In stark contrast to the fifteen rounds of voting that it took for McCarthy to secure his conditional 
speakership, radical members of his own party in Congress sided with the Democratic opposition to abruptly end his shaky nine month tenure, instigated by representative Matt Gaetz, ostensibly for while making good on his promise to launch an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden negotiating with Democratic lawmakers to avert a government shutdown with a stopgap funding bill. Gaetz was possibly also motivated by a personal vendetta against the California congressman for an ethics investigation against the junior Florida statesman over misuse of campaign funds, sexual misconduct and drugs use which McCarthy as House leader allowed to proceed. This unprecedented removal leaves the lower house of legislators without a chair in control, making it more difficult to bring bills and administrative proceedings to the floor, and as chaotic and unruly as Congress was under McCartney, his replacement may turn out to be much worse.
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
speaker pro tempore (11. 037)
6x6 (11. 036)
eggs: another classic animated short from John and Faith Hubley
patrimoine mondial: UNESCO inscribes forty-two new sites on its World Heritage list—via Kottke dog brain: a classic Nicktoon from the early 1990s
the madame b album: the artistry of the Victorian photocollage
it’s a perfectly cromulent word: Merriam-Webster adds six hundred fifty new definitions to the dictionary
schattenspiel: the German singer and director Lotte Reiniger who pioneered spot-motion animation
one year ago: assorted links to revisit, Tree Talk plus Star Wars Cantina music as inspiration
two years ago: your daily demon: Malphas plus der Tag der Deutsche Einheit
three years ago: a logical second plus a bit of seasonal decoration
four years ago: East Germans flee to Czechoslovakia (1989), Germany’s four corners, Trump in Europe, Banksy’s shop, Inland Printer plus East Berlin’s TV Tower
five years ago: the 2008 financial crisis, reminders of a divided Germany, Plastic Love plus Trump-inspired cocktails
Monday, 2 October 2023
via xx settembre (11. 035)
The decisive battle marking the concession of Pope Pius IX and the unification of the Italian peninsula 
with the capture of Rome and the dissolution of the Papal States, in existence since 756, donations of various Frankish rulers to the Church over the centuries occurring a couple of weeks prior, the Italian prime minister organised a plebiscite to legitimise the annexation of Rome as the newly formed kingdom’s capital on this day in 1870. An overwhelming majority of eligible voters assented to being incorporated, with the pontiff left jurisdiction to the area surrounded by the ninth century enclosures built on the orders of Pope Leo IV to protect St Peter’s Basilica, but Pius protested, calling himself captivus vaticani. His predecessors took on the mantle until the matter—whether the pope was a subject of the Kingdom of Italy or whether the Holy See was an independent body without territory—was resolved by the Lateran Treaty of 1929, with no diplomatic relations existing between Italy and the Vatican prior and Italian royals and supporters of the Risorgimento summarily excommunicated.
one year ago: assorted links to revisit, more on snail compasses plus Gulf War II (2001)
two years ago: Peanuts remixed, more on US exceptionalism plus a classic from Musical Youth
three years ago: Colonialism and Abstract Art (1936), more musical mashup annuals from Hood Internet, Trump contracts the COVID-19 virus plus the caretaker presidency of Edith Wilson
four years ago: more links worth revisiting
five years ago: the fight to save a remnant of ancient forest in Germany plus thumbnails of terrain
Sunday, 1 October 2023
hre (11. 034)
Having committed quite some thoughts on the subject and even echoed the quip from Voltaire myself 
without realising the provenance or shallowness of the observation—that it was “neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire”—we appreciated coming across this encapsulation of an introduction by Eleanor Janega on the anniversary of the beginning of the Congress of Vienna in 1814 when representatives and stakeholders of the former political union met to reconstitute European order and long-term peace after the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose campaigns spelled its dissolution after eight centuries of existence. There is vast a amount of history to cover, from Charlemagne and Henry Fowler to extension under the Hohenstaufen and the Hapsburgs but Dr Janega does a yeoman’s job in summarising the polity, which like under the Roman Empire enjoyed a good share of autonomy and retained local customs and culture.
