7x7

bbc dad: via Kottke, the five or so times that the internet was collectively fun over the past year

stratagem: Sun Tzu’s the Art of the War on Christmas

earworm: the United States of Pop 2017 Edition

data discrimination: US attorneys general and congress mount legal challenges to the Federal Communication Commission over Net Neutrality

holiday jumpers: the history of the garment and the Vancouver get-togethers that launched the Ugly Christmas Sweater phenomenon

a matter of timing: more Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards winners

luke starkiller: concept trailer for Ralph McQuarrie’s original 1975 vision for Star Wars

brooding and blissful halcyon days

Thanks to our faithful chronicler Doctor Caligari we not only learn that the period of time seven days on either side of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, are referred to as halcyon days for a time when the seas are calmed but also the term’s etymology: from the Latin form of Alcyone, the hapless daughter of Æolus, the god of the winds, and his wife Enarete. Alcyone met and fell in love with a sailor called Ceyx—who also had divine parentage as a son of Phosphorus, the Morning Star. Husband and wife were very happy together but the king and queen of the gods took umbrage at the fact that their pet-names for each other were Zeus and Hera. I could imagine better terms of endearment than evoking a philandering, incestuous relationship but couples can be peculiar, and this sacrilege earned the scorn of Zeus, who wielded a thunderbolt at Ceyx’ ship. Alcyone was of course inconsolable and the other gods (their parents and in-laws presumably) took pity on them both by transforming them to kingfishers (taxonomically speaking, Halcyon) who migrate from Africa to Greece at this time of year to roost and the weather is fair so that they can nest in peace.

discharge

Studying the anatomy of the electric eel informed Alessandro Volta’s first synthetic battery and over two centuries later, the creature (Electophorus electricus, and technically a kind of knifefish) is still contributing to scientific innovation, as The Atlantic reports (not pictured but drawing off the same idea of scalability), with a Swiss team making soft and pliable energy storage units that act like the highly specialised electricity producing organ. Potentially compatible with our own bodies, some recognise the bionic potential, powering and self-sustaining medical implants and microscopic machinery that our metabolism and internal chemistry can keep charged.

alternativity

BBC 2 will air a collaboration between street artist Banksy and director Danny Boyle on Third Advent billed as a “festive spectacular” held at the venue of the artist’s own self-described worst hotel in the world at the foot of the wall dividing Bethlehem.

self-medication

I began reading this essay on the portrayal of cartoon characters with alcohol problems because I was intrigued with the term sadcom—an apt name for the genre that consumers can hold at arm’s length with their anti-heroes—and reading further, it quickly careened to a demanding place I was not quite expecting.
Though not myself a connoisseur of the crop of shows mentioned here, I can imagine how the storylines would go and appreciate the analysis of how the parodied, cynical characterisation of coping looks filtered through the cultural movement we are experiencing in recognising that masculinity (and they’re all men) can be a toxic thing. I suppose part of the appeal is that these programmes are unchallenging to watch on a superficial level and a little irony is a tempting lure but I wonder if and how such sadcoms invite reflection and lubricates a difficult discussion or creates the framework and trope that allows us to rebuff it and dismiss it. What do you think? I did like the aside that there’s ultimately hope to be found in these narratives (as in most things, I suppose) but one has to work for it and awards come across as earned—in as much as in subjecting oneself to the arc of exhaustion of a prestige drama which takes much more of an investment.

flugverkehr

On this day in 1917, the German Air Shipping Company (der Deutsche Luft-Reederei) was incorporated to service a mail route between Berlin and Weimar (regular passenger flights came two years later) and a series of mergers pre- and post-war eventually led to the establishment of Luft Hansa—presently Lufthansa. The scope and mission of the company has certainly changed over the years but the stylised crane (Kranich) designed by architect and graphic designer Otto Firle has remained a constant.

focal length

Our gratitude to TYWKIWDBI for revisiting the Small World Micro-Photography Competition sponsored by Nikon whose winners were announced back in October. There are many alien details to investigate of what’s just beyond the scope of our perception and galleries to explore. One specimen that we found particularly intriguing and unexpected on taking a second look was this magnified image of the leathery skin of a sea cucumber, which looks like gelatinous, colourful little anchors.