9x9 (10. 059)

i’m sorry but this is quite clearly a haunted murder panda and/or the protagonist of moshfegh’s next novel. do not buy: an assortment of random oddities that one preeminent author is selling her online emporium—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links (check it out!)  

quasi-modal: apparently “thy shall be done” is a thing now  

eye of the beholder: an AI visits a contemporary art museum 

printers’ auxiliaries: a beautiful 1940 book of typefaces from the Gujarati foundry  

if marisol and nilofer are the only non-white women at the staff meeting, how frequently will each be called by the other’s name: word problems for female professionals that aren’t so non-sequitur  

pulp power: the mainstay illustrative style of 1930s and 40s serial fiction  

heat dumping: searching for the etymology of the adaptive behaviour of splooting—which is referred to in England as squirrel “pancaking” 

world englishes: the OED on Irish’s contribution to language—see previously  

a lamb himself: an excerpt from Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel Lapvona

brackets, in kilohertz, closed brackets (10. 058)

In winter of 1978 in response to a newly brokered international broadcasting frequency allocation scheme, much of the BBC’s presence on the radio dial shifted and to pass this information to the listening public, the Broadcasting Corporation commissioned the a capella vocal ensemble The King’s Singers to harmonise a series of psalm settings to list the changed stations. It was released as a single by EMI Records as the transition was coming into effect called “Some Enchanted Wavelength.” After this pause for station identification, the public became endeared to the group for the 1984 televised documentary series on minstrel traditions in Western Europe called The Madrigal History Tour in deference to the Beatles’ album. Listen to more announcements in anticipation of the 23 November changes, please click here.

℣ / ℟ (10. 057)

Fra Benedetto Sinigardi di Arezzo, fêted as a saint on this day, was a thirteenth century Franciscan friar who was send on religious missions in Greece, Romania, Tukey and the Holy Land and is credited with composing the Angelus prayer, the short-form name derived from its incipit—the first line of the devotion, Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ, traditionally recited thrice daily, morning, noon and night, accompanied by a bell and delivered in the form of a call (versicle) and response—notation above—that covers the mysteries of Mariology and her place in the so called Economy of Salvation in three Bible verses.

na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na now (10. 056)

Probably better known for “(That’s the Way) I Like It” and “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty”—but this is a fun one too—the band hailing from Hialeah, Florida—the Sunshine State registered at the top of UK singles charts, the band’s first and only number one in Britain (where it became a popular sporting chant) a decade after the group formed, with “Give It Up” this day in 1983, the lead track from their ninth studio album All in a Night’s Work. Released internationally just earlier in the month and facing quite a cultural backlash against disco at the beginning of the decade, the song was regarded as a comeback hit for KC and the Sunshine Band and one of the last first-wave reverberations of the genre.

7x7 (10. 055)

zone improvement plan: the Swinging Six ensemble sing the praises of the ZIP code (1967)—see also  

unsealed warrant: FBI recovered multiple boxes of top secret and classified documents from the Trump residence during Monday’s search  

coo-coo for cookie crisp: recreating vintage breakfast cereal with machine learning—see previously  

mulder & scully: full script of an unmade episode of the X-Files—via Super Punch  

that old black magic that you weave so well: Clavis Inferni (The Key of Hell), an illustrated spell book from 1775 

retrofit: more on the noir aesthetic (more here and here) of vintage automobiles converted in electric vehicles 

 like & subscribe: the long and short history of the newsletter—both print and digital

tin lizzy (10. 054)

Designed by the engineering team of Joseph Galamb, Eugene Farkas and Childe Harold Wills and hailed as the United States entrée into the modern machine era, the first Ford Model T was built on this day in 1908 at the Piquette Avenue Plant in Detriot—leaving the factory at the end of the following month. Proceeding through the alphabet sequentially starting with Model A in 1903, though not all vehicles went into production, Henry Ford ended the series here with the first mass-produced automobile, using an assembly line (though credit for the concept is owed to Ransom E Olds) and interchangeable, standardised parts—marketed to a growing middle class that was in the reach of most. Just under fifteen-million were produced (a record not surpassed until the Volkswagen Beetle in and within a decade over half the cars on American roads were Model T, and while Ford’s pronouncement to his managers, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black,” was not apocryphal during the first four years of production only green, grey, blue and red was available

sea org (10. 053)

Observed on the anniversary of its founding on this day in 1967, the Sea Organization is a fraternal paramilitary order, a sort of space navy based on L Ron Hubbard’s (see previously) own wartime experiences and his collected science fiction short stories concerning the Galactic Confederation and the ousting of the tyrannical Xenu by an inside group known as the “Loyal Officers” who ruled the Earth (otherwise known as Teegeeack) tens of millions of years in the past. Keeping with maritime traditions, there is a hierarchy and rank structure Sea Org’s fleet of cruise vessels serve as religious retreats and training centres, the organisation having assumed an ecclesiastical developmental role of the church of Scientology in 1971. In exchange for free room and board plus a modest stipend, members sign a billion year contract.

petard hoist much? (10. 052)

Not only was the FBI search conducted on Trump's private residence and club largely informed from a confidential source whom was able to identify what government records Trump had removed and retained in violation of the 1978 Presidential Records Act—mandated after the Watergate scandal—and timed the investigation for when Trump would not be at home (under the direction of Christopher A Wray, a Trump appointee), furthermore President Trump made this infraction a far more serious crime Citizen Trump than it otherwise would have been. After repeated calls for his 2016 opponent and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be thrown in jail for her private email server, Trump endorsed a law that made mishandling of classified materials a felony offense, punishable by up to five years in prison. The bureau of course knew what sort of partisan sh—tshow they would stir up with this unprecedented action and calculated that tempting the media circus was worth the pursuit.