armchair quarterback

Though it is sometimes difficult to confront one’s own shortcomings and gladiatorial instincts that we hope to dress-up as and therefore translate to political engagement, there’s a danger in political hobbyism and its self-curatorial overreach that compels one to share and to share passionately with expertise and insight but then fails many of us when it comes to follow-through.
The social media, network news takedown that Hidden Brain accompanies us on is harsh but fair and we ought to aspire to dislodge this trend that dilutes political engagement (surely by design) into something akin to collecting crafts, recipes and destinations, the allotment thereof cultivating our own image. Those efforts are important too and real labour but also proves taxing and leaves many of us too exhausted to act on our platforms. We find ourselves tantalized with the apex of politics to the neglect of the nadir—those issues that we can impact (also obfuscated and shoved off as dull or irrelevant by those who would wield power rather than be spectators) and multiply the impact of our individual votes and restores democracy by dint of participation.

disaster gurl or this is not a drill

Courtesy of friend of the blog, the Everlasting Blört’s daily Trump digest we are treated to his Orange Menace placed in squarely in context—with the stain of impeachment just as indelible as leftover spaghetti warmed-over despite whatever theatrical victory-laps he feels he might be entitled to.
Dialling up the contrast or not, the photographer behind this image, while not an official member of the press corps or part of the crew that documents White House—is at least credentialed to be on the periphery of his subject’s comings and goings. The meme that Trump is superimposed on itself seemed rather sinister without insight into its framing: back in 2004, a local fire department was conducting some live-training and a father and daughter went to see the action, the photographer capturing her image as she realised her picture was being taken. The photograph and derivative images went viral beginning in October 2008 when it was first propagated by BuzzFeed. Disaster Girl, Zoe Roth whom her father still showcases, accepts the attention and fame but is not happy when the remixes go too dark but we think she’d approve of her meme limning this dumpster fire.

splendid isolation

Having heard the phrase I suppose outside of geopolitical contexts, I wasn’t sure what meaning to attach to it until discovering that it referred to British reluctance in entering permanent alliances with outside powers from around the time of the Congress of Vienna in 1814 that helped establish and more or less maintain the European balance of power through 1902 and the Boer War and the eventual Entente Cordiale with France that helped both colonial powers retain their grip in the Far East.
The formative Victorian policy of avoidance in world affairs was extoled and lamented by George Eulas Foster in January 1896, Canadian political scientist and long-serving parliamentarian, in the waning years of the policy—though no one could have predicted the end and what was to follow: “In these somewhat troublesome days when the Great Mother Empire stands splendidly isolated in Europe.” Generally it is now understood as a naïve belief that power dynamics are largely self-regulating and will correct themselves (like laisse-faire economics) despite or because of one’s lack of involvement and that allies are unnecessary for settling disputes with a third party.

rank and file

Like the exquisite but diminutive game piece itself we nearly overlooked this incredible find (see also) that provides a tangible link between the activity of Lindisfarne and the Viking raids and subjugation that began at the dawn of the ninth century.
On learning that the finely crafted bauble is speculated to be playable character of an ancient Viking board game, akin to chess (ibidem as it turns out), called hnefatafl my memory was jogged and there’s quite a bit of resonance to an artefact that suggests how these imagined ruthless plunders brought along their pastimes and distractions to the equally imagined milieu of desperate poverty and privation.

herbaceous

Having just had its second jumbo iteration of blooming after the bulb sprouted after Christmas, the Hippeastrum—a South American evergreen flower related to the African bulbs called Amaryllis. First described and classified by nineteenth century British botanist William Herbert, who also specialised in crocuses and tulips as well as the more useful bulbous plants like garlic and onions and has the standard authorial abbreviation Herb. in botanical context (another example of nominative determinism), its name means Knight’s Star lily (Rittersterne) in Latin and like our friend the poinsettia need to be cajoled and tricked into blooming during wintertime, but are robust enough to be transplanted (with some study and care) and return year after year.

daytrip: schneekopf

Wanting to see a bit more snow, H and I travelled back through Oberhof and beyond to the summit of the second highest (only falling short of the neighbouring Beerberg by a few dozen metres) mountain in Thüringen, the Schneekopf, whose summit—owing to a strong wind storm in 1946 that uprooted all trees has been an open space since and presently hosts a communications and weather station and observation tower with a panoramic view and a climbing wall on its exterior that pushes the elevation just above that of its neighbours and just barely places the site into the class of a thousand metres above sea-level (Normales Null).

The peak and the range it is a part of are extinct volcanoes active in the Permian Epoch and are composed porphyry. We had a nice stroll through the forest and enjoyed watching the snow and ice whipped up by the wind glint in the noon sun.

6x6

multiplicands: an interesting demonstration of an ancient method of numerical decomposition that intuits algorithms base-two number systems

still life with daishi: the exquisite three decades of detailed food diaries of a soba chef

bee space: a look at how apiculture informs architecture

enhance: artificial intelligence applied to an 1896 film upscales the Lumière Brothers’ l’Arrivée d’un train en gare de La Cioatat significantly

mergers and acquisitions: a clip of two Chinese young men lip-syncing the Back Street Boys’ I Want It That Way in 2006 convinced Google it the YouTube platform could be a promising investment

from sack to shift: Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic Mondrian-inspired dress (previously), including one for Lady Penelope

isla fantasma

Reminiscent of the curious case of Hy-Braʃil positioned in the Atlantic west of Ireland and perhaps perpetuated as a trap-street, a sort of water mark, we enjoyed learning about the phantom islet called Bermeja that appeared on sea charts from the sixteenth century up to the mid-nineteenth century off the coast of the Yucatán peninsula before abruptly disappearing from the map.
The origins and the fate of this would-be strategic land-mass, since its existence would accord México drilling rights to a massive undersea oil reserve, are disputed and range from a simple surveying error repeated in subsequent editions, the island sinking due to climate change or an earthquake—or more sinisterly, as one theory proffers, Bermeja was destroyed by US intelligence services to expand America’s economic zone and fishing-rights. More to explore from Boing Boing at the link above.