bockscar

On this day in 1945, a US Air Force B-29 Bomber dropped the Fat Man nuclear weapon over the city of Nagasaki as the second and last of such an assault in history. Originally the primary target was the city of Kokura but the mission was diverted due to the previous day’s firebombing of the Yahata, which obscured the view for the bombardiers. Although more powerful than Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August, local terrain confined the damage from the plutonium bomb to the northern part of the city but thirty-five thousand perished instantly with over sixty-thousand sustaining injuries.

6x6

glou glou: TYWKIWDBI regales us with an overview of new wine terminology

города́-при́зраки: a visually stunning gallery of abandoned places in Russia, via Things Magazine

voluntarily generated pilomotor reflex: studying goosebumps produced at will is a lot more intriguing than it first appears

i’ve got to break free: Freddie Mercury trains with the Royal Ballet in 1979

der phantashische film: German animator Heinz Edelmann, best known for his work on Yellow Submarine, created a psychedelic opening sequence for broadcaster ZDF

south street squidport: as sort of a reverse trap-street, one online mapping service is creating neighbourhoods and districts according to the branding of advertising agencies

seal of approval

Via Kottke’s Quick Links, we learn that the Trump regime is poised to relax regulations that restricts the use of the carcinogenic construction material asbestos—banned in over sixty countries.
The Environmental Protection Agency (which is not supposed to be ironically named) issued a so-called “SNUR”—a significant new use rule, that states that the presence of this substance will no longer be considered a factor in risk assessments. Trump, who in part cited the lack of fire-retardant asbestos as the reason that the World Trade Centre’s Twin Towers were consumed in flames, harbours scepticism that runs counter to the consensus of science and medical professionals but has garnered the endorsement of a Russian asbestos mining operation that’s using his image (unauthorised I guess but who knows?) on its toxic product. Learn more at the link above.

3ème bataille de picardie

A century ago on this day, the Allied forces, shifting from trench battles to armoured warfare, staged the Battle of Amiens, advancing over eleven kilometers in a single, decisive thrust. This first victory marked the beginning of what later became known as the Hundred Days Offensive, which signaled the end phase for the Great War, boosting the morale of French and British forces and dispiriting the Germans with thousands surrendering and taken captive.

something about the ratio of dishwashers to bathrooms seems off to me, but what would i, a mere wretch, too dumb and poor to avoid being exploited by the predatory cost of higher education, know?

Having followed the aesthetic criticism of Kate Wagner’s McMansion Hell for some time, we appreciated the alert from Things Magazine on her epic, unrelenting and much deserved takedown on the US Secretary of Education’s hedious seaside summer home.
Infamously inimical to the department that she is in charge of managing so as to be a moustache-twirling caricature of a villain that would be laughable except for the tragic fact that she is dismantling public schools and assaulting teaching as a vocation, Wagner—burdened with student loan debt herself—is dedicating her critique to all those hard working and dedicated public school teachers that taught her how to write.

trade wars are good, and easy to win

Last invoked in 1996 and causing the US to withdraw its threat of imposing secondary sanctions on Cuba, the European Union has adopted a blocking statue that provides a measure of protection to member state corporations that continue doing business with Iran and license to ignore the hectoring bluster emanating from the White House.
Though continued trade could be frustrated in practise, EU companies that are negatively impacted by the US unilateral departure from the terms of the deal with Iran and restoration of punitive tariffs can seek recovery through the courts and refuse to recognise jurisdictions that enforce the sanctions, which are backed only by the US (making good on a pandering promise made to mobilised, useful idiots) and few regional powers that stand benefit from a weaker Iran.

person of interest

Actress, socialite and former Miss Hungary Zsa Zsa Gabor (*1917 – †2016) acquired reportedly a three thousand page dossier by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to Muckrock that’s sharing the first tranche of files.
The celebrity was monitored ostensibly over her habit of serial marriages which included Turkish and German princes and a hotel magnate and for corresponding with her family in Europe during the War and contravening censors—indications of possible espionage or subversive activities. We’ll need to wait for the next release to find out if there was anything to substantiate these suspicions. Ms Gabor claimed once to have gone on a blind-date with Henry Kissinger, arranged by matchmaker Richard Nixon, but vehemently denied charges, put forward in the files, of dancing with Adolf Hitler on two occasions.