outward facing media (12. 197)

In order to comply with an executive order purportedly with the goal of “defending women from gender ideology extremism” not only are public websites and resources off-line to scrub and shunt down an Orwellian memory-hole language pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity (CTRL-F), overhaul prompts that ask for preferred pronouns, cancel training or policies promoting such topics, and “ensure that intimate spaces designated for women, girls or females (or for men, boys or males) are designated by biological sex and not gender identity,” this erasure (under the harmful trope—perverted by conservatives just like their version of “critical race theory” that elides over America’s apartheid—that identity is a belief and choice, rather than a right, and propagandised) is also extending to archival material and large data sets maintained by the US census bureau on household composition and the Centres for Disease Control longitudinal studies to remove reference to that demographic, compromising their use in research and understanding public health. The same assault is occurring for programmes that address accessibility for handicapped workers and promote equity, diversity and inclusion. These are not white flags.

12x12 (12. 196)

happy to be hard core: a sampling of the genre produced on Amiga computers—via Web Curios 

biodiesel: grassroots efforts opposing plans to transform Hungary into an EV battery manufacturing hub—see previously 

pc gamer: vintage scans of computer and arcade hobbyists’ magazines  

eureka moment: the account of the rediscovery of one of Archimedes’ lost manuscripts—see previously  

signature block: as part of Trump’s attempt to redefine gender as a sexual binary and “defend women,” US federal workers are directed to remove preferred pronouns from their emails  

the cruel kids’ table: a look at the resurgent fratocracy of Americans under thirty, as witnessed at Trump’s inaugural parties 

hexaflexagons: fun with paper models—via MetFilter 

m23: Rwandan-backed rebel forces take provincial capital of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, possibly with designs on annexing the eastern region  

hold the line: the new legal council of the US Office of Personnel Management (previously and under new management) is a soi-disant “raging mysogynist” 

clu clu land: the Video Game History Foundation opens its archives to the public—via Ars Technica  

doggerland: archeological exploration of the submerged North Sea region 

mixolydian mode: compose chords and compare output in a range of dozens of scales—see previously—via ibīdem

synchronoptica

one year ago:  a film by Rosa von Praunheim (with synchronoptica), assorted links to revisit plus another banger from ABBA

seven years ago: telepresence, more links to enjoy, credit for the discovery of x-rays plus an executive order from the desk of Richard Nixon

eight years ago: film-strip leader ladies

nine years ago: even more links plus perspectives in price-lists 

ten years ago: chance decision-making, the mad monk plus electromagnetic moats

the gourd question (12. 195)

First documented around two thousand years ago in divination manuals, the tradition of playing the race game called huluwen (translated as above but has many regional variations and diverse and contemporary themes, also called “to drive away eight snakes,” “bureaucratic promotion table or “chaos at dragon palace” for example) during family gatherings for the Spring Festival has endured and evolved over the centuries with the gods and political or career ambitions. Players advance according to a roll of the dice (or a spin of a dreidel-like top) a certain number of spaces landing on an image and then must jump forward or back to an identical square, the first reaching the centre winning. Though the seemingly humble gourd was not always the goal, in Taoism the calabash (互录, also a homophone for “interactive recording,” hence the streaming service) symbolises longevity through medical or miraculous intervention and can also represent a portal to another realm or be interpreted as a scapegoat or pharmakós, a object that could absorb bad luck and be cast out—from the same Greek root as drugs, potions and spells.

natronlokomotive (12. 194)

From the archives of Amusing Planet, we learn about a variant of “fireless” trains, running off a reservoir compressed air cycling through a reciprocating engine as opposed to steam-power derived from burning coal—cheaper, more energy efficient and safer without the risk of boiler explosion but with a limited range, called soda locomotives. Invented in the early 1880s by engineer and chemist Mortiz Honigmann, the engine was loaded with five tons of caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), generating heat when the substance came in contact with water, enough to propel the car forward with exhaust from the pistons in the closed-system passing again through the soda to perpetuate the cycle. After about four to five hours of use, the chemical reaction ceased being self-sustaining, at which point the boiler jacket would be swapped out for a refresh one at a station, the spent soda “recharged,” re-concentrated by dehydrating it, evaporating the excess water with an injection of ultra hot steam, that sourced from municipal heating surplus. Trialled as street cars for the public transit systems of Berlin and Aachen, they proved reliable and were well-received by passengers due to their silence and lack of smoke and soot. The demonstration project, however, was abandoned due to logistical problems, owning to the weight of the tank and liability for explosion (which fortunately never occurred) and whilst a forgotten juncture in rail and metro development, such an thermo-chemical exchange system has found new applications in recent years as a storage cell for renewable energy.

