spes non confundit (12. 072)

Pope Francis has issued the bull of indication that the 2025 Jubilee, which will last from Christmas Eve this year to Epiphany of 2026, fulfilling the declaration made by John Paul II at the conclusion of 2000’s Great Jubilee, with the above convocation from the verse of the book of Romans “hope does not disappoint” and understanding that the youths attending the millennial celebration would be the leaders a quarter century later. Recognising the need, Francis had an intervening Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy a decade ago and this time all four mercy gates of the basilica of the Holy See, Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Saint Mary Major, St John Lateran and St Peter’s, are being unbricked to be opened is succession through Christmastide. A fifth door will be added for the first time in a tradition dating back to the fourteenth century with the entrance of Rebibbia prison, one of the chief incarceration facilities in Italy focused on social reintegration and rehabilitation of its inmates (including John Paul II’s attempted assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca, Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino and numerous mafiosi) symbolically representing all jails.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Pantone’s colour for 2024 (with synchronoptica), AI illustrated Christmas carols plus unit abbreviations

seven years ago: Dr Who villains, a space-faring micronation, curios British telly plus AI authored Christmas carols

eight years ago: mistaking the bad guys, more on netiquette plus A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

nine years ago: assorted links to revisit, nuance in language plus colonial powers vie for Africa

ten years ago: the commodification of foodstuffs, set designs for Kubrick films, an appreciation of clipart plus avocados and megafauna

and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom (11. 729)

In more meme news, the presumptive Democratic nominee made a surprise showing during the conclusion of the San Diego Comic-Con panel on The Simpsons, reciting a slogan from the Treehouse of Horror VII special from 1996, the short Citizen Kang, about the recurring alien characters interfering in the then upcoming contest between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, eventually replacing the candidates with themselves. While unclear if Harris endorsed this message specifically for the weekend’s forum—or if it was an older clip that a group of political science students arranged when tasked with getting a politician to make a statement about America’s two-party system (see above), her appearance nonetheless energised the crowd. A self-described superfan of the long running show—and maybe this fellow GenXer also pretends it ended circa 1997 instead of entering its thirty-sixth season, which is probably the best approach—Harris’ other solid Simpsons association comes from the 2000 episode Bart to the Future, wherein a similarly dressed Lisa succeeds Donald Trump as US president—which seems a bit more prescient than it was, Trump having been a serial candidate before finally securing the Republican party’s nomination in 2016.

happy blogoversary (11. 022)

Go check out fellow internet caretaker’s veteran blog, Everlasting Blört, and raise a glass for twenty-three years of finely curated posts, active non-stop since we were collectively recovering from our y2k celebration hangover. Some greatest hit have been collected from the past years but do indulge in a long scroll. I regret that EU service providers seem to take objection to the ‘meepzorp’ extension and we find ourselves not able to visit as much as we’d like, but we take advantage whenever we can to check in.  Here’s to many, many more years of quality hyperlinked content.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit, the JWST eyes Neptune, more luxury bunkers plus exploring the inaccessible with elementary particles

two years ago: a Scissor Sisters’ hit, a Wagner classic, sneakers patterned off of vintage VHS packaging plus a visit to Gemünden am Main

three years ago: the first radio-controlled robot (1906), Facebook modelled itself off Big Tobacco plus something expressed in gesture alone

four years ago: the first newspaper in the Americas, the downfall of Thomas Cook plus the US constitution’s Bill of Rights

five years ago: Looney Tunes’ propaganda, the Rubik’s Cube plus misheard lyrics of a Star Wars anthem

as your heart chose—only time (10. 267)

The lead single from New Age singer Enya’s (see previously) fifth studio album A Day Without Rain was released on this day in 2000, the reflective pop ballad surging in popularity nearly a year later when many US and international broadcasters began using the song in their coverage of the aftermath of the 9/11 Terror Attacks. The artist donated proceeds from the single’s sales to the Widows’ and Children’s Fund of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. The music video, remastered in 2020 to celebrate its anniversary, was conceived and directed by multimedia artist Graham Fink, one of the world’s most awarded and versatile creatives.

music—makes the bourgeoisie and the rebel (10. 105)

The artist’s eighth studio album premiering just two weeks before, the lead single and title track accelerated to the top of the charts this week in 2000 worldwide and held that position for several weeks. According to Madonna, the song was inspired by an almost spiritual in the audience she detected at a Sting concert once he started playing some of the classics from his time with The Police. Its pirated appearance on websites like Napster and KaZaa prompted legal action, eventually leading to the suppression of such sites. The music video for this second-wave disco anthem features Madonna and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in character as Ali G.

vilnius group

Constituted in May 2000, member countries Slovenia, Slovakia (having already undergone its Velvet Divorce in 1993, the date falls on the anniversary of the 1990 compromise that ended the so called Hyphen War, Pomlčková vojna, started in 1989 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union on what to call themselves and how to share a territory with two identities) Romania, North Macedonia, Lithuania (its capital the namesake), Latvia, Estonia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Albania to lobby as a group for NATO inclusion, all aspirants acceded to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on this day in 2004 with the exception of Albania, Croatia and North Macedonia (under the Adriatic Charter) joining in 2009 and 2020. The former association closely maps with the composition of the Visegrád Group, another former pooled campaign for European Union membership and presently a regional economic cooperative.

