mmxv: annus horribilis

These end-of-year annuals have become somewhat of a tradition here (here, here, here, and here too) at PfRC but never before in these annuls of time has one period been so stand-out negative and gloomy.  We tried to accentuate the positive but that was yeoman’s task, so this year-in-review is coming out a few days early in hopes that the holidays will be a time of lasting good cheer to cleanse the palette and that some last minute joys might befall us all.  There were a few bright points which mostly involved accomplishments in space exploration, but on balance, we are happy to be saying good riddance to bad rubbish.

january: Unpegging the Swiss franc from the euro unleashes more turmoil on financial markets and oversees the gradient of reserve currencies levelled out. With the situation in Ukraine still very tense, the Eurasian Economic Union comes into being. In Nigeria, Boko Haram’s brutality goes unrestrained. Elements of the Cosplay Caliphate in Paris assassinate cartoonists and satirists.

february: Faced with its own deck of sanctions, Russia drafts and submits to the United Nations for passage Resolution 2199 that provided for asset-freezing and curtailing financial resources for the Cosplay Caliphate, strongly condemning as well the group’s destruction of ancient archaeological sites in Syria. The Egyptian armed forces retaliate for the beheading of Copts in Libya by the Caliphate—with more atrocities broadcasted. Sadly, Leonard Nimoy passes away.

march: A space probe visits the Dwarf Planet Ceres. An unholy alliance forms between terror groups as al Qaeda tries to distance itself from these extremists. A suicidal pilot deliberately crashes an airplane full of passengers in the French Alps.

april: A massive earthquake causes destruction across south-east Asia.  Writer Günter Grass and performer Percy Sledge passed.

may: Ireland, by popular-vote, legalises same-sex marriage. Truer to the original, audiences began getting hints of the continuation of the Stars Wars saga to be screened later in the year.  We had to bid farewell to musician B. B. King.

june: Fédération Internationale de Football Association chief resigns pending an on-going criminal probe into corruption allegations championed by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation. A real estate magnate and beauty pageant judge announced his candidacy for president of the US.  The Caliphate perpetrates several horrific attacks during Ramadan. Actor Christopher Lee died.

july: Greece becomes the first country to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund and political revolt is unable to extricate them from this web of debt. New Horizons visits the dwarf planet Pluto. Cuba and the USA normalise diplomatic relations after half a century of hostilities. Video game godfather Satoru Iwata passed away.

august: The march of refugees from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to Europe via the Balkans in unending.  We had to say goodbye to philosopher Oliver Sacks.

september: Liquid water is confirmed on Mars. A major German automaker was found to have doctored the cleanliness of their fleet of vehicles. The proxy war continues in Syria, with Russia launching air-strikes and powers are at odds with which party to back. Personality Jackie Collins died.

october: The Caliphate sabotages a jetliner of holiday-goers in the Sinai Peninsula. Maureen O’Hara departed.

november: Turkey destroys Russian fighter jets for violating a tip of its airspace, possibly setting off World War III. The Caliphate again attacks Paris with horrific and terrifying efficiency. Weeks later, the UN holds its climate change conference in the same venue. Former Chancellor of West Germany Helmut Schmidt passes away.

december: Tragically, yet another mass shooting takes place in California, inspired by religious fanaticism. A wayward Japanese space probe that over-shot its mark five years ago gets a second chance to rendezvous with Venus. Stone Temple Pilot Scott Weiland passed away.  Recognising what the world needs now, Pope Francis threw open the Mercy Gate at the Vatican.