synchronoptica

one year ago:  a sixty year old chatbot (with synchronoptica), Sierra On-line games plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: an exceptional flaneur, LEGO Day plus an online museum of ephemera

eight years ago: Trump’s national security council, feeding livestock subpar candy plus American Carnage 1.0

nine years ago: underwhelming fossils, Barbie origins, seasonal trappings and stereotypes, UFO cults plus road sign typefaces

ten years ago: the history of US-Mexico relations, the Duma to rule on German reunification plus more links to enjoy

who goes maga? (12. 193)

Thirteen years after the stripping of her press credentials and ejection from Nazi Germany for her frank exposé I Saw Hitler, journalist Dorothy Thompson wrote for Harper’s in 1941 “Who Goes Nazi?”—a parlour game about everyday encounters on who might be susceptive to fascist ideology. Updated aptly by The Sword & the Sandwich—via tmn, we have some modern cocktail party encounters with character profiles prone to turning to a mindset not extricated but rather embraced and exported since Ms Thompson’s byline. Guests Mr Z, Mr P, Ms M and Mr B, like in the original are stock stand-ins for the moguls and movers of the day and one can recognise in these figures the fawning press-corps, influencers, broligarchs, terfs, tradwives and their conversions, epiphanies from the noble and altruistic to dishonest and self-serving and a bit tortured—and then there are the hold-outs. Play it at your next social gathering.

fork in the road (12. 192)

Trump, through the Office of Personnel Management, extended an invitation to the two-million strong US federal workforce for a deferred resignation with retention of pay and benefits, by hitting reply (or reply-all) to the email with the text “resign,” through the end of September, the fiscal year, by next Thursday. The offer for essentially seven months of paid administrative leave is in align with the DOGE agenda to reduce the number of government employees (one virtually unchanged since the 1980s but supplemented through contracted jobs) and push out those disloyal to Trump’s politics. The email goes on to detail the pillars of reform, as outlined in the flurry of executive orders issued on day one of the administration as promoting a return to one’s physical office and ending telework—though many remote workers have no office to return to and there’s an economic argument to be made for home-office since utilities are borne by the employee and not the government—a culture of performance, a more streamlined and flexible manpower—which seems to run counter to the first pillar—and enhanced standards of conduct. For those who wish to remain, OPM extended its gratitude for renewed focused on serving the American people but could not give full assurance regarding the future of their positions or agency, with plans of restructuring, realignment and relocation as well as the reclassification of civil servants to strip some labour protections. The mass-email shares the same subject line as the ultimatum that Musk gave to Twitter staff after buying the social media platform, hoping force out those who didn’t share his mission, vision and goals, and offered a parachute of three months of severance pay—numerous workers quitting in droves and never receiving the promised pay package. Many federal workers, congressional opposition and unions were sceptical of this offer—noting the real estate developer’s penchant to stiff contractors and renege on deals after work was completed and questioning the legality of such a proposition, coming hours after Trump wrested the power of the purse away from congress by ordering the impoundment of grant and loan programmes, domestically and abroad (see above), pending a compliance review. Such a coerced purging of the “deep state” (see below) would potentially gut many agencies which the public depends on for safety and services—“national security” positions are exempt but not well defined.

