Designersgotoheaven.com - Feeding the ghost by Santtu Mustonen.

In sushi terminology, shari refers to the rice while neta means fish, or whatever else you have as a topping. Start your child off early learning the basics of sushi, while allowing them to create colorful combinations with the wooden tsumiki-sushi set (7,400 yen). Yes please!

The limited edition sushi set was originally created for the Design Ah exhibition. The compact little set has a cover, which doubles as a sushi geta tray.

Portugal, hoje, é a ditadura do mesmo: os mesmos debates, os mesmos círculos, as mesmas opiniões e os mesmos partidos, fazendo as coisas sempre da mesma maneira, e coreografando as mesmas controvérsias com as mesmas palavras e o mesmo vazio de significado.

Escrevo minutos depois de ter visto o primeiro debate entre os candidatos a presidente da Comissão Europeia. Um debate histórico. Falou-se de tudo o que é essencial para o nosso futuro: desemprego, eurobonds, troika, juventude, energia, Ucrânia, imigração, envelhecimento, pensões e salários. Pela primeira vez desde que o mundo é mundo, quatro candidatos ao executivo de uma União de países explicaram como pretendem governar se forem eleitos. E, no entanto, escrevo estas linhas com raiva.

Porquê? Porque em Portugal ninguém quis organizar este debate. Há anos que venho alertando para ele. Propu-lo à Assembleia da República. Desafiei fundações. Mencionei o assunto a jornais, rádios e televisões. Encolheram os ombros e passaram à frente — à próxima polémica insignificante ocupando quatro canais de notícias e quatro generalistas.

Portugal tem interesse — porventura mais interesse do que a média dos outros países — em saber o que se prepara para o futuro da União Europeia. Fomos as primeiras vítimas das políticas erradas da Comissão. Seremos os primeiros interessados em políticas novas, e corretas. Mas quando um destes candidatos for presidente da Comissão, vai lembrar-se talvez das promessas que fez a alemães, franceses e holandeses. A portugueses, não, porque nenhuma instituição portuguesa esteve interessada. Hoje terça-feira, os nossos jornais quase não se referem a este debate. Entenderão que um daqueles candidatos vai ser o único detentor do poder de iniciar legislação para 500 milhões de pessoas, o autor de todas as propostas de orçamento comunitário até 2019, e o principal interlocutor de Portugal após a saída da troika?

(A propósito: outra razão de frustração é que entre os candidatos — o democrata-cristão luxemburguês Juncker, o socialista alemão Schulz, o liberal belga Verhofstadt e a verde alemã Keller, — o único que decidiu recusar o convite foi o grego Alexis Tsipras, da esquerda unitária. Como é possível que neste debate não tenha estado o único candidato que poderia ter apresentado uma perspectiva dos países vítimas da troika? É difícil de entender e aceitar.)

Claro, as instituições e órgãos de comunicação social que não quiseram dar atenção a este debate justificaram-se com a falta de interesse dos portugueses por temas europeus. Mas querem saber a melhor? Durante o debate de ontem, foi batido um recorde de dez mil tweets por minuto comentando as propostas dos candidatos. Sabem de onde vinha a grande maioria? Dospaíses do Sul da Europa.

Nesses países, como em Portugal, há um futuro querendo nascer, e uma super-estrutura de instituições e opiniões estabelecidas fazendo tudo para que esse futuro não nasça, pela razão mais mesquinha de todas: porque dá trabalho a acompanhar.

Portugal, hoje, é a ditadura do mesmo: os mesmos debates, os mesmos círculos, as mesmas opiniões e os mesmos partidos, fazendo as coisas sempre da mesma maneira, e coreografando as mesmas controvérsias com as mesmas palavras e omesmo vazio de significado.

Quando há quarenta anos Salgueiro Maia quis acabar com a ditadura, nem precisou de a descrever: bastou dizer “o estado a que chegámos” e toda a gente entendeu.

O mesmo se passa hoje. Há regimes que são oligarquias, burocracias, tecnocracias ou bancocracias. O nosso regime é a mesmocracia.

Alguém quer vir ajudar a acabar com isto? Já basta.

