olo (12.402)

A rare genetic mutation allows some individuals to distinguish ten-fold more colours than most humans’ range of ten million but even those possessing the extra retinal cone receptors are not true tetrachromats as the brain, with limited exposure to colours in the wild and the limitations of display screens far less granular than the hundred million upper limits, a seemingly sad, self-handicapping comment on our perception—see also. An experiment conducted on five test subjects hot-wired biological and mental-mapping constraints, however, to stimulate a specific cone, a study named “Oz” for the emerald glasses of the film adaptation, to cause it to encode for a brilliant green hue—appearing like a super-saturated teal for the rest of us—never before experienced, the colour named the above from the binary 010 (for the one targeted photoreceptor, isolated from neighbouring cones) and visible only to those participants for a fleeting moment. Aside from the wonder of surpassing vision, the test also hints at medical and therapeutic applications for degenerative diseases of the eye or for colour blind individuals, rerouting inputs to interpret missing shades.

synchronoptica

one year ago: more theatrical adaptations of toys and games (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: more kakistocracy, the first Earth Day plus a visit to Willmars

eight years ago: antique German African travelogues, more Liartown, USA, populism in France plus revisionist history on Wikipedia

nine years ago: lucid dreaming 

twelve years ago: sovereign debt in the Eurozone

hubertusburg (12. 400)

For Easter Sunday, we returned to Wermsdorf and the Rococo palace built at the behest of elector and Polish king Augustus the Strong, the hunting lodge (see previously here and here), known as the Saxon Versailles whose expansive grounds are also reminiscent of Schwetzingen in the Neckartal. 

After the war, the palace was used as a hospital and in 2006, refurbished as specialist clinic with a psychotherapy, neurology and paediatric department and also contains the state archives and a museum hosting revolving exhibits, currently for local son and inmate Karl Hans Joachim Janke, prodigious modeller and illustrator of fantastic aerospace concepts which blur the line between engineering and art brut (see previously).  

Diagnosed with schizophrenia after being discharged from the military, Janke was afforded a meagre pension to operate a workshop crafting toy airplanes but due to wartime rationing for cardboard and other supplies had to discontinue his hobby, remanded to psychiatric care at Hubertusberg after a less than patriotic outburst for the lack of resources for even the smallest of distractions for children. At hospital, Janke never lacked for material and his designs and correspondence were rediscovered in an attic of the castle in 2000, including over three-thousand drawings for innovation aircraft, concepts for harnessing nuclear energy and the Earth’s magnetic field for propulsion.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Nutella introduced (with synchronoptica), the new flag of South Africa (1994) plus Japanese boomerang words

seven years ago: unprepared for the GDPR, assorted links to revisit, a walking tour of Tbilisi plus a suit filed over campaign interference

eight years ago: an abandoned Soviet base in East Germany, Eastern European animation, French political terms, manhole accessories plus Türkiye dedicates a museum victims of a supposed coup

nine years ago: the site of the first nuclear reactor plus a startup generator

eleven years ago: 420 friendly plus Kurt Vonnegut’s commencement speech

basket case (12. 383)

Though resigned to a therapeutic activity, the art of basket-weaving is something unlike other textile crafts that defies mechanisation and automation and is being championed clubs and consortia all over embracing these ancient ways with both materially traditional and novel substrates, rallying around the 🧺 emoji to express affiliation, included in 2018 rollout. There was some discussion a few years ago about adding a truck emoji as a concession to conservative Americans, a symbolic move that probably would have garnered more mileage and not seen as a bow to tribalism—see also here and here—the pickup created in 2020 in response being seen as too twee and the expectation was for some monster all-terrain SUV. Originating with the asylum system of the nineteenth century with institutionalised individuals mildly dehumanised with such activities that were regarded as childlike and busy-work, basket weaving was somewhat rehabilitated following World War I as occupational therapy for returning soldiers suffering from shell-shock (what we would now recognise as post-traumatic stress disorder), the title epithet probably comes from not the activity but rather the wicker wheelchairs provided to recovering and disabled service members—like the etymology of gone to hell in a hand basket stems from being carted off on a litter. Find out more about those retaking the craft and carrying it forward from It’s Nice That at the link above.

