Ahead of the Academy Awards to be held on 11 March, the always excellent Kottke, who just turned nineteen, directs our attention to film critic Wesley Morris’ appreciation of outstanding performances in categories that don’t exist but should. We especially appreciated ‘Best Acting in a Mirror’ and ‘Best Acting over a Landline,’ which both seem like an especially displaced skill by the same technology, like period suspension belief over mysteries that would be easily dispatched with and resolved by modern standards though some of the scenes are transcendent of place and time. And yes, the ceremonies are worth it for the GIFs, example not pictured, alone.
Friday 23 February 2024
Saturday 17 February 2024
♐︎ (11. 357)
Via Boing Boing, we are directed towards a project by Matt Webb that resulted in this handy app that always points to the galactic centre of the Milky Way, the rotational point coincident with the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* surrounded by about ten million older red giant stars in close proximity. When I got my first model of iPhone, I got made fun of for first playing with the compass before anything else, and I’m not ashamed to say, especially for someone with a poor sense of direction, I still find it engaging even with no particular place to go. With little avowed programming skills and no experience in making apps, the details of realising this undertaking in collaboration with AI are really interesting and illustrative of the cooperative effort—it’s not just summoned into existence but was enabled and was a great leveller, but even more internet was the preamble about Webb cultivating a superpower to orientate himself to intuitively know where this dense, far away region was an imagine the waltz of the cosmos relative to this pivot-point and relative to himself—reminiscent of some insular and aboriginal languages using geographical features, landmarks or cardinal directions rather than the egocentric right and left. Webb’s navigational instinct has since sadly waned but can be supplemented by this little creation, grounding to know even when it’s below one’s feet.
Friday 5 January 2024
9x9 (11. 243)
sine cure: many jobs in the tech sector are busy work and inducements to stymie the competition—via the New Shelton wet/dry
smooth operator: one-hundred eighty songs and other cultural touchstones turning forty this year
shake your hips, puppet legs: a David Byrne dance tutorial—via Nag on the Lakecrackberry: a physical keyboard attachment for one’s smart phone
the rise and fall of ziggy stardust: the chance encounter with Vince Taylor, the inspiration for the David Bowie persona
long live friendship: the Cantonese version of Auld Lang Syne (see previously) performed at the handover ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997
the (disco) sound of music: a Meco-like dance rendition of the classic tracks (see previously) from Sarah Brightman
pole position: the Vectrex, the 1982 revolutionary but mostly forgotten video game console, gets a second look
mobile aloha: an off-the-shelf, DIY robot that can perform complex tasks and chores—via Waxy
one year ago: US mid-term elections
two years ago: two Star Wars adjacent films set in 2022, Twelfth Night plus building the Golden Gate Bridge
three years ago: Waiting for Godot, Moonstone plus an unusual patent-filing
four years ago: puffy planets, the asteroid Eris, mobile car-chargers plus Nazi name mandates
five years ago: notes on Dante plus animal sounds in other languages
Sunday 3 December 2023
9x9 (11. 160)
caput apri defero, reddens laudes domino: an annual procession dating back to the fourteenth century that marks the beginning of Christmas season in London
pingxiety: an update on the aerospace engineer’s anti-smart phone—see previouslysettled law: a carol to reaffirm that Die Hard is in fact a Christmas movie
pocket universe: scientists in Germany re-create the Cosmos in a test tube to tweak the laws of physics for this primordial simulation
pilea peperomiodes: the Chinese money plant goes by another common name for good reasons
such fun: noun and adjectival usage of the intensifier on either side of the Atlantic
anthrobots: researchers have created tiny, living robots from human cells that could one day patrol for diseases and repair damaged tissue
there used to be a house at 6114 california street: a interview at home with Anton LaVey in 1967—see previously—via r/Obscure Media
coquito ho ho: a guide to festive variations on classic cocktails
Thursday 9 November 2023
pin (11. 104)
The startup called Humane, launched by two former Apple engineers, hoping to introduce an alternative to time-stealing smart phones and touch screens, has unveiled its brooch-like wearable, powered by AI that does not need to be paired with other gadgets, and designed for interfacing with large language models rather than apps, geared towards talking and voice commands (also through gesture and showing it objects) rather than focusing on typing and visuals. Though there is no display, AI Pin can project images with a laser onto the user’s hand. For privacy and disclosure to others within ear-shot, the “Trust Light” blinks when the badge is activated (no listening for a wake word) and collecting data. Though the question remains whether this new device, a lapel pin, might meet the same fate as Google Glass and other augmented reality accessories, the launch demonstration included a round of feats, including an email inbox, message summary, presenting one’s meal to it for nutritional information, navigation and real-time translations.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the Lateran Basilica, an archaeological discovery in the muddy ruins of a bath house plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: another MST3K classic plus prioritising driverless technology over pedestrian safety
