razzle dazzle

Via JWZ, we’re directed to a doorway whose fresh paint job is inspired by the 1918 dazzle camouflage scheme (see also) of the HMS Argus—which looks absolutely brilliant and it makes me want to do the same, though it might throw one off balance when trying to enter. Many more examples of this aesthetic at the source up top.

privilegium clericale

Vis-à-vis our last article touching on religious invocation and the law, we are directed to an engrossing dissection of the legal question whence cometh the benefit of clergy, dating back to the jurisprudence of the Middle Ages when those outlaws affiliated (apparently the degree of tenuousness was a question) with the Church were outside of the secular jurisdiction of the king and were eligible to stand trial in ecclesiastical courts and could expect a more lenient sentence.
This carve-out (a similar, parallel system applied to universities) proved particularly vexing for Henry II and his former friend and trusted advisor Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who put up resistance to the notion that those whom the king characterised as “criminous clerks” should be made to stand trial in civil court. Backlash from Becket’s assassination caused Henry to reverse his stance and extending this benefit to anyone professing Holy Orders, no matter how minor—a precedent lasting until reforms of the late 1820s through in the meantime some capital crimes were deemed “unclergyable” offenses, leading to the misapprehension of the phrase as meaning without absolution administered by a priest. In order to establish some threshold, the courts established a litmus test, requiring defendants to appear before the court tonsured or in some sort of recognised ecclesiastical dress—later to be replaced by a literacy test by reading from a Latin Bible. As the Benefit of the Clergy further devolved into the realm of a legal fiction, the loophole broadened to include claiming affiliation through recitation of a Bible verse—the favoured one for memorisation being Psalm 51—Miserere mei, Deus, secundum misericordiam tuam, figuratively and literally saving one’s neck since condemned to hanging was the most common judgment in secular trials. Though spared from harsher sentences, the ability of the justice system to mete out punishment—even of a more commiserate nature, was severely eroded and new coping methods to maintain order beginning in the sixteenth century included banishment to North America and Australia.

pinball number count

Via the Morning News, naturally we remembered when Sesame Street interstitials featured the Pointer Sisters, with musical accompaniment arranged by Ed Bogas, prolific and universe-crossing composing having created themes for the Garfield and Peanuts franchises as well as scoring video games, teaching one how to count, but hadn’t recalled how fantastic the lessons were, though we still mentally count off a dozen with this rhythm and cadence, owing to our minor and harmless case of arithromania. Animation was conceived and overseen by Jeff Hale (*1923 – †2015) who also produced the Typewriter series, going on to work for Muppet Babies and other projects with Bogas from this first collaboration.  Debuting in February 1977, a sequence for the number one was never made.

l’affiche de londres

Having fled France for exile in the United Kingdom the day prior once Marshal Philippe Pétain, newly elected prime minister and future leader of Vichy France rejected proposals for a Franco-British military alliance and defence pact and instead pledged to sign an armistice with Nazi Germany, Brigadier General Charles de Gaulle (see also) delivered his address to Free France from BBC Broadcasting House on this day in 1940, despite objections by some of the governors that the message would imperil themselves as well as strengthen the allegiance between Hitler and Pétain. The Appeal of 18 June (l’Appel du 18. juin) rallied the country in support of resistance with subsequent, regular missives from de Gaulle reaching a bigger audience—the famous line “La France a perdu une bataille! Mais la France n’a pas perdu la guerre,” often misattributed to the original call to arms was crafted for a motivational flyer distributed in August.

park place and pall mall

With a long layover and an afternoon to wander Londontown, markets consultant Dan Barker (via Kottke’s Quick Links) used his time to document the properties on that city’s version of the game Monopoly (previously) and provide a bit of history and context for each as he moves around the board with the capital’s streets and stations still in the grips of quarantine and social distancing. Real estate costs have increased significantly as compared to Atlantic City.