Shades of William Gibson
January 20, 2015 12:58 PM Subscribe
Removing Fish From a Surreal Abandoned Shopping Mall. Thousands of carp, tilapia and catfish will be relocated to less absurd settings by Bangkok officials.
Using fish to get rid of mosquitoes? Bah, didn't they realise that they should have been using spiders?
posted by YAMWAK at 1:05 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by YAMWAK at 1:05 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Next it's putting those melting watches on ice. Surrealism, man—it's just a constant battle.
posted by yoink at 1:12 PM on January 20, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by yoink at 1:12 PM on January 20, 2015 [6 favorites]
It's much more interesting than anything William Gibson's done in the last couple of decades.
posted by Foosnark at 1:15 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Foosnark at 1:15 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
I too desire to be relocated to a less absurd setting.
posted by sobarel at 1:21 PM on January 20, 2015 [107 favorites]
posted by sobarel at 1:21 PM on January 20, 2015 [107 favorites]
Even in-use Bangkok malls, especially the less upmarket ones, can tend towards the Gibson-esque, like the appropriately neon-lit section on the fourth floor of MBK Center that's all dozens and dozens of little stalls selling cellphones of dubious provenance, unlocks of dubious effectiveness, and dubiously lucky phone numbers to go along with them.
I think a lot of Thais would be just as happy to just put a roof, air conditioning, and clean bathrooms on top of an open-air street market and call it a day if the property developers would let them.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 1:22 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
I think a lot of Thais would be just as happy to just put a roof, air conditioning, and clean bathrooms on top of an open-air street market and call it a day if the property developers would let them.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 1:22 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
It's much more interesting than anything William Gibson's done in the last couple of decades.
Your foosnark is invalid.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:31 PM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
Your foosnark is invalid.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:31 PM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
Only if the fish hive mind controlled a significant percentage of the world economy.
posted by nickggully at 1:32 PM on January 20, 2015
posted by nickggully at 1:32 PM on January 20, 2015
Don't read that link if you're planning to read The Peripheral - it gives an awful lot away.
posted by sobarel at 1:34 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by sobarel at 1:34 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
And people wonder why I enjoy My Little Pony. One princess raises the Sun. Another raises the Moon. At least that world makes sense!
posted by SPrintF at 1:38 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 1:38 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
Oh my god, its full of fish!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:39 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:39 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
YAMWAK: Bah, didn't they realise that they should have been using spiders?
Hmm...
Although entering the former shopping center is illegal, the Post reports that many were still making their way in, sometimes just to feed the fish, before officials swept in this month.
See, I think your spider-infested abandoned mall would not have this problem.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:44 PM on January 20, 2015 [9 favorites]
Hmm...
Although entering the former shopping center is illegal, the Post reports that many were still making their way in, sometimes just to feed the fish, before officials swept in this month.
See, I think your spider-infested abandoned mall would not have this problem.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:44 PM on January 20, 2015 [9 favorites]
Don't read that link if you're planning to read The Peripheral - it gives an awful lot away.
Yeah, sorry for not including spoiler alert.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:44 PM on January 20, 2015
Yeah, sorry for not including spoiler alert.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:44 PM on January 20, 2015
I thought the flooding didn't happen until after the seedbank coup. I'm so confused.
Do you think that just because Anderson was out of commission that AgriGen would let the press find out about that whole seedbank thing? It's already happened WAKE UP SHEEPLE (and be grateful that you still know what a sheep is).
posted by sparklemotion at 1:51 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Do you think that just because Anderson was out of commission that AgriGen would let the press find out about that whole seedbank thing? It's already happened WAKE UP SHEEPLE (and be grateful that you still know what a sheep is).
posted by sparklemotion at 1:51 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
We have won our generations-long struggle against Long John Silver's! No, wait, where are you taking me....?
posted by gimonca at 1:51 PM on January 20, 2015
posted by gimonca at 1:51 PM on January 20, 2015
I too desire to be relocated to a more absurd setting.
posted by lalochezia at 1:54 PM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
Fish in a mall. I'm phobic of fish, and have a recurring nightmare kind of like this, only the fish are all drifting through the air and people at the mall go about their shopping like it's no big deal even though the fish are RIGHT THERE TOUCHING THEM. It's ... more distressing than it probably sounds.
