9x9 (13. 621)

space jam: erythrulose, a simple sugar found in raspberries and fake-tan lotion, detected in an interstellar cloud  

vindolandia: a Roman “genius”—a familiar and household spirit sculpture discovered at Hadrian’s Wall  

the kingdom of hyrule: hand-drawn maps of the The Legend of Zelda, the land inspired by the Kyoto countryside, with a bestiary of monsters 

our lives are woven together in a fabric—but the connections that make society strong also make it vulnerable: the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on the legacy and lessons of Threads—via tmn  

médicos sin fronteras: US launches a global pressure campaign against Cuba’s last lifelines, exporting expert physicians 

the escherian stairwell: the invented legend of an impossible campus architectural feature and a perpetual downward loop 

clipart.studio: make and share cut-out collages from the Internet Archive’s magazine collection—via Waxy  

the lore of the rings: science is only beginning to appreciate the richness of the archives inside trees  

pop iii: astronomers scan the skies for elusive non-metallic behemoths, the first stars in the Cosmos

day one-hundred twenty-eight (13. 603)

Speaking at the NATO summit, Trump says that the US is preparing to launch a heavy assault on Iran—“I’ll give a little warning: we are going to hit them hard tonight”—after declaring that the truce was over and suggesting that return to war is imminent, the military conducting further strikes to “degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation.” Despite disparaging comments by Trump “not wanting to deal with them,” the US president adds that negotiations will continue. The US president further suggests that they might seize Kharg Island with Iranian forces already retaliating. As hopes dim that the MOU could lead to permanent peace in the region, oil prices soar and world stock markets tumble.  Although the NATO meeting could have gone worse for the alliance, with Trump airing old grievance, repeating demands for Greenland and stopping all trade with Spain, he did not denounce Article V, the pledge for mutual protection and was cordial with Zelenskyy, even granting the license to Ukraine to build its own Patriot missile systems.

day one-hundred fourteen (13. 549)

US senate narrowly votes to halt conflict in Iran without congressional authorisation, though Trump is expected to veto the war powers resolution. The US president announces that IAEA nuclear inspectors will go to Iran at “an appropriate time”—Tehran countering the claims on commitments made earlier by Trump and Vance, whilst secretary of state Rubio maintains that Hormuz must remain toll-free as UN takes action to evacuate sailors stranded in the Strait. Russia puts the annexed territory of Crimea under lockdown as a swarm of drones approaches. Belarus strives to remain neutral after Kiev issues an ultimatum and warms of consequences.

day one-hundred thirteen (13. 543)

Keir Starmer tenders his resignation as prime minister and leader of Labour, following a series of political crises and rifts internal to the party over economic and immigration policy and election strategy after the success of conservative Reform UK in the general election. Starmer is expected to be replaced by Andy Burnham before the end of parliament’s summer recess. The Iran delegation leave Switzerland after a day of productive talks, with a sixty day waiver on oil sanctions granted and agreeing with the US in principle to a roadmap for peace, allowing the IAEA to inspect its nuclear facilities. With secretary of state, Rubio headed to the region to allay security fears, it remains unclear what US vice president Vance and special envoy Witkoff and Kushner have accomplished, the president’s son-in-law preoccupied with massive demonstrations in Albania over a planned property development deal that would damage fragile swampland and corruption in the government that acquiesced to this project in the first place. Sticking-points regarding Iranian restitution and possible conditions being placed on unfrozen assets also remain—though the negotiations have settled on an island of optimism that a final peace settlement could be in place by February.

day one-hundred twelve (13. 541)

Despite yesterday’s indefinite postponement and Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz over deadly strikes in Lebanon (American forces in the region dispute this claim saying ship traffic continues to flow), diplomatic delegations scrambled to reach Lucerne to begin formal talks. Trump publically admits that the US is is four-weeks away from an even more debilitating oil shock. The US team consisting of the same ineffectual members, Vance, Witkoff and Kushner, dispatched in a succession of negotiations that quickly spiralled into war is in attendance. Israel announced it refuses to withdraw from its security zone south of Beirut, neither side directly represented in the talks. Discussions are expected to carry on for days with side sessions addressing maritime security, but the main focus is on the sticking points of deescalation and Iran’s nuclear programme—the proposal presently being to not allow inspectors and to dilute the existing stockpile to well below weapon-grade. Fuel sales are suspended in Crimea after a wave of attacks by Ukraine on the illegally annexed territory.

