nutshell studies revisited

Our thanks to Open Culture for giving us the opportunity to return to the murderous miniature dioramas of Frances Glessner Lee, which with the help of a generous endowment for Harvard University helped to establish and transform the art and science of forensic analysis and post mortem medicine. Building on her infatuation with detective novels, Lee shows that not all crime scenes betray an open-and-shut-case, even at a diminutive one-twelfth the scale. Much more to explore at the links above.

cospar id 1998-067a

Though still tethered to Earth in low-orbit, this day in 2000 marked the last day that there was no enduring human presence in outer space. The Soyuz TM-31 launched on the next day with the first resident crew for the International Space Station,  docking three days later and which has been continuously crewed ever since. The first three joined modules were called Zvezda, Unity and Zarya and were placed in orbit in 1998 (it has presently expanded to an array of fourteen with additional solar cells, inflatable segments and experimental bays) and the station’s mission is expected to last at least until 2030.

mrs bart’s mom

Whereas we’ve heard of the conventions of patronymic names (see also), we hadn’t realised our not uncommon encounters with the phenomenon of teknonymy (from the Greek τέκνον for the child) and also known as a paedonymic title—that is, the formalised practise, the honorific (rather than an downgrade or identity) of referring to parents by the names of their offspring. Common to some Austronesian, Indonesian, Taiwanese aboriginals, south-eastern Africa and in some tradition in the Islamic world, fathers are given the title Abu/Baba/Pak plus the given name of their first born with the mothers bestowed with Umm/Mama/Mak respectively.

6x6

mother lode: the Hubble Space Telescope spies a metal ore asteroid worth an estimated ten-thousand times the global economy of 2019 (previously)—via Slashdot  

8800 blue lick road: one of the best accidental, immersive gaming experiences of the year is this virtual real estate tour 

franchisement: we enjoyed this pairing of articles about the “I Voted!” stickers—first with an overview of their contested origins as a badge of participation once democracy moved towards the secret ballot and the civics exercise that has artists reimagine them  

lorembarnak: a Québécois curse (see previously) generator—via Things Magazine  

seaweeding: Victorian-era hobby lends insight on our changed oceans  

one parsec: a breath-taking visualisation of ten million stars at the centre of the Milky Way

couch gag

Including familiar locations like Moe’s Tavern and the Springfield nuclear power plant sector 7-G, a group of interior designers have given some of the Simpsons’ sets a clever makeover in the style of Wes Anderson (see also here and here). Acknowledging how these suite of rooms have looked the same for the past three decades, the team behind these redesigns are hoping to inspire others to think about refreshing their own haunts.

putt putt to the pizza hut

We rather enjoyed the brand-recognition and the now expanded font specimen associated with the franchise Pizza Hut—which until recently was restricted to the seven letters under that red roof, in this brief appreciation from Print Magazine. Since the first restaurant opened in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, their logo and corporate image has gone through quite a few permutations and experiments (see also here and here) that reflected the aesthetic of the times but the classic, iconic hut was used from 1967 until 1999—only to be reprised last year.