channelized blast zone

Here pictured just a day before the eruption four decades ago that left the peak without its northern face and scarred by a massive crater, one can appreciate how it had earned the title of Fuji-san of North America, Mount Saint Helens (known to aboriginal populations as Lawetlat’la or Loowit) began its crescendo of seismic activity back in late March venting steam before dramatically exploding with ash and pyroclastic columns and flows. According to most sources, fifty-seven people lost their lives, debris from the resulting landslide buried sixty square kilometres of the surrounding area, two hundred homes were destroyed as well as vast tracts of forested land and rivers clogged with ash and pumice.

sehenswürdigkeiten oder rhön around the world

Taking advantage of the bright weather but with an abundance of caution, H and I took a windshield tour meandering through a few nearby locations, first stopping in Helmershausen, a settlement filled with half-timbered (Fachwerk) buildings founded in the foothills of the Thüringen highlands by our old friend Count Poppo VI and endowed with a really out-of-proportion village church.
Completed with the Baroque stylings of the mid-eighteenth century as a showcase for the minor nobility of the area, its towering steeple and ornately decorated wood panels have earned the village church the sobriquet of “Dom der Rhön”—the cathedral of the region.
Next along the way we saw the Bernhäuser Kutte, a sinkhole and protected geotope, with a depth of up to fifty metres across a relatively small surface area unique for the state.
After a bit more of taking in the gorgeous green scenery at speed, we stopped to see the Kirchenberg—fortified church compound, Wehrkirche Santke Albanus, dedicated to the British protomartyr—of the town of Kaltensundheim (see above), an impressive Gothic structure in whose hall Caspar Bach, great cousin of the forefather of the musical family, Veit Bach, was married to Susanne Markert, the daughter of a prominent local tailor, and established the cadet branch of the family after they had immigrated from Hungary around 1520.

Too early?
We are very fortunate to live such a beautiful region and in proximity to such new sites and history to discover.  We want everyone to be safe and want to model the right behaviour, because we are all in this together and all of our actions count, no matter how seemingly inconsequential.   
We hope to take to heart and practise how that privilege is not to be flaunted but exercised only if and when it’s safe to do so. Cover your face, keep your distance and wash your hands and perhaps most importantly, know that these places and the whole wide world will wait for you and be yours to explore once this is over.

#lastnormalphoto

Via Kottke’s Quick Links with more to explore on social media under the titular hashtag, BBC asked readers to submit the last image on their phones taken before their world was radically changed with lockdown, teleworking and social distancing measures imposed to stop the spread of COVID-19 and save lives and to share the stories behind them, scenes that seem nearly inconceivable and unconscionable just a few months later. One of the last normal activities I took part in was on 1 March, going to a local flea market—I miss those—and showing off a couple of finds in this stoneware pitcher and brass relief etched sculpture of a sailboat. I remember the virus being discussed among vendors and visitors at the multipurpose hall where the sale was being held. What is your last documented moment before this upheaval and pause?

idahot

Originally in deference to a subsection of German Basic Law and penal code § 175 with colloquially homosexuals sometimes referred to as einhundredfunfundsiebsiegers (twice the fun, see previously) and the association reinforced by the decision of the World Health Organisation to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder on this same date in 1990, since 2005 and expanded in 2009, a human rights coalition has commemorated this 17 May as the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia to mobilise and raise awareness of discrimination and repression of individuals in that community.

In solidarity, many national celebrations and legislative reforms are observed and enacted around this day, with Massachusetts holding the first lawful same-sex ceremonies in the United States in 2004, France in 2009 to normalise transgender identification and Taiwan in 2019 to legalise gay marriages.

typatune

From the venerable bon viveur Card House, we are presented with another novel approach to teaching those aspiring touch typists in the form of this melodious marvel from 1945 whose notes correspond to keystrokes (see previously) which surely must have resulted in a discordant cacophony with the prescribed exercises. No font specimen is available as the contraption instead operated like an accordion and though it seems rather counter-productive to play a QWERTY keyboard like that of a clavier, perhaps there was some method to this music box.

marginal adventure

Via Art of Darkness, here is a fun little arcade game with role playing elements for one’s hand-held devices wherein one battles the strange, fantastic beasts (previously) that medieval scribes embellished in the white spaces of the manuscripts that they faithfully copied.  It seems challenging and quite well put together and nicely scored, as well as appealing to the fan of scholasticism during the Middle Ages and worth giving it a try.

unfriended

The post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and associated co-morbidities suffered by social media moderators paid very little to weed and tend a walled-garden that represents and manipulates one of the largest polities on Earth has been ruled compensable with the rather lenient ruling of a judge that results in a class-action settlement rather than the social media giant providing for job retraining, therapy, counselling or long-term treatment. Current and former moderators are to receive a thousand dollars—which could balloon up to six-thousand should the plaintiff be able to demonstrate more serious mental distress—which comes as a significant bargain to one of the richest and most disruptive companies in the world.

ranch style

We are enjoying these inspiring Mid-Century Modern backyard and balcony roosts for our avian friends crafted by Douglas Barnhard (see also here and here). Besides the standard accoutrements of feed, seed, pitch, perch and shelter there are water elements and landscaped succulent gardens for some models. See more at the link up top and at Barnhard’s shop.