June 5
Quick Hits
It has been a minute, so I made this a free post. Tell your friends.
Questions
Give the shared phrase. In one instance, this phrase could be used to describe the action taken by Jerry (shown) at the end of a March 1993 episode of the television series Seinfeld. That episode, titled “The Junior Mint,” concluded with him realizing that someone that he thought was called “Mulva” was not called “Mulva.” In a very different context, something more formally known by this phrase occurred over 180 years before that episode. In that older instance, the action likely was spontaneous in nature, which is why what exactly was said is subject to ongoing dispute, though there is thought that it began with, “My children: a new dispensation comes to us today. Will you receive it? Will you free yourselves?” and included comments like “Will you be slaves of Napoleon?” and “Death to the Gachupines!”
(holds envelope to head) A local legend has it that Merlin the Wizard turned a legion of Roman soldiers into stone at the location known by what name? If that is the case, Merlin may have missed some, as a typical Roman legion would have had around 5,000 soldiers, and just over 3,000 menhirs are to be found amongst the Ménec, Kermario, and Kerlescan alignments located at this site.
What is the name given to the official match ball, made by Adidas, used for the 2026 FIFA World Cup? Its name would be a misnomer if it was meant to refer to the fact that it is made of four panels thermally bonded together (a new record for that kind of economy). But, instead, that name is meant as a reference to the host countries, combined with a Spanish word meaning “wave.” Aside from that innovative four-panel design, the ball is notable for containing a chip that acts as a sensor to assist officials with matters such as offsides decisions.
Recalling the subject of the 2026 Met Gala, with its theme of “Costume Art” - another splashy offering by Prabal Gurung was the design shown below, worn by Rachel Zegler. Zegler’s dress, combined with her blindfold, is meant to recall The Execution of Lady Jane Grey (second), an 1833 work by what Romantic painter? Aside from his particular fascination with depicting events from British history, this painter may be best known for the Raphael-inspired Hémicycle that he created for the École des Beaux Arts.
During Spain’s 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Lamine Yamal scored what likely will be the first of many goals that he will score in a World Cup game. Following that goal, he kneeled down in an act where he brought seven parts of his body to the ground, literally “touching grass”: his forehead (along with his nose), both palms, both knees, and both feet. This act of prostration is part of the Islamic prayer ritual (salah) and is known by what name? I was not able to cross-reference Yamal’s position relative to Mecca during his action, but it seems that, for his purposes, performing this act at the corner flag nearest to his goal served as a reasonable makeshift qibla.
A long-standing question in atmosphere science is how the world came to have the oxygen that it does, since evidence suggests that until 2.4 billion years ago, there were not amounts significant enough to support life as we know it - perhaps thankfully so, as oxygen’s reactivity would have been harmful to such early life. Research by Jingming Shi at Jiangsu Normal University in China has suggested that oxides of what transition metal could have been the source of our oxygen? These oxides, buried deep in the Earth at high pressure, would have made their way upward towards Archaen seas, where bacteria slowly became accustomed to the presence of such oxygen in free form. One irony is that it is thought that early photosynthesis was dependent on this element, as cyanobacteria used sunlight to extract electrons from this element, with those electrons acting as an energy source to power downstream chemical reactions. In today’s plants, this element has been demoted to serving as a cofactor in the Oxygen-Evolving Complex of Photosystem II, with another, similar sounding element playing a more central role in photosynthesis.
“Ducks” versus “decorated sheds” is the central argumentative conceit in what 1972 book? The “duck” in this instance refers to a structure not in the titular location, but instead refers to the “Big Duck,” a shop in Long Island built in 1931 where a local farmer could sell ducks and duck eggs. Citing the Big Duck, this book’s authors quoted Augustus Pugin in stating that it is “all right to decorate construction but never to construct decoration.”
While the company that makes this is based in Colorado, this product’s famous design originates with Quebec native Andrew Reddyhoff, who as President of Foam Creations, Inc. came up with an object featuring “slip resistance that could float, making it suitable for various water activities.” A true urban legend is that the makers of the film Idiocracy purchased these products in large amounts, as not only they were inexpensive, but they also were viewed as “stupid” and “plastic” - perfect for the world where that film is set. Ominously, then, the parent company of this product reported $4 billion in global revenue in 2025. What product?
While there is no doubt that his connections to his cousin, Kendrick Lamar, helped with his career - his breakthrough work came with 2018’s soundtrack to the film Black Panther, and he worked with Lamar on Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers as well as the song “The Hillbillies” - this man has gone on to build his own impressive body of work. That work includes his 2019 hit “Orange Soda,” his 2021 debut studio album The Melodic Blue (featuring the song “family ties”), and his recently released, critically acclaimed album Casino. Which musician (shown)?
