tigrez vreizh

Known as the Lioness of Bretagne, Jeanne de Clisson (Janed Belleville in Breton, *1300 – †1359) sold off her remaining estates on this day in 1343 in order to raise funds for her Black Fleet, the flagship regaled with red sails called My Vengeance, and set to marauding raids on French sea trade in the English Channel.
Sworn to seek revenge for her third husband who was executed by Philip VI on rather baseless charges of treason, carried out in an ignoble fashion not befitting a man of his station, and for the property she was forced to forfeit, de Clisson launched a thirteen-year long reign of piracy her signature incursion being to mercilessly kill all the crew of the ships she boarded, save for one witness to tell the French king of her exploits.  Her fleet aided the English forces in the decisive Battle of Crécy that turned the course of the Hundred Years’ War in Edward III’s favour. 

sustine bona

Fans and aficionados of London Underground services have taken to masking up in style with facial coverings that keep themselves and their fellow travellers safer with protective coverings inspired by the durable and enduring moquette and upholstery (see previously here and here) that adorns their usual and preferred form of public conveyance. Much more to explore at the Londonist at the link up top.

deadmau5 & the neptunes

Here is the official music video for the band’s number Pomegranate—via Seitvertreib—from artist Nick DenBoer.

hlaf-masse

From the Anglo-Saxon for “loaf mass,” Lammas Day is celebrated in some parts of the northern hemisphere on the first of August, Lammastide falling halfway between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox, by bringing bread to the church made of the first fruits of the season to be used for communion. Traditionally, members of the clergy reciprocally made a procession to local bakeries to bless them as a profession (it is a good reason to bring out ye old breadmaker) and is a syncretism, substitution for the Gaelic festival to herald the beginning of harvest time called Lughnasadh (Lúnasa, Lùnastal, Luanistyn) readopted by practitioners of Celtic neopaganism.

release 13.1

Though Unicode 14.0 is delayed due to the pandemic, there will be an interim roll-out of a small batch of new emoji.
There’s much nuance and pantomime to be found for every glyph and in their renderings across different platforms, and the addition of singular expression—though still make of it what you will—to the vernacular that corrects for interoperability is a nod to wide variation and potential for misinterpretation. Aside from extra options for “bearded person” which could result in a bearded woman, there’s a face with spiralled-eyes figure as a place-holder for a historic discrepancy for in some operating systems and applications that displayed the original x-eyed face (😵) sometimes with dizzied or hypnotic circles.

parting shot

Launched on 23 July, China’s mission to Mars, Tianwen-1, beamed back this postcard of a crescent Earth and its satellite from a distance of a little over a million kilometres as it accelerates towards the Red Planet.
The image joins a growing gallery of iconic photographs that help bring perspective and humility. The alignment of the two worlds mean that this is among the fastest and most efficient times for Martian travel and Tianwen-1—the first probe of a series of planned excursions and is named (天問) for the eponymous ancient work of epic prose that begins asking how the universe was created, thus Heavenly Questions—was joined during this auspicious launch window by and orbiter from the United Arab Emirates and NASA rover named Perseverance. All three will arrive in February 2021, touching down at Utopia Planitia.

6x6

prog rock: internet struggles to identify this mystery recording found on an unlabelled cassette tape

theirtube: a radical and potentially unsettling step outside one’s recom- mendation bubble (see also)

r&d: reconstructing journalistic scenes in three-dimension—via Waxy

gross domestic product: the US economy falls by a third

in the key of g: cucumber vine forms a treble clef

silver apples: the rising and fall of a now obscure pioneering electronic musical duo

omiyage—voyage, voyage

This Japanese word for souvenir (お土産) are representative meibutsu (名物, literally famous things) applied to regional specialties and are often exchanged among work colleagues and family members upon the return of one who was away not just as a keepsake but as a way to apologize for one’s absence and a consolation for those whom did not get to make the trip this time. Via Present /&/ Correct we are directed towards this rather brilliant and wonderfully granular map of the country from Haconiwa design studios. One can explore on any section on the grid to learn about local delicacies and take a virtual vacation. Much more to explore at the links above.