kryptos

Via the never cryptic and always interesting Nag on the Lake we are informed that a new clue has been tantalisingly dropped regarding the bronze sculpture that adorns the courtyard of the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (previously) whose coded message has for nearly thirty years rebuffed obsessive efforts to fully decrypt it.
Professional and hobbyist code-breakers alike over the years have managed to solve three (the first two are Vigenère ciphers, a method using an interweaving of shifting and polyalphabetic substitution, the third is a transposition cipher with the fourth being a mystery) out of the four puzzles but the last remains a conundrum. The artist behind the work, Jim Sanborn—surprised that the mystery has taken this long to be decoded and perhaps out of a desire not to have it all unravelled posthumously—has issued a few hints first in 2010 with BERLIN, next in 2014 with CLOCK and most recently NORTHEAST with which letters of the cipher the solution corresponds with.

6x6

solar max: amazing high-resolution imagery of the surface of the Sun

holyrood: the Edinburgh parliament will continue to fly the EU flag post-Brexit (plus votes for a second referendum for independence)

birth tourism: a woman planning to visit US territory of Saipan forced to prove that she was not pregnant

commonly known as the pipewort family: the stunning paepalanthus flowering plants

part of the troop: robotic gorilla infiltrates a family in the wild

bmc: a large cache of art and artefacts, largely never before seen, from Black Mountain College (adjacently)—staffed by among others Anni and Joseph Albers after they fled Nazi Germany—is being put on-line

release notes

Via the always excellent and updated Kottke’s Quick Links, we learn that included in the latest batch of our expanding emoji vocabulary are a suite of internal organs, bisons, the extinct dodo, the transgender flag, tears of joy and people hugging. What particular personal, professional or cultural gap do you find still lacking representation? I wonder what glyphs might be universally repurposed.

une chatte connue pour avoir été envoyée dans l'espace et récupérée vivante

Via Mental Floss we learn that after nearly sixty years of languishing relative obscurity, thanks to a vigorous campaign, the contributions and the legacy of the first and only feline in space, Félicette, are finally being recognised and commemorated with a proper monument. Unveiled with fanfare last month and sharing an exhibition space in Pioneers’ Hall of the International Space University, l’Université spatiale internationale (though one might hope for a more public and accessible memorial) in Strasbourg with a bust of Yuri Gagarin—the first human in space, the bronze of the cat on a plinth represents more of the untold story behind scientific advancement. Much more to explore at the links above.

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.