  synchronoptica

one year ago: Desert Island Discs (with synchronoptica) plus Plato’s Gorgias

seven years ago: reforesting Iceland, artist Alexandra Dillon, illustrator Gary Taxali plus IKEA founder passes away

eight years ago: a US government hiring freeze, ransomware plus purges at the US state department

nine years ago: assorted links to revisit, forty things turning forty plus the human chin

ten years ago: EU disunity plus early photoshopping

10x10 (12. 191)

i saw, i cut, i applied: a retrospective of the textile art of Ayako Miyawaki (宮脇綾子) at the Tokyo Station Gallery 

hadron therapy: researchers at CERN are collaborating with oncologists to develop precision treatment that last a fraction of a second—via the new Shelton wet/dry 

drag and drop: the development of tools that easily move data around with confidence it would not be lost

shǒusuì: an exhibition on community resilience through helps gird one for the trying year ahead 

two-minute warning: the Bulletin of Atomic Sciences (see previously) advance the second hand once again as a warning to world leaders  

oreoboros: a round-up of recently introduced snacks and treats—via MetaFilter 

comparative entomology: an 1879 study in the colour patterns in moths and butterflies 

object impermanence: a glitchy and broken AI knock-off of Minecraft makes for a strangely compelling experience  

experimental advanced superconducting tokamak: an artificial sun burned for nearly eighteen minutes at the EAST plasma physics lab in Hefei—a significant milestone for sustainable fusion reactions—via Boing Boing 

the little loomhouse: the history and evolution of an ensemble of Kentucky cabins to a thriving arts community

be my valentine, charlie brown (12. 190)

Premiering on this day in 1975 on the CBS television network, the thirteenth prime-time animated special based on the Peanuts comic strip, deals with the subject of rejection and heartbreak when Sally first misinterprets Linus’ heart-shaped box of chocolates for his teacher as an overture for her non-requited affection and our protagonist receiving only one treat, a chalky candy heart with the message “FORGET IT KID!” during the class party—the teacher departing early with her boyfriend. A belated greeting arrives from the Little Red Haired Girl and Charlie Brown gets a regifted card from Violet. Optimistic that these pity Valentines might sustain a trend and he’ll get more next year, but Linus warns his friend not to get his hopes up. The score with the opening theme “Heartburn Waltz” was recorded by Vince Guaraldi’s Orchestra. The card which Sally reads and acted out by Snoopy is the entirety (see also) of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese (№ 43), which opens with “How do I love thee? Let me me count the ways.”

synchronoptica

one year ago: USA for Africa’s We are the World (with synchronoptica) plus the zombification of the abandoned internet

seven years ago: pedometers and privacy, Thamesmead Housing Estate plus Aloha Wanderwell

eight years ago: governance per Tweet, assorted links worth revisiting plus Little Englanders

nine years ago: a time-capsule apartment in Chicago, ranking passports plus the game Go

ten years ago: hydrophobic materials plus a superb cartographical collection

deepseek (12. 189)

A scrappy, lean and open-source AI developed on a budget of just six million dollars has punched a hole of over a trillion dollars in global technology markets, raising doubts about the sustainability and infiltration in the boom led by the same cadre of grifters who upsold crypto and NTFs (and still trying to make fetch happen) cum beneficiaries of the tech-feudalism panopticon, bowdlerising and exploiting one’s sentiments and information as much as any accusations lobbed outside, that demonstrates that benchmarks in artificial intelligence utility can be set and surpassed without premium micro-processors (Nvidia chips, considered state-of-the-art, were subject to an export embargo in China since 2022) and without extensive infrastructure for computing power, spurring American companies to invest in server farms and nuclear plants to fuel their resource-hungry models—prompting a sober reevaluation of enthusiasm and underwriting and tuition for training. Liang Wenfeng, entrepreneur and hedge-fund manager, developed the model as a hobby to identify patterns in stock prices, and while remaining focused on research rather than commercial products has released a personal assistant as a free download to showcase its potential and make AI transparent and universally accessible (the algorithms can be adapted by anyone)—and the app is the most popular in its category, really handicapping the present US broligarchy (a real fail-whale) the declared American national emergency over energy.

senate select committee (12. 188)

Created on this day fifty years ago by a vote of eighty-two to four in the US upper house of congress, sponsored and chaired by namesake, Democrat senator Frank Church of Idaho, the bipartisan group charged with investigating various allegations of abuse and overreach of the CIA, the NSA, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service as the opening of a series of such inquiries earning the monicker for 1975 as the “Year of Intelligence,” whose findings resulted in the establishment of a permanent panel on espionage and reconnaissance. Among the more shocking revelations were of the existence of MKULTRA, involving unwitting citizens in mind control experiments, operations that infiltrated political, pacifist and civil-rights organisations, dragnet domestic spying abetted by telecommunication providers and Family Jewels, a covert programme that targeted foreign leaders for assassination, many of these projects uncovered by the press though the government agencies maintained plausible deniability and the the public was unaware of the full scope of them.

