easy money (13. 236)

Born on this day in 1926, Alan Greenspan served on the US Federal Reserve board of governors from 1987 to the 2006, under presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush, the chairman reappointed after each four year term and advising on monetary policy. Despite a subdued public demeanour, the press accorded the long serving economist celebrity status as a strong advocate for international trade, though he courted many critics who cite his low interest rates and increased cash supply for creating the dot-com bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis that lead to worldwide recession—occurring shortly after he left office—and blame Greenspan for encouraging George W Bush to reengage Iraq and depose Saddam Hussein for the sake of stability in the global oil supply. A fan and personal friend of objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand, Greenspan dated anchor woman Barbara Walters in the late 1970s and is married to journalist Andrea Mitchell (matrimonial ceremony officiated by Ruth Bader Ginsburg) and currently runs a financial consulting firm with several honorary posts with investment banks. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronopticæ) plus dismantling the US department of education 

thirteen years ago: folk-neuroscience 

fourteen years ago: slow news days 

fifteen years ago: a trip to Fulda 

sixteen years ago: the US census 

ullukkut world (13. 216)

Referred to at the time Eskimaux, a delegation of the leadership of the fifteen thousand member strong community of Inuit peoples appealed to the ministry of Pierre Trudeau with a petition to designate a large portion of the North Western Territories as indigenous land, leading to the creation of what would eventually become the autonomous Canadian territory of Nunavut in 1999. The second largest subnational subdivision in North America after neighbouring Greenland and ahead of Alaska, the self-governing region covers most of the arctic archipelago with the people of Ellesmere Island (ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ ᓄᓇ, Umingmak Nuna, the land of the muskox) and faced with forced relocation during the Cold War due to the islands’ strategic position, the accord was seen as an act of contrition and reconciliation for the displaced and historically disenfranchised native population. The flag unveiled in 1999, close to the anniversary of the initial meeting twenty-three years later features an inuksuk, a stone cairn built as a landmark used by the Inuit and other peoples of the North American artic region and the colours represent the riches of the land, sea and sky.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronopticæ) plus attempts to save the US civil service

fourteen years ago: assigning seat mates based on social media profiles 

fifteen years ago: a mystery dial plus the revolution in Libya

sixteen years ago: US congress renews the Patriot Act 

cipheritis (13. 203)

An alleged mental disorder, reportedly diagnosed by German physicians, though with no clinical description and a paucity of case studies, zero stroke dysfunction was experienced by patients during the period of hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic (see previously here and here) with otherwise well-balanced individuals compelled to write out unending strings of zeros (see also here and here, also called ciphers after the Arabic root) as a coping mechanism for the rapid and exponential increasing of prices and depreciation of paper marks when the buying-power of one’s wages became essentially worthless by the end of one’s shift. Most common among those working in finance, accounting and sales, sufferers also had a tendency to retreat into complicated mental computations whose solutions were logarithmically fleeting.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a catalogue of historic dice and card games (with synchronopticæ) plus Germany votes

twelve years ago: more secession sessions, Kurt Vonnegut’s story shapes plus more on the mysterious Voynich manuscript

thirteen years ago: external threats, UK creditworthiness downgraded plus grammar and financial readiness

fourteen years ago: au revoir mademoiselle plus reforming the German welfare system

fifteen years ago: budget crunch in Wisconsin 

sixteen years ago: church elections 

seventeen years ago: ornate spam 

8x8 (13. 198)

the mckinley colonies: the US settlement on Cuba’s Isla de la Juventud 

„…“: another omnibus listing of aphorisms and sage quotations  

manannán: 1940 sci-fi Irish language novel that contains the likely first use of a mecha outside of Japanese literature  

in the realms of the unreal: outsider artist Henry Darger—see previously 

spring has sprung: early heralds of the coming season—see previously 

archive.yesterday: Wikipedia bans controversial news and features article mirror for citations after the service launches denial of service attacks on websites linking to it—via MetaFilter  

lapsis muris: linguists uncover another usage case of uh—see previously  

tron/troff: explore your neighbourhood in the virtual grid

synchronoptica

one year ago: Ukraine and Europe excluded from peace talks (with synchronopticæ), an enigmatic online diary plus an ancient cistern in Naples

thirteen years ago: elision and mishearing 

fourteen years ago: graphic artist Tim Doyle 

destot’s space (13. 179)

