Sunday 22 November 2020

emgann ballon

Appointed by Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious to pacify rebellion on the far frontiers of the Frankish territories during a general assembly held at the court of Ingelheim in May of 831, Nominoรซ (Nevenoe) the Breton (see previously) was created first Duke of Brittany—solidifying his power and reputation, emerging victorious from the Battle of Ballon, fought on this day in 845, and halting incursions along the border by King of West Francia, Charles the Bald (Karl Voal/Karl der Kahle/Charles II dit le Chauve). A peace was brokered and the unified Breton people had carved out an identity and land of their own, with independence negotiated in 851 by Nominoรซ’s son Erispoe after the larger, more decisive Battle of Jengland, near Rennes, compelled Charles to sign the Treaty of Angers.

alfabeti shqip

With the conclusion of the Congress of Manastir—now called Bitola, on this day in 1908 academicians from around the country met and achieved their goal of standardising the national language and script for the native population and the diaspora aboard and in neighbouring Kosovo and North Macedonia—who commemorate this Dita e Alfabetit—whereas prior to the democratic, deliberative and well-considered process the language was expressed in no fewer than six distinct scripts that drew from Greek, Cyrillic, Ottoman and Arabic. There was great potential for confusion between rho and pi, aitch and kha. The outcome was a variant of the Latin alphabet (see also) with thirty-six letters to best represent the phonology of Albanian with diagraphs including dh, gj and nj.

Saturday 21 November 2020

⛩️

Reminiscent of this earlier modular feline environment, we are quite enjoying these cardboard shrines for cats in the Shinto style for the further deification of one’s worshipful beloved. With a variety of configurations possible, one can easily adapt the housing in a number of ways for the safekeeping of the sacred. Learn more at Spoon & Tamago at the link above.

la chamber d’รฉcoute

Born this day in 1898 (†1967) and pictured here posing with his painting The Pilgrim, Renรฉ Franรงois Ghislain Magritte, son of a haberdasher and milliner, would go on to become an influential surrealist artist, informing pop, minimalist and conception art through a long and prolific career. Classically trained at the Acadรฉmie Royale des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Magritte found instruction in traditional impressionism to be uninteresting and quickly thereafter discovered cubism and futurism as a point of departure, his signature style cemented once exposed to the metaphysical, juxtaposition of Le chant d’amour (1914) by artist Giorgio de Chirico.

After a failed first exhibition in the capital in the early 1920s, Magritte relocated to Paris where his work was better received and shown in galleries alongside Salvador Dalรญ (previously), Pablo Picasso, Yves Tanguy and Joan Mirรณ (see also). During the war and living in Nazi-occupied Belgium, Magritte went through a painterly transition, called his “Renoir Period,” an interlude that expressed his feelings of abandonment and besiegement, though would later renounce that darker spell and committed with fellow artists to use surrealism to promote peace and reconciliation immediately after fighting ceased. Provisionally, Magritte supported himself and his family through forging Picassos and counterfeiting bank notes (he appeared on the genuine five-hundred-franc bill until it was replaced by the euro) until the arts sector was able to get back on its feet and by 1948 was returning to his pre-war style with Golconda (the raining men in bowler hats), The Lost Jockey, The Son of Man (a pop culture homage), The Balcony, The Empire of Light series, and The Listening Room (colossal green apple taking up a whole room).

8x8

physiological colours both mixt and simple: a taxonomical table of hues and saturation that to facilitate unambiguous descriptions of the colours of natural bodies—see also

the next tuesday after the first monday in the month of november: though at least a term ahead, we could relate and appreciate this thoughtful election day essay and reflection by Kottke guest host Tim Carmody  

telethot: a 1918 proposal for a hand-mirror like accessory that would allow telephone interlocutors to see one another—via Messy Nessy Chic  

relithiation: targeted healing can potential rejuvenate batteries that would otherwise be scrapped

dna sequencing: the storied, celebrated San Francisco lounge and concert venue turns thirty-five  

the max headroom signal interruption: a deep dive into the unsolved pirated television incident—see previously  

sorkin, strunk and white: how good screenplays reflect the best elements of style—see previously  

cyanometer: a colour wheel from 1789 to gauge the blueness of the sky

nรผrnberger prozesse

The International Military Tribunal having officially started two days prior with precedent established by the Leipziger Prozesse in the aftermath of World War I which while under the jurisdiction of Germany’s own legal system informed the legal framework for prosecuting war crime despite no punishment possible rising to the occasion to fit the transgression, US Supreme Court associate justice, the Honourable Robert Houghwout Jackson (*1892 – †1954) delivered his opening remarks for the prosecution on this day in 1945, setting the stage over the course of a several hours’ long oration for the court and for the press covering proceedings and relaying them to the public. Rejecting the superior orders, Befehl est Befehl defence, the Tribunal fixed the notion that crimes against humanity are the culpability of individuals and not abstractions or an imposed collective and only through such judgment can international law be enforced, informing in turn the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the permanent International Criminal Court

Friday 20 November 2020

meow, meow, meow

Whilst not much is known about the fifth century Cornish missionary and saint (see previously) venerated on this day who is often conflated with Saint Felicity or Felix of Dunwich, what is reputed to Felec of Cornwall, his miraculous ability to communicate with cats, lions and other felines more than makes up for his overall obscurity.  How would you limn out Saint Felec’s acta and vita?

20-n

A fateful date similar to Schicksalstag, the above is a symbolic abbreviation of employed to denote a range of events that occurred on this day for Spain. In the first year of the civil war, founder of the fascist party Falange Espaรฑola Josรฉ Antonio Primo de Rivera was put to death in Alicante on 20 November 1936 but was later idealised and venerated by the Francoist dictatorship. Thirty-nine years later to the day, in 1975, Generalรญsimo Francisco Franco (*1892). Like its German equivalent, the day is eschewed in the main to avoid associations but a 2011 general election fell on this date as did the assassination of Basque nationalists in 1984 and 1989.