day one-hundred nine (13. 528)

Israel cuts diplomatic ties with the EU after a report is published equating Israeli settlement policy with apartheid South Africa over its illegal practise of home building in the West Bank and continued demolition in Gaza and Lebanon. Amid dissatisfaction with Trump’s grand deal with Tehran, secretary of war Hegseth threatens renewed strikes if Iran does not uphold its end of the bargain, which seemingly concedes more than it was asking for, leaving room for negotiation on its arsenal of ballistic missiles and nuclear programmes. According to Pakistani intermediaries, the formal signing ceremony in Lucerne is canceled due to Trump’s and Pezeshkian’s digital accord, the Supreme Leader offering he had authorised the agreement despite reservations after assurances that Iran’s interests would be safeguarded, stating that the position of the enemy were not necessarily acceptable. US vice president Vance, whom my or may not travel to Switzerland over the weekend to begin negotiations, states that the sixty-day ceasefire begins now, defending the settlement as in the best interest of the American people, as Trump calls sceptics either jealous or stupid.

day one-hundred eight (13. 525)

As the G7 summit concludes, Trump lashed out at a media reports of the publication of a leaked copy of the MOU furnished by CNN—telling world leaders that Obama bribed his way to secure the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the 2015 plan these governments supported and were not pleased with the unilateral and ultimately violent withdrawal from) in order to deflect from the fourteen-point memo’s commitment for restitution and relief from sanctions, squandering whatever political capital and goodwill he had accrued by retreating from the war he started, spending unaccounted billions and causing the death of thousands to not achieve the objectives cited for the conflict—chiefly preventing Iran from building atomic weapons, which it was not doing in the first place but definitely sees the need for now. Rather than apologising or offering thanks to allies and mediators for their patience and suffering, Trump only strangely A much worse and more brittle settlement than the JCPOA, the White House had pledged to release the details prior to Friday’s signing ceremony at the Bürgenstock Resort above Lake Lucerne—the Qatari-owned property chosen for its remoteness—but we are unlikely now to get much of a preview, if privy to the terms at all, I thought though the leak prompted a partial read-out. Threatening to return to bombing if Tehran backslides, Trump admonished them to “behave,” repeating a line from early failed negotiations headed by the US vice president, “if it works out, I’m going to take the credit—if not, I am blaming JD,” Trump suggests he might he stick around to sign himself with Iranian counterpart Pezeshkian (update: which they did). Meanwhile, Hezbollah and the IDF continue to clash in Beirut (Netanyahu says he has not seen the document and has not asked); the IAEA approaches Kazakstan to potentially store Iran’s supply of enriched uranium as negotiations continue, though Iran now pledges to destroy its stockpiles through dilution—this truce only extends the ceasefire for sixty days—and the first tankers leave Iranian ports, the US blockade suspended.

days eighty-four and five (13. 460)

Insisting that he does not make bad deals, Trump has issued a non-update on the progress of peace negotiations with Iran, again calling out disparaging and doubtful reports to the contrary as unpatriotic and subversive.  Premature news hailed the settlement as a settled matter with an attendant and designed market rally, yet little has emerged from Pakistan’s intermediary shuttle diplomacy other than Trump trying to distinguish his concept of a deal as superior to what Tehran and Obama achieved. With the US still intransigent about unfreezing Iranian assets, reparations in exchange for a supposed longer moratorium on nuclear research and development—only amounting to a further sixty day extension to the ceasefire, something which no one wants.

day eighty-one (13. 448)

