la révolution introuvable

A recent interview with EU parliamentarian Daniel (le Rouge) Cohn-Bendit who was one of the student-leaders during the unrest in Paris that ignited in May of 1968, ahead of the fiftieth anniversary of the riots, had two rather pointed statements: during the protests, no one was asking us about our relationship with 1918 and, commenting on today’s atmosphere, Cohn-Bendit’s compatriots were fearless about the future, whereas things now seem a bit tremulous (with notable exceptions).

hex key

We learn via Slashdot that robotic engineering is on the brink of surpassing an important milestone in terms of dexterity, coordination, versatility and patience in assembling a piece of IKEA furniture, a complicated, hands-on experience that would have until just recently been too much to ask of even the most sophisticated robots.
Spending half its time modeling a plan (and a little guidance from its handlers what the end product was to be without the ability yet to just consult the manual) and the rest on putting the chair together, both novice teams finished the job in about twenty minutes. See a video demonstration of the competition and feat at the link above.

extended character set

Appreciating that as originally a Japanese convention, quite a lot culturally significant symbols would be represented in emoji, like the Great Wave off Kanagawa, Mount Fuji or a bento box. I was curious what the characters following zodiacal symbols meant.
Initially I felt a little underwhelmed with the list but took the chance to reflect on what strikes others as worthy of inclusion or shorthand for something else. For your edification: 🈁 is Koko for Here, 🈂 is Sa for Service Charge, 🈷 is the sign for Moon and signifies a Monthly Amount, 🈶 means Owned or Not Free of Charge, 🈯 indicates Reserved, 🉐 signifies a bargain, 🈹 a discount, 🈚 is for Free of Charge, 🈲 means Prohibited, 🉑 signals acceptable, 🈸 is the Japanese button for application, 🈴 is used to advertise that one has earned a passing grade, 🈳 is empty and available and used to mean Vacancy, ㊗ is the icon for Congratulations, ㊙ marks a Secret, 🈺 is the equivalent of “Yes, we’re Open,” and 🈵 indicates No Vacancy. The Alpha through Omega Omicron following are incidentally blood-types.

closed-circuit

Through a mesmerising clip that’s a rather voyeuristic illustration of the commuters’ rat-race and routine called Underground Circuit—comprised of a montage of subway footage, Nag on the Lake introduces us to the work of creative artist Yuge Zhou, whose common-thread of the patterns of human activity in urban settings is explored throughout her repertoire.
This particular work struck me as voyeuristic despite the faceless quality of those navigating the outer rings in a somnambulist fashion are nonetheless doing so to the rhythm of the drummers at the centre, a reference to the concept of Phra Phrom, the Four-Faced Awakened One, an auspicious figure of devotion widely adopted by the Chinese and other Asian faith traditions. Watch and listen to the whole video at the links above and discover more of her artwork.