may the force be with you (and also with you)

Amid rumours and parallels some are wont to draw, saying that Jedis are prone to radicalisation like jihadists (I am covering my ears because I don’t want any come across any spoilers—and still to this day, I feel a pang of regret when I think how I spilled one of the surprises to a nurse while at a doctor’s appointment right after seeing Return of the Jedi and informing her that Luke and Leia were brother and sister), Atlas Obscura, with its signature daring-do, reports how for the Fourth Advent the Zionskirche in Berlin will host a special Star Wars service—like the Nine Lessons and Carols celebration that I attended last week, I suppose but with morals drawn from the saga. The accomplished organist will also of course be performing a selection of the film soundtrack.

5x5

purl two: upon request the BBC would send out the knitting instructions for the Fourth Doctor’s iconic scarf

uppruni: a young Björk reads the Nativity story for an Icelandic television audience

food pyramid: Vox examines at different ways nutritional guidelines are influenced and imparted globally

zodiaco: Salvador Dalí’s astrologic menagerie plus a hint into the obsession the artist had with his departed elder brother, Salvador Dalí

tween: proposed EU rules would raise the social media age of majority to sixteen

grand moff tarkin

Writing for The Atlantic, David Sims presents us with a wonderfully literate appreciation of one of the minor conscientious bureaucrats who manages to survive amid the toxic leadership of the vast galactic Empire in the character of Admiral Piett (portrayed by the actor Kenneth Colley who is arguably most recognised for his role as Jesus in the Life of Brian—I wonder what the Kevin Bacon Number is for that connection).
Highlighting the original banality of evil—oriented towards dominance and tyrannical to be sure but otherwise nebulous, formalised and diametrically opposed to the rebel scum—Piett was elevated to the next rung of the enormous hierarchy after Darth Vader impulsively telepathically strangled his predecessor for his shortcomings and manages to keep his head about him until the Battle of Endor and the destruction of the second Death Star. There’s little virtue in keeping one’s nose clean and walking on egg-shells, but the admiral’s veiled disgust for his boss’ methods and sheer tenacity does warrant a bit of a cheer.

les archives de la planète

Inspired by the candid images captured by his own personal photographer while on holiday, philanthropist and banker Albert Kahn resolved to commission his own personal Instagram as a goodwill missive to the whole world. Kahn set out with his crack-team of photographers, canvasing more than fifty countries from 1909 until 1929—when the Wall Street Stock Market Crash confounded the line of funding for this project—and amassed a collection of over seventy-two thousand photos, colourised using the latest processing technology. This amazing gallery curated by Dangerous Minds features Paris in 1914—just on the cusp of the Great War. I want to find more of Kahn’s archives to see what snapshot impressions are yet to be rediscovered.