Monday 18 October 2021
obtundo
Saturday 9 October 2021
7x7
the boy on the bike: a trip down Golden Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset with a beloved bread advert directed by Ridley Scott with music by Dvoลรกk
dedication—devotion, turning all the night time into the day: more on the hypothesis (see previously) that the Dire Straits song can improve any movie endingthe hauntening: various AIs try their hand at spookifying, exorcising Victorian mansions—previously
outbreak: a timelapse of COVID-19 cases in the United States over the past eighteen months
just the punctation: what text without words reveals to authors about their style—via Waxy
abecedarium: a 1968 Alphabet (previously) of the Dada movement hosted by Hans Richter (caution, some rapid, flashing images)
raลกรญnovo embankment: revitalised Prague riverfront features vaulted arches for cafes and gallery spaces
Friday 1 October 2021
born to the purple
Via Strange Company’s Weekend Link Dump, we very much enjoyed learning about young aspiring chemist William Henry Perkin’s accidental discovery of one of the first synthetic dyes whilst trying to extract quinine, the sole treatment for malaria known to Victorian London, from coal tar—a considered a waste by-product of burning coke and coal but in reality quite useful. Purple was still very much en vogue—signalling that wearers were otherwise porphyrogenita though to harvest the mollusks that were its natural source, the Murex snail, was exceedingly hard to come (as the species was nearly driven to extinction by dint of the royal colour) by and substitutes were quick to fade and wash-out. The substance that Perkin’s experiments yielded stained fabric and appeared to be colourfast, and capitalising on tradition, originally deemed it Tyrian purple, later naming the product, the first to be marketed commercially and leading to an revolution in chemical research, to mauveine after the French term for the mallow (Malva sylvestris) wildflower.
computerised axial tomography
On this day in 1971, the first CAT scan (nowadays usually referred to as a CT scan) was conducted at Wimbledon on an unidentified patient on a diagnostic machine developed by engineer Godfrey Hounsfield and physicist Allan MacLeod Cormack. The duo were recipients of the 1979 Nobel prize for their collaboration and the former is the namesake for the quantitative gauge of radiopacity—that is the ability of electromagnetic radiation to penetrate a media with air at -1000 HU (Housfield Units), water at the baseline of zero and bone set at +1000 at the other end of the spectrum, with identifiable values for various fats, tissues and ligaments.
Wednesday 22 September 2021
7x7
ppe: an enigmatic update to COVID guidelines
i don’t want to live on this planet anymore: a supercut of Futurama gags that have endured
norm macdonald has a show: an appreciation of the comedian’s (†) early standup
ernie and the emperors: a Giant Crab discography (1969)
grandmaster: the mental and physical tolls of chess
appareil: gorgeous French brick patterns from a 1878 catalogue
tireless research: Ruben Bolling showcases great scientists of the twenty-first century
Tuesday 21 September 2021
Saturday 18 September 2021
amerithrax
Beginning a week after the 9/11 attacks and continuing over the next month, a bioterrorist—likely a scientist at the US government’s biodefense and research labs in Fort Detrick, Maryland—posted letters laced with anthrax spores to several media outlets and the offices of two US senators, killing five individuals, mostly mailroom staff and infecting a further dozen with the bacteria. Compared to the hunt for the Unabomber for its range and time to identify a culprit and motive, the FBI operation named with the above portmanteau pursued a number of false leads, the attacks spawning, several copycat hoaxes. The notes in the envelops which purported to come from a non-existent grade school contained variations on the message:
09-11-01
YOU CANNOT STOP US.
WE HAVE THIS ANTHRAX.
YOU DIE NOW.
ARE YOU AFRAID?
DEATH TO AMERICA.
&c.
Al Qaeda and Iraq initially blamed, focus not turning to the possibility that it was a domestic actor within the government until 2006, forensic geneotyping just reaching the sophistication needed to trace the particular bacterial strain back to its source, though the ordered destruction of all anthrax stockpiles limited the chance for future research into the crime. The US mail service is still hyper-vigilant over suspicious packages and prone to false-alarms.
