day one-hundred fourteen (13. 549)

US senate narrowly votes to halt conflict in Iran without congressional authorisation, though Trump is expected to veto the war powers resolution. The US president announces that IAEA nuclear inspectors will go to Iran at “an appropriate time”—Tehran countering the claims on commitments made earlier by Trump and Vance, whilst secretary of state Rubio maintains that Hormuz must remain toll-free as UN takes action to evacuate sailors stranded in the Strait. Russia puts the annexed territory of Crimea under lockdown as a swarm of drones approaches. Belarus strives to remain neutral after Kiev issues an ultimatum and warms of consequences.

you made this? (13. 530)

Knowing it was ongoing project, I was not completely surprised to see references to John Koenig’s Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows circulating on the internet but we did not realise that the revival was not due to a reissue or a follow up edition by the author but rather an act of wholesale plagiarism. Whilst nonsensically including the entire text of the book and all his neologisms for universally felt emotions that we don’t have the words to express (not the best marketing strategy to sell a book), the slick impostor website, which includes blurbs and a biography and links to purchase the dictionary, absent were any of the illustrations to accompany the definitions, instead replaced with unpolished AI-generated images and a feature to gin up a new sorrow with the help of GPT-4—which seemed pretty off-brand for the writer and the attempt to limn lacunas of human experience. Every submitted sorrow is a bit rubbish and unneeded with fussy and overcomplicated etymologies and pronunciation guides (see also). Andy Baio of Waxy got in touch with Koenig and tracks down the mystery of this unauthorised “tribute” site. Vibe coded, I suspected that this might have been a case of spontaneous generation but arguably more tragic, malicious and pervasive, the bootleg site siphoning off profits from another’s creativity is a marketing agency feeling entitled. There ought to be a word for this sad state.

10x10 (13. 523)

nine days in june: landmark US supreme court decisions of years past and upcoming cases during this busy time of the year  

mcmodernslopecore: AI-generated architecture—via Miss Cellania  

photovoltaic: a brief tutorial on how solar panels work—via Kottke  

linguist fingerprints: every AI talks with an accent  

i am not on harry mudd’s client list—stop talking about it, i don’t even know him: the Federation’s war with the Romulans was a total success 

defender of the realm: profiles of medieval warrior women  

dialog society: a trove of leaked documents reveals the activities of Peter Thiel’s secretive cult, prepping for WWIII with a breeding programme—see previously  

spacex: a plan to deploy a million satellites in Earth orbit would ruin the night sky for everyone  

parc güell: Antoni Gaudí’s 1926 failed housing estate has become one of Barcelona’s public spaces  

51st state: rural Illinois citizens petition to eject Chicago and split into two polities—see also 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the G7 in Alberta and the Israeli-Iran war (with synchronoptica) plus the Trump phone 

two years ago: a synthesiser performance piece , OJ Simpson flees police (1994) plus tragic children’s names

three years ago: NASCAR celebrates Pride plus a werewolf exorcism (1983)

four years ago: Star Trek: TAS retcon, the Watergate break-in (1972) plus assorted links to revisit

five years ago: Iceland reforms its naming rules, ASCII standards published (1963), the musical stylings of the Sons of Kemet plus calendrical dating formats

six years ago: US supreme court erodes the Civil Rights Act, the East German uprising of 1953, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls plus Trump sues to stop publication of a tell-all exposé

bechbretha (13. 506)

The codex of customary law, fénechas, in medieval Ireland included quite a sophisticated and substantial register of “bee-judgments,” as apiculture was recognised on par with other forms of animal husbandry, requiring regulation and legislation. The concept of justice under Brehon legal traditions privileged the restorative, remunerative and rectifying behaviour over the punitive and provided a framework for the plaintiff and defendant to work out compensation for injuries sustained—whether from an errant sting or bee-trespass, supposedly pilfering a neighbour’s nectar, or stolen hives. More from The Conversation at the link above.

public law 119-98 (13. 503)

