Informed by the trope of the paid professional protester that supposedly presents a threat to America’s infrastructure and energy-security rather than the real agents provocateur that have infiltrated the highest offices of government in fact, the state of Oklahoma—whose antagonistic attorney general was recently elevated to agency secretary responsible for environmental protection—is introducing further legislation that could potentially bankrupt not only protestors that cross the fragile and thin-skinned lines of civil disobedience by causing material harm to properties appertaining to said energy-security or businesses working in support of it but would also hold conspirators financial accountable—by ten-fold.
This is a pretty broad-brush in favour of the petroleum industry that’s already managed to health, safety and environmental regulations that have been obstacles to greater profit, and now along with other anti-protest laws defacing equipment with a protest slogan or being kettled into trespassing could carry a fine of one hundred thousand dollars. The dark triad of the title refers to the three universal personality traits that typify intimidation, bullying and toxic leadership: narcissism, Machiavellianism (being duplicitous in statecraft and business dealings and without ethical standards) and sociopathy. This disdain that corporations have for the environment and individuals did not begin with this regime but certainly benefits from it and will spread if allowed to continue unchecked.
Sunday 7 May 2017
dark triad or but our princess is in another castle
homesteading oder traumhaus
A Dutch architectural firm has plans to transform a former US Army base in Mannheim into a concept low-cost housing neighbourhood with shared living accommodations and services with modular units (that reminded me a little of Monopoly houses and hotels but with more variety and nuance).
Funari Barracks in Mannheim are a portion of the Benjamin Franklin installation that the US army occupied from the end of World War II until 2012 and the latest rounds of restructuring—but I was given to understand that the entire was not returned to the land-management office of
Baden-Wรผrttemberg and some facilities in Mannheim were reactivated at
least temporarily a way-station for returning convoys of tanks and other
heavy armoured vehicles that were shipped back to the States a few years prior, now returned and bound for points further East. Geopolitics aside, I believe there’s enough space to realise this very liveable model community and inspire more neighbourhoods structured like this.
second fiddle
After learning of the severe state of disrepair that the musical instruments of Philadelphia’s public schools were facing, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Robert Blackson turned the challenge and tragedy for aspiring musicians exacerbated by cuts to funding of the arts into a creative opportunity.
First all the broken instruments were gathered and the curtailed range of the sounds that they could still produce (violins with missing or no strings or hopelessly mangled brasses) were sampled and a concert was scored—a cacophonous, haunting preview can be heard at the link up top—and through proceeds and patronage, all the instruments were adopted and rehabilitated. The attention that the broken orchestra drew also made it possible to install an instrument repair workshop in each school so they can keep their programmes going in the future and students might learn an additional trade as well.
Saturday 6 May 2017
the admiralty regrets to announce
The repository of one JF Ptak has demonstrated itself time and time again to be a wealth of forgotten ephemera whose detail informs phenomena of greater weight and circumstance, and this pamphlet issued by Nazi Germany in 1941 that was meant to dissuade France from siding with the United Kingdom is no exception.
The standard salutation for bad news coming out of the British navy was “the Admiralty regrets to announce” and was appropriated for this piece of propaganda to demonstrate to its target audience (all in French except for the title) that the UK was unable to meet its own logistics needs in peace time—told through maps and charts, and much less during times of conflict and privation. Find out more about this particular instrument of psychological warfare at the link up top and explore more antiquarian treasures at the book shop.
we’ve got movie sign
mazal tov cocktail or high crimes and misdemeanours
Though no bombshell secrets were revealed when visiting Rabbi Shmuley Boteach shared selfies taken with Dear Leader’s chief strategist and notable human hรฆmorrhoid posed before a whiteboard in a conference room of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that contained a long list of campaign pledges to make good on, such evidence, we believe, could still be an indictment of sorts by corroborating the regime’s breach of public trust or making the other branches of the US government subaltern to the will of the executive. In any case, do zoom in and scour these images, plus know it always behooves one to be aware of one’s backdrop. Perhaps that bit of workshopping wasn’t meant for public consumption.
Friday 5 May 2017
handbill
Brilliantly promoter Dave Blackhurst, when asked to design a flyer advertising a live music night for a pub in Bridgnorth, realised that the request in text message form spoke for itself and turned the text into the event poster. I just wonder if Mister Blackhurst was too put-upon to return the parting salutation.
coming attractions or it came from the googolplex
Courtesy of Bob Canada and his nephew Kyle, we are treated to a preview of the summer’s block-buster (or lack-lustre) line-up of movies with predictions on how each release will fare in the box-office. What are you most looking forward to seeing? What franchise have you had enough of? Although we don’t think it will be a huge, instant commercial success, we’d wager that Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets will enjoy the longevity of the director’s other films, Lรฉon: The Professional, The Fifth Element and others.
