the thirty-seventh of december

Being quite chuffed with the results of the run-off elections in Georgia which takes control of the Senate out of the hands of the GOP under leadership of Kentucky Palpatine and making the chamber evenly split with Vice President Harris the deciding vote in case of a draw and just having finally watched a poignant, humorous send-off the past year with Death to 2020, seeing an armed mob of pro-Trump extremist storm the Capitol during the joint session of Congress to affirm the ballot results of the US Electoral College was a bit of whiplash. Incited by Trump’s urging a crowd of supporters to march on the legislator to oppose the certification process and reverse the results, the clashed with and overpowered police forces, four individuals dying during the violence, and broke into the chambers of the House and Senate. Representatives were evacuated but four hours later, the joint session was re-convened with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris declared victors in what is generally an anodyne and sedate formality—with objections and abstentions entertained in due process. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, overseeing the process along who had her office ransacked by an insurgent said, “We know that we’re in difficult times but little could we have imagined the assault that was on our democracy today. To those who strove to deter us from our responsibility, you have failed.” Most challenges failed to garner a champion and the votes stood, with the joint session adjourning for Arizona and Pennsylvania with the separate chambers debating the objection for an allotted two hours. Legislative business will continue overnight and into the morning until all the votes are certified.

climb the ladder with you

Via our peripatetic internet caretaker, Things Magazine, we are treated to the fine company of the Bad Drawing Club, an alternative artistic association, that strikes us as anything but not good at what they do and brimming with motivating advice. We especially liked the series of illustrations for English Heritage and the house plant care guide for Hackney Botanical Gardens. 

 

if your friends don’t mask—and why they don’t mask, well they won’t fly this airline

Though I think it is going to take a lot more than a catchy commercial to restore my confidence in plane travel, we did like this promotional piece from Alaska Airlines, whose residents are arguably more reliant on that form of travel than many of us—via Pasa Bon! to the tune of Safety Dance. I admire their energy and commitment to mitigating as much risk as possible, in any case. If you let the video play through and forward to the next, there’s a quit good supercut of 1980s television spots for the carrier to watch.

the governor and company of the merchants of great britain, trading to the south seas and other parts of america, and for the encouragement of fishery

Though not the only joint-stock venture to hedge its liabilities and ultimately prove ruinous for investors, the South Sea Company (official long form above), founded as a public-private partnership—with the support of the government hoping to offset some of the national debt incurred during its involvement with the War of the Spanish Succession and its own colonial activities—in 1711, was the most spectacular economic bubble, bankrupting thousands of investors and speculators who had underwritten the enterprise. Originally incorporated as a substitute revenue generating operation when a national lottery scheme run on behalf of the Crown failed to turn a profit (the jackpot winners were deprived of their prizes), the public was instead invited to purchase shares of a chartered company with a monopoly over trade with Spain and Portugal and would in time collect dividends from the profits. The stock price was inflated by those late-comers not wanting to miss out (taking out loans to take part) on an opportunity and rife mismanagement, including a not insignificant amount of business in the trafficking of enslaved individuals from Africa to Central and South America—and though huge sums of money were trading hands, the company failed to be profitable and engaged in increasing debt for equity swaps until the price increased in a frenzy from £100 to over £1000 in the course of a few months in 1720, falling just as precipitously at an even faster pace. A decade after its founding, on this day, with recriminations rampant and with the aristocracy, the merchant classes as well as the working poor duped and financially broken, the Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble came forth with their findings, revealing fraud and corruption at all levels. Amazingly the newly appointed First Lord of the Treasury, Robert Walpole, was able to restore public confidence in the financial market and the company continued—this time focusing its efforts on whaling—until the reign of Victoria, finally dissolved in 1838.

8x8

ruminant digestive process: whilst bovine flatulence makes the headlines, burps are the chief source of methane and could be neutralised with a special mouth guard—via the New Shelton Wet/Dry  

caporegime: via ibīdem, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project names Jair Bolsonaro Corrupt Person of the Year, trouncing with a narrow margin Trump, Erdoğan and Netanyahu  

commander-in-cheat: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon won’t allow Trump to visit his golf course in Scotland during the pandemic lockdown to bow out of attending the inauguration in Washington, DC 

georgia on my mind: Reverend Warnock declared winner in Senate race and Democrats poised to take control of the Upper House  

grogu pains: The Mandalorian reimaged as 1990s sitcom  

die abenteur des prizen achmed: the incredible silhouette animation technique of Lotte Reiniger—more here  

population density: housing ten billion humans in one mega city could help vastly reduce our footprint, freeing up the remaining land mass for rewilding and argiculture 

all the trimmings: for this traditional day of ceremonially discarding the tree, ways to transform it into garnish and a tasty treat

zusammenleben

We really enjoyed pursuing the extensive portfolio of images captured of East Germany in the photography of Ute Mahler, who embarked in 1974 for a decade’s long mission to preserve and convey his fellow friends, neighbours and strangers as they were authentically cool and collected—both candid and posed—and unmediated by geopolitics. Much more curated by the Guardian at the link above and at the on-line gallery exhibition hosted by La Maison De L’Image Documentaire.

your daily demon: amy

Also known as a Hanni, this demon with the rank of President—corroborated and conflicted depending on one’s sources—initially presents as a flame (as seen in the sigil) until called upon by the summoner and knowledge in astronomy and the liberal arts and reveal hidden treasures, ruling the fifth quartile of Capricorn corresponding with this day, Epiphany, through the tenth of the month. Opposed by the angel called Ieialel, this fifty-eighth spirit in the calendar of demonology reportedly harbours the believe that he and his legion can reclaim the throne of the Seventh Heaven after twelve centuries have passed.

patent medicine

Prolific inventor and obvious turophile, lumberjack Stuart M. Stebbings (previously) of Wisconsin prototyped and registered a cheese-based filter for cigarettes in 1966. Trials showed that a blend of grated hard cheese with charcoal performed best, removing up to ninety percent of tar from smoke, reportedly outdoing anything else on the market. There is no evidence this proposal got off the drawing board. Much more from Weird Universe at the links above.