Still, I'm kind of tickled to think that people were illegally sneaking into the mall to feed the fish, and that other people are rescuing and relocating them rather than just letting them all die in the demolition. There's something rather touching about that. Maybe I've known too many people who win "temporary" pets at those vile goldfish booths at local fairs, but I'm surprised and happy to know that people are treating these lives as something of value. So long as they stay well away from me, I'm glad these fish get to go on to a happy life in a less commercial setting.
posted by DingoMutt at 1:54 PM on January 20, 2015 [16 favorites]
Still, I'm kind of tickled to think that people were illegally sneaking into the mall to feed the fish, and that other people are rescuing and relocating them rather than just letting them all die in the demolition. There's something rather touching about that. Maybe I've known too many people who win "temporary" pets at those vile goldfish booths at local fairs, but I'm surprised and happy to know that people are treating these lives as something of value. So long as they stay well away from me, I'm glad these fish get to go on to a happy life in a less commercial setting.
posted by DingoMutt at 1:54 PM on January 20, 2015 [16 favorites]
no it sounds unimaginably fucking terrible as i too have the fish fear
posted by poffin boffin at 2:03 PM on January 20, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 2:03 PM on January 20, 2015 [9 favorites]
For those not in the know, the AgriGen/seedbank stuff is Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl (1 2 3), which was an excellent dystopian sci-fi book in kinda of a Gibson style.
I also really enjoyed The Peripheral .
If anyone has any suggestions for books in this line, I'd love to hear them.
I have nothing to say about the poor fish.
posted by yeahwhatever at 2:06 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
I also really enjoyed The Peripheral .
If anyone has any suggestions for books in this line, I'd love to hear them.
I have nothing to say about the poor fish.
posted by yeahwhatever at 2:06 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
no it sounds unimaginably fucking terrible as i too have the fish fear
Ah, if only you'd been puffin boffin. You'd have loved this.
posted by yoink at 2:10 PM on January 20, 2015 [10 favorites]
Ah, if only you'd been puffin boffin. You'd have loved this.
posted by yoink at 2:10 PM on January 20, 2015 [10 favorites]
Wading through a dilapidated man-made structure like this with a headlamp and a fly rod is my new fantasy
posted by stinkfoot at 2:11 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by stinkfoot at 2:11 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
They're relocating all of the fish, and draining the water, but they're not replacing the roof. So the cycle of rain=stagnant water=mosquitoes will begin again, and smart locals will start bringing in fish to control the skeeters...
posted by chowflap at 2:11 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by chowflap at 2:11 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Say what you will about this thread, it has: introduced me to a fascinating aspect of the fish phobia which keeps a friend of mine from swimming in lakes, AND has made me move The Peripheral up on my to-read list.
posted by sparklemotion at 2:14 PM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by sparklemotion at 2:14 PM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
This and the Geauga Lake Park thread on the same day? Yes, we have reached the Disposable Civilization.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:17 PM on January 20, 2015
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:17 PM on January 20, 2015
no it sounds unimaginably fucking terrible as i too have the fish fear
Growing up on the water in Florida, this was super fun. As a teen once I drove home to find a rather mangled fish lying in the street directly in front of our driveway, presumably dropped by one of the osprey or turkey vultures that would dine in the channel behind our house. No more open car tops for me after that (come to think of it, if I could have found one of these I would have rocked it pretty much constantly until I could move to a less absurd part of the country).
posted by DingoMutt at 2:19 PM on January 20, 2015
Growing up on the water in Florida, this was super fun. As a teen once I drove home to find a rather mangled fish lying in the street directly in front of our driveway, presumably dropped by one of the osprey or turkey vultures that would dine in the channel behind our house. No more open car tops for me after that (come to think of it, if I could have found one of these I would have rocked it pretty much constantly until I could move to a less absurd part of the country).