three years ago: World Freedom Day, unfortunate juxtapositions, a vaccine for COVID under development, a synonym for Schadenfreude plus Poe’s Dream-Land
four years ago: the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)
five years ago: a resort on the Adriatic, single-use as Word of the Year, the veil of ignorance plus Kristallnacht (1938)
Tuesday 25 July 2023
7x7 (10. 905)
home taping is killing record industry profits: the 1981 moral panic over mixtapes
lisa lionheart: labour force participation through the many careers of Barbie
swipe left: patrons of 1920s Berlin nightclubs could flirt via pneumatic tubes—via Messy Nessy Chicthe rivers and harbours act: Texas Department of Justice sues governor for refusing to remove a stretch of buoys that violates federal and international law—see previously
sickbay: the Pirate Surgeon’s Journals—via Strange Company
comeuppance: it’s time for the annual census on the River Thames—see previously
a lot of skill, hand-eye coordination—it’s cheap and legal: video arcade addiction was seen as a threat to prevailing social values in 1982
synchronoptica
one year ago: Ullapool and environs plus Wester Ross
two years ago: a colour advertisement on black-and-white TV (1967), Einstein on the Beach (1976), Thomas ร Kempis plus a mosaic along the Thames
three years ago: Trump’s mental fitness, proto-Wikipedia (2000), more on the US Space Force, St Cucuphas, Nixon in China vis-ร -vis today’s relations plus more on stock characters and archetypes
four years ago: RIP Rutger Hauer plus a doctored presidential seal
five years ago: a neo-classic Delphic festival (1927), a student project that may have unwittingly identified targets of value in the Gulf War, anti-social media, Mid-Century Modern minimalism plus the hunt for subsurface water on Mars
Wednesday 28 June 2023
10x10 (10. 840)
⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️: Neal Fun’s (previously) infuriating password game
ceiling cat: the European Souther Observatory in the Chilean mountains discovered a feline nebula
bad odds: wagering on climate change to bring the danger and risk to present and personal
backstage: newsletters (from 1962 to 1980) published for Disneyland crew members, scanned in full—via Super Punch
homage to magritte: a 1974 tribute in five vignettes to the Surrealist artistindependent legislature theory: US Supreme Court strikes down suit that would cut checks and balances and judicial review of laws passed
monkey bars: the first jungle gym (see previously) was built in hopes of teaching children about three-dimensional space and Cartesian coordinates
magma: mining volcanoes could provide a more ecologically-friendly way to extract metals
power of ten: NASA’s coding commandments focused on testability, readability and predictability that keeps critical systems safe and running in outer space
goodnight phone: an interactive web comic for our shared present—via tmn
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus a surprise session of the January Sixth hearings on the US Capitol Insurrections
two years ago: body language, the UN International Criminal Court (1993), Miss Continuous Towel and other spokesmodels plus Pitman shorthand
three years ago: a corporate typeface, a performative masculine simulator game, Martian meteors plus cataloguing one’s possessions
four years ago: the Stonewall Riots (1969), surveying Titan plus bringing back the chestnut tree
five years ago: Paul Simon on Sesame Street, silent cooking videos, assorted links to revisit plus combating fake product reviews
Tuesday 6 June 2023
7x7 (10. 790)
fowl-mouthed: Apple’s newest IOS to tweak auto-correct feature that turns a common expletive to “ducking”
supars: librarians in the 1970s foresaw the coming age of inter- connectivity and distributed learning and helped design the tools for itolive grove: climate change bringing new crops to Canada’s Pacific Northwest
pop 101: a guided formulaic approach to composition
magic kingdom: research finds that fungi sequester a third of carbon emissions—via Slashdot
fact-checking: the rise, fall and rebirth of Snopes
ski googles: Apple previews new prototype AR/VR headset—to be on the market next year
Thursday 1 June 2023
the annoying thing (10. 780)
Originally shared as an MP3 audio recording of a student in Gothenburg called Daniel Malmedahl imitating the sounds of a two-stroke engine revving (Tvรฅtaktare) in 1997 that was picked up as a signature sound for Formula One Racing in 2001, the concept, with the addition of a CGI character, became a ring-tone licensed and rather aggressively marketed in 2004 and on this day in 2005, just a couple of weeks after being released, its incarnation as a Eurodance, techno song by Axel F became the number one single in the UK and a summer hit (internationally—tube de l’รฉtรฉ), beating out the likes of Cold Play in the charts. This enduring cult classic, which is periodically called into service, saw more than a dozen remixes, concert tours, a video game, a documentary plus an unrealised television series and feature film. Deng deng!
