a pox on both your houses

We’ve covered the vain aspirations of Trump to be featured on the cover of Time magazine previously and how that has translated into a lot of press albeit the infamous type, and now with the regular feature, Your Daily Donald (the gratuitous gluttons for punishment we are) Everlasting Blört directs us to the most consequential and clarion one yet—the one for the 17 August edition that illustrates the cover story of how the pandemic has transformed the election and democracy in America.

galleria stradale del san gottardo

Holding the title of world’s longest road tunnel for two decades before being overtaken by the Lærdalstunnelen in Vestland, the Gotthard Road Tunnel between the cantons of Ticino and Uri, linking the highlands to southern Switzerland beneath the namesake massif opened to traffic on this day in 1980.
After taking more than a decade to construct and given the high monetary cost and the nineteen fatalities of workers, the public balked at the fact there was no supplemental toll for it (the tunnel being covered by the mandatory vignettes for use of Swiss motorways), sighing that “The Italians built it, the Germans use it and the Swiss pay for it.” The inaugural vehicle was a school bus.

early and often

Whilst what Trump advised supporters to do upon mailing in ballots only serves to further his narrative that the postal system is unreliable (the encore performance for rubbishing public confidence in the efficacy of medical science and the undoing of suffering and hard-won gains) and would needlessly endanger poll-workers as well as constituents by causing unnecessary foot-traffic (and delaying egress to already over-crowded and under-served communities) by going to one’s physical polling place to ensure that it had in fact been received and tabulated—and if not vote in person—was not technically urging people to vote twice, effectively it comes across as such. Even if one could verify in real-time that one’s vote had been counted, the disruption and drain on an already fragile may prove overwhelming, encouraging the assembled crowd to test the system as Trump made an appearance in Wilmington, North Carolina to proclaim it a World War II Heritage City just before corroborated revelations came forward on Trump’s history of disparaging remarks regarding the fallen, service members and veterans.   Please vote if you are eligible, but needless to say only once.

7x7

cut-throat competition: gig workers are tethering their smartphones in trees to gain an edge of miilliseconds over others for a limited number of contracts

the hackney year: season after season of recorded back garden bird song and other sonic gems via Things Magazine

october surprise: a cynical campaign ploy threatens to erode public trust in science and medicine

a transparent corridor in the air: a design firm completes the longest glass-bottomed suspension bridge along the approach to Three Gorges

ascii art: artists creates “typicitions” on his vintage typewriter

snitches get stitches: the prohibition against social gatherings are polarising college campuses

eula: monopsonistic on-line retail giant deploys union-busting tactics to perpetuate myth of “freelance” work-force and maintain their impressment

peaceful transition of power

Via JWZ we’re directed to a very sobering glimpse of what may transpire with the US presidential election that’s just two months away with a bi-partisan think-tank running scenarios that nearly end in chaos, constitutional crisis and street violence.
Trump and his supporters have given every indication already that a loss or concession is not forthcoming and the only outcome that did not end badly was an indisputably big win for the Democratic ticket. These prophesies of doom are not inevitable and hopefully the modelling and discussion can help to mobilise voters and help them realise that the enshrined—albeit it beleaguered and embattled though not yet too far gone—institutions of democracy and the rule of law need the full backing and support of the franchise, lest someone else chooses for them.