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.

5x5

gnomon: sundial with exacting perforations shows the time of day in digits with instructions to make your own

race to the bottom: more and more countries are outfitting outposts in Antarctica, via Superpunch

biscione: the heraldic serpent borne on the Alfa-Romeo logo is a viper eating a child—or possibly a Moor

out standing in the field: more winners and runners up for National Geographic’s photography contest

fist-bump: handshaking protocol from around the world

444 days or ajax and argo

Some thirty-five after their release on the cusp of the Iran-Iraq War, captives of the US-Iranian Hostage Crisis are going to receive compensation for their long ordeal—which was mostly spurned in the ensuing decades over the revolutionary government being granted immunity from prosecution. Passing through this hall on a daily basis, I am keenly aware that the place where I work was the evacuation point for the rescued hostages but at the same time keenly aware of my own ignorance in the incubation and execution of these events.  For me at least, the diplomatic intrigues like the initial coup to secure a bridge in WWII north Africa for the Allies but then descending into greed over oil, the US hosting of the deposed shah for medical treatment, citizens of the “Great Satan” being issued Canadian passports so they could be smuggled out of the country, US spy agencies attempting to broker power despite the fact no operatives spoke Persian, remain overshadowed by the complaint of Ronald Reagan that the release overshadowed his inauguration ceremony—though the timing may have secured his election.
In retaliation, Iraq was given materiel and intelligence support by the US to prosecute the attack on its neighbour, and off we go. Ajax, the Trojan anti-hero, was the code-name for the operation that originally toppled the regime of the shah, and Argo, in reference to the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts, was the cover for the caper that the Canadian embassy carried out that fronted the filming of a sci-fi movie—vis-à-vis shooting Tatoonie on location in Tunisia. Insofar as it’s knowable, this affair seems to figure quite large in the continuum of degrading relations and proxy warfare with unexpected and long-reaching consequences.

colour me purple

The latest instalment in Atlas Obscura’s rogue No One’s Watching Week—that winterval wherein the editors can publish their oddest discoveries with confidence that few will see—features the history of the adult colouring book and its sustained popularity in the early 1960s. Much like today’s passing fad, their attraction was short-lived (through with brief revivals when reintroduced, assured that enough time had passed), but their subversive subtext, I think, is far more edgier and original that forgotten nostalgia can conjure up—even if they were a gimmick to boost crayon sales. Check out the article in its entirety for links to more complete panels.