Wednesday 2 December 2020

larry logo

Via Super Punch, we are introduced to the big boxy mascot with oddly fulsome lips that often from the late 1970s through the early 1980s audited, augmented many celebrity interviews and marched in parades and greeted fans at town fรชtes for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Yukon, now under the umbrella service CBC North (แ“ฐแฒแ“ฐ แ…แ‘ญแ…แ–…แ‘•แ–…แ‘แ’ฅ / แ“ฐแฒแ“ฐ แ’ŒแŒแ‘Žแ“…แ‘–แฆแ’ก). Like the NBC peacock was debuted to highlight the network’s transition to living colour, CBC commissioned Hubert Tison to develop the “cosmic” butterfly symbol (as shown as the face and body) in 1966, a variation of which is still in use today for station identification. No one quite knows what happened to the handmade outfit—the costume was often loaned out for events across the province and it is speculated that one affiliate studio possibly neglected to return Larry Logo and he’s waiting in a broom closet or storage room to be re-discovered four decades on.

Sunday 1 November 2020

indigenous voices

We have the chance to sample more of the work of illustrator Jeffrey Veregge (previously) with his cover art featured in a Marvel franchise of Native American and aboriginal super heroes featuring the storytelling and graphic design talents of writers and artist who share the same cultural background and heritage. More to explore at the link above and the series preview below.

aka the eyes of hell

Via Nag on the Lake and Memo of the Air, we’re pleased to have been acquainted with the 1961 horror-flick shot in Toronto from Julian Roffman. Produced in 3D and distributed by Warner Brothers, this surrealist film has the distinction of being Canada’s first foray into the genre.
The plot follows a doctor of psychiatry who obtains a mysterious tribal mask which gives the wearer increasingly bizarre, dissociative visions. Though critically panned for its gore and splatter, the technique used for the nightmare montages, created by Slavko Vorkapich with audience members given magic, mystic stereoscopic glasses similar to the eponymous cursed, mask) were well received.

Thursday 29 October 2020

6x6

mother lode: the Hubble Space Telescope spies a metal ore asteroid worth an estimated ten-thousand times the global economy of 2019 (previously)—via Slashdot  

8800 blue lick road: one of the best accidental, immersive gaming experiences of the year is this virtual real estate tour 

franchisement: we enjoyed this pairing of articles about the “I Voted!” stickers—first with an overview of their contested origins as a badge of participation once democracy moved towards the secret ballot and the civics exercise that has artists reimagine them  

lorembarnak: a Quรฉbรฉcois curse (see previously) generator—via Things Magazine  

seaweeding: Victorian-era hobby lends insight on our changed oceans  

one parsec: a breath-taking visualisation of ten million stars at the centre of the Milky Way

Thursday 15 October 2020

6x6

mega project: unrealised plans from the 1930s to divert the Thames and reclaim land in central London—via Things Magazine  

messiner effect: researchers achieve room-temperature super conductivity with a novel metallic hydrogen alloy—via Kottke 

crying wolf: a misinformation training exercise (see also) in Nova Scotia goes awry—via Super Punch  

sea of seven colours: a tour of a pristine island reserve off the coast of Colombia 

minuet: ะšะพั€ะพะฑะตะนะฝะธะบะธ was not Tetris’ only theme tune  

karlลฏv most: deconstructing and rebuilding a fourteenth century bridge in Prague to span the Vltava

Wednesday 30 September 2020

truth and reconciliation

Held annually in communities around Canada since 2013, Orange Shirt Day/Jour du chandail orange was created to educate and raise awareness of the nation’s policy of the residential school system—sadly inspired by the model employed by its neighbours to the south—to absorb and assimilate the diversity of aboriginal cultures native to North America and form a new indoctrinated identity aligned with the beliefs, language and culture of the settlers.

Primarily run by the church, native children would be separated from their parents and extended families to live in dormitories. The practise was officially discontinued in 1996 but the trauma of course remains and the impact of the cultural undermining impoverishes us all. The event is held in honour of residential school survivor and organiser was stripped of a beautiful orange shirt, symbolic of the systemic dismantling of students’ identity. Our thanks to friend of the blog Nag on the Lake for introducing us to the important multicultural moment and attempt to make amends for the past and do better going forward. Be sure to visit for more information and a selection of short films that recount the history of destroyed heritage.

