nosewise (10. 127)

Courtesy of the latest edition of You’re Dead to Me—see previously—and the panel discussion on animals in the Middle Ages, ranging from superstitions, scientific inquiry to animals standing trial, ecclesiastic courts usually trying wild creatures, excom-municating a swarm of locust for instance, whereas civil courts hearing cases involving domestic animals, we learn of the fifteenth century hunting treatise by Edward Norwich, Second Duke of York, The Master of the Game, a position the duke held in the court of Henry V. The volume not only includes several chapters devoted to different quarry, techniques and canine-care, it moreover includes a listing of nearly eleven hundred names that would be appropriate for such working animals, All Manner of Hounds, including the above, Nameles, Clenche, Bragge, Tullymully, Flithe, Honyball, Synfull, Garlik and Troy. His lordship, however, forbade anyone naming a pet Norman—presumably after the recently lost duchy, which does seem like a good name for a good boy. Here is the whole list within the manuscript for you to tag your pet—or yourself.

kennel club

Vicar of Swimbridge in North Devon and avid fox-hunter, Right Reverend John “Jack” Russell was born this day in 1795 (†1883) who would go on to develop his namesake breed. Anecdotally, whilst studying a Exeter College in Dartmouth, Russell came across a dappled white terrier belonging to a local milkman and offered to buy her on the spot. Calling her Trump, she became the matrilineal founder of the variety endowing her offspring with traits suited to Russell's preferred sporting.

8x8

turnspit: eccentric, utilitarian canine breeds that have passed out of fashion but could be revived—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links (lots more to see there) 

ball-and-chain: this leashless ankle weight system to control one’s toddler will only make baby invincible—via Super Punch  

miss spirit world 1960: a pageant sourced in spectral photography of the departed  

something—that if true, you couldn’t handle it: a close reading of the recently indicted QANon Shaman’s manifesto  

on écrit aussi ielle: the authoritative French language Petit Robert adds a third, gender-neutral personal pronoun—a concatenation of the masculine and feminine forms (see also)  

the midnight special: eight hours of footage from David Bowie’s television programme the “The 1980 Floor Show,” an episode guest-curated by the artist  

hocus-pocus: the hidden overhauls happening the façades of Russian construction sites (see also)  

yes, this is dog: a video phone that allows apartment-bound dogs to call their humans

8x8

letraset press: a collection of instant lettering dry-transfer sheets (see previously) from Coudal Partners’ Fresh Signals 

the woman who stared at the sun: the circumstance and contributions to astronomy of Hisako Koyama who helped hone our understanding of solar cycles 

a good walk spoiled: an in-depth look at how golf course exacerbate the housing shortage  

couch gag: a clever individual shares their construction of a miniature replica of the Simpsons’ purple television set that plays random episodes 

one week supply: a podcast discussing Damn Interesting’s curated links section 

the china syndrome: a super-tunnel simulator that illustrates the quickest, shortest routes to connecting points around the globe—see also  

tartu snail tower: the spiralling skyscraper in Estonia’s second city  

the art of letters: a typographical study from Mark Gowing

animorphs

Before the internet came along to satisfy one’s past-life regression curiosities and fulfil other needs of course, there were toll hotlines such as the one featured from 1992 which, by answering a few basic questions on one’s telephone keypad, promised to reveal what historical personage one’s pet was the reincarnation of. What a delightful theological view on the transmigration of souls. More bizarre 900 number advertising spots to be found at the sub-reddit Obscure Media at the link above.

the starlight barking

Via Messy Nessy Chic not only are we given an appreciated reading tip in the comforting writing style of I Capture the Castle and One Hundred and One Dalmatians author Dodie Smith (*1896 - †1990) we moreover learn that Smith also penned a sequel to the 1956 novel—which has nothing to do with the Disney adaptations. A bit reminiscent of the Jellicle cats, Lord Sirius (the Dog Star) comes to Earth after putting humans into a deep slumber and granting canines supernatural powers in order to prevent nuclear war.

pups unlimited

Having recently learned about one individual’s ahead of its time efforts to create an all puppy cable channel for relaxing active viewing or comforting background noise that unfortunately never had its day though has been later realised a hundred-times over with a sorts of niche sites and moments of indulgence, we could appreciate arriving at this one venue via Pasa Bon! that fulfils the original vision. The platform allows one to cycle through the looping footage of dozens of dogs and puppies behaving in characteristically cute and charming ways. Below was the proposed station identification jingle for the sadly never established Puppy Channel.

dogs would be terrible poker players

Via the New Shelton wet/dry and introduced by the above irony that canine companions would have far too many tells to be successful gamblers, we are presented with the prejudice of our perceptions and the readiness of many to dismiss our feline friends as aloof despite a domestic bond—the only successfully asocial interspecies friendship we’ve managed—that’s endured for untold generations. Given the typical feline social structure and humans wanting to impose and expecting to imprint on our housemates, it’s little wonder that we misinterpret their signals and signs of affection. More relationship advice from the BBC at the link above.