In a round-about vocabulary lesson (courtesy of Curious Notions—such a journey down rabbitholes is referred to as a desire path as a metaphorical extension of an unplanned trail caused by foot-traffic as a shorter route, and now one can better document those strayings in Wikipedia at least—though often not short-cuts), we learn that the eponymous anatomical feature of the human wrist is named for the Lyonnaise sculptor, anatomist and pioneering radiologist Étienne Destot. Within months after Röntgen announced his discovery of clinical uses for x-rays, our good doctor was taking thousands of diagnostic radiographs of patients (see also) to develop better treatment strategies and in many cases eliminating red herrings to tackle true ailments.  Destot’s enthusiastic adoption of the new technology, however, led to severe radiation damage in his hands, forcing him to abandon his work and his eventual death. The namesake void the doctor identified through crisper x-ray imaging of the hands between the hamate and lunate bones is not chiefly cited in medical literature, but rather for discussing the critical historicism of Jesus, proposing that this was the site of the stigmata during the Crucifixion—the study, quest (quête) as an academic effort started by contemporary Alsatian physician and fellow multi-hyphenate Albert Schweitzer. For his contributions to medical science and lab safety, Destot is commemorated along with the Curies, inscribed on the Monument to the X-Ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations on the campus of Sankt Georg Hospital in Hamburg along with some one hundred sixty other doctors, chemists, physicists, technicians and assistants who sacrificed their lives in the advancement of medical science commissioned by the Deutsche Röntgengesellschaft in 1936. The memorial was expanded in 1959 to include the names of many of the victims of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

luminous beings are we, not this crude matter (13. 176)

Courtesy of Weird Universe through another one of the artist’s short experimental montages, we are introduced to the National Film Board of Canada’s acclaimed visual essayist Arthur Lipsett. Working as an editor in the animation department, his first solo project Very Nice, Very Nice came about collecting random scene from the cutting-room floor pieced them together as an audio-video montage and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1961. The technique attracted the attention of Stanley Kubrick, who asked Lipsett to produce a trailer for his upcoming Dr Strangelove. Lipsett politely declined and Kubrick directed the preview himself by the inspiration was obvious and acknowledged. The 1963 short 21-87 employed a similar method of found footage but also combined shots of Montreal and New York which Lipsett filmed himself to create an outline of narrative. Though reception was more mixed now that the artist had a reputation, with some critics thinking that it was too much like Free Fall (at the link at the top), it caught the notice of aspiring director George Lucas, influencing THX 1138, its spiritual successor America Graffiti and Star Wars—the concept of the Force itself was informed by an NFB colleague discussing the contemplative and revealing—animistic and pervasive—aspect of his works, speaking in terms that echo how Obi Wan explained the source of Jedi power to Luke Skywalker. Though the two never met, there’s a continuity of tributes throughout the saga with Princess Leia imprisoned on the Death Star in detention block AA-23 cell number 2187 and Finn’s original stormtrooper designation of FN-2187.

prespa accord (13. 170)

The short form of the United Nations sponsored treaty named for the lake at the tripoint of the borders of Greece, the then Republic of Macedonia (referred to by the exonym FYROM, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to avoid controversy of the appearance of endorsement or sometimes heavy-handedly as the Republic of Skopje) and Albania, Final Agreement for the settlement of differences as described in the UN Security Council resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993), the termination of the Interim Accord of 1995 and the establishment of a strategic partnership between the Parties came into effect on this day in 2019, resolving a long-standing dispute beginning in 1991 following the dissolution of Yugoslavia into its constituent nations. Stemming from the ambiguity of the neighbouring Greek Balkan region and the ancient kingdom of Macedon, Greece insisted upon a geographic qualifier to be used erga omnes (by all…and for all purposes, internal and external), citing concerns of border disputes and the cultural appropriation, symbols like the Vergina Sun (now the icon of the parliament of the Hellenes) and the legacy of Alexander the Great, to stoke sentiments of irredentism (ирреденти́зм, αλυτρωτισμός—coined from the Italian, unredeemed, for territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that they felt belonged to “Greater Italy” and should be rightfully annexed on the basis of ethnic continuity). Contingent on the terms of the agreement, Northern Macedonia entered NATO.

