pocket veto (12. 308)

As of this posting (timestamps are important as we’ve gleaned from every episode of the NPR Politics podcast), the continuing resolution to keep the US government funded and in operation has yet to be signed into law by Trump. Normally a failure to endorse after a ten day period, de facto the bill becomes law, but the titular technicality occurs when the president cannot return the bill to congress because it is adjourned, as it is for Monday (Sundays also excepted)—and the language of the CR has the provision that for the purposes of the bill that the remainder of the fiscal year constitutes one congressional day (with no pro-forma members present to keep the legislature open) despite returning in session on Tuesday, meaning that deadline never arrives—an unusual proviso perhaps to hedge his bets. Something legally ambiguous that cannot be overridden that Trump could keep in his quiver to exercise at will, the GOP were perhaps expecting more resistance from the Democrats, which could explain the reversal of party leadership—with a shutdown, which is in effect, and solely owned by the Republicans.

the customer is always right (12. 307)

On this day in 1962, JFK delivered a speech before congress establishing four pillars of basic consumer rights, amid a backdrop of historic lack of recourse against deceptive claims and faulty products which led ultimately to corporate liability and lessening the burden of proof on the injured party of demonstrating negligence on the part of the manufacture or advertiser, enumerating: the right to safety, the right to be informed through clear and accurate labelling, the right to choice affected through anti-trust legislation and limits of patenting to control monopolistic practices and the right to be heard via voicing complaints and concerns—expanded to include the right to include access to basic and essential goods, the right of redress in the form of fair settlement, consumer education and the right to a healthy workspace. A decade later, the principles were formalised in the US Consumer Product Safety Commission working across a range of agencies, both domestic and international, and World Consumer Rights Day, observed on the anniversary of the original address since 1983, sponsored by the NGO that also publishes Consumer Reports.

10x10 (12. 306)

i don’t belong here: reactions of first time listeners to Radiohead’s “Creep” 

auragraphs: a look at the psychic paintings of Flora Marian Spore, received visions from departed relatives—see previously  

overton window: why some find humour in embracing fascism—see also, see previously  

all in the wrist: a memorable mnemonic device for learning the carpal bones—see also  

i’m just gonna dance all night: a joyful behind the scenes peek at SNL writers’ room from a decade ago—via MetaFilter

orbital group: astronomers find Saturn has one-hundred twenty eight additional natural satellites

the pen is mightier than the sword: the end of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (previously) after forty-two years—via Miss Cellania

persona non grata: US state department expels the South Africa ambassador, buying into Musk’s false narrative of confiscating land from white plantation owners 

the medium is the message: Alan Turing and other Cambridge academics obsession with ghosts and spiritualism 

hootie & the blowfish: an oddly effective mashup with The Smiths

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica), the first AI lab, Geoguessr savants plus serendipitous directories

seven years ago: The Inland Printer, Trump’s fabricated trade imbalances with China and Canada, the Anthropocene era’s golden spike plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: embodiment and Singularity, LEGO tape plus Australian war time propaganda

nine years ago: more Liartown, USA, English as the official language plus Sir Thomas Moore

ten years ago: the Comic Code plus further crusading misadventures

hr 1968 (12. 305)

