courtesy ensign

Via our fellow internet peripatetic Dark Roasted Blend, we are directed to a gallery of the funny and fearsome beasts that grace the regional and municipal (see previously) flags of Russia.
Starting out with a bang with the flag of Zheleznogorsk (Железного́рск), the closed and formerly secret town purpose built for the production of weapons-grade plutonium features a bear ripping apart an atom. Presently the local economy is focused on the manufacture of commercial satellites.
The rest of the flags in the collection (see also) do not disappoint, indeed not flagging in quality and iconographic narrative, like this one for the village of Volchansk (Волча́нск) that features a patriotic squirrel and many other that stylise native fauna as to make them seem like heraldic chimera, double-headed birds, griffins and unicorns, though less rarefied creatures.

proxemics

Though the scholarship is far from conclusive and the emperors themselves sported the same headgear with wide wing-like flaps that demanded a lot of extra clearance, according to one popular account those hats, worn by ministers and courtiers of the Song dynasty, were imposed to discourage whispering and side-bar conversations during meetings and government assemblies, and whatever the case certainly look to be an effective and impactful object lesson for pupils in one classroom who are getting to design and wear hats in this style in Hangzhou to incorporate physical distancing along with other new hygienic practises.

speak of the devil

Founded on the principle of religious scepticism and gravitating towards the devil in the sense of adversary and ideological foil to theism, the Church of Satan was constituted in the Black House of California Street, San Francisco on this day, Walpurgisnacht, by musician, actor and occultist Anton Szandor LaVey (*1930 – †1997) in 1966.
Explicitly not espousing a belief in the Christian characterisation of the Great Dissembler or in fact any other deity for that matter, the orientation’s high priest saw the value in and reduplicated the organisation and the hierarchy, though as a counterpoint to the control and validation that the Abrahamic faiths demanded and by extension the share of evangelical prosperity that they tout. The Church also recognised the intrinsic value and co-opted some symbolism and ritualistic elements as cathartic and therapeutic—so called lesser magic with the possibility of greater, supernatural magic that was outside the limits of human comprehension yet only ahead of scientific understanding. Learn more about the Church’s history and tenants at the link to their website above.

7x7

meringue: recipes for transparent pies

it happened on the way to cordtland street: how filmmakers distort New York City in the imagination—see also—via Messy Nessy Chic

the great court: the British Museum (previously) makes millions of images of art and artefacts in its collection freely available under a creative-commons license

got your back: more artistic backgrounds for one’s video calls and virtual meetings—via Waxy

slum lord: Woody Guthrie sings a lament about his landlord, Fred Trump—via Everlasting Blört

bleachman: a mascot from the 1980s who encouraged San Franciscan to shoot-up responsibly, absent federal aid and coordinated intervention

à la omurice: fried rice from ramen noodles sound like a scrumptiously easy and malleable survival food—more recipe ideas here

moment of zen

Via the always excellent Nag on the Lake, we are directed to designer Manami Sasaki who has transformed her breakfast toast into creative canvases and are seconding the nomination for favourite subject: we are really enjoying this depiction of a traditional Japanese Rock Garden (枯山水—literally a dry landscape and meant as a heuristic tool to help the gardener contemplate the meaning of existence by representing the essence of Nature and not its physical manifestation), with cream cheese spread carefully raked with nuts and condiments artfully arranged as stones and other elements. We also admired the care and repair dedicated to another slice of torn bread.

daily constitutional

Even before availing myself to my midday walks through the woods where we live, it was a privilege to live in such proximity with Nature and wandered solitary for miles without encountering another soul, and now this peaceful, restorative ritual has really become an important one that’s never stinted or cut short as I’ve taken to exploring every fork in the path and have discovered quite a few hidden, anchoring landmarks in disused cabins, fishing holes and welcome vistas.

 Though still alone and hardly seeing another person out at any hour or no matter what the weather, in one direction, lies the gently logged but managed woodlands with extensive trails and opposite is our section of the European Green Belt, a nature reserve than spans the former Inner-German border and Iron Curtain with paths that follow old patrol routes.

The birdsong is exuberant and watching the trees awaken, day by day, has been a priceless and cherished thing to experience and am deeply grateful for these long, extended hikes and the chance for a change of pace to reconnect.

der goldene hut von schifferstadt

Uncovered in a field near a village not far from Speyer on this day in 1835, the Golden Hat of Schifferstadt is one example of a quartet of headdresses from the Bronze Age and likely date, judging by the intricacy of the metalwork, the gold alloy hammered to the thickness of a sheet of paper, to circa 1300 BC.
This reproduction above is on the shingle of the local museum near the spot where it was excavated, with the delicate original conserved in the larger facility in Speyer—though sometimes ancient artefacts are part of the furniture and become sort of a mascot. The meaning of the insignia and symbols is unknown but researchers speculate that the hats were worn by the high priests of a Sun worshipping cult and may have served as an almanac, marking the days and weeks between planting and harvesting and other rituals.

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?”