9x9 (13. 165)

shoulder angel: the Scottish philosopher teaching one AI model morals—via Marginal Revolution 

pdf forensics: a case study of the sanitisation and hidden data through the Epstein files—via Quantum of Sollazzo  

individual neutral athletes: a historic look of Russia at the Games 

secretz de l’histoire naturelle: a late fifteenth century illustrated guide to exotic, far-flung lands  

the ents showing up to take down isengard: more reflections on Bad Bunny and friends Super Bowl half-time show 

volunteer army: the recruitment call enlisting anonymous editors to stave off AI from Wikipedia—via LitHub  

herren-t-shirt olympisches erbe der olympischen spiele in berlin: commemorative apparel from the 1936 Games from the official shop is met with backlash 

it’s the people’s house and it’s also the presidents home, so he can invite whomever he wants to dinners and events here at the white house: annual bipartisan meeting of US governors called off when Trump excludes Democratic state leaders 

human prerogative: on the imitation game, all exercises—even the boring ones—having value and why computers can’t surprise

synchronoptica

one year ago: US to stop minting pennies (with synchronopticæ) plus DOGE and the Deep State

twelve years ago: the Atlantis Haus 

fifteen years ago: Egypt in media res

 

isolar – 1976 tour (13. 137)

Beginning on this day in 1976 at the venue of Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum to promote his Station to Station album (see previously), the series of concerts given by David Bowie were more commonly referred to as the Thin White Duke tour. The spectacle began without interlude with a screening of the Surrealist short film Un Chien Andalou with the artist appearing on an empty stage immediately following its conclusion, jarring the disoriented audience. Whilst some audio samples were rebroadcast by the King Biscuit Radio network, the only complete recorded footage is courtesy of a bootleg edition captured by a concert goer at the end of the month during a show in Cleveland, since remastered and reissued as the definitive experience, the set list including the tracks “Fame,” “Queen Bitch,” “Life on Mars,” “Changes” and “Diamond Dogs”—with encores of “Rebel Rebel” and “The Jean Genie.” Regarding the tour’s name, some speculate it is an anagram of one of Bowie’s favourite words sailor, or alternatively, in his own words: “Isola is Italian for island. Isolation plus solar equals Isolar—if I remember correctly, I was stoned.” The last shows were a two-night (the scheduled third one was cancelled) performance in mid-May at the Pavillon de Paris.

*     *     *     *     *

 synchronoptica 

one year ago:the first Sears department store (with synchronopticæ) plus the hamster test

 

twelve years ago: polar week, wedding photography from Russia, vegetarian pastizio plus RIP Maximilian Schell

 

thirteen years ago: leveraged yield, Germany’s federal statistics office, Grand Central’s centenary plus twenty years ago today

 

fourteen years ago: managing gossip and misinformation 

 

fifteen years ago: more on the revolution in Egypt 

 

sixteen years ago: space shuttle programme ends 

 

seventeen years ago: Groundhog Day origins 

the porkkala concession (13. 117)

Operated as a Soviet naval base, leased to the USSR under the terms of the Moscow Armistice of 1944, the peninsular for a period of fifty, originally scheduled for repatriation in 1994, was returned to Finland early after eleven years of service on this day in 1956 with the displaced former inhabitants of the communities of Kirkkonummi, Ingå and Siuntio restored their lands. Hosting the bulk of the Baltic fleet and some sixteen thousand sailors and submariners at one point on the borderlands just some thirty kilometres from Helsinki, the withdrawal was based on several political factors in including the Finno-Russian Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance of 1948, Khrushchev’s shift away from Stalinism, other basing opportunities and Finland’s own post-war policy of neutrality, which also precluded its accession to NATO. Presently the Pokkala peninsula is home to main base of the Finnish naval forces at Upinniemi.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Welsh labyrinths (with synchronopticæ), assorted links to revisit plus a real life Voight-Kampff test

twelve years ago: nursing shortages, all-inclusive vacation packages plus more on the monomyth

thirteen years ago: tavern etymologies 

fourteen years ago: the potential of 3D printing plus the right to be forgotten

sixteen years ago: crafty advice plus Davos security chief found dead

märchesänger (13. 107)