Monday 6 September 2021
6x6
circumhorizon arc: a rare Fire Rainbow photographed—via TYWKIWDBI
mars & beyond: Walt Disney’s robot pal Garco takes us on a speculative journey in search of extraterrestrial liferip: legendary NBC weather man Willard Scott has passed away, aged eighty-seven
escape artist: immersive exhibits speak to our communal sensory experience
valley of the dolls: Peerless Playthings pretend pills
cloudspotting: the World Meteorological Organisation added aspertias as a supplementary feature in 2017 Cloud Atlas—see also
Thursday 2 September 2021
your daily demon: gaap
Our thirty-third spirit is an infernal prince who governs from today through 7 September and controls sixty-six legions. Gaap’s office is to teach philosophy and the liberal arts, can engender romance, transport people around the world on his back, steal away familiars from competing exorcists and impart knowledge regarding medical care. Formerly of the angelic order post postestates, Potentates, Gaap is the cardinal spirit of the south and opposed by the ShemHamphorash guardian angel Ieuiah.
Tuesday 31 August 2021
6x6
slough off old skins: the rise and demise of an Internet Onion—via Kicks Condor
posture pals: a gallery of awkward, outstanding stances
gravy boat: kitschy vintage table settings
a little pick-me-up: the lovely Flowers for Sick People project by Tucker Nichols—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links
news at eleven: screen grabs of 1990s reporting captions
more like a simile: an experiment searching the web with AI contextualised natural language—via Web Curios
Thursday 26 August 2021
apostles’ creed
Via the New Shelton wet / dry, we are referred to a study from the Annals of Improbable Research (previously, the group also behind the Ig Noble Awards) ranking the popularity of saints to pray to for protection and intercession against COVID. There’s methodology is the survey, though I suspect it might be rather self-selecting since respondents were polled on social media but we nonetheless appreciated the efforts and the occasion to revisit some of our holy helpers, like Saint Roch (number two), Saint Sebastian (number three, here pleading with Jesus for the life of the gravedigger during the Plague of Justinian), and coming in last at a tie, SS Expedit and Corona.
Saturday 21 August 2021
scunthorpe dilemma
In tribute to a dear friend recently deceased, one individual has pledged to make a sojourn on moped across a circuit of UK settlements and in some cases streets with what’s generally deemed the rudest toponyms and odonyms to be found on the map in order, we learn via Strange Company’s Weekend Link Dump, to raise funds to combat the cancer his friend succumbed to.
The charity tour begins in the ancient hamlet of Shitteron in Dorset whose name means “farmstead on a stream used as an open sewer.” Be sure to check out the links above to see the entire itinerary and explore a global map of unfortunate, purple place names, including Fucking, Austria and how you can support their cause. The title refers to the over-zealous censorship of internet traffic monitors flagging substrings of text (the above and others) out-of-context.
catagories: ⚕️, ๐ฌ๐ง, ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ, ๐ฌ, ๐บ
Wednesday 18 August 2021
harper valley ptsa
Whilst the governor of Texas, who has contracted COVID-19 himself, has countermanded any sort mask mandate for public schools and institutions of higher education within the state, executive authority has met its match in the school board, whose trustees have elected to make amendments to dress codes and make masks a requirement “for all employees and students to mitigate flu, cold, pandemic and any other communicable diseases.” The board, at the advice of health experts, will reconvene monthly to determine if prevailing conditions still warrant the use of personal protective gear.
