6x6

basic birch: Gemma Correll presents an assortment of millennial plants

fairway: George Barris (previously) made Bob Hope a one-of-a-kind golf-cart that was a caricature of himself

hexagonal tessellation: high resolution gallery of the mathematically inspired woodcuts and mezzotints of M.C. Escher

kinopanorama: after decades of neglect, Moscow’s theatre in-the-round experience has reopened after a major refurbishment

net cetera: the “Be Best” initiative to combat cyber-bullying might be a touch derivative

isla del encanto: charming ensemble of colourful houseboats of southern Puerto Rico, which weathered Hurricane Maria

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.