Whilst American engineers were busy shutting off their part of the Niagara Falls by means of a cofferdam apron to staunch the flow of water and allow for repairs of the eroded riverbed and cliffs, the Canadian senate was legislating and passed on this day in 1969 amendments to the law to decriminalise abortion and homosexual relations.
Introduced originally by then Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau, the passage allowed for the sale of contraceptive medicines and devices, consensual gay relations for persons of majority in private dwellings, as well as tightening laws regarding gun sales and ownership, drink driving, telephonic harassment and cruelty to animals. Trudeau famously defended his stance to the press by declaiming an often repeated phrase, «l’ รtat n’a rien ร faire dans les chambres ร coucher de la nation.» “There’s no place for the State in the bedrooms of Canada.”
Wednesday 12 June 2019
bill c-195
catagories: ⚖️, ๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ณ️๐, 1969
Saturday 1 June 2019
flagellation, regulation, integrations, meditations, united nations, congratulations
Referred by Messy Nessy Chic, we are afforded a chance to spend some time in the Montreal hotel honeymoon suite (Room #1742) of John and Yoko Ono Lennon refurbished ahead of the fiftieth anniversary of the Bed-Ins for peace that began in late March 1969 in Amsterdam with a two-weeks intervention. The next iteration was planned for New York but Lennon was barred entry into the US over a previous marijuana possession charge and so moved to Canada. Having arrived on 26 May and inviting guests over the ensuing week like Timothy Leary, Dick Gregory, Allen Ginsburg, Tommy Smothers and others, all took part in a recorded chorus of the anthem “Give Peace a Chance” in the suite on this day.
Thursday 2 May 2019
dead reckoning
On this day in 1969, the luxury ocean liner the Queen Elizabeth 2, in service until 2008 and since last year, a floating hotel in Dubai, began her maiden voyage from the shipyards in Southhampton to New York, and was the first private, commercial vessel to avail itself of the US Navy’s Global Positioning System constellation of artificial satellites, heralding the end of navigation by compass and sextant. Coincidentally, also on this day in 2000, Bill Clinton made accurate and detailed GPS telemetry available to the public for any venture.
Wednesday 24 April 2019
reggie mac dawson has absconded with my funds
On this day in 1969, the US government issued its first mortgage-backed security through an organisation incorporated the year prior, the Government National Mortgage Association—colloquially known as Ginne Mae, a wholly-owned charter within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to promote home-ownership.
An earlier and enduring iteration was creations of the crisis of Great Depression, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and in 1970 the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and infamously Sallie Mae (the Student Loan Marketing Association) do not have the full-faith and backing of the federal government, guaranteeing solvency, only Ginnie Mae (with a real estate portfolio upwards of two trillion dollars presently), yet are de facto beneficiaries, whose purpose is to create secondary bond markets and have occasioned a few crises of their own. Jimmy Mack, when are you coming back?
Monday 8 April 2019
8x8
interview mit bauhรคuslern: a curated exhibit of the art and design movement’s journal (previously), published from 1926 to 1931
it’s 10 pm—do you know where your children are: the history of American public service announcements
erisology: the new discipline of agreeing to disagree—named for the goddess of discord that started the Trojan War
symbol and cipher: Louise Borinski explores how abstract shapes acquire meaning
audience-share: a gadget that helped marketers gauge what engaged radio-listeners in the 1930s
kannen: radical Japanese concept art of the late 1960s—see also
nattรฅg: Sweden plans to revitalise overnight train services in a push for more environmentally friendly travel options
less is more: the life and work of Maria Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in graphic novel format
Friday 5 April 2019
6x6
phobos and deimos: Martian Rover Curiosity films two solar eclipses, via Coudal Partner’s Fresh Signals
the words she knows, the tune she hums: Elton John guides a television crew through the lyrical structure of “Tiny Dancer,” written by Bernie Taupin
yang-yig: Tibetan musical notation as visually compelling as the sonic experience
amรฉricains accidentels : an association of French residents with acquired US citizenship are suing financial institutions for discrimination
these kids today with their y2k: the epochal rollover on 6 April for the array of Global Positioning Satellites could result in unexpected glitches for the devices that rely on them
stepping stones: the musical stylings of jazz-funk master Johnny Harris
Wednesday 20 March 2019
product placement
In addition to the thousands of scientists and engineers behind the Apollo missions to land a manned mission on the Moon and return them safely, there was also a concerted marketing effort not only to supplement the astronauts and enhance the mission but also out of self-interest and garnering interest for their brand. The always amazing Kottke directs our attention to an incredible curated archive of press kits and presentations put together by NASA contractors that made the journey possible and also strove to keep the crew well stocked with pens, cameras, meals in quarantine after splashdown, watches, etc. Much more to explore at the links above.
the ballad of john and yoko
A week after Linda Louise Eastman (*1941 – †1998) married Paul McCartney, John Lennon (*1940 - †1980) and Yoko Ono had their wedding service in Gibraltar on this day in 1969, traveling to Amsterdam five days later for their honeymoon.
