berufsbeamtengesetz (12. 372)

The full formal title in English having a familiar ring, The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was enacted on this day in 1933 two months after Hitler’s rise to power is among the earliest examples of racist and anti-Semitic legislation in the regime, the main thrust of decree was to establish and promote a “national” and expert administrative state by dismissing certain groups of tenured employees, compelling those with Jewish or “non-Aryan” origins to retire or resign and terminating members with ties, real or suspected, to the Communist Party and affiliate organisations. Forbidding these individuals from holding teaching positions or judgeships at first before being expanded to a range of jobs including lawyers, tax consultants, doctors and notaries public, the law and harsh conditions spurred many to flee the country before being expelled, due to heritage or political beliefs. While briefly offering functionaries who had been employed since 1918 and had not yet attained the training and skills to faithfully execute their office should be let go, the text in the main concerned itself with presenting a false narrative of races and how to gauge non-Aranan descent and putting the onus of proof on individuals wanting to keep their positions—Arienachweis, Ahnenpass. Civil servants could be made redundant without cause and forced into retirement to advance the “simplification of administration” with vacancies eliminated. Pensions for this dismissed class of employees were also eventually phased out.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Italian cafe culture accoutrements (with synchronoptica), pixelated dioramas,  assorted links worth the revisit plus a banger from Rick James

seven years ago: the Smooth-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930

eight years ago: unmasking Trump critics plus more links to enjoy

nine years ago: a sonnet generating algorithm, more on the Panama Papers and other tax havens plus a German comedian fined for insulting Turkish leadership

ten years ago: criminal mastermind Adam Worth, a double dose of assorted links, grocery shopping without packaging plus Cyprus joins the eurozone

ley de aguas (12. 371)

Arising from necessity over a thousand years ago and held every Thursday up to the present day, the Tribunal of the Waters of Valencia among farmers and public works (nine by tradition called the Comunitat de Regnant) seeking access to the irrigation system of the extensive network of canals diverting water from the Túria sourced from the Iberian Montes Universales watershed to the plain for agricultural and domestic use, it is the oldest customary court in the world also counting as the most venerable democratic institution in Europe. Proceedings are held orally, called by the bailiff to hear out disputes and the council to pass judgment, and no written records are kept, and begun during the age of the Caliphate to manage water resources, the tribunal originally held in the city’s central mosque, the venue replaced by a cathedral during the Reconquista are held out-of-doors and open to the public to ensure all plaintiffs have access to a fair hearing with decisions being final and not up for appeal outside the unique justice system.

etsomnia (12. 370)

Via Marco McClean’s Memo of the Air, we are introduced to the very long-standing tradition (for which we were woefully remiss about perusing beforehand) of My One Beautiful Thing’s weekly curation of a sampling of some of the strange crafts discovered on the e-commerce site (see also here and here) with an emphasis on handmade jewellery, totes and home decor. The above disorder leading to sleep deprivation is a self-diagnosis from obsessive browsing of said upcycling marketplace, whose name itself comes from etsi—Italian for oh yes and French and Latin for what if. Frequent themes include taxidermied plush animals, ceramics, inspired doormats and wall signage and overly-accessorised charm bracelets and bedazzled garments.

desiccant (12. 369)

Via Web Curios, we appreciated learning about the pervasive packets of silica gel we’ve mostly encountered inside bags of doggy treats (not a prize per se and while not necessarily harmful to handle made of the same silicon dioxide that makes up glass for drinkware, wind shields and screens for electronic devices, a less device and porous form of glass but definitely not to be eaten) and sometimes lining the pockets of new clothes and soles of shoes—which although we’ve been rather compliantly socking in linen drawers for sometime now (the pictured sachet of an oxygen scavenger is materially something totally different but also extends the sell-by-date and keeps content fresh) based on something once read about how they can combat dampness and mildew, we realised we knew nothing about the history and growth of the industry that mirrors global trade and just-in-time delivery. The process for the manufacture of the nodules was mature by the 1930s, the beads exhibiting the rather remarkable property of absorbing forty percent of its weight in water vapour but there was not really a market for the pouches of wicking agent until the age of globalisation when everything from garments to crisps to gadgets where subject to a range of environmental factors air and sea and overland before getting to retailers and consumers. Rather than making packaging or shipping containers more robust to withstand these changing conditions, silica gel distributors began offering a less expensive alternative—complete with a protocol of how many packets might be needed depending on a product’s composition and journey—to stave off despoiling moisture. While the material can be recharged, regenerated (see also), stuck in a drawer, they have limited effect. More from Scope of Work at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: 1974’s Eurovision finale (with synchronoptica) plus Annie Lennox’ debut solo album

seven years ago:  assorted links to revisit, a coup in South Korea, the rediscovery of Pompeii plus Florida restricts public beach access

eight years ago: textile artist Dorothy Grebenak, protesting Putin, Sweden’s failure museum, designing Trump’s border wall, animated antiques plus the MAR-A-LAGO act

nine years ago: mapping Mt Fuji plus an exercise in character building

ten years ago: Motor City Mannheim

greed (12. 368)