9x9 (12.357)

gondor assault small group: a poem for the first of April  

unitedhealthcare: US attorney Pam Boni general will seek the death penalty in the slaying of company CEO  

yield my time: Senator Cory Booker’s speech on the chamber floor at eighteen hours and counting 

dataviz: an infographic challenge round to recreate the WEB Du Bois economic and demographic charts as presented during the 1900 Paris Exposition using modern tools—via Quantum of Sollazo  

nearby jobs: Chinese omni-app points flexible users to local gig opportunities and side-quests—shake it ’til you make it 

unabhängigkeitserklärung: from Der Zeit, Europe frees itself from American hegemony but starving their attention—via Kottke  

wyld stallyns: texting conversation demonstrates that we’re in the wrong timeline  

mora, negare, deponere: archaeologists uncover fresco foretelling the coming of Saint Luigi 

 i scorn the morn: ‘conjugated nouns’ by linguist Arnold M Zwicky

fetch happens (12. 274)

Already taking certain cues from the dog when it comes to a vigorous shake of the head and big stretches as a reminder, from the New Shelton wet/dry comes another behaviour that maybe it’s wise to incorporate in that chewing wood may boost memory and brain antioxidants. Previous studies suggest that mastication has a positive influence on blood flow and brain function but new research points to how chewing wood—like a popsicle stick—as opposed to gnawing on piece of gum might stimulate production of glutathione, an important restorative that helps the brain repair oxidative stress, neutralising reactive chemicals. More longitudinal studies are needed to see if the correlation nets improved cognition and overall help.

eo 10924 (12. 269)

Established on this day by executive order from John F Kennedy and authorised by the US congress later in September, the Peace Corps is an independent agency of the federal government that trains volunteers and deploys them to local communities around the world to assist developing countries in health and environmental programmes, education, empowering women and the marginalised and making resilient polities that enshrine American values of democracy, free markets and entrepre-neurship, respecting local customs and norms by embedding participants with a command of the prevailing language and living under the same general conditions as their outreach group. Pitched as missionaries of democracy to provide technical advice and assistance, the Corps dispatched some nine hundred volunteers to fifty-two partner countries in its first year, Kennedy committed to its formation in the final days of his presidential campaign—realising the potential to genuinely help people in post-colonial Asia and Africa and counter stereotypes of US imperialism and hegemony—against his opponent Nixon who called the proposal a magnet for draft dodgers and a “cult of escapism.”

11x11 (12. 263)

broadband equity, access and deployment: Trump administration thinks the BEAD programme of the Infrastructures Investment and Jobs Act is too woke   

fermata: a thousand artists release a ‘silent’ album to protest changes to UK intellectual property rights to attract AI companies interesting in training their models on copyrighted material—via the New Shelton wet/dry—also more music without sounds 

late stage capitalism: Washington Post owner Bezos will only allow editorials that defend “free markets” and “personal liberties”—see also   

annual reformulation: important meeting of the US Centres for Disease Control to discuss strains for next season’s influenza vaccine cancelled, confirming fears that the new health secretary will pivot away from proven preventative medicine 

rif me daddy: what Trump’s AI enhanced shitpostings reveal about the administration and plans for the future of Palestine 

absalom, absalom: William Faulkner’s record-setting run-on sentence 

torus and tokamak: a German fusion startup is lauded for its plans, peer-reviewed, to launch a functioning power plant   

only the markets can save us: America’s total economic boycott planned for the last day in February 

touch grass: an app that blocks screentime and doomscrolling until one has proven one’s gone outside—via Waxy  

snoopers’ charter: Apple’s capitulation to the UK’s Investigative Powers Act is Chekov’s Gun for privacy worldwide   

by the people and for the people: dossiers of the people working for the Department of Government Efficiency

synchronoptica

one year ago: ceramicist Yoonmi Nam (with synchronoptica) plus the age of ludicrous inventions 

seven years ago: A Million Random Digits plus assorted links to revisit

eight years ago: more misattributed quotes 

nine years ago: Sàmi tone poems

ten years ago: theodicy, get anything delivered, more links to enjoy plus RIP Leonard Nimoy

st valentine’s day massacre (12. 235)

