fine dining

Unfortunately, the US Sh*t Poster in-chief is an influencer and is setting—unsurprisingly—an atrocious example with his dietary predilections, which is a resounding endorsement for the processed, nutritionally vacuous and brandable foods that he’s chosen to limn the limits of his palette.
Such a cycle of meals only serve to keep us indentured to the systems underlying it: an economy bolstered by mcjobs, precarious and underserving healthcare that’s over burdened in part by lack of choices (though Dear Dotard could avail himself of any number of gourmet repasts and one would assume exercises his taste to leverage guests with dinner table diplomacy) and the pharmacopeia to stave off the deleterious effects of such a lifestyle. Hopefully, most of us have matured beyond this stage of being a finicky eater and perhaps like other unwelcome commendations and subsidies, people will further distance themselves from this short list of go-to franchises.

loose-lips

We appreciated the message, style and provenance of this series of UK World War II propaganda posters circulated in 1940 in order to impress upon the public the importance of avoiding idle talk and over-sharing, since someone was always listening and even seemingly innocuous details (which we’re want to spread despite ourselves for the chance to pique and leverage the interest of our cohort) could be aggregated into rather circumspect intelligence on plans and operations. We see who’s eavesdropping on the after work conversion of our pub-goers, and given the number of secrets still surfacing, I think that the campaign was on balance a successful one.

6x6

media obsolescence: a personalised nostalgic romp through which ‘tech world’ informed your formative years, via Things Magazine

temperance: a 1908 map that charts insobriety across England

don’t make them like they used to: after nearly four decades of dormancy, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent Voyager 1 course-correcting instructions—from twenty-one billion kilometres away, and the little probe complied

petard hoist much: why a legislative victory on tax reform could furnish the Republican party with exactly what it needs to abandon Dear Leader

vizard: bizarre sixteenth and seventeenth century fashion trend of obscuring the female visage with a featureless black dot to preserve the skin from the sun and errant glances

#otd: the US senate voted overwhelmingly to censure colleague Joseph R McCarthy in 1954 for his persecution of ruthless investigations of thousands of alleged Communists which brought dishonour and disrepute on the government

stairwell of the quarter

We had a similar response when first encountering this architectural conceit called an alternating tread stairway—that the designer had a flair for the MC Escheresque. Then I realised what an elegant solution to a practical problem of staircases either taking up too much floor space or needing too much clearance when room is at a premium. By having these dual treads to climb up (which I would imagine negotiating confidently might take some practice), each step does not have to be incredibly steep and narrow or—without this design element, the construction would extend out twice as far into the hallway. Be sure to visit the source up top to find out more.