preventative strikes (13. 219)

Amid ongoing talks, in which Trump expressed his displeasure with the situation, arguing that Tehran was not “negotiating in good faith” and a massive build up of US naval and air assets in the region, Israeli defence forces have launched attacks, targeting several ministries in the capital and in multiple cities. Provoked, we are sure how this will play out—with retaliation on Tel Aviv, giving the Americans the excuse to intervene militarily, an option that the administration refused to rule out. Thirty-three minutes later, Trump announces “major combat operations” in Iran, accusing them of trying to restart its nuclear programme.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a wall of sound audio sampler (with synchronopticæ) plus a diplomatic melt-down in the Oval Office

twelve years ago: Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet 

thirteen years ago: fractured futures plus the Day of Unplugging

fifteen years ago: the grammar of emoticons plus the economic states of Iceland and Ireland

tradwife futurism (13. 199)

Lamenting the visions of paleo-futures lost to the branching decisions that inform our present, Telescopic Turnip, complete with a recommended accompaniment soundtrack of optimistic New Age—via MetaFilter—takes us on a journey of one those alternate timelines with the hope and enthusiasm of the Atoms for Peace programmes through microwave cookery. Contemporarily, the oven is not a replacement for the traditional stove and range top but rather a complement and although agreeably there was a course adjustment, this vision was not entirely abandoned, which I think about the every time I notice the custom-built cabinet in our well-appointed kitchen that hides the barely used microwave behind a hydraulic wing-style door—which is also a nice storage space for cookbooks and makes the layout symmetrical but also was a pretty expensive thing to install for that purpose—or how the kitchenette of my workweek apartment only had a microwave, and there was a time when it was promoted as the way of the future. Read more about the accidental discovery and foisted application—along with that of countervailing rival Teflon, at the link up top.

la jetée (13. 187)

Courtesy of our faithful chronicler, we are informed the influential sci-fiction featurette by Left-Bank writer-director Chris Marker (previously) premiered on this day in 1962. Set in a post-apocalyptic Paris, with survivors of a nuclear war living in the catacombs and galleries beneath the Palais de Chaillot (the neoclassical showcase built for the Exposition Internationale of 1937 on the grounds of the partially demolished Palais du Trocadéro—the temporary headquarters of both the UN and NATO and backdrop of Hitler’s short tour of the city with Albert Speer in 1940 and Victory in Europe celebrations five years later) with the remaining scientific community conducting research into time travel, sending test subjects to various dates in the past and future and change the course of history and avert the conflict that has all but wiped out civilisation. Challenged to find suitable test subjects mentally stable enough to withstand the rigours of temporal displacement, they pin their hopes on a man with a vague but ingrained memory from before the war, a startling encounter he witnessed from the observation platform (“the jetty”) from the Orly airport. His intervention seems promising but is caught in a paradox and can affect no change. The narrative is told almost exclusively with a photomontage, cycling through still images with no dialogue other than an expository voice-over. The short was adapted and expanded by filmmaker Terry Gilliam with his 1995 12 Monkeys, a debt very much openly acknowledged in the movie’s opening credits..

11x11 (13. 159)

que rico ser latino: staging Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time celebration  

coed darcy village: a building project on the brownfield site of a former Welsh mine abandoned without explanation—via Things Magazine 

printing films: vintage educational and instructional shorts on typesetting and the publishing industry—via Kottke  

as slow as possible: anticipating the next chord change after almost two years for the organ in a church in Haberstadt playing six-hundred year John Cage (see previously) composition  

wseg-10: with nuclear treaties lapsed and the US retrofitting obsolete silos, an interactive map showing areas of the US most likely to be affected by an atomic exchange 

material worlds: revisiting architecture Bruce Goff and his homespun futurism through a new retrospective exhibit—via Nag on the Lake  

lawful neutral: Jeremy Bentham’s 1817 categorical table of human impulse as an early form of alignment chart 

pitchforks: San Francisco’s pro-billionaire march turns out as a bust  

tangible media: a collection of data one can hold 

hagyomány, identitás, történelemthe: mysterious Rohonc Codex that has resisted decipherment—see also  

viva italiano: Winter Games opening ceremony was a celebration of the host country’s cultural icons—including Bialetti’s Moka Express

eighty-five seconds to midnight (13. 121)

The Washington DC based Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences advanced their Doomsday Clock four seconds forward, announced in a press release citing failure of global leadership to contain or reverse an array of existential threats including record-breaking climate trends, rogue AI, reframed nuclear pacts and bald dereliction when it comes to disease control and prevention. Inaction and lack of a cooperative framework signal that time is fast running out, though the organisation still maintains that the clock can be turned back in their annual assessment, although collapse of hard-won progress into more tribalism and nationalistic posturing does not seem very reassuring. More from the board at the link up top.