The purge of US federal workers, beginning with employees serving their probationary period that started in earnest yesterday and continues through the Presidents’ Day long weekend, with the DOGE advisory panel—not a governmental entity and with only derived authority—summarily terminating large swaths of critical workers—not necessarily new to their departments and agencies but many perhaps merely promoted or reclassified within the past two years—arbitrarily and without cause from high- and lower-profile sections including the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, NASA, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration and Homeland Security to the National Nuclear Safety Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, imperilling public safety, health, security and basic services across the country. Not only does this put the public at risk by handicapping safeguards, enforcement and disease and weather surveillance, eliminate the successor generation of scientists and educators in government roles and clear out decades of institutional knowledge and experience, the deletion of workers and agencies with flagrant disregard for procedure, collective bargaining agreements, contracts or labour rights is the onset of a constitutional crisis, the executive no longer respecting the separation of powers by failing to commit funds duly appropriated by the separate and coequal legislative branch for their express purpose—and just barely, so far, abiding by decisions from judges ordering pauses and offering up what speed-bumps they can muster. The US is witnessing the transformation into a dictatorship already in the dismantling of the administrative state, however, and it won’t take ignoring a lawful order to set it off, the regime openly threatening justices who would stand in its way and forwarding appeals to a supreme court solidly in support of its agenda and end-state. Elections have consequences and those polities that voted for this, to hurt Black and Brown people and everyone else—as well as businesses that donated and lobbied—should brace for impact as the first to feel the brunt of their support. It is difficult to say if they can connect the causation or even if there might still be a chance for future reform.

8x8 (12. 231)

shiroposuto: the last of Japan’s discrete adult reading material disposal boxes 

reinfection: bovine testing for bird flu virus suggests that the H5N1 is spreading silently—see previously   

with guns as my retirement and war as mistress: more protest anthems from Jessie Welles   

in the meantime, i am seriously considering cultivating stupidity, to the exclusion of everything else, as a way of life: the correspondence of Edward Gorey and Tom Fitzharris   

remember the giver: an assortment of Valentine’s Day letters   

tipping point: how things change slowly—then all at once, as illustrated by Kiki and Bouba   

morbidity and mortality weekly report: US Centres For Disease Control see research and outreach efforts hampered by Trump’s assault on the agency—see previously, see also   

enmusubi: the gathering of eight million gods play matchmaker for human relationships in this seaside prefecture

synchronoptica

one year ago:  1924’s Die Niebelungen (with synchronoptica), the endless news cycle plus assorted links to revisit

seven years ago: photographing a single atom, the illustrations of Giovanni Fontana, retro social media platforms plus street name diplomacy

eight years ago: more links to enjoy plus Germany votes

nine years ago: developing the .jpeg format, contention over US Presidents’ Day plus holograms to discourage non-disabled drivers taking handicapped parking spots

eleven years ago: forensics and biometrics plus pop culture Ottoman miniatures

💤 (12. 218)

Via friend of the blog Nag on the Lake, we are directed this futuristic pair of pyjamas, a sleep apparel system, a garment sponsored by the government of Japan to improve one’s sleep hygiene in response to numerous studies that show the country’s citizens are among the most sleep-deprived among highly-developed nations—see previously. Meant to promote polyphasic cycles—that is getting in a nap, see also—with a portable, rest-inducing environment. The comfy down mantle with adjustable compression and inflating collar and noise-cancelling headgear are integrated with sensors to triangulate and optimise one’s sleep segments and was inspired by the traditional futon bed. More from Spoon & Tamago at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a clairvoyant horse (with synchronoptica), a quasi-moon, national jukebox plus lessons in logic and rhetoric from Star Trek: TAS

seven years ago: the state of public education in Oklahoma plus WiFi hotspots

eight years ago: chief of public enlightenment plus the degeneration of factory towns

nine years ago: ad blockers, assorted links to revisit plus this day in history

ten years ago: sitting is the new smoking plus the American roadtrip

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

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

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.

