октябрьский сюрприз

Regardless of how all the reporting seems rather dodgily recursive, leaning on sources that that sit as murky at best (if not deliberate disinformation), I cannot see any reason for the US to announce, advertise plans for retaliatory network strikes against Russia, accusing the Kremlin of meddling in American domestic affairs.
If the Russian government did sponsor the hacking of the Democratic National Committee servers and is the source of Clinton campaign internal communiques being slowly leaked (which still seems debatable with the facts as presented), the US received no notice, no advanced warning. Why would it make its offensive manoeuvres public and directly attributable? Moreover why risk escalation in the name of restoring the reputation of Democracy—which domestic politics has slandered quite well enough on its own and without any foreign intervention? It is not as if US intelligence agents state that their assault will coerce Russia into accords on Syria, but rather, they hope it will aid in strengthening Russia’s press ability to research and report on corruption at the top, and embarrass leaders by exposing their economic ties. Well, knock me over with a feather.

know thy selfie

The always captivating Everlasting Blört directs our attention to brief but informative and thoughtful lesson from PBS on the art history of the selfie with examples of self-portraiture that punctuate the entire time that photography has been with us, and indeed have forwarded the technique and technology. There’s a whole engrossing lecture series of Art Assignments that follow that are all worth checking out.

salone del mobile

Thanks to Fast Company, we learn that the late David Bowie was a grand patron of the Memphis-Milano movement having amassed a sizable collection with signature pieces from artists like Peter Shire and Ettore Sottsass.
The collection is so extensive and representative of the group’s work, Bowie’s furniture will be given its own auction and one can preview the lots at the link. Comprised chiefly Italian designers, they took the name Memphis, incidentally, after hearing the Bob Dylan song “Stuck inside of Mobile (furnishing as well as a city in Alabama) with the Memphis Blues Again.”

fontana del vino

Miraculously, as fellow enthusiast Nag on the Lake reports, a fountain that flows continuously with red wine free to any weary souls wanting to slake their thirst has just been inaugurated in the village of Caldari di Ortona in Abruzzo along the Adriatic coast. Hospitably, the local vineyard that supplies and is behind this permanent installation insists that it is not a mere publicity stunt nor an invitation to loiter (but perhaps linger) but a wayside retreat for pilgrims travelling between Rome and Ortona going to see the relics of Thomas the Apostle, enshrined at the cathedral there after his mission to India.

verge and verder

An ingenious Canadian farm equipment manufacturer has a tree-spade on offer that can gently up-root grown trees for transplanting. I had no idea that this was even an option and ought to be a mandated part of any new construction project—saddening to think that the pace of sprawl overtook our abilities to mechanise silviculture (except for the felling bit) so quickly and without a glance over our collective shoulder. Go to the link to see a video demonstration of these amazing machines from Dutchman in action.

lingo

Hellenologophobia is a fun word we learned that signifies fear of (and it’s pretty easy to deconstruct in hindsight) Greek terminology—by extension, anything unfamiliar, inscrutable or complex, adverse to jargon. Relatedly, there’s the not so easily prised apart sesquipedalophobia (literally Latin for a “foot and a half long”) and the monstrous and intimidating hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, both meaning fear of long words, the above length referring to poetic metre.

stök plóma, fljótandi í ilmvatni, borin fram í karimannshatti

In addition to the annual lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower over the last weekend on Viðey Island in Reykjavík bay on the occasion of John Lennon’s birthday, the beams illuminating the skies (and beaming wishes of goodwill all across the universe) for the next two months—to be extinguished on the anniversary of his assassination—with Iceland being originally chosen as host for its ecological thermal energy and general good governance, Yoko Ono has several other concomitant art projects going on in the country. Ono also solicited tributes from local artists, and humourously Ragnar Kjartansson presented her with an elaborate Simpsons’ meta-reference, to Ms Ono’s delight.