Concluding a record-breaking agency shutdown of one hundred fifteen days, with lawmakers withholding money from immigration and customs enforcement hoping to pressure the weaponised bureau to reform after the death of two American citizens, congress, by the slimmest of margins along party lines voted to fund ICE and its parent department of Homeland Security. Arguably worse and further reaching than the Democrats securing no concessions to curb the agency’s thuggery and predatory practises, however, is the way the legislation was passed: with negotiations deadlocked, the GOP moved to sideline the Democrats entirely, bypassing the usual funding process of annual appropriations that require department heads to submit their yearly budget request and argue it before the competent congressional committee—a process that guarantees more oversight on the part of lawmakers—and giving DHS a three-year budget package that will last through the end of Trump’s term, seventy-billion dollars, through a process called reconciliation, an expedited parliamentary procedure used primarily safeguard presidential policy priorities, like the Big Beautiful Bill or Biden’s environmental laws or domestic microchip production, but not to fund government programmes out of cycle from being dismantled by the opposition. The Secure America Act was sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham and signed by Trump immediately upon passage. With only a vanishingly small majority in the House and Senate, more departments and activities favoured by Trump—or the next administration—under this precedent could turn to reconciliation to keep budgets unbeholden going forward and nullify the minority’s ability to leverage influence through a lapse of appropriations.

6x6 (13. 496)

epistolary: a profile of one of China’s last working Qiaopi writers (侨批) who sends letters and remittances to relatives overseas 

robert tyzyczhowzswiski is asking the court to change his cognomen: the trials and tribulations of legal stenographers—see also  

gonzo and camilla: revisiting emperor Honorius, chicken fancier  

inter esperantistoj; the undying dream of the universal language—see previously—via Web Curios  

post-hoc rationalisation: more lawyers get in trouble for reliance on AI 

fountain of knowledge: Japanese quiz culture was shaped by the post-war US occupation

day ninety-six (13. 484)

In a further rebuke of Trump’s stalled negotiations to end the war with Iran—Tehran pulling out of negotiations altogether over IDF attacks in Lebanon despite the ceasefire and a reported spat between the US president and his Israeli counterpart who views his fighting in Beirut as another obstacle to peace after committing to the joint venture, several GOP representatives have split with their party to joint the Democratic slight minority and pass the war powers act in congress. Though still pending veto-proof assent by the senator and mostly symbolic as whilst the legislative branch has the sole authority to declare war, there is probably little it could do to stop Trump from directing his military with the pretext of imminent threat, the legislation’s ultimate passage after eleven attempts, seven times it failed to reach a floor vote, blocked by the house speaker is significant and does signal Republicans’ break with the president, earlier demonstrated with their rejection of Trump’s anti-weaponisation slush fund to reward loyalists and senators withholding extra funds for his East Wing ballroom.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the foundations of Venice (with synchronopticæ), a Ukrainian sneak attack deep inside of Russia plus a revival of The Weather Channel

fourteen years ago: EU debt-to-GDP 

gobierno militar estadounidense (13. 451)

With the formal withdrawal of the caretaker military government of the United States on this day in 1902 and the constitution, in part dictated and amended with several riders and preconditions, drawn up the previous year, the Republic of Cuba declared its independence with Tomás Estrada Palma, formerly the leader of the revolutionary junta of La República de Cuba en Armas that fought to free itself from Spanish rule prior to the invention of William McKinley’s Spanish-American war, with the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbour a catalyst for the conflict—blamed on Spanish loyalists but likely upon reexamination due to a boiler accident—which resulted in the annexation of Cuba and the Philippines, taking office as the first president. Before the constitution was enacted, the Platt amendment was incorporated, with seven articles primarily stipulating that Cuba would lease America land for naval stations and coal mining activities, not allow any other foreign powers the same privileges, and for the US to intervene unilaterally in domestic affairs of the island in order to protect business interests and the expatriate population, though the limits of this intervention were never defined, in exchange for the departure of US troops and ensuring that the segregationist policies of the occupation would be lifted. Two years into his second term in 1906, Estrada Palma and his cabinet resigned without appointing a successor, allowing the US to retake control as an occupying force under the arrangement of the Platt amendment lasting until 1909 when a government sympathetic to American sensibilities could be installed.

the quiet part out loud (13. 421)

