deceptive cadence

The always marvellous Nag on the Lake brings us a pleasant performance of the first digits of the mathematical constant π composed for piano by David Macdonald in the key of A minor.
The music is underscored with a series of factoids about the number, including the supposition that every possible sequence of numbers—a string of perfectly consecutive numbers, lottery winners, one’s past and future cell phone numbers—is contained in the infinite series but it’s never proven until calculated out, many argue. That piece of knowledge made me recall that I’ve encountered this quandary before—formalised as the Kate Bush Conjecture, wherein the singer on a 2005 album sings π to seventy-eight decimal places before skipping ahead to the one hundred thirty-seventh. The theory was advanced, arguing that that sequence would be found somewhere within the number, just not at the beginning. Infinite yet non-random, π is suspected to have that property though it remains unproven.

retronautics institute

First introduced at last year’s Geneva Motor Show, the darling little Microlino electro-auto by Swiss designer Wim Ouboter evokes the bubble chassis of the BWM Isetta of the 1950s. Priced at twelve thousand euros, the company is slated to reach its production goal of five thousand by the year’s end.

optics

Though Dear Leader was more than willing to levy an unfounded claim that the past administration was somehow spying on his activities via microwaves, he seemed to take no expectation with the idea that a cunning Russian agent posing as a journalist, unescorted and given exclusive access to the Oval Office, might have been capable of smuggling in a surveillance device.
Also, please do discount the fact that the photo-op was on the occasion of the Russian foreign minister and ambassador meeting Dear Leader for the first time—just fresh from firing the FBI director spearheading the investigation into Russian interference in the US presidential election and the same ambassador figures large in that network of associations. Stultifyingly, Dear Leader’s next engagement was to appear with the reanimated toad and noted war criminal Henry Kissinger whose superior’s modus operandi was compared to Dear Leader’s recent behaviour by a lot of people in many different forums.

xylotheque

The intrepid explorers of Amusing Planet introduce us to a very special sort of “book” depository curated in locations across Europe and beyond that began with the advent of modern forestry in the eighteenth century.
Botanists began forming libraries whose stacks contained wooden books that were compartments that held the twigs, fruit, root and bark samples of different sorts of trees—ξύλον being Greek for wood and θήκη a library. The word book in English itself is a cognate of the Germanic word for the beech tree, with early writing carved on blocks of wood. The pictured shelf is part of the Schildback Xylotheque located in the city of Kassel and there’s much more to be found at the link up top.

numismatica

In a bid to boost tourism and to celebrate its heritage as mint of the Roman Empire, the volcanic island of Ischia will be issuing its own artisanal coins based on the historic tender cast in the ancient metal-works.
To be used alongside the common currency, in the village of Ponte they will have a face-value of twelve euro but surely many will be taken out of circulation as souvenirs. Often overlooked due to its proximity to glamourous Capri, the island where Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra was filmed hopes to show to the world it has a lot on offer. Visit the link up top for more information about the coins and take a virtual tour of Ischia.

campaign of paper terrorism

Chillingly, Dear Leader has fired Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) director James Comey, citing via social media and through his majordomo returned after an extended leave of absence on the grounds of the director’s mishandling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server for work emails whilst Secretary of State. Decried by Republicans and Dear Leader for his initial assessment in the summer of 2016 that the disposition of her communications while not advisable, Clinton’s actions resulted in no breech of national security.  Lordy, then the director infamously choose to reopen the investigation weeks ahead of the November election on the basis of new evidence.
Though the investigation ultimately reaffirmed the initial judgment, that decision along with Russian interference potentially cost Clinton the election. In the first few months of his reign, Dear Leader praised Comey—and unlike other appointments that were hold-overs from the past administration that were dismissed for questioning the legality of his decrees or probing into Dear Leader’s business associations, the director continued to serve at his pleasure and praised for his long record of faithful service. To ensure that the FBI has a degree of independence, the bureau’s directors are appointed to a ten-year tenure and have been mostly considered untouchable—like many of the career bureaucrats that make up the permanent government. Dear Leader is trying to dismantle that support system, denigrating civil servants—especially those with the courage of conviction to stand up and oppose him. This will not be the end of Dear Leader’s purge because no elected officials in the ruling party dare cross their constituency and this cowardice trickles down, making those who would resist reluctant and unwilling to risk their livelihoods. Dear Leader is calling for an end to the investigation over Russia’s meddling and pattern of destabilisation and will surround himself with more supplicants and sycophants to ensure that his tinpot dictatorship is glorious and eternal one.