichon handler was in the hospital days before the show. “Dog handlers are tough!” Damn straight! I wouldn’t be missing the Westminster either!!

• Must verify the ancient ghost deterrent systems (dark tongues in Chow and Sharpei)

• Him wittle booty (Lowchen)

• Lundehund: “Pardon me while I pick up all these snacks and get stressed”

• Mini Poodle is freaking gorgeous, love seeing an english saddle clip

• I learned that all 3 sizes of Xolo show together in AKC which is fascinating to me

And the winner is…

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.

.

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Congratulations to Neal the Bichon Frise!

[seagulley]

i need everyone to appreciate how incredibly good this dog was. just look at her holding her stack for the judge all on her own, what a professional.

[butchshepherd]

westminster 2025 best of breed tervuren

[dogtrotting]

Celebrating Canines: Westminster Dog Show 2025 Rendezvous

Love mutts? Me too. Frankly, I think the entire AKC Westminster Dog Show experience is even better if you have mixed pup, like I do.

[idontknowknit]

Monty the Giant Schnauzer wins Best in Show at Westminster Kennel Club

[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

CLIFFORD WEBB

This week we present the four wood engravings by the English artist, illustrator, writer, and wood engraver Clifford Webb (1894–1972) in the Golden Cockerel Press 1936-1943 bibliography, Pertelote, A Sequel to Chanticleer, printed in London by the Press’s co-owners at the time, Christopher Sandford and Owen Rutter.

Clifford Webb was a favored illustrator for Golden Cockerel publications, illustrating eight books for the press. After serving in the British army during WWI, Webb studied at the Westminster School of Art from 1919 to 1922, after which he taught for a few years at Central School of Art in Birmingham. He established a reputation as one of the great wood engravers of the 20th century and developed a distinctive engraving style. Simon Brett (1943-2024), one of the great British wood engravers of the following generation, noted in his 2019 book on the life and work of Clifford Webb, that Webb "re-thought how things could be depicted on an engraved surface. He broke boundaries!”

The first image is one of four engravings Webb produced for the 1939 Golden Cockerel Press edition of The Country of the Blind by H. G. Wells. The next is one of six engravings for the 1937 edition of Ana the Runner by Patrick Miller, and the last two images are from the 1938 edition of The White Llama by Ventura García-Calderón, a translation of Calderón's La venganza del cóndor, with eight engravings by Webb.

Our copy of Pertelote is another donation from our late friend Jerry Buff (1931-2025).

View more posts with engravings by Clifford Webb.

View more posts on Golden Cockerel Press editions.

View more posts with wood engravings!

[facts-i-just-made-up]

The Downfall of Temu, 1817-2025

Though Temu is best known today as a place to pay low prices for inaccurately represented goods, it was not always so. When it was founded by Oscar "Temu" Temunsson in 1817, it was made to be an auction house for the finest goods like Southernby's or Christianne's.

The downfall began nearly as soon as Temu went online, with "online" in 1817 referring to it being a building on London's wealthy "King's Line" road near Westminster. Buyers were always satisfied with Temu's guarantee, which was included in The Guarantee of Guarantee, signed in Guarantee, London- The first official Guarantee ever to be guaranteed.

But then in 1819, the Cracks began to show. James and Lynda Crack were infamous in the Americas for showing merchandise that did not in the end reflect what the customer would buy. As such, they were banished from the United States, a young country at that time known as "Some States That Don't Yet Hate Each Other." Arriving in London, they forged papers to begin selling at Temu.

The damage to Temu's reputation was bad, but not fatal. Temunsson himself tried to repair the house's image by selling several notorious items, including the world's largest Yorkshire Pudding (At 870 Pounds), the most adopted dog (At 19 Pounds), and the most flattened Matzo ever smashed flat by numerous strikes with a mallet (At 3300 Pounds), all of which sold for over ten thousand pounds sterling. The company lasted as a respectable entity well into the 1900s as a result.

In 1949 though, another blow was blown to Temu, and boy how it blew. Hurricane Pholacio made landfall on the beaches of London and ruined the prized collection of Candy Floss (Known as "Gummy Bear" in Modern English) sculptures that Temu had on display. No insurer would take the job, as you have to get insurers before the disaster happens, and Temu had to sell its physical location to make ends meet.

Disembodied, Temu began to haunt other stores and manufacturers, sucking on their revenues and leaving them desiccated. So it lurked, weakened, for decades until Etsy came along. Etsy was, in past times, a resource where artists could sell their wares. Unfortunately, Temu drop(shipped) upon it and sucked it dry of any chance for legitimate creators to thrive. Temu grew more and more powerful until it became the economic disaster (or "Nosferatemu") it is today.