6x6

for ages eighteen plus: adult content next door 

cph-ø1: Copenhagen harbour floating parkipelago gets its first module  

dapper duds: older dogs dressed as senior human citizens to encourage adoption 

holes and slices: the Swiss cheese model risk management and loss prevention  

coandă effect: a drone stays aloft by taking advantage of the fluid dynamic tendency to stay attached to a convex surface—a principle used in hovercraft, the Avrocar, NOTARs, windshield cleaners, mitral regurgitators and ventilators  

for ages six and up: small bricks present a choking hazard

panda diplomacy

Via Nag on the Nag’s expertly curated Sunday Links (always a lot to explore here), we are introduced to the latest obsession, research rabbit hole from the contributors of Artsy magazine in this 1861 portrait of a pedigree Pekingese by German transplant painter Friedrich Wilhelm Keyl, who specialised in the subject and received many commissions from the court of Victoria and Albert. Though living a contented to all appearances and happy eleven more years in the lap of luxury, there’s a dark side to little Looty and her role as a political prop—sort of like Nixon’s Checkers speech.

Charmingly called after the diminutive for the spoils of war by the queen, this example of the exclusive companion breed reserved for the Imperial family of China was one of five Pekingese dogs found guarding the corpse of a lady who took her own life in 1860 as an Anglo-French exhibition force advanced on the Old Summer Palace (The Garden of Perfect Brightness and royal residence) and under the orders of Lord Elgin in retribution for an earlier failed peace treaty began to ransack the place at the height of the Second Opium War. The plunder and destruction took a force of four thousand men three days to carry out, owing to the palace’s monumental size. The sentimental portrait takes on new meaning when looking at it through the fraught historical context of colonialism and is still a matter that the European powers are coming to terms with. Not to be outdone by his father that stole the Marbles, Elgin’s (who also served as governors of Jamaica, Canada and India) wanton act forced the capitulation of the Qing Emperor and ceded the rest of the Kowloon Peninsula to the crown colony of Hong Kong. Posing before a Ming vase that was surely also part of the pilfered treasure, you can detect a hint of saudade and longing her eyes. We’d like to give back Looty her old name as well.

saint guinefort

Venerated on this day and celebrated since the thirteenth century until the 1930s despite multiple and vehement prohibitions by the Church, this holiday marks our third recent iteration of dog-related saints (see previously here and here), albeit this one is our first actual canine.
The faithful greyhound of a knight living in the Dombes near Lyon, the knight left his infant son in Guinefort’s care one day when he needed to go on a hunting expedition. Of course the dog was a good and capable baby-sitter but there was a tragic misunderstanding: like the tale The Brahmin and the Mongoose, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the knight returned to find the baby missing and Guinefort with bloody jaws. Assuming the worse, the knight smote Guinefort, realising only too late that the dog had saved the child, taking him to a secure spot and killed a viper. To make amends for their error, they interred Guinefort in a well and transformed it into a shire, a grotto with a grove of trees. Several miraculous interventions that saved infants and small children from harm are attributed to Guinefort and new parents often brought their children to be blessed at the well.

sant sezni

Having immigrated from his namesake village in Cornwall to the Breton coast and there founded a monastery, according to local lore, Sithney, who is venerated on this day († c. 529), was appointed by God to be the patron of young women seeking husbands. The saint however pled that he would never be at peace and would rather be the patron of mad dogs. Invoked against rabies and for the recovery of the afflicted, water from wells in both Sithney and Guic-Sezni are considered to have restorative properties for our canine friends.

qwerty or 🦆🐈🐄🐿️🦃🐢

To our delight we discover that in the mid-1930s—in order to raise qualified typists Smith Corona introduced a portable unit with animals on the keys to make the exercise more kid-friendly plus a set of nine rings—one for each finger and the right thumb to drum the space bar, to teach touch-typing and reinforce and associate letters with their rows through muscle-memory—knowing that one should use the birdie finger, doggie finger, etc, rather than by hunting and pecking. The most ambitious tutorial toy of its age, the typewriter looked to have promising Christmas sales the year it premiered but the Great Depression rather put a damper on further production and idea was abandoned to be championed later in other forms.

pedigree or animal fancy

Though it might be overly-charitable to describe Andrew Johnson’s kindness to mice that he found in his residence as having pets, no other occupant of the White House has not kept animals of some type—usually dogs, but sometimes a whole hobby farm and menagerie to include donkeys, horses, bears and exotic gifts from visiting heads of state. We’re unworthy of our animal companions as it is and robots have already expressed their aversion for his ilk, and while I feel it would be inhumane to force an animal on Dear Leader as a full-time commitment, since he’d probably delegate their care and attention to others, but I suppose he could be subjected to the supervised company a therapy hen—one of those acculturated to comfort the most damaged among us.