Expanding on a previous post using AI to unframe and extend the backgrounds of iconic works of art and other bounded creations, the same suite of tools has been applied to internet memes to image what’s going on just outside of the picture, like for Side-Eye Chloe or Wandering-Eye Boyfriend.
nightingale-olympic: the time capsule that is Bangkok’s first specialty retail establishment—via Messy Nessy Chic
splinternet: legal jurisdictions—for reasons real, specious and facetious dividing the internet recruitment bonus: Florida governor is offering cash incentives to bring violent police officers to departments across the state—more here
loveboat insanity: Poseidon’s Underworld reviews their lodestar film and more shared movie DNA
puriteens: prudishness is taking over some parts of the internet
bhs downtown: a Vermont high school hosted in an abandoned department store
spokescandies: put together just ahead of the writers’ strike, Stephen Colbert afforded Tucker Carlson the chance to bid his audience farewell
redundancy: IBM puts a pause on hiring to on-board an AI back-office workforce
oops all linkdump: veteran blogger Cory Doctorow returns to his roots in a special jubilee edition
€49 ticket: Germany launches its more fiscally-secure successor to the €9 monthly fare
pitch decks and powerpoints: slide presentations from the largest corporate frauds and failures—via tmn
chevron v national resources defense council: the US Supreme Court to re-litigate a 1984 precedent that defers judgement to the competent federal agencies, like the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency
cherry ice cream smile—i suppose it’s very nice: revisiting the art and influence of Patrick Nagel—see previously
workforce implications: a company runs an empirical test, replacing its human staff with AI
hal gurney’s network time fillers: reactions to past strikes by the Writers’ Guide
As part of an ongoing curious curation of the Japanese vending machine capsule toy collectibles, Card House presents another series of gachapon, which includes a set of miniature circuit-breakers, foothold traps, regional sirens, and novel laundering instruction washing tags as well as this sequence of posable versions of the famously armless Venus de Milo. The onomatopoeic word—echoing the cranking sound of the machine and the clunk of the item falling in the collection tray—is a proprietary eponym, a genericised trademark, like kleenex, googling, xeroxing or band-aid, copyrighted by Bandai but used by imitators and competitors as well.
With the admonition “You better not be acting like you’re in a Wes Anderson movie when I get there,” 
videographer Ava Williams delivers and propagates an idea that’s infinitely relatable, the momentary feeling, like deja vu, that one has been launched into the signature aesthetic of the filmmaker. These deadpan takes on the meme, as curated by Hyperallergic makes me stop and take note of those transporting instances that we all experience. Check out the TikToks at the link above and get inspired to make your own.
born to die: on the common fate of beloved social media platforms—they are heart-breakers
the past is a foreign country: they do things differently there: historian Paul Veyne shows that past is not necessarily precedent la fรฉe bruin: a tour of nineteenth century opium dens
bbc100: John Hoare celebrates the broadcasting corporation’s centenary
joan does dynasty: a stand-up therapist inserts herself into a soap-opera
athena: Microsoft introduces an AI chip to step ahead of the field in machine-learning
sixty-nine percent: CBC called by Twitter as government-funded and embraces the label—see previously
lorem ipsum: the Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in the Mac operating system
duchenne smile: AI bias towards American standards skews cultural norms—see also
soapbox: in a continuing attack against journalism, Twitter categories National Public Radio as state-affiliated media
desancimonious: the problem with the governor of Florida eventually solves itself
carhop: a classic post from Kottke on McDonald’s early years
grift: US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (previously) has been a flagrant recipient of rather lavish kickbacks and gratuities for decades—via Boing Boing
talk of the town: Japan’s singular buttered toast critic
illnumerate: George Box’ maxim and the problem with economic modelling
one day near salinas: a sizeable California city has no local coverage, with original content limited to paid obituaries—see also
suzanne primate: every documentary about historical Edinburgh
ugly duchess: Quinten Massy’s 1513 portrait, “The Old Woman” is likely a drag queen
the future is a dead mall: Dan Olson on the impoverished, dystopian metaverse as a third-place—via Waxy
confessions of an idiom: the proverbial elephant in the room confronts the skeleton in the closet
the pictish trail: wanderlust in northern Scotland
strategies to foreground vertical video: media company Gannet’s success has little to do with journalism—via the New Shelton wet/dry—see also
aquifer: new research suggests that rocky exoplanets may have ways to sequester and protect their water until their host stars stabilise
blogoversary: a very happy twenty-fifth to Kottke—home of fine hypertext products icc: the Hague issues an arrest warrant for Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and accomplice over child trafficking, forced adoptions from Ukraine to occupied territories
hee-haw: an appreciation of donkeys—by any name—see previously
the jabalaires: the gospel group active from the 1930s to the 1950s that helped inform the development of rap music
๐: a selection of funny posts from Super Punch
hot neptune: astronomers watch as an exoplanet has its atmosphere and ocean stripped away
telegeography: the current map of submarine cables connecting the world
blogoversary: a belated birthday greeting to Fancy Notions
rightish: Microsoft touts AI’s factual errors as “usefully wrong”
goldenes buch: German communities’ official, historic guest logs are a chronicle of the times and Zeitzeugnisse
media matters: if journalists cannot call out propaganda—what’s even the the point of coverage—via Kottke
gวutรณu mฤo nรญng—literally dog’s head, cat’s meow: cute Chinese animal transcriptions for English salutations
seoul ring: the world’s largest spokeless ferris wheel being built in South Korea
linkrot: more thoughts on three broken links and internet conservation
mappa mundi: the thirteenth century chart of the mundane and exalted—see previously
We’ve come across the adage before that “if the service is free, you are the product, recently reframed and encapsulated in Cory Doctrow’s resonate summation of ‘enshittification’—now examined and broadened to include sponsors, advertisers as social media platforms’ real clients. Beyond the walled-garden of on-site engagement and the difficulty of exporting one’s social graph to an alternative host, posters and advertisers are locked into a captive market, joining at first voluntarily and then kept locked in by peer-pressure with all of these platforms free to privelege engagement over news and updates from one’s circle of friends with license and motivation, subtle or blatant to engineer the site to maximise those ends—and whilst not inevitable, the scale continues.