A couple of times in recent history the US chairman of the joint chiefs of the armed forces have stepped in to prevent, the last time that we know of—it’s unclear who or what talked Trump down from destroying a civilisation—Mark Milley in the wake of the January Sixth insurrection of telling top commanders to disobey nuclear launch orders without his involvement, calling his manoeuvre pulling a Schlesinger, in deference to Nixon’s secretary of defence whom prophylactically countermanded the president during his drunken despondence during his last week in high office before resigning in disgrace. Whilst neither of these previous acts met the threshold of a coup or insubordination exactly, lacking the administrative and legislative burden and the premeditated publicity, a new quiet act of patriotism and rebellion, read into the congressional record, Volume 172, № 76 in the form of the expert testimony of thirty-six physicians declaring the incumbent unfit for command. This inclusion and intervention, presumably inscribed for as long as the republic holds and something future scholars of this time will have to address when the history of our present is written, satisfies much of the above criteria as something that begged to be said, but lacks media attention—there’s no press coverage, which is a natural consequence of the administration’s attacks on the media, cowing domestic and foreign outlets alike with intimidation and nuisance lawsuits and conglomerates reluctant to curry displeasure, selectively citing the selectively applied so called Goldwater rule (previously), the American Psychiatric Association’s code of ethics directing licensed professionals from commenting on the health of a public figure, as a diagnosis requires both a personal examination and consent. Their assessment is of course not beyond the bounds of speculation, and the duty to warn for the public good is recognised by medical professionals and some reporters alike. Much more from the Grim Historian at the link above.

dolus specialis (13. 414)

Having recently learned much more than our previous passing familiarity with the figure of Paul and Essie Robeson and his subsequent erasure from history from a cross-over episode of This American Life from the podcast Our Ancestors Were Messy (I strongly recommend listening), we appreciated this addendum—courtesy of Kottke—in this historic snapshot of good trouble with Robeson leading a delegation of the Civil Rights Congress to indict the US government before the United Nations with the charge of genocide perpetuated after the civil war with Jim Crow policies of segregation and disenfranchisement. A copies of the book-length petition were delivered to UN headquarters in New York as well as Paris, but manoeuvres by the United States, preoccupied with the Cold War, prevented formal debate of charges brought forward or even entertaining public discussion—supporters and signatories of the document were further persecuted and blacklisted, accused of exaggerating racial inequalities in order to advance the cause of communism. The title refers to the application of specific, deliberate intent to destroy a group in whole or in part under the UN’s own definition of the crime against humanity.

day sixty-seven (13. 405)

After announcing a pause on US plans to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the Revolutionary Guard announces that it could reopen the vital waterway to tanker traffic if the US were to end its blockade. Although sticking points won’t be resolved in a single round of talks, Pakistani go-betweens suggest that indirect negotiations have continued and that a peace deal may be close. In response to US sanctions on members of the International Criminal Court, Spanish prime minister Sánchez has requested the European Commission to impose its blocking statue (trade bazooka) to pressure America to stop intimidating the justices by enabling Europe to ignore the US embargo. The penalty was imposed on the court in response to its 2024 issuing of warrants for the Israeli prime minister and former defence minister for actions in Palestine. The UN is demanding the release of activists detained after their aid flotilla was intercepted off the coast of Gaza. The destruction of Hezbollah infrastructure continues in southern Lebanon.

synchronoptica

one year ago: planned tariffs for foreign cinema (with synchronopticæ) plus The Little Screw

thirteen years ago: a Bulli AT-AT plus feline toxoplasm

sixteen years ago: sovereign default plus in pursuit of a mad bomber

seventeen years ago: pollen in the air 

wish fulfilment is not a strategy—we have sidelined the entire world (13. 392)