Read my mind. What theme links the following clues?
Once famously paired with the Turner Joy, in its second life, it belonged to Taiwan, operating under the name ROCS Po Yang.
In humans, there are nine genes known by this name, each with some role in regulating the embryonic development of different body systems (the first, for example, regulates development of the vertebral column). This name comes from earlier studies in Drosophila, as errors in similar homeobox genes were associated with abnormalities in how different body systems in that genus of fly were paired.
The Afro-soul musician, born Bulelwa Mkutukana, with hit albums including Loliwe, Phendula, and Mgodi. She passed awy from complications of alcoholic liver disease in 2023, at age 36.
Better known today through its connection to the American Civil War, a location with this name served as the religious capital for the ancient Israelites, as it was at that location where both the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant were found prior to the building of the First Temple.
If you wanted to find this person between 1974 and 1976, there was a good chance she was at SEX on 430 King’s Road - with Malcolm probably nearby.
A corporate attorney turned politician, as Secretary of State this man would be the architect of William Taft’s policy of “dollar diplomacy.”
Answers
Jerry knew - but not really - that the woman that he was dating had a name which rhymed with a female body part. He realized right after she dumped him that her rhyming name was Dolores, yelling that name out from his apartment as she walked away. The historically more important “Cry of Dolores” (Grito de Dolores) occurred in the early morning of September 16, 1810, when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla assembled a group of supporters outside his church in Dolores (today called Dolores Hidalgo in his honor) to join him in revolt. The revolt nominally only opposed the government of Joseph Bonaparte, who was named ruler of Spain by his brother Napoleon, but it eventually ballooned into a larger movement in favor of total independence from Spain. Following the Grito, tens of thousands of supporters marched on Mexico City. They ultimately were defeated by a smaller but far better trained group of loyalist soldiers at the Battle of Calderón Bridge, with Hidalgo subsequently being betrayed, captured, and executed by firing squad.
Sorry - I seemed to have been inspired a bit too much by dated (but once popular) television this week! While Stonehenge gets all the attention, the largest collection of menhirs (prehistoric standing stones) is located at Carnac, in Brittany, France. The Le Ménec Alignment (shown below) may be the most noteworthy collection there, as it has eleven rows of stones (many well over three meters tall) covering a total distance of a kilometer. One of the recurring skits on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson featured Carson (second below) dressed as a “mystic from the East” named Carnac. Carnac used his psychic powers to offer answers to questions hidden in an envelope that he would hold against his head as an act of divination. As one example, he would divine the answer “UCLA,” opening the envelope to read, “What happens when the smog clears in Los Angeles?”
The Adidas Trionda. The “tri” of course references the three host countries, while a Spanish word for “wave” is onda.
Paul Delaroche
The sujud, which also can be spelled sujood, sajdah, sijda, and sejda.
It is thought that the oxygen bound to manganese is where much of our atmospheric oxygen originated, with that same element being crucial to early photosynthesis. Analogous to how hemoglobin has an atom of iron at the center of its porphyrin ring, the chlorophyll (below) crucial to plant photosynthesis today has an atom of magnesium at the center of its ring, which is a reduced form of porphyrin called chlorin.
Perhaps the book most central to postmodern theory in architecture is the 1972 book Learning from Las Vegas, written by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour. The book argues that buildings exist in city spaces where drivers pass by them, and sometime quickly, so it is important that these buildings convey what they are through signage - that is, that they act as decorated sheds, with Vegas being full of such “sheds.” These writers contrasted such buildings with more abstract “ducks,” like Long Island’s Big Duck (shown), which they felt are too abstract and - perhaps more crucially - not practical given the space considerations that modern buildings need.
Cheap and thought to look stupid, Crocs are shoes worn by many characters in the film Idiocracy. And yet today my son wears them also.
Baby Keem, born Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr.
These are all reference children of Angelina Jolie (and, I suppose, Brad Pitt, though apparently not recently). The destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy were the alleged targets of the murky Gulf of Tonkin incident. The “paired homeobox” family of genes found in Drosophila would have their name shortened to the Pax family of genes. The singer Zahara may be obscure to you, but the theme demanded it, so there we are, and now you know. Shiloh was the early important Israelite religious center, and it lent its name to a Tennessee church that in turn would lend its name to the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh. Punk fashion arguably was born at SEX (below), the store run by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren. Finally, Philander Knox was Taft’s Secretary of State.
