Courtesy of Super Punch, we learn that the publisher of the 1985 video game for Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum home computing systems loosely based on the 1982 film was unable to obtain a tie-in licensing deal and so declared that it was inspired by the Vangelis soundtrack instead—obliging players to listen to an unskippable opening sequence of two minutes of tinny, MIDI music. Gaming reviews were mostly unfavourable, calling it derivative of the hit adaption of Ghostbusters! from the year before.
Saturday, 31 December 2022
implants—those aren’t your memories, they’re someone else’s—they’re tyrell’s niece’s (10. 427)
colour-by-number (10. 426)
Among the first detailed satellite views of an extraterrestrial planet came in the form of telemetric data from the Mariner IV probe as it passed over the surface of Mars, but absent a technique to quickly encode and render that information as a picture—for a public eager to confirm or be disabused of the prospect of Little Green Men—mission engineers plotted the imaging data on a grid and buying a set of pastels from a nearby arts and crafts shop (told that their desired shaded chalk was for hardware stores), in preternaturally accurate tones of sienna, umber and buff, and filled in the landscape nearly instantaneously from the point of view of the awaiting, at-home audience—something we take for granted today. More to see from Kottke at the link above.
but my friends, they’re waiting in the lobby (10. 425)
Though no one can say quite sure why Dinner for One (previously), an eighteen minute British sketch 
Friday, 30 December 2022
everything everywhere all at once (10. 424)
Via Miss Cellania, who refrained from posting their year-end list on cinema in hopes of including this annual movie mash-up, we are treated to this three part expertly edited remix of 2022 trailers and teasers set to a driving soundtrack all arranged rather beautifully by Sleepy Skunk which can best the theatre-going experience in some regards, particularly given how few we have ventured out to see this year.
quis? (10. 423)
Via TYWKIWDBI, we are directed towards a trio of general knowledge challenges, including the latest edition (see previously) of King William’s College Winter Break Quiz near the Manx Castletown plus a brief, one page puzzle from the intelligence service GCHQ that seems like one of those Last Starfighter type recruitment initiatives. Set since 1904 and no longer is the former sat formally by pupils since 1999, but is rather sent home for students and their families to ponder over the holidays. More details at the links above.
krig, kriser och klimatdebatten (10. 422)
Annually Sprรฅktidningen magazine in collaboration with the Swedish Language Council publishes a list (previously) of a few dozen choice neologisms that help define the year informed by war, crises and climate debates. 
Among the new terms selected for inclusion for 2022 are jury favourite epadunk—a musical general that references the “epatractors” that rural youths are able to drive on public at age sixteen and the sound systems that they need to devise in order to hear over the loud tractor motors—matfattigdom—that is, food poverty, munkmodell, living an ascetic lifestyle for the sake of the planet, klickkemi or click-chemistry for constructing complex molecules and individualised drug treatments from modular building blocks and some more that have entered common-parlance through the news and current events, like kamikazedrรถnare, Putinprise, Permakris and smygflation (a portmanteau for stealth inflation).
cccp/cpcp (10. 421)
While recognised as a union of soviet republics since 1919 with a federated, central government based in Moscow, the Soviet Union as it existed (though borders were not static during the seventy-two year period) until its dissolution in 1991 came into being effective this day in 1922 after the signing of the Treaty on the Creation of the Union Soviet Socialist Republics (ะะตะบะปะฐัะฐัะธั ะธ ะดะพะณะพะฒะพั ะพะฑ ะพะฑัะฐะทะพะฒะฐะฝะธะธ ะกะพัะทะฐ ะกะพะฒะตััะบะธั
ะกะพัะธะฐะปะธััะธัะตัะบะธั
ะ ะตัะฟัะฑะปะธะบ), negotiated and approved by delegations from the Russian, Byelorussian, Transcauscasian (containing Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia) and Ukrainian SSRs. The preamble and twenty-six articles outlines the imperative of forging a union as a counterweight to the political ideology of responsible for the Great War through exploitative capitalism, colonialism cultural hegemony with a transnational society based on mutual trust, solidarity and cooperation.
