signal-to-interference ratio

Admittedly, we’ve probably been swooned by one of these viral, catchpenny maps ourselves and so really appreciated the person who, especially against the backdrop of the scope and scale of the disinformation campaigns launched to destabilise the US and other elections coming to light, rallied against the preponderance of dumb comparative charts. Whether or not any research went into their design is almost immaterial relative to the apparent provocative powers they’re accorded—seemingly an inescapable guarantor and fomentor of contention over an idiotic claim or accusation. This ought not be the conversation that we ought to be having but apparently this is what we’ve come to.

nia una menos

Via the ever brilliant Kottke, we learn that Peru held their national beauty competition over the weekend and contestants instead of disclosing to the judging panel their vitals (body measurements) according to the pageant’s expected script instead choose to recite statistics on violence against women in their country. Winner Romina Lozano took the opportunity to highlight trafficking victims.

arrangiarsi

We highly recommend dallying over this short lexical review of some very expressive Italian words. Our particular favourites—all to a letter new to us—were schifoso, a really visceral way to state one’s disgust, and the seemingly overly complicated asciugamano, a portmanteau of the dry plus hand that translates to towel, but nonetheless fun to say. What would you nominate? The post’s title is another useful one that means to muddle through, to get by.

6x6

geodes: unique, computer-generated jigsaw puzzles inspired by geological formations

plot twist: cinematic storyboards told in maps

roskomnadzor: Russian law outlawing virtual private networks (VPNs) used to circumvent state-imposed censorship and corporate-imposed regionalisms is coming into effect, via Slashdot

💅: introducing Tabloid Art History, a journal that explores the relationship between popular culture  and the appreciation of classic masterpieces

celadon: there was once a colour considered so rare and beautiful that only the privileged were allowed to look upon it

haute couture: post World War II Paris reclaimed its status as the world fashion capital by staging fashion shows with dolls to save on fabric, which was in short supply

entrêpot

On the return leg of a recent trip, Jason Kottke was treated to a windshield tour of Geneva (Genf) and introduced to the city’s Freeport that is located at an private airfield annex off the main commercial runway.
The notion having a place to store goods not subject to taxation is an old one (examples here and here) but until recent times such warehousing was reserved for staples destined for the market and imminent resale and not as a tax-haven for the perversely wealthy to speculate and horde treasures until it becomes favourable again to trade amongst themselves. There’s a short documentary and more information at the link up top. Discretion being amongst the chief enticements of the Swiss facility (there are others, of course, and probably this idea of creating exclaves beholden to no tax jurisdiction will spread), no one can say for certain what all is stored in the Freeport but there seems to be agreement that were it a museum, it would be amongst the largest. As if frustrating the art world by making so many priceless works inaccessible (plus some looted patrimony) weren’t criminal enough, the building is neighbouring the old army barracks where political refugees are housed when they first arrive in Switzerland—sheltering next to the place where the despots and their associates they fled hide their fortunes.

shelfies

Translated literally as “books and things,” the tradition of painting depictions of one’s possessions—real and aspirational—is called chaekgeori (책거리) in Korean and reaches back to the Joeson dynasty.
These panels reflect near a one-to-one scale of the bookshelves that they portray and the items—symbols of status and education—are meticulously arranged. Despite the relative unknown status of the art form in Western traditions, it has nonetheless been influential, I believe, and also shows—counter to the notion that Asia society was insular and closed—that souvenirs and keepsakes from abroad were among the most treasured artefacts. Be sure to visit Hyperallergic at the link above for a whole gallery of chaekgeori screens and to learn more. 

stargate/sunstreak

Incredibly, as the investigative team at Muckrock discover, the presence of a brochure for the creepy-looking Buffalo Bill Wax Museum among the cache of declassified material from the Central Intelligence Agency has an even more bizarre reason for its inclusion. Not just hoarders of ephemera, they kept the historic document of the exhibition as it was decades ago in hopes of teasing out evidence of not just extra-sensory perception but also time-travelling abilities. What exactly was behind the choice of this chance culture touchstone (or rather, shibboleth) is unclear.

procrustean bed

Reading about how medical research and treatment can at times be prone to assigning arbitrary standards and causation to particular diagnoses and projected outcomes that risks spoiling the investigation by latching itself to the serviceable led us to learn about a mutilating, rather gruesome classical metaphor: a Procrustean bed. A son of the sea god Poseidon, Procrustes was a highway man and demented blacksmith who ran a hostel on the trail between Athens and Eleusis. Inviting pilgrims to stop and rest, the demigod would show his guests to their accommodations, a bed that was inevitable too big or small for the hapless traveller. Procrustes would then proceed to adjust his guests to fit, stretching them tortuously or whittling them down to size. The hero Theseus finally dispatched this menace as his sixth and final labour by putting the monster to his own rack. Despite its horror-story roots, the reference is invoked quite a bit and in addition to the above criticism levied against medical science, the European Union in its relations to its member states is sometimes described as the same sort of arrangement. The notion of one size fitting all or reverse-tailoring also occurs in geometry and statistical analysis where data is chosen selectively in order to prove a proposition. Television editors also call on Procrustes when they are faced with the sore task of having to cut for time.