8! x 3^7 x (12!/2) x 2^11

On this day in 1980 at the British Toy and Hobby Fair, the mechanical puzzle (see previously) by Hungarian architect and professor Ernő Rubik had its international debut.
Demonstrating a prototype to his students around 1974 and seeing the positive reception, Rubik sought out a manufacturer, originally calling it his Magic Cube (Bűvöskocka), and licensed the design to Ideal Toys—formerly known for their line of dolls that included Betsy Wetsy and Rub-a-Dub Doggie, in 1979 for wider distribution under the name Rubik’s Cube. Among his influences, the polymath and educator lists MC Escher for grappling with impossible configurations and contemplating the nature of infinity within the permissible. Discounting the strictures of the mechanics of the cube (only seven of the eight corners can be independently articulated and there are only twelve possible orbits for each square, there are forty three quintillion permutations—that is, if a cube were to represent each possible state a stack of them would tower over two-hundred and sixty light-years high, scraping the sky beyond of our Stellar Neighbourhood.

mantra-rock dance

Organised by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness as a fund-raising event for a local temple and as a promotional event for the movement’s founder and chief evangelist, Bhaktivedānta Swāmi, the titular concert and service was hosted on this day in 1967 in San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom (a familiar venue). The evening included performances by Moby Grape, Big Brother and theHolding Company with Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead with speakers Owsley "Bear" Stanley, Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsburg, leading the audience in the Maha Mantra chant.

manicule

The always interesting Pasa Bon! piques our curiosity regarding the punctuation mark known by the titular name or rather the index or the printer’s fist—scribes employing this symbol (☞, see also) to highlight and annotate corrections or notes.
Incorporated into standard typography, the sign’s modern sense is to direct readers to a cross-reference, point the way in advertising and was shorthand (reference the above stenography) of essayist H L Mencken to express the aphorism “When you point a finger at someone, realise that there are three pointing back at you,” bookending his telegrams with this reminder. Of course, the index also has a walk on role, a cameo according to what we’re mousing over. Much more to explore at the links above.

font specimen

Via Coudal Partners’ Fresh Signals (sadly no more), we are acquainted with the extensive archives of American Type Founders, a business trust established in 1892 by merging dozens of formerly independent firms for greater clout in the publishing and advertising industries. During its dominance, font families like News Gothic and Century Schoolbook were introduced as well as innovations in printing and letter-press techniques.

express limited

Also known as headboards (on the engine) or drumboards (on the caboose), we appreciated learning about head masters, roundels mounted to advertise the name of a locomotive or special service—an excursion or commemorative journey. Peruse a whole gallery of vintage Japanese rail emblems at Present /&/ Correct at the link above.

crate-digging

Courtesy of the latest peripatetic scouting by fellow internet caretaker Messy Nessy Chic we are treated to the musical stylings of Kolkata artist Rupa Sen through her lost 1982 single Disco Jazz. Read more about its rediscovery and resurgence that seems to buck the rules of viral phenomena at Pitchfork and at the link above.

🚘

As Boing Boing informs, the New England state of Vermont (see previously) may possibly join Queensland, Australia in allowing drivers to include a selection of emoji on their custom automobile registry plates (see also) after introducing a bill to that effect.
Counter to the trend of admitting pictograms into courtroom exhibits or the fact that a smiling face crying tears of joy might strike one as something more memorable than an alpha-numeric string in a traffic accident dispute, whatever emoji chosen would be an addition to the identifier and not considered one in isolation. What do you think? What vanity plates would you choose?

diacope and deposition

People—especially those who are disenfranchised—will glom onto any minutiae no matter how trivial or incredulous if they detect an advantage and can imagine how it might leverage their team, but what’s even more surpassingly unbelievable, as Geoff Manaugh ponders and invites us to come along, is the magical thinking with which we make totems and talismans out of blandishing characterisations that cling to the margins of justice and framing policy.

What do you think? Truth and justice are to be upheld and suffer a thousand cuts, and as Napoleon put it “Repetition is the strongest of the rhetorical tools” and the only one worth having in one’s quiver. It’s not just the lie but its dissection and rehashing that drain people’s ability to attend and make informed choices, but we like—need this narrative of the last straw even though for institutional change or preservation, cherished symbols are rarely imbued with the power to affect real, enduring change for politics despite the effect that they have for the polity.