mcmlxxxix (10. 420)
By dint of the limited permutations of the Gregorian, civil calendar, we discover that we can helpfully recycle (see previously) our calendars from 2017 or 1989 for the upcoming 2023. Not to be dismissive of the events bookended six years ago, the political turning points of the latter with the fall of the Berlin Wall, Perestroika, the Velvet Revolution, the uprisings in Romania and China, as well as the gradual dismantling of the apartheid government in South Africa, the return of democratic norms to Brazil and Poland and the first internet service providers seem to bode as auspicious points of correspondence. Having lived through it, may we may live in exciting times.
mmxxii (10. 419)
As this calendar year draws to a close and we look forward with anticipation to 2023, we again take time to reflect on a selection of some of the events that took place in 2022. Thanks as always for visiting. We’ve made it through another wild year together, and we’ll see this next one through together as well.
january: Violent protests erupt in Almaty in response to the Kazakh government ending fuel subsidies and lift price caps on petrol and heating oil, prompting a coalition of former-Soviet military forces to intervene. The US reflects on the one year anniversary of the Capitol insurrection and the fragile state of democracy.
Legendary actor Sidney Portier passed away, aged 94, as did singer Ronnie Spector (*1943). Tragically, seventeen individuals are killed in an apartment fire in the Bronx. Disturbingly the US Supreme Court blocks vaccination mandates for private companies-upholding the requirement for public sector workers. Two Democratic senators-who derailed president Biden’s Build Back Better plan-are also opposed to changing legislative rules to overturn the filibuster, allowing Republicans to block the enactment of a voter-rights protection bill. There are widespread calls for the resignation of Boris Johnson over revelations of work-dos during strict lockdown. The Queen strips Prince Andrew of his titles and military leadership roles over his association with sex pest Jeffrey Epstein and allegations of sexual assault. Russia seems poised to re-invade Ukraine, first undermining their cyber capabilities. The Pacific island group volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haสปapai erupted violently, triggering tsunami waves halfway across the world in California and Nova Scotia. Performer Meatloaf has passed away, aged seventy-four as did comedian and actor Louie Anderson at sixty-eight. Zen Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh who protested the Vietnam War and introduced mindfulness to the West dies aged ninety-five.february: The leader of a defeated though resurgent ISIS, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quarshi, is killed in a US airstrike in Syria.
march: Numerous Western companies suspend operations in Russia as sanctions intensify. Shelling of civilian targets across Ukraine shows no signs of abating though the invasion has not been the easy and instant take-over that was apparently expected.
april: The US Senate, after much acrimony, confirms Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Though vice president Harris would have been the tie-breaker in the case of a fifty-fifty split, no Black woman in this forum had the chance to vote. Viktor Orbรกn with fourth consecutive term as leader of Hungary.
may: A leaked draft opinion from US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito suggests that the court is poised to over-turn the 1973 precedent that affords women access to abortion.
june: the UK and the Commonwealth celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
july: Russia takes control of the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. Yet another mass shooting occurs in the US, this time at an Independence Day parade in a Chicago suburb.
august: In the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and intensifying incursions from mainland China, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan. Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is killed by a blade-wielding drone in Afghanistan. The conservative state of Kansas rejects a referendum to outlaw all abortions. The FBI conducts a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate for mishandled government documents. The US congress passes Joe Biden’s Build Back Better act.
october: A hurricane batters Puerto Rico and Cuba, Florida and South Carolina. Putin annexes four more regions in Ukraine though the hold is tenuous. Coolio and Loretta Lynn pass away. A mass shooting, knife attack takes place at a nursery in Thailand with two dozen children killed. Joseph Biden pardons all of some six-thousand individuals charged with marijuana possession on the federal level. Rhetoric over the use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia is increasing.
november: World leaders gather in Sharm el-Sheikh for COP27. Ukrainian cities contend with power blackouts after Russia targets the country’s infrastructure. Founding father of election science Sir David Butler passes away, aged 98. The anticipated repudiation of the US Democratic party failed to materialize, counter to polling and pundits’ expectations with those Republican candidates aligned with Donald Trump underperforming and falling short in the broad sense, holding the GOP bastions of Florida and Texas. The UN announces the world population is at eight billion.
december: Chinese authorities begin relaxing COVID prevention measures in response to protests. The G7 nations and the European Union try to enforce further sanctions against Russia by banning oil shipments by sea and placing an upwards price cap per barrel. In response to massive protests, Iran disbands its morality police.
