three-d or camera obscura

The ever-inspired Mental Floss presents an engrossing lesson in art history, through the lens of the Portrait Project's timeline of depictions of the Western world, where there is a very noticeable shift towards realism and perspective around the year 1400 from simple two-dimensional portrayals of people and things to a jaggedly more accurate picture that acknowledges size and shadow.
While I was expecting some sort of explanation like the latter rediscovery of the forgotten lensing technique of camera obscura—a pinhole projection of an image onto a screen, tabula rasa fit for tracing that ushered in, speculatively, a revolution in painting, portrait-studio quality representation. The article goes on to account how in medieval Europe general misery with the human-condition led to a shunning of the classic artistic techniques of accuracy with their minds on the here-after, and surviving simplicity was a revolt and expressive way to remind viewers that worldly existence was something flat.
I wonder if it was the case, like in the relatively concurrent Muslim world there was a proscription against the rendering of natural things, which led to the elaboration of calligraphy and abstraction, that led to abandonment and subsequent reconditioning contemporary with the Western Renaissance.

travelling matte

More documents leaked to the press by the Fugitive reveal that US intelligence has the capability and apparently the prerogative to track the whereabouts of some five billion cellular telephones, the world's human population, per day. As the Washington Post reveals, with an array of special-programmes under names like CO-TRAVLER, the National Security Agency is able not only to intercept communications but also to plot the location of the devices and their users even when the phone is not actively sending or receiving—American reporting hinging on the fact that indiscriminate surveillance, almost apologetically those unfortunate and misguided Americans abroad, has culled some native mapping and associations—inadvertently.
Making self-reflection the biggest transgression always makes me angry about this sort of coverage, which comes at the expense of the rest of the population, as if their privacy was a trifling thing. With such a universe of star-crossed paths to reference, of course, analysts can retrace steps and build quite telling profiles (or misconstructions) through the gleaned habits and contacts of individuals. Of course, we've all too willingly outfitted ourselves and our lifestyles with these homing devices and pay a handsome ransom for the shackles of convenience, presence and awareness and such clever and useful tools were not doled out like identity papers or cattle-brands for these ends alone. It does seem odd, ironic that there is so much glee over the state-of-the-art when that's all the tidier to survey, with or without industry cooperation.

schnäppchen or landlord

The German public and municipal leaders have been keenly aware of a shortage of affordable housing for some time now, a problem tackled by motions to outlaw entrepreneurial ventures like offering a spare room to rent or a couch to crash on (as an alternative to traditional hosteling and probably at the bidding of the hotel industry) but really exacerbated by industry-spin, I think, to convince potential investors to buy up blocks of flats and raise the stakes and the competition by appealing to their drive not to miss a prospect. It's something tantalising, like the venerated first time home-owner, to appeal to those with the means to have long crossed that goal and others off their list. The trend, which started with properties in the former East Germany, has continued to spread and in my second-city, I see quite a few rentals managed by consortium. I believe that the relationship between a tenet and his tenement ought to remain something personal, and not something akin to a health management organisation—ones HMO that defines ones health to ones hearth.

Off-shored holdings companies who have monopolised the market, becoming the country's biggest home-owner can indeed sell their tout as being a sound investment, since demand is high and supply getting more and more scarce. I think, however, the prospect is also quite a frothy one as unwilling renters go elsewhere and the business of buying up apartments will become just a nuanced bubble. I suppose housing in an urban area is always affordable, whether prestigious or functional—it's just that the clientele changes, from any given resident to a company far-deferred in a tax-oasis, well-cushioned against malingering factors, like deadbeats or inattentive superintendents or caring about the welfare of their colonies.

five minutes to midnight or loose-nukes

On the really interest-piquing and enthusiastic blog, known as Today I Found Out, there is thoughtful article on the story, which has been circulating like an urban-legend, regarding the what would not be considered a strong-password associated with the so-called Football, the nuclear launch device that the US president keeps on his person at all times.

