7x7

see? it’s ok. he saw it on the television: sophist and spokesliar Huckabee emblematically argues that Trump can’t be racist because of his long, illustrious career on t.v.

raupe des monats: an 1837 German guide on caterpillars that introduces them calendar-wise through the year

bloodhound gang: in the mid-70s an Ohio public library experimented with a fragrance- based card catalogue system that associated scents with different sections and encouraged readers to follow their noses
 
mystic krewe: Swedish artist Bror Anders Wikstrom brought fantastic symbolism to Mardi Gras revelry

infinite regression: animated examples of the Droste effect on packaging

philogrobilized: a celebration of outmoded English words (citations needed) just as resonant today as in the past

mi, a name i call myself: an illustrated history of the constructed language Solresol where words are formed from musical notes

rogue one

As Phil Plait extols the fact that rogue—or rather free-floating—planets ejected from their metropolitan stars (previously) have moved rather quickly from the realm of the theoretical and stuff of science-fiction to confirmed entities, most likely numerous, is cause for humanity to step back and not only bask a bit in our accomplishments but also reconfigures our perspective.
Space is still surely vast and there’s great emptinesses between our stellar buoys but what if nomadic worlds outnumber the stars. Given the bounty of exoplanets that we know to be out there, it stands to reason that we will encounter civilisations through archæology and artefacts, but it does give one pause to imagine that our first contact—so to speak—is with the ghostly and haunted. It isn’t a forgone conclusion that a wandering planet would necessarily be a sterile fossil, however, since astronomers have also found that in at least one instance (and on cosmological scales, it seems to be the exception that proves the rule) that a planet can retain its satellites and a moon—of sufficient size—could be a source of energy via tidal force heating.

gobierno en el exilio

Having already expressed displeasure with the idea that fugitive Carles Puigedemont attempts to take office in absentia, Madrid is now declaring that it will reinstate direct rule on the autonomous community of Catalonia and is summoning his physical presence.
Since the dissolution of the county government during its independence referendum, president Puigedemont has sought political asylum in Belgium, escaping charges of sedition and embezzlement that have resulted in the confinement of nine members of the Catalan cabinet, and is virtually guaranteed to be arrested should he return. During the dictatorship of Francisco Franco that began with civil war in 1939 and lasted until the restoration of the constitutional monarchy in 1975, the succession of presidents of the Generalitat (the executive branch) was maintained abroad in France, Switzerland and México. There is of course no hint of equivalence in this comparison and we’re trying to better acquaint ourselves with this topic but paternalistic tendencies always carry the best of intentions.

strata and stenograph

A Japanese company whose main business is the production of architectural models brings the thrill of seeing of a vision realised to the broader public with the series of ingenious, laser-cut note pads, which as the sheets are used up, the act of taking and passing notes excavates a famous landscape and building ensemble. Be sure to visit Spoon & Tamago at the link above for further information and exquisite omoshiro (meaning interesting or fun) blocks that reveals miniatures of the Osaka castle and the Kiyomizudera Temple (pictured). These would make fine and useful keepsakes, we think, for any landmark.

dugong show

Despite rejection by the scientific and curatorial community as hoaxes, the manufactured chimera known as Fiji mermaids are stubborn objects of fascination and still prized acquisitions in serious collections, as Hyperallergic contributor Allison Meier experienced.
Marketed to the public like sea-monkeys, perhaps some of that enduring celebrity and academic interest can be sourced to that dissonance between expectation and reality. Specimens are even subjected to a rigorous battery of testing, including DNA and x-rays. What do you think? Plenty of reliquaries have sideshow status as well but we wonder if such spectacles and mascots aren’t contributing to the idea of museums as backdrops over places of scholarship and learning. Perhaps the sense of balance is most important.

hallstattzeit

No plunder and tomb-raiding for us of course, but we were taken aback to discover rather casually that there is an ancient Celtic ensemble of burial mounds (Hügelgra- bernfeld) to explore essentially in our backyard. The substantial artefacts and grave-goods recovered here are late iron age and correspond to the ascendency of the Frankish Merovingian dynasty. Apparently this one site is part of a larger trail that extends over sixty kilometres through the region and once the weather turns fairer, I think that that’s a path we’ll embark on.

we have thought proper by these presents, to notify the good citizens of these united states

Though preliminary articles of peace were drawn up by the Continental Congress the previous April, the American Revolutionary War did not officially end until this day in 1784 with the ratification of the Treaty of Paris by the colonies’ assent in the Maryland State House in Annapolis, the then capitol. According to the rules on entering into treaties and accords established in the Articles of Confederation, delegates from at least nine colonies (states) were needed to comprise a quorum but due to the severity of the winter weather, only seven were present and it seemed unlikely any more could make the arduous journey.
The reason that more than a simple majority was stipulated and the cause for Thomas Jefferson’s insistence was that with only a bald majority’s acquiescing, Britain could later reasonably declare the terms of the treaty invalid and renege on the deal. Going ahead with just seven and compromising constitutional law this early on in the nation’s history was, according to Jefferson, a dishonourable prostitution of the Great Seal of the United States. Finally, a deal was reached whereby a stay of three months would be requested until such time as other representatives could arrive, or that if Great Britain were to sue for immediate resolution, that the matter be agreed to with seven members but without the competency of precedence nor of the legislature.

orange julius

It’s true what they say about history repeating—the first time as tragedy and then as farce what with the US and the rest of the world being terrorised now by another soi-disant intellectual-heir and all around hate-mongerer it might be profitable to inspect another Federal Bureau of Investigations casefile that documents the rise and fall of Fritz Julius Kuhn, the would-be American Fuhrer, steadfast despite a tepid reception by the actual Führer of Nazi Germany who wanted nothing to do with him. Founder of the explicitly fascist political organisation called the German-American Bund, Fritz went on to in 1939 make arrangements for and headline that terrifying and infamous rally at Madison Square Garden.
Hoping to avoid further demonstrations, New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia enlisted the help of the bureau to look into the already suspect finances of the Bund and found that Kuhn had not only embezzled and absconded with a rather paltry portion of the organisation’s funds to retain the affections of his mistress, Kuhn also used it as a vehicle for tax avoidance and tax evasion. Kuhn was sent to Ossining Correctional Facility (Sing Sing prison) for a two-year stint, which was extended after a genius but unrealised plan of his to extort money from a wealthy toiletries heiress (who happened to be Jewish with family in Germany) was discovered. In 1943 while still behind bars, Kuhn was stripped of his American citizenship and repatriated to West Germany in 1945, dying obscure and forgotten in 1951 in Munich.