​Zelensky Evokes U.S. History in Appeal to Congress

 
President Volodomyr Zelensky

"President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine made an urgent and emotional appeal to Congress on Wednesday to come to his country’s aid as it fights off a brutal Russian invasion, asking for help protecting its air space, military assistance and stronger sanctions as part of what he cast as a war for the cause of democracy itself.In a remarkably direct appeal by a wartime leader to policymakers in Washington, Mr. Zelensky addressed lawmakers on a large screen in a movie theater-style auditorium under the Capitol, invoking the memories of Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — when the United States came under attack — as he pleaded for support saying, ‘we need you right now.’ ...”

 
Residents leave the badly damaged residential building that was hit by a Russian shell.

Bernadette Mayer / Vito Acconci: 0 To 9

 
“Bernadette Mayer is one of the most acclaimed poets of the ‘New York School’ of poetry. Her avant garde and exquisitely rendered final pieces are a result of adventurous journal keeping and writing experiments, some of which will be evident September 13 when the Walker and Rain Taxi Review of Books co-present Bernadette Mayer along with poets Jennifer Karmin and Philip Good, an evening of collaborative literary mayhem. Mayer’s life as a literary artist has been well pronounced in the world of visual art. In the late 1960s, she — along with artist Vito Acconci — edited the groundbreaking mimeographed magazine 0 to 9, which brought together the era’s leading figures of experimental poetry and conceptual art. ...”

The Billion-Dollar Brackets of March Madness

 
“One in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. That’s over nine quintillion, for those of you who gave up after the fourth comma. Those are the odds of a coin-flipping novice filling out a perfect March Madness bracket, calculated by realizing the two possible outcomes for every game in every round, expressed 2^63. The astronomical odds dwarf the likelihood of death by a vending machine falling on you (roughly 1 in 127 million) or winning Powerball (1 in 292 million). In fact, with the CDC stating the odds of being hit by lightning are 1 in 500,000 in any given year, you’re more likely to be zapped 18 trillion times before predicting the outcome of every match in the famed college basketball tournament, which explains why nobody ever has since the tradition was born back in 1977 within the walls of a Staten Island bar called Jody’s Club Forest. ...”

​The Iconic Doomsday Clock Now Says It’s 100 Seconds to Midnight, Following Putin’s Nuclear Threats

 
“Last year, the fates handed the New York Times‘ Maria Cramer an enviably striking lede: ‘Humanity is 100 seconds away from total annihilation. Again.’ That we all know immediately what she was writing about speaks to the power of graphic design. Specifically, it speaks to the power of graphic design as practiced by Martyl Langsdorf, who happened to be married to ex-Manhattan Project physicist Alexander Langsdorf. This connection got her the gig of creating a cover for the June 1947 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. She came up with a simple image: the upper-left corner of a clock, its hands at seven minutes to midnight. ...”

 
Protest signs against the invasion of Ukraine left outside the Russian embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Belfast - Kenneth Branagh (2021)

 
“Romanticism reigns in ‘Belfast,’ Kenneth Branagh’s cinematic memoir of his childhood in a turbulent Northern Ireland. From the lustrous, mainly black-and-white photography to the cozy camaraderie of its working-class setting, the movie softens edges and hearts alike. The family at its center might have health issues, money worries and an outdoor toilet, but this is no Ken Loach-style deprivation: In these streets, grit and glamour stroll hand-in-hand. So when Ma (Caitriona Balfe) sits in her doorway to peel potatoes for dinner, what we notice is the soft afternoon light dancing on her luminous skin and brunette curls. And when Pa (Jamie Dornan), square of jaw and shoulder, strides toward home after a spell working in England, the camera shoots him like a returning hero. ...”

​Leaked Chats Show Russian Ransomware Gang Discussing Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine

 
“Internal chat logs leaked from the notorious Russian ransomware gang Conti reveal unfiltered conversations between ultranationalist hackers in which they repeat Russian President Vladimir Putin’s conspiratorial lies about Ukraine, discuss the impact of early Western sanctions against their country, and make antisemitic comments about Ukraine’s Jewish president. The logs were leaked late last month, reportedly by a Ukrainian security researcher, after Conti publicly announced its support for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and threatened to retaliate against any cyber warfare targeted at the Russian-speaking world. The logs span two years and multiple chat services and were released alongside training documentation, hacking tools, and source code. ...”