Friday 25 September 2020

telekino

Prolific inventor and Esperanto advocate Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (*1852 – †1936), probably best remembered for his Aerocar that is still in use for ferrying passengers above Niagara Falls, was responsible for a whole string of innovations across several disciplines including an analytic machine in the style of Babbage’s difference engine though utilising electromagnetic components rather than mechanical ones, improved designed for dirigibles, a chess-playing automaton (El Ajedrecista) and perhaps most significantly was a pioneer in the field of remote control. On this day in 1906 in the port of Bilbao in front of a royal audience and many other spectators, Torres-Quevedo made a public demonstration of his experimental radio-controlled robot—called Telekino—in the form of a boat that he guided from shore. King Alphonso XIII also was given a turn guiding the boat with passengers at distance.

Wednesday 9 September 2020

hans รธ

Namesake of Hans Hendrik, Arctic explorer and Kalaallit interpreter, whom in Greenlandic was called Suersaq, the small island (Tartupaluk, รŽle Hans, แ‘•แ•แ‘แธแ“—แ’ƒ) in the Nares Strait with no permanent human presence is disputed territory, claimed by both Greenland (and Denmark which represents the autonomous realm in foreign affairs) and Canada.
While the legal status of Hans Island does carry consequences for the range of both countries territorial waters in terms of drilling and fishing rights and negotiations continue, practically it is administered as a condominium—with the imaginary border bisecting the island and delegations from Canada and Denmark periodically visiting, upsetting the opposing flag and depositing a bottle of signature libations for the trouble, waging a “whiskey war.” More to explore at Messy Nessy Chic at the link up top.

Saturday 29 August 2020

the secret teachings of all ages

Having joined that Great Beyond on this day in 1990 (*1901) and perhaps finding out the accuracy of what he taught, Canadian-American mystic and prolific lecturer Manly Palmer Hall was best remembered for the eponymous ambitious and comprehensive survey and fusion of wisdom literature.
An encyclopaedic outline compiled and ultimately published in 1928—volumes sold per subscription prior to publication (which strikes one as exceedingly modern though such funding methods, cash-on-delivery, have a long past) and recruited top talent in all departments, including printers, the eminent illustrator J. Augustus Knapp and book designers once employed by the Vatican and great universities—as a concise and accessible digest of metaphysics that challenged one to examine symbols, convention and ritual though the lens not of a received religion but rather as a heuristic tool for probing universal truths. Travelling from his native Los Angeles to Europe and Asia, Hall acquired many rare books and manuscripts on esoterica as original sources and due to the success of his publication of The Secret Teachings of All Ages and some generous patrons (also not a new scheme) and in 1934 founded public trust called the Philosophical Research Society—still in operation, to further his studies, curate collections and host events and seminars on the occult and mythology.

Thursday 13 August 2020

the forty-ninth parallel

Via Miss Cellania’s Links, we are transported to the geographical exclave of Port Roberts, Washington on the southern tip of the Tsawwassen peninsula to see how its residents, isolated from the USA by a forty kilometre drive through Canada, are faring during the pandemic and the border closures and restrictions on movements put in place.
Though some accounts attribute the creation of the American enclave to an oversight in the Oregon Treaty of 1846 between the US and Britain that delineated the border, others frame it as a deliberative strategic decision with questions of ceding the territory never resolved. Gratefully, the remoteness has kept the community relatively free of infection and contagion despite the rank ineptitude of American in general.  Rather than conferring an advantage militarily (so far), the outpost played an outsized role during each nation’s respective periods of prohibition. We wonder how other liminal places—Gibraltar, Bรผsingen am Hochrhein, Germany only accessible through Switzerland, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Ceuta and others—might be affected by this health crisis and how borders might be redrawn afterward.

