esquire or let me tell you a story about freedom

I have been selected to take a Foreign Service exam in a couple of months and I am delving into civics lessons as I find the time.  Practice quizzes reveal the test mostly to be general-knowledge and fun Double Jeopardy! (from the administrative embargo that protects a defendant legitimately tried and either pardoned or prosecuted from being subject again to the same charges—en France, autrefois acquit, and is codified in America by the Fifth Amendment to the US ) type questions.   There are fortunately none of those pesky sports and television categories.  I am able to sprint fairly well through the rehearsal batteries, though when actually trying to study, I get too distracted by footnotes and hyperlinks.  For instance, did you know that the most legendary amendment that failed to be ratified under house rules, but only by a very narrow margin, was the measure to strip individuals of US citizenship for accepting a title of nobility from a foreign monarch and would be banned from holding a position of trust in perpetuity?
The proposal came before the states two years ahead of the sideshow skirmish, the War of 1812, between the US and the UK (when Europe was dealing with much larger problems with the Napoleonic Wars) that came about over unresolved grudges and America designs on the rest of the continent.  Another theory for the impetus was the marriage of American heiress Betsy Bonaparte (née Patterson) to the conquering emperor’s brother, Jérôme—to Napoleon’s grave displeasure—and hopes of securing her own title, or for their son called Bo. Although cause and effect seem reversed in the first case and the timing is a bit off in the latter, for whatever reason the proposal came about, indeed some hold that the measure did actual meet the minimum requirements for passage in state legislatures and because of the state of communication at the time, the matter was dropped prematurely.  In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton expressed, “Nothing need be said to illustrate the importance of the prohibition of titles of nobility. This may truly be denominated the corner stone of republican government; for so long as they are excluded, there can never be serious danger that the government will be any other than that of the people…” Only that that were the only threat to a government by and for the people.  Now, mostly regarded as a historical curiosity—though as Congress imposed no time limits on the adoption of this amendment, it could still be passed, like the latest one passed in 1992 after pending for 202 years regarding the Legislative Branch raising its own salary—numerically, it would have been the thirteenth amendment—which came about some fifty-five years later, abolishing the institution of slavery.  Sometimes it’s good to be side-tracked and chase shining-objects.

hair-don’t

Following a vocal outcry of US service-members complaining that the latest embellished regulation of allowable hair-styles is bigoted and puts undue onus on certain individuals, the secretary of defense is directing each branch to take a second look at its new rules (the Army’s standards pictured here) and present their revised recommendations.
Such histrionics are not limited to peace-time armies, I suppose, and feel instantly more secure knowing that no unauthorized scrunchie could evade detection.  What do you think?  Are these unnecessary accommodations or is more sensitivity needed?

tug-o'-war or ambisinistrousness

Spiegel’s international desk has an interesting analysis regarding an unlikely affinity that far-right, pro-nationalist parliamentarians and political parties are finding in Russia’s stance towards its former satellite states.  Though there are East-West tensions similar to the chill of the Cold War, the conservative composition of the European caucuses looking to promote Russian partnership, covering the spectrum of maturity, repute and platforms that are often xenophobic, populist and anti-European Union, could not be of a more different leaning that the leftist politicians that many Western governments feared would side with the East and the communists, harbouring sympathies that threatened to further dismantle social pecking-order, whose preservation is the primary character of the right-wing.
Russia and the Soviet Union, of course, are of very different stripes too.  I suppose too that some of the maverick representatives, hoping to secure more seats in the supranational congress, are finding a role-model to aspire to with the authoritarian style of leadership that’s unwilling to be reigned-in. There is a riposte to this strange alliance, however, that does not exactly emanate from the other side of the aisle—an ambisinistrous individual has nothing to do with a Transdnistrian but is rather someone who is uncoordinated, having “two left hands,” the opposite of being ambidextrous—with some primed to blame a shift in the parliamentary balance on Moscow propaganda and rallying of parties, those weaker and already disenfranchised allies, to undermine cohesion in Europe and subvert the EU’s willingness to cooperate with America and back American policy.  While I cannot foresee some up-and-comer of la droite becoming a grip-knot (or slip-knot) in this battle, it is nonetheless an important corollary to note how much distrust there is about siding with the USA or jeopardizing standing-relationships.  There is no beggaring the enemy of my enemy here and both sides seem to sense that there is something suppressed and duplicitous about one another and even their own posture.

workers of the world

Today marks the fusion of the International Labour Organisation’s Workers’ Memorial Day with the United Nation’s observance to promote health and safety in the workplace.