Though hard to forecast what might have been the better path through an undesirable binary, and mostly cleaving to party lines, an early procedural vote against cloture and ultimately advancing of a continuing resolution through the senate to avoid a US government shutdown at midnight seems to have been a grave political miscalculation with Democrats squandering the only leverage they had to slow or derail Trump’s dismantling of the federal bureaucracy. In response to Musk commenting that closing down the government might be a preferable course of action for the DOGE agenda, senate minority leader Chuck Schumer reversed his stance on the spending bill that keeps government funded through the end of the fiscal year and along with nine other Democrats, voted with Republicans for the passage, reaching the sixty votes needed to avoid a filibuster—earning praise from Trump for his decision and highlighting deep divisions within the party. If the GOP had wanted the government to shutdown, they wouldn’t have advanced the budget in the first place, which until it passed the first hurdle of the house of representatives, Democrats were united against it. The CR is essentially a sequestration, maintaining funding levels but removing line item allocations and collapsing appropriations into larger pots of money, further abrogating the role of congress and allowing the executive branch to move funds, legally, as it sees fit.  Unabated with his assault on the republic, Trump issued more executive orders while roll-call was happening on the senate floor, rescinding the federal minimum wage of fifteen dollars per hour, the mandate for agencies to share data on emergent public health threats as well as order the closure of the parent agency that operates Voice of America and Radio Free Europe and smaller offices that handle labour disputes, the council on homelessness, developing minority-owned businesses and the institute of museum and library services—agency heads given seven days to justify their existence and prove that their work is statutorily required.

listen—strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government, supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony (12. 304)

As the monarch bound by the constitution does not hold political opinion, Charles III has resorted to subtler ways to signal his stance and support, much like his predecessor recently to show solidarity with Canada by wearing his national regalia lately and most recently bestowing a ceremonial sword (see also) to his personal ombudsman and senior protocol officer, the Usher of the Black Rod in the Canadian senate, during an audience with the king. This show of concord comes amid incessant overtures for annexation repeated even during the Quebec hosted G7 conference to reinforce sovereignty as the country’s monarch. Elbows up!

snow recedes, mist lingers in the air (12. 303)

Courtesy of the always excellent Web Curios, we get a chance to revisit the topic of microseasons (候, kō) with this guide to the twenty-four solar terms or sekki, a phenomenal calendar in driven by the cycles of nature instead of fixed dates used traditionally for agrarian purposes in China and Japan, timing planting and harvesting. Harmonised nicely with yesterday’s lunar eclipse (see previously here and here), we are presently in Keichitsu or Jingzhe (啓蟄, the going-out of the worms) the days when insects awaken from their winter hiberation. Once I accidentally disturbed a nest of dormant lady bugs checking a barrel for rainwater and was devastated for days that I had interrupted their winter nap, still to this day. Even with the climate catastrophe and global weirding, there’s comfort in looking forward to Seimei (the first rainbows and geese migrate) and Shunbun (the sparrows return and the cherry blossoms bloom), the swallows come back to Capistrano and April showers.

u is for upper canada, where the poor slave have found rest after all his wanderings, for it is british ground (12. 302)

This 1846 hand-coloured primer was printed as an abecedary (see previously here and here) for the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Fair, authored and distributed by a pair of activist Quaker sisters, Mary and Hanna Townsend, realising that change could only be affected by including the young before they were inculcated otherwise with racist and oppressive ideas handed down. This volume was conserved and shared by the State of Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the whole alphabet, the rhyming couplets are reflective of the time and a bit paternalistic but worth reading, is showcased courtesy of Kuriositas at the link up top. I is the Infant, from the arms / Of its fond mother torn, / And, at a public auction, sold / With horses, cows and corn.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a psychoanalytic board game (with synchronoptica), Pi Day plus assorted links to revisit

seven years ago: celebrating the life and achievements of Stephen Hawking, the Norwegian Porridge Feud plus more praise for Professor Hawking

eight years ago: Trump’s rentier economy, more links to enjoy plus the thawing of the tundra

nine years ago: six-plus decades of space exploration, the making of 2001 plus the statues of Dublin

ten years ago: Iceland drops its bid to join the euro-market, even more links to revisit plus the digital attention deficit

supraphon (12. 301)

Courtesy of Present /&/ Correct, we are directed to a gallery of record sleeves from a Czech label founded in 1932 and still active. It is oriented mainly towards publishing classical and popular music from Czech and Slovak composers, and the catalogue acquired by Warner Music after the amicable split, which after mapping out the discography of the likes of Dvořák released its first stereophonic pop album in 1968.