good fences make good neighbours

Though unclear if it will get the building permits, Chicago-based architecture studio New World Design wants to cordon off Mar-a-Lago with a gilded picket fence in order to isolate and contain some of the Trump syndicate’s most nefarious forces and minimise their ability to dismantle and do further damage.
The satirical statement is in response to the perilous shutdown showdown over funding for Trump’s border wall—now steel slats—which has precipitated a four week partial closure of the federal government with little signs of resolution forthcoming. Irrespective of the fact that the project would be ineffectual and a tremendous waste of time and resources, it does not represent most of the American people and most don’t want to erect a symbol of xenophobia and hostility for all the world to see.

extravehicular activity

On this day in 1969, the Soviet space programme accomplished the first docking of two vessels in orbit.
The three cosmonauts of the Soyuz 5 joined the crew of two in Soyuz 4 and transferred two members between the capsules through an airlock. The objective of the previous three Soyuz missions had been to demonstrate the technical feasibility of linking two modules but had been aborted for various reasons. This achievement paved the way for later cooperative and international missions. During a celebratory parade in Moscow a week later, the cosmonauts sustained light injuries during an assassination attempt whose target was Secretary Brezhnev who was riding in their motorcade. The failed attempt was subject to a Soviet media blackout for years afterwards.

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.