thurn und taxis

Breaking with a one hundred and forty-four year old convention that regulates postal rates world-wide in order to prevent barriers to entry by poorer nations and promote the ease of cross border communication and commerce, Trump is signalling that the US will withdraw from the treaty that legitimised and continued the Universal Postal Union, an arrangement that has fully one hundred and ninety three signatories with the four outlying states relying on other members to execute their mail delivery.
Drafted at a time when European powers were dominant exporters and much of Asia was agrarian society (also kind of a myth borne out of the idea of exceptionalism), the US believes the conditions of the treaty disadvantages American business by subsidising shipments from China and flooding markets with cheaper wares. Prior to the agreement, countries needed to negotiate separate treaties and issue stamps for each leg of the missive’s journey, often outsourcing mail delivery to forwarding agents under conditions and protocols created during the sixteenth century by the Lombard-German royal house referenced in the title. The US was already given the dispensation to dictate rates for large packages but small parcels (under two kilogrammes—in keeping with the union’s original charter to establish a uniform and affordable flat-rate across currencies and purchasing-parity for sending letters and vendors’ samples) were under the jurisdiction of the international body. The proliferation of on-line shopping translated to opportunities for retail sellers. What do you think?  Maybe the house of Thurn & Taxis were the original postal Illuminati but this recent investigation on the treaty and the Universal Postal Union from Planet Money is helpful and comprehensive primer for understanding what is at stake.

children’s television workshop

Coudal Partners’ Fresh Signals refers us to a rather outstanding biography of Caroll Edwin Spinney that comes to us on the occasion of the actor announcing after just short of fifty years of playing the roles his intention.
Jim Henson discovered Spinney at a puppetry festival held in Salt Lake City in the state of Utah in 1969 and impressed with his act invited him to join the cast of a project that he was starting up by the name of Sesame Street, creating the characters Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. Dissatisfied with his salary initially, Spinney was poised to leave after the first season but fellow Muppet performer Kermit Love, who had himself besides not unfortunately being the namesake of the franchise’s master-of-ceremonies gotten his introduction to the craft by dint of employment as marionette maker in the federal Works Progress Administration, convinced him to stay, responsible for the design of not only Spinney’s roles but also Mister Snuffelupagus and Cookie Monster.

momma dollar and papa dollar

Observed in the third Thursday of October since 1948, International Credit Union Day recognising the importance of financial cooperatives globally in terms of advocacy, solidarity and engagement that’s not shared and often undercut by banks and traditional for-profit institutions.
Sponsored by the World Council of Credit Unions, the timing could be in approximate deference to nineteenth century German statesman and economist Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzch’s (previously) departure from the Prussian National Assembly in October 1851 to devote his time and energy to the foundation and development of people’s banks (Vorschussvereine). By the time of his death in April of 1883, there were over three thousand branches across the Germany Empire, Russia, Austria, Belgium and Italy.

7x7

dance dance revolution: Waxy reminds us of the classic Gif Dance Party and directs us to an updated 3D version

colloquium: trippy 1974 poster from UC Berkley announcing a special lecture on artificial intelligence

redundancies: a hauntingly deserted fully automated warehouse operation in Japan

gustatory perception: a museum in Malmo showcasing the world’s most reviled food items invites a conversation on the nature of revulsion and taste (relatedly)

seven square miles: a bird’s eye view of various vistas around the world from the Atlantic’s Alan Taylor

event horizon: a good primer on the project to use the Earth as a giant telescope to image the super-massive black hole in the centre of the Milky Way

uptown spot: a twerking Boston Dynamics’ robot dog challenges us to a dance-off 

dogs playing poker

The latest addition to Everlasting Blört’s expansive tribute Donald Trump is a piece of artwork that’s actually hanging in the White House—minus the Hieronymus Bosch (previously) background that lends an aesthetic merit not otherwise present.

The White House curatorial team has access to collections from museums around the world and can request any number of pieces be loaned for display on the walls of the residence and take the job of decorating quite seriously, given the symbolism and geopolitical undertones art can convey. The Republican Club (see the original here with the subjects labelled, Trump seated at a table joined by Richard Nixon, Abraham Lincoln, George W Bush, Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower—but caution as there is an accompanying video that automatically plays) somehow snuck in. Incidentally, the anonymous out of focus woman in the actual background of the painting represents the first Republican female president. Get more Daily Donald at Everlasting Blört here and at the link up top.