loose-lips

We appreciated the message, style and provenance of this series of UK World War II propaganda posters circulated in 1940 in order to impress upon the public the importance of avoiding idle talk and over-sharing, since someone was always listening and even seemingly innocuous details (which we’re want to spread despite ourselves for the chance to pique and leverage the interest of our cohort) could be aggregated into rather circumspect intelligence on plans and operations. We see who’s eavesdropping on the after work conversion of our pub-goers, and given the number of secrets still surfacing, I think that the campaign was on balance a successful one.

6x6

media obsolescence: a personalised nostalgic romp through which ‘tech world’ informed your formative years, via Things Magazine

temperance: a 1908 map that charts insobriety across England

don’t make them like they used to: after nearly four decades of dormancy, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent Voyager 1 course-correcting instructions—from twenty-one billion kilometres away, and the little probe complied

petard hoist much: why a legislative victory on tax reform could furnish the Republican party with exactly what it needs to abandon Dear Leader

vizard: bizarre sixteenth and seventeenth century fashion trend of obscuring the female visage with a featureless black dot to preserve the skin from the sun and errant glances

#otd: the US senate voted overwhelmingly to censure colleague Joseph R McCarthy in 1954 for his persecution of ruthless investigations of thousands of alleged Communists which brought dishonour and disrepute on the government

stairwell of the quarter

We had a similar response when first encountering this architectural conceit called an alternating tread stairway—that the designer had a flair for the MC Escheresque. Then I realised what an elegant solution to a practical problem of staircases either taking up too much floor space or needing too much clearance when room is at a premium. By having these dual treads to climb up (which I would imagine negotiating confidently might take some practice), each step does not have to be incredibly steep and narrow or—without this design element, the construction would extend out twice as far into the hallway. Be sure to visit the source up top to find out more.

slaolie stil

Commissioning the talents of artist Jan Toorop in 1894, the Nederlandse Olie Fabriek (the Dutch Oil Company) inadvertently launched a sub-genre to the Dutch Art Nouveau when the resulting advertising poster for Delftsche Slaolie (Delft Salad Oil) resonated with the public for its unique flowing iconography. Born in colonial Java, Toorop had repatriated himself and studied art in Amsterdam and was informed by the burgeoning Impressionist movement but one could detect Indonesian design influences in the repeating geometry of his works. See more examples of Toorop’s salad oil style posters at the link above.

articulating the popular rage

The Japanese buzzword of the year is sontaku (世にも)—a heretofore under-utilised term that describes people who undertake offensive and strategic actions to ingratiate themselves with their superiors, the placatory following of an unspoken order. This newly found appreciation for what we’d call a brown-noser or a lickspittle is a reflection of the country’s political Zeitgeist and unease over the prime minister accruing more power beats out the less controversial (Japanese society generally isn’t openly critical of its leadership and are usually pretty astute at surmising wishes or “self-censorship”) neologism insuta-bae which, converting Instagram into a verb, refers to those chasing down admiration.