sunday night line-up

On this evening in 1987, the fledgling Fox television network, we learn courtesy once again from Doctor Caligari’s Cabinet—our faithful chronicler, debuted its first two prime time offerings in Married… with Children followed by the sketch, variety programme The Tracey Ullman Show.
The later slotted with musical numbers conceived and choreographed by Paula Abdul, memorable comedic scenes and regular animated interstitials, the Simpsons premiered on episode three on 19 April, voiced by members of the troupe. The former show, airing for over a decade and exported to markets globally, launched the acting career Christina Applegate and Matt LeBlanc, ultimately developing the series Friends from one of the show’s spin-offs.

medical advice from an orange gameshow host

While it is probably naive to think that there might be elections in the US in November and that America is any semblance of a functioning democracy by the time that this health crisis subsides, it is still crucial—no matter what polity we belong to—to hold those charged with looking out for our interest and safety to account rather than seek to blame and beggar our neighbours for not being as standoffish and hygienic as was directed by governments that failed to act, both in good faith and with unmitigated malice.
Just like with the institutional polluters whose lobbying money curtails real and effective environmental regulation and puts the onus of responsibility on the consumer and lifestyle choices, governments’ inability to act swiftly and decisively to stop the spread—and these were and going forward are tough choices that no one wants to be making, those authorities are hoping we will start accusing one another and cede more power to incumbency to operate with little to no oversight, even when actions on the part of leaders are nothing other than rank hypocrisy to be excused and forgotten. The same tacticians that stoked fears of insecurity based on migration and foreigners coming in and taking our jobs rather than the naked precarity of the situation are realising that stance is backfiring with not enough labour to keep the farms and medical facilities running, much less transportation and supermarkets, hailing the once demonised and marginalised workforce as heroes—though failing to acknowledge that at the same time many are hostages as well. We cannot forget or forgive the profiteering of a few legislators whom undersold the market ahead of the revelation of how bad a hit the world economy was facing. We must spare a thought for those who sounded the alarms and are being silenced and sidelined and the retroactive purging of those who had tried to proactively prevent America from going down this path in the first place, retaining some sense of accountability, and shuddering to imagine what might lay in store.

crinkle crankle

Despite their far older heritage, first attested to Dutch engineers that helped drain marshlands in The Fens in the 1600s—whom referred to the retaining walls as slangenmuur, snake walls—it was not until the eighteenth century that the vernacular brick architecture (see previously) received this common designation, which sounds fairly Dutch itself too for its reduplicative derivation.
For all the apparent fussiness and ornamentation of the construction, this serpentine arrangement is a highly economical one since long expanses can be covered using a single layer of bricks, whereas one that proceeded in a straight line without any curving buttresses would be far weaker and easily topple. As garden enclosures, most crinkle crankle walls were aligned east-west in order to capture the rising and setting sun (see also) for home orchards. Learn more with TYWKIWDBI at the link above.

ontdekkingsreiziger van oceanië

Setting off to find the hypothetical continent of Terra Australis—conjured to exist for the sake of balancing out the globe—Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen (*1659 – †1729) from Middleburg in Zeeland first sighted Easter Island (Paaseiland, Rapa Nui, so called because it was Easter Sunday) and landed there—contacting the aboriginal Polynesian on this day in 1722.
Roggeveen’s fleet of three tall ships, the Arend, the Thienhoven and the Afrikaansche Galey with a complement of two-hundred twenty-three crewmen departed in August 1721on their voyage sponsored by the Dutch West Indian Company, a rival and in fierce competition with the Dutch East India Company (VOC, Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie which claimed a government-backed monopoly on all discoveries in the New World) and hoped to open up a westerly trade route to the Spice Islands. First they travelled through the Straits of Magellan, past the Falklands (Islas Malvinas) which he renamed Belgia Austalis, and along the Chilean coast before heading to the high seas and uncharted waters. After Easter Island, Roggeveen also visited Bora Bora, Samoa and the Society Islands before bringing his fleet to port at the colonial capital on the Malay peninsula, Batavia—the trading hub corresponding with modern day Jakarta. Roggeveen’s further adventures were severely curtailed by a protracted legal battle over his flaunting of the exploration rights of the VOC above and levied against him charges akin to piracy, a suit from which Roggeveen eventually prevailed and was vindicated and able to claim his commission.

tigernach mac coirpri

Criminally anglicised as Tierney, today marks the feast day of Tigernach (†549), patron saint of the town of Clones in County Monaghan, part of the border region of Ulster. Born of an unsanctioned and scandalised affair between one of the princesses (Der Fraích) of Farley (Fermag) and a mercenary warrior called Coirpre allied to her father the king, Tigernach was fostered by Saint Brigid of Kildare, whom gave him his name—meaning “princely”—and saw to that the child received a good education. Brought up in a parochial environment, Tigernach was dispatched to Rome to retrieve some relics to found a church and monastery and was eventually, the relationship with his grandfather the king reconciled, offered the rank of bishop in his home territory. As that would mean the ejection of the incumbent in Clones, Tigernach choose instead to retreat to life on a hillside as a hermit, cultivating the grace and wherewithal to perform the accounts of miracles attributed to him including raising from the dead the archbishop of neighbouring Armagh.

7x7

orgonon torpedoes: Wilhelm Reich (previously) used a battery of surface-to-air cannons beginning in April 1952 to defend the Earth from alien invasion

tuppence a bag: animal charity groups fearful that urban pigeons face starvation over lack of human traffic and are starting relief campaigns

part gum commercial level romance mixed with creepy horror elements with an insane musical score: a thoroughgoing review of the 1972 film Love Me Deadly starring Mary Wilcox and Lyle Waggoner

stay the f*ck home: a truly frightening heat map showing where Americans have been flouting lockdown (some other possible explanations here) and going about business as usual—via TYWKIWDBI

the master would not approve: Manos—The Hands of Felt, a puppet-version of the MST3K classic—via the Art of Darkness (lots of other goodies to see here as well)

may thou withstand the loathsome that yond the land fareth: the nine herb charms to cure infection

hyperlocal micromarkets: design interventions and new business models more conducive to social distancing and better for the environment

bauhinia × blakeana

In anticipation of a post-colonial Hong Kong with the banner being first hoisted and flown during the transfer ceremony that took place 1 July 1997 onwards, on this day in 1990 the National People’s Congress approved the design for a new flag featuring a stylised five-petal flower of an orchid tree on a China red background to replace the defaced Union Jack on display since UK acquisition in 1843 after the Opium Wars. The design was submitted by a member of the selection committee, local architect Tao Ho (*1936 – †2019), whom unsatisfied with the entrants he had reviewed so far was inspired by a bauhinia blossom he found in his garden for its symmetry and dynamism.

elephas anthrpogenus

Via Miss Cellania’s Links, we are treated to a nice reminder of how Western Europeans—absent any frame of reference since the fall of the Roman Empire—depicted reports, sight unseen, of a strange and formidable beast called the elephant (see also) in a classic project from Uli Westphal that collects and contrasts the license that different scholars and illustrators took with their anatomies from the Middle Ages through to the Enlightenment. Much more to explore at the links above.