Knowing that their marriage would be a big press event, the couple decided—at the height of the Vietnam War—to put the media attention to good use and staged the first of their weeklong Bed-Ins for Peace. An international contingent of journalists were invited into their bedroom in the presidential suite of the Hilton Hotel daily from nine o’clock in the morning until nine o’clock at night. Afterwards they dashed off to Vienna, sending acorns to heads of state around the world in hopes that they would plant them and rear oaks as symbols of peace.
Saturday 9 March 2019
philosophy of the world
Encouraged by a rather underhanded, fly-by-night record label that billed itself as a talent-scout and dream factory, band manager and stage father of the sister act The Shaggs Austin Wiggin, Jr rounded up his daughters, Helen, Betty, Rachel and Dot, and drove them to a recording studio in Boston to produce their one and only album on this day in 1969. Critical reception was harsh—unduly so, we think—directing such vitriol at teenagers that their dad wanted to showcase, but have been rehabilitated and gained status in later years as a cult sensation and even had a stage musical, off-Broadway tribute in 2011. Check out the full record below.
Sunday 3 March 2019
spider and gumdrop
The mission to inspire an eponymously titled Adam Ant song in 1984, NASA’s Apollo 9—the third crewed undertaking in the programme, took off from Kennedy Space Center on this day fifty years ago for ten days of trials in low Earth, geosynchronous orbit to test extravehicular activities (previously), spacewalk, and decoupling, docking performance of the gangly landing module and the bulbous command and service module that looked like a diving bell were given the title nicknames respectively and had those call-signs for radio communication. This battery of rigorous rehearsal helped ensure the success of later missions to the lunar surface.
Monday 25 February 2019
mcmlxix
Via Memo of the Air, we are treated to a photographic retrospective of the year in pictures, 1969 edition. Fifty iconic images curated by Alan Taylor show what shook the world and beyond fifty years, whose rumblings are still being felt. From Vietnam, Nixon, civil rights movements, the Moon landing, to Woodstock with everything else in between, it was surely an arduous task to pick a range of representative pictures—much less one.
Thursday 14 February 2019
sua sponte
Never to be accused of being an old romantic at heart, Pope Paul VI issued on this day in 1969 the Mysterii Pascchalis, reforming the liturgical year and revising the calendar of the saints.
This motu proprio (from the Latin, at one’s own accord) represents an official decree not prompted by another or in response to current developments or findings yet still has the force of law regardless of motivation, among other things struck many figures from the Calendarium Romanum, the cycle of celebrations called the Proper of Saints—to include Saint Valentine, whose feast day coincided with the decree. Only wanting to preserve the rites that were truly of universal importance to the faith, the Pope deleted or transposed nearly fifty solemnities for all our favourites, mostly due to redundancy or their problematic histories, including the saintly family of Maris, Martha, Abachum and Audifax, Canute of Denmark, Dorothy of Caesarea, Faustinus and Jovita, Ursula and her companions, Simeon, the Seven Sleepers and Saint Barbara.
Wednesday 6 February 2019
the valley and bailiwick
Having declared independence once before only to have it reigned back in, the Caribbean island of Anguilla held a second referendum whose votes nearly unanimously favoured disassociating itself from the colonial governor of Saint Kitts and proclaimed itself a republic on this day in 1969.
The chairman of the freshly constituted Island Council expelled the British envoy and for about forty days basked in its freedom. On 18 March, a contingent of paratroopers and London constables peacefully occupied the island and restored order. Disappointed by this denial for self-determination, negotiations ensued and Anguilla was granted the right to “secede” from Saint Kitts, which ironically gained full independence as the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis in 1983 while Anguilla remains an overseas territory. The triskelion of dolphins on the flag and coat of arms reminds one of the Manx flag, itself a crown dependency and neither part of the United Kingdom nor a part of the former empire.
Wednesday 30 January 2019
get back to where you once belonged
Wednesday 16 January 2019
extravehicular activity
On this day in 1969, the Soviet space programme accomplished the first docking of two vessels in orbit.