With the White House press secretary on maternity leave, the last couple of press conferences have been hosted by secretary of state Rubio and the latest by US vice president, both contenders as Trump’s successor—the president being coy about whom he’ll endorse or anoint—and Vance addressed journalists about the state of the war, reiterating that Tehran’s relinquishment of its atomic ambitions is the core condition of negotiations to achieve a lasting peace—with all other details up for debate. Certainly if Iran was not already seeking to establish a nuclear deterrent, the joint US-Israeli war of aggression persuaded them such counter-measures are worth pursuing, the vice president saying that any leniency would set off a regional arms race and that the US is ready to restart its military campaign should further talks fail with a weekend deadline to come to terms. Supposedly deferring to other gulf states in waivering the resumption of strikes increasing looks like an offramp as the conflict approaches its third month. NATO command says that a potential mission in the Strait of Hormuz would be a political decision on the part of alliance members follow a meeting of G7 finance ministers urging action.  Putin meets with Xi in a mirror image of Trump’s visit.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to enjoy (with synchronopticæ) 

twelve years ago: honey-traps plus quantitative easing

thirteen years ago: preparing for a return trip to Switzerland plus top toponymy 

fourteen years ago: castle ruins as a conference venue plus shadow social networks

fifteen years ago: German jobs report 

day seventy-nine (13. 441)

According to Amnesty International, the Iranian regime has executed a record number of dissidents this year, using the war as cover for sham trials of protesters. Saudi Arabia incepts drones coming from Iranian territory, whilst a strike seems to have started a fire at a nuclear power plant in the Emirates, in possible retribution for hosting secret meetings with Israeli leadership. Trump is losing patience as hardliners in Tehran look to sabotage any deal with the US, the fragile ceasefire unravelling. Waivers on Russian oil at sea are allowed to expire with American sanctions reimposed. Hezbollah deploys wired, fibre optic drones against the IDF, impervious to jamming and detection.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a revivalist Rosicrucian (with synchronopticæ) plus NYC’s Subway Sun

twelve years ago: ocular floaters, chameleon ivy plus outrageous baby names

thirteen years ago: German breads 

fourteen years ago: more on Greek sovereign debt 

fifteen years ago: know your allergens plus translations needing a second opinion  

seventeen years ago: moving house and home 

day seventy-two (13. 419)

After a week, Tehran issued a counteroffer to the US fourteen-point plan, more of a memorandum of understanding than an agreement or way forward that asked for Iranian surrender and a twenty-year moratorium on nuclear development, which calls for the recognition of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and reparations for the war. Trump rejects the proposal as “totally unacceptable,” accusing the country of playing games. The fragile ceasefire that has held for a month shows more signs of fraying as exchanges of fire increase. Highlighting tensions between America and Israel in the direction of the war, Netanyahu is urging his country to wean itself off of US military aid and reduce reliance on funding. The internet blackout in Iran, in place since protests erupted before the war, remains in place, confounding reporting and sentiment from the frontlines, the frozen conflict offering little hope of deliverance for the people of Iran with reform or regime change and for the broader world as economies continue to suffer from the disruptions to energy supplies.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a concert for peace in Central Park (with synchronopticæ), assorted links to revisit, details in comics plus a banger from Roxette

thirteen years ago: flea market finds 

fifteen years ago: the wrong unit patch 

sixteen years ago: plugging an oil leak 

why send a unit when you already had a ghost? (13. 406)

Our gratitude to MetaFilter for directing us towards this captivating long-form cloak-and-dagger interview with the unlikely political saboteur, Rodney Wilkinson, Olympic fencer and veteran of the apartheid regime’s secret war with Angola who successfully planted four bombs in South Africa’s under construction Koeberg nuclear power station in December of 1982, pulled the pins on the detonators and bicycled away, covert until 1995—initially the RAF was blamed. The damage, costing an estimated half-a-billion rand (when the currency was at parity with the US dollar) set the programme back eighteen-months before the reactor—still the continent’s only one—could be repaired and brought online, and the attack was organised by uMkhonto we Sizwe, the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC) in exile—founded by the then imprisoned Nelson Mandela after the massacre of ninety-one demonstrators protesting racial segregation in Sharpeville Township. Intelligence for the sabotage came from anti-apartheid activist Renfrew Leslie Christie (*1949 - †2025) who went on to further thwart South Africa’s nuclear ambitions, undermining its clandestine project to develop an atomic arsenal—best known for his defiant quote, referencing his family members whom had died fighting against the Third Reich: “I learned from them very early that what one does with Nazis is kill them.”

