im westen nichts neues

After serialisation in a Berlin newspaper, eighteen months in print as a best-seller and translated into twenty-two languages, World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque’s (*1898 - †1970) anti-war novel All is Quiet on the Western Front, adapted to film by Universal Pictures Studios and premiered in New York City on this day in 1930.   It went on to win two academy awards for its producer and director—notably the first non-musical to be awarded Best Picture.
A censored version shown to a select, restricted audiences on 2 September 1931 (one of the first American films dubbed for the German market already back in December), the film was banned by the Nazis, citing the provocation of having a German soldier portrayed by an American actor and the Jewish heritage of the producer, Carl Laemmle Jr (*1908 - †1979, Imitation of Life, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, Show Boat), and director, Lewis Milestone (*1895 - †1980, The Front Page, Of Mice and Men, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Pork Chop Hill, Ocean’s Eleven and Mutiny on the Bounty), rather than its message of pacifism and honest and grim portrayals, and did not have a full and proper screening again in Germany until 1952.

dynasty

The Simpsons did not predict the ascension of Kim’s sister Yo-jong to the senior leadership position of North Korea—rather this circulated image is from the 2015 episode called Goo Goo Gai Pan in which a post-menopausal Selma adopts an infant from a Chinese orphanage and is challenged by Madame Wu—a sort of Miss Hannigan from Annie character, who eventually relents and allows the adoption to be finalised but has to stop Homer from kidnapping a panda cub.
Here is the heir-apparent behind the seated US vice-president and Second Lady, mushy-headed Mike and Karen (whom he calls ‘Mother’) Pence, however, at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Alternate member of the country’s politburo, Kim is also reported vice director (her full portfolio being a matter of speculation) of the Workers’ Party’s Department of Propaganda and Agitation (PAD), a steering committee for all state media outlets and cultural programming.

8x8

universal forecast: a timeline of the far distant cosmological future—reminiscent of this montage

tico tico no fubá: dance along with Carmen Miranda—see also

and every product ‘neath your sink might be a medicine to drink: Randy Rainbow is a treasure and one has to respect the lightening quick turn-around

la brigata: revisiting Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron (1553) and how this self-isolating group’s efforts to stave off cabin fever speak to us

rainy day recess: lots of curated crafting projects and other art from Hazel Terry

bitte abstand halten: improvised signage in response to COVID-19 in Frankfurt am Main and beyond, via Pluralistic

thesixtyone.com: the seminal listicle on listicles from the gentle author himself

champagne supernova: the brilliance of chemical reactions up close

wipo

Successor United Nations speciality agency and successor to the Bureaux Internationaix Réunis pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (BIRPI) established by the Berne and Paris Conventions in 1893, the World Intellectual Property Organisation entered into force on this day in 1970, the anniversary since enshrined annually as World Intellectual Property Day. The agency’s agenda is to harmonise international law regarding patent and copyright protection, managing treaties regarding access to knowledge and ensuring proper disposition of protected and registered materials throughout its lifecycle—from extension of trademarks to release into the public domain—arbitrating disputes, and monitoring the global status of said practises and protections.

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.