XD

Though there are quite a few antecedents and parallel traditions, on this day in 1982 Carnegie-Mellon computer scientist Scott Fahlman first proposed the use of the emoticons :-) and :-( to mark tone in electronic communications, posting his recommendation to the university’s bulletin board.

Quite a separate species from emoji—another convention popularised by derived from Japanese culture called kaomoji (顔文字, literally a “face character,” something whose meaning becomes clear when one tilts one’s head), the first use of an emoticon in Western media (though some argue that it is a typographical error) is a 1862 transcript of a speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln in the New York Times, “Fellow citizens: I believe there is no precedent for my appearing before you on this occasion, [applause] but it is also true that there is no precedent for your being here yourselves, (applause and laughter ;)” Whether or not this was intentional, by the next appearance of emoticons in print in an 1881 edition of Puck magazine—suggesting that the type-setting department could do fine on its own and manage without cartoonists.

sans-culottes

Our thanks to the ever brilliant Nag on the Lake for showing us this rather macabre pair of earrings whose cachet would have been quite pervasive in fashion and culture during the French Revolution. A Phrygian or liberty cap, the head gear of manumitted enslaved individuals of ancient Greece and Rome, is perched a top a guillotine, a symbol of the “Reign of Terror” that took place between June 1793 and July 1794, with the decapitated but still crowned heads of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI dangling below—executed “democratically” along with over sixteen thousand others.

Protocol for capital crimes in the Ancien Régime dictated that method of execution was determined by the social status of the guilty, with beheadings reserved for nobility. On 9 October 1789, member of the Assemblée Nationale Constituante, the revolutionary government, Dr Joseph-Ignace Guillotin commissioned a form of execution that was both brutally efficient and egalitarian—upholding the invention of one surgeon named Antoine Louis. Louis in turn engaged a sub-contractor, a Prussian piano maker named Tobias Schmidt, to build the device. Afterwards, Schmidt and Louis tried to patent their invention that they referred to as a Petite Louison but their application was denied because to grant a monopoly on something lethal would be forfeiting all humanity. I wonder what sort of keepsakes will be popular the next time they come with pitchforks.

binnenluik

A clever artisan in Brooklyn by the name of Rae Swon, as Hyperalleric reports, has successfully buzz-marketed one of her latest creations by modeling it in the subway.
Inspired by a detail from early fourteenth century work by Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch (previously here and here) who depicted the trope of the mental and spiritual torments suffered by Saint Anthony in triptych form. The visions that Anthony, hailed as the father of monasticism and the champion of facing one’s own demons experienced visited him during his pilgrimage in the desert and included encounters with a centaur and satyr but to my knowledge there is no lore (that is remembered anyway, as I am sure it was some sort of timely reference) tied to the ice-skating beastly bird with a sealed letter in its beak.  

sonderfahrt

Produced by French manufacturer Alstom, the rail route between the towns of Cuxhaven and Buxtehude is now being serviced by the world’s first pair of hydrogen (Wasserstoff) powered commercial locomotives.
Capable of travelling upwards of one thousand kilometres per fuelling at speeds comparable to the old diesel trains they are replacing, this demonstration project—a particularly practical one for numerous commuters (Pendler) that travel between these cities—emits only steam and water in its exhaust and represents just the first stage of a planned, extended network across Europe.

7x7

critically endangered: Mona Chalabi illustrates species on the brink of extinction by placing them in subway cars, via Nag on the Lake

secret of the selenites: we have the technology and surplus wealth to build a Moon base right now

wallflower: an artist installs a Putin portrait in a Trump hotel suite for a month and no one batted an eye

ballot measures: a consortium of artists create state-by-state voting guides in comics form for upcoming US elections—via Waxy

i preferred the sequel—also sprach Zarathustra: taking a fresh look at the worldview of Friedrich Nietzsche, who suffered no palliatives, in the age of self-help and search for consolation

aurum potable: anti-aging trends and questionable tonics are nothing new

drosophilia titanus: a selective breeding-program to create fruit-flies that could theoretically survive the harsh conditions on Saturn’s largest satellite, prodding some serious ethical and epistemological questions—via Boing Boing

ansible oder zum gedanken an

Moving house and home a few months ago and by sheer dint of having too many things, we had to cull some of our stuff—including a telephone that belonged to H’s grandmother (it’s funny how landlines in general are referred too as granny phones), which I took with the instructions to dispose of it.
Of course, I didn’t do as I was told—mostly because the dial, enigmatically and I still haven’t figured out why, only went up to eight—though there’s slots for the zero and nine. Now that H’s grandmother has recently passed away, I’m glad we held on to her telephone—especially in keeping with this special telephone booth installed in a town ravaged by the tsunami and Fukushima disaster of 2011 to let people commune with those they’ve lost, and perhaps with those that they never got to say goodbye to. I know I’m conflating metaphors and confusing two histories with their own canons but having grown up in the shadow of Colditz castle and having worked there, I associated her story with the series Hogan’s Heroes—which by coincidence premiered in 1965 on the same day as we lost her.