Whilst admittedly many newsletters become something to ignored, deleted or at best skimmed over, greymail that one forgot one subscribed to, we were intrigued by this tip to receive a weekly run-down of the most edited articles and pages on the platform. From the same team at Hat Note that brought us the innovative experience Listening to Wikipedia, this is an effective way of wrapping up and reviewing the past seven days in news and culture.
Thursday, 16 September 2021
weeklypedia
mรคnnliches knabenkraut
Though inclined to think of orchids as exotic and delicate breatharians, I was not only delighted to be able to identify a wild, domestic cultivar, the above Orchis macula, early-purple, but also to learn that there are enough varieties here for Germany to have selected a distinct orchid of the year since 1989 (this one honoured in 2009). Like other orchids, it produces no nectar but attracts pollinators through mimicry of adjacent flowers. Named for its suggestive virility of their rooty nethers, Queen Gertrude of Shakespeare’s Hamlet demurs, mentioning, “Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, that liberal shepherds give a grosser name.”
ivy league
Alumnus of the University of Cambridge and serving as an English minister of Colonial America John Harvard (*1607) made his deathbed bequest on this day in 1638 that his estate go to the “schoale or Colledge founded two years past by the Massachusetts Bay Colony” with the institution so gracious in receiving it, it was so ordered that “the Colledge agreed upon formerly to bee built at Cambridg shallbee called Harvard Colledge.” The clergyman left the university a personal library of around four hundred volumes (since grown into one of the largest academic library systems in the world) and seven hundred seventy-nine pounds sterling—now an endowment in the tens of billions. The school’s corporate charter was to train a literate Puritan ministry but offered a classic, core curriculum based on the English model.
catagories: ๐ฌ๐ง, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐, libraries and museums
Wednesday, 15 September 2021
yesteryear
First broadcast on this day in 1973 in most markets as Season 1, Episode 2 of Star Trek: The Animated Series—with the exception being Los Angles where George Takei was running for public office and this programme which did not feature his voice-acting was substituted so as not to run afoul of equal-air-time clauses—this classic was authored by D. C. Fontana and for its elegant handling of fractured time-lines is considered among the best episodes of the series. Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock return to the Enterprise after conducting a series of time travel excursions with only to find that they have somehow altered the past where Spock never joins the crew and must repair the time-line.
give a hoot—don’t pollute!
The United States forest service, following the success of mascot Smokey Bear in promoting awareness of forest fires, on this day in 1971 debuted the character Woodsy Owl (both from marketer Harold Bell) for anti-pollution public service messaging, introduced by the American Secretary of Agriculture Clifford Hardin as an environmental ambassador (the EPA having been just created) with the above slogan. Realising the reductive nature of the saying was squarely laying the blame on the public and deflecting responsibility from business and government policies, Woodsy has adapted his outreach over the years to reflect the climate crisis (“Help Woodsy Spread the Word,” since 2009) and taking meaningful action and currently uses the slogan, “Lend a Hand—Care for the Land!”
Tuesday, 14 September 2021
wara art festival
The above named byproduct of the annual rice harvest (see also), the left-over straw (็จฒใใ) was traditionally used a feed for livestock, fertiliser and for weaving doormats and other household items, but the use of industrial materials over the years has led to a lot of surplus, and inspired the Niigata farming community to concoct a creative solution, first organised in 2007, with artisans sculpting monumental figures over a wooden framework. Subjects are wild animals and creatures from mythology, including the beaked sea-going yลkai called Amabie. Learn more from Hyperallergic at the link above.
6x6
moo-loo: calves are being toilet-trained to mitigate some of the greenhouse gasses the livestock produce
รผber die bestimmung des weibes zur hรถheren geistesbildung: a look at philosopher Amalia Holst, whose 1802 work is comparable to Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
ferryman: an interesting look at legally-mandated river-crossings in Manchester
the colour of money: a mesmerising video to accompany the Blake Mills song
microcosmos: outstanding photographs of the world not visible to the naked eye
charismatic megafauna: a biotech firm is raising funds to de-extinct the woolly mammoth—see previously
Monday, 13 September 2021
1up
The anniversary distinct from Mario Day, on this day in 1985, Nintendo first released Super Mario Bros. (ในใผใใผใใชใชใใฉใถใผใบ, Sลซpฤ Mario Burazฤzu) for domestic markets for their home gaming console as the continuation the franchise of characters first appearing in Donkey Kong. Scored by Koji Kondo and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takasho Tezuka of the Creative Department, the Jump-’n’-Run side scrolling video game debuted in foreign markets two years later and is hailed as one of the most popular and influential games of all time with over fifty million copies sold of this single instalment.