in every language (13. 262)

Via Web Curios, we are directed to an engrossing project from Riley Walz (previously) that scrapes the representative header image from all the three-hundred plus language editions of Wikipedia, chosen by that version’s editors, to represent a given topic or concept—see also, see previously—to present an interesting array of how different cultures symbolise and genericise an idea. When there’s not a media commons, sometimes I switch between different languages to scour for a better photograph on a specific subject but its really interesting to see what illustrative examples are used around the world. Try looking up automobile or dog or comedy or art or see where random entries lead.

oh who will find the antidote for pentagonorrhoea (13. 261)

Having coming across a clip of someone lip-syncing a section of this ditty the other day, I appreciated, courtesy of r/ObscureMedia, the full version with spoken-word intro from the Chad Mitchell Trio of this 1964 number, should you find any drafts that need dodging in your area. The group is rather famous for their satirical songs lampooning topical and controversial subjects during the Cold War, the civil rights movement and the Vietnam era, pivoting away from folk music with their then daring ridicule of the anti-communist, ultraconservative John Birch Society. Draft Dodger Rag was originally written by Phil Ochs and after being popularised by the Trio was soon afterwards performed by the Smothers Brothers on their comedy hour.

day fourteen (13. 260)

The US has temporarily waved sanctions for Russian crude and for oil in tankers stranded at sea, unable to pass through the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, reiterating the plan to provide naval escorts. Meanwhile oil producing states in the region are contemplating pausing production with limited land-storage capacity and no ships to fill, with the process of restarting drilling not as simple as turning the spigot back on. İncirlik NATO airbase came under fire and is in lockdown and smoke billows over the financial centre of Dubai. A US refuelling plane was downed in Iraqi airspace and a rescue operation for the five crew members is underway, whilst there are also discussions to move anti-missile systems, running in short supply, from South Korea to the Middle East to protect American assets. Preliminary investigations into the bombing of a girls’ school in Minhab puts the blame on American misfiring and faulty intelligence. Historical Safavid-era buildings of the Ali Qapu and Rashk palaces in Isfahan province were destroyed by joint US and Israeli airstrikes as devastating assaults continue in Beirut.

synchronoptica

one year ago: spiritual boxes (with synchronopticæ) plus vintage Czech record sleeves

thirteen years ago: fiscal planning 

fourteen years ago: help for Japan in the Fukushima aftermath 

seventeen years ago: pot o’ gold 

 

città dei coralli (13. 259)

Via fellow internet caretaker, Messy Nessy Chic (lots more to discover there), we are introduced to the ancient art of coral-working perfected in the north-western Sicilian coastal city of Trepani. Embellished with jewels and precious metals, this craft was very much en vogue during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries following the rediscovery of reefs off the port in the Mediterranean and masters created vignettes as devotional and decorative items and as tribute for the aristocracy. The tradition continues with jewellery and figural tableaux like Nativity scenes by a new generation that have revived the art using the old tools of the trade for working the coral but with more of an eye towards conservation rather than exploitation of the maritime environment.  Much more to explore at the links above.

day thirteen (13. 258)

Iran continues to target Gulf states’ energy infrastructure, including firing on tankers moored at the chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz in the Red Sea, as oil prices climb and some thirty nations release strategic reserves in order to avoid shocks to their economies and industries, impose rationing and driving restrictions. Faced with UN demands that Tehran stop this assault disrupting world petroleum supplies and air travel, the country’s president returned with demands that reparations and security guarantees be included in any agreement for a ceasefire fire. In what was touted as a junket to focus on affordability, Trump proclaimed victory but that they had not yet won enough—whilst US intelligence reports that the Iranian regime was still mostly intact and that, though diminished, it was retains its capability to fight back. Most targets lauded from yesterday’s most intense day of strikes from the US Department of War, dropped from B-52s launched from RAF Fairford, remain unknown. Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon continues with three-quarters of a million people displaced from Beirut suburbs.

 

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ), Trump’s Tesla plus Captain Charles Boycott

twelve years ago: standard aptitude tests plus protest currency

thirteen years ago: bulk trash plus umlauts 

fifteen years ago: aftermath of the Fukushima disaster plus a Venn diagram of the EU

algeria, gabon, benin, the gambia (13. 257)

This was delightful and really could be integrated as a classroom geography lesson, since most of us are only disabused of our ignorance through wars. There I Ruined It (previously) improves Toto’s “Africa” by lyrically listing all fifty-four nations of the continent. More mnemonics from Kottke at the link above.

any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes (13. 256)

Revisiting an classic episode, Planet Money repackages a clutch of workplace adages, observations and eponymous laws as potential indictments of office culture—with an inflammatory demotivational poster fit for framing in one’s breakroom, I could cite several poster children for each among my own coworkers and colleagues. Particularly relatable was Goodhart’s Law (see previously, see also), reformulated from the above as when a measure becomes a target, it ceases being a good metric, resonating with how we’re encouraged to cook the books to get fill-time down and play a numbers game that doesn’t reflect other extenuating factors though exceeds the standard—in other words, those who know the indicators will game them. Also depressingly resonant was the Peter Principle, a management concept articulated from intended satire that individuals within a hierarchy tend to be promoted to “a level of respective incompetence,” that a worker’s talents are recognised and advanced through the ranks and find themselves eventually in over their heads with expectations and responsibilities outside of their skill-set, plateauing at usually conspicuous placement with a supervisory role. The phenomenon which Germans call “falling up the ladder” is also addressed in the source material by Canadian educator Laurence Peter and screenwriter Raymond Hull when the progression seemingly does not stop despite graduated ineptitude, this apparent exception is an example of “percussive sublimation” and a move from one unproductive role to another, with other instances of pseudo-promotion being the “lateral arabesque,” retaining an individual to buy their silence but moving them out of the spotlight with a longer job title.

8x8 (13. 255)

should make you think: the Ig Noble commitee and ceremony (see previously) moves to Zürich permanently out of fear for its international laureates coming to the US  

multisource authentication: the madding task of logging on to any platform, ostensibly for security reasons, also is unpaid labour to train AI  

ʰ-bomb: a typographical mystery surrounding one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most celebrated sacred spaces—via MetaFilter  

asterisms: learn about the night sky by creating one’s own constellations with Neal Agarwal (previously)  

saint-michel d’aiguihe: the chapel of St Michael of the Needle built atop a volcanic plug and has a secret reliquary—via Miss Cellania    

diacritics: kernels, ʻokinas and curly quotes 

short imagined monologues: the void would very much like you to stop screaming into it—see also  

rebel alliance: Minnesota’s badge of resistance to ICE terror