posted by DingoMutt at 2:19 PM on January 20, 2015
I don't know, open air public talipia farms seem like a decent use for failed malls in America. Certainly better than a rotting eyesore, or the one locally that was converted into yet another satellite branch of the local megachurch where you can now watch a simulcast of the service (that's also aired on public TV, go figure) on over-sized Jesusprompters. Fish bring in just as much tax revenue, and are tastier.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:38 PM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:38 PM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Jesustrons, surely. The pastor is displayed on the Jesustron; his shifting eyes give away that he's reading from the Jesusprompter.
posted by Rat Spatula at 2:49 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Rat Spatula at 2:49 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
no it sounds unimaginably fucking terrible as i too have the fish fear
But if you wade in fish infested waters they will nibble at the dead skin on your feet with a delightful tickling sensation. Until you feet stop moving and you fall forward into the shallow water, dimly realizing the tilapia venom has done its job.
posted by benzenedream at 2:55 PM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
But if you wade in fish infested waters they will nibble at the dead skin on your feet with a delightful tickling sensation. Until you feet stop moving and you fall forward into the shallow water, dimly realizing the tilapia venom has done its job.
posted by benzenedream at 2:55 PM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
Dingomutt: only the fish are all drifting through the air
This was the subject of my strongest/best-remembered hypnagogic hallucination from childhood. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of fins! Go back into the shado- uh, the bowl. Go back into the goldfish bowl, please.
posted by deludingmyself at 3:16 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
This was the subject of my strongest/best-remembered hypnagogic hallucination from childhood. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of fins! Go back into the shado- uh, the bowl. Go back into the goldfish bowl, please.
posted by deludingmyself at 3:16 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
The Gibson reference is kind of a red herring.
Now you're just being koi.
posted by yoink at 3:22 PM on January 20, 2015 [6 favorites]
Now you're just being koi.
posted by yoink at 3:22 PM on January 20, 2015 [6 favorites]
I also have recurring dreams of floating air-fish, though I am not phobic of them. Usually they are black remora-type creatures, but larger, drifting lazily through the golden dust-moted air of a summer afternoon.
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:23 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:23 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
Only if the fish hive mind controlled a significant percentage of the world economy.
The Gibson reference is kind of a red herring.
Oh god, am I still in the Hunt? Is this a puzzle?
posted by maryr at 3:35 PM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
The Gibson reference is kind of a red herring.
Oh god, am I still in the Hunt? Is this a puzzle?
posted by maryr at 3:35 PM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Wading through a dilapidated man-made structure like this with a headlamp and a fly rod is my new fantasy
“Eventually, all malls merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by Kay Jewelers and runs over rocks from Bath and Body Works. On some of the rocks are Sharper Image products. Under the rocks are the prices, and some of the prices are The Gap's.
"I am haunted by Foot Lockers.”
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:35 PM on January 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
“Eventually, all malls merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by Kay Jewelers and runs over rocks from Bath and Body Works. On some of the rocks are Sharper Image products. Under the rocks are the prices, and some of the prices are The Gap's.
"I am haunted by Foot Lockers.”
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:35 PM on January 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
I also have recurring dreams of floating air-fish, though I am not phobic of them.
Me too! Usually they've escaped from the aquarium, and I know they're not supposed to be swimming in air so I'm running around trying to catch them all.
posted by mmoncur at 3:45 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Me too! Usually they've escaped from the aquarium, and I know they're not supposed to be swimming in air so I'm running around trying to catch them all.
posted by mmoncur at 3:45 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
T.D. Strange, I'd be worried about the heavy metal content of fish farmed in abandoned buildings... isn't this why urban farming doesn't work as a way to use all the empty lots in Detroit?
