149 us 304 or clearing the docket

Via our faithful chronicler we learn that this day along with many other events of pith and moment marks the 1893 anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision in the case of Nix v. Hedden that ruled that the tomato be classified as a vegetable and not a fruit for the purposes of customs and tariffs. Whilst seemingly frivolous—and harmless and even comparatively wholesome—and not a matter for the high court, it is a nuanced case with repercussions in terms of future US trade policy decisions (see also) and of course the US resolution six years later to annex Hawaiʻi at the urging of a pineapple magnate (previously here and here).
In the 1840s, a Mister John Nix founded a fruit shipping company in New York City that was the first operation to bring in produce from Bermuda and after four decades of nearly frictionless business, the administration of Chester Arthur imposed heavy protectionist barriers on the importation of food, with fruit but not vegetables being exempt. Lobbyists and tomato dealers persuaded regulators that the botanical definition should prevail with domestic growers crying foul and filed suit against Nix’ business and others,  championed by Port of New York customs assessor Edward L. Hedden, progressing through the justice system and calling on dictionaries as expert witnesses. The technical definition having no bearing on commerce or trade (tomatoes are ‘fruit of the vine’ because they bear seeds), once it made it to the Supreme Court, vacating the rulings of lower courts, ruled unanimously that custom, cuisine and popular meaning. The legal outcome also ruled that beans—though botanically a seed—were to be treated as vegetables, though less fraught and no known knock-on effects. Also uncontroversially, in the European Union regulatory regime a carrot is classified as a fruit but only when used in jams and preserves. Going against precedent, the US Food and Drug Administration under Reagan infamously deemed ketchup to be a vegetable for nutrition purposes for school lunch programmes.

aðgerðargaffli

Codenamed Operation Fork, this day in 1940 saw the invasion and subsequent five-year occupation of Iceland by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines intent on denying Nazi Germany its capture or use after Denmark fell. Wanting to maintain neutrality, Iceland rebuffed overtures by the UK to join the Allies and was seized with military means unamicably at first though no violence ensued, the initial force encountering no resistance when they landed at Rekyjavík.
Aside from its strategic location in the north Atlantic, before declaring itself a Republic—the referendum taking place whilst still under occupation (the Canadians and then the US, still officially neutral, took over operations) in 1944—the island nation remained in personal union with its former metropolitan, the Kingdom of Denmark, and had had its defences and diplomacy managed by the Danes. The social upheaval and extensive development of purpose-built infrastructure made the years of the mandate hard ones for many Icelanders and there was little evidence that the Nazis had designs on the island, believing it too difficult to hold and the lack of roads and resources made it not a tempting prospect. In response to Operation Fork, planners drew up Unternehmen Ikarus for a later take-over after the Allies finished fortifying Iceland but was never realised.

tratado de windsor

Sealing the deal put forward in the Anglo-Portuguese Compact of 1373 for “perpetual friendships, unions and alliances” between the two seafaring nations, the Treaty of Windsor signed on this day in 1386 and secured with the marriage of João of the House of Aviz—settling the kingdom’s succession crisis with the pact—to the daughter of John of Gaunt, Philippa of Lancaster.
Significantly, this treaty is the oldest, enduring diplomatic agreement and moreover demonstrates how foreign relations and trade deals were conducted until recent times—that is through martial arrangements amongst the great houses. One could imagine if this were still the case and whom from the Royal Family might yet be sacrificed and married off to appease one party or another at the UK’s advantage. As was keeping with a uniquely Portuguese tradition of the time, the wedding was conducted by proxy, a surrogate bridegroom for the king called João Rodrigues de Sá (chief chamberlain and from a merchant family of Porto, which does make the whole affair sound a bit like an example of Ricardian economic theory from a college textbook—English textiles in exchange for Portuguese wine and stick with what you’re good at) though I think it is João I rather than his stand-in depicted in the ceremony here) would pretend to carry out the nuptials and consummate the service.

