earthrise

Via Kottke we are treated to a rousing recitation and call to action that poet Amanda Gorman composed in 2018 for the Climate Reality Project inspired by the awesome, humbling image of the Earth dawning over the lunar surface by the crew of Apollo 8. Riffing on the climate emergency, one stanza of Gorman’s words: 

Where despite disparities
We all care to protect this world,
The riddled blue marble, this little true marvel
To muster the verve and the nerve
To see how we can serve
Our planet. You don’t need to be a politician
To make it your mission to conserve, to protect,
To preserve that one and only home
That is ours
To use your unique power
To give next generations the planet they deserve. 

More to explore at the links above. So, Earth, Pale Blue Dot. We will fail you not.

by hook or by crook

Though still uncertain what to call this implement that’s part of the standard quiver fireplace tools with this embarrassment of viable candidates: damper hook, a chimney hook, a fire iron though definitely not an andiron—the pair of trusses meant to let air circulate under a burning log and also called a firedog (Feuerbock)—associated with iron only through folk etymology and comes from the Old French term for bull, also called chenet—a little dog. Researching a bit further, however, we were delighted to learn that the term housewarming—coming of course from the act of warming a new house with gifts of firewood—with the party in Francophone countries referred to as a pendaison de crémaillère, hanging of the chimney hook, the last installation of a new residence to mark the inaugural repast.

the food of the ducks

Loosely based on the 1904 H. G. Wells story The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth with small parts and cameo-appearances by young Ron Howard (a precocious inventor who takes on the part of Professor Redwood in the book who experimented with raising colossal chickens), choreographer and performer Toni Basil plus scenes of the courthouse square popularised by the Back to the Future and Gremlins franchises as well as the neighbourhood used for the establishing shots of the Leave It to Beaver and the Bewitched homes, the 1965 teen movie vehicle Village of the Giants was first lampooned by Mystery Science Theatre 3000 on this day in 1994. The afore-mentioned Genius accidentally discovers a growth serum—the ‘goo’ (Wells’ Herakleophorbia IV)—which is stolen by a group of out-of-town delinquents who ingest the substance to take over the city. The episode segments outside of movie-sign are in memoriam to the recently deceased Vincent Frank Zappa—though ostensibly about the recently made-redundant side-kick to mad scientist Doctor Clayton Forrester, TV’s Frank, temporarily replaced with recurring character Torgo.

land of hope and gloria

Having set forth specific detailed instructions for a funeral with military honours befitting her status and having passed away rather inconsiderately a distance from London on the Isle of Wight, the death of Victoria (previously) would have been a logistically fraught affair if it were not for her careful planning. Surrounded by her son and successor King Edward VII and grandson Wilhelm (future Prussian king and last Kaiser) and her favourite Pomeranian called Turi (see also), Victoria expired on this day in 1901, heretofore, the longest reigning British monarch. The state cortège travelled to Gosport with a fleet of yachts transporting the new king and mourners and Victoria was placed in her coffin, son and grandson aided by Prince Arthur, with an array of mementos from family and domestics, including a dressing gown that belonged to her departed husband Albert and a plaster cast of his hand as well as a lock of John Brown’s hair and a photograph of him that was artfully hidden from those paying last respects by carefully placed bouquet of flowers. The state funeral and procession took place 2 February.

domestic agenda

Signalling a radical shift in policy priorities, Joe Biden for his first day and a half in office signed a tranche of executive orders reversing the direction that his predecessor (lest we forget the catalogue of horrors) had taken the country and the first steps to positioning America as a leader and innovative force. Redressing the pandemic crisis, Biden’s spending proposal for economic aid and relief and accelerating vaccination comes in at just under two trillion dollars, imposing a mask mandate on federal property and interstate transportation, extend student loan deferments and a moratorium on evictions and re-join the World Health Organisation. Moreover, Biden moved to bring the US back into the Paris Climate Agreement plus reimpose pollution restrictions recently relaxed and cancel the Keystone XL pipeline project that would shuttle a particularly pernicious type of petroleum from Canadian fields to American refineries. On immigration, Biden has directed the travel ban on some Muslim-majority countries to be repealed, reversed the inhumanly cruel practise of separating immigrant families at the border and ended the declared National Emergency that funded the Wall. In the Oval Office, the bust of Winston Churchill (previously) is replaced—in the background—by one of César Chávez.

ownership of the memes of production

We can totally relate to these candid, joyful images from yesterday’s inauguration ceremonies—especially to Mister Bernie Sanders with his fabulous upcycled mittens and can image myself mingling post-pandemic at a social event with a similar degree of tempered enthusiasm.

a more perfect union

 From the Latin augur—referring to the rites of Roman priests seeking to interpret if the gods willed a public official to assume office, Joe Biden will be sworn in at noon today, Eastern Standard Time, a moment after Kamala Harris, as the forty-sixth president of the United States of America.

Other individuals who share this same inaugural day, set in law in 1937 except when the 20^th falls on a Sunday and then conducted in private with public ceremonies taking place the following day, include Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953), John F. Kennedy (1961), Richard M. Nixon (1969), Jimmy Carter (1977), Ronald Reagan (1981), George H.W. Bush (1989), William Jefferson Clinton (1993), George W. Bush (2001), Barack Obama (2009) and Biden’s immediate predecessor in 2017. 

6x6

flotus: the story and legacy of the wooden Melania Trump sculpture in Slovenia 

lightening never strikes twice: a meteorologist debunks some weather myths 

we shall come rejoicing: digging out the sheep—rescued after a heavy snowfall  

photobomb: animals interrupting wildlife photographers 

draw a tattoo of a mailbox: in a reversal of sorts, compete with other human sketch artist to prove to an AI who is the most accomplished—via Waxy 

conspiracist ideation: what to do about QAnon