log lady

It was some weeks before I saw and greeted our new upstairs neighbour. She advertised on the letterbox that she was an Aruvedic masseuse, although I don’t think she has sessions in her apartment and has in any case been quiet and largely unseen.
Recently, just before I encountered her for the first time, she decorated the landing in front of our door and by the steps leading up to her apartment with a zen frog figurine and a few pieces of driftwood. That made me think, fondly, of the Margaret Lanterman (better known as the Log Lady) character on Twin Peaks—played by Catherine Coulson†, who was very protective of her familiar. Finally meeting the new neighbour, I realised that they bore more than a passing resemblance, in looks and demeanour.

block chain

Rather inscrutably, the Swiss railway announced that the public, travelling or otherwise, will be able to purchase the virtual currency bitcoin at all ticket kiosks of their extensive network. Valued currently at nearly seven hundred francs per coin, customers will be able to purchase in fractional denominations as well, but not with absolutely anonymity as an electronic wallet would need to be set up—though cash can still flow with a much higher degree of liquidity since no banks are involved. Though some cities in Switzerland, notable the public services of Zug, accept bitcoin for payments, train passengers won’t be able to pay for their fare with this particular tender.

under construction

Via Kottke, we discover the Internet Archive’s special curation of content indexed in the discontinued Yahoo! GeoCities platform, whose community created millions of rather pioneering features that have seeded the internet, including page templates, MIDI sounds and of course millions of GIFs. Give it a try and uncover some classic and nostalgic snap-shots—simply typing in “gif” yields some very good search results.

dyson sphere or cepheid variable

SETI, after receiving a significant grant from a wealthy donor, is turning its focus on a very particular and peculiar target—a star whose notice first caught the attention of astrophysicist Tabetha Boyajian (hence Tabby’s Star) for its strange peaks and dips in brightness.
These changes in luminosity are too drastic and irregular to be caused by transiting planets and has caused some to suggest that the star harbours around it an alien megastructure, which either partially or fully encloses the host star to capture all of the radiation it emits. The hypothetical engineering was elaborated by mathematician Freeman Dyson as the inevitable consequence of technological advance and the need for sustainable energy. Civilisations, faced with the prospect of being host to a dying or unstable sun, may even cling unseen and shielded from the Cosmos beyond to the inside surface of a sphere that’s been built to completely surround the star at the right distance to sustain life and utilities but perhaps over the æons, the diameter of the enclosure shrinks to grow closer to the flickering heat. I wonder how those later generations, distantly removed from the original project, might think of their Universe.

4x4

hydroptère: ecological, flying river taxis to be tested on the Seine

urban decay: one photographer watched the same ensemble of buildings over four decades

home bodies: one wife’s desperate plea to re-elect her husband to get him out of the house

internyet: the story behind how the Soviets conceived the world wide web and how the idea was derailed by the same challenges we face presently

ashes to ashes

Rather jarringly but with the message that last rites should not be nihilistic—or pantheistic—the Vatican has issued a prohibition against the scattering of cremains to the winds or dividing the ashes among family and friends as final keepsakes.
Although Church doctrine—just since 1963—allows cremation burial is preferable and earthly remains should be deposited on consecrated grounds and the grave-goods ought not kept in an urn on the mantle. Having lived in Germany for a long time, such morbid license that’s allowable in America does seem a little strange and quite other. What do you make of all this? As many amongst us are loathe to shuffle off this amortal coil, it is an uncomfortable thing to think about how we’d like to be celebrated.

tate and stevens or target audience

A-historically but surely born out of relatable frustration, a Parisian advertising agency Graphéine imagines how some of the most iconic works of art commissioned for movies, album covers and book covers might come out if they had been subject to modern clients and sponsors with an eye towards demographics and marketing standards. This opening credit sequence from Saul Bass would certainly not be as alluring and effective for setting the mood.