𓆫𓂋𓁐 (12. 163)

A rather spectacular tomb (mastaba) was recently excavated in the necropolis of Saqqara in the Giza campus, a burial grounds for the royalty of the ancient capital of Memphis dating to the Sixth Dynasty (circa mid 2200 BC) of one multi-hyphenate called Teti Neb Fu, via Strange Company. Richly decorated with relief depictions of everyday life as well as a catalog of offerings and grave-goods (the body and the originals were looted ages ago) and tools of the trade, the individual was not only physician to the pharaoh and chief doctor of the court, inscriptions also bestow the titles great dentist, director of pharmabotany and priest and magician of the goddess Selket (the scorpion deity who governed venom and its antidotes), providing insight into the intersectionality of religious ritual and medicine of the Old Kingdom. The Swiss-led archaeological dig has uncovered other sites in the area in recent years including one of the vizier Uni with an extensive autobiographical record of his administrative and political achievements, greatly augmenting the knowledge and chronology of the time. More from The History Blog at the link above.

10x10 (12. 135)

year of the snek: designer Japanese greeting cards for 2025—see previously from Spoon & Tamago

world record for tiny window inchoateness: Kate Wagner’s McMansion Hell takes on Neuschwanstein  

cloisonné garnet: an elaborate seventh century brooch discovered near Rostock 

dropped: the 2025 edition of Lake Superior State University’s banished words list, including cringe and skibidi 

back to basics: scientific research confirms that exercise is the most potent medical intervention—for one’s New Year’s resolutions  

dumpster fire: an ominous start for 2025  

classical conditioning: the unscientific and unethical Little Albert Experiment that led to stricter standards in psychological testing 

choicest swears: excellence in strong language and two other New Year’s traditions  

monuments men: Italy’s cultural heritage protection squad saves artefacts from a clandestine dig in Naples

new year, new neighbourhood: the transformation of New York City’s Times Square

forschungslaboratorium für elektronenphysik (12. 106)

Autodidact in applied physics and prolific inventor, Baron Manfred von Ardenne, after presenting to the public his concept of Fernsehen a year and a half earlier, achieved his first wholly electronic transmission of television pictures, using a cathode ray tube (see more) for both transmission and reception, on this day in 1933. Following trial runs on broadcasters, Ardenne’s technological advance progressed quickly with the private station of Paul Nipkow culminating with the live airing of the 1936 Berlin Games. Having also conducted pioneering experiments in the fields of radar, radio, isotope separation and inventing the scanning electron microscope, Ardenne’s research facilities in Berlin-Lichtenfelde were put a protective order by Soviet occupying forces in April 1945 and Ardenne and his colleagues were reassigned to laboratories in Abkhazia to work on the atomic bomb project (see also)—like the Russian version of Operation Paperclip. Realising that participation in such a plan would jeopardise his eventual repatriation to East Germany, Ardenne convinced authorities to focus on uranium enrichment rather than weaponising the programme, slowly development until the Americans bombed Japan and an extensive espionage network determined that it was more than theoretical possible. Once Ardenne returned to the DDR and assumed an advisory role in the government, he applied his study and resources to medical diagnostics, inventing an early form MRI scanner and radiotherapies to treat cancer.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: Christmas Greetings (with synchronoptica), Aida (1871) plus more accidental Renaissance art

seven years ago: Sleighrunner, Trump’s challenge coin plus more Season’s Greetings

eight years ago: A Human Document, internet court plus a collection of Yule Logs

nine years ago: more Yule Logs 

ten years ago: a visit from Father Frost

eleven years ago: 2013 wrapped plus a holiday reckoning  

9x9 (12. 082)

blame on the whiskey: DJ Earworm’s 2024 wrapped  

nhtsa: Trump transition team recommends scrapping crash reporting regulations with Tesla among the biggest offender for car-related fatalities—via the New Shelton wet/dry  

swaddling clothes: removal of a keffiyeh from a creche at the Vatican demonstrates how Nativity Scenes are never neutral  

flashpoint: charting possible frontlines on the continent if Russia pushes further on the NATO alliance  

as above, so below: the ensemble of pyramids of the Giza complex have eight sides, visible only during the equinoxes 

theatre of thought: Werner Herzog contemplates the nature of the mind in his latest documentary  

big band: Glenn Miller’s 1944 disappearance without a trace is an enduring aviation mystery, second to Amelia Earhart’s  

ka$h patel: FBI director’s resignation may hinder Trump loyalist’s succession as head of the bureau 

there ain’t no us in the private trust: a folk protest song about the state of American healthcare

deny, defend, depose, diarrhea (12. 073)

