ausländische militärstandorte

Though less than a tenth of US troop presence remains from levels around the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and stationing the American military has been fraught for both host and sending nations at times, the army’s announcement to add fifteen hundred troops to the roughly thirty thousand currently in Germany is a far more welcome alternative to what the Commander-in-Chief’s druthers—threatening to remove all troops from Germany if the country failed to pay its membership dues. America’s footprint got significant smaller in Europe in 2012 with the closure of several outposts and the announced re-basing of the headquarters in Heidelberg but this announcement, which will deploy soldiers to Ansbach, Grafenwöhr, Hohenfels and Baumholder in 2020 may signal a re-strengthening of a presence and partnership that is welcome by many.

paradise gardens

Messy Nessy Chic correspondent Francky Knapp delivers a nice retrospective look at eccentric Baptist minister Howard Finster (*1916 - †2001) called to spread the gospel through Paradise Gardens, open air church office, home and studio in Summerville, Georgia in the southern US, peopled with nearly fifty thousand pieces of outsider, naïve and visionary art—genres which overlapped in Finster’s repertoire but he was largely responsible for gaining their purchase in in popular culture.
In the mid-1970s, Finster’s sculpture garden began receiving national attention and was commissioned to execute four painting for the Library of Congress, acting on divine orders to create sacred art, the subjects being as diverse and iconic as aliens, UFOs, Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley, etc. In 1983, the band REM filmed their music video for “Radio Free Europe” on the grounds of Paradise Gardens and two years later, Talking Heads commissioned cover art (pictured) from Finster for their album Little Creatures (“And She Was,” “Road to Nowhere”).
Notwithstanding Finster’s success in introducing millions to his style and inspiring the likes of fellow artists Keith Haring and Purvis Young, he remained committed to this mission of religious outreach, saying he’d managed to sneak in twenty-six verses of scripture into that cover and to think of the millions it’s reached. Learn more and see a whole gallery of Finster’s works at the links up top.

the manila pact

Though considered ineffectual and was formerly dissolved in 1977 after key members withdrew their support, on this day in 1954 the Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan as well as France, the US and the UK formed the mutual defence collective called the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) as force to countermand the spread of Communism in the region. Although failing to halt Soviet influence and the existence of the treaty was cited as the US and Australia as justification for involvement against North Vietnam and large-scale military intervention, SEATO leaves a legacy of educational and vocational endowments that support research and outreach projects to this day.

snap pack

Danish pilsner Carlsberg will replace the usual plastic ring binding used to secure multipacks of beer with a specially formulated glue that’s has both the properties to hold the aluminium cans together securely for transport but are still easy to separate and with no residual stickiness. Reducing its plastic use by the equivalent of sixty million plastic bags a year, the global brewery ought to be applauded for demonstrating that with just a little ingenuity, we can be better stewards of the environment. Skål!