Earlier this month, on a small but serviceably large (bigger than the Vatican and Monaco) patch of terra nullius, a disputed area along the borderlands of Serbia and Croatia, an enterprising Czech politician founded a new micronation called Liberland.
Although the fledgling nation is not officially recognised by any traditional legitimising authority yet, the boundaries are already on the map thanks to a concerted marketing and branding offensive that rivals those of many well established countries. The profile from Quartz Magazine features links to Liberland’s extensive virtual presence with designs to have a permanent, physical presence in the near future. Given the successful organising charter and faith of volunteers and aspiring citizens, it makes one wonder what constitutes a state and who else might be able to pull it off. Do the trappings and symbols of state confer statehood alone? What do you think?
Wednesday, 29 April 2015
mikronรกrod
apple-core, baltimore
five-by-five
street-legal: a look at Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion
escourt-service: pretend to be whisked along by a mysterious companion with the Selfie Arm
blank-on-blank: rediscovered 1972 animated interview with Ray Bradbury
backpedalling: learning to ride a backwards bicycle requires one to unlearn how to ride a normal one
casual dining
Heard on National Public Radio, I learnt of this quirky and humourous blog project to document the demographic shift in fast-food culture by charting the demise and repurposing of one of the more recognisable architectural follies of a certain franchise. The standard blue-print of a Pizza Hut with its distinctive mansard roof is hard to hide once the former proprietors vacate the building and it is masked by new tenants, ranging from other fast-food restaurants, chapels, car-rentals, to mortuaries.
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
bridges and islands
five-by-five
trust building exercise: a retrospective look at vintage corporate board games
franking privileges: more things Maya Angelou never said in stamp form
indian blanket: mid-century map of US of wildflowers, via the Everlasting Blort
reforestation: using drones to help rebuild woodland biotopes
wedge antilles: Hungarian artist Tibor Helรฉnyi’s take on Star Wars movie posters
quintain