The unapologetically bold and unyielding typeface by Neil Summerour for foundry Positype—perfect for this twentytwentyfive moment—is based on the typography of US banknotes, originally planned as a series of fonts illustrating the Seven Deadly Sins. Released on inauguration day, that singular vice seemed an all encompassing symbol for capturing the enshitifying gilded age we’ve been thrust into. Among the challenges the designer faced (aside from possible arrest from this administration for defacing legal tender) was crafting a lower case equivalent since dollar bills are all-caps, ANNUIT COEPTIS—God favours our undertaking!—no need to shout, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, and crafting a complete set of numerals outside of 0, 1, 2 and 5. The typeface has the complete set of Latin glyphs and diacritics for every language, including Vietnamese and others often left out of bespoke fonts not as a testament of universality but rather to be inclusive. More from Print Magazine at the link up top.

first contact (12. 367)

Observed on this day to celebrate both the flight of the Phoenix (repurposed from a nuclear warhead at a US Air Force missile complex outside of Bozeman, Montana) that broke the light-speed barrier and attracted the attention of a passing Vulcan survey ship, the T’Plana-Hath, with its warp-signature—and immediately following the test-launch humanity’s first encounter with an alien race. The 2063 event was introduced as a holiday in 2021 during the COVID pandemic a virtual pick-me-up during lockdown and social-distancing but was established in franchise canon outside of the feature film with the crew of the Next Generation thwarting sabotage by the Borg and preserving the timeline—Geordi and Riker need to go further back in the past to fix our timeline—and Voyager marking the occasion from the Delta Quadrant with Naomi Wildman and Neelix hosting a gathering (see also) for the three hundred fifteenth anniversary with a party and rock-and-roll music (pilot Zefram Cochrane’s favourites) from Tom Paris’ antique jukebox. Science officer Tuvok delivered the salutation, reluctantly not seeing the point, of “Live long and prosper,” to the applause of the guests. A decade after First Contact, during the dedication of Earth’s first Warp 5 complex, Cochrane—who was initially motivated to create the warp drive for ‘women and money’—addressed the crowd: “Don’t try tp be a great man, just be a man, and let history make its own judgments,” it never being clear it the later retcon whether the test-flight was successful due to the intervention of the Enterprise and the Borg attempt to prevent it, and “This engine will let us go boldly where no man has gone before.” Ooby dooby.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Carrie at fifty-plus (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: another hit from Melanie, Lustron steel homes plus the Pillars of Creation

eight years ago: optical character recognition, amending the US constitution plus the news is fake but the leaks are real

nine years ago: the Panama Papers, Star Trek inspired cosmetics, manhole apartments, a gallery of Mid-Century Modern homes plus David Bowie as Abraham Lincoln

ten years ago: Easter greetings

will a fosse neck do it? (12. 366)

Via fellow internet peripatetic, Messy Nessy Chic, we really enjoyed this celebration of the choreography of Bob Fosse (previously) taken from the 1969 cinematic adaptation of his Sweet Charity—based off of Fellini’s Le notti di Cabiria featuring the narrative of a sex-worker in Rome and lightly sanitised as the story of a call-girl, dancer-for-hire in Times Square’s Fandango Ballroom, its sleaziness illustrated by “Hey, Big Spender,” portrayed by Shirley MacLaine. Invited home by a celebrity guest on the mends from an apparent breakup, the protagonist finds herself in his apartment for dinner, “If They Could See Me Now,” whilst pursuing an ill-fated romance with a claustrophobic elevator-operator.

8x8 (12. 365)

museum of now: This American Life invites us to sit with and reflect on the artefacts of day and hour 

rift valley: a Trump appointed special envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tiffany’s father-in-law, seeking to make a deal on mineral resources in hopes of securing peace with Rwandan rebels 

fay wray: a swarm of drones recreate the iconic scene of King Kong scaling the Empire State building  

toast malone: a short clip of the singer performing Circles, animated on one hundred thirty-three slices of bread  

altair 8800: a retrospective of Microsoft at fifty 

the bronx is up and the battery’s down: new NYC subway map is an homage to an early digrammatic version  

blanket non-fraternisation policy: US bans government personnel stationed in China from forming relationships with locals 

national endowment for the humanities: US museums, libraries and archives see their grants terminated—see previously