Thursday, 29 December 2022
7x7 (10. 418)
press pool: NPR station photographers swap memorable images from 2022
opus cรฆmenticium: make concrete the Roman way—see also
pre-bunking: intelligence agencies should engage in more public outreach to fight disinformation
mallory gallery: top exhibitions of the year
golden eye: reindeer retinas change colours with the seasons—via Nag on the Lake
fido: dogs with human names—via Waxy
mmxxii: year in review—news and journalists
Wednesday, 28 December 2022
4-f (10. 417)
Conscription into the in the US military effectively ended on this day in 1972 when Richard Nixon declared a national day of mourning due to the death of President Harry S Truman, shuttering most federal offices and preventing the on-boarding of draftees. The policy lapsed and was not renewed. Still all male citizens and residents between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five are required to register and be subject (deferments and exemptions notwithstanding) to induction into the armed forces.
Tuesday, 27 December 2022
8x8 (10. 416)
adad gate: bas-relief discoveries help limn the dazzle of ancient Nineveh
rewind: a growing collection of Year-End Lists arranged categorical
take the a-train: an NYC subway quiz—via tmn mush from the wimp: a collection of the best headlines from 2022
double jeopardy: a personalised quiz show tradition based on family gossip
a chromatic hallucination: the colour magenta (previously) is a mental construct
fast-forward: 2022 summarised in seven minutes
nazca lines: a whole cache of hidden geoglyphs found in Peru
Monday, 26 December 2022
ฮบฮฑฮปฮนฮบฮฌฮฝฯฮถฮฑฯฮฟฮน (10. 415)
A figure of Greek, Balkan and Anatolian folklore, the malevolent goblins called kallikantzaros (previously, literally beguiling centaur in Greek but possibly etymologically sources to the Turkish word 
for werewolf or vampire) are summoned from the underworld during Twelvetide to turn their mischief on humans, there being a reprieve from their infernal, eternal task during this fortnight when it is believed the Earth’s journey through the calendar year is suspended. Consigned to hack away at the trunk of the World Tree and bring about its doom, one Christmas dawns and the Sun stops moving, they are called to the surface, distracted and forgetting about their job, nearly complete, until Epiphany resumes Ordinary Time—and the sawed bough has had the chance to regenerate. In order to save the world, most humans would endure this period of bedevilment but there were additional (see above) ways to keep the kallikantazaroi away, including keeping the Yule Log burning for the duration of the holidays so they could not creep down one’s chimney and through one’s hearth, avoid venturing out late at night and, particularly in Serbia, to refrain from adulterous liaisons since that activity attracts them and will ensure that the affair gets found out.
my company takes the entire delivery fee. you were a capitalist until five minutes ago—you should know how these things work. (10. 414)
Regular contributor to McSweeney’s Steven Ruddy presents a delightfully Dickensian gig-economy, Uber Eats retelling of the Christmas Carol, specifically the concluding scene when Scrooge cries out to a boy in the street, ecstatic that he hasn’t missed Christmas Day and attempts to dispatch a prize turkey to the Cratchit home, though has difficulties fulfilling his order. “Delivery fee is two crowns, sir.”
may all jollity lighten your christmas hours (10. 413)
For Second Christmas, our AI wrangler Janelle Shane (see previously) hit upon another ingenious application for generative networks, remedying in one fell prompt the inscrutability of Victorian greeting cards and the relatively anodyne nature of contemporary cards, to enliven the iconography and sentiment for the industry. 
Yearly good tidings and descriptions were issued by machines fed on the corpus of inaccessibly weird cards, and where possible, illustrated by our programmer. The unrenderable caption that goes with the above 1889 motto calls for “a jester puppet with magic hat holding a leaping, toothed bird which brandishes a cane as it leaps.” Another favourite was for 1890—May You Feel Sturdy and Gay—picturing an elegant naiad lifting a pianoforte and wearing a striped bathing suit. Much more to explore at the links above.
the duchess and the dirt water fox are calling (10. 412)
Originally telecast on this day in 1992 with the MST3K treatment—having previously attained somewhat of a cult following by its inclusion in Elvira’s Movie Macabre in 1984, the 1965 scif-fi movie from the Woolner Brothers (also with the credits Hercules Unchained, Hercules and the Captive Women, Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman and Hillbillies in a Haunted House) follows the plot of a mysterious agent, Dr Kolos, of the Intergalactic Council tasked with replacing prominent human scientists with android doppelgรคngers in order to take over the Earth. The alien plan is foiled by intervention from the US National Intelligence Service.
