In retribution for the Magic Kingdom’s public stance against legislation passed and enforced by the state of Florida and suspension of political donations in response to the so called “Don’t Say Gay” bill that bars instruction that is not “age or develop-mentally appropriate” as a form of indoctrination and makes it taboo to talk about gender identity or sexual orientation, the Republican governor, with the backing of the legislature, is proposing to strip Disney properties of its own private governance. Accorded by Florida in 1967 to make it more attractive for the entertainment giant to establish its resorts and theme parks (see also)—and originally a planned city of the future, Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, that reverted back to another attraction, the special jurisdiction has its own law enforcement and security, environment standards, building codes and zoning laws as well as its own tax regime. Authorities warn that its dissolution will burden neighbouring counties with much higher property taxes and further alienates the state’s largest employer.
Thursday, 21 April 2022
reedy creek improvement district
catagories: ⚖️, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐ข, ๐️♂️, ๐ณ️๐
Thursday, 7 April 2022
putinversteher
In circulation since the 2014 invasion and annexation of Crimea (even nominated as Unwort of the year then but losing out to the below) and now rising again to common-parlance and international recognition, the German term for a sympathiser or apologist of the president of the Russian Federation with the noun that generally means “understander” joins a
cadre of words that have entered English in recent years (see previously), drawing sometimes apt but imperfect parallels to the US invasions of Iraq, Grenada, or Vietnam—careful not to condone or endorse violence but at the same time invoking deflection and whataboutism (a tu quoque fallacy). The article from Deutsche Welle goes on to report that the use of the letter ‘Z’ to signal support of the Russian aggression has been outlawed in this country, the letter with no unambiguous interpretation and a Cyrillic corresponding letter which seems strange considering the country’s nationalism. Theories on the distinguishing markers on otherwise identical tactical vehicles range from ะทะฐะฟะฐะด (Romanised as zapad—or a war against the West), ะทะฐ ะฟะพะฑะตะดั (for victory) or grimly and commiserate with the atrocities seen ะทะฐัะธััะบะฐ, an unofficial military term for a cleansing operation, room-to-room searches
Tuesday, 29 March 2022
i have no idea what a burner phone is
Despite taking slight issue with the headline—as one wouldn’t round down the gap in the Nixon tapes down to a quarter-of-an-hour rather than citing the full eighteen-and-a-half minutes, the reporting on the on the omissions of the presidential daily diary (PDD) and call log is revealing that an nearly eight hour block of time is missing from Trump’s activities on 6 January 2021, the date of the attack on the US Capitol, is a devastating indictment and highly incriminating, especially for those communications that have been verified to have taken place, despite not being reflected in the archives. The committee investigating the insurrection, suspecting a cover-up, are looking for witness testimony in order to fill in the gap as the violence was unfolding. This news comes at the same time as a federal judge rules that Trump—on the advice of his legal counsel—committed felonies on several counts in his scheme to overturn the election, opening up the possibility to subpoena more documents and communication between the Trump administration and legal team, overriding the protections of attorney-client privilege, another favoured shield to invoke by those with something to hide.
Wednesday, 9 March 2022
8x8
catwalk: the home of architect of Vittorio Garatti in Milan—via Messy Nessy Chic
inktrap: a Japanese typeface design book from 1957—via Present /&/ Correct
east-enders: a retrospective look at women protesting for peace in the 1980s in London
river antban country club: blindly, an AI tries naming golfing ranges (see previously)
carrousel: Logan’s Run plus spin-offs—see previously
bones mccoy: a compilation of Deforest Kelley pronouncing
not chav: a fresh perspective on London’s council houses
Saturday, 19 February 2022
7x7
a fistful of manicules: Shady Characters explores several font specimens of the typographers’ mark—see previously
la conquรชte du pain: an anarcho-communist bakery going strong in Montreuil
peeping tom: Facebook’s demise following that of mySpace
storyliving: Disneyland pre-retirement communities—via Web Curios
erste jahrzehnten: German Design Awards marks its first decade with a special exhibit
sold for sol 1800: it appears that Melania Trump purchased her own NTF—via New Shelton wet/dry
i shot the serif: foundry Neubau Berlin pays homage to Mid-Century international fonts
Thursday, 17 February 2022
chess ‘72
Via Weird Universe we are treated to this over-the-top piece of presidential memorabilia touted as the invitation to invest in America history through art in this rather ghoulish game board commemorating the year in politics with Republicans versus Democrats and portraying personages (by internationally famous sculptor Alexander Silveri for the low price of $32.45) such as Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, Henry Kissinger (as Queen) pitted against Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Edward Kennedy and Sam Yorty. There was a second version released the following year dedicated to the Watergate scandal. More at the link up top.
