meltdown: a good primer to the security vulnerability revealed in micro-processors
shorttermism: a look at some of the factors driving factory closures despite long-term, sustained viability
kyngreiรฐsluskilyrรฐi: the Icelandic government is determined to close the gender pay gap by making it illegal to set wages for women less than men
curb side: a look into America’s valet parking Olympics
investment instrument: a few ideas on how to spend your bitcoin
the insolence of the young: memorandum circulated as a gag to the staff of the Atlantic in 1973 on repulsive topics is weirdly resonant
the blog is dead, long live the blog: a nice reflection on the practise and pursuit with a kind tribute to the Presurfer
border slash: the US expends over a million dollars annually to maintain a deforested boundary between it and Canada—to ensure that the border is more than an imaginary line, via TYWKIWDBI
Thursday 4 January 2018
8x8
coming attractions
In 1999, two friends uncovered a treasure trove in a Nebraska antiques shop of over sixty thousand letterpress blocks used to advertise films in newspapers. Their two thousand dollar investment which covers nearly the entire history of motion pictures (from the silent-era up until 1984) has been appraised at ten million. At the link above, there is a short documentary that showcases a part of the vast collection.
Wednesday 3 January 2018
ostalgie
Calvert Journal introduces us to the photographic talents of Karol Palka who has carefully curated several living museums that embody the vanishing sheen of Communist-era interiors of his native Poland and former Soviet satellite neighbours. Take a tour of these ambitious and aspirational settings that are certainly worth preserving at the links above.
free association
ars moiendi
Though perhaps the provenance of the observance is a little dodgy, it seems that there is no better day than today to face and reflect on one’s own mortality and to cherish the time we have.
No Hallmark or hashtag holiday this, the phrase and its associated arts and practises memento mori, “remember that you will die” can be traced back to an anecdote recorded by a second century Christian philosopher, a writer named Tertullian (who was also responsible for making the heart the symbol of love), that during a victory parade celebrating a successful military campaign, a slave whispered to the conquering hero something to the effect to attend to the time after your death and remember you’re only a man—as the general was crowned with laurels.
catagories: ๐ญ, holidays and observances
Tuesday 2 January 2018
sacred grove
We appreciate Boing Boing for acquainting us with a quite fine website called Monumental Trees that has aggregated over thirty-thousand outstanding exemplars, whose multilingual platform features a global map of venerable specimens, including one of our local favourites (all trees are great). The catalogue of this living project is growing and invites contributions of particularly aesthetic candidates—though I hope after seeing the destructive potential of fame and beauty, we have a more mature understanding of celebrity and what all Nature does for us.