Though not officially recognised as part of the Calendar of the Saints until Pope John Paul II made it official in 1984 and followed up with a visit to the island, Saint Þorlákur Þórhallsson—Thorlak Thornhallsson, Bishop of Skálholt, had been considered the patron of Iceland for the greater part of a millennia.
Having had a previous encounter with the ISOTYPEs of Marie and Otto Neurath (*1882 – †1945), we appreciated revisiting this subject with an in depth exploration from Open Culture that regards the universal character set as yet another among many earnest attempts to foster peace and empathy through an international language, a utopian effort like Esperanto and others. With the help of woodcut artist Gerd Arntz, this visual vocabulary grew to over four thousand pictograms to structure and address every facet of society and of course prefigures our contemporary use of symbols and data visualisations.
On this day in 1938, the a trawler on a fishing expedition in South Africa caught the first specimen of what would later be identified as an extant species of a type of primitive, limbed fish though to have died out in the Cretaceous Era, some sixty-five million years ago. Having more than a passing interest in the sciences, the captain of the vessel often shared unusual finds with the curator of a local natural history museum, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, who eventually recognised the sample as a coelacanth, coining the phrase a “living fossil.”
their santatanic majesties request: the Rolling Stone album had the working title of Cosmic Christmas
tinsel: a gallery of Mid-Century Modern aluminum Christmas trees
tinsel town: 1930s Hollywood in its heydays recreated as a diorama
brick & mortar: a bookshop in Tokyo now has a cover-charge
aðventuljós: a handy guide to the holidays in Iceland
Driving home for the holidays, we really enjoyed listening to this Royal Christmas Special from Rex Factor (previously) that examines the celebration, traditions and historical happenstance—births, coronations, etc.—from a courtly point of view. We think you’ll like this entertaining and informative episode as well, travelling or otherwise.
Our thanks to the always terrific Nag on the Lake for the introduction to the impressive portfolio of artist and photographer Damion Berger through his series of compositions Black Powder that re-contextualise pyrotechnic displays by presenting them as black-and-white negatives, whose exposure properties can be chalked up to a chemical reaction like the subjects. Pictured is a scene from the annual fete of Saint Clair (patroness of laundry, television and needleworkers) celebrated in Sant Pau on the French Riviera. Much more to explore at the links above.
Examining the beleaguered missteps of a social media platform through the lens of the integrity dividend, Evan Osnos’ analysis in The New Yorker is a sobering reminder that when the service is free, you are the product and that none of us are immune to the manipulation and exploitation until we’ve attained the tipping point of herd immunity that unseats those outlying, extreme opinions.
I think the graver danger lies in the fact that many dismiss the latest in a tranche of scandals—with surely more to follow—as people getting what they deserved. One so easily swayed by sophistry doesn’t deserve to participate in politics in the first place, one might argue, ignorant of their own selective bias. In general, people are not poles apart on issues and reasonable civility would otherwise prevail but by amplifying small differences in opinion we all become polarised and made to take sides. In a business model based on trust and reputation, it seems perhaps something too easily squandered and forgiven.
