9x9 (13. 600)

we don’t need anybody’s help but before i asked they said they wouldn’t be there: Trump airs classic grievances upon his arrival for the NATO summit in Ankara 

artisanal work culture: beekeeping, baking and candlestick-making as rebellion and a shift to the approach of skilled trade  

you don’t have to blog like me: just write  

project 2029: the crusade against the annoyance economy   

cheddaring: a cheese heist and other organised food crimes  

confessions of a dachsund: these videos were a little less David Attenborough and a little more Baby Reindeer  

rollerena: NYC’s queer fairy godmother  

doomjobbing: an employment system trusted by no one 

bel:usa: America out of the World Cup play-offs after excoriating defeat by Belgium

tenty-wise (13. 599)

Originating in Teutonic lands and referred to as hund, hundreð or hundred for the quantity of 120. A hybrid of both Germanic and Romance influence, English eventually added the qualifier long to distinguish it from their short hundred and historic manuscripts and accounting records often include marginalia glosses to distinguish numbers meant to be understood as decimal rather than dozenal or base twelve—Et quolibet c. continet vi. xx., Each such ‘hundred’ contains six score.Due to extensive trade networks, England maintained these competing units (see previously), with a hundred kippers (though not herring) to be one hundred twenty fish, a hundred of linen cloth being hundred twenty ells of fabric. The convention is preserved today with the measure of dry goods as the hundredweight (also known as the quintal (for five twenties and abbreviated cwt), in Canada and the US as one hundred pounds (forty five kilograms) and in the imperial customary system as eight stone (one hundred twelve pounds—the long hundred was also called the twelfty, fifty kilograms), with both systems reckoning a ton as twenty hundredweight and necessitating the need to differentiate between a long and short ton—see above. In North America, this metric is used for blacksmiths’ anvils and for stock trade in paper, livestock and some cereal grains and seed oils. In the metric system, a quintal, hardly ever used as a unit of mass (q), is equivalent to one hundred kilograms, the obsolete measure defined in a decree issued 13 Brumaire, IX (4 November 1800) but never included as part of the IS weights and measures. The Zentner (derived from the Latin centrum) as a measure of mass in the German Sprachraum—exported abroad with beer brewing—was the back translation of one hundred Pfund, presently settled on fifty kilos, approximately one hundred ten pounds, with a Pfund informally used to ask for five hundred grams.

social proprioception (13. 598)

Courtesy of Clive Thompson’s latest Linkfest, not only are we rather remarkable obituary for playwright Tom Stoppard whose poetic explanation of chaos theory in Arcadia inspired an audience member, a visiting oncologist to invent the technique of adjuvant systemic chemotherapy as a more effective treatment for breast cancer, through the magic of triangulation, saving untold lives unbeknownst to the author, we have occasion to examine the phenomenon further of happenstance and serendipity of disparate topics coalescing in unexpected ways that we need to be more receptive to. Thompson’s own hedgehog idea and guiding principle (an antidote to the previous post) grew out of a “slow hunch” that took years to germinate to describe the sense-of-self informed by social media, itself engendering amazing feats of coordination and kinship even through the briefest of briefs.

value-captured (13. 597)

Via Kottke, we are directed towards an anti-Bildungsroman about reflections on the growth and development of a digital native and a life squandered in the pursuit of increasingly tantalising internet points and the Overton window, the normative discourse of one’s peers as less than perspective and insight but rather something tethered, untethered and estranging, of others. Vicarious and evangelical, our protagonist aspires to live the life of others—achievable but deferred—and nonetheless consumed with consumption, and in the end, looking back at these parasocial relationships, realises too late it came at the expense of her own dreams and aspirations. While it may strike as a touch sententious and judgemental, that’s the exact impetus for reflection and to evaluate those metrics that malnourish us (sometimes described as gamification but I think that’s a misnomer as the most oppressive ones are the most ungamely) from those that help us reach our potentials.