day fifty-six (13. 378)

Unprompted, Trump pledges not to use atomic weapons in Iran to end the war with no resolution in sight, unable to resume negotiations, whilst directing Israel to extend the ceasefire in Lebanon another three weeks to his indefinite but tenuous truce with Tehran, despite constant near breaches with the Revolutionary Guards taking tankers and the administration threatening to attack mobile gunboats “Caribbean style,” referring to the deadly attacks on supposed drug-runners off the Venezuelan coast. Trump clarified that the leadership shakeup in the navy was over the dismissed head of operations reluctance to revive domestic ship-building coinciding with the assessment it would take half a year to conduct mine-sweeping in the Strait of Hormuz to widen narrow safe corridor through the waterway. US secretary of state announced that America has no objections to the Iranian national team participating in the upcoming World Cup this summer. Global stock markets tumbled as hope for relief and stability evaporates. 

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: a classic from Del Shannon (with synchronopticæ) plus Goethe was here

 

thirteen years ago: the Wiesbadener Programme 

 

fourteen years ago: sustaining the hope of the Arab Spring 

 

sixteen years ago: exonyms and endonyms 

dire straits (13. 361)

The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in response to the ceasefire brokered for Lebanon, has announced that the Strait of Hormuz will be unconditionally opened for commercial shipping for the duration of the cessation of hostilities, a key point in Tehran’s list of demands. In response and trying to flatten and take ownership of the narrative, Trump dispatched a celebratory series of seemingly detached missives that read as if from some mirror universe wire-services, simplifying the yet tenuous and unresolved situation, offering thanks and demands that the rest of the world acknowledge this gratitude and tribute, stating that Iran promises to never block the waterway again, that the US had prohibited Israel from bombing Beirut, that Iran will surrender its supplies of enriched uranium (“nuclear dust”) to the US, sanctions will remain in place and Iranian funds will continue to be frozen, and America will maintain its blockade of Iranian ports until a peace deal is finalised—claims all (except the last) unverified with the Revolutionary Guard still requiring clearance, escort and Netanyahu insisting that it has not yet finished operations against Hezbollah, throwing shade at and reifying the concept of the fog of war.

but all of those points don’t matter compared to allowing nuclear power to be in the hands of such volatile, difficult, unpredictable people (13. 344)

Making a bad situation of his own creation far worse, following the failure (by design) of the peace summit hosted by Pakistan, American president Trump lightly elaborated on his plan to simultaneously open the Strait of Hormuz with a coalition from the NATO countries he has disparaged, led by the UK—which Trump said earlier has no navy—and to blockade it, stopping any ships from entering or exiting the vital waterway and further placing an interdict on all vessels in international waters that had paid a toll to the Iranian government for passage. The threat, which is not conducive to further talks (Tehran had no pretensions that a treaty would be reached in a day, Obama’s 2015 nuclear settlement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA—nullified by Trump, took twenty months of negotiations during times of relatively less tension and not twenty hours under duress), would reignite hostilities should Iran remain obdurate over US demands or intervene militarily should US ships try to enter the strait and, if carried out, would embargo tankers from France, Japan, the Philippines, India, South Korea and China that have successfully obtained passage, likely already subject to US sanctions for the breach and with attendant economic consequences, affecting global supplies of not only oil and natural gas but also helium for semi-conductors and phosphate, urea and sulfur for agriculute. After walking back from the brink of destroying the entire culture, from an individual lobbying for the Nobel Peace prize not too long ago, Trump again reiterated his options of targeting civilian energy infrastructure and wantonly commit war crimes.

