hamsterkauf

Those Germans have a word for everything—including one that perfectly captures the FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out) effect compounded with panic-buying, from the reputation that the humble rodent has for hoarding food within its own cheeks. Supermarkets are displaying notices that yes we have no Desinfektionsmittel, Toliettenpapier, und so weiter. Perhaps reflective of the Zeitgeist, the term—or its verbal form hamstern, gehamstert, will join the borrowed ranks of Zivilcourage, Schadenfreude and Doppelgänger soon.

panoseti

While primarily designed for the study of natural phenomena like pulsars and evaporating black holes two experimental telescopes at San Jose’s Lick Observatory, due to come on-line soon, are also being conscripted for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence as part of a pulsed all-sky near infrared optical survey.
As laser beams are less energy intensive and less susceptible to degradation over great distances researchers postulate that coded pulses of light might be a preferred form of communication, especially on an interstellar scale, and something outside of the radio range where SETI has traditionally looked. Although not specifically calibrated to search for alien megastructures, looking in the infrared spectrum might pick up on the residual heat of a Dyson Sphere, a theoretical construct popularised by the recently departed Freeman Dyson (*1923, first proffered by science fiction writer Olaf Stapledon in a 1937 novel) of an alien civilisation advanced to the point that they could contain and harness the output of a star’s power.

operation lumberjack

On this day in 1945, during the Battle of Remagen, Allied forces unexpectedly captured the Ludendorff Bridge, by the United States Twelfth Army Group under the leadership of General Omar Bradley, that spanned the Rhein and enabled them to establish a bridgehead on the eastern shore—essential to the success of Field Marshal Montgomery’s Operation Plunder that hinged on the smoothly timed advancement of several flanks to carry out a decisive invasion of Nazi Germany and hastening its surrender. Under constant assault and bombardment by Nazi forces until its ultimate collapse ten days later, the crossing remained intact long enough to allow forces to gain a foothold in the strategically important territory, taking the Mosel, Eifel and Köln and preventing German units there from re-grouping and launching a counter-attack.

subpar parks

Having been reminded recently how placing everything at the mercy of critical reviews and reception leaves nothing sacred, graphic designer Amber Share’s project, we discover courtesy of Boing Boing, really spoke to us: finding the one-star ratings left for each of the sixty-four US national parks, like the appraisal pictured for Sequoia National Park founded in 1890, and hand-lettering a poster in WPA (see previously) style. See a whole gallery at the artist’s website and at the link above.

the winnowing oar

Via Kottke’s Quick Links, we really enjoyed this thoughtful farewell send-off that the intrepid explorers at Atlas Obscura created for their out-going boss in a small shed on a plot of land not far from the crossroads of the historic highway Route 66 as a ritual repository inviting individuals, as their CEO did as the collection’s first contributor, to leave parts of their former selves behind to acknowledge and honour life’s transitions and pivot points.  We really liked this idea, especially after charting out so many curious places and compendia to have created a spot of their own. It reminds me of Tiresias’ instructions to Odysseus as an act of propitiation to take an oar from his ship and to walk inland until he reaches people who’ve never heard of the sea and mistake the implement he is bearing for a cradle to separate the wheat from the chaff (ἀθηρηλοιγός)—and there make sacrifice to Poseidon for making it home. Much more to discover with Atlas Obscura at the link up top.