Sunday, 25 December 2022
away in a manger (10. 411)
On Christmas Day in 1223, inspired himself by a pilgrimage undertaken in somewhat safer times years 
earlier to Bethlehem and to discourage the faithful from making the arduous trip after the fall of the Crusader Kingdoms in the Holy Land by offering a local alternative, St Francis of Assisi arranged the first Nativity Scene (Presepe) in a grotto—sanctuary—in the village of Greccio in Lazio. Francis arranged for a human baby to be lain in hay and attended by an ox and donkey. Word spread and parishioners came from all over the valley, bearing torches and candles to witness the display. Attending friars celebrated Mass and Francis recited the gospel. The scene, reflected in the village coat of arms, is recreated annually.
Saturday, 24 December 2022
แแแแฒแแแแแ (10. 409)
The timing influenced and somewhat reinforced by encounters with Christian missionaries from both 
Western and Eastern traditions—Christmas itself being syncretic holiday with pre-Christian roots, festivities for the New Year begin on this day for some members of the Inuit, Aleut, Yupik, Iรฑupiat and Chukchi communities with Quviasukvik (“the time and place of joy”) celebrations lasting through 7 January. Customs differ from Greenland, North America to Siberia but the vigils of watching the sunrise, feasting and gift-exchanges are welcoming the return of the sea goddess Sedna (see also) with her blessings and bounty as the daylight returns.
Friday, 23 December 2022
how to draw christmas (10. 408)
Via Super Punch, having been previously acquainted with the sketching lessons of Ed Emberley—from the same source—we quite enjoyed this 1986 seasonal battery of exercises for decking the halls. Thirteen more festive panels to be found at Present /&/ Correct with more background at the links above. We especially liked the instructions for the sheep on wheels and the baubles and ornaments for the tree.
projection connections (10. 407)
The Map Room refers us to a brilliant infographic poster from designer and geomancer Daniel Huffman (having just issued a trading card set on the same subject—see previously) that myriad cartographical compromises and innovations proffered over the course of centuries to map a three-dimensional world on paper and how those techniques inform and compliment one another in the struggle to reduce distortion and bias. Much more at the links above.
ice cream assassins (10. 406)
Again with the distinction between neologisms and characters and courtesy of Language Log, we are 
directed towards an omnibus listing of internet slang that dominated social media in China (see previously) this past year. The title (้ช็ณๅบๅฎข) refers to the sticker-shock of the frozen treats associated with inflation and the pictured “let it rot” cites the trend of leaning into a situation that’s failing apart rather than trying to salvage it and like lying flat signals a generation growing weary with social competition in the face of a possibly bleak future. We also quite liked the incantation—Tuรฌ! Tuรฌ! Tuรฌ! ้！้！้!, to banish an unpleasant presence in one’s life.
Thursday, 22 December 2022
punting on the thames (10. 405)
Via the ever excellent Nag on the Lake, we are referred to a compendious post on mudlarking—see previously—which has gained considerable popularity in recent years, compelling authorities to issue licenses to better track the trash-cum-treasure dredged from the tidal waters dividing London. Not only are we treated to the details governing the finders-keepers principle and what is reportable and to whom but also challenges to “spot the find” from experienced hunters.
rzฤ d rzeczypospolitej polskiej na uchodลบstwie (10. 404)
Established in 1939 after the invasion and annexation by the Nazis in September 1939 and exerting considerable influence diplomatically and militarily throughout World War II and subsequent occupation 
by German and Soviet forces which effectively ended the Second Polish Republic, the government-in-exile, first based in Paris and Angers and following the Fall of France, continued its caretaker role—albeit it with waning internation recognition after the formation of the Provisional Government of National in 1945, opposed by the majority of the diaspora as demonstrative democracy and the chance for Communists to assert power—a suspicion that proved correct, until its dissolution on this day in 1990, when president in exile Ryszard Kaczorowski passed the responsibilities, constitution and state seals to Lech Waลฤsa of Poland’s Third Republic during a special ceremony at the royal palace of Warsaw.