Youth choir, whose early members were mostly comprised of individuals orphaned during the war founded in 1948 in Obernkirchen in Niedersachsen (named after the constituent county in West Germany), the Schaumburg Fairytale Singers rapidly attained a high degree of musical excellence, winning many competitions in their class, and were propelled to a level of international fame unexpectedly on this day when their English interpretation of Der fröhliche Wanderer (Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann) peaking at number two of the British singles on this day in 1954, remaining in the charts for twenty-three weeks after it was broadcasted by the BBC as the encore after placing during a performance in Wales. Domestically, the arrangement composed by the choir director’s brother made to sound like an authentic folk song, the success of the Schaumburger Märchesänger was boosted by the Merry Wanderer being made into a Heimatfilm (a nostalgic, pastoral genre especially popular in West Germany and Austria from the late 1940s to early 1960s, and abroad lead numerous tours, concerts and special appearances, including the Ed Sullivan Show and at the Kennedy White House. With an expanded repertoire and extended alumni association, the choir and music school (also with multiple campuses) continues the legacy of its founders in cultivating talent.

life in a day (13. 103)

Contributing footage captured all on a single day, 24 July 2010, some eighty thousand participants from one-hundred-ninety-two countries answering the call-for-submissions on the video hosting platform, the Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald (director also of biopics Whitney and Marley, State of Play, The Last King of Scotland and Touching the Void) collaboration is a crowd-sourced feature length documentary, revelatory at the time, and was previewed on Youtube (conceived in part as a commemoration of its five-year anniversary) one week prior to its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on this day in 2011. Inspired and informed—with new media and technological possibilities—by a 1930s British sociological and ethnographical project called the Mass Observation movement—asking respondents around the UK to share their diary entries for one day per month, anonymously and answering a few basic demographic questions, in order to highlight the complexities and fullness of the seemingly mundane—and to demonstrate that everyone’s the main character in their own narrative, a touch lesson to learn, the director began the appeal for clips with a column in The Guardian, asking simple questions about people’s passions, what was in the pockets and their fears—also dispatching video cameras to people in the developing world. That particular day was chosen as it was the first Saturday following the World Cup. Several countries including Panama, Canada, India and Spain made their own national versions in the following years and a sequel was made in 2020 for 25 July during the height of the COVID-19 global pandemic and premiering just after the inauguration of US president Joe Biden.

*    *    *    *    *  

synchronoptica

one year ago: a planetary alignment (with synchronopticæ), the side projects of Vangelis, a longitudinal study of love songs plus more trivial maths

twelve years ago: more data breaches 

thirteen years ago: kitchen implements, self-healing construction plus workplace distractions

fourteen years ago: geopolitical meme templates 

sixteen years ago: privatising student debt 

seventeen years ago: house-hunting 

fabianus (13. 102)

Unexpectedly elevated to the papacy by popular acclaim whilst attending elections in Rome following the brief reign of Anterus as an observer but not a candidate when a dove landed on him—which delegates took as the sign of the choice of the Holy Spirit—Pope Fabian is fêted on this day (shared with St Sebastian in Catholic traditions) on the occasion of his martyrdom during the Decian persecutions in the year 250. On good terms with the imperial government for a stint of fourteen years, loathe to stir up discontent or crack down on Christian upstarts, Fabian was able to arrange the repatriation of earlier exiled Pope Pontian and Anti-Pope Hippolytus, whom had died at hard labour in the mines of Sardinia, dispatched apostles to Gaul, including Saturnin, to christianise the population, reformed Church bureaucracy, establishing hierarchy and jurisdiction and appointing subdeacons as officers of the ecclesiastical court to document the acta of the martyrs and collect proceedings and judgements of oppressed and introduced the clerical orders of acolyte, porter, lector and exorcist and reportedly baptised Emperor Philip (called “the Arab” and the first convert well before Constantine) and his son, whose successor in 249, Trajan Decius, decided he’d had enough of this kumbaya moment plus the bread and circuses of his predecessor, vanquished during an uprising. Decius, elected by the Senate on account his suppression of revolts in the provinces, sought to strengthen state religious conformity, directed that all residents of the empire would have to commit sacrifice before the magistrate of their ward in order to prove their loyalty and and ensure the security of the empire. While possibly not an attempt to impose the cult of the pantheon on all inhabitants, Decius was pressured to legitimise his position as the Empire approached its millennial anniversary and promote Pax Romana, calling out several bishops, Fabian included, of refusing to indulge prescribed idolatry. The Seven Sleepers hibernated until Rome had a more tolerant attitude towards Christians.

