for whom the bell tolls

Currently on display in the operating theatre of Berlin’s Humboldt University, Hyperallergic’s reflection upon experiencing the bleak and forlorn installation of Crystelle Vu’s and Julian Oliver’s “Extinction Gong” is certainly worth your consideration.
A litotic tribute to mark the death of an entire species, a Chao gong decorated with an hourglass annihilation symbol clangs out a sobering, echoing crash every nineteen minutes, calculated to be the average frequency that the Earth loses an insect, animal or plant—known or undiscovered—due to the intervention of humans. Attempts to upgrade the automaton to name and eulogise species as they pass has run into technical difficulties, mounting insult, certainly—but somehow fitting with humanity’s rapaciousness.

calling on, in transit

Having closed down operations once the countries were admitted into the European Union, Radio Free Europe is restarting programming in Romania and Bulgaria due to a sharp increase in the incidence of false reporting in efforts to combat the spread of disinformation.
During the Hungarian Revolt of 1956, Radio Free Europe was accused of stoking revolution by promising that American help was imminent, which was counter to US foreign policy at the time and no intervention was forthcoming—resulting in a major overhaul on how the organisation was administered, geared to protect journalists’ independence and not to promote an agenda. When the country was a Soviet satellite, Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu regarded the station a serious threat and provocateur and waged a campaign of counter-programming with Operation Ether, which included discrediting and assassinating reporters. Though activities have been significantly curtailed since the end of the Cold War, the Prague-based broadcaster maintains some seventeen local bureaus and is present in over twenty-five countries, including Russia (Radio Liberty was the name of the station dedicated to broadcasting to the USSR until the stations merged in 1976), in jurisdictions which the organisation assesses are not fully matured in regards to the unfettered flow of information.

safr

Rather than lobby for better laws governing access and ownership of fire arms, invasive and error-prone facial recognition software is being offered to US school districts, at no cost, to monitor students and staff and ostensibly improve school security.
It’s such a tragedy and disgrace that young children are already inculcated to holding drills in case there’s an intruder with a gun, they deserve far, far better and should not also be inured into a surveillance state where their identity and whereabouts can be telegraphed (and preserved for later) to health insurance providers, debt-collectors or immigration officials.

8x8

constructive-destructive axis: insightful career advice from Steve Jobs

empathy does not equal endorsement: an anthology of presentations on hatred and seeing others as multidimensional beings

life in plastic, it’s fantastic: Barbie presents some sophisticated, inspiring vignettes

badekultur: German photographer Stephan Zirwes showcases public pools from above to reinforce the value of facilities open to all

we are not amused: the Queen telegraphs her feelings through her choice of jewellery (previously)

pure salvage: the 1905 shipwreck of a lost Russian cruiser has been located, purportedly with a cargo of hundreds of tonnes in gold—via Slashdot

hunky dunky: a Spanish digital illustration studio’s refreshing summer diary

garbage in/gorgeous out: aspire to be value-added in all you do 

a fine-tuned machine

Pressed for an answer by his ministry of propaganda, the piece of filth Trump reaffirmed his lack of commitment to the North Atlantic Treat Organisation—despite taking credit for “fixing” the institution after last week’s summit by expressing doubts in the pact’s provision of collective defence—that an attack on one member is an attack on all members, offering up Montenegro as the first concession to Russia. “Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. They are an aggressive people,” Trump said, having shoved the prime minister of the south eastern European republic, formerly part of Yugoslavia, Duško Marković aside to get the best spot for a group photograph at a conference. “They may get aggressive and congratulations, you are in World War III.” Jesus wept.

sophisti-pop

I picked up on the term for a musical sub-genre that resonated with me encountered on a podcast, applied to second wave 80s songs from the UK that integrate soul and jazz elements, often performed with synthesisers and saxophone interludes. Artist classified as sophisti-pop include Swing Out Sister, Sade, Simply Red, Level 42 and the Blow Monkeys.

a family affair

Our faithful chronicler, Doctor Caligari, reports that this day—among many other things—the proclamation in 1917 from King George V to change the family surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in order to distance the royal family from a rather serious internecine spat amongst the extended family.
Also on this day in the following year, George’s cousin Nicholas and his family were assassinated by Bolshevik revolutionaries in Yerkaterinburg, the Romanovs having been deposed during the October Revolution and sent into internal exile. This day in 1945 also marks the start of the two week Potsdam conference, convened by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Harry Truman, coming together to decide on the administration of defeated Nazi Germany and post-war order.

seetroën

Via Weird Universe, we discover what’s purported to by the first spectacles that help to recalibrate and re-orient the senses and reduce incidents of motion sickness and vertigo through a meniscus of flowing liquid that is interpreted by the brain as level ground—introduced by French automobile manufacturer Citroën.
It’s a clever idea that apparently works, but it also strikes me as finding a remedy for the intolerance for reading or consulting one’s devices while in a moving vehicle to which a bit of nausea seems like a natural and healthy consequence. From the Greek for seasickness, the feeling arises as a defence against having accidentally eaten neurotoxins, eliciting what the brain understands as hallucination, feeling motion but not seeing it, and encourages one’s stomach to reject what was last put into it. That said, I know others suffer from it acutely, over screen-time or not, and hope that they can get some relief from these glasses.