Symptomatic of far greater endemic problems with America’s labour and healthcare problems, individuals are submitting scathing reviews of one of the three McDonald’s franchises in Altoona, Pennsylvania that tipped off authorities regarding the whereabouts of the fugitive suspected of killing the CEO of a major insurance provider—see previously. Whilst his life is undergoing vivisection by the police and the press for his apparent act of retribution, the public is lamenting the selling out by an informant of folk-hero Luigi Mangione whose Monopoly money and manifesto speaks for everyone who has had a negative interaction with their insurance carrier by addle-brained employees who will never have coverage either (nor likely any other basic benefits, like paid leave or a pension) and won’t see the bounty as the tip went through local authorities and not the FBI hotline, no CEO stepping forward to reward this act of killing one of their own. PfRC does not condone this type of lawless vigilantism no matter how resonant and righteous, nor do we condone the above-the-law framework of for-profit healthcare and corporate welfare that props up businesses that rely on a woefully insufficient government safety net to make money and a parasocial system that is a feedback loop undermining people’s physical and mental well-being.

9x9 (12. 057)

globetrotter—more like globetriggered: a wrap of 2024 in therapy  

new doge, old tricks: Musk and Ramaswamy present their plan to rapture three-quarters of the government workforce but it’s going to be a challenge to achieve real cost-cutting or improved efficiency  

vote de censure: French government collapses after legislature moves to eject controversial prime minister Michel Barnier—see previously 

field of vision: the challenges of bringing the Vera Ruben perched high in the Andes on online includes unidentified intelligence agencies screening images before they are released to the public  

my empathy is out of network: Americas respond to the assassination of a major medical insurance CEO  

ekistical portrait: Rob Stephenson is documenting all the three hundred and fifty neighbourhoods of New York City’s five boroughs—via Kottke  

what just happened: South Korea’s declaration of marshal law, parliament’s rejection and the ongoing political crisis  

stonks: Bitcoin just hit $100 000 a piece  

hot topic: the year in Wikipedia, recent celebrity deaths topped the list again

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the Michelob Music Hour (with synchronoptica) plus modern art presented as a fun-fair

seven years ago: noisy GIFs, assorted links worth the revisit plus 52 more things

eight years ago: the origins of Play-Doh

nine years ago: red cup controversy, a trip to Rosenau plus our faithful chronicler

ten years ago: troublesome ideas in the marketplace plus an A-ha! reunion concert

consul junior (12. 023)

Via Friend of the Blog par excellence Nag on the Lake, we are introduced to the esteemed French-Russian surgeon, Serge Voronoff (see also, though we were hoping they were one in the same personage) who gained international fame for his xenotransplantation experiments (see previously) as a meanings of restoring virility and vitality by grafting simian glands onto human recipients. Controversial and subsequently debunked as quackery, Voronoff’s practise and outrageous claims made him very wealthy—initially he moved from research on the thyroid to transplanting testes from executed criminals onto millionaire clients but soon demand surpassed donors and the doctor turned to using chimpanzee (see above) tissue instead. We learn about this work, which has echoes of modern rejuvenation movements and seemingly similarly ill-informed courtesy of a defiant letter to the editor penned by playwright George Bernard Shaw in May 1928 on behalf of the titular London’s Regent’s Park zoo’s most famous resident of the monkey house, not keen on donating—ahead of Voronoff’s much-anticipated visit to the UK in response to detractors maintaining that the implantation would cause humans to take on the baser attributes of their close relative—as read by Andy Serkis (previously—here’s an alternate source as the original link has been sadly zombified by AI slop)—Golem and Caesar from Planet of the Apes.