lingual emancipation or english as she is spoke

Thanks to an informative article from Weird Universe, we learn that from 1923 to 1969, the official language of the State of Illinois was designated as “American” before “English” was finally restored. A congressman from Montana originally championed this movement on a national level—citing the defining vernacular that writers like Mark Twain and James Fennimore Cooper crafted to distinguish America’s literary canon from its British roots:
“Let our writers drop their top-coats, spats and swagger-sticks, and assume occasionally their buckskin, moccasins, and tomahawks”—but the measure was voted down, except in Illinois. Though some may argue that Americans don’t speak the Queen’s English, I doubt this point of contention was ever as patriotic or harboured royalist sympathies as it was made out to be. The US constitutional framers intentional failed to specify an official, national language, because if the matter had been put to a vote, German might have won out over English, but later adherence to this policy was to ensure that no language was privileged over another. Illinois quietly retracted this amendment almost five decades later, realizing English was still being taught and spoken either in ignorance or in defiance of this law.

postcards from the edge

Boing Boing shares a gallery of lobby cards on offer from the brain-trust behind Liartown, USA, Sean Tejaratchi. My favourites are still the falconry-paraphernalia from the Falcon Hive but there’s quite a bit of spindled brilliance besides to uncover.

the dubliners

In anticipation of Saint Patrick’s Day, Kuriositas treats us to a fine whistle-stop tour through Dublin to visit the statues and public monuments that people the capital. As fond and committed city commissioners are for honouring local sons and daughters, residents are just as keen to bestow affectionate monikers on these silent neighbours. Read more about the “Tart with the Cart” or the “Hags with Bags” and other choice nicknames for the street urchins of Dublin and sight-see during your next visit with native knowledge.

tycho magnetic anomaly-1

Having just written about another, older film that helped inspired some of Kubrick’s most memorable montages, I thought it was a nice coincidence that the always brilliant Dangerous Minds served up this engrossing appreciation of the development and divergence of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The article, with more to explore, discusses the difference between the storytelling devices of the director and the writer, Arthur C. Clark, and how the different media access the imagination, mystery and a cosmos fraught with either enfeeblement or indifference, but it also reveals another homage, influence Kubrick had in Russian film-maker Pavel Klushantsev’s 1957 The Road to the Stars that debuted a decade earlier—which is far too full of artistry and vision to be labelled as propaganda but did coincide with the launch of Sputnik.

slipping the surly bonds

Via the esteemed Everlasting Blört comes the latest work of information design from Pop Chart Labs that reveals nearly six decades of space exploration on one dashboard, that cleverly organizes the missions—from Luna II to the climate survey missions of last year. The trajectory of every exploratory craft is featured on this vast astronomical orrery with further details about each satellite, probe and rover.