Wednesday 9 August 2017

path of totality

This 1982 reflection on witnessing a total solar eclipse by Annie Dillard, excerpted by TYWKIWDBI, is pretty alluring and seductive, making me want to experience the coming eclipse in person too. Although very young and far away in New Mexico from where one might experience civil twilight, I still have a vivid recollection of setting up a pinhole projection with my Mom on our driveway and being amazed to see that little sliver of a shadow bleed over the white disc of the Sun—the colours seeming strangely saturated like watching the skies in the spring two years ago.

It did not look like a dragon, although it looked more like a dragon than the moon. It looked like a lens cover, or the lid of a pot. It materialized out of thin air—black, and flat, and sliding, outlined in flame... You have seen photographs of the sun taken during a total eclipse. The corona fills the print. All of those photographs were taken through telescopes. The lenses of telescopes and cameras can no more cover the breadth and scale of the visual array than language can cover the breadth and simultaneity of internal experience... But I pray you will never see anything more awful in the sky... It is one-360th part of the visible sky. The sun we see is less than half the diameter of a dime held at arm’s length...

The mania is appreciable and can certainly understand the pilgrimages that people undertake. Indulge oneself with the essay printed in its entirety at The Atlantic, available through the day of the eclipse. Make the effort to be there if you can.

me, inc

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the eyes of some economists validated the market principles that are the underpinnings of globalism: the view, as ร†on magazine explores (one can listen to the essay at the link, as well), that government exist for the sole purpose of regulating and sustaining constructed markets and should not be in the business of vouchsafing the welfare of its subjects.
Self-interest redresses and supplants those basic services like mass-transit, food safety, libraries, etc. This increasing popular point of view (championed by many adherents including the US Secretary of State and top diplomat Rexxon-Mobil), characterised as neoliberalism by its critics, signals a major shift in how we talk and think about the nature of work and careers, paradoxically not increasing the feeling of loyalty and job security as countries move towards more and more advanced economies, but rather the opposite.  Those marginally engaged in the workforce live in constant worry of becoming redundant at the whims of a corporate entity immeasurably bigger than any single cog (cog perhaps being an over-estimation of one’s importance), and for those fortunate enough to have a more comfortable working arrangement, every position is seen as developmental and an incremental step to the next opportunity.  In short, workers are either terrified into obedience or abeyance flattens hierarchy and creates a class of passionate quitters.

Tuesday 8 August 2017

his master’s voice

I fully believe that Nag on the Lake deserves credit for discovering this marketing niche with her tip about a German radio station for canine shut-ins, but it’s pretty nifty nonetheless to learn that there is an audio book guide to help lonely dogs cope with separation anxieties when their humans depart for the day. A renowned animal psychologist conducted research that demonstrated the potential for better unmonitored behaviour in three out of four dogs that were read to (much like humans) and has some recommendations on selecting titles for your pets.

isthmus

Via Super Punch we learn that some influential individuals in Thailand’s business and government sectors are entertaining an ambitious infrastructure project that would create the south east Asia equivalent of the Suez or Panama canals by excavating a shipping lane through the country’s narrow land-bridge at Kra. The short-cut through the Malay peninsula would connect the Pacific and Indian oceans and would yield significant reductions in transit times and allow container ships to bypass territorially disputed and pirate-haunted waters.

Monday 7 August 2017

5x5

in your feed: BBC Culture recommends five-and-twenty arts and history podcasts with recommended episodes to try on for size

qvc: Dear Leader launches a propaganda network with weekly praise-a-thons as a refreshing alternative to fake news

automata: governments issuing guidelines to encourage manufacturers to redress lax security for smart cars and the internet of things

store brand: having accumulated billions of data points on sales, giant retail emporium turns, covertly, to selling its own line of products

zeitgeist: apps and internet dating platforms had already become part of the culture with two clubs in 1920s Berlin that facilitated flirtation via anonymised pneumatic tube, via Messy Nessy Chic