green-eyed monster (10. 403)
A perennial favourite, the editorial staff at Bloomberg Businessweek honour their journalistic peers and 
and players with their Jealousy List—a tradition going back to 2015—by calling out reporting that they wish they had scooped or otherwise explored in depth. There is a whole of articles to pour over and especially liked the by-lines and attributes for new and taken for granted sources to follow. We especially enjoyed Wired’s article on “How Telegram Became the Anti-Facebook” plus also deserving of an honourable mention, the BBC’s series on the collapse of Communism in Russia, a GQ piece on lifelong projects through the lens of Francis Ford Coppola and a range of articles from Atavist magazine, a new read for us to revisit. Do peruse the whole index and let us know your most engrossing finds.
Wednesday, 21 December 2022
public domain revue (10. 402)
Under US copyright law, now more true to its lifecycle after years of belayed disposition, we can herald
the many works from 1927 that will become free to use and reuse as one sees fit on New Year’sDay. In the category of literature, we have works by Virginia Woolf and Arthur Conan Doyle as well as Hermann Hesse’s Der Steppenwolf and the final instalment of Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, and in film and stage Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Wings, and in music the original “The Best Things in Life Are Free,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz” as well as “(We All Scream for) Ice Cream.” See the link from Duke Law Centre for more.
ultra vires (10. 401)
Though it might be a big ask and imposition to encourage people to listen to this very excellent podcast from Rachel Maddow what with the holidays and the historical echo of the January Sixth Committee having just adjourned for the final time, it is decidedly worth one’s time and attention, regardless of polity, to explore how America nearly experienced a violent insurrection and backed fascism over eighty years ago and picking sides for World War II. The title of the series, well summarised in this tune by Woody Guthrie, refers not to arch-conservatives but rather a justice department official going beyond his scope of practise with a duty to warn.
8x8 (10. 400)
gadgetbahn: displacing solid public transportation networks with amusement park rides won't address underlying traffic problems
senior superlatives: the most interesting fonts and typefaces of the year
๐: the ten best films of 2022
seneca falls: the altruistic act that is said to have inspired It’s A Wonderful Life and other festive adventures in audio with Josie Long
fรฆรฐingarsaga: listen again to an eleven-year-old Bjรถrk Guรฐmundsdรณttir recite the Nativity Story in Icelandic
as it was: some the most popular songs of the year
shot sage blue marilyn: the most expensive works of art trading hands this year
chief twit: abiding by results of a poll, Elon Musk announced he will step down as CEO of the social media platform as soon as a replacement can be identified
ะฟะพัััะธะบ ะบะธะถะต (10. 399)
Premiering on this day in Paris as the composer’s first commission for a film soundtrack, the suite to accompany the eponymous Lieutenant Kijรฉ (a 
Soviet comedy released in the US as The Czar Wants to Sleep about a non-existent officer under the eighteenth century Emperor Paul I, unpredictable and unpopular, the historical figure assassinated by his own elite guard) by Sergei Prokofiev quickly became his most popular work and became a standard of international concert repertoire. Elements and recognisable leitmotivs of the experimental five-movement have been incorporated into many film scores and popular songs of the Cold War era—particularly “Troika” as among the archetypal Christmassy songs.
Tuesday, 20 December 2022
shibboleth (10. 398)
With the blessing of the regional governor, far-eastern Irkutsk is soliciting help from the public to help uncover Ukrainian spies by asking them to pronounce (see previously, catching up some three hundred days later) place-names under the assumption that only loyal locals could say correctly. The social media campaign invites one to test a friend with one word. This theatre of the absurd—the age old question of accent and dialect confirmed and confounded with very modern QR-code—seems to me not terribly effective since the majority of Ukrainians also have a good command of Russian phonetics.