(Crónica publicada no jornal Público em 30 de Abril de 2014)

memewhore:

Could this be the most meta thing on the entire internet? Just so we’re clear, the title isn’t a typo. This really is a GIF of a Vine of a video of a flipbook of a GIF of a video of a roller coaster. Created yesterday by Televandalist using a handy Flipbookit.

“Funcionários do Mosteiro dos Jerónimos e da Torre de Belém acusados de esquema fraudulento de entrada de visitantes.

Mais de uma dezena de funcionários do Mosteiro dos Jerónimos e da Torre de Belém estão a ser investigados pela Polícia Judiciária por suspeita de envolvimento num esquema fraudulento de emissão de bilhetes, permitindo a entrada de visitantes naqueles dois monumentos à margem da contabilidade oficial.

Segundo o Expresso apurou junto de fonte oficial da PJ, o caso está a cargo da Unidade Nacional Contra a Corrupção. Ainda de acordo com fontes conhecedoras do processo, os funcionários em causa poderão ser acusados do crime de infidelidade.
O caso terá sido descoberto já este ano pela Direção-Geral do Património Cultural (DGPC), que avançou de imediato com um processo de averiguação interna e, confirmadas as suspeitas, com queixa formal às autoridades.

http://expresso.sapo.pt/pj-investiga-fraude-no-acesso-a-monumentos=f865244

On 16 May we’ll know the results of the world’s largest-ever election. 814 million people are eligible to vote in India’s elections, with voting carried out across the vast country over a six week period. The scale of the project is staggering: 11 million people have been deployed to help conduct the elections and 1.4 million electronic voting machines have been installed nationwide, all at an estimated cost of $600m to the Indian government.

So what do you need to know about what’s happening in the world’s largest democracy?

The three main candidates:

Narendra Modi (Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP))

Photo: Getty

In all likelihood, the Hindu nationalist candidate Narendra Modi will soon become India’s next prime minister. Modi’s rise to power has been both unlikely and impressive: the son of a tea-seller rose rapidly through the ranks of the RSS, a neo-Fascist paramilitary organisation with links to the BJP, gaining a reputation as a formidable organiser. Since 2001 he has been the chief minister of Gujarat, where he leaves a mixed-legacy.

On the one hand, he is credited with introducing pro-business reforms that have boosted the Gujarat economy. On the other, many (including Human Rights Watch) believe he was complicit in the 2002 riots in Gujarat that contributed to the death of at least 2000 Muslims and the displacement of many more. Although he denies responsibility, comments suggesting he regretted Muslims’ suffering as he would a “puppy being run over by a car” leave many fearful of his ability to unify India’s diverse, multi-sectarian population.

Rahul Gandhi (Congress)

Photo: Getty

Rahul Gandhi is the figurehead for Congress, the party of the current prime minister Manmohan Singh. Rahul Gandhi is Congress royalty: he is the son of the party leader Sonia Gandhi and is related to three former Indian prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Other than that, Indians have found little to inspire them in the Gandhi princeling, and are doubtful as to Congress’s economic legacy in power.

Arvind Kejriwal (Aam Aadmi)

Photo: Getty

Arvind Kejriwal is the clear underdog in the race. The former taxman turned anti-corruption campaigner is running on a shoestring budget but with an anti-corruption campaign that resonates with disaffected middle-class Indians. After a surprise victory in Delhi's local elections, Kejriwal resigned after just 49 days as chief minister in Delhi in 2013 after failing to pass through his flagship policy of introducing an anti-graft ombudsman, and his protests stunts including hunger-strikes and rough sleeping divides popular opinion: is he a serious political player able to shake-up India’s murky politics from within, or is he more skilled as an activist agitating from the outside?

It’s the economy, stupid

Most commentators agree the key issue in this election is the Indian economy. Economic growth is slowing, and ordinary Indians face rising inflation. The country’s economic liberalisation programmes, started in the 1990s, supported the expansion of India’s middle class and a rising super-elite (India now has 56 billionaires) but according to the World Bank, India is still home to a third of the world’s poorest people, those who are surviving on less than 82p a day. 68.8 per cent  per cent of the population lives on less than $2 a day, and India is in the curious position that more of the population has access to a mobile phone than to a toilet.

