prairie fire organizing committee

Making a forceful statement against armed US overtures in Lebanon and Grenada, a bomb-blast tore through the virtually empty senate-side of the Capitol building on this day in 1983. The day’s session had adjourned nearly two hours prior to the explosion and an anonymous caller representing the “Armed Resistance Unit” of the Resistance Conspiracy—the American-based branch of the broader organisation called the Nineteenth of May Communist Order (also known as M19 and a splinter-group of the above committed to fighting imperialism, racism and sexism)—called the switchboard and issued a warning minutes before detonation. No one was present to be injured—though the suspected targets included Senator Robert C. Byrd, an ardent proponent for both incursions, with a portrait of statesman and Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster (*1782 - †1852) hung near the chamber’s cloakroom damaged nearly beyond repair as the evening’s only casualty. Five years later, the accused parties were brought before a federal judicial trial for the Capitol bombing plus two related terror attacks on Washington area military installations.

four seasons total documentary

Via Miss Cellania, we are treated to a preview of the documentary, premiering in full on the occasion of the press conference’s one year anniversary, about the venue (see previously here and here) booked by the Trump campaign by mistake that became a media sensation from the perspective of the landscapers that ensured the boon and bane of viral fame.

9x9

the audience effect: fellow blogger and internet caretaker Duck Soup passes a million page-views

графички дизајн: celebrating the works of three pioneering Serbian graphic designers and topographers

mountain view: a prop gravesite used for film and television, interred and disinterred thousands of times, in a very real cemetery 

subject matter expert: the street photography of Eric Kogan—via the morning news  

utter rubbish: traumatising photographs of the garbage, sometimes neatly knolled, that humans produce  

the briefing: a definitive guide to COP 26  

greased falcon: a fan-channel dedicated to Star Wars! The Musical (2008)  

time in a bottle: hackers are amassing encrypted data in the hopes that within a few years, quantum computers will be able to unlock it—via Slashdot 

return to comfort town: more on brilliant housing development in Kyiv inspired by building blocks—see previously

my mama used to dance for the money they’d throw

The artist’s first solo number one single from the eponymous album Chér (previously), Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves began its two week run at the top of US charts on this day in 1971. With themes of poverty, racism, prostitution and teen-age pregnancy, it was a marked departure from most contemporary easy-listening but proved to be very popular and enduring with positive reviews, cultural inclusion and tribute performances.

kwade zaterdag

Also known by the titular “Evil Saturday,” Saint Felix’ Flood (Sint-Felixvloed) occurred on this day in 1530, inundating and washing away significant parts of Zeeland and Flanders, reportedly taking over a hundred thousand lives. The only surviving municipality was a city called Reimerswaal, whose residents witnessed and endured the destruction, which itself was depopulated after repeated storms, considered a lost city, remnants are buried under the delta works (see also) and major construction project the Oesterdam.

museo pio-clementino

Through the lens of Michelangelo failing in a competition to restore the iconic sculptural ensemble Laocoön and His Sons (previously) affords us another chance to examine the subject matter, a priest of either Poseidon or Apollo, who respectively was either guilty of the transgression or potential crossing the line in exposing the Trojan Horse for what it was or for breaking his vow of celibacy. Pope Julius II commissioned a contest to determine the best design proposal to restore a conspicuously absent arm for the central figure. Both Michelangelo and Raphael—related to the judge, the Vatican’s chief architect—lost to an artist called Jacopo Sansovino’s outstretched arm. During an excavation in 1906, the arm was recovered and positioned in accordance with Michelangelo’s original suggestion.

5-7-5

Via friend of the blog par excellence Nag on the Lake, we are directed towards this interactive periodic table of the elements (previously)whose one-hundred and nineteen members are regaled with pithy,

descriptive haikus whose rules somehow reflect the trends and predictability that the heuristic tool represents. We especially liked how the role of sodium in neurochemistry is celebrated: 

Racing to trigger
every kiss, every kind act
behind ever thought. 

Visit the links above to learn more, peruse more patterned poems—especially for the obscure and fleeting—and learn how one can contribute their own.

6x6

fought and sold: the evolution of military recruitment advertising campaigns 

modern classics: in the vein of abstract vintage paperback cover art, eighty-four works of literature as postage stamps 

sleight of hand: objects from the Ricky Jay collection—more here, via Things Magazine 

20/20/20: revisiting a retrospective of the work of Afrofuturist Bodys Isek Kingelez 

every time they hear der bingle croon: episode two of Radiolab’s Mixtape miniseries explains why early entertainment was live and not Memorex  

america’s moveable fighting man: new G.I. Joe action figures available for pre-order