The three cosmonauts of the Soyuz 5 joined the crew of two in Soyuz 4 and transferred two members between the capsules through an airlock. The objective of the previous three Soyuz missions had been to demonstrate the technical feasibility of linking two modules but had been aborted for various reasons. This achievement paved the way for later cooperative and international missions. During a celebratory parade in Moscow a week later, the cosmonauts sustained light injuries during an assassination attempt whose target was Secretary Brezhnev who was riding in their motorcade. The failed attempt was subject to a Soviet media blackout for years afterwards.
Saturday 3 November 2018
silent majority
Echoing the 1919 turn of phrase employed by Warren G Harding during his campaign in the aftermath of World War I that was meant as a euphemism to distinguish the quick from the dead (with those who’ve passed then and now far outnumbering the living and by extension more moral weight like all future generations), Richard Milhous Nixon popularised the appeal to the quiet in a speech on this day in 1969:
“And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support.” Assuming that those who were not actively protesting Nixon’s policies, joining the counter-culture and rallying against the Vietnam War were in fact an overshadowed demographic and gave Nixon their tacit approval. Casting this idealised demographic against a “vocal minority” was a strategy of divide-and-conquer and the “disenfranchised” were not the precarious, forgotten or downtrodden but rather the comfortable who aspired for more and were menaced by those that had less. It was effective. This demographic of Middle America (though now more international in its application) has gone through many incarnations since—from the Angry White Male to the Soccer Mom, Loggers, Coal Miners and many other labels before returning to its original form. If one does not speak up, it becomes much easier for others to speak for you.
Thursday 18 October 2018
children’s television workshop
Coudal Partners’ Fresh Signals refers us to a rather outstanding biography of Caroll Edwin Spinney that comes to us on the occasion of the actor announcing after just short of fifty years of playing the roles his intention.
Jim Henson discovered Spinney at a puppetry festival held in Salt Lake City in the state of Utah in 1969 and impressed with his act invited him to join the cast of a project that he was starting up by the name of Sesame Street, creating the characters Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. Dissatisfied with his salary initially, Spinney was poised to leave after the first season but fellow Muppet performer Kermit Love, who had himself besides not unfortunately being the namesake of the franchise’s master-of-ceremonies gotten his introduction to the craft by dint of employment as marionette maker in the federal Works Progress Administration, convinced him to stay, responsible for the design of not only Spinney’s roles but also Mister Snuffelupagus and Cookie Monster.
Sunday 26 August 2018
the wombles
While this market and era of television was not exactly my formative and cultural-informing shibboleth, I did nonetheless appreciate Curious British Telly’s analysis of lesser-known vintage children’s programming.
I do recall seeing an episode or two of ITV’s Hattytown Tales (1969 – 1973), which I remember being quite keen and well composed (distributed by the production studio FilmFair who were known for this distinctive style), as stop-motion animation of anthropomorphised hats that recursively resided in hats that resembled themselves. Do you recognise any of these other titles?
Sunday 15 June 2014
colour by numbers
There was a radio special on the air driving this afternoon that paid tribute to gay musicians and featured a great canon of songs and genres. I had tuned to it after the introduction but I believe the programme—Queer Sounds was aired this day to acknowledge the anniversary in June 1969 (45 years ago) when East Germany, in a frank move that was not reciprocated by the West, struck down one of the old laws (the so-called infamous § 175 in the German Criminal Code) had inherited outlawing homosexual relationships.
Though West Germany had the same explicit laws on the books to, symbolically at least, repeal, it did not happen in reunited Germany until 1994, and the host pointed out that Germany does indeed lag behind most of the rest of Europe when it comes to legislation for equal rights and equal recognition, though society gladly does not need the mandate of government. Spain, France, the UK, the low countries and the Nordic nations allow gay marriage, although that decision did not come without without growing pains and a high cost, but have had icons and champions for years. The show segued into a into a number from String: An Englishman in New York (I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien) that was dedicated to an individual named Quentin Crisp, who then was then an eighty year old gay activist (and to some an anti-hero at times who'd taken his lumps and was the subject of much bullying—this was still only 1987) whom had moved to Manhattan a few years prior. I had no idea—but listening to the lyrics—“If manners maketh the man as someone said/Then he is the hero of the day/It takes a man to ignore ignorance and smile/Be yourself no matter what they say,” one realises what a fine and unhailed tribute it is.
catagories: ⚖️, ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ถ, ๐ณ️๐, 1969