tarkin doctrine or not the excuse you’re looking for

In a move that’s really too far—since despite all our differences and the politics of polarisation, fandom was supposed to be something transcendent—apparently Trump supporters are calling for a boycott of the upcoming instalments of the Star Wars franchise for its anti-fascist message—which has surely been the over-arching theme since a long time ago, with multiculturalism fighting against hegemony.
It’s a little pathetic that it’s taken four decades for some to pick up on this not so subtle message, and even more so that they’d want to cushion themselves with a “safe-space” from triggering dissent (real and imagined) far, far way. To reinforce that fact, the hashtag movement was soon co-opted by the rebel scum and the radicalized fanatics of hokey religions whose vile behaviour is a serious affront to the feelings of the US Kraterocrat-elect. Not wholly immune Jedi mind-tricks, it’s also a nice tantrum to distract from other, more serious accusations derived from new evidence that Russia helped throw the US elections in Trump’s favour.

7x7

book of days: the mysterious and enigmatic Codex Seraphinianus enters the wall-calendar market

the beaming: a stage-adaptation dramatizes a veteran National Geographic correspondent’s encounter with a lost telepathic tribe in the Peruvian Andes

event horizon: a look ahead at some of the astronomical happenings of 2017

line in the sand: in honour of the seventy-fifth anniversary of its Cartography Centre, the US Central Intelligence Agency declassifies a cache of ordinance maps

everything old is new again: a revue of the most sought after Christmas toys since 1983

operation: the several incarnations of the Wound Man of the Middle Ages, sort of like the Helvetica Man of yore

cash on delivery: first introduced in Hamburg, one shipping service is bring pedal-powered delivery to select urban locations in the US

salvataggio interno o zero my hero

I could be forgiven for the false memory and insistence that we’d in fact visited the oldest operational bank in the world in Siena—a victim apparently of the failed plebiscite for congressional reform but more on this later, having mistaken the layout of the ancient town square next to the signature campanile for the nearby city of Lucca, also host to a very venerable financial institution. The Bank of Siena is being denied a further deferment in order to refinance its debts and will probably throw itself on the mercy of the government to stay solvent—or at least not pull down scores of other banks with it.
While I am sorry that Matteo Renzi’s referendum efforts to reduce government gridlock did not pass and he’s resigning his commission over it, the dissolution of Italian government is a pretty routine thing and nothing to get all hot and bothered about. Perhaps this was the excuse needed to otherwise extort the veteran lender and her creditors. I am not sure of the solvency of Banco di Lucca but I suspect it’s faring much better, being attended by the relic, not of human hands, Volto Santo (see link above). Seemingly apropos of nothing, “by the Holy Face of Lucca,” was the favoured oath and battle-cry of William Rufus of England, by there might be somewhat of a segue to be found, as William II’s great ambition was to himself go on Crusade but didn’t live to see the Holy Land. As part of the Duchy of Tuscany, both the banks at Siena and Lucca from the end of the eleventh century for a generation or so were subject to the same embargo enforced in accountancy against the Arabic-Hindi numerals that the early Crusaders were bringing back with them. Traditional Roman book-keeping was Christian and eschewed the Muslims’ dread zero, both as a place-holder and as a concept of nothing, a dangerous gateway to negative numbers and creative ways of handling debts and deficit—so I guess the financiers won out the end.