and if you want to be free, be free (10. 397)
Premiering on this day in 1971, as our faithful chronicler informs, the
romantic black comedy by Hal 
Ashby and Colin Higgins relates the narrative
of Harold Chasen, an adolescent obsessed with the macabre, staging elaborate
fake suicides, driving a hearse and attending the funerals of random
strangers to the dismay of his wealthy, socialite mother, who goes to great
lengths to try to make him more respectable, and Dame Marjorie Chardin, a
seventy-nine year old he meets at a funeral mass, who counters his morbid
demeanor and teaches him joie de vivre for the first time as their
relationship develops into a more intimate one. The film’s soundtrack is
provided by Yusuf Stevens. Producer and writer Higgins had expressed an
interest later the decade after his work attained cult status after its
initial mixed reviews in both a prequel, Grover and Maude wherein Maude
learns how to break into cars and fence stolen property and a sequel,
Harold’s Story about his life after meeting Maude though neither were
pursued though was adapted into a Broadway stage play, a French
made-for-tv-movie and a musical version.
schnappschรผsse vom krieg (10. 396)
Born this day in 1922 and still taking pictures, Michelantonio “Tony” Celestino Onofrio Vaccaro immigrated back to the US to avoid being conscripted in Italy and despite already having an impressive 
photographic portfolio just out of high school his first draft assignment as a photo-documentarian with the Army Signal Corps didn’t pan out and was instead assigned as a scout, fighting in Normandy, Luxembourg and Germany—though still affording opportunities to shoot images, evocative impressions of the front captured in 1944 and 1945. After being discharged, Vaccaro remained in Germany, contributing to the Army newspaper Stars & Stripes and recording life post-war in Frankfurt. Returning to America in the early 1950s, Vaccaro took assignments with Look, Life and Flair magazines as a society photographer, marrying a model for fashion house Marimekko, and after a decades’-long stint teaching at Cooper Union published a selection of his extensive wartime archive, under the imprint Entering Germany: Photographs 1944 – 1949. Click here for a gallery of Vaccaro’s diverse subjects.
Monday, 19 December 2022
7x7 (10. 395)
munro: better known for his violent Tom & Jerry shorts, Gene Deitch (previously—not the best counter-example) an acclaimed, award-winning animator
thirty by thirty: environmentalists and delegates reach a landmark agreement to conserve nature and protect the rights of indigenous peoples
incite a riot: January Sixth committee recommends a range of charges to be levied against Trump
santaland: department store Christmas monorails—via the Everlasting Blรถrt
scootch over: on the quarter-century anniversary of the premier of Titanic, director James Cameron wants to put to rest a roiling debate
a slice of the cosmos: an interactive map of the observable Universe from Johns Hopkins University
lichtspiel opus i: the Avant-Garde animation of Walter Ruttmann
reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some (10. 394)
For the 1843 first printing of the novella by Charles Dickens—see previously—Open Culture treats us to a accomplished recitation of the work as the author himself would have delivered it, by Neil Gaiman, through studying the hand-edited copy he used for public readings. The Victorian morality tale relates the profound redemption, on Christmas Eve, of a bitter miser with the aid of supernatural intervention. The narration begins at about the eleven minute mark.
Sunday, 18 December 2022
modernmas (10. 393)
Courtesy of the Everlasting Blรถrt, we really enjoyed this re-introduction to the portfolio and biography of graphic designer, architect and Modernist Master Paul Rand through this collection of hand-painted original Christmas cards. Rand was one of the first American commercial artists to adopt and champion the International Typographic Style (otherwise known as the Swiss Style), whose hallmarks were asymmetrical layouts and legibility. Much more at the links above.
Saturday, 17 December 2022
7x7 (10. 392)
the gate of the exonerated: a new entrance to be named in honour of the falsely accused Central Park Five, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise and Kevin Richardson
mighty mikko: a 1922 adaptation of Finnish fairytales
time performance: taipa (ใฟใคใ) and the Ukrainian pronunciation of Kyiv (ใญใผใฆ) are among Japan’s neologism—not characters—of the year
mpi: social contagions, mass psychogenic illnesses, can lead to physical maladies—see also, and certain platforms may be superspreaders
feliz navidad: beautiful vintage Christmas cards by artist Alejandro Rangel Hildalgo—via Marco McClean’s Memo of the Air
blue light special: more Kmart reel-to-reel soundtracks—this one from December 1974
heroes act: US supreme court admits more challenges to Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan
