trail-blazer

Taken to long walks in the woods lately, I appreciated this tract, via Strange Company (a lot more to explore here as well), on the invention of hiking as a pastime. Louis XIV commissioned a campaign to landscape and enlarge the already sizably managed Fontainebleau forest—named for its stately chateau outside of Paris, a favoured and expedient retreat from the metropolis and the undertaking came to be entrusted in the hands of failed military concierge Claude-François Denecourt, dismissed earlier from the barracks also co-located on the grounds and finding the restorative qualities of wandering amongst the trees was seasoned and eager when it came to the task.
Familiar with the landmarks he encountered, Denecourt emphasised the forest’s character and wound pathways that would pass by all the highlights.  I’ve recently discovered a pair of trails that cross an empty hunting lodge that’s a strange sort of anchor and landmark in my ramblings—sort of like coming back to the witch’s cottage in King’s Quest as the side-scroll repeated—at least at first and absent a guide but now happy to know that these paths meet up.  Other milestones are coming into focus as well, like particularly venerable trees along logging roads.  Though there is an element of the artificial to what Denecourt created weaving through the forest’s expansion that we would not consider re-wilding, staking out a lightly manicured trail and touting its qualities—one of the first of its kind in the West at least in terms of mapping and promotion, certainly had influence and amplification (often repeated and juxtaposed so we’re also not tempted to stray and trample further) that we all can be grateful for.  Learn more with the Smithsonian article at the link above. 

light and tuneful

Even as sporting events are being postponed for another time, we can still appreciate some of the great riveting power theme tunes for big tournaments and regular shows, like this first track by composer Sam Fonteyn (*1925 – †1991) for BBC Sport called Pop Looks Bach (1978)—whose countless works have also been sampled for the intros and incidental music for SpongeBob, Ren & Stimpy and Family Guy.
The second and third track are from Keith Mansfield with the former called Light and Tuneful (1970) and of course announces the Wimbledon Championships and the later the theme to sports round-up Grandstand (1958). Even if not a fan oneself, they still invoke a feeling of nostalgia, even if it was to signal to leave as televised sports coverage was about to start.

♐a*

Via Slashdot, we are learning that the complex, spirograph orbit of a star waltzing with the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, charted for over three decades by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) array, confirms another aspect of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity (see previously), the Two-Body problem specifically, in the way the precariously placed star’s path inscribes a rosette, called a Schwarzschild precession, as the theory predicted—rather than an elliptical one as classical mechanics projects.

7x7

610 wagon: Salvador Dalí was once commissioned to paint an advertising campaign (see also) for Datsun Motors

dénouement: the Hero’s Journey during lockdown—see also

location scout: exploring how tax regimes and local ordinances limn the imagination in film and television adaptations

coade stone: the weather proof wonder material that’s the stuff of statuary and architectural embellishments

home office: not free to go out, Banksy gives the guest bathroom a makeover

now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station: NASA under Trump struggles to deliver even the solace of science with exploration becoming exploitation

the ever-changing motor car: 1965 animated short for Ford of Britain by the same collaboration behind Yellow Submarine

netherstan

Here are some relatively harmless neural network-created fantasy flag mash-ups of the personal ensign of the royal family of Korea combined with the flag of the East African Community or Tonga through the filter of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, though most outcomes are a bit more dicey and some seem absolutely provocative and bent on igniting world war.
If those aren’t enough to incite at least an international incident, one can use the same data-set and vexillogical protocols that the bot draws from (presumably ignorant what national banners can symbolise for some) to create one’s own remixes. Give it a try and share your best unlikely geopolitical union.

treehugger

From BBC’s Monitoring desk, we appreciated this rejuvenating, restorative suggestion from the senior ranger of Iceland’s largest forest, Hallormsstadur, in the eastern part of the island that one go, safely, out and embrace a tree, really savouring the connection and letting it support one and draw strength from it. Not all of us might have the woods at our doorsteps but I think all of us are lucky enough to have a tree at hand.

saint drogo

Coming from noble stock in Flanders but orphaned as an adolescent then dispossessing himself of his inheritance and devoting his life to penance and pilgrimage—making the sojourn to Rome no less than ten times—and settling down to become a shepherd after a disfiguring disease confined him from the public, Saint Drogo of Sebourg (*1105 – †1186), who is venerated on this day, was reportedly given the power of bilocation and was seen—shrouded due to his hideous countenance—in attendance at Mass while, as witnesses attest, still tending his flock in the fields.  Drogo’s patronage includes those whom others find repulsive, coffee house proprietors (that is someone to turn to at these times), midwives (presumably due to his great empathy and for the mother he never knew) and sheep. While it is unclear why coffee might be one of his attributes, it is not just a modern gimmick with documents from Mons showing that in the 1860s, the city’s guild of cafetiers were already claiming Drogo as their patron—and possibly is connected with his miraculous power of bilocation (a virtue of coffee) or his ascetic diet and insistence on only drinking hot water.

found art

Messy Nessy correspondent Francky Knapp directs our attention to the brilliant collages that keen-eyed New Yorker and street ephemera (detritus, trash) collector John Evans created daily from 1964 to the turn of the century, his outsider art (see previously) telling the evolving narrative of the city and its denizens individually from 1964 to the turn of the century. Learn more about the artist and explore an extensive, curated gallery (it was a tough choice to select just one example as all the montages were very well put together) of his works at the link up top and perhaps try making your own pastiche from whatever you have handy.