twitterati

Diplomatic relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia are in complete disarray after the kingdom’s asymmetrical response to what it characterises as meddling in internal affairs after the Canadian foreign minister and other diplomats expressed concern over the arrest of human rights activist, Samar Badawi who had recently spurred reform that confers more independence for women in allowing them to drive and to conduct some business without a chaperone—prompting a youth organisation to respond rather threatening for its trading and educational partner to mind its own business.
The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan says.  Official government measures from the kingdom included the suspension of all trade and investment (part of this feud may be sourced back to a weapons deal arranged by the previous Canadian administration which the Trudeau government rescinded out of concerns of backing oppressive, authoritarian regimes), recalling its ambassadors, expelling the Canadian mission, ordering Saudi citizens being treated in Canadian hospitals to request discharges and transfers to facilities in another nation and for sixteen thousand students sponsored by scholarships studying at Canadian schools relocate at the risk of losing financial assistance. Other countries in the region joined Saudi Arabia in denouncing Canada for politicising human rights, which seems to me one of the chief if not the primary purposes of government. The US refused to weigh in on this affair, urging Canada and Saudi Arabia to work it together.

chimera

Inspired by the mythological character that’s half horse and half human, engineers at the Italian Institute of Technology (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, IIT) in Genoa have created Centauro, a strong and durable search and rescue robot capable of clearing debris and breaking through barriers.
With the aim of providing support to human first responders in disaster situations, Centauro is being taught to think for itself and the training will hopefully translate into faster reactions and independent problem-solving. Visit the link above for more information and a video demonstration of Centauro in action.

depth of field

Evoking the photographic aesthetic called bokeh (ボケ, Japanese for blur or haze) Cape Town artist Philip Barlow’s out-of-focus landscape oil paintings of cityscapes are a reflection of perception that outstrips more realistic depictions that ultimate grounds the real in the surreal. Discover more of Barlow’s work at the link above.

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.