Sunday 23 April 2023
me at the zoo (10. 693)
As the first ever video uploaded and shared to the platform YouTube, the nineteen second amateur clip that did not so much document a moment but rather was an announcement that illustrated the possibilities of the tilt to video and the ramifications the accessible technology had in store for the coming generation of self-publishing and broadcasting. Contributed by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim on this day in 2005, the same day as the website went public, the platform was acquired by Google the following year, after realising the site’s full potential.
Monday 3 April 2023
9x9 (10. 652)
eieren blazen: egg blowing was all the rage in the Netherlands in the 1950s
autofill: Google search recommendations illustrated
sim card: a mobile phone museum, with a special exhibit of the ugliest—via Messy Nessy Chichorsell common and the heat ray: the 1978 War of the World’s concept album featuring Yes and Richard Burton
vexing vexillogy: CGP Grey grades US state flags—see previously
airspace: Alex Murrell on the ‘Age of Average’—via Kottke—see also
if the engine jumps the track: another in a series of derailments—thankfully this time with no fatalities—yields some amazing photographs but a few beer or two, via Super Punch
katkhakali: the dance of the ‘speaking hands’ about the myth of Kali and Travancore, a 1981 Soyuzmultfilm short
peepshi: a complete guide to deconstructing Easter candies for festive onigiri
Monday 6 February 2023
negative test (10. 529)
Approached by Facebook executives with a request to run an experiment tweaking power demands of certain applications to make using them drain one’s phone batteries, a data scientist refused to do so on ethical grounds citing that by dint of the sheer volume of users—in excess of one billion individuals—some were bound to be negatively impacted by a dead phone, lost, stranded or otherwise able to purchase items or verify their identity or alternatively to be gaslit by ones own gadgets, was fired and revealed the existence of this rather sinister experiment (see also) in a lawsuit suing for wrongful dismissal. Details beyond the allegations are sparse since the plaintiff’s employment contract included a clause for binding arbitration, effectively surrendering his right of recourse to legal remedy and submit to the decision of a judge paid a retainer by the social media enterprise.
catagories: ⚖️, ๐ฑ, ๐ง , networking and blogging
Wednesday 11 January 2023
civics lesson (10. 407)
Citing the precedence of public nuisance laws which stopped a vaping manufacturer from marketing to young people, a school district in Seattle, Washington is filing a non-frivolous lawsuit against social media outlets, alleging that TikTok, Facebook, Instagram et al are exploiting vulnerable psychologies and creating addicts for their own profit and precipitating a widespread hardship for students and the education system that services them. The attendant mental health crisis—a challenge for the best equipped and dedicated counselling professionals—is a distinct disservice, siphoning precious resources and time from curriculum for intervention and threat-response stemming from distressing and intimidating posts, compiling a growing list of intentioned maladies. What do you think? The school board hopes that this injunction is a first step for students everywhere.
