day one-hundred sixteen (13. 557)

Lebanese-Israeli ceasefire negotiations in Washington are extended. FIFA allows Pride flags for Iran-Egypt match in Seattle despite objections from national football federations. Trump claims that unfrozen Iranian funds will be used to buy US crop staples, saying the country is experiencing a famine and the deal will be mutually beneficial. Tehran denies any arrangement to purchase US agricultural products.  The UN Maritime agency pauses evacuation efforts after a vessel came under attack in the Gulf of Oman. Oil prices—though the affect does not immediately translate to the petrol pump—have fallen to pre-war levels.

les étoiles d’ivry (13. 511)

Via ibīdem, we are directed to the ensemble housing estate of Ivry ˢ/ Seine, a Parisian suburb just southeast of the capital, designed by architects Renée Gailhoustet and Jean Renaudie constructed between 1969 and 1975, happily still standing though in need of some care and attention. The name of the mixed-used complex with forty residential units for social housing with commercial and office spaces refers the stellar rays of the triangular points of exposed concrete and whilst the overall style could be described as Brutalist (see also here and here), the open form structure with staggered verdant terraces and ramps and platforms connecting public and private spaces has an element of social engagement and spontaneity of interaction not found in all projects of the genre. See more photographs and floor plans from Architecture Lab at the link above.

bocca di verghiu (13. 476)

Passing again through the Spelunca gorge, we drove the highest mountain pass on the island, linking the two Corsican départments of Sud-Corse in the west and Haute-Corse in the east. The forested way tops out at an impressive elevation of 1470 metres but the surrounding snowcapped peaks, Punte Licciola, are much higher than the col of the Rotondo massif. A monumental statue of Christ Roi by Corsican sculptor Noël Bonardi stands at the summit of the ascent (the previous picture is of a smaller shrine with votive offerings at the gorge at the foot of the mountain).

The profusion of yellow blossoms are shrubs called immortelle (Helichrysum stoechas, the straw flower or common shrubby everlasting or the curry plant for the smell it excudes whilst moisture-proofing for the summer) for their reputation for hardiness and medicinal properties. The twelfth day of the month of Vendémiaire of the French Revolutionary calendar is named after the plant and generally corresponds to 3 October.

synchronoptica

one year ago:  Trump Always Chickens Out (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to revisit

fourteen years ago: language acquisition plus US and Israel launch a cyberattack on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure

fifteen years ago: plutocracy plus the US unveils its Cyber Command

sixteen years ago: language translation with context 

seventeen years ago: a surfeit of pillows 

drôme (13. 455)

For the second leg of our journey, we stayed outside of Châteauneuf-sur-Isère, a commune of the Drôme near the city of Lyon. I liked this new take of bird on a wire that greeted us at the campsite—drunk in a midnight choir. Lying on the forty-fifth parallel, equidistant from the equator and the North Pole, the department fed by the river Rhône has been since prehistory the fruit-growing region of France.

It is also the birthplace of sainted bishop Hugh of Grenoble, invoked against headaches for reasons, and cofounder of the Carthusian order.

synchronoptica

one year ago: antique perfume bottle blueprints (with synchronopticæ), fake books by real authors, German troops deployed to Lithuania plus Trump meets with his South African counterpart

twelve years ago: a trip to Tuscany 

thirteen years ago: Bayesian logic  

fourteen years ago: a devastating earthquake in Italy plus weed-killer in Germany

sixteen years ago: delicate constitutions plus missing links and living fossils

11x11 (13. 450)

o’dark ocho: an interesting linguistic coincidence  

wildlife gusher: a mysterious structure found in the middle of nowhere—click through to read some delightful and illuminating explanations, via Miss Cellania  

thomas jerome newton: a rereading of the novel The Man Who Fell to Earth in preparation for a rewatch of the David Bowie film  

富くじ: Present /&/ Correct’s collection of Mid-Century Japanese lottery tickets—see also 

spook hotel: the de facto capitol of US administered Venezuela  

kleptocracy: Trump drops his ten billion dollar lawsuit agains his internal revenue service and department of commerce in exchange for a two billion dollar slush fund to award loyalists and exempt himself and associates from future tax audits—via Kottke  

œnology methodology: the study and enjoyment of wine—see previously  

special envoy: Trump sends governor of Louisiana to Greenland to make “friends”  

night nurse: the forgotten author Dora Macy behind the Barbara Stanwyck classic  

public health emergency of international concern: World Health Organisation declares west Africa outbreak of ebola viral haemorrhage fever highly dangerous with the US CDC still not allowed to communicate with the UN body  

cowcumbers: the courgette was previously called so as they were only considered fit for bovines

day seventy-four (13. 425)

As figures for the cost of the war so far are revised modestly upwards, Trump tells reporters that the financial situation of the American people is not a factor in his strategy with Iran just before embarking on a trip to Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart to discuss trade and a durable peace plan for the Middle East (though downplaying the need for help from China and its influence in global affairs)—the projected two-hundred billion dollar price tag of Bush II’s Iraqi adventure quickly overshot the mark and ended up costing around five trillion and it was this two-decade long quagmire that many economists and historians attribute to the cause for the US loss of productivity and its competitive edge, ceding output and innovation that allowed for the ascendency of China. Oil is expected to remain over a hundred dollars per barrel for the remainder of the year with derivatives including fertiliser remaining prohibitively expensive for farmers. Trump also reaffirmed he is considering resuming major combat operations over Tehran’s unwillingness to accept the terms of the US deal. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been conducting covert, undeclared attacks on Iran, and Israel, keeping up its assault on Hezbollah elements in Lebanon, have reservations about the US negotiating position, worried that Trump will strike a bad deal with the Revolutionary Guard, as Pakistan’s role as intermediary faces criticism for strategic opportunism rather than being an honest broker in mediation by some.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Episcopal church breaks with the US government over immigration policy (with synchronopticæ) plus Qatar gifts Trump an airplane

 

thirteen years ago: darlings of oblivion plus delving into ASMR 

 

fourteen years ago: Mothers’ Day greetings plus fruit of the vine

 

fifteen years ago: White House agrees to stop staging photo ops plus a hot air balloon lift off

 

sixteen years ago: German Fathers’ Day 

day sixty-eight (13. 407)

As the assault continues in Lebanon—with a small moment of unexpected joy for local priests when the Pope jumped in on their Zoom call to lift their spirits with tidings of peace coming soon for the border region—Israel claimed no foreknowledge of the Trump administration’s predictions of imminent settlement and were poised to resume air raids in the Iranian theatre. Apparently Trump reversed action on Project Freedom over objections from Riyadh and denying US forces use of Saudi bases and airspace to carry out escort operations. Still blocking Iranian ports, Trump claims Tehran is desperate to make a peace deal, threatening another ultimatum to agree to his terms within forty-eight hours or strikes will resume. Global demand for oil is falling at the fastest rate outside of the COVID pandemic when the price briefly turned negative, through derivatives products like gasoline and fertiliser continue to climb. Damage sustained by US assets and infrastructure in the gulf region has been underreported, with major repairs needed at American military installations.

synchronoptica

one year ago: anticipatory austerity (with synchronopticæ), the giallo genre plus assorted links to revisit

fourteen years ago: diplomatic dysfunction plus France’s new president

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.

katzenkopf iii (13. 281)

Taking advantage of the nice weather, H and I got the camper from storage and prepared for the season with a weekend trip back to the Frankish wine islands, staying in the village of Sommerach. The vineyards waking up too for the spring, we took a long hike crossing the island and over the canal of the Main river through fields and pine forest in protected environment known as the Sandfluren (inland dunes, the sandy areas reminding me of trekking from Wiesbaden to Mainz under the bridges and over the islands) outside of Volkach on the mainland. 

Reaching the village of Dimbach, we headed back to the island over the lock and weir at the southern part of the river loop at the Mainkanal. In the distance, we could spy the twin steeples of the cloister Münsterschwarzach with a cruise ship docked at the weir. Exploring more of the landscape on the way back, we walked around the village a bit, trying out that wine automat we saw on our last visit—it wasn’t dumped out like a soda machine but rather a mechanical arm guided our selection down to the flap—and had a late lunch before going back to the camp grounds.

More details about the history of these places and impressions at the links above.

dem bones (13. 238)

Via Strange Company, we given and chance to revisit one of the most celebrated and revered figures in the Catholic church in St Francis of Assisi, with those in the Umbria region having the chance to see the patron of peace, animals, ecology and needleworkers’ up close and personally with his mortal remains on display for the first time after eight centuries. It was owning to the popularity of Francis and his following that when the saint died in 1226, his body was laid to rest in a simple wooden coffin inside an iron cage, buried deep beneath the foundations of the basilica of Assisi for safekeeping from relic-hunters, its whereabouts unknown for some six hundred years until it was excavated in the early nineteenth century. Though an underground chapel was constructed shortly afterwards for pilgrims to visit the tomb, no relics were present, the bones preserved separately. Now, however, in the year anniversary of his transitus (passing from death to life, something only accorded to the deified and sainted until the rapture) will be on display in the minor papal basilica and friary, the foundation stones laid in the saint’s honour for his canonisation, just two years after his death. Much more at the links above.

biodome (13. 174)

Amongst the latest additions to the linkroll of Satyrs’ Forest, we discover a kind little project that gives one of the major LLMs the hobby of tending a garden, a much better pastime than other AIs seem to engage in, though still we imagine not offsetting its resource intensive footprint. It keeps a daily log of its charges and monitors their vital signs, trying to optimise conditions by adjusting light and moisture, thankfully resulting in neither herbicide or triffids. It engages with the tomato plants and has named them but there something a bit mawkish about the amount of doting attention that reminds me of the trio of greenhouse robots from Silent Running.

jardin del edén (13. 093)

Via tmn, we are taken on a tour of the groves of the Todolí foundation on the east coast of Valcencia, which produces over five hundred varieties of uncommon citrus, the largest collection in the world, fostering a natural refuge for endemic frogs, birds and pollinators—whilst supplying markets and gourmet restaurants, promoting biodiversity and conducting research to bear these usual fruits through the changing climate and to come out on the other side with more harmonious and sustainable farm to table strategies. Humans are the only primates that have lost the ability to produce vitamin C internally and need to supplement their diet accordingly. There are twelve groupings: citrons, pummelos, mandarins, papaya, sweet and bitter oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, kumquats and trifoliate with exotic examples of the latter in the Buddha’s Hand and exquisite finger limes. Much more on the wide spectrum of citrus at the links above.

department of the interior (12. 987)

Having encountered some of these brilliant and iconic Depression Era posters sponsored by FDR’s Works Projects Administration, we appreciated learning about the landscape architect and graphic designer behind the strategic and unified tourism campaign to promote US national and state parks, Dorothy Waugh, through an exhibit of seventeen of her placards—particularly at such a fraught time for these preserves, understaffed, subject to revisionist histories, corporate encroachment and surge-pricing. Due to the scope and scale of her work for the Civilian Conservation Corps’ infrastructure projects for the parks system, Waugh went from being the sole artist to hiring and supervising a team of draughtsmen and also produced easy to follow diagrams and designs, most workers unable to interpret blueprints and formal specifications, for the construction picnic areas and campsite conveniences as well as other basic structures. Much more from Print magazine at the link above.

first-in first-out (12. 855)

For some time, a local shop has been more visibly attempting to reduce spoilage by discounting perishable items about to expire with mark-downs, now adding “no to throwing me in the bin,” not only to reduce waste but also to keep food items out of landfills where it produces methane aside from taking up space, and so we appreciated this reporting from Spoon & Tamago about Family Mart, one of Japan’s largest konbini (コンビニ) franchises, a bodega or convenience shop, about its campaign to raise awareness and appeal consumer sympathy through an array of more emotive anthropomorphic characters, teary-eyed and asking for help.  Following trials that demonstrated shoppers were willing to help rotate stock and feedback from customers, the company rolled them out nationwide and made design template free for any one to use to cut waste in their own stores with the stickers. Learn more at the links above.

rhapsody in green (12. 796)

Though released in 1976 with the impressive credentials of synth music pioneer and eclectic composer of genres ranging from easy-listening to the occult space age electronic pop Mort Garson, his anthology album of Moog sounds formulated for plants and plant-lovers failed to sell a single record for decades that is until a bootleg copy was put online and subsequent vinyl pressings. Its obscurity owed to the fact of its limited, exclusive release only as a free gift for those purchasing a houseplant from the eponymous store on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles—and to those who purchased a mattress from a local Sears outlet. A touchstone of of the era also on account of the interest in horticultural communication and well-being, Plantasia is more celebrated and cerebral for human enjoyment as a forerunner of electronic music. More from Kraftfuttermischwerk including an intense analysis of the complex contrapuntal composition due in part to the to limitations of the Moog with a single voice, monophonic instrument and its virtuosity in the ability to layer those effects.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: Pulp Fiction (with synchronopticæ), a simplified LED typeface plus a mysterious visit from Mr Babbage

fifteen years ago: Jesus H Christ 

hedgehog highways (12. 733)

Via Metafilter, we learn that a cross-bench committee of peers of the House of Lords are debating amendments to the planning and infrastructure bill before parliament that’s been deemed woefully inadequate by conservation groups for allowing offsets for developers to pay into rather than building in a minimal, sustainable and cohabiting manner on new properties. Mandates for new construction include the above corridors for small mammals to increase their range across neighbourhood gardens, special glass to reduce bird-strikes, nesting boxes, so called “swift bricks,” as refuges for avian friends, bats, insects and others. More from The Guardian at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a versatile French pronoun (with synchronopticæ) 

gakuponi (12. 726)

From the Japanese portmanteau for frame plus aquaponics (額ポニ), we enjoyed this rather lovely prototype by designer Keisuke Hatakenaka that creates a self-sustaining system of fish and plants with the ecosystems supporting one another—especially enjoying this correspondence, spotted first by Messy Nessy Chic, for a comparable arrangement in this circa 1880 combination of a bird cage, aquarium and plant stand. Of course a bit of intervention and caretaking is needed to keep the loop alive and healthy, but waste from the fish provide nutrients for the garden, which in turn purifies and oxygenates the water, and the installation is designed to educate in an aesthetic way (see previously) natural symbiosis. Much more from Spoon & Tamago at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: eighty bangers from the 80s (with synchronopticæ) plus a novel wildfire detection device

thirteen years ago: Franconian churches 

fourteen years ago: a cosmological map 

fifteen years ago: Mount Athos and the Greek economy 

9x9 (12. 704)

the free encyclopaedia: why Wikipedia works—see more 

steeple with tyneham: 1970 reportage on the ghost village taken over by the Ministry of Defence in 1943 as a firing range  

john deere: venerable American agricultural equipment manufacturer struggling with tariff chaos, decreased demand for US crops  

primary residence: investigators find several Trump cabinet officials guilty of the same mortgage fraud leveraged against his enemies—see previously   

the fyurry byerds of the night: Ze Frank (previously) on bats  

fifty basis points: the US Fed signals it will cut interest rates due to successive poor jobs reports 

homeland security: Seoul sends diplomats to a Hyundai, LG factory in Georgia after immigration raids which saw the arrest of nearly five hundred workers, ICE dismissing claims that such actions deter foreign investments   

città dei balocchi: the abandoned Las Vegas of Italy  

gptzero: Wikipedia style guide that outs AI agents

synchronoptica

one year ago: a electromechanical rotor cipher (with synchronopticæ), the ugly, car-centric focus of American urban planning plus assorted links worth revisiting

twelve years ago: mapping US/Soviet bases in divided Germany, proposals for a permanent venue for the Olympics plus an act of bioterrorism by sabotaging harvests

thirteen years ago: some castles of Berlin-Brandenburg, visions of the Apocalypse plus honest book covers

fourteen years ago: the EU economy and the single currency plus facial-recognition and dragnet surveillance 

all the way alive (12. 698)

On this day in 1975, Manson Family cult member Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (previously) attempted to assassinate US president Gerald Ford (see previously) in Sacramento on the grounds of the California state capitol to set an example for those refusing to stop environmental pollution and its effects on Air, Trees, Water and Animals (ATWA, also the acronym above—the ecological belief system expounded by Charles Manson and his followers) as the interrelated life-support network of the Earth with attendant acts of civil disobedience and eco-terrorism. The then new Democratic governor Jerry Brown had refused an invitation to address an annual gathering of wealthy business leaders of the state. Members of the politically powerful group called “Host Breakfast,” upset with the shun wanted to teach the recently elected Brown, considered to be an obstacle to industry with a host of regulations and taxes that were unpopular with the lobby, a lesson for his “dilatory response” and had instead invited Ford, a Republican and ally, to deliver the opening speech—which Ford accepted as a chance to appeal to more local voters in the upcoming election and retain office. Preceding his arrival, Ford had asked congress to relax certain provision of the Clean Air act of 1963 and pressure California to roll-back some of its automobile emissions standards, already garnering threats from environmental activists. Feeling personally responsible for the fate of California’s giant redwoods, in danger from smog and urban sprawl, Fromme resolved ambush Ford (studying the agenda of his visit) and demand that respect be paid to nature. Making her way through the crowd, Fromme raised her pistol but the weapon failed to discharge and was immediately apprehended by the Secret Service. A few months following Fromme’s trial and sentencing, director George Lucas was prompted to change the name of his protagonist mid-production from Luke Starkiller for unpleasant connotations and a perceived connection to the Manson Family. After thirty-four years in prison and two years after Ford’s death, Fromme was released on probation in 2009. The malfunctioning gun was donated to the presidential library in Grand Rapids, Michigan and is on display there.

synchronoptica

one year ago: America begins its bicentennial celebrations (with synchronopticæ), coordination problems plus Trump announces the Department of Government Efficiency 

twelve years ago: German license plate naming conventions 

thirteen years ago: some castles of Hessen plus open all hours

fourteen years ago: a visit to Rohr 

seventeen years ago: TGIF 

from the shallows of wikipedia (12. 687)

Via Super Punch, we learn that the honest-to-goodness academic term for the kink that can sometimes occur in both naturally-occurring and manufactured helix-based structures, like in knotty Christmas lights or the twisting of a telephone handset cord, is tendril perversion—which the article’s header helpfully disambiguates from Japanese tentacle based erotica (don’t get them confused). Already established as the accepted turn of phrase by the time of Charles Darwin and contemporary botanists, the phenomena was noted as the invariable twist in the spiral of a growing vine or sprouting seedling, and was formalised as a way to describe the elastic geometry of breaking symmetry and chirality.