 
Tens of thousands of Russians have fled to Istanbul, but tens of thousands more have gone to Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, which are better known as sources of migration to Russia.

​The road well travelled: 100 years of Jack Kerouac

 
“Jack Kerouac – anti-establishment icon, revolutionary author of the American classic On the Road, pioneer of the Beat Generation and, perhaps most of all, enduring symbol of cool.If a dog-eared paperback of On the Road slung in your back pocket was once the ultimate avant-garde accessory, 100 years after his birth, a Kerouac namecheck has become something of a trope on dating apps. New analysis by OkCupid has shown that mentions of the Beat poets and On the Road in profiles (more often on those belonging to men) have increased more than threefold in the past five years. With their themes of travelling, male friendship and flight from the nine-to-five to explore a world of sex, drugs and art, it’s easy to see why men want to align themselves with Kerouac’s books. ...”

​Could Putin actually fall?

“As Russia’s war in Ukraine looks increasingly disastrous, speculation has mounted that President Vladimir Putin’s misstep could prove to be his downfall. A litany of pundits and experts have predicted that frustration with the war’s costs and crushing economic sanctions could lead to the collapse of his regime. ‘Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine will result in the downfall of him and his friends,’ David Rothkopf declared in the Daily Beast. ‘If history is any guide, his overreach and his miscalculations, his weaknesses as a strategist, and the flaws in his character will undo him.’ But what events could actually bring down Putin? And how likely might they be in the foreseeable future?The best research on how authoritarians fall points to two possible scenarios: a military coup or a popular uprising. ...”
 
A funeral for three Ukrainian soldiers on Friday in Lviv. Since the start of the war, for most Ukrainians the threat from Russia has far overshadowed that of the virus.

​Jóhann Jóhannsson ~ Drone Mass

 
“The long goodbye to Jóhann Jóhannsson continues with the release of Drone Mass, commissioned by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble in 2015 and premiered by ACME and Roomful of Teeth under Jóhannsson’s direction. Inspired by Nag Hammadi texts, the work is rife with vowels, a reflection of the text, which delves into repetition as mantra.  As such, the singing is percussive and ritualistic, although the music is often more modern composition than drone. ...”

​Ukrainians in race to save cultural heritage

 
Cultural objects in Lviv secured in case of Russian shelling

“Standing in front of Lviv’s Latin cathedral, Lilya Onyshchenko offered her view of the invading Russians. ‘They are barbarians. They don’t care what they destroy,’ she said. ‘I haven’t met Hitler. I think Putin is worse. He’s a devil, not a human,’ she added, standing in the historic centre of one of Europe’s most culturally important cities. Behind her, construction workers were busy erecting scaffolding around a Renaissance chapel. The friezes showing Jesus – in the garden of Gethsemane, being arrested by Roman soldiers – were about to be wrapped up. Around the corner a team perched on a giant crane were boarding up the cathedral’s stain-glass windows. ...”

NY Times: Opinion | The Price of Putin’s Belligerence

Turner paintings not seen in UK for 100 years to go on show at National Gallery

 
Cologne, the Arrival of a Packet-Boat: Evening.

“Two oil paintings by one of Britain’s greatest artists that have not been seen in the UK for more than 100 years will go on display at the National Gallery later this year. The paintings by JMW Turner are of European scenes that feature the artist’s trademark expanses of water and sky. ... Painted in the mid-1820s, the works reflect Turner’s lifelong fascination with ports and harbours as dynamic, transitional places, depicted in both oil and watercolours throughout his career. He travelled extensively around Europe, drawing in sketchbooks and producing paintings from them back in his studio in England. ...”

 
Harbour of Dieppe: Changement de Domicile.

Suffering goes on in encircled Mariupol as evacuation fails

 
People settle in a bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, Sunday, March 6, 2022.

“MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Corpses lie in the streets of Mariupol. Hungry people break into stores in search of food and melt snow for water. Thousands huddle in basements, trembling at the sound of Russian shells pounding this strategic port city. ‘Why shouldn’t I cry?’ Goma Janna demanded as she wept by the light of an oil lamp below ground, surrounded by women and children. ‘I want my home, I want my job. I’m so sad about people and about the city, the children.’ A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in this encircled city of 430,000, and Tuesday brought no relief: An attempt to evacuate civilians and deliver badly needed food, water and medicine through a designated safe corridor failed, with Ukrainian officials saying Russian forces had fired on the convoy before it reached the city. ...”

 
The chimney and cooling towers of the Schkopau lignite coal-fired power plant give off steam behind a wind farm in Bad Lauchstädt, Germany.

Robert Fripp - Music For Quiet Moments (2021)

 
“When Robert Fripp’s Music For Quiet Moments started to appear with relatively little fanfare in May 2020, as a series of weekly uploads to YouTube and streaming services, their overall effect was one of balm. Moving through the digital ether, Fripp’s ambient soundscapes slowly drifted their way through a collective psychological environment grappling with the uncertainty of pandemic times. The series unfolded over a year, 52 weekly entries, each offering another aspect of an ever-changing same: Fripp performing live in various contexts, quietly testing out the possibilities afforded to him by music that drops the pretense of narrative and lets itself just be. ...”

2010 April: Robert Fripp, 2011 September: Frippertronics, 2014 April: The New World 1986 (Frippertronics), 2017 September: The Essential Fripp & Eno (1994)

​Russia, Blocked From the Global Internet, Plunges Into Digital Isolation

 
The Kremlin in Moscow last month. Russians have been cut off from many Western internet services in a matter of days.

“Even as President Vladimir V. Putin tightened his grip on Russian society over the past 22 years, small pockets of independent information and political expression remained online. Any remnants of that are now gone. As Mr. Putin has waged war on Ukraine, a digital barricade went up between Russia and the world. Both Russian authorities and multinational internet companies built the wall with breathtaking speed. And the moves have ruptured an open internet that was once seen as helping to integrate Russia into the global community. ...”

 
War Is Calling Crypto’s ‘Neutrality’ Into Question

The teens who found splendor on the gritty East Side docks of the 1940s

 
“The smokestacks and storage tanks of the East River waterfront of the 1930s or 1940s should be an unappealing place to meet friends. But painter Joseph Lambert Cain has captured a group of teenagers gathered on a pier here to sunbathe, talk, and pair off. For these teens, perhaps from the Lower East Side or the Gas House District in the East 20s, the waterfront is an idyllic location—away from the critical eyes of adults and into the warm embrace of the working class city they likely grew up in. Cain titled his painting ‘New York Harbor.’ I’m not sure of the date, but my guess is about 1940. The riverfront industry surrounds them, but the modern city of skyscrapers is within sight and reach.“

Leaving Kharkiv with children, suitcases and trauma.

 
Days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian troops have faced resistance from Ukrainian forces as they threaten major cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv and drive hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian residents to flee to neighboring countries.

“LVIV, Ukraine — Passengers streaming off the train from Kharkiv looked shellshocked, their faces drawn with tiredness. They clutched children with big, staring eyes. ‘From Kharkiv,’ said Olena Tuliakova, dragging a wheeled suitcase and holding her 3-year-old son, Ilya, by the hand. ‘I left my parents there,’ she added, breaking into tears. She said she planned to travel across Europe to Spain, where her husband was working. She had taped a label to Ilya’s jacket with his name and the family’s phone numbers in case he got lost in the crush or worse. ...”

​Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett (1955)

 
Waiting for Godot (/ˈɡɒdoÊŠ/ GOD-oh) is a play by Samuel Beckett in which two characters, Vladimir(Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters while awaiting the titular Godot, who never arrives. Waiting for Godot is Beckett’s translation of his own original French-language play, En attendant Godot, and is subtitled (in English only) ‘a tragicomedy in two acts’. The original French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949. …”

​Tram 83, a soundtrack

 
“Africa Is a Country Radio continues its literary theme for its third season on Worldwide FM. The third installment in our theme of African literature is inspired by the debut novel from Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Tram 83. The story takes place in the fictional City-State, a resource rich secessionist state in central Africa. ... These are places that have also influenced my own musical tastes. So, as a dedication to all the central places of gathering at or of the global margins around the world, I present Tram 83, a soundtrack.Listen below, get the tracklist on Worldwide FM and follow us on Mixcloud.”