Tuesday, 15 February 2022
6x6
taxon: vintage animal family cards
able baker: a collection of US museum ships—via Things Magazine
daily constitutional: map out one’s lunch-hour ambulations
wobo: Heineken breweries in the early 1960s produced brick-like bottles that could double as construction material, via Messy Nessy Chic
metamates: Facebook staff receive a new official monicker aligned with corporate branding
catagories: ๐ป, ๐️♂️, ๐บ, ๐ฅธ, ๐งฑ, ๐ข, libraries and museums, networking and blogging
Saturday, 12 February 2022
7x7
forum gallorum: step into this unassuming salon to inspect a piece of Roman London, reminiscent of discovering this shopping mall in Mainz—via Nag on the Lake
shred, white and blue: the totally normal and perfectly legal ways the White House handled official records
neft daลlarฤฑ: a decaying offshore oil platform in the middle of the Caspian Sea
the thoughtful spot: the Phrontistery (ฯฯฮฟฮฝฯฮนฯฯฮฎฯฮนฮฟฮฝ, Greek for the thinking place) catalogues a treasury of rare and obscure words—via Kottke
gumshoe: the bygone era of the hotel detective—via Strange Company’s Weekend Link Dump
be mine: the Lupercalia and the origins of Saint Valentine
Saturday, 29 January 2022
westanamerica
In a development as outrageous and unhinged as the so called Pizzagate conspiracy theory—which (take a deep breath) in case you had forgotten that madness posited that the hacked cache of emails of Hilary Clinton and other prominent Democratic Party officers contained coded messages that implicated them in a human trafficking ring run out of the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, DC—the National Butterfly Sanctuary on the US-Mexico border is forced to temporarily shut down due to “credible threats” logged in connection with an upcoming Trump-adjacent political rally. Accusing the centre of facilitating illegal border crossings over the Rio Grande/Rรญo Bravo, money-laundering and using butterfly swarms to dispose of bodies, the rumours are being propagated by a fund-raising committee hoping to privately finance the Wall.
coalition of the drilling
In the first State of the Union Address to the American people since the 9/11 terror attacks some five months hence, delivered on this day in 2002, George W Bush minted the coinage “axis of evil”—a portmanteau of Ronald Reagan’s characterisation of the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire and the Axis powers of World War II, Germany, Italy and Japan. Originally levied against Iran, the Baath party of Iraq and North Korea as sponsors of terrorism, net exporters and actively seeking weapons of mass destruction to define a common enemy and threat to US and its allies, other politicians and commentators expanded the term to include Syria, Cuba, Libya, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Myanmar.
catagories: ๐บ๐ธ, ๐️♂️, foreign policy, Middle East, Wikipedia
Sunday, 16 January 2022
6x6
teed-off: the worse examples of gerrymandered voting precincts in the US portrayed as formidable mini-golf hazards—via Print Magazine
blursday afternoon is never ending: time reforms for 2022
toponymy: Wordle (previously) place-names editions—see also
la pista automobilistica: Nag on the Lake gives us the chance to revisit the incredible Fiat factory in Turin with rooftop test-track
crying is for plain women—pretty women go shopping: season one Golden Girls are younger than the cast of the Sex in the City reboot and other essential reading
undercounted: email traffic reveals how Trump interfered with US census to ensure polities with large immigrant populations didn’t gain clout
Thursday, 16 June 2016
media black-out or all the news that’s fit to print
While after having its servers compromised and fearful at the DNC that whatever muck has been raked (which ought not be such a bombshell, we suspect) might be released prematurely and spoil their impact, meanwhile the Republican National Committee has been presented a challenge by the third estate.
Although we have serious objections to the concept of denying dissenting voices a platform out of fear of causing trauma, the threat, pledge of journalistic abeyance strikes me as an effective way to take the wind out of certain sails. The time and resources formerly dedicated, thoughtlessly and without stint, to covering every stump speech would instead be pledged to uncovering the veracity of such claims that might only pass as the news ticker. Media organisations would also petition the party for the reinstatement of their credentials and access, revoked for having crossed the presumptive candidate. What do you think? Just apply the resolution equitably (when any candidate denies an audience to media outlets because it is not supportive of his or her platform) to preserve journalistic integrity and spare us all the awful spectacle. Is it biased or undermining to deny demagogues their expected and free publicity?
catagories: ๐บ๐ธ, ๐️♂️, foreign policy
Tuesday, 2 February 2016
horse's mouth or cruz-control
Why me? I’m a presidential contender and not at all three of the Campbell’s Soup kids balanced on top of each other imperson- ating an adult in order to place a bet on a race-horse, for whom I have insider-knowledge.
catagories: ๐️♂️
Wednesday, 30 December 2015
hail to the chief
Dangerous Minds shares this terrific send-up of the outsider candidate Donald Trump’s “platform”—produced rather surprisingly by a group of Arizona Republicans—in the form of well-choreographed and spot-on on-point Country music video.
Despite the message (and I suppose the satire is of a subtly that could mask the ridicule for a few nanoseconds), some supporters are ironically using the song during campaign rallies. Incidentally, the pomp and circumstance of Hail to the Chief—adapted from a Sir Walter Scott poem about the Lady of the Lake with references to Beltane, the Golden Bough and Druids—was originally somewhat of a bombastic parody, a useful signature tune to draw attention to less imposing office-holders, whether they wanted to be noticed or not.
catagories: ๐️♂️
Monday, 28 December 2015
indignation
Smacking very much of the ongoing coddling of minds and egos, Vox staffers present a rather sombre but rollicking look back at the year in phony outrage.
It’s deviously brilliant that none of us (me included) really has to choose our battles any longer and can unleash whatever venom, vitriol or hissy-fit at the world at large with little fear of consequence or aspersions being cast back at us. These reverse scandals are rather telling as anger, however tepid by day’s end once the media attention has been spent, seem to be the initial and unmediated reaction to upsetting our cushions of comfort and probably the feeling and response that we are best acquainted with—whether dispatched as an attack on our personal values or otherwise. The antithesis is true also, for as lightly as our fury is tugged so are our heart-strings with feelings of unanimity and accord.
catagories: ๐️♂️, ๐ง , networking and blogging
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
leader board or it’s the plumber, i’ve come to fix your sink
catagories: ๐️♂️, ๐ฑ, ๐ง , foreign policy