Taking the occasion to mourn for those lives lost due to hazardous conditions and people maimed and made chronically unwell by comforts that could be easily and reasonably accommodated began with the Canadian passage of a comprehensive on-the-job injury compensation act a century ago, on the eve of Labour Day.  The UN’s piggy-backing on the holiday highlights ergonomics and focuses on fostering safer working environments.  Despite America’s efforts to thwart May Day celebrations—repackaging the day first as “Americanization Day” after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and then as “Loyalty Day” during the McCarthy-era in the 1950s before finally moving it to September to distance it from what was considered Communists' leanings—though the May Day roots are in fact American in origin, both holidays are still internationally respected and kept, at least by those they honour.

hyponym or litotes

The American Scholar presents its list—with no special or commemorative reason or fan-fanfare, of its come-by-honestly best sentences in English literature.
It, the list, seems thoroughly modern and familiar yet the choices are far from pedestrian and quite resounding and evocative. The selection certainly has reciprocated a lot of good feedback and other nominees to explore. What would you include? Do you find the choices to be heavily orientated towards bulwer-litany, purple-prose? There is a lot to be said for pithiness, as well as the edifying and complete. However—I am happy to be reminded that there are people yet as passionate and cuckolded by words.

logos, pathos, ethos

Through a revue of several studies on the subject, Brain Pickings' weekly digest presents an engrossing and thorough introduction to the Eastern concept of wu wei (无为 and literally English for non-doing).
In a social framework where performance, exception- alism, and perfection are the measures of success, this notion of adaptive effort- lessness—not detachment or doing by rote but rather acquired reflexes and instincts—is something akin to the idea of flow, only recently given a name in the modern West. Perhaps this reluctance, generally accorded to savants and the like, is due to the learned incompatibility, as one author suggests, among intuitive thoughts and cognition—sort of like the proscriptions on mingling faith and science. Governance may well be achieved by the evolution of regulation and institution for subjects to obey but a real sense of community, epitomized by the construction wu wei wu (effortless doing), is cultivated with a set of values, respect, rights and freedoms that are felt independently of the rules that chase after them.

peerage or content mill

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) just made itself redundant by yielding to the whims of a few powerful industry-lobbyists and no longer being a good and conscientious steward of the frequencies, airwaves, ripples and what’s fit to print and abandoning key provisions in the concept of so-called Net Neutrality, which they were championing not so long ago (the reversal happening almost within the same breath of praise for relinquishing its control over the domain naming system).
Essentially FCC will grant license for service providers and major content providers—those with means and influence, like film-on-demand brokers and major labels in the entertainment business (plus, I imagine, clearinghouses holding the copyrights of popular or coveted images—leading to a lot of ugly watermark mark-ups), to negotiate arrangements to deliver their services with special priority.  This two-speed internet is a way of discriminating against the little to unknown, ensuring that it remains so, as there would be no chance to profit from its promotion.  This badgering of search results (I am feeling unlucky, auf gut Glück) prejudices what users and creators can find and learn, even if it is limited to specific partnerships whose affiliation are reviewed by the commission, and has the potential to render the internet as one big billboard, like some NASCAR vehicle.

gleeman oder allons-y

I had the chance to visit the nearby Nibelungenstadt of Alzey in the Rheinland.  Along with Speyer and Passau and many other towns and villages on the banks of Germany’s great rivers, this location is mentioned in the catalogue of places referenced by the saga of the Nibelungen.  Although in the case of Alzey, an ancient settlement going back to the times of the Celts and Romans, its association to the epic is only in the family roots of an itinerant minstrel, a gleeman, of the royal court of the Burgundians at their palace in Worms, who later fought with the other knights against the Hun tribes, called Volker von Alzey—the gleek.  I searched for clues for the Rheingold, nonetheless.
The town is really regaled with this connection—appearing in the town’s crest and in a dozen street and shop names.  There is an imaginative watering-hole installation in the Horse Market (Rossmarkt) of the old town for, I suppose, Volker’s steed.  Another very nice bronze sculpture there was this monument to stewardship and conserving ones architectural heritage, although I missed Alzey’s landmark (Wahrzeichen)—which is a high medieval observation tower on the outskirts of the city I suppose I can try to find next time through.
The castle in Alzey has a long history, dating back to 1120 and stands as testament to the idea behind the sculpture of the man raising the roof beam in its present form, reconstructed after the Nine Years’ War over the line of succession to the Palatinate throne, rather than being completely razed or kept in ruins as many were, the victorious wanting to leave their own legacy or reminders of destruction.