Published in six volumes the following April, the recom-mendations led to a presidential executive order banning the killing of foreign leaders (like with pictured dart gun loaded with shellfish toxin, as an untraceable and lethal weapon) issued by Ford and reaffirmed by Carter and Reagan (watch the numbering—they are sequential and skipping a few means it is classified, starting with EO 14147) and the publication of an NSA watch list that included activists, journalists, actor and Church himself. After briefing before congress (testimony was not unauthorised by the Ford administration’s advisors), Senator Church appeared on the news programme Meet the Press (previously)—discussing No Such Agency without mentioning it by name, warned:

In the need to develop a capacity to know what potential enemies are doing, the United States government has perfected a technological capability that enables us to monitor the messages that go through the air… Now, that is necessary and important to the United States as we look abroad at enemies or potential enemies. We must know, at the same time, that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left: such is the capability to monitor everything—telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.

If this government ever became a tyranny, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government—no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology…

I don’t want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.

there a hole in me pocket (12. 187)

Classic clog manufacturer and popular item in this household has announced a new two-pair tribute to the Beatles’ animated feature Yellow Submarine. The dog has gotten much better about not gnawing on footwear but still goes after our Crocs and would have to have such a fancy pair of house shoes chewed up, but these look pretty fun and the contour is a perfect fit for the underwater vessel—though like with Crocs’ other brand collaborations, not sure about the accessories, the periscope and propeller and the other bedazzlers however and they’d surely prove too tempting for a little dog.

synchronoptica

one year ago: ancient piggy-banks (with synchronoptica), St Devota, a past prediction from Star Trek: TNG, a hybrid horseless carriage plus more moons of Jupiter

seven years ago: assorted links to revisit 

eight years ago: omnipresent and omnipotent AI, parasitism and toxoplasm gondii plus the White House turns off its switchboard

nine years ago: more links to enjoy 

ten years ago: the national assemblies of Europe, the fantastic art of Dan McPharlin plus AI and middle-management

humanity’s last exam (12. 186)

Like the Voight-Kampff test, this standardised benchmark, created by some of the most astute philosophers is an escalating fight to stay ahead of AI to afford proctors a purchase on some sort of vanishing Turing test—especially against a backdrop of artificial intelligence making advances on graduate-level, multidisciplinary questions, raising the prospect that the machines are quickly approaching the limits of humanity’s ability to gauge and compare its progress and ability. The resulting quiz, with samples that not only imply to a degree teaching to the test and priming answers that people want to hear, has some three thousand questions, vetted and juried by academic panels, and whilst not timed, is completed in seconds by the world’s most powerful models. The battery of questions have correct answers—and perhaps it might be more interesting to pose the unknown or drill into what they get wrong in over-confident albeit novel ways, mindful of the risk of our own gullibility and misdirection which is certainly baked into solutions—and underscores the problem of jaggedness, inconsistency in AI’s abilities to tackle basic questions and the flowchart of prompts for better or worse outcomes and the difference between acing an exam and being a practising professional doing maths, physics, medicine or governance.

13x13 (12. 185)

embossed: turn of the century tactile teaching aids for the visually impaired for lessons on nature and geography  

lab-leak theory: US Central Intelligence Agency embraces controversial vector for COVID-19 pandemic, discounting zoonosis factors 

ghostwatch: the supernatural horror BBC mockumentary broadcast on Halloween (see also) 1992 and never shown again due to the panic it elicited  

sb593: Oklahoma legislature introduces bill to “restore moral sanity” and criminalise production, distribution and possession of adult material—see previously 

minimoog: a fully-functional analogue synthesiser in LEGO  

haptics and macros: an idea to add gait gestures to one’s smart phone—we can hardly do the right kind of fake kick to open the rear hatch on our car 