As the US supreme court was eviscerating the vestiges of the civil rights act meant to redress historical disenfranchisement and under-representation by limiting redistricting and gerrymandering to the regressive standards of the conservative justices, secretary of war Hegseth flanked by joint chief of staff General Dan Caine—appealing to congress for an extra one and a half trillion dollars for the military budget and approval to officially rename the department of defence the department of war—was summoned to Capitol Hill to testify on the cost of the adventure in Iran as the conflict enters its second month. The estimate, which seems to low-ball the true price—particularly when early figures were at a billion dollars a day, stands at twenty-five billion, but still lacking an end date or direction for resolving the diplomatic stalemate. The testimony was filled with the usual rage and rhetoric typical of the former Fox News personality, but in a forum where he could not dismiss or outshout follow-up questions, Hegseth withered before Democrat representatives. Unable to simply bully and berate people for “being negative,” Hegseth tried labelling the House Armed Services Committee as their biggest adversary with their “reckless, feckless and defeatist words” and had no answers for the administration’s costly missteps, the global economic fallout, the blockade of the blockade, unraveling when pressed, deflecting to over-supplying Ukraine under Biden and retreating to the bombastic oratory that his warriors were “forging a lethal arsenal of freedom” with Operation Epic Fury. Manifestly frustrated and shouting at the group, congressman Seth Moulton (attesting he was also a Pulp Fiction fan, alluding to Hegseth’s earlier invocation quoting the film) lobbed a few easier, straightforward questions at the secretary, “This is a softball one for you—don’t screw it up,” asking about the announcement that influenza vaccines would no longer be mandatory for troops, but quickly descended into a cult-like furore, saying that calling out forever wars as the quagmire that they were (again Hegseth’s words) betrayed an entire generation that served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rather than a projection of power, way out of their depth, the session was rather exposed timidity and terror.

6x6 (13. 377)

mail-order magic: cheaper printing techniques and a robust postal system helped occultism to flourish in the United States at the turn of the last century—and still thrives  

no contest: sentences delivered in bear-suit insurance fraud case 

floating currency: the US$ index is a deceptive relic  

garum: the fascinating history of fish sauce—via MetaFilter  

van helsing: the curious case of Old Thiess and the benevolent werewolves of Livonia  

domestics: a peek inside the world’s first servant robot mail order startup

unsg (13. 375)

With auditions for the leadership role only governed by custom and consensus and not specifically enshrined by charter, rotating by region after each five-year term (though the length is also discretionary and upheld by the office-holder, subject to renewal) with Latin America due for the turn and reserved for the middle-powers, by tradition members from the Security Council excluded, few have this session have put themselves forward for the job of United Nations secretary-general, only four candidates compared with the thirteen contenders under consideration during the selection process of 2016. At a time when norms have been proven insufficient to contain imperial ambitions, particularly with the US allowing a magisterial presidency, record numbers of veteran senators and congressional representatives retiring—which whilst not a universal condition, the home-grown breach in ceremony is an export—in response to that power imbalance, the influence of the UN ill-equipped to mediate the divide between world powers, blocked by permanent members who have vetoed stopping the fighting in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran (whom also reserve the right to overturn a nomination by the general assembly for leader), the position appears rather thankless. The frontrunner, Michelle Bachelet, former Chilean president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is already facing opposition from the American delegation over her gender and purported extremist agenda.

advanced avionics (13. 337)

Appearing on German broadcaster RTL (Radio Télévision Luxembourg, the cosmopolitan media group founded as Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion as one of the first private programmers in 1931 and representative of the broader spirit of transnational cooperation) on this day in 1976, Belgian prime minister Leo Tindemans (to the right of Helmut Schmidt and Luxembourg PM Gaston Thorn), previously charged with defining what the European Union was to be as a political entity with his eponymous report that helped to guide the formation of the EU and its institutions, defended the country’s decision to purchase US fighter jets rather than French Dassault Mirages, in the context of forming a common defensive strategy for the continent. Despite what was interpreted as a slight by the domestic aerospace industry at the time, later that year Tindemans was awarded the international Charlemagne prize for his contributions towards unity, economic integration and the strengthening of citizen rights.

incendiary rhetoric (13. 328)

