thrilla in megillah (10. 668)

We enjoyed this introduction to collage caricaturist Hanoch Piven and his found allegory of accidents, elements and sacraments through his latest project assaying the figures of the Old Testament with character profiles and an eclectic iconography, like here with fun-time gal and accomplished rhetorician Esther. Read more about Dream Big, Laugh Often and More Great Advice from the Bible at Print Magazine at the link above. What found objects might you use to create a similar three-dimensional tableau?

9x9 (10. 667)

pass****123: a visualisation of pilfered passwords aggregated from various leaks and breaches

event horizon: a streak of young stars may be the wake of a supermassive black hole ejected from its host galaxy  

pop: speeding locomotives in an animated short by Yoji Kuri—see previously  

you sank my battleship: leaked NATO plans for bolstering Ukraine’s military were first circulating on a Minecraft gaming forum—more here  

what, me worry: a celebration of the long life and career of cartoonist Al Jaffee 

bierpulver: the Neuzeller Klosterbräu, known for other innovative libations, introduces a dehydrated beer that one needs only add water to   

example handshake: a look at the squelch of the dial-up modem  

trapezoidal flux deviation: an alternative proposal for the non-existence of exoplanets—via the New Shelton wet/dry  

a generator and a discriminator: AI can crack most users’ passwords in under two minutes—via Dam Interresting’s Curated Links

a jury of one’s peers (10. 666)

Based on a radio teleplay by Reginald Rose from three years earlier and often upheld as an heuristic tool to illustrate conflict resolution and team dynamics as well as well as the courage of conviction to not be swayed by hysteria and its subtler cadets, Sidney Lumet’s classic courtroom drama, premiering in Los Angeles on this day in 1957, portrays a jury deliberating the case of an impoverished teen accused of murdering his abusive father. With a unanimous verdict required, the jury is instructed to acquit if there is any reasonable doubt and a decision siding on guilty would result in a mandatory death sentence and execution by electric chair. Addressing students after a screening of the film in 2010 at Fordham University's School of Law in Manhattan, US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor credited 12 Angry Men as influencing her career decision and was especially moved by immigrant Juror 11 (portrayed by Czech actor George Voskovec—BUtterfield 8, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, all members are identified by numbers only) delivering a monologue in reverence for the justice system, though cautioned not to be totally taken with the cinematic version of proceedings due to inference, speculation and independent research which would have likely been declared a mistrial.

sampo (10. 665)

A rock formation and cave system in Sipoo some thirty kilometres from Helsinki reputed to house the Lemminkäinen Hoard (see previously), a mythical treasure trove of gold, jewels and ancient artefacts of immense value is in the news again after first making headlines three decades ago, with excavators and treasure-hunters claiming to be once more on the brink of a break-through as was asserted back in 1987 when a Finnish-born tantric yogi and mystic related his family saga passed down generation after generation, revealing the location of a ritual site on his family’s property. Though an archeological survey determined the buried chambers to be of a natural origin, the guide and corroborating folklore holds that the area, the birthplace of humanity, was sealed off for protection once Christianity was introduced to the region in the tenth century. More from BBC Reel at the link above.

benchmark (10. 664)

As image and sound formats have their standards and baselines, so too does model rendering with the 3DBenchy model, designed by Daniel Norée on this day in 2005 as a “jolly 3D printing torture-test” to calibrate devices. The scalable little tugboat floats in water, if printed correctly in most media and is estimated to be the most printed object—like a “Hello World!” for the hobbyist and professional and an in-joke in the design community—like referencing the foundational Newell Teapot of computer-aided drafting or the Pixar lamp. There are annual challenges with designers putting the model through the paces for accuracy, agility and speed.

hidden mickeys (10. 663)

From subtle homages, hidden tracks and hidden levels to surprise features and the first known such subversive addition—in a text-editor in 1968 that completed the maxim “Make love—not war” when the first half of the chant was keyed in—which gives a credit, an attribution to an otherwise anonymous programmer, Tedium presents an omnibus edition of easter eggs in software applications. Comparing the moment of serendipity that the discovery presents both for the finder and the culprit coder to the burst of joy—fleeting or enduring and inspired that—that one gets with the unexpected virtuosity of a human-AI collaboration, everything about the usually interfaced being terribly planned and predictable, albeit one of the many present detractions from its use as a tool as something more convincing rather than reliable, introduces an interesting sidebar about the fate of such surreptitious gems once machines take over programming and entertainment. There’s also a link to the Easter Egg Archive listing hidden surprises in other media including films, television and home appliances. My favourite sort of easter eggs come in the form of a visual reference hiding in plain sight from the Disney tradition, and the reminder that She-Ra: Princess of Power—and more recently Adventure Time—has a cameo-character appearing in the background of one scene per episode. In the case of the Etherian series, the figure was called Loo-Kee, a chipmunk type creature, who (and happily have no memory of this) would reappear before the closing credits and ask the audience if they had found him before relating the moral of their just concluded narrative. What are some of your favourites?

10x10 (10. 662)

never fearing guns or numbers like a tiger to its meat, the stranger then attacked the pirate fleet: a space-age sea-shanty by Duane Elms of Carmen Miranda’s Ghost, courtesy of Shadow Manor 

sorcerer’s apprentice: angry to have been out-manoeuvred by Disney’s lawyers, Florida governor declares all-out war against the theme park 

sea life: a 1923 chessboard designed by Max Esser for Meißen—via ibīdem 

shelling out: a gallery of vintage Easter confections family album: being first on the scene to document shipwrecks is a generational business  

the tiffany network: an all-star roll for the 1978 fiftieth anniversary of the Columbia Broadcasting System  

blogoversary: a belated congratulations to Map Room as it reaches the milestone of twenty years of blogging  

late-stage sea-monkeys: targeted ads are generally promoting the worst possible version of a product  

bohemian grove: the secretive club back in the headlines after revelations of US Supreme Court Justice Thomas’ gifts included a trip to the exclusive retreat 

falmouth: the annual, international festival of maritime music returns in June

et in arcadia ego (10. 661)

From the archives of the Index of American Design, we are treated to a landscaping survey in watercolours (both to scale and as abstract representations) of some of the last palatial estates of the then rural area of 1860s northern Manhattan, just prior to the terrain being subsumed by advancing urbanisation, a suburbia (“faubourg,” from the French for fore-town or banlieue) who some praised above all other cosmopolitan back lawns, hoping to preserve the gardens and hobby farms of this country retreats“out of the hands of jobbers and speculators.” Little trace remains today of these summer residences, other than the odd toponymic relic—like the Audubon Park district in Washington Heights. Much more at Public Domain Review at the link above.