Wednesday 5 August 2020

lighthouse customer

With quite the opposite reception than the above synonym for an early adopter, the British Office of the Admiralty and Marine Affairs dismissed the recent invention of Sir Francis Ronalds (*1788 – †1873, considered to be the Father of Electrical Engineering and Telegraphy) in which he demonstrated that signals could be transmitted virtually instantaneously over a substantial distance by laying an eight mile length of iron wire in the garden of his mother as a superfluous gimmick on this day in 1816.
Authorities were satisfied with the range and clarity of semaphore-based com- munications, despite Ronalds’ knighthood for his innovation and pontificating: “Why add to the torments of absence [and distance] those dilatory tormentors, pens, ink, paper, and posts? Let us have electrical conversazione offices, communicating with each other all over the kingdom.” The commercialisation of the telegraph was delayed for decades. Coincidentally on this day in 1858, the first transatlantic undersea cable was completed, spanning from Telegraph Field in Foilhommerum Bay on County Kerry’s Iveragh Peninsula (see also) to Heart’s Content station in eastern Newfoundland, under the direction of businessman Cyrus West Field. The first message was transmitted on 16 August.

Monday 3 August 2020

monobloc

Thanks to Pasa Bon! for enlightening us about the name and design history of the ubiquitous plastic chair—so called as it’s forged as a single piece from polypropylene.
Based originally on the drafts of Canadian designer D.C. Simpson and informed by the success of industrial artist Joe Colombo’s Chair Universal 4867 in 1965, production of the stool began in the 1970s with close to a billion in existence. Their affordableness and easy deployability somewhat discounts their endurance to the elements as a consequence of our disposable society but there are creative ways to mend broken seats—which seems like a quite worthwhile endeavour since we’ll have to live with them forever. Much more to explore at the link above, including repairs and intervention ideas plus a short documentary on the Monobloc.

Saturday 1 August 2020

deadmau5 & the neptunes


Here is the official music video for the band’s number Pomegranate—via Seitvertreib—from artist Nick DenBoer.

Thursday 30 July 2020

commemorative toonies

Via friend of the blog par excellence Nag on the Lake, we learn that the Royal Canadian Mint will honour the centenary of the birth of Haida Gwaii (see also here and here) artist Bill Reid (*1920 – †1988)—whose artwork had previously graced the 2004 series of the $20 banknote with a special two dollar coin featuring two versions grizzly bear (Xhuwaji) motif, one in traditional colours and the other uncoloured specie.
The name of the coin itself—first going into circulation in 1996—is a reference to the 1987 introduction of the one-dollar coin, the loonie, featuring the bird found through Canada on the reverse—although during the roll-out of the $2 coin, one parliamentarian hoped that the nickname Nanuq (Inuit for polar bear) might become popular as a way of acknowledge the culture of First Nations. The launch of the coin was to coincide with Reid’s January birthday but was delayed due to the pandemic outbreak.

Wednesday 29 July 2020

a short conchological glossary

Though not presented as a tongue-twister nor with any other context or accompaniment that might appeal to anyone outside the academic community of cockles and mussels or shell-collectors, this odd exercise in splendid enunciation—via Weird Universe—has a soothing, dulcet quality that is only to be found I think in a subject this niche. Click through to download the recording as an MP3.
It makes me think about the admonishment of not being critical of others for mispronouncing a word as they might have only ever encountered that word in print beforehand—I know my head pronunciation of things can be sometimes a mismatch, and we probably ought to bring back the pronouncing album. The opening disclaimer that there no official—only customarily correct way of saying these Latin names does not dissuade us from listening to more from R. Tucker Abbott, PhD (*1919 – †1995), preeminent malacologist, who made up the names of many of the species himself.

