liittyminen (10. 654)

In a ceremony that saw the raising of the national banner joining thirty others at the international defence pact headquarter’s and coinciding with the aniversary of the founding of the organisation in 1949, Finland’s accession to NATO, approved by all members in under a year and prompted by Russian aggression in the region more than doubles its the size of the border abutting the Western alliance and Russia. In a process that saw its formal beginning in last May, along with neighbouring Sweden, Finland abandoned decades of military nonalignment for increased security and mutual, multilateral response.

the people v trump (10. 653)

Summoned and surrendering to the judge of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Donald Trump appeared for his arraignment with thirty-four charges of falsifying business records in the first degree for the individual instances and doctored invoices that obscured hush money paid to Stormy Daniels to cover revelations of a tryst just ahead of the 2016 US presidential election. While the crimes he is charged with perpetrating are misdemeanours with the court’s jurisdiction but can be consider felonious if committed to further another crime. Trump pled not guilty to each of the charges as enumerated and was warned not to disparage the court or its offices—citing that personal distress did not warrant personal attacks against the process or those discharging their appointed duties Ostensibly to establish a pattern of behaviour and modus operandi, the indictment also examined two other cases that emerged around the same time period before the 2016 vote that could have influenced the ballot regarding other alleged affairs covered up by the tabloids—another case of hush money by-proxy in what’s referred to as catch-and-kill, being able to show this intentionality will bolster the case the against the former president. Following his appearance in court, Trump returned to Mara-a-Lago, and promptly ignoring the judge’s orders, rallied his followers to denounce the trial—set to resume in December, well after he can stump for his party’s nomination and able to run notwithstanding any wrong-doing—as a withc hunt and a personal, political vendetta.

9x9 (10. 652)

eieren blazen: egg blowing was all the rage in the Netherlands in the 1950s  

autofill: Google search recommendations illustrated  

sim card: a mobile phone museum, with a special exhibit of the ugliest—via Messy Nessy Chic  

horsell common and the heat ray: the 1978 War of the World’s concept album featuring Yes and Richard Burton  

vexing vexillogy: CGP Grey grades US state flags—see previously 

airspace: Alex Murrell on the ‘Age of Average’—via Kottke—see also  

if the engine jumps the track: another in a series of derailments—thankfully this time with no fatalities—yields some amazing photographs but a few beer or two, via Super Punch 

katkhakali: the dance of the ‘speaking hands’ about the myth of Kali and Travancore, a 1981 Soyuzmultfilm short  

peepshi: a complete guide to deconstructing Easter candies for festive onigiri

7x7 (10. 651)

spyvibe radio: The Man Called Flintstone and other cartoon-espionage crossovers  

hosanna, hin-nam: Palm Sunday from the donkey’s perspective—see previously  

made to order: a huge font specimen of a wide range of borders—see previously 

a1: a centenary of road numbering for the Ministry of Transportation 

rather fetching: canine portraits at London’s Wallace Collection  

sparkie williams: a very talkative budgie and other loquacious birds  

rabbit hole: new Kiefer Sutherland secret agent film channels vintage intelligence dramas

der lehrpfad der unholdigen personen (10. 650)

In the forest of the municipality of Salzhaff in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the coast of the Baltic, colloquially known as the ‘Arschlochwandelweg,” there is a mile-long sculpture trail featuring six, life-sized bronzes of George W Bush, Erich Honecker, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Nikita Khrushchev and Donald Trump. On private property but freely accessible to the public, the owner choose to have a rogues gallery of the unkind and inept but did not want evil figures like Hitler and Stalin. A commission was put in for the addition of Vladimir Putin but was ultimately rejected by a Polish foundry due to the neighbouring war.

7x7 (10. 649)

the house of mouse: Disney lawyers thwart Florida governor’s interference plans by linking status quo to the British monarchy 

the highrise collection: a drone exploration of beautiful early twentieth century skyscrapers of the US

mambabatok: Vogue Philippines has 106-year-old traditional tattoo Apo Whang-Od artist on its cover  

fraktur folk art: the lettering of German dissident émigré communities in Pennsylvania (see also) 

pretty fly for a white guy: Finnish politicians, as their rapping alter-egos Qruu and Cstar, drop some rhymes for their campaign platform—via Miss Cellania    

gelatinous cube: the 1977 Dungeon’s & Dragons Monster Manual  

g: all. of. the. above: a Trump indictment quiz

caret notation (10. 648)

Brilliantly our AI wrangler Janelle Shane (previously) points us to fun test for chatbots that while prising some insight into their inner workings without the danger of producing nightmare-inspiring outcomes by giving the prompt to create ASCII art, moreover asking it rate its creations. Here are a few that I asked ChatGPT to create, with rather surreal summaries (of showing one’s work) following. Give it a try and share your results with us.

 

hold on (10. 647)

Via Web Curios (with much, more more to explore from the week at large), we are directed towards upbeat track by Pascal Nuzzo and a wonderfully dynamic, old school video that is reminiscent of the aesthetic of those trippy Sesame Street interstitials. Put out by independent label R&S Records, the Gent DJs Renaat Vandepapeliere and Sabine Maes were inspired by the Belgian New Beat of the late 1980s and helped launch the careers of CJ Bolland, Ken Ishii and Aphex Twin.