bedrest

I can recall when having to call in sick was—rather than being unburdened to do those things that one was going to do regardless without being bothered by tasks that came one’s way—a time for self-reflection and a privileged glimpse into the world of breakfast time television or early afternoon game-shows and by that time a little battery of assessments as to whether one’s well enough to return to work or school and whether or not one was allowed to be other than chaste and guilty for one’s truancy or goes easy on one’s self.
Fortunately, I haven’t often found myself incapacitated for any length of consecutive days, but after taking a tumble recently—and my impatient self is absolutely beside myself that it was only yesterday, am on doctor’s orders to rest and recuperate and contending with that second-opinion of cabin-fever (also a terrible malady). Maybe I’m growing too impatient for resiliency to kick in—what with work and the holidays, and unwilling to admit there are trap-doors in the stage for all these things, because being unwell isn’t the mediator that it once was with so much living and narrative loops accomplished vicariously and virtually. And now, getting better slowly but struggling with the basic steps of rolling over and getting out of bed, dressing and ambling across the room, it seems as if for the first time in a long time that the gaps in time and activity aren’t filled and obligated and I’m better for—struggling as I am with my limbs not cooperating properly and having to cost-out each movement in terms of the pain it’s expected to cause and making each step a very ginger one. Disabled, however temporarily, and finding one’s self halt and lame, give one an appreciation for dimensions, heights and what’s considered to be human-sized that’s nearly as significant lesson as is being sure-footed.

horse feathers

Palæontologists in Myanmar (Burma) have recently discovered the first definitive evidence of dinosaur plumage in the segment of a downy tail preserved in ancient amber.
The juvenile coelurosaur (meaning “hollow-tailed” lizard funnily) that the hundred-million-year old length of tail belonged to is in the same family as Tyrannosaurus rex, another member of late-stage dinosauria when birds were already becoming prevalent, and researchers now realise that many preserved specimens of dinosaur feathers have been discovered previously but without this contextual finding, there was little in the way of hard evidence and one had to rely on extrapolation and artists’ conceptions. Perhaps the image that we hold in our minds’ eye of dinosaurs has not been wholly updated yet but it’s still a difficult revelation to reconcile.  Our feathered friends that are still with us of course are dinosaurs and the analogies are not quite the same but what if we only knew tadpoles and frogs, or caterpillars and butterflies, from fossil evidence?  Would we have ever concluded that they were one and the same creature?  

cadenas d’amour

Parisian authorities at the bidding of a local preservation group are making the sixty five tonnes of love-locks removed from various bridges throughout the city available to members of the public who would like to own a piece (or a whole lot of pieces) of modern architectural history. Twenty tonnes alone were salvaged from the scenic Pont de l’Archevêché. Proceeds will go to support those who help refugee families integrate and settle and despite the heart-ache that might have come about in knowing that symbolic bond was broken, it is a fitting end to a testament to love that wasn’t permitted to weather the ages. Perhaps other similarly besotted spots might follow suit.

agent immobilier

Property scout nonpareil Messy Nessy Chic adds another jewel to her portfolio with the Art Nouveau palace, the Château d’Aubiry in the county of Roussillon near Perpignan—already on the market for some time but currying more exposure and interest hopefully after appearing on Le Bon Coin, a sort of French Craigslist.
Built for an heir to a cigarette paper producer, Pierre Bardou-Job (yes, that Job), the lavish structure was completed in 1904, with a private cinema, themed bedrooms and photography studio and a greenhouse designed by Gustave Eifel and was even the set of the 1960 controversial cult film L’eau à la bouche. Even though the price has come down considerably after previous transactions fell through, it’s still a little steep for H and I, but I’ve always dreamed of being able to devote the time and energy to reviving a neglected, unloved historic home and could imagine keeping a little museum and café for the visiting public. There are quite a few castles around here, and it’s always advisable to keep out an aspiring eye open.

wallflower

The particular recipe (flour, water, salt, mineral oil and boric acid) and consistency for Play-Doh was developed originally in the 1930s as a cleaning compound for wallpaper brought to the market by a Cincinnati soap manufacturer to dab up the soot from coal heating.
It wasn’t until the modelling “clay” had become nearly obsolete in its first role that it was suggested in 1954 (by an individual who never received any credit or compensation) that it might make a fun toy. Relatedly, bubble wrap (a generic trademark, proprietary eponym from the Sealed Air Corporation) was invented three years later not as a packaging material but first as a new sort of mod wallpaper before a brief redesign as insulation for greenhouses. Apparently, future generations of the cushioning film will not reward the senses with a satisfying pop—which might have made sense when it was a wall decorating but now feels as if consumers are being cheated out of something.