payload

In addition to its cargo of satellites, SpaceX’s latest and literal Moon Shot had in its manifest a back-up copy of human civilisation, a thirty-million page anthology of history, literature and genetic code stored in a format meant to be prone to obsolescence.
This lunar library—part of a larger initiative to preserve a record of humanity flung around the Cosmos and lasting a billion of years, irrespective of what transpires on Earth, since other hedging for doomsday seems already under threat—we seriously have to do better. A privately funded landing module (Beresheet, which means “In the beginning” in Hebrew) will ferry this curated disk and primer on the human condition to the surface of the Moon in mid-April.

muster and moquette

CityLab made a quite wonderful and inspired appeal with their international, publically-jured round-up of mass-transit upholstery (previously here and here) sourced from trains, busses and metro-lines in service all over the world.

A few that I’m acquainted with can be reviewed here and I can completely relate to the feeling of pride and affection that passengers develop for these dreadfully excellent and challenging creations in textile that need not only to be practicable and identifiable (like this specimen of priority-seating for ScotRail) but have to also remain fresh, colourfast and rebuff graffiti for quite some time. Do share the distinctive seat-covers from your local public transport—and support them with your ridership and patronage. Much more to explore at the link above.

reverse look-up

In much the same way as a neural network can conjure people into existence before wishing them to the cornfield, we find a rather mysterious Swiss registered website—via LitHub—that seemingly authors short bits of stream-of-conscious fiction in the comments section of a Whois domain ownership query.
A refresh yields a different story with a different cast of characters and trajectory and only the holding company (a safe and infamous target in a former affiliate of bounty-hunting collections agency that was scandalous dissolved in 2011) remains the same. What do you make of this? Beyond the writing prompts offered up out of random noise—assuming that there is not some deeper feedback experiment going on here—we are all eager and programmed to tease pattern and intention out chaos and disruption, jolting something out of a background of near non sequitir, much like the reaching reassurance of a horoscope or fortune-teller.

mcmlxix

Via Memo of the Air, we are treated to a photographic retrospective of the year in pictures, 1969 edition. Fifty iconic images curated by Alan Taylor show what shook the world and beyond fifty years, whose rumblings are still being felt. From Vietnam, Nixon, civil rights movements, the Moon landing, to Woodstock with everything else in between, it was surely an arduous task to pick a range of representative pictures—much less one.

pyt med det!

Our thanks to TYWKIWDBI for making us wise to another keenly useful Dutch turn of phrase—which, while not being the opposite or antidote to the equally thorny to translate hygge—in the attitude-encapsulating word pyt.
While not resignation nor the high-mindedness of forced-perspective, acknowledging pyt or pressing the “pyt-knappen” expresses the decision to accept circumstance beyond one’s control and influence—despite hardships and annoyance—and to not dwell or dawdle longer on it. Those events and happenstance margins of power (liminally outside what we can control) can prove the most draining but this light, delicate word has the magic to dispel them and invite hygge in their place.

8x8

actuation: robots will construct a new robotics science museum in Seoul—via Nag on the Lake

the way of flowers: an expanded look at the aesthetics of ikebana (previously)—the traditional art of Japanese flower arrangement

go transit: the vehicle just gets you there


high-intensity incidental physical activity: studies suggest that the most impactful forms of exercise aren’t exercise at all

gambay: an interactive map of Australia’s aboriginal languages—via Maps Mania

just want your extra time ... and your gif: a collection of officially-endorsed Prince animations

osborne bulls: the backstory of those iconic silhouettes that dot the Spanish countryside along freeways

beat of a different drum: a marching band with “robotic” music 

dakhabrakha

The always brilliant Everlasting Blört directs our attention to a Tiny Desk Concerto from NPR of the Kiev-based quartet, whose name means “give-and-take” in Old Ukrainian and whose sound and soul reflects the “chaos” of incorporating the unexpected. If the vocal bridge from the last number, “Divka-Marusechka,” has a familiar holiday ring, that’s because it is referencing a traditional folk chant called “Shchedryk” (Щедрий вечiр, Bountiful Evening)—a New Year’s Eve carol appropriated by the West through intermediaries in 1919 as “Carol of the Bells.” Much more to hear at the group’s website at the the link above.