sunday drive: kloster kreuzberg

Built on the western-face of Franconia’s “holy mountain” with some six hundred thousand visitors and host to eighty pilgrimages yearly and not to mention one our favourite nearby locales, I was a bit taken aback to find that I had neglected to make mention of the Franciscan Kreuzberg Cloister beforehand—but will make amends for the place we went to again today, taking advantage of the sunny and clear though cold day.
Until Irish missionaries arrived in the mid-seventeenth century, the mountain was known as Aschberg (after a warlike race of Norse gods Æsir, like the titans as distinct from the Olympians, and not the tree, however) and ostensibly the site of a tree-worshiping cult before being rebranded in the native language after Golgotha.  A convent was later formed and in the early 1700s, the brothers were granted a charter to brew beer (it is hard to object to a group of sequestered individuals who earn their keep through prayer and beer), which is still a major attraction to this day.
After making sport in the snow or hiking the trails, most repair to the guesthouse for a beer and refreshments. The monks also raise Saint Bernards to rescue the wayward, but the newest additions in the kennel were not in the mood to have their pictures taken.  We are sure to return another time when the place is a bit less crowded and once again more conducive to exploring.

mnemonic device

Having indulged before the Cathedrals of the Mind and cultivated our own memorisation tricks, we enjoyed very much being outfitted with additional mnemonic devices with seventeenth century English mystic and polymath Robert Fludd, with due deference to its predecessors and earlier influences. His first comprehensive correspondence to given orthographic alpha-numerical values sought to create narratives based off of the ways each glyph could interact and passing down that particular story in order to remember it.
Such are the tools of champion memorisers but with just a little practise and a non-sense scenario (the more ridiculous, the more memorable), one could easily commit an elusive yet useful to know-by-heart account number or passkey to memory. It might even make the exercise more effective should one transcribe the alphabet from Fludd’s 1617 Utriusque Cosmi…Historia into a more familiar and accessible set of symbols.  Much more to explore at the ever-excellent Public Domain Review at the link above. 

big pixel or shanghai surprise

Via Super Punch, we learn of a massive photographic panorama of the city shot from the two-hundred thirty metre tall Oriental Pearl Tower that allows users to zoom in and pivot from all angles. Resolution and clarity is especially sharp as the image is comprised of one-hundred ninety-five giga (billion) pixels—whereas for reference, the standard smart phone is a paltry twelve megapixels.
Though taken in 2015, there is a renewed interest in the image over rumours that it is satellite telemetry enhanced by “quantum technology,” which has since been debunked. Still having this sort of snap-shot available for inspection is a rather fraught development when it comes to surveillance and personal privacy. The controls for Big Pixel are optimised for a touchscreen interface but will work on laptops as well. After four years, I wonder how much technology has improved.

wahllokal

After having secured the right to vote and stand for public office the preceding November, women in Germany and Austria for the first time had the occasion to participate in the democratic process on this day in 1919 during federal elections (Nationalversammulung)—the Austrian constituent assembly elections were held a few weeks later on 16 February.

style, wit and snack-sized bits

To celebrate moving into two districts in London, Soho and Spitalfields, with a long history of being forerunners in creativity and movements, a co-working space firm called Fora commissioned a fun and visually striking promotional animation on the historic character of these neighbourhoods, Via Stash magazine, Soho is featured below and check out the link above to learn more.

diva plavalaguna

Via My Modern Met, we are treated to a very talented Chinese opera singer named Jane Zhang perform a nearly pitch-perfect rendition of the iconic “Diva Dance” from Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element (previously) to the accompaniment to a full orchestra.
The alien performer on the interstellar cruise, named in the title, bears some resemblance to Bib Fortuna, the majordomo of Jabba the Hutt and wonder if there wasn’t some cross-inspiration there as well. According to cinematic lore, the original performance was voiced by Albanian lyric soprano Inva Mula with the assistance of some post-production audio-editing for achieve the series of high notes in quick succession. More to explore at the link up top including the scene from the movie.