A series of corruption scandals among India’s economic and political elite have only highlighted this lopsided economic growth, and contributed to discontent among the middle classes and poorer Indians. In a recent poll, 96 per cent of Indians said corruption was holding their country back, and 92 per cent thought it has got worse in the past five years, a sentiment that has helped fuel the rise of India’s third party.

Social change

Although India is still a largely rural population - 68 per cent of Indians live in rural areas, and around half the workforce is employed in agriculture, economic growth and a rising middle class has helped bring about social change. The protests over the 2012 gang rape of a student in Delhi highlighted both the scale of violence against women in the country, the state of women’s rights and the potential power of mass protests. Women’s turnout has steadily increased over recent elections, and a recent poll has suggested that 75 per cent of men and women participating in the election believe the political promises made to advocate women’s rights have been inadequate so far. In the 2009 elections just 11 per cent of parliamentary seats were held by women. 

Last month the Supreme Court in India has issued a new law allowing transgender people to change their gender on official documents to reflect their gender identity. This is the first election in which India’s transgender community are able to mark their gender as “other” on their ballot forms – a move that many hope is a first step towards greater economic empowerment and social recognition.

©Ben Newman 2014

Letra pequena não saberia (nem poderia) viver sem um nem outra.

(Ilustração de Vítor Gaspar.)

Comic Sans is the worst thing in history, and like many horrible things in history, its growth has spread unchecked, even marking the Papacy with its sinister sigil. But now some humanitarian has updated it! Designer Craig Rozynski has given it a kernlift as Comic Neue writing:

Comic Sans wasn’t designed to be the world’s most ubiquitous casual typeface1. Comic Neue aspires to be the casual script choice for everyone including the typographically savvy.

The squashed, wonky, and weird glyphs of Comic Sans have been beaten into shape while maintaining the honesty that made Comic Sans so popular.

It’s perfect as a display face, for marking up comments, and writing passive aggressive office memos.

And you can Comics Neue for free! Rozynsky even got the original designer, Vincent Connare to comment:

should be more casual RT @craigrozynski:you inspired my first typographical project, http://t.co/Z9UopJrwsu.love to get ur opinion,

— Vincent Connare (@VincentConnare) April 7, 2014

It’s true that Connare did not know the many crimes against ascenders, creating the font as a quickie for Microsoft, and not knowing that it would be used for everything, and would, in turn, make everything it was used for look tacky and silly. But now, we have a new chance to build a brighter more beautiful future for our children and our children’s children.

Let the healing begin.

Triangular buildings aren’t so very unusual, triangular books, on the other hand, are less common. This example is from the Manly Palmer Hall collection of alchemical manuscripts at the Internet Archive, not only a triangular book but one where most of the pages are written in a symbolic alphabet. A reviewer supplies the following details (which may not be accurate so the usual caveats apply):

“No. Soixante & Seize” de la collection maconnique du F… Ex Dono Sapientissimi Comitis St. Germain Qui Orben Terrarum Per Cucurrit ca. 1775. Hogart MS 209.

This manuscript bought from Frank Hollings, a London antiquary, after 1933 (he apparently was unaware of the Hauser St. Germain manuscript) came from the occult library of Mme. Barbe, who had it from the bibliographer Stanislaus de Guaita, who in turn bought it at the auction of the library of Jules Favre. It is a copy made from one of the magical texts in the possession of St. Germain by the owner’s permission. A number of such copies were executed for the members of his Masonic lodge in Paris, and the following manuscript, as different in style as it is, may be one of the copies too. It is unclear in both cases whether the Comte St. Germain wrote the magical formulae or owned a copy of an ancient text. This manuscript was made for Antoine Louis Moret, a French emigre to America active in Masonry and in politics.

Does the 76 on the cover refer to the year the book was made, or does it have some other significance? One of the meanings assigned to the number 76 in the Sepher Sephiroth is “Secret, put away; a hiding place”, so the latter is a possibility. See the entire volume here.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Alembic and Ligier Richier
• Atalanta Fugiens
• Splendor Solis revisited
• Laurie Lipton’s Splendor Solis
• The Arms of the Art
• Splendor Solis
• Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae
• Cabala, Speculum Artis Et Naturae In Alchymia
• Digital alchemy