♘,♞

We quite enjoyed learning about this chessboard designed in 1922 by Bauhaus artist Josef Hartwig, teacher and head of the sculptural arts department until 1925, whose pieces help one intuit their range of motion and rank (see also) that masterfully reflect the form-follows-function sensibilities of the movement through their elegant geometry. Two versions were available on the market, one “daily use” version (Gebrauchsspiel) and a second Luxusspiel with figured turned from more exotic wood but most consumers were already priced out by the cheaper model. Learn more from Open Culture at the link above.

6x6

fietsstrook: LEGO cycling lanes (see previously) on their way 

pay no attention to that man behind the curtain: Jeff Bezos to hand over the reigns of power at Amazon 

it’s a duck blur: an in depth, retrospective analysis of the 1989 Capcom video game Ducktales  

end effector: Boston Dynamics’ Spot gets an arm and gripper attachment 

nihon no shiro: abstract woodcuts of the castles and palaces of Japan—via Present /&/ Correct  

force multiplier: innovative, portable CLIP drive transforms any convention bicycle into an e-bike—via Swiss Miss

invisible hand

We very much appreciated the thorough and disabusing essay on the misapplication of the term “free market”—as in free market capitalism, which is assuredly not invoked in the way classical economists like Henry George and Adam Smith intended the phrase to be used in the late nineteenth century. 

Rather than business unencumbered by government regulation, this school of thought championed markets free from rentiers (the characterisation parasitic is unduly insulting to actual parasites that are not some degenerate life form but instead highly evolved organisms that might otherwise be capriciously labelled ‘in a symbiotic relationship’), monopolies and other privileges conferred and rabidly protected that reduce fair and open competition. To counter-balance the advantages of inheritance for the landed gentry, Smith, Henry and others were strong proponents of high property taxes to supplant a tariff on income and encourage productive labour.

x/1106 c1

First observed on this evening in 1106 and visible in the night sky for six weeks before fragmenting into many smaller pieces and heading back out into the Solar System, corroborated by astronomers in China, Japan, Korea, Continental Europe, Wales and England, the Great Comet was regarded as a highly portentous omen. Returning in 1882, it is now classified as a member of the Kreutz Group of sungrazing comets (Sonnenstreifer, Sonnenkratzer, namesake of Heinrich Carl Friedrich Kreutz who studying their orbit and periodicity, determined that they were all related phenomenon), approaching close enough to the Sun at perihelion that they are prone to being broken up or made to evaporate entirely. Though no particular boon nor doom is directly associated with the Great Comet’s appearance, such documented observances synchronise and coordinate ancient calendars.

6x6

pitch and pent: the rooftop illusion demonstrated by Kolichi Sugihara of the Meiji Institute for Advanced Mathematics  

making sense of scents: the olfactory capacities are underestimated—via Messy Nessy Chic  

have fun storming the castle: The Princess Bride re-enacted in its entirety as home movies under lock-down  

matinee at the bijou: the Internet Archive (see previously) has digitally curated a massive cinematic history library  

pyrophone: a flame organ that amplifies the tones of vibrating, burning hydrogen  

10¹⁰⁰:an individual engineers an analogue, modular calculator (see also) to count up to a googol

👁️‍🗨️

Via Waxy, we are referred to an expansive and growing and searchable collection of graphic design related items, materials and resources organised from and available at the Internet Archives (previously) by curator Valery Marier. Categories include font specimens, annuals, style guides, book jackets, infographics, data visualisations, various advertising ephemera and vintage branding devices. 

 

 

 

memory alpha or first recorded use

Our thanks to the always outstanding Everlasting Blört for referring us to the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction that gives the etymology of words and phrases in the genre and expounds on their earliest citations (see also for general use). Unobtanium, for instance, predates Avatar by a half a century, first in print as a bit of industry jargon that researchers working on the noses of intercontinental ballistic missiles sought after in 1956. Warping space-time as a means of travel dates back to 1936 J. Williamson’s short story Cometeers. Before Chewbacca, in Lucas’ dystopian directorial debut THX 1138 there was the line: “I think I ran over a wookiee back there on the expressway.”

7x7

japandi: a lookbook overview of interiors that combine Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetic elements  

six arms strong and true: more machinalia from Boris Artzybasheff—see previously  

pharmaduke: re-captioning the Brad Anderson comic strip with psychedelic trip narratives, via Things Magazine  

high stakes: revisiting a quarter-century old public wager that technology would destroy society—via Slashdot  

vaccination venues: the architecture of public health promotion  

house of style: supermodel Cindy Crawford guides us through Paris Fashion Week in 1992 on her MTV show  

gradation: moving from binary to blended, a study of the spectrum of everyday objects commissioned for Japan’s award-winning children’s education programme Design Ah