honourable mentions

Via friend of the blog Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links (lots more to see there as well), we are reminded of some of the other outstanding events that transpired in this most superlative year that we have quite summarily forgotten about if we even had the bandwidth remaining to register them in the first place that are well worth reviewing. We had certainly written-off the phoenix-like reincarnation of Mister Peanut and couldn’t mince technicalities with the Pentagon over Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon versus UFOs. What others are news bulletins for you? We were personally surprised to see that black-light platypodes and the genetic experiments on monkey brains straight out of Planet of the Apes failed to make the cut but there’s still a few days left in 2020.

gastrodia agnicellus

Via ibidem, researchers at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew have released their top ten plant and fungal species new to science (see previously) of the some one-hundred fifty discovered this year, including what’s been dubbed the world’s ugliest orchid—found in the forests of Madagascar. Reliant on a symbiotic relationship with a particular fungus for energy—having no leaves or roots—emerges from a woolly stem only to flower and produce seed-bearing fruit.  An addition to the family commonly called ‘potato orchids’ and despite its unflattering, vaguely xenomorph chestburster appearance, its scent is reportedly a rather pleasant citrus one.

the lutheress

Having arrived at the conclusion, despite some objections from his colleagues and followers on the subject of matrimony for the priestly class, that his “marriage would please his father, rile the pope, cause angels to laugh and devils to weep” Martin Luther wed former nun Katharina von Bora, whom was thereafter referred to as “die Lutherin” and regarded an important figure in the Reformation for her role among of things defining what a Protestant family should look like, in a ceremony witnessed by Barbara and Lucas Cranach the Elder (also famous for painting both the Luthers) on 13 June 1525. They deserved one another, she formally referring to him as “Sir Doctor” throughout their life together and Luther publically confessing that “If I can ensure conflict with the devil, sin and a bad conscience, then I can sustain the irritations of Katy von Bora.” von Bora appears on the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church, commemorated on this day, the anniversary of her death in 1552 (*1499), surviving her husband by six years, reportedly saying on her deathbed, “I shall stick with Christ like a burr on cloth.”

just say the word and i’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down

On this day in 1946, Frank Capra’s holiday classic (previously, see also) had a special preview held for charity in New York City’s Globe Theatre on this day, just before its theatrical release in cinemas across the US.
Due to a clerical error by the movie’s new owners, the National Telefilm Associates—whom had bought it from Paramount Pictures, who previously had absorbed Liberty Films, were not able to renew their copyright in 1974 and thus It’s a Wonderful Life became an inexpensive filler for local network affiliates to air during the holiday season (because of the lapsed studio copyright, no royalties on the movie itself needed to be paid, though a nominal fee went to the estate of the short story “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern which the film was based on). This looping repetition for a several decades, through 1996, endeared the story to countless viewers.

8x8

before times: one narrative of 2020 as told through fifteen objects and artefacts—see previously

marsha, marsha, marsha: Trump acknowledges months’ long cyber-attack on US government networks for first time—oddly defensive about Russian involvement 

systemic bias: when bad decisions are blamed on algorithms, bad actors are exculpated and trust in science erodes  

breakthrough listen: musing on the nature of signal detected from Proxima Centauri by the Murriyang Radio Telescope 

tape/slide newsreel group and friends: brilliant early 80s photo archive showing Hackney to Hackney—via the splendiferous Things Magazine   

engineer, agitator, constructor: the visual vernacular of utopian graphic design  

creek and culvert: the movement to resurface and revive long buried urban waterways—see previously  

off-limits: virtually visit nine sites not accessible to the public in Washington, DC 

a modern hanukah miracle: there are extra doses of vaccine in each vial—stretching out supplies to inoculate twice as many individuals than expected

ultima lingula

A far better and far more festive example of pareidolia than found in the knobby highlands of Cydonia and Arabia Terra—the so-called face on Mars has been captured by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express Orbiter near the planet’s southern pole during a temporary thaw in the ice that normally obscures the geographic features there. The artistic elements of this impact crater that suggest an abstract angelic host with wings, heart and halo are created by a nice collusion of a sublimation pit, a sinkhole left when ice turns directly into gas without the intermediate liquid phase, erosion and ancient volcanic activity.

7x7

mercury rising: surveying the lasting damage that the hottest year on record has brought  

guardians of the galaxy: Space Force (previously) service members receive a new title  

deluxe apartment in the sky: artist granted viewing of exclusive properties on Billionaires’ Row in Manhattan 

lp: a playlist of James Baldwin’s record collection  

🌊: the Great Wave off Kanagawa in Lego form 

 lassen sie mich also sagen, dass dies ernst ist—bitte nehmen sie das auch ernst: Angela Merkel’s March address and appeal on coronavirus lauded as Speech of the Year 

 heat gap: climatic gentrification across city districts leads to worse outcomes for the poorest residents

hallmark holiday

From the always engaging circulation desk of Open Culture, we are reminded of the commission that Salvador Dalí had from a greeting card magnate in 1960 to create a series of Christmas cards. Though the industry’s reputation is for the anodyne, it had been making forays into the avant garde since the 1940s, introducing contemporary artists to mass-markets by showcasing Pablo Picasso and Georgia O’Keeffe and other contemporaries. Dalí’s interpretation of the Magi, Nativity and other holiday iconography (see also here and here), however, proved too controversial for the general public, with ultimately only two cards out of the ten the surrealist artist was contracted for being printed.