tredjelandsborger

Though these allowances for cross-border commuters post the UK’s seemingly imminent departure from the European Union seem rather niche, we’re pretty confident that the ex-patriate community who live and work on opposite sides of the Øresund/Öresund strait that separates Denmark from Sweden is not quite the unique situation that it seems at first glance and illustrates how fraught and precarious that Brexit has been for UK citizens living on the continent. Swedish residents working Copenhagen will be allowed to keep their jobs and move from country to country without impediment and even change Danish jobs but no guarantees are extended for the right to seek employment elsewhere or in Sweden.

equilateral-curve heptagon

As part of an ongoing series to recognise significant contributions to the sciences and humanities in UK coinage, the Royal Mint is issued a commem-orative fifty pence piece with a reverse honouring the late Professor Stephen Hawking, with the seven-sided coin depicting one of his most important formulations—aside that is from making astrophysics accessible and increasing general literacy and numeracy—that the conservation of information is not a constant and dissipates as does an aging black hole.

the world situation in 1970

The intrepid team at Muckrock debriefs us regarding the Central Intelligence Agency’s geopolitical assessment and projections and how that narrative was packaged and presented to Nixon and Kissinger—previously.
Facing the fact that universal goodwill and wartime capital were finite and fickle things, notwithstanding the country’s already demonstrable bad behaviour on the world stage—the CIA was more prone to rely on soft power and was willing to factor in the proliferation of soft drink sales, American music and cinema in its quiver of statecraft and as a measure of diplomatic success. When told, however, that cooler heads would prevail in Eastern Europe and that tensions would settle, Nixon asked instead what could be done to sew more chaos and discontent in the region—proposing a recalibration of Radio Free Europe.

outro music

Via Dave Log Version 3, we are treated to the sign-off, closedown message that HBO sent to its viewers to thank them for their patronage and to bid them a goodnight from 1975 to 1981. I quite like how there’s a responsible ritual portrayed to divide the broadcasting day from overnight (I was never up so late) and reinforces that we ought to have a routine and regard for our respective bedtimes.

hurdling the language-barrier

Via Nag on the Lake, we are privileged with a preview of the pictogram set from graphic desiger Masaaki Hiromura for the 2020 Tokyo Games. The artist, back in 2004, famously exhibited his Kitasenju—rebus symbols (below) to stimulate both hemispheres of the brain and focus one’s attention. These Gestalt sports symbols conveying athletes in action have a long tradition, first created in response to the growing international character of participants and spectators and each Olympiad gets their own bespoke signage.
This current offering is nearly as visually compelling, captivating and reflective of a certain vernacular of place and venue as Lance Wyman’s iconography (the transport connection is worth considering) for the 1968 Mexico City Games. Much more to explore at the links above.

the creeping devil

A native of Baja California, we find ourselves acquainted with another succulent uniquely sessile in its motility. Colonies of the species Stenocereis Eruca grow recumbently and live up to their common nomenclature as they advance across the desert floor, growing from one terminus, up to a metre and a half per year, as the tail end dies, disintegrates and re-fertilises the sandy soil as it deposits a trail behind. Learn more about the cactus’ distinctive lifecycle at the link above.