ducktales

I was intrigued to learn about an episode of German true crime and an unsolved mystery that spanned over six years of extortion, shopping centre bombings, Scrooge McDuck and thankful no fatalities with the story of Arno Martin Franz Funke, a reformed blackmail artist. From his childhood, Funke was a tinkerer and an avid hobby chemist and holding down a series of odd-jobs also discovered a talent for illustrations and painted van art—among other things—to scrape together a living but few lucrative commissions were forthcoming.
Much later while on trial for extortion and public endangerment, it was discovered that the fumes inhaled while working in auto body shops caused some brain damage and perhaps was a contributing factor to the bouts of depression that Funke constantly dealt with—to include the conception of his criminal career. In May of 1988, placing an anonymous call from a pay phone to authorities in West Berlin, Funke demanded a sum of half a million Deutsche Marke from the largest German department store Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) and to prove he was a force to be reckoned with, detonated a bomb in the store after-hours causing serious damage. With the money delivered surreptitiously and investigators having no leads, Funke was able to take a sabbatical and travelled until the cash ran out. Struggling again with his mental state, in 1992 Funke decided to target another chain of department stores in Hamburg and Berlin and quickly became a sensation. Spying an ad in the classifieds that simply read “Uncle Scrooge sends greetings to his nephews” (Onkle Dagobert grüßt seinen Neffen), it imprinted upon Funke as a cryptic message and a clear sign as to whom his alter-ego, his spirit-animal was to be. There were nine more ransoms over the next two years with retailers terrorised and the public, enlisted to help identify this individual captivated with his elusive and technical abilities. Spectacular feats of destruction were pulled off without the loss of life and police had grown obliging in placing the extortion money in lockboxes of Funke’s own design at an agreed upon remote location by train-tracks that would retreat speedily and sleathily along rail to Funke for collection further down the line. There were “Ich bin Dagobert” t-shirts and a novelty rap song singing his praises as a folk-hero. I think that this audacity didn’t make much news outside of Germany, at least to my recollection, because for America was dealing with the Unabomber around the same time, who did not quite fit into the same category. Despite his meticulous efforts to cover his path, regular shopping patterns at an electronics shop eventually led to Funke’s apprehension. After serving his sentence, Funke’s celebrity has seen a resurgence with various appearances on reality television. Moreover, Funke has been a consultant for heist-films, and drawing on his early interest for graphic design has become a regular contributor as caricature artist for the German satire magazine Eulenspiegel, often executing the cover art.

all the glory to hypnotoad

It’s a little astounding to consider what the cultural touchstone with a cult-following that the animated science fiction sitcom Futurama has garnered despite its cancellation after an initial four-season run—later revived and drawn out with three additional non-consecutive ones, especially against the creators’ other series, The Simpsons, which is quickly approaching its third decade on television. We especially enjoyed this primer from the Daily Dot on the outsized number of internet memes (which seem resistant to being coopted by danker, darker agents) that the series inspired and suspect that you will as well.

elfter-elfter

I went to the other bank of the Main river and joined compatriots (despite not dressing up—I’m sure a union suit would have kept me warmer) in the courtyard of the Osteiner Hof of Mainz as we celebrated the beginning of the so-called fifth season, Fasching, that carries one’s spirits through the dreary days of winter all the way through until Lent.

 

emperor’s new clothes

Trying to understand what was driving the seeming profusion of America’s Dumbest Criminals Cornell University psychology professor David Dunning and graduate student Justin Kruger formulated what they termed the “illusion of confidence” to limn a particularly incredulous case ripped from tabloid headlines.
In 1995, a bank-robber reasoned that a liberal splash of lemon juice would render his face invisible to security-cameras—and as dumb as this seems, a quick mental review can probably conjure up other funny and tragic examples of modern day charms and talisman. This leap of hubris came to be known as the Dunning-Kruger effect—describing one’s inability to recognise his or her shortcomings despite ongoing critique and feedback. While all of have veils that were not willing to pull back and would benefit from being disabused, incompetence forever shuts out the possibility for honest self-assessment and flexibility needed for basic performance.

intensifier

Coming across the notice that the Canadian broadcasting standards council has decided that a certain explicative is perfectly acceptable to use in French language programmes because it does not carry the same sense of violence and vulgarity as it does in English parlance and thus remains subject to censorship struck me as amusing and made us recall the unusual and charming curses of the Québécois. What do you think?  Does the lingua franca still have hegemon is a truly bilingual society?

6x6

c/2017 u1: passing interstellar object receives an official designation

cut and paste: a previously unknown Waldseemüller globe gore (a two-dimensional map whose segments are to be put onto a sphere) to be auctioned off, via Nag on the Lake

görliwood: historic German town of Görlitz near the Polish border named best filming location in Europe

a crack in the sky: a cache of recently declassified material on the last time the US conducted atmosphere nuclear tests, via Paleofuture

o brave new world: on the resonances of writing and what comes of surrendered that script—even temporarily

the giving tree: two landscape photographers travel the world to showcase some choice arboreal overachievers