8x8

langue and parole: a poly-lingual whistle-stop tour illustrating what foreign languages sound like to non-speakers   

a critical tourism map: whilst most visitors’ guides are irrepressibly positive about their attractions, this revealing map of the Norwegian capital hopes to make people think about the darker side of the past—via Big Think 

in this world: an hour of cool Soviet era jazz

test pilots: first human passengers take a ride in the experimental, levitating hyperloop (previously) in the desert of Nevada 

ohrwurm: you’re welcome—see previously    

mnemosyne: an iterative technique to vastly improve recall (see previously)—from the illustrious Mx van Hoorn’s curio cabinet

the ephemeralist: selecting random pages from archives of thousands of old publications, this bit of coding seems as good a substitute for social media as any—via Kicks Condor

the word rooster is an eighteenth century American invention to avoid saying the word ________:  an educational and invigorating swear quiz from Helen Zaltzman

trizonesien-song

Debuting during Karnival festivities on this day in 1948 in Köln, native composer and Schlager-performer Karl Berbuer’s (*1900 – †1977) dissonantly but pointedly humorous, self-deprecating tune about occupied West Germany (see previously here and here) became for a time the country’s de facto nation anthem, played at sporting events in lieu of an official one, with the Deutschlandlied abolished with the surrender of the Nazi government. In May of 1952, the West’s Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Theodor Heuss readopted Das Lied der Deutschen with only the third stanza (Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit [Unity, Justice and Freedom]) from 1922 to be sung on official occasions (see also). The first stanza (Deutschland, Deutschland über alles) and the second (Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue [loyalty], deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang) are not outlawed but are nonetheless provocative and considered taboo to perform.

ansible

First appearing in the February 1932 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal, The Queer Story of Brownlow’s Newspaper is a piece of short, speculative fiction from H. G. Wells in which the titular protagonist is delivered an edition dated 10 November 1971, a date four decades in the future. The narrative is chiefly a description of the articles contained in the pages and Wells’ predictions for what’s in store with mixed accuracy including simplified spelling for English, a thirteen month reformed calendar, geothermal energy and increased scientific literacy. The title refers to a phone call from the future—see also here and here.

electoral integrity

Despite couching his authorisation with caveats, the United States Attorney General is showing partisan bias in directing federal prosecutors to investigate voting irregularities and tacitly endorses the defeated Trump’s disinformation campaign and narrative that the Democrats rigged the election. While it behoves one to recall that it was the Justice Department that conjured up a battalion of shock troops to disappear problematic protesters in what were interpreted as Democratic strongholds, this chicanery of sore losers (and continued purges) will not translate to a coup d’état in any sense with democracy and its institutions berated and bedraggled as they may be still prevailing despite the pandemic, economic collapse, plus massive and concerted efforts of disenfranchisement—still the people spoke.

a shining city on a hill

First spotted on Kottke’s Quick Links here is an excerpt from a short post-election observation from McSweeney’s contributor Andrew Singleton that is wholly spot-on. 

How can a nation capable of turning the simple act of revealing the gender of your child into a wildfire that burns down an entire state be so insistent on screwing things up? How could a country, one that birthed the timeless love story of 30 brown-haired white guys named Chad competing in an elimination contest for the chance to marry a woman, lack the emotional depth required to make the right decision for the future of all of us? How could a people that had to be explicitly told not to eat Tide Pods be so short-sighted? Or are some things simply beyond explanation? 

Do check out the piece in its entirety at the link above.  

the rembrandts

Previously we’ve looked at the expository nature of television theme songs and through the ballad of Gilligan’s Island but we were unfamiliar with some of these other tunes’ evolution and origin story until being referred by Miss Cellania’s Links.

Though one can detect the echo and cadence when one knows to listen for it, we didn’t realise that R.E.M.’s It’s the End of the World as We Know it (And I Feel Fine) was the placeholder opener for the pilot and the jangle pop rendition of I’ll Be There for You has the same librettist Michael Skloff who contributed to Earth, Wind & Fire’s September. More stories at the links above.

poll position

Via Everlasting Blört, we are directed to a gallery of outstanding photographs from the US elections as captured by the Reuters wire services, like this one of Little Ti Ti accompanying their human to the polling station to cast his ballot in Louisville, Kentucky. More interesting and arresting images to explore at the links above.

adventures in music

The award-winning sequel to Walt Disney’s first three-dimensional animated Technicolor romp in rhythm and melody (receiving the Oscar for Best Short Subject)—initially intended to span an entire series but ended here, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom premiered on this day in 1953. The characters reprised as part of a compromise with RKO Radio Pictures—Disney’s distributor—in response to their desire to enter into the nature documentary business that the studio strongly opposed wanting Disney to focus on cartoons, Professor Owl returns to his schoolhouse full of bird pupils to present a lesson on the different sections of the orchestra and how respectively the brass, woodwind, strings and percussion work together.