ditto

Via Slashdot, we learn that the software engineer behind Twitter’s re-tweet button has a lot of remorse about his endowment to civilisation, comparing the feature that was originally installed to facilitate news in a natural disaster, which was indeed a force-multiplier in terms of virality, to having “headed a loaded weapon to a four-year-old.” Other social media sites developed their own form of push-button sharing soon afterwards. There are doubts whether the genie can be put back in the bottle.

418 u.s. 643 (1974)

It’s a quirk of history to be savoured that Special Council Robert Mueller’s testimony before the US Congress was delayed and coincides with the forty-fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court handing down its unanimous decision on The United States v. Nixon.
Even the president’s own attorney, requesting that the authorities drop their request to subpoena the incriminating tapes by dint of executive privilege, stated that, “The president wants me to argue that he is as powerful a monarch as Louis XIV, only four years at a time, and is not subject to the processes of any court in the land except the court of impeachment.” The Supreme Court held, however, that Nixon could be compelled to hand over evidence in a criminal trial that is demonstrably relevant and that no person is above the law. In lieu of impeachment, Nixon resigned two weeks later, ultimately pardoned for his wrongdoings by his vice-president and successor Gerald Ford in September of the same year.

tc-50

Previously we’ve looked at some of the artefacts that accompanied the astronauts on their mission to the Moon, and now on the anniversary of their splashdown and safe return, we’re reminded how the crew beta-tested new technologies—and not just the obvious ones or Tang—but also the prototype for Sony’s Walkman, the rather revolutionary cassette player becoming commercially available a decade later. Though not quite the soundtrack from Guardians of the Galaxy (I wonder if the plot device was an homage), the best part of learning about this is that the playlist is available and includes Spinning Wheel, Everyday People and Angel of the Morning by Merrilee Rush and the Turnabouts, charting in the previous year
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camera obscura

Via Boing Boing, we learn about the creative outreach effort on the part of Exeter educator and photographer Brendan Barry, who has transformed a cordite shipping container into a functioning, large format demonstration camera, gallery and dark room. A mobile operation, the touring learning laboratory invites the curious to make portraits of their community while discovering the elements of photography (using technology that is rooted in Antiquity, the title refers to the technique of a darkened chamber originally the focus of a projected image) in an engaging and hands-on way. Much more to explore at the links above.

cascading style sheets or iso 216

Charting outliers on a world map looks suspiciously similar to countries that utilize the metric system versus countries who don’t, but it is worth reflecting on the mathematical properties that stand behind this universal format for paper size that makes each in the series, from poster to letter to brochure and so on, derivative and retains the same aspect ratio—the square root of two (≈ 1.4142857 rounding to the nearest millimetre) to one. When a sheet of paper with these dimensions is folded in half along the shorter axis (widthwise), each half retains the same ratio and is incredibly useful for scaling a job up or down without cutting a part out or leaving an empty margin.

bird’s eye view

Via the always engaging Kottke, we are introduced to the aerial repertoire of the Andrews Brothers who’ve set up a print shop to sell some of their showcase, abstract drone photography. Among their latest compositions is this rather jarring and disorienting work called “Skyline” of shipping containers stacked high on a barge with the forecastle bridge towering above the other silhouettes whose shadows pass over the water. More to discover at the links above.

8x8

bird of prey: Airbus reveals concept hybrid-powered aircraft design that relies on biomimicry to boost efficiency

malpratise: Johnson’s and Trump’s assault on the NHS through relaxing UK price-controls on medication

we liked the sequel, also sprach zarathustra: re-mapping syllabi from institutions of higher learning

southern exposure: the rotating solaria of Doctor Jean Saidman

groundcrew: support staff of Japan’s Air Self-Defence Force (est’d 1954) celebrated its sixtieth anniversary with precision scooter manoeuvres

dysfluency: virtual assistants have an array of human touches to build trust and rapport

re-freezer: ingenious plan to combat rising oceans by replenishing the ice-sheet artificially

engage: the trailer for Star Trek: Picard (previously)