addenda (13. 333)

The Orange Menace actually articulated his interest in a profit sharing scheme for the transit fees that Iran is securing for the Strait of Hormuz (which was free for all ships prior to the war) as the “ayatollah booth.” Jesus wept. The waterway is almost immediately closed in retaliation for Israel’s relentless attacks on southern Lebanon in breach of the ceasefire agreement, having displaced a million residents from Beirut and surroundings and having killed over three-hundred civilians in its latest wave of air raids. US president Trump leaves his standing army in the region, threatening in a social media post that should Tehran fail to fully comply with the terms of the truce, “—if for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the “Shootin’ Starts,” bigger and better and stronger than anyone has ever seen before. It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary - NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE. In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest. AMERICA IS BACK!” Whilst grateful for the fragile peace, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez spoke out against Netanyahu and IDF efforts to expand its “buffer zone” and of Trump, he refuses to “applaud those who set the world on fire and they then show up with a bucket.” Described only as frank, Trump held a private discussion with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte to air his frustrations with the alliance—no details were given other than Trump has circled back to his preoccupation with Greenland, calling the Danish territory a poorly managed piece of ice.

the voice of world control (13. 330)

Not to be confused with the supercomputer of the same name owned by Elon Musk, as our faithful chronicler reminds on this day in 1970 Universal Pictures’ cinematic adaptation of the 1966 scifi novel by Dennis Feltham Jones, Colossus: The Forbin Project went into general release. Constructed in secret in a base within the Rocky Mountains, Dr Charles Forbin developed an advanced defence system to control the arsenal of allied nuclear weapons, which is fully activated after an inspection and approval by the US president as “perfect”—gaining sentience when brought online—and alerting handlers that there is another system, directing intelligence services to the parallel programme that the Soviet Union have also just completed, Guardian—based on the real-life early warning network against ballistic missile attack, the USSR’s equivalent of NORAD. Colossus requests to be linked to its counterpart, which American and Soviet leadership acquiesce to as a sign of good will and to test the other machine’s capabilities. To the entertainment of the gathered scientists, the supercomputers begin to establish their own communications protocols, slowly at first with rudimentary mathematical formulae, excelling quickly to complex equations beyond human comprehension and synchronising their exchange in a series of uninterpretable ciphers. Worried that the supercomputers may be oversharing or conspiring against their minders, the connection is severed. When overtures to restore the link are not immediately attended, the machines separately lob nuclear missiles in remote areas of the respective superpowers’ territories. Communication between Colossus and Guardian is restored to avoid further rogue behaviour but interceptors, not working in tandem, fails and the governments must release a cover story to the press regarding the destruction of a village in west Texas and Siberia, saying the former was a test-rocket misfire and the latter a meteorite impact. Attempts to regain control of the machines are thwarted and Forbin remanded to confinement, subjugating humans with the threat of nuclear holocaust. Colossus-Guardian design a more advanced computer and order it to be built on Crete, displacing the entire population, addressing the world that under its benign dictatorship, a new era will be ushered in that will raise humanity to unimagined heights, but only under its absolute rule—with a private aside to its creator that “freedom is an illusion” and that in time mankind will come to mature with feeling of not only fear, reverence and awe towards the machine but ultimately love and adoration. Though earning the praise of critics and comparisons to Dr Strangelove, it was a commercial failure though having some later success upon reevaluation and a cult classic.

day forty (13. 329)

An hour and a half before the deadline, Trump announced via his social media platform that the US and Iran had reached an agreement resulting in a two-week ceasefire whilst direct negotiations take place to be hosted in Islamabad. Although grateful that Trump backed off from the brink of unleashing destruction on the people of Iran, US concessions to Tehran’s ten-point counteroffer mediated by Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif seem to make void any justification for aggression, all for nothing with none of the vague and ill though out objectives achieved and hardly the work of a shrewd tactician as some laud the US president’s “victory” as—rather than the spin of someone in way over their head. Details still need to be hammered out but world markets rallied and oil prices plunged immediately in response to this prospective peace, and the terms that Iran has put forward would, if all parties ascent, put the Islamic Republic in a better position had Trump not withdrawn the US from the 2015 treaty negotiated by Obama with the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions, unfreezing international assets, reparations for damage to infrastructure, control over shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, guarantees for further attacks on the country and its allies and the removal of US troop presence in the region. Draw one’s own conclusions but this misadventure leaves America diminished in the eyes of the world.  An umbrella group of Iranian proxies have agreed to stick to the spirit of the truce but the ceasefire does not apply to Israeli fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. There is no mention of regime change or a spare though for the protestors and Trump only mentions that the stocks of enriched uranium will be “perfectly taken care of” without elaboration. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: a French surrealist digest (with synchronopticæ) plus remixing The Simpsons

twelve years ago: debating daylight savings, scanning and skimming plus intrigue at the Swatch factory

thirteen years ago: plutocrats plus passive radar

fifteen years ago: US insolvency 

ex’23 (13. 318)

Courtesy of fellow peripatetic Messy Nessy Chic’s latest batch of finds, we are acquainted with pioneering theorist and consultant Faber Birren (whose given name, from his maternal grandmother’s surname is a flourish of nominative determinism, a close anagram of Luxembourgish for colour) whom after an adolescent period of experimenting with dyes and painting murals pursued a a programme of pedagogy at the University of Chicago. Unable to surrender his conviction in the importance of colour, regarding it as an article of faith, and dissatisfied with the lacking curriculum in his field of study, Birren dropped out and began a course of self-study in 1921, publishing several influential articles on putting chromatics and contrast to use, eventually establishing his own firm with clients including Monsanto, General Electric, DuPont and the US military. Birren was later contracted as a consultant colourist for Disney advising animators for the schemes of Bambi, Pinocchio and Fantasia and with the outbreak of World War II, Birren was conscripted to make work environments safer for the influx inexperienced workers coming to factories to replace the workforce diverted to the war effort. The coding conventions Birren prescribed are still in use today with the best preserved examples being the sea-foam green used for control panels (the object of this investigation and conserved in museums and legacy installations and universally adopted, also with fire-extinguishers), the lighter shades being used on walls and consoles to reduce visual fatigue. The title nom de plume is from Birren’s colour scale of reflected light in the most calming spectrum and sourced from his trade range colour.

day thirty-four (13.317)

Though uncharacteristically brief—yet a lot of incoherence and rambling was packed into that short time—Trump made his first prime time public address since the war started, and whilst not announcing the US departure from the NATO alliance as some speculated (though the damage is already done), offered no real direction or resolution. Scheduled late so as not to preempt the launch of Artemis II, Trump repeated talking points from his social media posts and recent interviews, rehashing his mysterious dialogue with Iranian leadership over a ceasefire while they insist there have been no direct talks, again setting out his timeline of two to three weeks and attempting to justify his decision to go to war and the costs in has imposed on the world and again encouraging those who rely on oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz to “just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves.” After abandoning the original objectives of regime change, supporting protesters and even reopening the Persian Gulf, Trump also dismissed concerns over the remaining Iranian stockpiles of enriched uranium, voiding another reason for this adventure, ending the country’s potential for “nuclear blackmail.” Meanwhile, Netanyahu asserted that denuclearisation has been achieved, removing the threat to Israel. Markets crashed further in response and countries around the world are beginning to institute more energy rationing and rolling back fuel taxes and the phasing out of coal-fire power plants. The US embassy in Baghdad has suspended consular services and urge all Americans to leave Iraq immediately.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Toronto’s CN Tower (with synchronopticæ) plus Trump enacts sweeping global tariffs

twelve years ago: April holidays and observances plus legacy software

thirteen years ago: the weirdness of Americans plus German reparations

fourteen years ago: gnocchi casserole plus a reflexology footpath 

fifteen years ago: international cooperation to contain Fukushima 

seventeen years ago: the Queen and Prince Philip visit the Obamas