herbaceous

For those of you living in jurisdictions that have not legalised the production and use of marijuana, Modern Farmer (really a publication that we ought to learn to check with more regularity) comes to the rescue with seven suggested smokable, easy to cultivate plants that you can grow that are perfectly legal, perfectly safe and perfectly boring.  Though plants like mullein (verbascum, Königskerzen, found both in Eurasia and North America) or sage (salvia, Salbei) might not sound appealing they are not without their pharmacological merits (see also) and uses in traditional medicines and many comprise the base and thus the bulk of other herbal mixes, so there is a demand for coltsfoot (Blandlattich) and mugwort (Beifuß). Check out the article at the link up top for further properties of the plants, tips on how to grow them in your own garden and how to harvest, dry and make your own special blend.

unthinkable

Our appreciation to Miss Cellania for directing us to the litany of horrors—the top fifty to date—that the Trump administration has perpetrated against his own people and the rest of us, since after it’s long over and the syndicate is behind bars we’ll still be dealing with the regressive environmental policies he’s promoted and the squandered opportunities to improve an increasing fraught and dire situation.
Though American is demystified and disenchanted with largess and respect having been much reduced its footprint for destruction has only increased and gone into overdrive. The list consists of headlines as bullet points to the full stories as reported by The Atlantic’s correspondents but the headings alone are more than enough to make one shudder and remember the sheer incredulity.

extra-terrarium or the effect of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon marigolds

Within a tiny biosphere transported to the far side of the lunar surface by the Chang’e-4 probe (previously) containing various plants, yeast and fruit-fly eggs, so far only the cotton seed has germinated and is sprouting. Researchers are closely monitoring the sealed environment to see what happens next. There have been many experiments with plants in microgravity beforehand but this represents the first time to attempt to cultivate something on the Moon.

spoiler alert

The confluence of existential angst of y2k, this generation’s coming of age and the resonance of nostalgia plus the profusion of DVDs and the reinvention of home cinema and continued sales opportunities after the box office run made 1999 a particular banner year for film, with titles including Magnolia from Paul Thomas Anderson, M Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense, the Spike Jonze and Charley Kaufman collaboration Being John Malkovich, The Matrix, American Beauty, Fight Club, Notting Hill and Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace. We’ve left out a lot of the great and good that might be visited individually over the course of the year. What do you think? The releases of twenty years ago are certainly luminaries and inform and to a large extent populate our present cinematic universe but we are not certain whether the collection of anti-heroes, indulgences and failed heroes are exactly pivotal and have outsized cultural influence.

wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki room

On this day in 2001, internet projects developer Lawrence Mark Sanger and entrepreneur and philanthropist Jimmy Wales first launched the Wikipedia website, a universal encyclopaedia that aimed for authoritativeness through collaboration and peer-review, living and dying both by the procrastination principle. The foundation shares its anniversary with Coca-Cola, first incorporated in 1889 as the Pemberton Medicine Company (not to be confused with Dr Pepper) and the grand opening of the British Museum in 1759, seeded with the collection and curios of Sir Hans Sloane.

чебурахнулся

The ever peripatetic Messy Nessy Chic makes us a touch nostalgic with the reminder of the character Cheburashka (Чебура́шка)—who was originally featured in a children’s book by Eduard Uspensky (*1937 – †2018) in 1966 and popularised by a stop-motion animated film series by Roman Abelevich Kachanov.
Unknown to science—a sort of hybrid between a monkey and a bear cub (three-toed, tailless Monchhichi, I’d classify him but he was also known under the export market name of Topple), Cheburashka was a stow-away on a crate of oranges that ended up in Moscow, where he befriends Gena Crocodile and has adventures. Below is the opening and some of the incidental music from the scores by composer Vladimir Yakovelvich Shainsky (*1925 – †2017).

it looks like you could use a poem

Being a long time fan of Maria Popova’s engaging literary digest, Brain Pickings, I was pleasantly surprised when recently, instead of the usually lures to subscribe to the newsletter or otherwise to disrupt one’s taking leave of the place once it seemed like one’s attention was starting to slake, rather than being badgered (desperate though understandably so) into remaining, the gentle reader is offered an excerpt of poetry to consider and keep as a souvenir.