maplemusic (13. 345)

As the world looks to disengage and untangle itself from the increasingly unreliable and lamentable American hegemony over the rentier economy, the most tenacious gain of purchase for US tech and fintech conglomerates, we appreciated learning about this pioneering experiment from the Toronto creative scene that predates iTunes and Apple music and the pervasiveness of YouTube for music on demand that sought to promote local artists for free with the gratuity of creating a portion of paying subscribers through the nascent vehicle of e-commerce and digital content, first germinating in the late 1990s. Whilst not originally a record label or distributor per se in this new environment, MapleMusic—with its spinoff MapleSolutions, a website design service and domain-registry—was an innovator very much ahead of its time. Surviving the Dot-Com bubble by maturing and splitting into different subsidiaries that still exist today as champions and promoters of different artists through Puretracks and Moontaxi. Whilst subordinate to the current ecosystems striving to retain their dominance at all costs, this early success story demonstrates that the current algorithmic regime was not inevitable and cannot be toppled. Represented artists include Alabama Shakes, Gogol Bordello, Minus the Bear, the Old Crow Medicine Show and Radiohead. More from the Walrus at the link up top.

một trăm (13. 331)

Via Laughing Squid, we are directed to this rather lit rap video from language teacher Levion that teaches one how to count to one hundred in Vietnamese following in the tradition of Multiplication Rock and others that reenforces learning through a catchy format. The teacher also uses the technique for teaching colours and the days of the week. This is really rapid-fire but in the cadence one can pick up of the patterns and conventions of the numbers (see previously). More straightforward in terms of forming the base, there are historically two sets of numerals, native Vietnamese used here and the version most used for everyday accounting purposes and another of Sino-Vietnamese influence generally only used for fixed expressions and very large numbers, like Latin and Greek prefixes in English. Arabic numerals and Roman script (chữ Quốc ngữ) supplanted Chinese characters during the era of French Indochina.

7x7 (13. 311)

jack-in-the-box: a list of restaurant franchises nominatively housed in unusual structures by order of appeal of the dining experience in said edifice 

: – ): this generation will never the struggle of emoticons—see previously  

smelting operations: with the world’s supply of aluminium stuck in the Persian Gulf and major production facilities disabled, automakers are cutting production of electric cars 

fallout boy: Trump’s East Wing ballroom to act as shed atop of a war-graded military bunker  

fahr’n, fahr’n, fahr’n auf der autobahn: Kraftwerk’s pioneering electronic music masterpiece in full—see previously  

as slow as possible: Pippin Bar assesses attention span with meditative remakes of classic arcade games—via Waxy  

smoke ‘em if you got ‘em: startups hope to put biometric age-verification technology in flavoured vape cartridges

jazzy spies (13. 295)

Also known by the above for the closing undercover lineup, the Jazz Number series was a collaboration between Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick,whom provided the vocals after her then husband, Jerry Slick of San Francisco animation studio Imagination, Inc, was commissioned to produce the segments for the new Children’s Television Workshop show Sesame Street. Slick’s team of animators were also behind the noonee, noonee typewriter guy and this upbeat psychedelic interstitial certainly belongs on the pantheon of nostalgia along with the pinball count and Multiplication Rock! More from Open Culture at the link up top.

there were plants and birds and rocks and things (13. 294)

Recorded in Doric mode and composed whilst the trio was staying with shock-rock artist Arthur Brown in Puddletown, Dorset, the track, originally called “Desert Song” was not included on the band’s eponymous debut album, achieving only modest success for its European release, “A Horse with No Name” began a three-week run on the US singles charts on this day in 1972, achieving similar commercial achievements in the UK and the Netherlands. America’s song writer Dewey Bunnell (all members were army brats that met while their fathers served in the US Air Force at RAF Ruislip outside of London) wrote the lyrics as a reminiscence of his time where his family was stationed at Vandenberg Airbase and his childhood travels through Arizona and New Mexico, the nameless conveyance being a metaphor for escaping life’s confusion and finding refuge in peace and quiet. Some stations refused airplay as they thought “horse” was a reference to heroine use, and whilst the band maintains there was no illicit allegory, the above catalogue was written under the influence, the band a little embarrassed in the recording studio over the awkwardness of “the heat was hot” and “cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain” but were convinced to stay true to their final draft.