rushmore or turtle bay

Though the selection of cosmopolitan New York as the location for the ensemble of buildings that comprise the headquarters of the United Nations—completed in 1952 with adjunct offices in the Hague, Vienna, Nairobi and Geneva—might seem like the natural choice now (though one could imagine other candidates in Toronto, Washington, DC, St Petersburg, Los Angeles) we learn from 99% Invisible (also available in audio format) that more than two hundred and fifty candidate sites competed with one another (see also) to host the intergovernmental organisation with one of those contenders being the Badlands of South Dakota not far from Mount Rushmore garnering the support of several champions.
Aside from virtually limitless space for a planned city of consulates, assembly halls and housing for diplomats, the geographical location of the proposed location in the centre of the US was seen as a compromise between European delegates that favoured the eastern seaboard and Asian members who preferred the west coast for the same reason of ease of travel. The planning committee was finally lured to settle on Manhattan after the offer of six square blocks of prime real estate by philanthropist and conservationist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Though making the case for a rural HQ presently might seem a bit far-fetched (though perhaps not—what with many of us teleworking), it’s nonetheless interesting to try to imagine how the character and decisions of the UN might be informed by their whereabouts.

set as background

Via Present /&/ Correct (a lot of new posts here to explore), the BBC shares dozens of high quality production, continuity shots taken from a host of sets from classic sitcoms, news rooms and variety shows absent actors and presenters to ponder over the detail and familiar artefacts and use as the backdrop for one’s video calls. There’s the dining room and bar from Fawlty Towers, various Doctor Who scenes, the interiors from Good Neighbours (Good Life), EastEnders, ‘Allo ‘Allo and the pictured, well-stocked refrigerator from Absolutely Fabulous plus much more.  What’s your favourite?

lemuralia

Celebrated discontinuously on today, the eleventh and the thirteenth, the Roman performed annual rites into order to exercise malevolent spirits of the dead that had taken up residence in their house during the previous year whom might be lured away with offerings of beans.
The Vestal priestesses whose chief patronage was for hearth and home, cultivating a sacred fire that symbolically burned for all and was never to be extinguished, baked all the mola salsa used throughout the year, salted flour cakes that were much like communion wafers and were burnt offerings themselves as well as given to sacrificial animals—for the whole city and for Lemuralia made a special batch made with the first ears of grain of the season to help appease the restive dead. According to contemporary scholarship by Ovid, the observance was derived from an older ritual called Remuria instituted by the founder of Rome himself to atone for the death of his brother, Remus.
Incantations included the head of the household (paterfamilias) rising at midnight and pattering around the chambers barefooted and tossing black beans over his or her shoulder, favomancy—see above, and repeating Haec ego mitto—his redimo meque meosque fabis (These I dispatch; with these beans I redeem me and mine) with the rest of the family and domestics banging pots and pans. Though All Saints and All Souls Day for Western Christianity has been advanced toward the end of October and beginning of November (Halloween right now? Yes please), for the Eastern Catholic and Oriental Orthodox church, they are celebrated on the Friday following Easter as perhaps a syncretism of this Roman custom. Because of the vacating of noxious ghosts, the month was considered an inauspicious time to wed, and hence the proverb: Mense Maio malae nubunt—Bad girls get married in May.

russergrensa

Named after the first two saints canonised after the Kievan Rus adopted Christianity as the state religion Boris and Gleb, Roman and David—sons of Vladimir the Great, the Russian exclave of Borisoglebsky (Борисоглебский) on the Norwegian bank of the of the Pasvik river, beyond the Arctic circle came to our attention through a travelogue from February covering the annual friendship festival filed to the Calvert Journal.
As a celebration in microcosm of the experiment and showcase of open borders (previously) during the Cold War, the Barents Spektakel marks a détente of nearly two months in 1965 of cultural exchange—plus some freer-flowing vodka not subject to Norway’s alcohol monopoly, with the settlement isolated (see also) due to an oversight in negotiating the borders after a peace settlement between Finland and the Russian Empire having become a platform to highlight Soviet technological and industrial prowess. In later years the site of a few tense standoffs, since 2014, border controls are stricter than before the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the festival was not held in the off-limits community of Boris Gleb and only observed in the neighbouring Norwegian town Kirkenes. Hopefully one day tensions will dissipate and the communities can once again celebrate together. Learn more about the history of the border at the link up top.

8x8

it’s-a me francis: an upcoming immersive papal simulator

what wizardry is this: augmented reality copy-and-paste

in like flynn: weaponised US Justice Department dismisses case against former National Security Adviser for lying to FBI about Russian connections

the great realisation: or, why we say hindsight is 2020

4f: new rules prohibit individuals who have recovered from corona virus infections from enlisting in the US military

logic gate: cookie-consent walls ruled to violate GDPR (previously)

nation-building: a profile of the Home Shopping Club mercenaries that tried to topple the government in Venezuela (previously)

canvasing: though unable to visit constituents in person, one representative is island-hopping on-line