my postillion has been struck by lightning (10. 266)

Eulogising the end of phrase book but really highlighting the strangeness found therein, we quite enjoyed this comprehension review of utilitarian, practical sayings—including the titular announcement and a cosmopolitan assortment of complaints of intestinal anxiety. Peruse the comments for more treasures including the Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook, “My hovercraft is full of eels.”

sounder (10. 265)

Via the always engrossing Things Magazine, we are introduced to a quandary and at the same time provided with a solution from the cadre of medievalists at the University of Leiden questioning the depiction of Middle Ages porcines in contemporary video games, which portray pigs of yore as the kept and fattened beasts of today whereas in actuality those swine were more svelte and highly regulated as the matter of legislation—see also. The article furthermore links to other studies in our piggy friends, including their prophetic powers as depicted in The Black Cauldron in the prognostications of Hen Wen.

oh, no! it’s devo (10. 264)

 Via Digg, we are directed towards this fantastic account called Simpson Albums which is the essential providence of the long-running phenomenon to have a scene in an episode that corresponds to anything imaginable and pairs frames of the show with album cover art, ranging from contemporary releases to more classic ones, like Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. Much more to explore at the links above and do let us know your uncanny favourites. 

 

buffer overflow (10. 263)

Released on this day in 1988 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology network (to avoid suspicion at his own university), the eponymous Morris worm (short for tapeworm due to its parasitic lifestyle) was one of the first to be distributed on the internet, written by a graduate student from Cornell named Robert Tappan Morris—the son of a US National Security Agency cryptographer, and exploited a range of vulnerabilities to propagate, and like a fork bomb was able to crash systems by overburndening them. Intended as a white-hat hacking exercise to explore vulnerabilities, Morris had originally programmed the worm to check if a system was already infected but instead instructed it to replicate itself a given percentage of times—leading to a destructive, exponential avalanche of malicious code, leading to his conviction under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Paying a hefty fine and suspended from school, Morris nonetheless would go on to become a professor of computer science at MIT and co-found Viaweb, one of the first web apps and the venture capital funding firm Y Combinator, backing the launch of over three thousand internet ventures, including DoorDash, Reddit, Twitch and Airbnb.

woty: permacrisis (10. 262)

Collins Dictionary has declared its word of the year with the neologism that summarises the truly rotten experience of 2022 has been for many with the war in Ukraine, UK political chaos, the possibility of a resurgent pandemic and global economic instability, beating out other contenders from the past twelve months to include Partygate, sportswashing, splooting and quiet quitting.

8x8 (10. 261)

allhallowtide: the artwork of Mike Egan that references elements of Día de Muertos—via Everlasting Blört  

famous artist dies penniless and all alone: the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s archives of artists’ obituaries   

fps: visualizing sweeping across the globe at the speed of light  

forma: Federal Occult Range Management Administration  

mapping out the month: the thirty day charting challenge returns  

eleições gerais: Brazilian artists herald the return of President Lula  

ghost bride: a centuries-old tradition practised in some communities in Kerala  

ofrenda: a guide to making an altar to celebrate the lives of loved ones who’ve passed

schwarze einser (10. 260)

Nine years after the introduction of the Penny Black in England, the first postage stamp (Briefmarke) was issued by the Kingdom of Bavaria on this day in 1849, commonly referred to as the “Black One.” This lowest denomination stamp, complete with security features to protect against counterfeiting (the name of the designer engraver Johann Peter Haseney as well as the printshop of Seitz and Weiss of the University of München hidden in the background flourishes but was forged not some much during circulation but afterwards in philately circles), was withdrawn from sales counters two years later as it was difficult with black on black ink to determine if it had been cancelled but was still valid for franking purposes through 1864. A kreuzer (Xr.) was worth four pfennigs (₰) before the introduction of the standard Goldmark.

quintinus (10. 259)

Venerated with a feast on the calendar of saints on this day, marking his martyrdom by beheading whilst on his way to trial in Reims, the capital city of Gallia Belgica, for proselytizing Christianity in the late third century, Quentin of Amiens, was charged by the prefect Rictovarus (the province’s vicarious, a deputy, a vicar) whom under the reign of Diocletian (see previously) is cited as a the persecutor of thousands of the faith community—before converting himself and put to death, at least by tradition though that may be a pious fiction, and subjected to torture though refused to relent. Unceremoniously tossed in the Somme, his body was first miraculous discovered by a Roman woman visiting the region on pilgrimage—her sight restored—and then again in the seventh century by Saint Eligius who established a permanent shrine which became the basilica of Saint-Quentin. For no particular reason that I can fathom, Quentin is invoked against sneezes and coughs and dropsy (edema, water retention) and is the patron protector of chaplains, locksmiths (see above), porters, tailors and surgeons.