Wednesday 3 April 2019

5x5

villa göth: six introductory videos on the architectural style of Brutalism (previously)

underdogs: a funny Apple advertisement manages to cover its entire suite of devices

murder she drew: an interview with talented, veteran courtroom artist (see also) Marilyn Church, via Boing Boing

no conclusion: Trump is now vacillating on releasing the Mueller Report to the public

xarabank: Malta’s unique and colourful fleet of buses recently retired make a comeback fully electrified 

wideraufbau

Based on the findings commissioned by General Lucius D Clay on the reconstruction of post-war Germany, on this day in 1948 US President Harry S Truman signed into law the European Recovery Program—ERP—unofficially known as the Marshall Plan, named in honour of former five-star general and US Secretary of State George C Marshall who carried out its execution.
Looking back, some regard the plan’s legacy as outsized and that significant economic recovery was already underway—West Germany receiving significantly less funds than Allies UK and France yet making far greater strides towards rebuilding and resuscitation—and was the investment mechanism responsible for the creation of transnational corporations beholden to no government or regulating body, all in the name of fighting the spread of Communism and cementing American culture and values, but whatever the judgment on balance, the level of integration and cooperation the plan fostered helped test and trial latter day institutions like the European Union that developed from the European Coal and Steel Community and domestically for Americans, the plan along with others signaled a willingness to cultivate a more global outlook rather than keep their stance of isolationism

Tuesday 2 April 2019

go ask your father

Our thanks once again to Coudal Partner’s Fresh Signals for recommending a reprised piece from Emma Marris that illustrates the reality of decision fatigue and hopefully engenders a lot of sympathy for parents and makes those who defer and delay choice—and answers what would you like for dinner with a question, a little ashamed as we should be.
To demonstrate the mental enervation and self-discipline that’s vanquished by a hundred small but deliberate judgement daily, Marris documented all the requests that her two children made to her in the course of a day that required a decision, answer and usually a strong justification.

Can I play on your phone until you wake up?

Will you make a creature on this kids’ app?

Can we have breakfast now?

Can we have waffles?

Can I use my own money to buy candy and ice cream at the corner store when we go to buy eggs to make waffles?

hemebase

While this latest fare I suspect wouldn’t be for someone like me who has happily been a vegetarian for over two decades, meatless options moving into the fast food business (I was afraid that this was some cynical prank because of the timing but gladly not) are certainly positive developments all around and might encourage omnivorous appetites to significantly cut back on beef consumption.
There’s always an element of acclimation—I suppose the same as I would go through trying to convince myself that what was being offered to me—and I’d be willing to try—was not a hamburger but something completely plant-based, but changing diets without compromising anything in terms of taste or texture is pretty pivotal. Our dietary choices have consequences, and when beef becomes cheap and disposable, we are paying for it dearly elsewhere. I wonder what we will ultimately gain in return for moving in a more healthy and humane direction.

nice sprites

Via Slashdot we learn that according to a study recently published in the science journal Acta Tropica, the Grammy-winning dubstep of artist Skrillex disrupts mosquito predation and mating, suggesting that sonic intervention could be developed and targeted against the disease-vectors, providing a much preferred alternative as the range of mosquitos harbouring maladies we’ve formerly associated only with tropical and exotic places grows thanks to climate change than the usual fumigation and other blatant and irreversible or simply ineffectual control measures.

Monday 1 April 2019

and smale foweles maken melodye

Revisiting a perennial favourite—whan that Aprille—in literary criticism, we like indulging the conceit of high school English teachers that the preamble from Geoffrey Chaucer’s late fourteenth century Canterbury Tales, with minimal footnotes and intervention, is somehow immediately intelligible to contemporary ears. It’s a bit of fun nonetheless and recall having to recite the prologue from memory and we were instructed to dress-up as one of the twenty-four pilgrims in school. Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende.

majority rule with minority protection

Though the outcome for Brexit is still very much up in the air, a working group composed of experts in ethnography and sociology from the UK top institutions has come together to explore ways to heal the rift that political polarisation has permeated in the country.  Among the initiatives suggested include a national expo and the appointment of a “healing czar” whom would be charged with promoting togetherness and reconciliation. Out of an aversion to being seen as taking sides, the Royal Family has all but recused themselves but a weekend parliamentary off-site meeting, several celebrities were nominated for consideration, including Bob Geldof (previously), Alice Nutter, the female lead singer formerly a part of Chumbawamba and personality David Van Day, formerly of the groups Dollar, Guys ‘n’ Dolls and Bucks Fizz who was also an aspiring council politician.

plop, plop, fizz, fizz

Swedish sound artist Alexander Hรถglund ordered different effervescent pain-relieving tablets from around the world and brought them to his recording studio in Malmรถ to press a limited run of vinyl records as a meditation on the fizzing sounds as the pills slowly dissolve.
The resulting album, Substance, is surprisingly soothing and perhaps a nice placebo—resonant with me as well for the morning ritual H calls my “vitamin water”—and makes me want to experiment a bit with the drinking vessel and water levels and makes me wonder how much of the experience one has to take in to achieve the desired result, like the impression that the angry hiss of tablet finding just a few drops of moisture instead of the full glass would probably begrudge any pharmacological efficacy.