cul-de-sac

Via Messy Nessy Chic, we learn of one committed flâneur (passante, flâneuse) and her mission to document a sizeable portion of the more than six-hundred impasses—blind-alleys, dead-ends of the pedestrian streets of Paris, offering a unique and probably often overlooked perspective on the city’s arrondissements. Find out more about Karin Borghouts’ personal projects at the link above.

the planet on the plate

Via Kottke’s Quick Links, we are directed towards the announcement of one influential cooking website that going forward (the policy change has been essential in effect for over a year to overwhelmingly positive reception) won’t promote any new recipes with beef as an ingredient—the decision based on sustainability and “not giving airtime to one of the world’s worst climate offender.” Rather than being anti-cow, Epicurious—whom hope others follow—acknowledges that giving up meat alone is not a panacea for our predicament and that in a broken food system, soy, seafood and most everything else is potentially problematic but it’s definitely a start and a signal to the industry at large.

origin story

Rather pleased with this new knowledge, we garnered a bit of insight into the etymology of company names and brand identities (see also) and learned that the first web mail, e-mail accessible via the internet from any computer with one’s log-on credentials, was called Hotmail for its inclusion of the initialism for Hypertext Mark-up Language and originally stylised as HoTMaiL. Acquired by Microsoft, those domain addresses are now supported by Outlook servers. The graphics card manufacturer NVIDIA comes from the Roman concept of invidia, envy in the sense of “looking upon” with the evil eye and feeling objectified and offending. There are aspirational, folk etymologies attached to legacy brands as well, like with MG Cars, from Morris Garages, now under new ownership that tout the label as “Modern Gentlemen.”

dr mabuse, der spieler

The first cinematic treatment of the character Dr Mabuse the Gambler, adapted from the novels of Norbert Jacques, had its opening on this day in 1922. 

The four-and-a-half hour spectacle by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou was released in two parts a month a part with the sequels The Testament of Dr Mabuse following eleven years later and The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse coming nearly three decades after that. A criminal mastermind and mob boss oversees the counterfeiting and illicit betting in the underworld of Berlin, Dr Mabuse sets out to take on higher stakes than his organised crime racket and manipulates the stock market through short-selling and takes advantage of the panic to amass his fortunes.

nik of time

With a different sort of Sputnik with its attributed suffix being in the news again, we rather enjoyed this shared correction, letter to the editor that disputes the etymology that credits the pioneering Soviet satellite with enriching the English language with the terms peaceniks, beatniks and no-goodniks, whereas first usage of the formulation precedes the orbit by decades, with H. L. Mencken mentioning –nic or –nick as part of the lexiography as a suffix indicating free agency with examples including a boastful upstart in Allrightnick and a victim of tuberculosis in a consumptionick. Judging by the above and number of comments garnered, the claims and counter-claims (the truth is probably somewhere in between) are a good illustration of the phenomenon called Cunningham’s Law. The idiom‘s nick is an archery term and referring to the nock or notch of a bow that holds the bowstring.

native land

Via the morning news, we discover this interactive map of the world, which instead of the usual geopolitical boarders and boundaries rather presents us with overlays of the territories and ranges of indigenous peoples. One can toggle to see native endonyms and treaties between aboriginal populations and colonisers and settlers, encouraging one to think critically about place and displacement.

saint zita

Also known by her unofficial cult following in England as Sitha by domestics there, Zita of Lucca (†1227) whose feast is celebrated today was servant girl to a cruel household that beat and berated her incessantly despite working hard and without stint and her charity and even respect for the family she worked for.

Zita’s perseverance through faith in the face of challenges gradually turned the her family and others in the circle towards charity and piety and ultimately garnered a Cinderella-like reputation with angelic host helping her with the chores. In remembrance of Zita feeding the numerous poor people of the city with her meagre ratio of bread alone, the people of Lucca bake Zita Loaves on this day and she is venerated as the patron of maids, butlers and wait-staff and sought for intercession in recovering lost keys and like household objects.

there’s just a big cock on the cover

Though reportedly not due to a printing error but rather a noble gesture not to obscure a photographic talent nor besmirch the dignity of the subject—we learn from our faithful chronicler, the only issue of LIFE magazine without the signature corner red-and-white logo (as with sister publication TIME) was on newsstands on this day in 1937. To do so, editors reasoned, would have spoiled the framing and composition of Torkel Körling’s (*1903 – †1998, a prolific industrial and nature photographer who also invented the collapsing, portable tripod and the forerunner of the single-lens reflex camera) cover portrait of a splendid white leghorn rooster with a finely detailed cockscomb—the periodical being young still and not beyond the reproach of breeching a tradition.