Tuesday 23 June 2020

6x6

ningaloo canyons: incredible footage from the previously unplumbed depths of the sea off western Australia

sea bass on a bed of contact lenses: hilarious mistranslation of French haute cuisine (see previously)

working lads institute: an antique gallery of portraits of those rehabilitating at the White Chapel Mission of London

cooper black: a look at the history behind the ubiquitous typeface, via Messy Nessy Chic, whose other finds are well worth checking out too

now is the time: raising the first new totem pole on Haida Gwaii (see also) in generations

geocities to neocities: the illustrious cabinet of hypertext curiosities of Mx van Hoorn, via Kicks Condor  

corrugated community: the vernacular architecture of Tฤซrau, New Zealand

Monday 22 June 2020

vignettes canadien

Helpful in the extreme but at a more sensible pace as not to turn her journey into Marathon and not live to be a nonagenarian, on this day in 1813, Laura Secord (*1775 – †1868) undertook a mission of walking some thirty-two kilometres (twenty miles) from her home on the Niagara escarpment to warn British and Mohawk troops at their outpost at Beaver Dams of news of a planned sneak attack by the American forces. Thanks to this intelligence, the British and First Nations allied forces were able to repel the invasion in this pivot battle of the War of 1812 and hold the territory.

Sunday 21 June 2020

hommages posthumes

Born circa 1700 in Maderia and sold into a life of enslavement Marie-Josรจphe dite Angรฉlique (so named by her last owner) was tried and made a coerced confession under torture of setting fire to her master and mistress’ home, engulfing much of the old town of Montrรฉal, and was executed by hanging on this day in 1734.
When the devastating fire had spread back in April, rumours circulated accusing Angรฉlique of arson but there were no witnesses (other than a five-year old that took the stand by surprise, coming forward quite late in the proceedings) or corroborating evidence and prosecutors struggled to impose the sentence but the punishment was eventually meted out.
While until recent times, the court’s verdict was not re-examined, assuming that Angรฉlique did in fact start the fire to exact revenge on her owners, closer inspection suggests it may have been accidentally and that Angรฉlique was a convenient scapegoat—other historians do indeed find her culpable but in the larger context of the struggle for freedom and equal rights. There is of course no such thing as being a little bit owned and not one’s own person but conditions in New France were far different in other areas, there being a degree of civil protections for enslaved persons and rather a hierarchy of “unfreedoms” that restricted movement and liberty. In 2012, a public square facing the Montrรฉal City Hall was designated Place Marie-Josรจphe-Angรฉlique in her honour and numerous adaptations of her life have been produced.

Friday 5 June 2020

someday i’ll have a disappearing hairline, someday i’ll wear pajamas in the daytime

Released this month in 1994, Crash Test Dummies’ “Afternoons and Coffeespoons,” the third single from the album God Shuffled His Feet (the cover art is Titian’s 1523 Bacchus and Ariadne with band members faces on the figures) considered to be the most popular song according to the alternative rock band’s fanbase and was among the highest charting in their repetoire references the 1915 T. S. Eliot verse “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”—I have measured out my life with coffee spoons. This interior monologue of reflection and lament on estrangement, isolation and disillusioning realisation of morality resounding in both works takes on an especially resonant meaning in the latter musical tribute in these times.

Maybe if I could do a play-by-playback
I could change the test results that
I will get back
I’ve watched the summer evenings pass by
I’ve heard the rattle in my bronchi…

Monday 25 May 2020

toki pona

Invented in 2001 with its full lexicon published on this day in 2014, the eponymous constructed ‘language of the good’ has a sparse, flexible vocabulary of around one hundred and twenty root words set forth by linguist Sonja Lang whose minimalistic qualities championed by a small but strong community of enthusiastic ascribers employs a few words to express big and broad ideas and promote positive thinking—the project developed as a form of self-therapy out of a dark place—in line with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity that posts that one’s grammar defines one’s world-view and outlook.
Basic ideas can be used to communicate increasingly complex and nuanced meanings but only through an additive process that’s just as easily parred back down to its elemental concepts. Despite being rejected as imprecise by authorities, Toki Pona was among the languages subject to an investigative study on the ability of machines to understand natural language (even naturally occurring examples are parochial and political with prescriptive grammar) in context, significantly outperforming English and others. Because of the limited lingual inventory and morphemes, aside from the Latin script, two logographic writing systems were developed by Toki Pona students: sitelen pona and sitelen sitelen, the latter glyphs pictured along with the banner of constructed languages, designed by Christian Thalmann for the CONLANG family—Lang’s experiment not intended as an auxiliary form of communication but having in a way attained that status.