6x6

ribbit: frogs use their lungs effectively as noise-cancelling devices—via the new Shelton wet/dry  

oculus: architect envisions Rome’s Pantheon as world’s largest camera obscura (previously) with a conceptual installation 

fetish-free commodities: Existential Comics attempts to demystify Marxist marketplaces—via Nag on the Lake and Memo of the Air 

radiant baby: a brief biography of artist Keith Haring told with drawings and song  

ipa: an iconographic dictionary that corresponds to each phoneme of human language 

marshmallow test: cuttlefish demonstrate self-control and delay gratification, passing a cognitive benchmark designed for human children

rückwanderer

Describing the route wherein a word travels from its originating language to a second foreign one and is re-introduced with a nuanced meaning from the first, reborrowing occurs in a wide range of languages through various processes—some simple and straightforward in cases of etymological twinning like host and guest, warranty and guarantee, ward and guardian all French influences as the diglossia between stable and table (drab, dirty cows and pigs to beef and pork) or calquing—that is, adopting a foreign term directly as was the case with off-the-shelf fashions translated first in French as prêt-á-porter in the early 1950s and then reclaimed by English speakers a few years later. Other migrating words take more circuitous round-trips and one can imagine future scenarios with blended meanings. The German term for a tuxedo—ein Smoking from smoking jacket comes to mind (similiarly a frock coat or redingote crisscrossed the Channel several times) and other examples include the Dutch derivation of cookie (from koekje) and the Dutch word cookie for the web-browser token as well as the Japanese borrowing of the English term animation as アニメ (anime) and then readopted in English to indicate a particular style of animation from Japan. Conversely, e-mail as with regular mail comes from the French “malle-post,” though the French word email already carried the meaning enamel and so employ un courriel from courrier électronique first coined in bi-lingual Quebec and formally made part of the parlancesoon there after.

der sendung mit der maus

First aired on this day in 1971 and every Sunday morning thereafter by WDR (Westdeustcher Rundfunk) and a consortium of broadcasters, The Show with the Mouse (previously) is considered “the classroom of the nation” and is one of the most successful and impactful children’s educational television programme (see also)—despite early critics believing such exposure detrimental to children’s development and contravening a law for its first six years of broadcasting that prohibited television aimed at young audiences. The core format consists of so called laughing and factual, practical stories Lach- und Sachgeschichten, cartoons balanced by science segments exploring how things are made, how things work) but has had several mini-series with guest characters from other shows, Shaun the Sheep, Cap’t Blaubär, Der kleine Maulwurf (the Little Mole) and others and a number of special episodes about German reunification, voting, space exploration, atomic energy, etc.

seven nation army

Released as a single from their album Elephant on this day in 2003, the song from musical duo the White Stripes with its simple yet catchy riff and drumbeat marked a moment of revival for the garage band and has been adopted by numerous sports clubs as a game anthem, chanting favourites, athletes, personalities and even Labour leader Jeremy Corbin. Originally the guitarist Jack White wanted to save his riff in chance the group was ever approached regarding composing a James Bond theme but ultimately decided to include it on their fourth studio record—thinking it unlikely that they’d ever get the chance to do so—although five years later, singly White did write and perform “Another Way to Die” for Quantum of Solace. Though most teams wail the chant with “oh,” as the unofficial theme song of the Italian national football league, the audience refers to it as the “po po po po po” tune.

6x6

di grattacielo con le bretelle: Milan’s Brutalist Torre Velasca  

sixty songs in three and ½ minutes: the Hood Internet (previously) presents 1995  

razor banks: the rather macabre antique bathroom wall slots to dispose of dull blades in the voids between walls 

through the looking glass: vis-à-vis the above, a tenant finds hidden rooms behind her medicine cabinet in her New York City apartment—via Super Punch  

superior mirage: walker in Cornwall spots a ship floating aloft 

in your bubble: contemplating quarantine in the Bolwonigen globes of ‘s-Hertogenbosch—see previously

create escape

With an expertly spliced narration from Bob Ross’ own affirming Joy of Painting, Banksy (see previously) shares the making of his latest mural of a jail-break taking place on the walls of Her Majesty’s Prison in Reading where Oscar Wilde was incarcerated for the crime of gross indecency with the poet scaling the outer wall with knotted bedding anchored by a typewritten manuscript and typewriter.

“But we who live in prison, and in whose lives there is no event but sorrow, have to measure time by throbs of pain, and the record of bitter moments.  We have nothing else to think of.  Suffering―curious as it may sound to you―is the means by which we exist, because it is the only means by which we become conscious of existing; and the remembrance of suffering in the past is necessary to us as the warrant, the evidence, of our continued identity,” said Wilde of his time behind bars. The prison confirms that the graffiti will be a permanent feature as the artist claims the work as his own.

lone gunman

Awarded a contract to conserve and present the twenty-seven home movie filmed by Abraham Zapruder (previously) of the Kennedy assassination due to his experience and expertise in converting eight-millimetre footage into theatrical quality video, processing film for the 1969 documentary on Woodstock, technician and author Robert J. Groden (*22 November 1945) became obsessed with conspiracy theories (self-fulfilling in part for feeling persecuted and censored for doing what’s to follow) surrounding the president’s murder, going on to become a photographic consultant for a House Select Committee on political assassinations and a vocal critic of the Warren Commission, first had a national venue with the first televised presentation of the Zapruder film on this day in 1975. Appearing opposite comedian and activist Dick Gregory on a show called Good Night America, hosted by Geraldo Rivera (*4 July 1943) whose more celebrated expose was the empty vaults of gangster Al Capone, Groden shared his personal, unauthorised copy of the film, marking the first time general audiences saw it in full.

your daily demon: seere

Ruling from today to the tenth of March and into Pisces, this seventieth spirit is an infernal prince that presents as a man astride a flying steed. The first demon we’ve encountered described specifically as benevolent and having no truck with evil, Seere is a master of transportation and can appear anywhere on Earth in a matter of seconds and reveals hidden treasure. Governing twenty-six legions, Seere is opposed by the angel Jabamiah, whose corresponding invocatory verse is Genesis Book I, Chapter I.