gischt

Designated as a Führerstadt along with Nürnberg, München, Hamburg and Berlin, the city of Linz had a formative connection to Adolf Hitler as his place of residence in his teen years and resolved to bestow the city with a gift in the form of a bronze by noted Nazi sculptor Wilhelm Wandschneider to adorn a rotunda in a park, pledging to make the city the cultural capital of the Reich.
Considering his patronage, most of Wandschneider’s works were melted down after the war—among the few exceptions being a 1913 commission for Saint Louis, Missouri called “The Naked Truth,” but this statue escaped that fate for sixty years until some art students realised the provenance and it was sequestered in a museum warehouse since 2008. Linz’ mayor has, not without controversy, decided to restore the bronze of Aphrodite (from the Greek word for sea foam, die Gischt)—with a detailed plaque explaining its history. What do you think? Especially against the backdrop of some places in America going in the opposite direction in taking down memorials to the confederate states, does this seem like historic sanitation or otherwise? The mayor defended her plan to put this uncomfortable heritage back on display to make an “active effort at remembrance.”

sınırı

Whilst arguably an improvement to the mine-field that formerly separated Turkey from Syria (an arrangement drawn up by our old ombudsmen friends Sykes and Picot from the vanquished Ottoman Empire), the world seemed to take far less exception with the wall now half completed that effectively cordons off the war-torn region than with Dear Leader’s imaginary one. Once the nine hundred kilometre long border is secure, the wall will be the world’s second longest structure, second only to the Great Wall of China. The circumstances are very different on each frontier but it’s strange how both dictators couch the threats from the barbarians at the gate with the same language and from the characterisations, one would think neighbours could be easily transposed.

6x6

novum organum: Æon ponders if scientific discovery could be automated as well

stay gold, ponyboy: the Vault marks the anniversary of the publication of The Outsiders, which is arguably the first in the YA genre

hoffbot: though not the first surreal film script written by an artificial intelligence, It’s No Game is the first machine-written piece to star David Hasselhoff

deface the nation: in case your daily digest of Dear Leader’s antics was wanting

money laundering: coin-washing tradition of a posh San Francisco hotel that dates back to the 1930s, and considering the micro-biomes in our pockets and purses, it was probably good for public health

captain dallas: bubble gum trading cards for the 1979 release of Alien

gazette

Via Kottke’s quick links we discover that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is launching an evidence-based journalism platform to combat the yellow press and fake-news. Advertisement-free and with original, reliable sources highlighted and not buried and de-contextualised references, Wikitribune aims to put reader and reporter on the same level. Given that the online community of encyclopædists is already proving itself more resistant to vandalism, rumour and fantasy than other outlets, we think that the new venture will succeed and thrive.