4x4

yavin 4: a graphic designer from New Zealand designed flags for one hundred planets of the Star Wars expanded universe

hang low the mistletoe: an appreciation of the parasitic plant whose Yuletide tradition is probably its least interesting attribute

oracle bones: Quartz furnishes an engrossing account of the historical development of Chinese writing and the language’s font foundry

non-canon: the next Star Trek film will treat the last as apocryphal

ghost of christmas weird

Dangerous Minds curates a truly bizarre gallery of antique Christmas greetings cards, gathered from various sources, whose message and associations with cheer and the season are rather—through the filter of a given vintage—lost on modern audiences.
There’s Krampus, of course, who’s a much greater deterrent to naughtiness than a lump of coal—which I’d wager that some Victorian street urchin would be very grateful to receive, but beyond this cautionary example these salutations are just fraught with surreal imagery—duelling frogs, dead sparrows, revolting sparrows, murderous emus and polar bears. What’s truly classic is universal and enduring (kittens, perhaps) and maybe these cards illustrate the consequences of things passing out of style and humour becoming obsolete. Be sure to check out Dangerous Minds to pursue the full selection.

klaxon or blues and twos

I vaguely recall learning that emergency response vehicles—ambulances, fire-trucks, police cruisers—in the States at least bore complementary flashing lights in red and blue to shine at the most visible spectrum both during the day and at night—though I could not remember which colour was best for either condition.
In Germany (and for the UK as well), those same beacons are just blue—arrayed for each kind of dispatch a bit differently with distinctive sirens but only on the one wave-length. If the two-coloured light system had a higher visibility profile—I wondered, why it had not been adopted everywhere. It turns out that the insight into the discernability of different spectra—which figures in traffic lights as well, and the reason for Germany’s blue lights date to 1938, like much of the German infrastructure—the Autobahn and the people’s coach. It does not have anything to do with psychological colour associations or some Doppler effect, but rather anticipating the possibility of air-raids as Europe once again began to take a belligerent posture, field-engineers experimented with different colours and discovered that while red lights sent up a beacon high into the atmosphere, attracting the attention of bomber-pilots, blue light dissipated at a much lower altitude. The convention, like equipping windows on homes with Rollladen (roller shutters) to effectively black out the lights, has endured.

parkour and pageant

Neatorama shares an interesting cinematic comparison, some blocked scene for scene of Quentin Tarantino’s extensive neo-noir filmography and the directing that was his inspiration. Far from producing derivative works, Tarantino and his repertory, company of actors, have become the subjects of study and inspiration themselves.

may the force be with you (and also with you)

Amid rumours and parallels some are wont to draw, saying that Jedis are prone to radicalisation like jihadists (I am covering my ears because I don’t want any come across any spoilers—and still to this day, I feel a pang of regret when I think how I spilled one of the surprises to a nurse while at a doctor’s appointment right after seeing Return of the Jedi and informing her that Luke and Leia were brother and sister), Atlas Obscura, with its signature daring-do, reports how for the Fourth Advent the Zionskirche in Berlin will host a special Star Wars service—like the Nine Lessons and Carols celebration that I attended last week, I suppose but with morals drawn from the saga. The accomplished organist will also of course be performing a selection of the film soundtrack.

5x5

purl two: upon request the BBC would send out the knitting instructions for the Fourth Doctor’s iconic scarf

uppruni: a young Björk reads the Nativity story for an Icelandic television audience

food pyramid: Vox examines at different ways nutritional guidelines are influenced and imparted globally

zodiaco: Salvador Dalí’s astrologic menagerie plus a hint into the obsession the artist had with his departed elder brother, Salvador Dalí

tween: proposed EU rules would raise the social media age of majority to sixteen

grand moff tarkin

Writing for The Atlantic, David Sims presents us with a wonderfully literate appreciation of one of the minor conscientious bureaucrats who manages to survive amid the toxic leadership of the vast galactic Empire in the character of Admiral Piett (portrayed by the actor Kenneth Colley who is arguably most recognised for his role as Jesus in the Life of Brian—I wonder what the Kevin Bacon Number is for that connection).
Highlighting the original banality of evil—oriented towards dominance and tyrannical to be sure but otherwise nebulous, formalised and diametrically opposed to the rebel scum—Piett was elevated to the next rung of the enormous hierarchy after Darth Vader impulsively telepathically strangled his predecessor for his shortcomings and manages to keep his head about him until the Battle of Endor and the destruction of the second Death Star. There’s little virtue in keeping one’s nose clean and walking on egg-shells, but the admiral’s veiled disgust for his boss’ methods and sheer tenacity does warrant a bit of a cheer.