claire rayner’s casebook (11. 033)
Accomplished nurse and prolific author, the broadcaster is probably best known for her public advocacy and outreach in the form of her advise column, frank and often controversial in dealing with taboo subjects in a non-judgmental fashion that encouraged dialogue. Graciously sharing a rare Betamax find after sifting through hours of old video tape, Curious British Telly introduces Rayner through an episode originally airing during the first week of October of 1983 on the subject of homosexuality, featuring her own son—which although dated and a product of its time, is still insightful and relevant. More Ben Ricketts at the link above.
disco triceratops incident (11. 032)
for our faithful AI wrangler as the dominant large language models learning off of each other were coming up with rather tame and predictable suggestions—until dialling up the chaos factor and drawing from ideas of year’s past. Although some choice prompts emerged, most were still pedestrian and not in keeping with the weirdness of previous instalments. How would you draw “pants for salad,” “a resplendent,” “a ghost of a teapot” or “televised toast” but make them more spooky? Much more from Janelle Shane at the links above.
Saturday, 30 September 2023
8x8 (11. 031)
11/9/1989 - 9/11/2001: a thoroughgoing, reflective essay examining the fateful decade defined, bookended by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the September 11 Terror Attacks—via Web Curios
hail and well met: the surprisingly radical roots of the Renaissance Fair that emerged during McCarthyism and the Red Scare—via Miss Cellania
whom of which: an interesting and divisive syntactical formation
imperial airways: Harry Beck’s iconic Underground map for scheduled flight routes—via Things Magazine
tapped out: a passive approach to desalination that can produce safe and cheap potable water without disrupting the ocean’s natural haline balance—via Kottke
wassermusik: a tonal analysis of waterfalls
mr dressup: a documentary about world of make-believe of Ernie Coombs, the Canadian counterpart to Mister Rodgers (previously)
sleepless in seattle: a scrolling narrative on the invisible epidemic of loneliness and isolation experienced by many Americans—via Waxy
one year ago: ethernet, Business!, assorted links to revisit, more on the Scunthorpe problem plus Putin addresses the nation
two years ago: a very distasteful sitcom plus revisiting the Colossus of Rรผgen
three years ago: memorialising the shame of Canada’s residential school policy, International Translation Day, passive voice and reflexive forms, digital world address maps, deconstructing American exceptionalism plus more botanical epithets
four years ago: a farewell to Bauhaus, a remedial lesson on separating one’s trash plus the World Clock of Berlin’s Alexanderplatz (1969)
five years ago: a recipe for mushrooms, BBC Radio 4 (1967), a Chinatown edition of Monopoly plus Leoind and Friends cover Earth, Wind and Fire
Friday, 29 September 2023
lapse in appropriations (11. 030)
With the deadline looming and only hours left before a government shut-down (previously) looks more 
and more inevitable, continued in-fighting amongst Republican members in Congress sabotaged a bill sponsored by the Senate that would have have been a stop-gap measure, a continuing resolution, to keep the funded government and operational through mid-November. The Speakership in hock and the House of Representatives held ransom by a radical element willing to let the government run out of money, insistent on a thirty-percent across the board cut in budgets and halting aid to Ukraine. Despite a precariously narrow majority in Congress that cannot enforce its will (captivity to an arch-conservative, pandering wing notwithstanding) without compromise and concession, particularly in mixed jurisdiction (and again, gerrymandering that protects their seats notwithstanding), the GOP is refusing to negotiate and willing to force a crisis costly in terms of economics and repute that may prove difficult to resolve.
one year ago: the Mayak disaster (1957)
two years ago: assorted links to revisit
three years ago: Star Trek tarot, the Feast of the Archangels, the cartoons of R Cobb plus more links to revisit
four years ago: more Theremin maestros plus more Middle English vulgarities
five years ago: the Munich Agreement (1938) plus the Suprematism movement
