6x6

mega project: unrealised plans from the 1930s to divert the Thames and reclaim land in central London—via Things Magazine  

messiner effect: researchers achieve room-temperature super conductivity with a novel metallic hydrogen alloy—via Kottke 

crying wolf: a misinformation training exercise (see also) in Nova Scotia goes awry—via Super Punch  

sea of seven colours: a tour of a pristine island reserve off the coast of Colombia 

minuet: Коробейники was not Tetris’ only theme tune  

karlův most: deconstructing and rebuilding a fourteenth century bridge in Prague to span the Vltava

the age of consent

Released on this day by London Records in 1984, the synth-pop trio Bronski Beat’s above titled debut album was in reference to legal and social reforms in much of continental Europe that decriminalised homosexuality and harmonised the age of consent with that for heterosexual relationship, legislation which the United Kingdom did not ascribe to at the time. All members of the band were openly gay and their music contained commentary on politics and gay-related issues. Their one charting song “Smalltown Boy” is featured on the record, an eventual anthem addressing hardships of coming-out and experiencing homophobia, released also as a single earlier in the year.

quacksalver and cumberworld

Though now more generalised to indicate an obsequious underling or someone who lavishes flattery unwarranted, we learn that etymologically the noun and adjective toady is a shortening of the job of the toad-eater—that is, the assistant (or supposed volunteer from the gathered crowd) to a quack doctor, a mountebank from the Italian montambanco for mounted-on-a-bench and positioned to hawk his tonics and curatives engaged to performatively eat a toad, which many considered to be poisonous at the time. Hamming it up and on the verge of death, the doctor would administer his potion thus restoring the patient. There’s a whole bevy of useful vocabulary terms for the insufferable below from Merriam-Webster (see previously)—though we agree that to call someone the above cumberworld is a bit too harsh to revive for general use and should really reserve it for the worst of us.

nyctinasty

Having unfortunately nothing to do with the tenacity of New Yorkers, the above vocabulary word stems from the Greek νυκτ-, nùx for night and the rhythmic, natic movements (see also) that some plants make in response to stimulus—generally light—and is colloquially referred to as plant sleeping. Most apparent in flowers closing at dusk, only a few species have the ability to reopen and fold their petals (like the pictured red tulip) and ones (the majority) that don’t demonstrate nyctinasty are called sleepless.

i’ll have what she’s having

Waxing nostalgic for the days when we could eat out, Nag on the Lake directs our attention to a series of phrases wait staff may have once (and will have to contend with again, God willing) bemoaned over but are now missing their guests presented on vintage pre-printed dining ledgers.  Click through to check out more graphically enhanced ephemera from Laundry Room Studios.  What familiar inanities and declarations from the before times are you missing right now?

hocus potus

Just as the Twitterati has formed broad cliques reflective of larger social orders, WitchTok—the portmanteau of TikTok for practitioners of hexes and witchcraft—is a real and popular phenomenon reportedly and is being credited by some with infecting Trump with COVID-19.

While we don’t think that’s how magic works, we’ll certainly let them cast their spell and encourage more, seeing that that coven that claimed to curse Trump the night of the inauguration might need to check their work. Oh yes, and please vote—unless you want more of over-reliance on homeopathy essential oils and accusing ones neighbour of suffering a witch to live out of deep desperation as ones healthcare and jobs disappear.

défilé de mode

The ever stunning Nag on the Lake refers us to a creative catwalk crafted with the help of Jim Henson’s muppet workshop as solution for showcasing a fashion house’s spring-summer line. Creative director of Moschino scaled down (see also, last link in the collection) not the production or fanfare but rather the models and audience—of noted industry fashionistas—displaying the attire on marionettes.

abscission

Rather taken with the idea of capturing fall leaves in transition ourselves, we were pleased to learn that artist Josef Albers (see previously) also—circa 1940—conducted his own foliage studies and in part out of necessity, since leaves and trees were in abundance but paper less so, encouraged his students at Black Mountain College and Yale to appreciate the beauty of the changing palette and constant rhythm of the seasons.  We ought to mount some samples on construction paper and see what sort patterns emerge.