state of inebriation

We are treated to another example of persuasive cartography (previously) in this 1931 map of the Isle of Pleasure published by Houston, Texas draughtsman and architect H. J. Lawrence, two years before the experiment with Prohibition in the United States (1920-1933).

Lawrence makes his opinion on the temperance movement and the constitutional amendment that outlawed alcohol fairly clear as he charts his longing to return to the days when liquor was free flowing and not something reveled in covertly and at a high premium due to the black market. Be sure to visit the link above to see more detailed insets and instructions for mixing some of the Prohibition-era cocktails referenced on the map.

ticking the box

Artist Dima Yarovinski has created a rather visually arresting illustration of the contractual boilerplate that we pretend to give our assent to in her installation called “I agree” in the form of colourful unfurled scrolls.
Currently on display at the Aalto University of Helsinki, the footnote to each scroll gives the word count and the average time commitment it would take to read, comprehending the jargon or not, what terms that the user was accepting in exchange for their dalliance. Incidentally, the longest scroll is for Instagram and runs just over seventeen thousand words, which would take approximately an hour and a half to read through. Fine-print has consequences despite the innocuous reputation it likes to cultivate for itself.  I appreciated too how in the spirit of full disclosure, the source site in the discussion posts its parent publisher’s terms of service in full and with bullet points

cluster fact

We’re enjoying catching up by working our waythrough back episodes of the quiz-show podcast Go Fact Yourself created and hosted by frequent Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me! panellist Helen Hong and J Keith van Straaten. Clever and educational, each instalment is like every superlative sketch of Saturday Night Live celebrity Jeopardy! but with teachable moments, especially when players’ self-styled category of special knowledge take a deep-dive and are assessed against guest subject matter experts. I’d recommend beginning with the first episode but one really stand-out early podcast involved Disneyland and Michael Jackson is also a good place to start. Tell me what you think and about your own area of expertise.

zwischenstopp: nordheim vor der rhön

Lying on the continuum of the Streu, a tributary of the Frankish river Saale, like its easterly neighbor, the village of Nordheim is dominated by an ensemble of vernacular architecture known as a Kirchenburg or fortified church that dates back to the settlement’s founding over twelve hundred years hence that looks over its half-timbered houses and series of bridges that cross the northern bend of the stream.
The old footbridge features—as do many bridges across Europe—a statue of John of Nepomuk, a fourteenth century saint who was royal confessor and counsellor to the Queen of Bohemia. Despite threat of death, Nepomuk refused to betray the privilege of priest and confessor to a jealous King Wenceslas who ordered Nepomuk cast into the Vltava (Moldau) for being obstinate.
The martyr’s most famous representation is the figure on the Charles Bridge (Karlův most) in Prague on the spot where he was drowned. Because of his fate and discretion, John of Neomuk is the patron saint protector from drowning and floods as well as respect for the seal of attorney-client privilege, doctor-patient confidentiality and comparable arrangements.