operation frequent wind

Beginning on this day in 1975, on the anniversary of the war’s spillage cross borders into Cambodia five years prior, the US launched its final phase of evacuations and air-lifts of “at-risk” Vietnamese and American citizens from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) as the People’s Army of Vietnam rapidly advanced on the city. Over the course of two days, over seven thousand individuals were taken by helicopter, and images—especially of the US Embassy, intended only as a secondary evacuation point and reserved for diplomatic staff, which was quickly overwhelmed with desperate residents loyal to the South Vietnamese government. The helicopters ferried evacuees to an awaiting fleet of ships in the bay but as numbers massed and the helicopters clogged the decks, many were shoved into the sea to make room for more passengers.
Secondary, self-evacuees that were not part of this ending phase but were eventually in US custody for processing as refugees ultimately numbered over one hundred and forty thousand, though still only around one tenth of the number that Kissinger and Ford had prepared for. The secret signal to alert people to procedure to assembly areas as the operation (the original code-name Talon Vise changed to the above after it was compromised) was about to commence was to be broadcast on Armed Forces Radio with the code: The temperature in Saigon is one hundred and five degrees and rising—followed by the incongruous playing of Irving Berlin’s I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas, something that perhaps makes one want to heed disc-jockey banter and the rhetorical question “Is it hot enough for you?”

texarkana mayorate or major metros task force

Via Boing Boing, we are introduced to the work of artist and activist Alfred Twu who has been carefully charting coordination efforts among the US states (see previously) for regional responses for a controlled, graduated reopening of schools, businesses and civic life once the risks of relapse have subsided—absent a national strategy—and generating these maps that document the changes, which not so long ago would have been confused with the plot of the dystopian fantasy A Canticle for Leibowitz or war-gaming the next civil war.
Twu’s research and appraisal of an evolving and consequential situation is an admirable one and certainly deserves further study and illustrates that decisions, with or without pressure external and internal, are not easy ones but it also speaks to the terrifying balkanization of America and the legacy of the ideological divides.

full-throttle

Though I think I’d prefer a jaunty tooting horn or a car that went a sardonic “vroom! vroom!,” we do rather like this blast-off sound effect to compliment one automobile manufacturers newest electric model to alert pedestrians (see also) to its activation and launch, since the engine runs quietly, and imprint the experience on the driver and passenger commissioned from film score composer Hans Zimmer, noted for integrating electronic music in with more traditional orchestral arrangements in movies like The Lion King, Inception, Gladiator and the Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. No news whether this start-up tone might not evolve into a fully-fledged soundtrack to accompany one’s whole drive or whether other car companies are seeking to establish their own signature, skeumorphic warning signals.

m.u.a.

Via TMN, we discover to our delight that lip-sync’ing stand-up comedian John Mulaney routines whilst applying cosmetics has become a trend on a popular platform for sharing short videos and dozens of the site’s most popular make-up artists have contributed performing his best bits.

@fayvourite John mulaney skits as Hogwart houses: Ravenclaw 🦅 ##harrypotter ##canadalife ##hogwartshouse ##makeup ##killyourvibe ##makeuptutorial
♬ original sound - god_john_mulaney

floralia

Instituted and enshrined (quite literally as there was a state-sponsored temple in which the party was held) during the late Republic and on advice of the Sibyl after a rather devastating drought, the festival dedicated to the goddess Flora commenced on this day with the celebration for the masses—a distinctly plebeian character as opposed to the austere obligations of most patrician holidays—lasting for six days marked by processions and competition, Ludi Floræ, The Games of Flora, her mystery cult, referred to as the Arval Brethren, a priesthood dedicated to the spiritual and superstitious maintenance of agriculture, opened up for a brief period to allow public veneration and revelry.
The time was marked with special theatrical performances, spectacles including circuses and acrobatics, pelting one other with lupins, floral costumes and dressing of wells, and ceremonial hunting of hares and goats, considered salacious creatures and portents of a fertile year. The ancient rites are reflected in customs associated with May Day (see previously here and here).

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