serial comma (13. 096)

In honour of Wikipedia’s recent birthday (with the reminder that the best belated gift that one can give is their time and attention in editing contributions—though cash always helps too) our fellow spelunker directs us to their Manual of Style for English language formatting and tone standards that’s a fun, quirky page to review that could incite pedantic debates, like the Oxford comma, without being over prescriptive and invites one to think about their own writing style, preferences, clarity, consistency and unwritten rules. We are also reminded how the editing history of all articles are public and previous to the earliest versions circa 2001 are only a few clicks away and one can appreciate how far we’ve come with this community project that’s turned into something quite invaluable and first to press as the paper of record on so many current events, undergirded with deep and circumspect research through self-organisation and the dedication of volunteers with no hierarchy to pass judgement.

dateline (13. 090)

On this day in 1609—with some evidence that the periodical was in circulation already for four years—the first newspaper in Germany and among the first worldwide was published, Avisa Relation oder Zeitung, by printer Julius Adolph von Söhne in Wolfenbüttel (also the home of the Jägermeister distillery) in Niedersachsen with the issue carrying developments and happenings from various countries up-to-date (see also), with the presumption it went out then. The French daily of record Le Figaro was first distributed on this day as well in 1826, named for the Beaumarchais character from Le Mariage de Figaro with a line from his closing monologue “Sans la liberté de blâmer, il’nest point d’éloge flatteur”—without freedom to criticise, there is no room for praise. The first issue of of the journal Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners later to become the Paarl gazette was published in as the first periodical in Afrikaans language in 1876. The leading news agency and wire-service of Italy, Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) was also founded today in 1945 by a consortium of the resistance to Mussolini’s fascist regime.

9x9 (13. 089)

crisis actors: Trump supports protests of any authoritarian regime except his own 

wikipedia@25: the Free Encyclopaedia project was started on this day in 2001—see previously, see more  

demumu: popular Chinese app, “Are You Dead?” is a safety tool aimed for a growing demographic of one-person households  

fafo: thousands of World Cup fans are cancelling their tickets, prompting an emergency meeting of the football association  

the revolution won’t be televised: acute disappointment from “liberated” Venezuela—plus Trump was gifted the Nobel peace prize  

limited deployment: contingents of soldiers from European allies arrive in Nuuk to demonstrate NATO resolve  

legacy media: looming challenges for journalism outlets and studios  

mouseover title: xkcd (previously) on sailing rigs 

heimat: US Department of Homeland Security adopts another Nazi slogan

heesch’s problem (13. 083)

Ranging from zero (in the case of the circle) and infinity for squares—with seemingly few values in between—in the study of tessellations (see previously here, here and here) a Heesch number pertaining to a geometric shape is the maximum number of layers of identical copies of the same figure will bear with no gaps or overlaps. Named for the geometer and mathematician Heinrich Heesch, who also made significant contributions to the field of tiling patterns and then unproven for colour theorem (the first mathematical proof by a computer) for mapping boundaries, he noticed that a one sort of planar shape, a square fused with a triangle would only accommodate one extra layer, as illustrated with these spandrels (from an architectural space between the top of arch and the ceiling) term referring to the teardrop arranged by contemporary Walther Lietzmann, and posed it as a general puzzle. Beyond the core, one can only form a signal corona of identical shapes—and whilst blocky polyominoes and tetrominoes seem to hold limitless promise at first glance, there still seems to be a limiting factor with no more than six deep.

novus ordo seclorum (13. 081)