mox nix: language borrowings from German propagated by US and UK soldiers stationed there post WWII  

electric garden: a run-down lodge transformed into a living museum mapchat: interact with AI shopkeepers for local businesses—results may vary 

wassergöttin: prehistoric figurine from the Hallstadt culture found in 2022 in Lower Franconia goes on display at the Bavarian State Archaeological Museum in München  

walk without rhythm and you won’t attract the worm: graboids—see also—the other in-jokes that Tremors leans into  

underrepresentation: as part of order to eliminate DEI programmes, US Food and Drug Administration curbs clinical trials aimed at diverse populations for cancer research 

 switchmen: the sign language of railroad workers

pen-y-parc (12. 184)

Literally a “castle of turning” and sometimes referred to as the Walls of Troy referring the pious fiction of Geoffrey of Monmouth (previously) to connect the Welsh nation with the refugees of the Iliad through Aeneas, the caerdroia is a turf maze in the tradition of the Cretan Labyrinth, these mysterious and meditative pathways were once common across Wales, owing to the persistence of the medieval myth, but few remain. One modern reconstruction is tended in the Forest of Gwydir, considered to be the largest of its kind at over a mile of twisting, switchback paths, in Snowdonia affords hikers and wanders a chance to explore the beautiful and unique landscape, scars of intensive mining and forestry operations having healed over. More at Atlas Obscura at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus Paula of Rome

seven years ago: a leaf-retrieving cat, securing votes with hypnotism, Trump and sharks, forest bathing, a Nintendo emulator, the Museum of the Selfie plus post-modern architecture

eight years ago: the highest IQ presidential cabinet, the merging of adaptations plus Trump and Twitter

nine years ago: M*A*S*H* (1970), composite cityscapes plus a comic strip devoted to cheese-fuelled nightmares

ten years ago: Cunningham’s Law

info nuggets (12. 183)

We really enjoyed this appreciation from Open Culture of VH-1’s Pop-Up Video, the sister-network and alternative to MTV launching on New Year’s day 1985, premiering over a decade into the channel’s run in October of 1996, pitched as antidote to shortening attention spans attributed to rise of MTV itself with barely the audience stamina for suffering a four-minute music video. The parent company expressed initial scepticism as then owners Blockbuster rental outlets felt they knew little enthusiasm for foreign films interpreted as viewers not wanting to read on screen dialogue in subtitles. The pilot, featuring Tina Turner’s “Missing You” with other standards on rotation, nonetheless, proved compelling and the show continued, expanding its profile with anecdotes and facts (classified by the above title), of varying relevance, sublimating as dialogue bubbles—all before there were forums for such trivia, requiring a good deal of research and cold-calls to artists, producers and grips involved in production. The meta-commentary was compared to the contemporary phenomenon of MST3K (see previously), as a programme for “TV-people who-are-sick-of-TV.”

franklin mint (12. 182)

Via fellow peripatetic and internet caretaker Messy Nessy Chic, we are directed towards the first officially circulated coin of the United States, known as the Fugio cent, purportedly designed by Benjamin Franklin owning to its similarity to his earlier continental dollar coin, struck as samples for potential currency but never put into circulation. Minted in 1787, the obverse features a sundial with the common Latin dictum “I fly”for such installations (see previously) and the English adage to “mind your business,” referring to being attentive to one’s budget and household. The reverse is decorated with thirteen chain links, representing the colonial states (see also) with the third motto of “We are One”—transitioning back to the Latin of “E pluribus unum” of the Great Seal of the US. A horde of several thousand of these pennies was discovered at the Bank of New York in 1926 and given out as souvenirs to clients until the intervention by the American Numismatic Society two decades later, recognising their historical and colletable value and the remaining sixteen-hundred remained together.

politically conditioned funding (12. 181)