Oddly enough, Oscar "Temu" Temunsson seems to have predicted this even when he said on his death bed in 1891, "Temu is gonna suck so fuckin' bad in the 2020s with dropshipping and all." He then exploded into confetti, as was the gentlemanly tradition at the time.

[sashayed]

improving Westminster by introducing the people's category. comet the shih tzu, you are 2025's Gayest In Show

[smilebackwards]

cherik fic recs

For Revive Cherik month, I've compiled a list of some of my favorite fics to share. I'll also be combining this with @justleaveacommentfest by commenting on all these lovely fics and you can too 😊 Read! Enjoy! Comment!

what a way to make a livin' by kaydeefalls @kaydeefalls Erik is a CEO who makes headlines like "MagneTech CEO and Prominent Mutant Separatist Erik Lehnsherr Vows To Kill All the Humans By 2025". Charles is his long-suffering PA.

The Last Love Song & Testament of Charles F. Xavier by midrashic @midrashic Getting fake married to avoid having to testify against your spouse for domestic terrorism is such a power move. Fantastic.

From Westminster With Love by thehoyden @thehoyden Charles is an irreplaceable British asset, Erik is a major working for NATO. They stop a mutant trafficking ring and fall in love. Extremely charming.

Lion Man by spqr @andthepeople Hockey coach Erik. Figure skater Charles. I love them so much.

Limited Release by rageprufrock @rageprufrock White Collar AU. I hadn't read this in a decade and my mind is a sieve but I immediately recalled the title and author to look it up. What higher compliment can I give?

Skin Deep by manic_intent @manic-intent The one where they're all werewolves 🐺

Omega Online by miss_aphelion @missaphelion I live for Erik and Charles being fully insane about each other and this is funny af. Also, EMMA!

[southerntchiorny]

Kaiju’s nephew Rip! I freaking love this dog 💜 He’s massive and a big sweetheart. I got to run him in FastCAT back in November.

[reasonsforhope]

"France is to trial a ban on mobile phones at school for pupils up to the age of 15, seeking to give children a “digital pause” that, if judged successful, could be rolled out nationwide from January [2025].

Just under 200 secondary schools will take place in the experiment that will require youngsters to hand over phones on arrival at reception. It takes the prohibition on the devices further than a 2018 law that banned pupils at primary and secondary schools from using their phones on the premises but allowed them to keep possession of them.

Announcing the trial on Tuesday, the acting education minister, Nicole Belloubet, said the aim was to give youngsters a “digital pause”. If the trial proves successful, the ban would be introduced in all schools from January, Belloubet said.

A commission set up by the president, Emmanuel Macron, expressed concern that the overexposure of children to screens was having a detrimental effect on their health and development.

A 140-page report published in March concluded there was “a very clear consensus on the direct and indirect negative effects of digital devices on sleep, on being sedentary, a lack of physical activity and the risk of being overweight and even obese … as well as on sight”.

It said the “hyper” use of phones and other digital technology was not only bad for children but also for “society and civilisation”.

The report recommended children’s use of mobile phones be controlled in stages: no mobile phones before the age of at least 11, mobiles without internet access between 11 and 13, phones with internet but no access to social media before 15.

It also suggested children under three years old should not be exposed at all to digital devices, which it said were “not necessary for the healthy development of the child”.

“We must put the digital tool in its place. Up to at least six years old a child has no need for a digital device to develop,” Servane Mouton, a neurologist and neurophysiologist who was on the commission, said. “We have to teach parents once again how to play with their children.”

Banning phones in schools has long been debated across Europe. In countries where bans exist this is most often confined to their use and do not require children to hand them over.

In Germany there are no formal restrictions but most schools have prohibited the use of mobile phones and digital devices in classrooms except for education purposes. A quasi ban has been in place in Dutch secondary school classrooms since the beginning of this year, but as a recommendation and not a legal obligation. From this school year the directive will also apply to primary schools.

Italy was early to phone bans, introducing one in 2007 before easing it in 2017 and reimposing it in 2022. It applies to all age groups.

In February this year, the Westminster government issued non-statutory guidance that said schools in England should prohibit the use of mobile phones throughout the school day, but that it was for individual headteachers and leaders to decide on their phone use policy.

Portugal is experimenting with a compromise by introducing a number of phone-free days at schools each month, while in Spain schools in some autonomous regions have imposed a ban but there is no nationwide prohibition."

-via The Guardian, August 27, 2024

[butchshepherd]

westminster 2025 best of breed berger picard

[joeinct]

City of Westminster, London, 1 17 25, Photo by Joe Bruha, Copyright 2025