Though the Donroe doctrine and new world order is disruptive and regressive enough as it is with its spheres of influence and manifest destiny—as well for the unrestrained impulse for branding, there’s likely something more sinister underpinning it, though a noble joke to supporters, with the geopolitical goal aligned with the nationalist and expansionist policies of Lebensraum of the second and the third Reich. The ideology of course has antecedents in colonialism and settler mentalities, perfected in the melting-pot of America, which informed Nazism with eugenics and segregation as tools of tribalism and othering. Also saying the quiet part out loud, the principle was used as justification for Hitler’s territorial extension into central and eastern Europe, a necessity for security and survival with the mass-deportation of native populations to places like Siberia and ultimately extermination, supporting similar narratives espoused by other Axis powers, spazio vitale and hakkō ichiu, shifting dependence for trade to their own imperial hinterlands, and during a speech in December of 1940 delivered at the Berliner Sportspalast: “He who does not possess the force to secure his Lebensraum in this world and, if necessary, to enlarge it, does not deserve to possess the necessities of life. He must step aside and allow stronger peoples to pass him by. This was so at all times. The world will not be an empty one because one Volk renounces its life. Rather the Lebensraum will be filled up by other peoples, other beings. There is no vacuum in nature.” By dint of political expediency, the definition of who was German and who was not was fluid though always undergirded with a quasi-religious sense of fate.

6 january 2021 (13. 062)

On this day five years ago, a mob of Donald Trump supporters descended on the Capitol in an abortive self-coup to prevent a joint-session of the US congress from tallying and certifying the 2020 presidential election, formalising the victory of then president-elect Joe Biden. Instigated by Trump himself to “stop the steal” with false claims of widespread voter fraud and election irregularities, a “Save America” rally (in parallel to pressing vice president Pence to overturn the results) was held at the Ellipse at noon ahead of proceedings, the park south of the White House, gathering a crowd of thousands of MAGA members, whipped into a frenzy and dispatched to the Capitol. “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Some two thousand individuals forcibly entered the building, occupying the vacant senate chamber while authorities evacuated representatives amid vandalism and violence. Though repeating false claims, Trump told the mob to go home in peace. Certification resumed and by the next morning, Biden was declared the winner. Whilst not acknowledging defeat, under pressure from his cabinet, Trump conceded to an orderly transition of power in a televised statement. A week later, congress voted to impeach Trump for a second time but the senate failed to convict him, allowing the out-going president to run for public office again. Over fifteen hundred rioters were charged with federal crimes for the insurrection but as the culmination of the revisionist narrative that was presented regarding the event, all were granted clemency under the presidential pardon power by Trump just after re-taking office in 2024.  A full-time and archived news reports (a bulwark against memory-holed resources) from NPR at the link up top.

spioenasiesindikaat (13. 051)

Sentenced on this day in 1942 with cumulative incarcerations lasting three hundred years, the Duquesne Spy Ring was the largest espionage case in US history with thirty-three members of a Nazi Germany network of covert agents convicted after a lengthy investigation by the FBI, with a majority of the indicted pleading guilty on all charges and the remaining tried by an American federal district court in Brooklyn. Under the leadership of Frederick “Fritz” Joubert Duquesne, German-Boer mercenary of British extraction and naturalised US citizen, game-hunter (escorting Theodore Roosevelt on safari), journalist, hippopotamus exporter, and escape artist, members of the group were channelled into key administrative positions for counter-intelligence and sabotage, working as anchor restauranteurs, delivery men, power plant workers, and airline stewards, establishing safe-houses and front-companies—but none installed as politicians—to monitor Allied activities. Their operation was uncovered in part by reluctant double-agent William Sebold (Gottlieb Adolf Wilhelm, an engineer and industrialist emigrating to the US after WWI), coerced first by the Gestapo, recruiting the services of other emigres, and then by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under J Edgar Hoover’s administration. Most were convicted for failing to abide by the Foreign Agents Registration Act and disclose foreign interests—FARA not prohibiting lobbying or any specific activities, it was codified in 1938 primarily to control Nazi propaganda.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the See of St Mark (with synchronopticæ), early eight-bit licensed games plus embroidery journals

thirteen years ago: a numerically unremarkable year plus antique motivational posters

fourteen years ago: future prospects for the Euro currency union plus the history of submarine warfare

sixteen years ago: predictions for 2010