www

While working at CERN, having helped established the world’s then largest networked node of computers, Tim Berners-Lee (previously here and here) recognised the opportunity to merge hypertext with their internet, in efforts to make his job easier and more transparent for his collaborators.
On this day in 1989, he submitted his proposal to the laboratory’s communications office, whose abstract contained the concept of the world-wide web, later distributed and received as “vague but exciting,” the abstract linking disparate but already existing technologies in ways no one else had though to beforehand. The image is the coat of arms for the British Computer Society—of which Berners-Lee is a distinguished fellow, and was founded in 1956 as a professional body and learned association for the advancement of computer science, receiving a royal charter in 1984.

rose of jericho

Via the always wonderful and inspiring Nag on the Lake we are introduced to a shrub called Selaginella lepidophylla—a type of resurrection plant—that can cope with the arid and punishing conditions of its native habitat, the deserts of Chihuahua, and survive unscathed near complete desiccation.
During periods of drought—and researchers are looking into how they might reactivate the same dormant genes in food crops to make them sturdier under dry conditions—the plant, also known as the (False) Rose of Jericho, curls up into a ball when dry and unfurls its fronds upon re-hydration and has evolved another clever trick as has its North African cousin—Anastatica hierochuntica, the (True) Rose of Jericho—and can form tumbleweeds to be whisked away to a more favourable location. Since ancient times, farmers (and hucksters) have recognised resurrection plants as vegetable hygrometer to predict oncoming rain. See a time-lapse of the thirsty plant getting a drink at the link above.

fomo

Never failing to at least furnish if not revive a moribund term from the annals of the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary sometimes also often delivers the resonant, relevant and perhaps what may hit a little too close to home—as with this word which last appeared in an 1881 article from our Manchester Guardian: “‘Scripturiency’ appears to vary greatly in different nations. The United States claim 2,800 of these medical authors; France and her colonies, 2,600…” The obsolete word coined in the mid-seventeenth century refers to a compulsion for writing which leads to the urgent publication of the trivial and inferior.

7x7

pizzo: the Trump Crime Syndicate is expecting host nation partners to pay a big premium for US troops stationed there—via Miss Cellania’s Links

big and heavy: industrial pamphlets, 1932-1941

reef of silence: an underwater necropolis is proposed as a funerary venue that will rehabilitate coral habitats

chichén itzá: researchers uncover a trove of ancient Mayan artefacts in the Cave of the Jaguar God

shūnyatā: a few moments of guided meditation from Alan Watts

do you know the way to san jose: Silicon Valley plans a monument to Silicon Valley—via Digg

tit-for-tat: though short of needing special entry- and tourist-visas US travellers to Europe will need to pre-register, like with the American ESTA programme 

standard bearer

Via the always brilliant Nag on the Lake, we discover that filmmaker Daniel McKee has selected, identified and carefully arranged over two thousand flags, banners and ensigns from all ages into a montage with fluid transformations as the vexillological elements (see also here, here, here and here) blend into one another synchronised to the sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven.

firestarter

News of singer and vocalist of The Prodigy Keith Flint’s suicide (RIP, *1969 – †2019) earlier in the week was a sad shock for both H and me and enjoyed reading about the outpouring of memories and testimonials in the former Soviet satellite states whose music and engagement came just at the crux of societal upheaval and finding new footing. I had not realised what sort of ambassadors the band were, playing in Belgrade scant days before the Bosnian War came to an end. Read more tributes at the link up top.

debutante

As our faithful chronicler informs, on this day among many other premieres, anniversaries and occasions of pith and moment, in 1959 Barbie had her debut at the American Toy Fair in New York City. The first doll with adult features for sale in the US (that is, not an infant to care for but rather a role model), Barbie was modelled by Ruth Handler off of her more mature German cousin Bild Lilli, who graced the funny-pages of a Hamburg tabloid before being marketed to adults and sold in figurine form.