Pursuant to an executive order issued on his first day in office calling for a ninety-day pause in foreign development assistance pending a review of alignment with US policies and efficiencies, the Department of State head Marco Rubio notified diplomatic staff worldwide that there will be stoppage to all work, according to a leaked memo, affecting all development aid and military assistance—with certain carve-outs for Israel, Egypt and emergency food programmes. Heretofore, America has been the largest donor country of global support (not without serious missteps and certainly not the only country with such largess—see previously, see also), disbursing some sixty-eight billion dollars annually for a range of projects from access to clean water, infrastructure, population health and disease monitoring, educational outreach, disaster relief, sanitation and shelter and defence, and comes at a crucial juncture for Ukraine and during the surge for humanitarian assistance for Gaza after the ceasefire, as well as hunger crises in Africa and elsewhere. The “stop work” order further is not forwarding US geopolitical influence in abandoning its network of international partnership nor serving its commercial interest as the majority of goods and services financed are sourced from US suppliers.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus more lit crit terms

seven years ago: more links to enjoy, the hidden history of saffron cultivation plus early casualties of Trump’s policies

eight years ago: sophisticated gene therapies, alternate truths plus even more links

nine years ago: first flight of the Concorde plus the chemistry of body-wash

ten years ago: NPR’s Invisibilia podcast

eo complaint (12. 180)

On his first domestic trips returning to office and flanked by Melania in another hat and the evangelist from his inaugural, Trump visiting disaster sites in the Carolinas and southern California pledged to overhaul or eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency, claiming that FEMA had become too cumbersome and bureaucratic and telling states to handle such preternatural disasters on their own. With MAGA-supporting jurisdictions historically benefiting most from government aid and intervention (not just in the wake of of calamity but in general), such a dismantling seems ill-advised, originating from the Project 2025 manifesto for the concept that existed as ad hoc legislation for over two centuries before being formalised as a cohesive response to overwhelming catastrophes under the Carter administration in 1978 and 1979, by executive orders, first responding to the toxic waste dumped in Love Canal near Niagara Falls and the meltdown of Three Mile Island. Additional federal assistance for disaster recovery and mitigation would be contingent on cooperation on the part of the states and transactional, political rather than channel through experts.

12x12 (12. 179)

contraception begins at erection: Mississippi lawmaker has introduced a bill called ‘contraception begins at erection’ outlawing male masturbation, hoping to bring balance to the reproductive rights’ restriction that focus on women—via the New Shelton wet/dry  

obayashi world: Japan’s most Lynchian filmmaker  

so long and thanks for all the fish: Joan Ocean’s Dolphin Connection—via Web Curios  

crass competing abstrusities: official, sanctioned transcription of US secretary of state Marco Rubio (鲁比奥) changed—possibly as a way to get around the ban the Chinese government itself imposed plus other politicians’ names—see previously  

 

but if you don’t make your product in america—which is your prerogative—then very simply you will have to pay a tariff: though vacillating somewhat on his commitment and working from home, Trump delivers a message to the Davos WEF summit  

she was nasty in tone, not compelling or smart: Bishop Budde won’t apologise for her appeal for mercy and hospitality  

the birthright citizens’ brigade: a list of organisations pushing back against the slide to authoritarianism in the US  

dreiundfünfzig tage: how Hitler dismantled a constitution republic through constitutional means  

xanthelasma: Florida man on diet of beef, cheese and sticks of butter oozes cholesterol from his skin—see also—via Miss Cellania  

a catalyst for curiosity: Wikenigma documents the unexplained—via Kottke—those scientific and academic questions that evade a definitive answer, like the Collatz conjecture 

you remind me of the babe: Robert Eggers to make a sequel for Labyrinth  

unplanned pregnancy: as an encore to freeing all the January Sixth rioters, Trump pardons dozens of anti-abortion protesters, some jailed for violent tactics to block clinic access and intimidating doctors ahead of the Right to Life March

alasitas (12. 178)

Derived from the Aymara word “buy from me” and evolving from an annual event pre-dating European contact that involved communal prayer for good crops and an exchange of staple goods, evolving over time to accommodate missionary teaching and colonisers’ sense of acquisition, the month-long fair in La Paz—and other Bolivian communities—honouring Ekeko (Iqiqu), the indigenous god of abundance, begins today at noon. Similar to the paper votive offering given and received for Lunar New Year’s celebrations, people purchase miniature plaster representations of luxury items that they hope to get in the coming year from artisans and have them blessed by shamans and local priests.

