7x7

heliotrope: a crab-like robot-plant hybrid follows the sun to ensure its symbiont stays fully-charged, via Super Punch

everyone expects the spanish inquisition: FBI agent discredited for having political opinions while the controlling party of the US government ignores the fact that its electoral system is compromised

because I was not a trade-unionist: “The Hangman,” an animated short from 1964 that explores what can happen when no one is willing to stand up against evil

caviaя: to celebrate Russia’s hosting of the world cup, a German brewery makes “caviar” beer, via Coudal Partners

keep calm and carry on: the Queen has outlasted twelve US presidents and can certainly survive a pretender to the throne

town cube: sensational Japanese car designs from the 1990s, via Things Magazine

choreomania: a look back on the dancing compulsion that seized Strasbourg five hundred years ago

rumour has it

Notwithstanding conspiratorial thinking and demagoguery has all but replaced ideology in political discourse and repairing to such impulses is very dangerous for society, what conspiracy theories—aside from the Mormon account for periodic encounters with sasquatch being just sightings of Cain doomed to wander the Earth as an outcast for eternity—strike you as nearly plausible?
My favourite, the above excluded naturally, is that New Coke was not a marketing blunder but rather cover for a two-pronged conversion to its original family of products: one, the original formula switched from using cane sugar as a sweetener to cheap and abundant high fructose corn syrup; two, in order to placate those on the front lines of the US war on drugs, the new recipe dispensed with all coca-based derivatives, seeing its supplies in Colombia under threat. There’s apparently some credence to the latter while the timing is off by a few years on the former, the message is don’t drink sodas. If there ever was any merit or tonic to it, that’s long gone by now.  The above rumour is at best an instructive folktale or at worst, an affront against cryptozoologists.

l.a. looks or magic sharker

From our friends at Lewis & Quark (a.k.a. AI Weirdness, previously), we discover what results when a neural network is given the task of naming bespoke nail polish colours, with the help of a group of manicure enthusiasts contributing their name collection to the cause. Via my OED subscription earlier this week, I learnt that in 1999 a new portmanteau was put forward in the form of artilect, from artificial and intellect, but never really caught on.  Should we do something about that?  In any case, some of our favourites (many with a rather inexplicable gothic bias) included:

• Ink Flame
• Bloshing Glip
• Batberry
• Space Holly
• Fire Splat
• Murder Earth
• Gold Be Tangeling
• Social Mace
• Twilight Mashery

Be sure and visit the site to see more and learn about the machine learning methodology and to even order a few select nail polishes named by their AI.

alien and sedition acts

The four bills passed into law on this day by the Federalist Party dominated US congress of 1798 made it more difficult for immigrants to acquire citizenship, granted the president the discretion to deport or imprison immigrants deemed a threat to national security and criminalised statements critical of the federal government.
Critics successfully argued that the acts were too onerous and persecuted those who disagreed with the Federalists or their values, codified at the time as a counter-measure to revolutionary fervour in France and the rest of Europe that was seen now as a threat to the newly-minted republic, and were three-quarters repealed during the Democrat-Republican administration of Thomas Jefferson. Remaining in statute, the Aliens Enemies Act was invoked during World War II to intern mostly Americans with Japanese heritage but also Germans and Italians and is still part of US code.

reichsgesetzblatt

On this day in 1933, the German Reich passed a law outlawing the formation of new political parties, making the National Socialist German Workers’ Party the sole and de facto and unopposed ruling power and effectively ending parliamentary democracy in the country. The legislative branch, rendering itself redundant under extreme duress with some going into exile and many others imprisoned, ceded control to the executive, the chancellor and his cabinet ministers of justice and of interior affairs.

it’s a total sign of disrespect for our country

It boggles the imagination to guess how this might be spun or buried by distraction—perhaps the release of the petulant man-baby’s tax returns or the pee-tapes, but one unsettling coincidence, call and response that came out of the indictment of twelve Russian GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate, Гла́вное разве́дывательное управле́ние) agents for meddling in the democratic process—specifically and with standing in the US 2016 presidential election—is that when Trump dared the Russians to recover the missing email traffic of his rival, the Russians seemed to comply and deliver.
Scarier than the fact that some think that the condemnation of foreign actors exonerates Trump and any Americans involved in the campaign is that we knew about the timing of this request and attack at the time it was happening. The revelation of this indictment occurred on the anniversary of the disclosure that there was a secret audio recording system in Nixon’s White House.  At one of his Nürnberg rallies (which unfortunately have continued a-pace in support of his re-election and those loyal to his nihilistic agenda) on 27 July 2016, Trump said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the thirty-thousand emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” following up this statement with a tweet. Though not addressing whether Russian operatives were responding directly to an order or invitation by Trump, within twenty-four hours Clinton’s servers were compromised

ultramarine

John F Kennedy with significant input from the First Lady choose the iconic design of the airplanes bearing the designation Air Force One and that standard has endured out of respect for both Kennedy’s memory and aesthetic principles for fifty-five years. Now reportedly, Trump plans to change the design, decrying that the fleet of planes don’t look American enough unlike his signature transport whilst campaigning and are lacking red accents, calling the particular shade of blue a relic and a Jackie Kennedy colour. One can only guess what sort of crass and gaudy redesign that might be proposed.

chamomile tea party

Under the guise of his subversive collective, we learn via Hyperallergic, the creative graphic designer Jeff Gates has channelled his talents to make a statement on the sorry state of civil discourse in the United States of America (their chief export it seems) by remixing antique propaganda posters to reflect the current atmosphere, a decline that was fermenting for years and whose vintage predates but possibly prefigures the slovenly scourge of Trump and his best people. Also curated under Google’s Arts & Culture portal, Gates has been prolific in his activism and there’s an entire gallery of images, newer renditions juxtaposed with the origins, to reflect on.