Thursday 15 December 2022
7x7 (10. 386)
de-evolution: Dangerous Minds interviews Devo’s Gerald V Casale
santa baby: Cher’s 1975 Christmas Show—see previouslyrisky ebay alternative: a round-up of poorly considered gift ideas from Tedium
๐️๐จ️: an infinitely recursive Game of Life—see previously—via Waxy
going to be out of pocket today: a Gen-Z lingo quiz—via Language Hat⊙
december will be magic again: a 1979 BBC Kate Bush Christmas Special with guest star Peter Gabriel
crack that whip: the group’s signature song was inspired by Thomas Pychon’s Gravity’s Rainbow
Friday 9 December 2022
data dump (10. 373)
Although unashamedly US-centric, the just-published Year in Search retrospective from Google nonetheless yields some insights for this past year and our collective engagement with the news and trends.
It seems that we were less interested in chasing memes and more focused on the news and an interesting feature (America only apparently) allows one to find popular search terms locally. There are several categories–plants, pets, people–of analytics to parse and contrast and the top ten searches (with apparent recency bias) worldwide were:
- Wordle
- India vs England
- Ukraine
- Queen Elizabeth
- Ind vs SA
- World Cup
- India vs West Indies
- iPhone 14
- Jeffrey Dahmer
- Indian Premier League
The top news queries were: Ukraine, Queen Elizabeth’s passing, Election Results, Powerball Numbers and Monkeypox. More at the links above.
Sunday 16 October 2022
7x7 (10. 229)
symphony of the birds: CBS Radio director Jim Fassett’s 1960 experimental arrangement
home row: Google Japan develops a long, horizontal keyboard for messy desks—reminded us of the iPhone Taller that doubles a guitarbenevolent dictator: a profile of President Kevin Baugh and his micronation of Molossia—via the New Shelton wet/dry
kunstradfahren: a graceful bicycle ballet by a skilled practitioner of this 130 year old sport
barcalounger: ten homes whose decor is tied together with classic Eames chairs—see previously
unreliable narrator: microbrews and hipster beer names
peer-reviewed: birdsong helps alleviate human anxiety and paranoia
Tuesday 13 September 2022
8x8 (10. 131)
le milieu du monde: influential Swiss director Alain Tanner has passed away at 92
zodiaco: we liked these astrological sign matchboxes from Josรฉ Marรญa Cruz Novillo—see previously
circadian rhythm: an infographic comparing sleeping patterns across the animal kingdomlandscape, portrait: a relatable, cautionary comic from xkcd
punching down: US Republican governors ask Joe Biden to be less generous with his student debt forgiveness plan
moxie: Perseverance’s experimental oxygen generation—via Super Punch
trap set: chimpanzees in Uganda demonstrate their signature drum-beats, can communicate across great distances
maรฎtre ร penser: French New Wave film pioneer Jean-Luc Godard has exited the scene, aged 91
Saturday 27 August 2022
8x8 (10. 091)
catenary curve: the relationship between arches and chains
astrochickens: another one of Freeman Dyson’s theoretical constructs—albeit less famous than his spheres
numeracy: a selection of books bringing maths to the massesclick-wheel: design your next custom iPhone—add a headphone jack, handle, home button, etc. from Neal Agarwal (previously)
safe neighbourhood: Madonna’s punk phase
late-stage thatcherism: the UK under Tory leadership is in omnishambles
chakumelo: a celebration of nostalgic words culled from Japanese dictionaries due to declining usage
hรฌtรซkw: an AI redesigns the tennis racket, named after Lenape word for tree due to its root-like design
Tuesday 9 August 2022
you’ll catch your death in the fall (10. 047)
Fancy Notions directs our attention to a 1970 promotional short from Bell Telephone that offers a rather remarkable if not a tad touched with the hubris and inflated self-confidence of echoed in modern Tech. This piece by Ugo Torricelli, is part informative and part psychedelic freak out, posits that the downfall of humanity and expulsion from the Garden of Eden was the first act of invention.
Saturday 2 July 2022
6x6
a$ap pocky: Ardnira Putra creates immersive, nostalgic Nintendo 64 vapour wave landscapes
clean air act: the US Supreme Court curtails the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions, pollutantskopen op afstand: the auction clock of royal FloraHolland—and how it was victim of its own popularity
forty text-tone compilation: a duo expressively dances to all the iPhone alerts
tpv: researchers develop thermophotovoltaic cells that passively converts white hot heat into electricity—via Slashdot
biaoqingbao: the lexicon of emoji and memes are being admitted as evidence in more and more lawsuits in China—see previously