according to our new arrival (13. 269)

As our faithful chronicler reminds, Mr Belvedere debuted on ABC on this day in 1985, and while having scant affection, nostalgia or memory (except maybe for the nightly journaling) for this culturally mismatched sitcom, a posh British, world-travelled butler engaged by a nouveau-riche American family living in the suburbs of Pittsburgh as a mentor and caretaker, in the tradition of Family Affair from two decades earlier and inspired by the character created by novelist Gwen Davenport at the end of WWII with the displaced coming to the aid of the dysfunctional, just like with antecedent and precedent series like Charles in Charge and Who’s the Boss?, I do have a fondness for the theme song as performed in ragtime style by Leon Redbone throughout its relatively short and ultimate shelved run, whose full franchise was ultimately aired in syndication, a rarity for a show that was cancelled and on the cusp of expository intros. Belvedere himself was adapted cinematically several times before the pitch for television was made and failing until being buoyed up by the above thematically similar shows.

oh who will find the antidote for pentagonorrhoea (13. 261)

Having coming across a clip of someone lip-syncing a section of this ditty the other day, I appreciated, courtesy of r/ObscureMedia, the full version with spoken-word intro from the Chad Mitchell Trio of this 1964 number, should you find any drafts that need dodging in your area. The group is rather famous for their satirical songs lampooning topical and controversial subjects during the Cold War, the civil rights movement and the Vietnam era, pivoting away from folk music with their then daring ridicule of the anti-communist, ultraconservative John Birch Society. Draft Dodger Rag was originally written by Phil Ochs and after being popularised by the Trio was soon afterwards performed by the Smothers Brothers on their comedy hour.

algeria, gabon, benin, the gambia (13. 257)

This was delightful and really could be integrated as a classroom geography lesson, since most of us are only disabused of our ignorance through wars. There I Ruined It (previously) improves Toto’s “Africa” by lyrically listing all fifty-four nations of the continent. More mnemonics from Kottke at the link above.

7x7 (13. 229)

all modern digital infrastructure: a XKCD panel made interactive 

hell harp: Oxford scholars recreate the musical instruments from the Garden of Earthly Delights and play them—see previously 

≲5×10³: Iranian academics propose that technologically advanced civilisations wipe themselves out and have a constrained lifespan on Earth and throughout the Cosmos—see also here, here and here  

set theory: literary news in Venn diagrams  

tragic mansions: the sadly overlooked life and career of Mrs Philip Lydig  

orrery: a mechanical clock to tell the time in our solar system  

habe mortem præ oculis: perhaps the worst pun ever  

usage clause: AI can rewrite, refactor COBOL language applications, reportedly reducing the risk of moving away from legacy systems—see also, see previously

9x9 (13. 226)

strength is not strong: it takes more than might to make right 

right of reply: Palantir sues small Swiss media outlet for accurately reporting of the government’s rejection of their surveillance and analytic services offers  

lifeguard on duty: annual design competition to reimagine Toronto’s beach rescue stations as public art during the winter break  

a tuba to cuba: the travelogue of a jazz band’s trip to Havana to explore their musical roots  

visual variable: a free library of thousands of cartographical icons that can be scaled down to the head of a pin—via the Map Room  

the tamizdat project: a library curating literature smuggled into the Soviet Union as part of US spycraft (“published abroad”) to destablise the Bloc from within 

site specific: a roundup of some of the most garish public art installations in the world—via Miss Cellania   

homily: Pope Leo urges priests to stop using AI to write sermons 

brother fire: reflections on a war of choice and the dashed hopes of the Arab Spring

rundweg rhönblick (13. 223)

For a warm and sunny day on this first meteorological day of Spring, H and I returned to Höhe Geba (see previously, see also) and explored a circular path named after Helmershausen native son, novelist, physician and avid wanderer Dr Theo Malade through a juniper heath, past the source of a mountain spring and to a shelter on the western slope of the plateau, overlooking the Leichelberg (see above). 