At the height of the Cold War, with the world on edge, President Kennedy mandated that all nuclear missiles be fitted with a fail-safe device that could be operated remotely by the right level of authority, in order to prevent America's huge nuclear arsenal from falling under control of enemy hands and to put a stumbling-block before a potentially rogue commander, as the isolated silos enjoyed a significant amount of autonomy and it would only take one loon with an itchy trigger-finger to start World War III. Military leaders saw these counter-measures as emasculating and gave themselves a back-door by resetting the codes to 00000000. Missiliers were able to override any order to stand-down or simply initiate a count-down for decades until this story first broke in 2004. Security theatre has certainly evolved but seems it is nothing new. Be sure to check out the website for more synaptic tales.

relative poverty

I cannot add anything of value to this narrative regarding concerning a live in endless cycle of poverty without the luxury of planning or the sort of fancy, subsidised foresight that we imagine ourselves to enjoy from an outsiders' perspective, except that this story is a provoking and important one to read (and reflect upon and share) and apply to ones own contrived blinders.

It is very important not to dismiss apparent bad decisions that contribute to caste and culture but in order not to deflect the critique, we have to recognise the cells that we each condemn ourselves to—not matter how much more pleasantly dressed than the alternative of being poor without end and without the ostentation of daring otherwise. It is better, I think, to live without privilege, however defined or misconstrued, than to go without empathy and circumspection and the hope to be able to distinguish a tool from a decoy of convention.

bay of rainbows

China has successful launched a probe expected to enter orbit around the Moon on 6. December and make landing the following week in a lunar region called the Bay of Rainbows—Sinus Iridum, an area relatively flat and free and free of craters being a youngish plain of an ancient lava flow and not far from where the Soviet Luna 17 probe touched down in November of 1970 and bounded by the Jura mountain range—of the Moon.

Boing Boing covers the news nicely, whose mission objectives and technical specifications were kept secret until right before pre-flight. The probe's duties include high-resolution photography and soil sampling (which is nothing to be sniffed at), with the eventual aim of establishing a base for unmanned exploration. I especially like how the rover is characterised as massing in at 140 kg as Earth weight has a variable meaning once free of Earth gravity. A lot of earthling terms, night and day and coordinates of longitude and latitude take on new meanings when applied as a template, but its interesting to note how observation, compromise and mathematics applied to the real and apparent lunar cycles have influenced very mundane customs, like the Chinese calendar and, in turn—time and tide, for forecasting and planning purposes around auspicious dates. Converted from the Western calendar, touch-down is 11/12/13 and I'm sure qualified astrologers could say more about that.

rorschacht or pareidolia

Via Laughing Squid comes this growing Twitter gallery of objects of objects that appear to have anthropomorphic faces, whether by chance or accident, like the mesa that became the Face on Mars due to the camera angle and the human tendency for identification. There are a lot of really good ones but among my favourites is this hungry, hungry helicopter with an appetite for soldiers at the link and the more abstract extensions of the occurrence. It was really weird when an alien face appeared in my beer glass and was quite persistent or the montage of the three wise men on our freshly painted wall, though I do not have convincing photographic evidence. What examples do you have?

pro bono publico

The Washington Post has a sweet article on the evolving efforts of the Holy See to expand its charitable works. Confident of Pope John Paul II in his later years, Francis I appointed Archbishop Konrad Krajewski as his chief almoner, responsible for acting as the pope's giving-ombudsman, both raising and distributing contributions, including with far nobler indulgences.

Formerly the position had become a relatively sinecure office awarded to retiring bishops, but the Pope has given the archbishop his blessing to take license which should not seem so extraordinary but is inspired nonetheless. Krajewski is attended by an off-duty cadre of Swiss Guards and go out into the streets of Rome on a nightly basis to help the homeless and offer what relief from plight that they can. It's pretty powerful what's being done by this papacy to colour the invisible with the hues that they deserve, and nothing pale or superficial, but the crux of his duties probably lies in Krajewski's observation that rather than a moral band-aid for himself to feel better and sleep better at night, he hopes to provide first-aid and that charity has to cost something so it can change the giver for the better. A small donation may not be without meaning and effect, but charged as the chief almoner of the Vatican, a simple tithing does not do to achieve a greater balance of equality.