synchronoptica

one year ago: everything becomes crab (with synchronoptica) 

two years ago: assorted links worth revisiting, a forgotten pioneer of cinematography, swimming with Benjamin Franklin plus France at the polls

three years ago: the first study-abroad programme 

four years ago: assorted links to enjoy plus volcanologist William Hamilton 

five years ago: sliced bread, the Quasi-War of 1798 plus a visit to Fladungen

six years ago: titleist Maurice Binder plus more adventures along the Moselle

day one-hundred twenty-six (13. 596)

After granting Iran a week off out of respect for the funeral of the late Supreme Leader, Trump renews his threats to “finish the job” militarily if Tehran does not agree to a deal under US terms. A fleet of Japanese flagged tankers leave the Persian gulf after being stranded for months, whilst ships come under fire cleaving close to the Omani coast. Netanyahu claims Christian villages in southern Lebanon have asked to be annexed by Israel to protect them from Hezbollah. Zelenskyy reportedly will not be allowed to speak during the NATO summit. During a play-off, the American president intervenes to pressure FIFA officials to reconsider a penalty imposed against one of the star players of team USA and reverse the referee’s red card—forever earning the game an asterisk (see also) in the history books.

exceptional growers (13. 595)

Recalling that decades ago, whilst in Prague and having frequented the legendary Thirsty Dog (the tavern opposite the capital’s Municipal House, Žíznivý pes made famous by the Nick Cave song) and having ordered a Harvey Wall-Banger was presented a small potted cactus before being served, the bartender later explaining that this was part of her brother’s collection who had seemed to have lost interest in their upkeep, we found history of succulent capers, hardly a one-off occurrence of enthusiasts in the Czech Republic, to be quite resonant. The craze and eventual poaching began with “Alberto” Vojtěch Frič in the 1900s and a botanical expedition to South America after his original garden fell victim to a hard frost, which informed Czech collectors in an enduring legacy, at first isolated from global market to cultivate a space, a pastime separate from Communism and Soviet domination.   More from The Conversation at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Bauhaus theatre (with synchronoptica) plus Operation Ploughshare 

two years ago: assorted links to revisit, bracket orthography plus Forrest Gump (1994)

three years ago: when in the country 

four years ago: an East German rock opera plus a message beamed into deep space

five years ago: more on artist Sophie Taeuber Arp, a banger from David Bowie, a visit to Mellrichstadt, wolfsbane plus assorted links to revisit

six years ago: time immemorial plus a trip to the Moselle

day one-hundred twenty-five (13. 594)

Dayslong funeral services are held for the late Supreme Leader with the new ayatollah still conspicuously absent from public view. OPEC has agreed to increase production as the Strait Hormuz gradually opens. Trump is slated to discuss maritime security at the upcoming NATO summit as trade resumes between Qatar and Iran as well as ending the Russia-Ukraine war. A cargo ship is attacked off the coast of Yemen. Tehran names a new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

an american in paris (13. 593)

Courtesy of Messy Nessy Chic via a link roundup that celebrates the US’ special relationship with France as told though its expatriates and exiles, we learn about American Air Force veteran and expert archer Erika Eiffel (née LaBrie) whom married the famous tower in a commitment ceremony in 2007. Polyamorous by nature, Eiffel first discovered her unique subcategory of paraphilia after an attempted sexual assault by a fellow cadet in the academy, rebuffing her attacker with a training sword, which she was reluctant ever to be without, then credits her skill with archery to her relationship with her bow, Lance. After her first visit to the tower in 2004, Eiffel felt an immediate connection on several levels and was inspired to found an organisation for those with similar feelings for inanimate objects (see also here and here) and advocate how love is reciprocated and empowering, as she explained in an interview with Good Morning America and the Tyra Banks’ Show. Aside from the mythical sculptor Pygmalion and Quasimodo’s love for the bells of Notre Dame, real life examples include a Swedish woman who wed the Berlin Wall in 1979 and an Australian woman who married Le Pont du Diable in Hérault in 2013.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica)

two years ago: returning via Switzerland plus a new Labour government for the UK

three years ago: a banger from Janet Jackson, more links to enjoy, Tynwald Day in Manx, the Tiny Awards plus pull-tabs for canned beverages

four years ago: Saint Zoe plus a passport for the stateless (1922)

five years ago: points of departure 

six years ago: Thomas Cook travel agency (1841), a 90s music festival generator plus even more links