the köln concert (12. 177)

Recorded on this day in 1975 at the West Germany city’s opera house Keith Jarrett’s live double-album went on to become the best-selling solo jazz and the best-selling piano record in history despite some inauspicious beginnings. Problems with booking pushed the hour-long performance (attended by a sold-out audience) to late Friday night, and the requested concert grand was not available and so the musician, who was fatigued from touring, had to make due with an out-of-tune and meek sounding baby grand that was only used for rehearsals. Jarrett however was able to lean into the instrument’s shortcomings (see also) and improvised in such a way that celebrated its disrepair.

*     *     *     *     *

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Family of Man (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: A Fashionable Melange of English Words, website traffic, RIP Ursula Le Guin, an AI generated concert lineup plus the Babylon Bee

eight years ago: a conflict of interest 

nine years ago: an X-Files reboot plus the Ronnie Horror Picture Show

ten years ago: Hildegard of Bingen, canine astronauts plus Charlie Hebdo wine labels

lapidary capitalis (12. 176)

Aptly illustrated with this calligram of the she-wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus—via Pasa Bon!, we are referred to project ARETE (ἀρετή, the concept of excellence in any field—the ‘polity van’ used for sanctioned field trips of my college had the license plate H ARETH, with the proper article and transliteralisation) from the University of Applied Sciences of Potsdam of a visual and interactive study in the network of influences, interventions and inscriptionsthat led to the genesis of Roman Capitalis to Antiqua and Grotesk font families and how manuscripts continued to inform the look of typefaces even after the printing press came into being in the West, injecting a typographical angle into scholarly discourse. Each font sampler has extensive details on its provenance and how it relates to other points of inflection.

i18n/l10n (12. 175)

Abbreviated with the above numeronyms, internationalisation and localisation refer to the dual challenges of designing systems and applications that can be used both globally and in a specific and bounded spot for both output and input, display and data-encoding. Embracing translation and standardisation of regional metrics, time-zones, including register and format, Unicode maintains a registry of predefined variables covering scripts, directionality, layout, sorting and alphabetisation and punctuation. Specifically, however, it does not take into account economic differences (prompting user selection, though there are defaults) of paper size, post and telephone formats, currency, systems of measurement, compliance for privacy and accessibility, disputed borders, map keys and tax regimes, which require typically native knowledge.

you can basically just be gay and you are fine in thailand (12. 174)

Joining Taiwan as the only other country in the southern Asia to recognise marriage equality for same-sex unions, hundreds of couples in Bangkok and elsewhere held wedding ceremonies as the legislation passed by the National Assembly in June 2024 came into effect, written into law by King Maha Vajiralongkorn following a long campaign and petition decades in the making by the country’s community for rights and respect. Though many obstacles and ostracism remain domestically and regional, this moment sanctified of the movement marks historic progress.

supersize ma déesse (12. 173)

After a successful commission petitioning the automaker Citroën to adapt its multi-wheeled DS line as a less cumbersome, high-speed delivery vehicle, contributing to the design of the extra axles for this load-runner—originally made to carry newspapers, civil servant Pierre Tissier secured a role with the company as an authorised conversion specialist, helping to engineer and customise several models of utility station wagon (Familiale) as ambulances, hearses, camera cars for filmmaking, towing and hauling vehicles as well as introducing the custom CX Penthouse in 1980, a “camping car” with a pop-top roof at the Paris Auto Show in 1980.

synchronoptica

one year ago: more on the adventuresome Piccard brothers (with synchronoptica) plus thoughts on a prodigious birth

seven years ago: more links to enjoy, war and cheese plus photographer Tugo Chen

nine years ago: ring anxiety, assorted links worth revisiting, vampiric bacteria plus Star Trek in living colour

ten years ago: the epochs of the world as a time spiral

twelve years ago: an outing for austerity, digital sabotage plus the Brexit referendum