 Inside the Hütte, there was an information board with the lyrics to Das Rhönlied, the 1912 regional anthem by Andreas Fack (“Zieh an die Wanderschuh / Und nimm den Rucksack auf, / Und wirf die Sorgen ab / Marschier zur Rhön hinauf!”—see also) and a stamp for one’s hiking card. 

The path led back through the eponymous village on the plateau, remote and with only fifty-seven residents even smaller than our hometown, which had an interesting octagonal church and historic schoolhouse.

9x9 (13. 220)

a real chadwick: nineteenth century missionary and polyglot John Ross’ role in why Hangul uses spaces whereas other Asian scripts do not  

the count: an annual tally tradition from Diamond Geezer—see also  

τεσσαρακοντήρης: the ancient super-galley commissioned by Ptolemy IV Philopater, so named as it was rowed by forty 

lettres decoratives: open source letterform templates inspired by the artisanal signs of Paris  

calendar girl: RIP Neil Sedaka—more here  

abc schengen: a bundle of fonts inspired the typefaces of the transportation industry—see previously  

δώδεκαθεϊσμός: an introduction to the practitioners of the Hellenic religion who worship the twelve Olympian gods 

happy map: in an increasingly fraught world, a deep longitudinal survey of tiny and momentuous moments of joy  

data ≠ knowledge: poetic reflections on large language models by Rishi Dastidar—via Web Curios

…baby one more time (13. 218)

Beginning a two-week run at the top of UK charts, the lead single from eponymous debut album from sixteen-year old Britney Spears, child actor with the All-New Mickey Mouse Club sought by proxy to expand her repertoire, came about as the result of rejections by several labels, downplaying her demos with indictments that there was not going to be another Madonna, Debbie Gibson or Tiffany, and traveling to Sweden to work with songwriters and producers on a multi-record deal. The parenthetical “Hit me” was interpreted by many not only as canonically the title but also as a narrative of wanting back an abusive ex- or a reference to sadism but is attributed to the lyrics’s Swedish author tenuous command of English slang and was meant to convey “hit me up”—a strange formulation in itself like all the un-euphemistic metaphors to sports and violence. Initially shopped around to the Back Street Boys and TLC, it was eventually taken by Spears’ agent. Thematically similar with its three-note opening to Beethoven’s Fifth and Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up,” it is considered one of the most influential pop tracks in the history of the genre, propelled by the accompanying video directed by Nigel Dick (Oasis, Toto, Band Aid, Guns N’ Roses, Tears for Fears, Taylor Dane).

heebie jeebies (13. 215)

Recorded on this day in 1926 at the studios of Okeh Records in Chicago, the group having performed their rendition of the Boyd Atkins arrangement at the Vendome Theatre (see also), the song is credited with solidifying the career of Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five. The single is also credited with popularising scat singing—though there were precedents with ragtime entertainers Gene Greene and Al Jolson with a few choruses and bars from the latter in faux-Chinese (see also) drawing from traditions of lilting, yodelling and yoiking—with the possible apocryphal anecdote that when Armstrong was in the studio, his sheet music had fallen off the stand and had to improvise, filling the time with nonsense lyrics, surprised by the producers’ decision to keep it in. The record company subsequently capitalised on its popularity by advertising a choreographed dance to the song. The phrase comes from a 1923 newspaper comic strip by cartoonist Billy DeBeck, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, and refers to a feeling of apprehension and anxiety—popular slang in the 1920s also inspiring the name for the number ten duotrigintillon, “sweet mama,” “horsefeathers” and leaving a legacy through catch-phrases “time’s a-wasting” “great balls o’ fire.”

wm-9 (13. 211)

Via the always excellent Present /&/ Correct (check out their sundries), we enjoyed perusing this comprehensive archive that has catalogued over a thousand portable audio players—the Walkman introduced by Sony first in 1979 and manufactured through 2010 (see previously here, here, here and here) and courting many imitators and innovations over the years as a genericised trademark with many other competiting brands. We had find trying to hunt down a specific model we had and discovering along the way others, each entry having detailed specifications, notes on features, manuals, family-trees accessories and advertising.

bye-bye, honey, bye-bye (13. 210)

Performed by the Brotherhood of Man, the pop-schlager tune was selected as the UK’s entry on this day in 1976 to represent Britain at Eurovision Grand Prix held later in the spring in the Hague, winning the song contest, the single going on to become a best-seller. Describing the conflicted emotions of someone leaving for the day for work, the song ends with the twist that the singer was saying good bye to their infant daughter.

7x7 (13. 205)

merrie melodies: Turner Movie Classics (TMC) has acquired Looney Tunes and will begin pairing the animated shorts with the main features from Warner Brothers studios as they were originally shown in theatres  

el mencho: Mexico deploys thousands of troops to quell violence after death of cartel boss 

taco tuesdays: Trump global tariffs come in at a lower ten percent rate 

there’s no grace period so that’s a way in which i see us losing the interstitial: arguments for deplatforming oneself 

slava ukraini: Zelenskyy’s address to the nation on the fourth anniversary since the Russia invasion, extending an invitation to Trump to see who the real aggressors are  

i’m sorry but you can’t just name a weather event bombogenesis: tracking the winter storm slamming the North American eastern seaboard and other news 

all ages: the concert archive of Lynn Fisher—via Waxy

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Ukraine war enters its fourth year (with synchronopticæ), assorted links worth the revisit plus Marbury v Madison

twelve years ago: revolutionary plaza plus positive psychology

thirteen years ago: Freistaat Flaschenhals plus the waning potency of pesticides

fifteen years ago: arch villains  

sixteen years ago: spending priorities 

the power of the people is stronger than the people in power (13. 192)

As we are informed by MetaFilter, for Ash Wednesday, Irish band U2 released a surprise extended play collection of six tracks called Days of Ash—their first recording since 2017 originally planned for later this year but decided that they couldn’t wait as the songs were growing more and more impatient and urgent by the day. The below lead is dedicated to Renée Good and the resistance of Minneapolis and others deal with the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, also paying tribute to Iranian teenager Sarina Esmailzadeh killed during protests and Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen. Postcards from the present moment, the album reaffirms the group’s political boldness and combines biblical allegory with partisan messaging. “The Tears of Things” and “Yours Eternally” was especially powerful.

8x8 (13.191)

sandboxels: a fun construction simulation with hundreds elements and building materials from Neil Agarwal—see previously, see also  

tax-payer funded settlement: Trump is suing the US government for billions  

innermost ward: a 3D reconstruction of the thousand year history of the Tower of London—via MetaFilter   

pantone 222: test one’s memory for colour—via Miss Cellania  

shallow fakes: historic image manipulation—see also  

canary wharf: a visit to the impounding station of the West India docks 

forbidden paradise: as Trump renews threats on the Chagos deal, a look at the mysterious atoll—see previously, via Damn Interesting  

a sense of getting closer: a music video by Max Cooper and Conner Griffin about spectacle that isn’t inspired

9x9 (13. 183)

chinamaxxing: sinophiles dominate online forums  

next sunday a.d.: Mystery Science Theater 3000 to reunite almost all of the original cast and crew  

blue monday: analysis of the quintessential 80s drum beat  

sol invictus: unique Mithraic altars uncovered in Scotland go on display—see previously  

bloqueo: US regional tactics fomenting rebellion in Cuba—see previously—with siege strategy  

the golden road: Sanskrit and Tamil inscriptions uncovered in ancient Egyptian tombs 

orchestral strike: you know this sound but not its name  

just to be safe, here’s a scrollfrog: Cabel Sasser on one of the most incredible XOXO talks ever—see previously—via Waxy 

lilliputian hallucinations: a common dietary mushroom, if undercooked, causes diners to see tiny humans on their plates—via Kottke

synchronoptica

one year ago: a papal bull on artificial intelligence (with synchronpticæ), the purge of US civil servants plus the foundations of ancient London

thirteen years ago: horsemeat and an explosive meteor 

fourteen years ago: a mascot for the eurozone plus a Vatican political thriller

fifteen years ago: sovereign debt 

seventeen years ago: lint eggs from the laundry fairy