simcity

The always interesting Maps Mania introduces us to a trio fantasy urban map generators that automatically create cityscapes according to a suite of user-defined criteria—which is an especially fun and safe way to expand the bounds of one’s daily circuit and imagine all the paths that one can take to get from point a to point b. Here’s a procedurally rendered street grid made by ProbableTrain—a random layout but can also draw from real world metropolitan environments for reference.

the admiralty regrets to inform

Whilst on a mission to circumnavigate the globe passing from the South Atlantic to the South Pacific in December 1683, surveyor William Ambrosia Cowle, whom significantly charted the Galápagos, aboard the gunship Bachelor’s Delight, spied an island north of the Falklands, which he named Pepys Island, in honour of the diarist and also Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty. Although describing the avian residents, geographical features and quality of its harbour and anchorage in great detail, Pepys Island never again materialised, for centuries evading rediscovery, and was ultimately declared a phantom island.

able was i, ere i saw elbe

On this day in 1945, we are informed via Miss Cellania, US Forces of the Western Front encountered Soviet Forces of the Eastern Front crossing the Elbe near Torgau—first contact between advancing armies had effectively cut Nazi Germany in two.
After initial meetings of scouting parties, arrangements were made to hold a formal handshake between commanders and soldiers exchanged greetings and gifts. Commemorations for the meeting—Elbe Day (Встреча на Эльбе), have been held annually to lesser or greater fanfare with reunions of participating units and was considered an especially occasion to mark during the antagonism of the Cold War as a sign of cooperation and peace that could overcome geopolitics. More pictures and background at the link above.

hst

Carried aloft by the Space Shuttle Discovery mission that launched on the day prior, the Hubble Space Telescope, namesake of Edwin Powell Hubble (*1889 - †1953) pioneering astronomer who established the discipline of observational cosmology—leading to the conclusion along with Georges Lemaître that the Universe is expanding—was successfully deployed into stable low Earth orbit on this day in 1990. Versatile and becoming a public-relations boon for space exploration and the sciences in general with its unprecedented imagery and succession of discoveries, its operators estimate it could remain in service another two decades at least with its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST, named for the NASA administrator that oversaw the Apollo programme), scheduled to be brought on-line in March 2021.

bull run

Potentially far worse than the Cosplay Caliphate, armed extremist groups—and Facebook friends—are exploiting the COV-19 crisis and domestic chaos in the United States to call for a meme-driven civil war, under the woeful appropriation “the boogaloo,” right-wing, white supremacist jargon referencing the 1984 breakdancing film Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, a shoddy and slap-dash sequel released to capitalise on the success of the original and has been logged in the cultural lexicon as such.
Although the rubbish social media giant claims it does not allow groups promoting violence to use their platform as an organising tool to advance their message of armed insurrection lead by a deplorable gaggle of weekend warrior survivalists and useful idiots egged on by Trump’s own calls for liberation that whilst claiming that they have prepared for enduring the apocalyptic collapse of civilisation have apparently been broken by the inconvenience of having not been to the hairdresser or get a spray-tan in weeks—a subset of those who harshly questioned Laura Dern’s credentials as a commanding officer but had no qualm with Admiral Akbar, it seems that Facebook is either unable or unwilling to purge this activity. Let’s hope that this sequel (which will not even feature Ice-T, one of the franchise’s few redeeming characters) also garners the ridicule it deserves before people get hurt and put in harm’s way.

canned-sunshine

Vis-à-vis the deranged idiot Trump’s suggestion that we all douse and dose ourselves with ultra-violet light to sanitise ourselves against COVID-19 (once his recom- mendation for hydroxy- chloroquine did not prove deadly enough), this entry from the archives of Weird Universe seems especially resounding and relevant. Do think outside of the box—definitely—as hand-washing and inoculation, variolation and vaccination were once fringe ideas but do not put yourselves and those around you at a greater risk because a desperate demagogue suggests you try it, misinterpreting what he wants to hear as a great many Americans hark to, their situation precarious and healthcare contingent on specious hope and continued employment.

living in a ghost town

Via Nag on the Lake, we are treated to the Rolling Stones’ first single released in eight years—the previous one being “Doom and Gloom.” Mick Jagger conceived of this song a year ago—so the band mates did not endanger, notwithstanding Keith Richard’s inherent indestructability, one another recording some of the tracks in studio together, and deciding that it spoke to the ethos of the moment, decided to produce—Jagger and Richards tweaking the lyrics a bit, and put out the single working remotely, with contemporary footage of ghost towns including Los Angeles, London, New York and Toronto.

choreomania

Via Miss Cellania’s Links, we’ve also found ourselves reflecting on whatever possessed Frau Troffea to dance herself to injury and complete exhaustion one summer’s day in Strasbourg after one week of doing so compulsively and without pause, meanwhile enlisting dozens of other townspeople to join in—see previously, and had some idea that it wasn’t the best of times, even for the Holy Roman Empire of the early sixteenth century but failed to appreciate what a bad year Frau Troffea and her compatriots, dancing fools or not, were facing.
Herky-jerky with or without rhythmic accompaniment (musicians were brought in in hopes of soothing them and playing them down into a state of calm), the preeminent medical authority of the day Doctor Paracelsus, though ultimately at a loss for a diagnosis, termed the affliction Saint Vitus’ Dance (martyred by being boiled in oil for not renouncing his faith under the persecutions of Diocletian and not for loosing a dance-off to the megalomaniacal emperor) for the time of year that it struck and for their choreography’s resemblance to how worshippers performed in front of the saint’s relics. The other aspect—aside from the very troubled times—that we had failed to see, dancing fools ourselves, was how that there’s something viral and catching too in the routines that are being promulgated—especially in social isolation, which begs the question whether dancing is an expression of grief, a symptom itself, or somehow attendant to suffering, or perhaps healing.