Tuesday 17 August 2021
7x7
lowering the bar: a trial lawyer’s endorsement in a whiskey ad illustrates by-gone regulatory period in the US
blotter art: an LSD museum in San Francisco
spraycation: Banksy works appear at UK seaside towns Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft
middle-age spread: comprehensive study finds metabolism stable throughout life and crashes after sixty—via the New Shelton Wet / Dry
bureau of land management: a celebration of the striking landscape photography of Bob Wick
o’zbekiston line: a tour of Tashkent’s underground galleries—see also
kriegswaffenkontrollgesetz: gentleman outside of Kiel fined for unregistered Panzer
Friday 13 August 2021
6x6
clink clink: a snappy little animated short of guests at cocktail hour
samarkand: an East German couple’s tour of Uzbekistan fifty years ago with photography from 1971 and 2021expectation management: a comprehensive look into how the Delta variant changes the pandemic endgame—via Kottke
noah’s violin: the twelve metre long wooden stringed instrument is a floating stage, inaugurated along with Project Moses to protect Venice from flooding
the rural juror: a spoof streaming service (see also)—via JWZ
the effect is shattering: a vodka advertising campaign that became a snow clone
Thursday 12 August 2021
la borsetta
We had noticed this handbag in the style of a Barilla pasta package circulating for a few days, and finally took the time to check it out, learning the inspiration for this limited edition leather mini-purse grew out of the tedium of night after night of trusty but monotonous fare during the height of lockdown and the antecedent panic-buying that perhaps left many cupboards stocked with a surfeit of penne.
the matter of facts
Via the always brilliant Nag on the Lake, we are directed to installation above the reception area of the Tokyo National Art Centre of ephemera curated by an architectural studio consisting of fliers, brochures and other promotional material of events, art exhibits, trade shows, concerts, conventions, that were cancelled or delayed due to the pandemic over the past eighteen months that aims to commemorate the city and its many venues by making it a part of collective memory and the shared experience. More to explore at the links above.
catagories: ⚕️, ๐ฏ๐ต, libraries and museums
Monday 9 August 2021
9x9
form follows function: a Bauhaus poster generator—see previosly—via Kottke
reddy made magic: a gallery of images plus the Walter Lantz theme song for mascot and industry shill, Reddy Kilowatt
dining car: vintage railway menus (see also) illustrate the evolution of American cuisine—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links
ฮด ฮด ฮด, can I help ya, help ya, help ya: a guide to joining the right sorority this falljeux de la xxxiii
attention k-mart shoppers: Americans emerge from the pandemic less patient, less empathetic than before and the service industry culture that fuels the cruel fantasy
cycles pour animaux: a 1907 patent for a bicycle for horses to amplify their speed and le cheval-vapeur
divergent association task: help science gauge creative reflexes by thinking up ten words as different as possible (in English only for now)
betaplex: colourful retro cinema space in Ho Chi Mihn City recalls Saigon’s Art Deco architecture
Wednesday 4 August 2021
cooling the mark out
The always engrossing house blog of San Francisco’s DNA Lounge explores the in-grouping of confidence artistry and the seemingly irrational behaviour of working against one’s own self-interest through the authoritative study of the subject in the titular 1952 essay by social psychologist Erving Goffman, lucidly illustrating the predictable stages of those defrauded and the eventual recognition of the scam that instead of leading towards reconciliation engenders such shame and fear of ostracism rather rewards those who become more trenchant in proclaiming their beliefs. Different than other forms of humiliation, those conned can defer shattering their self-image by upholding their dishonest narrative for as long as possible at the expense of society as a whole, in turn convincing others. ‘Coolers’ are affiliates of the person orchestrating the con who tamp down self-reflection by promoting self-blame and doubt over their reference group, re-constituting their self-image with that dogma even more integral to their identity.
Monday 2 August 2021
6x6
roll for perception: the official video for the 1987 Rick Astley hit (previously) surpasses one billion views
until proven safe: EURIDICE, the eponym from the mythological Eurydice who Orpheus failed to retrieve from the Underworld, is the acronym for European Underground Research Infrastructure for the Disposal of Nuclear Waste in a Clay Environmenta clokey production: a bot scours Gumbasia for random screen-grabs
pelagic waters: exploring the oceans’ midnight zone beyond the reach of the sun’s rays
portrait of a teenage alcoholic: a 1975 after school special starring The Exorcist’s Linda Blair and Star Wars’ Mark Hamill
an eternal golden braid: some crib-notes and a course on the 1987 classic Gรถdel, Escher, Bach