Emboldened and perhaps over-confident by the derring do of rescuing the crew of a downed fighter jet after claiming that they had secured Iranian airspace, after claiming that Tehran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon had been obliterated in last summer’s targeted strikes and demands that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which was open until the aggression of America and Israel, Trump has been giving the country a preview of what is store short of capitulation hours from now, lamenting that a “whole civilisation will die tonight.”Such a lecture from a nation preparing to celebrate its semiquincentennial—it’s not: from the time that Britain decided to cut its loses in September 1783 to the outbreak of the civil war in April of 1861 is seventy-eight years and from that truce until now is arguably a continuum of one hundred sixty years and change—is not a welcome one for a civilisation of six millennia. Stone Age indeed. Trump goes on to muse: “However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter and less radicalised minds prevail, maybe something revolutionary wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?” Regardless of the outcome, Israel has declared that southern Lebanon is a separate theatre and will continue to persecute action against Hezbollah in the south. During second round of deliberations, Russia and China rejected UN coordinated involvement in taking the vital artery, declaring a protected mandate and Trump has been roundly criticised for telegraphing his intent to commit war crimes, whilst Israel in parallel and ahead of schedule has blown up bridges and railways used by the Revolutionary Guard. En route to Hungary to campaign for Victor Orbán, US vice president JD Vance commented that the American military has tools at their disposal not yet used, prompting speculation by the press that the US may use the nuclear option with the administration forcefully condemning any such interpretation.

moot court (13. 314)

The first for a sitting US president, Trump will attend oral arguments as the supreme court holds a hearing on a lower court ruling that struck down his executive order limiting birthright citizenship (see previously here and here). The appeal, if upheld and overruling the earlier verdict, will upend the established view that under the fourteenth amendment to the constitution, all individuals are conferred US citizenship regardless of the status of their parents whom are born on US soil. Though unclear whether his attendance will intimidate the justices and put a thumb on the scales but we can presume to know what Trump’s objective is. Previously, the president had entertained attending a hearing which ultimately ruled his reciprocal tariff scheme illegal but decided against it, saying it would be a distraction. The case on today’s docket won’t be decided likely until the early summer but this preliminary session will shape the trajectory of the arguments. Much more at the links above.

gort-appointed attorney (13. 278)

Despite numerous mistrials resulting from artificial intelligence in the courtroom, we learn—courtesy of Super Punch—that Los Angeles county, the largest civil justice system in the US is running a pilot programme that allows judges to use an AI tool, called Learned Hand, to draft legal opines and tentative rulings, informed by precedent and the individual jurist’s own narrative voice. Requiring that output be vetted and human-jured before before issuing a verdict, the project, meant to ease the administrative case-load, is expected to erode public trust in the courts and run the risk of predisposing judgment before thorough research, influencing the disposition. The makers of the bespoke large language model touts that it is already being used by a few other jurisdictions and has extensive guardrails to prevent hallucinations and inventing precedent, related cases cited with hyperlinks in a fact-checking protocol referred to as Deep Verify. There is presently no requirement for disclosure for rulings adjudicated at with the help of AI.

11x11 (13. 268)

epistemic cocoon: filters, bubbles, synthetic friends and the personal theatre of disinformation—via Web Curios  

no yokes: a quarter of a century in market fluctuations  

semantic drift: the etymological and entomological history of the word drone  

belated blogoversary: Kottke turns twenty-eight  

wet shelter: the house photographer of the aid mission in the crypt of St Botolph’s 

le salaire de la peur: in a demonstration project to expand research partnerships with other laboratories, CERN attempts to transport a microscopic payload of antimatter for the first time—see previously  

caged lorries: Singapore, despite pressure from businesses that rely on migrant labour, is moving towards banning the dehumanising way workers are transported to job sites  

unbirthday: salutations and reflections from veteran blogger Diamond Geezer  

áfram með smjörið: delightful Icelandic idioms—via friend of the blog Nag on the Lake  

what’s that got to do with the price of tea in china: US egg cost down forty-two percent—hope it was all worth it  

ai is african intelligence: the exploited workers who tutor and moderate chatbots fight back

blue shield (13. 265)

Coming into force in 1956 and ratified by one thirty eight member states, the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, party to every belligerent involved in the current conflagration but not always respected as with the Red Cross designating a hospitals and humanitarian activities, Iran has unfurled scores of the emblems on museums, holy and historical sites across the country as a message that this is not a strategic target. Whilst modern militaries maintain their own “no strike” lists with varying degrees of selective accuracy and there’s no way to control the legitimate use of the shield, the effort is laudable as it does add a layer of responsibility for aggressors and those seeking protection. Pictured is the Tomb of classical Persian poet Baba Tahir in Hamadan in midwestern Iran, which also hosts the burial places of philosopher and polymath Avicenna and Queen Ester as well as being the birthplace of Wojtek the bear.