Ukrainians Find That Relatives in Russia Don’t Believe It’s a War

 
“LVIV, Ukraine — Four days after Russia began dropping artillery shells on Kyiv, Misha Katsiurin, a Ukrainian restaurateur, was wondering why his father, a church custodian living in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, hadn’t called to check on him. ... As Ukrainians deal with the devastation of the Russian attacks in their homeland, many are also encountering a confounding and almost surreal backlash from family members in Russia, who refuse to believe that Russian soldiers could bomb innocent people, or even that a war is taking place at all. ...”

Places for Peace - Various Artists

“If you want to support the Ukrainian people in this humanitarian crisis there are many ways to do so. You can directly donate to one of the support organizations of your choice, or you can choose to support one of the many different charity funding initiatives that are started. There are many to choose from, but the Places for Peace compilation from the Home Normal label will definitely be of special interest to Ambientblog readers (and ambient music lovers in general). Places of Peace is offered as a Name Your Price download so you can decide what you can afford to donate yourself. All profits from this release will be donated to UNICEF’s ‘Donate to Protect Children in Ukraine‘. ...”

How the Manhattan D.A.’s Investigation Into Donald Trump Unraveled

 
“On a late January afternoon, two senior prosecutors stood before the new Manhattan district attorney, hoping to persuade him to criminally charge the former president of the United States. The prosecutors, Mark F. Pomerantz and Carey R. Dunne, detailed their strategy for proving that Donald J. Trump knew his annual financial statements were works of fiction. Time was running out: The grand jury hearing evidence against Mr. Trump was set to expire in the spring. They needed the district attorney, Alvin Bragg, to decide whether to seek charges. ...”

​2022 anti-war protests in Russia

 
Police officers detain an antiwar demonstrator in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday. Social media companies are rolling out new tools to protect users in Ukraine and Russia from harassment, hacking or other repercussions for online speech. 

“Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, ongoing anti-war demonstrations and protests broke out across Russia. The protests have been met with widespread repression by the Russian authorities, with over 6,500 arrests being made in the seven days from 24 February to 2 March. ... On 1 March, reports and photographs appeared in social media, also republished and confirmed by Novaya Gazeta, showing primary school children behind bars, arrested by police in Moscow for laying flowers at the Ukrainian embassy and holding signs saying ‘No to war’. A special detention center set up in Yekaterinburg ran out of room for prisoners arrested from protests. On 2 March, the artist Yelena Osipova, aged 77 and born to survivors of the Siege of Leningrad, was amongst those arrested at an anti-war protest in Saint Petersburg. Videos of her arrest were widely shared on Twitter and Reddit. Police action against the protesters continued the following day. On 4 March, the activist Yulia Galyamina was detained and held in custody pending trial, charged with violating the law on public events by trying to organize an anti-war protest. On 5 March, ahead of protests planned for 6 March, police raided, searched and detained hundreds of Russian journalists, politicans and activists. ...”

 
Yelena Osipova survived the Siege of Leningrad from 1941-45

Homebrew Computer Club

 
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak learned valuable lessons at Homebrew. 

“The Homebrew Computer Club was an early computer hobbyist group in Menlo Park, California, which met from March 1975 to December 1986. The club had an influential role in the development of the microcomputer revolution and the rise of that aspect of the Silicon Valley information technology industrial complex. Several high-profile hackers and computer entrepreneurs emerged from its ranks, including Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the founders of Apple Computer. With its newsletter and monthly meetings promoting an open exchange of ideas, the club has been described as ‘the crucible for an entire industry’ as it pertains to personal computing. ...”

 
Apple-1: Steve Wozniak debuted the prototype Apple-1 at the Homebrew Computer Club in 1976.

​‘It’s stomach-turning’: the children caught up in Ukraine war

“When the air raid sirens wail, Natalya Tyshchuk feels relatively lucky. She only has to get herself and her daughter Mia – born three months premature in December but no longer in a cumbersome incubator – down to the basement that serves as a bomb shelter for the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in central Kyiv. Racing down the stairs beside them are nurses and families of premature babies in intensive care, who have to be rushed underground with their life support machines, oxygen canisters, and all the tubes and wires monitoring their fragile young lives. ...”