posted by subdee at 3:52 PM on January 20, 2015
posted by subdee at 3:52 PM on January 20, 2015
On preview, the Ren Cen would make a hell of an aquarium.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:54 PM on January 20, 2015
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:54 PM on January 20, 2015
I'd be worried about the heavy metal content of fish farmed in abandoned buildings
Yeah. I believe that's how Mötley Koï was formed.
posted by yoink at 3:58 PM on January 20, 2015 [6 favorites]
Yeah. I believe that's how Mötley Koï was formed.
posted by yoink at 3:58 PM on January 20, 2015 [6 favorites]
the fish are all drifting through the air
Revenge of the goldfish.
posted by wilko at 4:04 PM on January 20, 2015
Revenge of the goldfish.
posted by wilko at 4:04 PM on January 20, 2015
Certainly better than a rotting eyesore, or the one locally that was converted into yet another satellite branch of the local megachurch where you can now watch a simulcast of the service (that's also aired on public TV, go figure) on over-sized Jesusprompters. Fish bring in just as much tax revenue, and are tastier.
They're also much better for you. The faithful tend to be high in saturated fat and much lower in healthy b-vitamins than fish. They also are terrible at keeping down the mosquito population.
posted by NoraReed at 4:04 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
They're also much better for you. The faithful tend to be high in saturated fat and much lower in healthy b-vitamins than fish. They also are terrible at keeping down the mosquito population.
posted by NoraReed at 4:04 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
As an adaptive reuse joke, repurpose the abandoned mall with a.) a fish farm, and b.) a bakery just before the megachurch gets its hands on it.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 4:22 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 4:22 PM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
Ha! What a snapper!
Oh, quit yer carping.
posted by yoink at 4:40 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh, quit yer carping.
posted by yoink at 4:40 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Now you're just being koi.
posted by yoink
Yoink is an anagram of NY Koi.
Lox like my work is done here.
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:41 PM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by yoink
Yoink is an anagram of NY Koi.
Lox like my work is done here.
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:41 PM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yoink is an anagram of NY Koi.
I have to admit, that is pretty fishy.
posted by yoink at 4:43 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have to admit, that is pretty fishy.
posted by yoink at 4:43 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
The fish jokes are starting to flounder.
Why aren't they relocating those fish into people's bellies?
posted by drlith at 4:55 PM on January 20, 2015
Why aren't they relocating those fish into people's bellies?
posted by drlith at 4:55 PM on January 20, 2015
The fish jokes are starting to flounder.
So you don't want any more, eh?
posted by yoink at 5:06 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
So you don't want any more, eh?
posted by yoink at 5:06 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
So I says to him, "Yeah, well then, I'll tilapia good..."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:24 PM on January 20, 2015
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:24 PM on January 20, 2015
(Drlith, there's a picture at the end of the article of a tubful of fish on their sides, out of water - I do not think that's the optimal survival scenario for the average tilapia, and my suspicion is that some of the fish are indeed being repurposed as people chow.)
posted by gingerest at 6:29 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by gingerest at 6:29 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
I get my thrills above the fishline, thanks anyway.
posted by maxwelton at 7:29 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by maxwelton at 7:29 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Using fish to control the mosquito population is a great idea. Turns out to also have been a problem in California, where the increase in foreclosures had a direct correlation with the increase in the incidence of West Nile Virus as people were walking away from houses with swimming pools which became mosquito breeding grounds, also complicated by a coincident drought related drop in bird population.
In my neighborhood, there are a number of areas built for managing spring run off which create vernal pools. Not surprisingly, the number of mosquitos is vast. A local reference recommended using Bti (Bacillus thurengiensis israeliensis), which seems to be well-targeted for mosquito larvae.
posted by plinth at 7:26 AM on January 21, 2015
In my neighborhood, there are a number of areas built for managing spring run off which create vernal pools. Not surprisingly, the number of mosquitos is vast. A local reference recommended using Bti (Bacillus thurengiensis israeliensis), which seems to be well-targeted for mosquito larvae.
posted by plinth at 7:26 AM on January 21, 2015
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posted by Fuka at 1:03 PM on January 20, 2015 [8 favorites]