halfway between the gutter and the stars

Featuring Bootsy Collins, the accompanying music video for the Big Beats artist Fatboy Slim’s 2000 “Weapon of Choice,” reprised on the occasion as a stand-alone single, directed by Spike Jonze, was first aired on this day in 2001. Depicting Christopher Walken dancing around an empty lobby, the choral refrain of “You could blow with this or you could blow with that” references the Native Tongues’ “The Choice is Yours”—the titular album an homage to Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan (“some of us are looking at the stars”) and the lyric advising to “walk without rhythm and it won’t attract the worm” quotes Frank Herbert’s establishing novel.

hypospray or mister x

Via Waxy, here’s a nice survey of jabs and vaccination campaigns as portrayed in film and television, including classics like the Star Trek TOS episode Miri, biopics of Louis Pasteur and Edward Jenner, and a multiplicity of Simpsons episodes like the December of 2000 show “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes” wherein Homer’s alter ego creates a conspiracy website (after his first, innocent attempt failed to draw interest) that unfortunately speaks across the decades. As punishment for being too clever, Homer is imprisoned on an island for people who know too much. Seriously, get your shot and protect yourself and others.

cospar id 1998-067a

Though still tethered to Earth in low-orbit, this day in 2000 marked the last day that there was no enduring human presence in outer space. The Soyuz TM-31 launched on the next day with the first resident crew for the International Space Station,  docking three days later and which has been continuously crewed ever since. The first three joined modules were called Zvezda, Unity and Zarya and were placed in orbit in 1998 (it has presently expanded to an array of fourteen with additional solar cells, inflatable segments and experimental bays) and the station’s mission is expected to last at least until 2030.

you can turn the clock to zero, honey—i’ll sell the stock, we’ll spend all the money

Via fellow internet caretaker Miss Cellania, we learn the backstory to those novelty New Year’s glasses, concocted on one stoned evening in January of 1990 and put into production in time to herald in the next year by revelers and for the following years to come.
The duo behind the iconic variations, Richard Sclafani and Peter Cicero of Seattle, were schooled in the patent application process and realised that there was essentially no safe means of protecting one’s design from being knocked-off by competitors—yet they did register pairs of glasses for the next fourteen years and did have a good and profitable stint of success, until when the final year of the twentieth century appeared on the horizon with 2000 and too many opportunists saw the potential for easy profit. Those sales diminished and their marketing efforts undercut, both behind the phenomenon are grateful for their good run and the smiles they brought to people counting-down. Designers will again, after 2020, be challenged to come up with more clever frames.

hanging chad

Though George Walker Bush would not be officially awarded the presidency until the Supreme Court issued its split-decision nearly a month after election day and halted ballot re-count, on this day in 2000 Secretary of State of Florida, Katherine Harris certified Bush as the winner, having purged many voters (felons and other disenfranchised individuals) from the rolls, narrowly defeating contender Albert Arnold Gore Junior and losing the overall popular vote but thus able to carry the majority of the Electoral College. Coverage of the debate and controversy cemented the colour-coding conventions of US political parties (previously), whereas prior media coverage had been inconsistent or idiosyncratic, often following UK schemes which portray conservatives as blue and liberals as red.

expedition 1

On this day in 2000, the first long-term residents arrived at the International Space Station, ferried up by a Soyuz spacecraft, the crew activating ISS systems and unpacked equipment to prepare for a series of deliveries by shuttle and other resupply vehicles.
During their four-and-a-half month stay in orbit, the three person crew also conducted experiments to study the behaviour of plasma and protein crystallisation in microgravity and filmed footage for a 3D IMAX documentary. Since the complement was refreshed with Expedition 2 in March 2001, there has been an uninterrupted human presence in space to the present day.

these kids today with their y2k

For those who have become accustomed to using the turn of the century or fin de siècle as a way to reckon future and past dates I’m sure have already come to wrestle with the sobering fact that the Year 2000 Computer Bug will attain the age of majority soon and that 1970 is not thirty years in the past but more like nearly five decades and hardly futuristic.
We nonetheless appreciated this collection of popular culture call-backs that the times inspired—from novelty songs, sitcom staples, class-action suits and survival guides for the technological apocalypse soon to visit humanity. Ultimately, there was no ensuing disaster and tigers did not rain from the heavens (no matter how we might try to frighten ourselves) and while I know that there’s little commonality about this non-event and the esteem for which we have for other, real impending disasters which may not be repaired with a simple patch are nonetheless within our power to prevent and part of me wonders if that boy-who-cried-wolf, survivor-mentality does not somehow resign some to leave everything to invisible hand, trickle-down providence. What do you remember about those last tense moments but forcing oneself to abandon and partying like it was 1999? What media digest do you remember prophesying the worst?  I suppose the y2k worries and shared memories will perhaps even more so than the prevalence of connectivity and virtual personae be the shibboleth that separates one generation from the next. 

these kids today with their y2k

Though I could not say whether the potential y2k cataclysm turned out to be a non-event because of assiduous preparation or the dire prediction of tigers falling from the heavens were somewhat exaggerated, but I do wonder if the anticipation and collective-relief was not somehow instructive on a sociological level.
Attuning us in a sense to future-shock, we were given a reasonably credible apocalyptic scenario that we each were able to do something about—other than repent. It is not as if we are powerless in the face of climate-change, political corruption or exploitive business, but there’s no tidy patch for it, deadline that everyone can agree on or easy to convey, process underlining problem. Computers would wink out of existence if the clock is dialled back and all those subsequent versions were never born. We dodged a bullet here. Now there’s talk of tipping-points and saturation, but we are just as readily shouted back from the ledge as we are led on. I wonder if those who survived such prophets of doom and lived to tell the tale have a different threshold for resignation when it comes to contemporary big problems than those who did not. What do you think? What do you remember about minutes to midnight on the last day of 1999?