abfab (10. 298)

The BBC2 sitcom based on the comedy duo French and Saunders singular sketch “Modern Mother and Daughter” (originally Adriana and Saffron) had its broadcast premiere on this day in 1992 with the pilot episode “Fashion.” The premise of the series (previously) follows the misadventures of two co-dependent career women of the London life-style and trend-setting scene who direct considerable time and financial resources to recapture their idealised self-images as swinging Mods, influential and indulgent and garnered an immediate and enduring cult following.

w³ (10. 297)

Though somewhat overshadowed by the achievements and recognition of colleague Tim Berners-Lee and his proposal for a hypertext system to connect many of the departments and projects of CERN in 1989 and which contained the kernal of the idea, credit for the World Wide Web also goes to fellow computer scientist Robert Cailliau for their joint proposal put forward on this day in 1990 for the World Wide Web. Not only did Cailliau come up with the logo and co-programmed the first web browser (MacWWW) with Nicola Pellow, he was instrumental in taking the concept out of the laboratory and releasing it into wilds, running several parallel projects to ensure interoperability and make the underlying structure more robust and cross-compatible, secured funding and organised a series of conferences and steering committees.

gemini xii (10. 296)

On the second day of the final crewed mission of the programme demonstrating that astronauts can work effectively outside spacecraft and making commencement of the Apollo project possible, on this day in 1966, during his first space walk (extravehicular activity—see also here and here), Edwin E “Buzz” Aldrin Junior snapped the first selfie in orbit––see also. This proof-of-concept training exercise included two additional excursions, a rendezvous and a docking (see above) and piloted an automated reentry sequence.

kelpie (10. 295)

Whilst not as iconic or famous as the so called “surgeon’s photograph” of the 1934 since exposed as an elaborate hoax, the first captured image allegedly showing the cryptid of Loch Ness (previously here and here) was snapped on this day by local Hugh Gray in 1933. Recounting himself he was walking his dog along the shore that morning, many interpret the blurry image as Gray’s Labrador fetching a stick from the water, or otherwise a swan or an otter rolling in a characteristic fashion at the water’s surface.

and so it goes (10. 294)

As our faithful chronicler informs noted author, humanist, peace activist, World War II veteran—captured during the Battle of the Bulge, interned in Dresden and survived the Allied fire bombing of the city, recounting the experience in Slaughterhouse-Five—and possible alien Kurt Vonnegut, Junior would have turned 100 today. From the introduction to his 1973 novel Breakfast of Champions, “So this book is a sidewalk strewn with junk, trash which I throw over my shoulders as I travel in time back to November eleventh, nineteen hundred and twenty-two. I will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day.  When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God.  So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.”

menas of egypt (10. 293)

Early third century wonder-worker and Coptic soldier in the Roman army martyred for refusing to recant his Christian faith, Menas (Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲙⲏⲛⲁ—Amen), is commemorated on this day, corresponding to 15 Hathor on the Egyptian calendar. Garnering a posthumous reputation for intercession on any number on ailments, Abu Mina, the site where his body was buried (according to legend, the camels bearing his corpse stopped twice in this exact location and refused to move further) after being dismembered by fellow soldiers became a popular pilgrimage—following Constantine I (previously) sending his ill daughter, Flavia Valeria Constantina—later known as Saint Constance, destination with terracotta flasks with the saint’s iconography taken as souvenirs and found from Heidelberg to Cheshire and all points in between. Protector of the falsely accused, peddlers and travelling salespersons, Menas is the patron of the city of Heraklion, Koblenz and many Swiss villages in the north Alps.

and i’ll never have that recipe again (10. 292)

Written by Jimmy Webb and first recorded by Irish actor and singer Richard Harris (Arthur in Camelot) a decade before, the disco arrangement by Donna Summer (encouraged by producer Giorgio Moroder) of MacArthur Park climbed to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on this day in 1978, holding the top spot for three weeks. Originally pitched to the sunshine pop group The Association (“Cherish,” “Along Comes Mary”), they rejected Webb’s composition due to its stream-of-consciousness lyrics and ambitious, over-the-top arrangement.

6x6 (10. 291)

verifiable: Norman Bates checks out of Twitter  

deatheaters vs sapsuckers: mycologists give an overview of the epic fungal wars happening all around us  

key moment: an analysis in the dearth of modulation in pop music since the 2000s—this 80s number has one of the best  

the mansion on o street: Washington DC’s secret civil rights landmark with a heroes-in-residence programme 

mapping emissions: charting out the biggest polluters near you

éminence grise: Twitter’s Blue Check verification scheme causing chaos