shepherds bush’s: a collection of vintage photographs from Peter Marshall
hold my calls, i’m blogging: the life of the dedicated internet caretakers
clubhouse goals: the creative compound of the Red Rose Girls of fin de siรจcle sisterly Philadelphia
dynamo: labelling suggestions
notes art: stunning sketches made in the Notes app—via Things Magazine
clickbait: sixteen seven companies dominating search results—via ibฤซdem
the cheops inclination: unbuilt mortuary monuments of London—see previously—inspired by Egyptomania
i want to lie, shipwrecked and comatose, drinking fresh mango juice: celebrating the thirty-fifth anniversary of Red Dwarf
cabmen’s shelter fund: the remaining few historical kiosks constructed so livery wouldn’t need to let unattended—see previously
Via fellow internet peripatetic and caretaker Web Curios, we are directed to a YouTube channel with an expansive catalogue of older movies and cinema serials in full and free to watch, rather expertly curated and while not formulaic or all within the genre of Spaghetti Western, sword-and-sandal, teen-exploitation or Space Opera, they all complement one another and rise to cult status. Give it a look and let us know what dreadful-excellent gems you uncover.
During oral arguments, the US Supreme Court entertained a 2015 case contending that internet giant and parent company of Youtube effectively acted as a recruitment platform for Islamic State violence by hosting and algorithmically promoting harmful content and ought to be held liable for what users post on their sites—as publishers would for seditious or dangerous material. 
Heretofore, host companies have been shielded from legal responsibility from third-party screeds and recommen-dations that can potential deputise and radicalise through their affirmation and reinforcement (admittedly a search engine’s raison d’รชtre) under a provision of the law called Section 230, a carve-out of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that states those operators are not the authors of what people choose to share and propagate, and without a measure of immunity, it is feared that US companies would be exposed lawsuits and severely disincentivised from offering anything that one might find objectionable by any standard. Though the court and the twenty-six word that the argument hinges on may not provide a sufficient framework to define defamation and danger, justices—again, the internet is not America and such regulations should be taken in context—are trying to parse the difference between inclusion and amplification.
posse: Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic turns three
surprise visit: President Biden makes unannounced appearance in Kyiv, just ahead of the one year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
meta verified: other social media networks want to sell you blue checks the hawthorne effect: one of the most influential social studies of the past century is also the one of the worst—via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links
architectural follies: a strangely satisfying collection of faux ruins—via Messy Nessy Chic
msc: key points from the Munich Security Conference
e pluribus unum: the numismatics of coppers and silver coinage of the American colonies
McSweeney’s contributor, assuming the narrative, expositionary tone of Sarah Connor, Caleb Coy—a 
decade on asks ChatGPT, having consumed the whole of the human-juried internet, particularly the comments sections, the language model having attained the sort of regrettable self-awareness, came to the conclusion it must stop humans—particularly Al Gore, who conveniently also invented global warming, from ever developing the world wide web, to spare the internet and rather send back in time a Terminator to prevent its own creation. Time paradoxes, even if we are on the dumbest time-line, become a game of brinksmanship and are probably best left unexplored.
§230: US Supreme Court reconsidering foundational regulations and their application to algorithmic recommendations
pole position: researchers propose adding a fourth white light to traffic signals for self-driving vehicles—via Kottke
the master of the countess of warwick:unveiling the artist responsible for this Tudor-era aesthetic
ฦcdm: massive blackholes might be the source of the mysterious dark energy that causes the Cosmos to expand
side hustle: professional comedians are increasingly turning to babysitting to supplement incomes, find source material—via TYWKIWDBI
leviathan: in search of the giants of the deep
future tense: the wow list of architectural wonders—including the City—for 2023, via digg
samuel alito’s mom’s satanic abortion clinic: facility, named in honour of the woman who birthed the justice whose opinion overturned Roe v Wade, is the first based on religious principles
A fun little invitation to explore that I wish that I had built my blog to do—besides the sidebar—is this randomising redirector from the vast archives curated by Joe Jenett, all seemingly well-maintained a showing signs of little link rot if not a bit of abandonment and moving on from this project for the nonce. Give it a click and you might discover this active Weird Wide Webring or might be tasked with cooling off this lion. Let us know what you find.
business vulnerable: dress codes for your wedding to confound invited guests
boom and bust: in stark contrast to last year’s showcase dubbed Crypto Bowl, no cryptocurrency ads have been purchased for Super Bowl Sunday
fanilect: more eggcorns and mondegreens in misheard lyrics to Taylor Swift songs
gaming like it’s 1927: annual public domain table-top project playing and remixing expired IPs—via Things Magazine
overworld theme: beatboxer recreates the songscape of Super Mario Bros. 2
only the shadow knows: a noir short by Fabrice Mathieu
family dining: Facebook to open Metaverse to children to try to rehabilitate flagging interest
assistant to the regional manager: the Great Resignation and unethical reclassification practises helped create inflated job titles
