The Baltic Way

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baltsk%C3%BD%C5%98et%C4%9Bz.jpg — Image: Wikimedia Commons

On August 23, 1989, two million peaceful demonstrators joined hands across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to protest the occupation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union. The chain, 675 kilometers long, connected the capitals of Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn. Coordinated by portable radios, the protesters peacefully joined hands for 15 minutes at 7 p.m. local time, saying they wanted to demonstrate solidarity among the three nations in their desire for independence.

“This is something I feel in my heart,” said Rita Urbanovich, who had brought her 7-year-old twin sons to a spot along the Viljandi Highway outside Tallinn. “We suffered. Our whole country suffered — every person. And I brought my children because this is my way to explain to them why independence is important for their future.”

Moscow responded with heated rhetoric but backed down when the activists appealed to the United Nations. Within seven months, Lithuania had declared its independence, and by the end of 1991 all three Baltic states were free.

June 9, 2017 | History

Hocus Pocus

Allan William Johnson discovered this “magic square of squares” in 1990:

 30²   246²   172²    45²

 93²   116²    66²   258²

126²   138²   237²    44²

260²     3²    54²   150²

Each row, column, and long diagonal totals 93025, or 305².

June 9, 2017 | Science & Math

Things to Come

In 1899, preparing for festivities in Lyon marking the new century, French toy manufacturer Armand Gervais commissioned a set of 50 color engravings from freelance artist Jean-Marc Côté depicting the world as it might exist in the year 2000.

The set itself has a precarious history. Gervais died suddenly in 1899, when only a few sets had been run off the press in his basement. “The factory was shuttered, and the contents of that basement remained hidden for the next twenty-five years,” writes James Gleick in Time Travel. “A Parisian antiques dealer stumbled upon the Gervais inventory in the twenties and bought the lot, including a single proof set of Côté’s cards in pristine condition. He had them for fifty years, finally selling them in 1978 to Christopher Hyde, a Canadian writer who came across his shop on rue de l’Ancienne-Comédie.”

Hyde showed them to Isaac Asimov, who published them in 1986 as Futuredays, with a gentle commentary on what Côté had got right (widespread automation) and wrong (clothing styles). But maybe some of these visions are still ahead of us:

Wikimedia Commons has the full set.

Unquote

bugs bunny

“The cocky characters, for some reason, the public seems to like. They don’t like those kinds of people in real life.” — Friz Freleng

June 8, 2017 | Entertainment

Undone

erasing hands

“Erasing Hands,” by Malaysian illustrator Tang Yau Hoong. What happens next?

June 7, 2017June 7, 2017 | Art

Island Cats

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White_Island,_New_Zealand.jpg — Image: Wikimedia Commons

In 1914, the rim of the New Zealand volcano Whakaari collapsed, burying a sulfur mining operation and killing 10 men.

“Remarkably, there was one survivor: the camp cat, Peter the Great,” notes Sarah Lowe in New Zealand Geographic. “The cat returned to Whakatane, perhaps with one life less, but with unimpaired virility: many Whakatane cat owners trace their pet’s genealogy back to this hardy beast.”

It’s sometimes said that a cat named Tibbles dispatched the last living Lyall’s wren from Stephens Island, also in New Zealand, making her the only known individual to have extirpated an entire species. It’s more likely that a colony of feral cats overran the island, the birds’ last refuge. But maybe one of them was named Tibbles!

In his notebook, Mark Twain wrote, “A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught any crime.”

June 7, 2017 | Oddities

Black and White

matthäus chess problem

By Hans Georg Matthäus. White to mate in two moves.

	Select Click for Answer
If the rook weren’t on f2 then White could immediately give mate with the knight. Unfortunately, moving the rook out of the way gives Black time to play 1. … Bd4, and now White’s plan doesn’t work — if the knight checks the king then the bishop can simply capture it. The answer is 1. Rf6! This stops the bishop from reaching d4, and Black has no way to stop 2. Nf2#.

June 6, 2017June 18, 2017 | Puzzles

Memorial

In 2013, artist Kim Beaton and 25 volunteers constructed a 12-foot papier-mâché “tree troll” with the kindly face of the sculptor’s late father, Hezzie Strombo, a Montana lumberjack.

[My father] had died a few months prior at 80 years old. On June 2nd, at 3am, I woke from a dream with a clear vision burning in my mind. The image of my dad, old, withered and ancient, transformed into one of the great trees, sitting quietly in a forest. I leaped from my bed, grabbed some clay and sculpted like my mind was on fire. In 40 minutes I had a rough sculpture that said what it needed to. The next morning I began making phone calls, telling my friends that in 6 days time we would begin on a new large piece. The next 6 days, I got materials and made more calls. On June 8th we began, and 15 days later we were done. I have never in my life been so driven to finish a piece.

The troll now makes holiday appearances at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas.

(From My Modern Met.)

June 6, 2017 | Art

Podcast Episode 156: The Most Dedicated Soldier

When American forces overran the Philippine island of Lubang in 1945, Japanese intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda withdrew into the mountains to wait for reinforcements. He was still waiting 29 years later. In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll meet the dedicated soldier who fought World War II until 1974.

We’ll also dig up a murderer and puzzle over an offensive compliment.

See full show notes …

June 5, 2017September 30, 2017 | History · Podcast