11x11 (12. 172)

concrete feats: the landmark Våga Water Tower on coast Varberg, Sweden  

ſpy v ſpy: a look at the world of espionage in the Middle Ages—via the new Shelton wet/dry 

obelisks: researchers discover a new form of life with circular RNA—that appear less alive than viruses  

we were wrong that day—we broke the law: convicted January Sixth capitol rioter known as MAGA Granny rejects clemency offer  

winning odds: a collection of vintage Japanese lottery tickets  

cinematic universe: The Goonies and Back to the Future happened on the same day in 1985—via Kottke  

шрифт: foundry excavating Ukrainian fonts from the underground  

dark web: Trump has granted an unconditional pardon to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht 

red team: research students—under supervision recreate—viral pathogens identical to those that caused the 1918 influenza pandemic  

lexicon: a glossary of medieval words from Middle English whose meanings have shifted  

solar gate: 4D printed blinds mimic plants to open and close on their own

crash course (12. 171)

This is ghoulish and possibly what’s in store for the American educational system, its department defunded and tasked with eliminating itself and focused on removing all trace of guilt or bad feelings from school curricula (getting rid of critical race theory—as the MAGA party understands it, see previously here and here)—and other fields of study to preserve the pride of white Christian settlers and their ilk): via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links, we learn that a Utah-based edutainment start-up has summoned up an AI emulation of diarist Anne Frank, murdered at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp aged fifteen in 1945. Not only does the experience to be marketed to young pupils have the uncanniness of a tireless, overly accommodating docent and is unconscionably disrespectful to her memory and other victims, it gets biographical information incorrect and seems with some prodding to twist one of Frank’s more famous quotes, “in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart,” as a directive to deflect blame for the Holocaust on the Nazis. School districts seem quick to adopt these models with no regard for the philosophical implications, educational value (it seems rather antithetical to the entire lesson) or whether or not educators have any input or remedy for what such avatars dispense.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (with synchronoptica), artist Iris Wildros plus an art artefact

seven years ago: more colour stories, ecological treats plus Dr Seuss’ commercial work

eight years ago: Trump to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, famous songs using borrowed tunes, global Hyper Loops plus American Carnage 1.0

nine years ago: the Mind Expanding programme of Hans-Rucker Co 

ten years ago: Euro/USD parity plus ageing and rejuvenation

pangram (12. 170)

In recreational and trivial mathematics, a pandigital number is value that uses its digits at least once (usually without redundancy), the first of which in base ten radix is 1 023 456 789 (one billion, twenty-three million, four hundred sixty five thousand seven hundred eight nine) and chiefly have applications in fiction and commercial advertising to display a sample credit card or identification document or phone number—reserved in many cases so they are associated with any real individual. The smallest number in Roman numerals is 1444—that is, MCDXLIV. A pandigital number in base thirty-six notation (heexatrigesimal) would use all numbers and all letters—except zero. Despite their non significant nature in terms of maths, they do possess some interesting and unexpected properties, such as the zeroless palindromic pandigital number 12345678987654321 is the square of 111111111—called a repunit—that is a number with only one digit.

so call me maybe (12. 169)

Via Quantum of Sollazzo we are directed towards a really insightful, disabusing and longitudinal study that demonstrates that romance is not dead from The Pudding. There is a significant decline but on balance the frequency of the love song has remained steady as a genre once one admits tastes have undergone a paradigm shift from the serenade to ballads of heartache, breakup and amour-propre. The interactive data-driven treatment is loaded with playable clips, from Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” to Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” “Angel of the Morning” from Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts to the collaboration from Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, as examples of tracks charting from 1958 to 2023.

the tegos tapes (12. 168)

Via Clive Thompson’s trusty alternative to doomscrolling, we learn that pioneering electronic composer Vangelis (see previously) has not only several film soundtracks to his credit but also, among many side projects, recorded a box-set of rather exclusive twelve hour tapes for doctors to listen to while performing the arduous task of surgeries to keep focused during the monotony—see also. The limited-run 1998 compilation (only twenty were made for partners in the practise) was thought lost to history, until one dedicated fan hunted down, on a tip, a copy of a textbook on micro-neuosurgerical (by the eponymous physician, a close friend of Vangelis, asking him to make these tracks and undergo a magnetic resonance scan of his brain, the latter request politely declined) in a bookstore in Athens with the accompanying music on videotape. Much more at the links above.