standing order sixty-six

With the Trumpian effects of time distortion already punching holes in the fabric of reality, it’s scarcely possible to believe that this week marks a year since Theresa May ascended to the post of Prime Minister and leader of the UK’s Conservative Party after the passage of the Brexit referendum.
May’s professed political world view is rooted in the paternal and pragmatic philosophy of Benjamin Disraeli whose leadership informed what’s called One-Nation conservatism that while retaining the class system strongly advocated noblesse oblige and social justice for the disadvantaged and that indifference and apathy for inequities would result in violent revolution. Nonetheless, Disraeli’s agenda was oriented towards expanding the Empire and inspired fierce ideological battles from fellow populist William Ewart Gladstone who coined the term “Little England” to refer to the metropolitan Britain without its colonies beyond the seas. We’ll see what the future brings for incumbent and country.

6x6

sidebar conversation: company releases custom cellular phone to commemorate the meeting of US-Russo leadership on the sidelines of the G-20 summit

bucket-list: holding more than ten billion photographs, a hosting website is extorting uploaders by changing exorbitant fees to link to old images, effectively erasing great, historic swaths of the internet, via Super Punch

your daily donald: Iranian website sponsors a Dear Leader caricature contest, via Everlasting Blört

acme corporation: Chicago graffiti artist creates a Wile E Coyote and Road-Runner storyboard

sacré dépanneur: Nag on the Lake shares an appreciation of the Québécois neighbourhood corner shop—which comes from the verb “to troubleshoot”

better with the broom complicate: a neural network (previously here, here, here and here) tries to write titles and synopsises for Harry Potter fan fiction

around the horn

We’ve known for some time that the fall of the Byzantine Empire—precipitated by the Ottomans’ taking of Constantinople—in May of the year 1453 was an event chronically adjacent to the dawn of the age of exploration with Christopher Columbus’ voyages in 1492 and Vasco da Gama’s five years later (preceding both and inspiring the success of his fellow countryman subsequently was Bartlolomew Diaz). We, however, failed to recognise the collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire and the blockade of overland routes to Asia directly, like the series of Crusades to recapture the Holy Land of Middle Ages and safeguard caravans of pilgrims, was aimed to re-establish trade-routes severed by Muslim occupation.

Unlike what Marco Polo had done a century prior, one could no longer walk to India and China and so a sea-route was sought in order to satiate those willing to spend exorbitant amounts of wealth on exotic spices and silks. Exchanges of goods and culture still continued by the Venetians, with whom the Ottomans had developed a business-relationship, but no one else thought that that maritime empire should enjoy a monopoly on supply. Betting that the globe was in fact smaller than Greek geomancers calculated, Columbus first embarked on a route to the East by going west and never realised that his progress had been arrested by two intervening continents, it was da Gama that actually reached the Orient first by sailing around the southern horn of Africa and on to Asia—prompting the Pope to negotiate a treaty decreeing all lands outside of Europe belong to one of the two Iberian kingdoms. The line of demarcation was the Cape Verde Islands (Repùblica de Cabo Verde) and everything to the West belonged to Spain, whilst (inclusive their colony on the archipelago) belonged to Portugal—stopping at Cuba and Hispaniola, and while repudiated many times over the centuries basically held until colonial ambitions for all of the European powers erupted. Though the Byzantine capital was subject to many sieges in over a milleuium until its fall—it took the Ottoman forces’ knowledge of gunpowder from the Chinese to breach the city’s defences, it had resisted capture until the fifteenth century and kept open the lines of communication between the West and East. One wonders if that if the old logistical network hadn’t become a less than ideal option, then would there have been an impetus for exploration.

resting rich face

A rather wide-spread study has revealed that our default, neutral facial posture can reflect a lot about our socio-economic well-being.
So far results are only slightly better than random but as discerning glances become more sophisticated (and ethnographers do think that there is some subtly in expression that human intuit) this will become another factor for algorithms to exploit as a gauge for credit-worthiness or even if it’s worth the return on investment for you to be in this or that particular store or be allowed to take a holiday as planned as an under-contributor. What do you think? If we are to trust technology to help us improve our lot and be willing to work collaboratively with it, the process should be a transparent one—even if we’re growing too dumb to have it explained in terms we can understand. If our expressions do carry artefacts of our past and class upbringing, those shouldn’t be leveraged against us.

inveigle

Bdelygmia (thanks to TYWKIWDBI for enhancing our vocabulary) is the name for a rhetorical term that’s an appeal to the emotions that signifies more or less what one would expect from such a retching sounding word: a litany of abuse, a heap of insults.
From the Greek for filthiness, it’s a series of carefully crafted epithets (sloppy constructions generally fail to sustain a feeling of enmity with the audience and can often backfire, portraying the name-caller as cruel or juvenile) meant to engender hatred for the maligned target and channel the threat of physical violence. An example of a harsh but not provoking invective comes from lyricist and populariser of the limerick Edward Lear in ranting about a noisy neighbour to a confidant in 1859, “A vile, beastly, rottenheaded, foolbegotten, brazenthroated, pernicious, piggish, screaming, tearing, roaring, perplexing, splitmecrackle, crashmecriggle, insane ass of a woman is practising howling below-stairs with a brute of a singingmaster so horribly that my head is nearly off.” It’s a standard device employed in factional politics and the weapon of choice for bullies of all venues, though most contemporary instances of bdelygmia are not so persuasive. No matter what sort sophistry and abominations are deployed, it is not rhetoric if it does not attempt to reach out to an audience to change minds and win support. Effectively only re-enforcing convictions already held is mere artlessly dangerous pandering and can move anyone to violence so disposed.

contrived durability oder tinker, tailor

Via Boing Boing, we learn that admirably the EU is taking further strides against institutionalised obsolescence with a guaranteed right to seek repair rather than disposal and replacement. Rather than supporting the status quo model of leasing that infantilises and confounds consumers with terms and conditions that bundle service contracts together and require any attempt to remedy a problem be conducted by authorised dealers, Europe is putting together a charter that awards companies who reduce waste and don’t sell people a ball and chain along with a car or a coffee-maker, stipulating an accepted, universal definition of built-in obsolescence, the ability to (while maintaining safety standards) upgrade and make modifications, untangling replaceable components like operating software, lightbulbs and batteries and encouraging general durability.