liner notes

Can our government be competent? Jimmy Carter says yes! More here.

game of domes

The Russian armed forces are soliciting donations to build (in record time—to be completed by the 2020 seventy-fifth anniversary of the end of World War II) a massive cathedral in Patriot Park. Meant to unite and inspire the Russian people, this planned symbol of the role of the Orthodox Church in the army reminds some of the establishing shots of Westeros in the Game of Thrones or an anti-flak battery. Learn more and find more reporting from foreign bureaus at the BBC’s News from Elsewhere at the link above.

cone of uncertainty

As another potentially deadly and destructive hurricane is poised to ravage the eastern seaboard, Trump is expressing doubts about the death toll in Puerto Rico from last year’s Hurricane Maria, saying that Democrats have inflated numbers in order to make him look bad. We don’t want to draw more attention to this unslaking narcissist and his unabashed departures from reality but this particular lie especially insulting and emblematic of his revolting behaviour in that Trump is only willing to recognise and honour only one victim: himself.

centre of gravity

In 1910 inventor Antonio Biehl of El Paso Texas registered a patent for an advertising chair of the rocking variety whose back and forth motions caused a mechanism to scroll through a series of sponsored notices. Presumably such seating accommodations might be featured in the reception area of doctors’ offices or other antechambers and demonstrates that our age isn’t the first to pervasively plaster advertisements or to recognise them as a necessary nuisance and counter-balance to creativity.