6x6 (11. 085)

popular superstition: how belief in ghost became a class-marker and high-society aspired to more refined practises with spiritualism and horoscopes 

late night horror: the obscure 1970 UK anthology nearly consigned to oblivion  

jack skellington: a massive pumpkin mosaic sets a new world record  

sql: the infamous database “Halloween Problem” that reveals weaknesses in common information architecture  

very very scary: a 1990s rebroadcast of Nick at Nite vintage television seasonal specials—complete with commercials  

jimi halloween: the tradition of costumes so mundane they need to be explained continues—see previously 

synchronoptica

one year ago: drawing with Ed Emberley plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: another MST3K classic—The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, more links to enjoy plus artist William-Adolphe Bourguereau

three years ago: the first residents board the International Space Station (2000), more on murderous dioramas, a wizarding curriculum from 1925 plus star charts for the yet to be born

four years ago: East German counter-programming, Brexit postponed plus the lost dative case

five years ago: stochastic terrorism, folksonomy, corporate fairy tales, birthright citizenship plus “Egyptian” Rocky Horror

outsider art (11. 077)

Via the latest instalment of Clive Thompson’s Linkfest, we are directed to the story and gallery showing of

a reclusive, retired maths teacher who created a prodigious amount of wooden crafts and abstract paintings in complete solitude and almost complete secrecy over the final two decades of his life. Only divulged to his niece who had some notion of his artistic drive, Robert Martiensen’s full oeuvre was realised upon his death in 2007, surrounded in the family farmhouse by over seven thousand pieces of art, each meticulously named, dated and numbered. Dismissed by his heirs as rubbish, the unexpected trove was saved and conserved, with select pieces on exhibit and hopes to house the collection permanently in a public institution. More at the links above.

synchronoptica

 

one year ago: another MST3K classic plus further adventures in Crete

 

two years ago: Antarctic outposts plus a funicular escalator to revitalise a historic resort

three years ago: an experimental solar sail, artist Mary Moser, a smart safety helmet plus a commemorative camera styled after Bond’s Q

four years ago: toying with time

five years ago: a counter-march in Wiesbaden, AI Halloween costume ideas plus Yoko Ono’s Warzone

free-range (10. 811)

Via the always excellent Web Curios, we are referred to a genuinely clever idea, too bad it only ships from Australia, in basically an open frame hamster ball for fowl friends in this product called the Chicken Orb as we’ve been thinking about maybe adding one or more to the family—and we can’t really fence in the entire backyard and there are foxes on the prowl (but no dingos), though couldn’t say whether this would also afford protection.  The dog seems rather tame with the ducks and geese in the pond and could foresee this sort of enclosure working on at least that level too.  What do you think?  Should we give it a try?

he just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich (10. 418)

Originally released three years prior as the B-side, local single “Keypunch Operator” before signing with a major record label, Men at Work’s hit song began topping the US charts on this day in 1983 for a run of four weeks. Relating the narrative of an Australian travelling the world only to meet people interested in hearing about his home country with slang, drug references (chunder means to vomit) and remorse about overdevelopment and American cultural hegemony peppering the lyrics. The opening musical flourish from the children’s song “Kookabura (Sits in the Old Gum Tree)”—already in the public domain—was inserted ironically but was still the subject of a copyright lawsuit after the sampling was pointed out in a quiz show in 2007.

this day in colonial history

Commemorated as Australia Day, the First Fleet under the command of Admiral Arthur Philip arrived in Sydney Harbour to found the first permanent British settlement on the continent in 1788. This is also the 1841 anniversary of the formal possession of Hong Kong when Commodore Gordon Bremer arriving at a headland (since moved inland due to coastal reclamation) named Possession Point, the former park developed as a hotel and in the 1980s with the terminal for ferry service to Macau. Finally in 1855, the Point No Point was signed under considerable duress on the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula (so named for its appearance from a distance as a promontory but receding as one nears it) in the territory of Washington, with the original inhabitants, the Skokomish, Chimakum and S’Klallam peoples, ceding their land in exchange for a small reservation, concession along the Hood fjord.

wollemia nobilis

Via Super Punch, we learn about the clandestine, successful mission pulled off by botanists, park rangers, conservators and New South Wales’ brave firefighters to save the only known wild population of Wollemi pines.
The trees, which may be up to one hundred thousand years in age, number about two hundred individuals and prior to their discovery in 1994 (akin to finding a living dinosaur), were believed to be extinct and only known through the fossil record. The operation was kept secret so as to not disclose the grove’s location as caretakers fear that visitors could bring contamination that could harm the critically endangered species. Clones have been propagated worldwide and have distinct broad needles and knobbly bark.

5x5

scorched earth: ornithologists in Australia have observed opportunistic birds that use the bush fires to flush out prey—via Kottke

midden mound: one beachcomber is sharing her found treasures

robertson head driver: an interesting look at the history of screws and other tools

the rich get richer and the poor get children: proletaneous defines one aspect of economic disparity

bucket-brigade: Sydney Opera House thanks the firefighters