inbetweening

As a follow on to the celebration of the career of artist and typographer Herb Lubalin, as Coudal Partners reports, day forty-one features animated titles he created in the early 1970s for the US Public Broadcasting System. A team of graphic designers and musicians at Cooper Union have recreated the lost opening sequences based on the archived keyframes that one can find at the project’s website and the link above, plus the chance to explore weeks’ worth of other tributes with more to come.

hot air

Coming to terms with how damaging that plastic debris is for the environment and considering how helium is becoming a scarce resource, we were surprised to learn that there’s a powerful balloon lobby, as Super Punch informs, that has successful blocked legislation in forty-nine of fifty states that would outlaw outdoor balloon releases that punctuate political victories, weddings and other celebrations. While the industry council, whose managed to buy off politicians of all ilks, does not actively encourage balloon releases, it fears that codifying a ban would stigmatise consumers and hurt small businesses.

head-over-heels

(More than) Just a Car Guy introduces us to an unusual model of bicycle called the Velocino designed in 1933 by Bolognesi engineer Ernesto Pettazzoni at the behest of Benito Mussolini, who wanted a compact urban vehicle that could be easily stored. The semi-recumbent assembly had a normal-sized rear wheel and tiny one in the front, with adjustable, opposing handle-bars that made under seat steering a possibility. I doubt I’d ever have the confidence to navigate such a set-up at speed.

panmunjom

nightingale floors

Amusing Planet introduces us to the ancient Japanese method for detecting intruders by fitting corridors with specialized flooring that squawked and chirped when trod across. Employed in select temples and palaces, these nightingale floors (鴬張り, uguisubari) were designed with special joints within the floorboards that move and rub against the clamps when pressure is applied. Learn more about where you can experience the cleverly crafted floors yourself and listen to them the warbling sound at the link above.

autozam

Writing for Ars Technica, Devin Holody gives us a nice, circumspect primer on the strange and stunning Japanese domestic automotive market that due to administrative embargoes and stringent inspection standards that have no mercy for vintage cars matriculate to the US market after a significant waiting period that lends new-arrivals this fantastic air of nostalgia.
Though used models filter in elsewhere around the world (we’ve encountered some twee and tiny Subarus), Japanese drivers giving up on their older cars earlier than most, motivated by those frequent check-ups, exports to America are subject to a twenty-five year wait due to a 1988 safety compliance act that blocks the importation of foreign cars that weren’t originally meant for American roads. The guide is full of glorious images of the latest class of quarter century-old cars that can now be acquired by people living in the US and has plenty of tips and resources to connect interested-parties.

fomo or the diderot effect

Our gratitude to Open Culture once again for enlightening and equipping us with a dual-pronged sociological term that was coined by anthropologist Grant McCracken to describe the phenomena of consumption spiraling out of control called the Diderot Effect.
Named after sixteenth century encyclopedist and philosopher Denis Diderot who first described the mechanism that’s similar to the notion of buyers’ remorse, he experienced personally upon regretting for having parted with his old dressing gown, not merely for having indulged in the purchase of fancy loungewear but how the new garment’s fineness clashed with the rest of his wardrobe and made everything else feel a bit tawdry. The only way to remedy this feeling of unease was to get more new clothes leading him to discount the rest of his possessions in a vicious cycle of upgrading that left him bankrupt—financially and morally. The compulsion for rampant and senseless consumption plus ostentatious brinksmanship of course negatively impact the environment and undermines the collective psychology, and it is bound to only be more out of control when people are more and more immersed in a platform designed to optimise the unease of missing out and make one feel inadequate.

嫦娥

Like its counterpart Apollo, the Chinese lunar exploration programme has a divine namesake and their space agency has presented an ambitious plan to turn a bit of lore into reality with its aim to construct a “palace” near the Moon’s south pole by 2030. The lunar base or rather tubular palace is in reference to the abode of the immortal Chang’e (嫦娥)—a rather reluctant goddess, who had divinity thrust upon her, estranging her from her mortal husband.
In the distant past, ten suns came to dominate the skies and threatened to scorch the Earth, but the heroic archer Yi shot down all but one, saving the planet. As reward, the gods gave Yi a single portion of the elixir of life, which would render the imbiber undying. Yi didn’t want to live forever if he could not be with his beloved wife Chang’e, so hid the potion. One of the archer’s apprentices, however, attacked Chang’e while her husband was out hunting and tried to force her to give him the elixir, and overpowered, Chang’e escaped by the only means she had—drinking the potion herself. Instead of allowing herself to ascend to the highest heaven in the company of the other gods, Chang’e settled on the Moon to be as close to her husband as possible. Inconsolable, her only companion for the past four millennia has been a white rabbit Yutu—which was the name of the rover vehicle that was delivered to the Moon’s surface by the mission Chang’e 3 when mankind returned to the satellite for the first time in nearly four decades in December of 2013. Read more about the programme at the link up top.