morning sedition

Having debuted on the radio in November 1979, the opening theme for NPR’s Morning Edition by BJ Leiderman has become something sacrosanct and dear to listeners, like the prohibition against crashing the pips or how German state broadcasters tried to update the eight o’clock news music but quickly changed it back a few years ago, so we found it more than a bit off-putting that they changed it from the prosaic classic to something that sounds like an alarm designed by a committee of self-styled sleep hygienists to be a less jarring wake-up call. What do you think? Both versions are below for comparison—with additional lyrics from Conan O’Brien.

our polite society

As a vehicle to explore globalism versus localism and identity—plus dominance and obsolescence, a resident of the factory town of Åtvidaberg partnered with the above design studio in a visual research project on the office equipment manufacturer FACIT AB and its legacy through its ephemera. Founded in 1922, the Swedish corporation produced typewriters, office furnishings and mechanical calculators through the 1970s, losing its relevance to Japanese-produced electronic models. In business theory, the failure if the company to adapt and embrace a technological shift is called the Facitfällen—the Facit Trap, especially when there is no funding- or skill-gap.

gotōchi-kyara

I had a passing acquaintance with the rich and strange world of Japanese municipal and corporate mascots but I now realise that I’ve been gravely underestimating the scope and variety after being referred to a veritable clearinghouse of the characters by Super Punch, first introducing us to Madori-kun, a martial arts wrestler with a blueprint of a small apartment for a face that is the symbol for a real estate agency.
Mondo Mascots has amassed and catalogued over ten thousand images of these Yuru-chara (ゆるキャラ—the title is the term for a local character, a specific reference to area mascots) in costume, rendered or plush form and there are already too many superlative examples to list in this growing collection—so it’s worth investigating the archives and sharing some of your favourites. We also particularly liked this floating, stony Pokémon that’s come to represent the Iwate Prefecture (岩手県, literally “rock hand,” after a legend that a menacing demon was lashed to the local cliff face until pledging to leave the villagers alone, making a hand impression on the rock as a sign—still visible after a rain), especially the way the legs are made invisible.

share your story

In a case of biting the vile hand that feeds him, Donald Trump is soliciting for and collecting grievances of social media users who feel that they’ve been banned or banished unfairly, countenancing the chief platforms for politic bias against the right.
To lodge one’s complaint, a detailed questionnaire is completed to include previous warnings, user policy, etc. This is not the first time we’ve seen Trump and compatriots curry individual favour as a way to undermine critics and not the first accusations flung at social media—who’ve been fairly agnostic about the monster they’ve elevated, however outside the norm and another way to weaponise and pander to entrenched beliefs. Of course it might also be a cynical ploy (also not without precedent) to identify with greater granularity potential voters for targeted campaign advertising.

vienna convention

In a move that seems particularly American and symptomatic of its McWorld mentality, US citizens travelling in Austria who’ve lost their passport or are otherwise distressed may seek out consular services and relief at any one of the country’s nearly two hundred McDonald’s franchises.
Fast food staff, thanks to a deal reached between the company and the US State Department, will have a special hotline to reach the Embassy to relay emergencies and seek resolution. A spokesperson for the US Mission says that this partnership is not in lieu of a fully staffed and trained diplomatic corps and is in fact increasing access to the embassy by distributing services throughout the country, choosing McDonald’s for this pilot programme because of its geographic spread, after-hours staffing and familiarity to Americans.

reality bites

Nostalgia has the potential for toxicity as much as identity but we were hard pressed to ignore this circumspect collection of essays, cultural touchstones, remembrances and even personality quizzes that define Generation X—especially those who came of age in America but I think that this generation is also associated with and a culprit of social hegemony and homogenizing—curated and presented by the New York Times’ editorial staff.

What do you think?  How do these images and icons resonate with you? The music and movies that one is exposed to during those formative years cements one’s taste and frame of reference and I’m certain that each successive generation has harboured the same thought but there seemed to be a sort of awareness that came with the films that had a lasting influence and legacy and probably wouldn’t be made today.  Everything back then did seem so arch, brooding and serious—and I think we did earn those labels as slackers, cynics and the disaffected—but hopefully those traits, and no class-cohort is monolithic, translated to mobility and malleability and the opportunity to achieve lasting good.

worms against nuclear killers

Recently declassified documents obtained by the investigative team at Muckrock details how NASA dealt with the one of the early infections by a computer worm and arguably one of the first acts of political hacktivism, though the timing might be coincidental, back in October 1989.
Unidentified hackers from Melbourne, some contend Julian Assange (previously) was also involved but he has never attested to this claim, had infiltrated a computer system shared by the space agency and the US Department of Energy (which also has oversight for America’s nuclear arsenal) just as the shuttle was preparing to ferry up the plutonium-powered Galileo space probe. With the Challenger disaster (28 January 1986) still fresh in people’s minds, there was concern and public protests over the launch, fearing an accident that could spread fall-out over Florida. Instead of the accustomed start-screen, workers were greeted with the pictured message and led to believe that files were being deleted though no actual lasting harm was done. The subheading, “You talk of times of peace for all, and then prepare for war,” is a lyric from a Midnight Oil song, an Australian activist rock band with a strong stance against nuclear proliferation. More to explore at the link up top.

6x6

reaction faces: Tadas Maksimovas creates a twelve-barrelled sling shot to pelt people with likes and hearts

line item: the humble receipt gets a rather brilliant redesign to visualise how your grocery bill adds up

novgorod: Sergei Eisenstein (previously) collaborated with Sergei Prokofiev to produce the score for Alexander Nevsky (1938), which remains the cinematic standard

pink pop: a delightful vintage Shiseido cosmetic commercial from 1968

saving face: San Francisco becomes the first municipality to prohibit the use of facial recognition surveillance technology

happy accidents: much needed pick-me-ups from Bob Ross—previously