8x8 (12. 839)

house of dynamite: Trump’s call to resume nuclear weapons testing—on hiatus since 1992—throws Washington into chaos 

trick-or-treat: Illinois governor calls for Halloween armistice on ICE raids in Chicago 

fяiends: an AI generated montage of the show is an accidental Lynchian fever dream  

monster-palooza: the musical stylings of Verne Langdon as amanuensis for the vampire at the harpsicord  

gold ¼ starter: ancient Celtic coin discovered near Leipzig  

mister mountbatten windsor: Prince Andrew stripped of all styles and evicted from the Royal Lodge over his association with Jeffrey Epstein 

7 500: Trump lowers refugee admissions cap with priority for white South Africans—see previously  

nuclear option: Trump urges senate to end the filibuster rule to reopen US federal government without Democrats 

synchronoptica

one year ago: a Halloween tragedy from 1974 that ruined trick-or-treating for everyone (with synchronopticæ) plus ghoulish ABBA

twelve years ago: US scolds Germany and Japan for their economic policy 

thirteen years ago: forever chemicals in outdoor wear, catastrophic weather events, in praise of Wikipedia plus Disney to acquire the Star Wars franchise

fourteen years ago: more debates about daylight savings time 

sixteen years ago: Halloween and the Swine Flu 

seventeen years: what’s scary this spook season 

tsar bomba (12. 837)

As our faithful chronicler reminds, on this day in 1961—as news comes that Trump has directed his Department of War to resume nuclear testing partially in response to a successful trial by Russia of a submarine drone after a thirty-three year hiatus and will yield no benefit for America’s arsenal and only inflict more lasting environmental damage—the Soviet Union detonated the largest ever thermonuclear aerial weapon, codenamed Project Vanya, over Novaya Zemla, an arctic archipelago in the extreme northeast. Ordered by Secretary Khrushchev when the country quit the test ban moratorium (see previously) and timed to coincide with the gathering of the twenty-second Congress of the Communist Party. Four thousand times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and over three times the yield of the then largest US trial, Castle Bravo, carrying out the test garnered strong international condemnation and resulted in a partial nuclear test ban treaty at the instigation of Moscow and the chief scientist behind the programme. Confirming the theory that multistage charges could be calibrated with unlimited destructive power, neither side attempted to increase the scale for fear of creating a doomsday weapon. Though window panes were broken as far away as Finland and Norway from the seismic shock and anything within a hundred kilometres of ground-zero was annihilated, fallout was minimal and quickly dispersed with no consequences that would deter reoccupation.

¹⁴c (12. 755)

Above-ground nuclear testing, conducted primarily by the US and the USSR, from the late 1940s to early 1960s caused a global increase in the concentration of the above radioactive carbon isotope that left a distinct, detectable marker in all life on Earth, entering the food-chain as radioactive carbon-dioxide absorbed by plants and passed on. The so called bomb pulse of this era could be used as a precise dating tool, differing from classical carbon dating because the biosphere acts as a chronometer rather than relying on rates of decay to find out how long ago something died, to determine whether biological material was formed before, during or after. This signature can be used in forensics, forgery detection, poaching and wildlife trafficking and climate modelling. More on the convergence of fallout and science from Kottke, including a video lesson, at the link above.

oaix (12. 750)

Over four years after the disastrous withdrawal of US force arranged during his first term with the Taliban—timed so his successor would deal with the consequences, Trump is talks with the government of Afghanistan to retake the former Soviet airbase outside of Kabul. With one of the biggest, fortified runaways in the world and considered strategically valuable by dint of proximity to Chinese nuclear silos and test ranges. For their part, Taliban officials of the internationally isolated nation did not seem too keen on the prospect of returning Bagram to American control (despite threats from the administration) but did indicate a willingness to engage in discussions for other partnerships.

8x8 (12. 749)

ephemeral 80s: a side project from Curios British Telly  

informal collaborator: methods of surveillance and monitoring by the Iron Curtain  

consumer expenditures: Bureau Labour Statistics, under pressure from the Trump administration’s push for a rosy economic outlook postponed releasing a key annual report—see previously 

the vela incident: a mysterious double flash in the India ocean was detected on this day in 1979, thought to be an undeclared nuclear test 

just look where you’re walking or you’ll get ko’d by the gauntlet of misshapened zucchini-descendant bastards swinging from above: it’s that time again—see previously   

estᴰ: an archive of derelict shopfronts from the 1970s and 1980s of East London  

disgruntled nomenclature: a list of American college presidents—drawn from a 1973 yearbook of higher education—are particularly interchangeable and revealing of patriarchical power structures 

upstairs, downstairs: seven decades of ITV on the anniversary of its founding, breaking the BBC broadcast monopoly

synchronoptica

one year ago: Bilbo Baggins’ birthday (with synchronopticæ), St Mauritius, first contact plus a presidential assassination attempt (1975)

twelve years ago: Singapore’s Super Trees, bad real estate photographs plus untamed houseplants

thirteen years ago: promoting women executives 

fourteen years ago: safe overtaking plus the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

fifteen years ago: a classic iPad sleeve 

sixteen years ago: our little travel blog 

seventeen years ago: de-logistics 

operation nougat (12. 728)

Begun on this day in 1961 immediately following the Soviet Union’s abrogation of a moratorium on testing, pressured by the American congress—who in turn was informed by a piece of investigative journalism (using a representative as the source) by the Miami News that the USSR was planning on exploding nuclear warheads on the Moon for scientific purposes with the end goal of landing cosmonauts on the Earth’s satellite by 1965, the US resumed controlled atomic explosions for the first time since 1958 with a series of forty-four underground and tunnel detonations at the Nevada Proving Grounds. The first shot conducted, Antler, in a tunnel four hundred metres below the surface lost containment right away, ruining sensors and losing data—a recurring problem for this operation, which also hosted tests for the British nuclear programme, caused by ground water above the blast zone which sublimated in the testing shaft with a force far more eruptive than expected, propelled by the shockwave. 

synchronoptica 

one year ago: Dresden’ Kulturpalast mural and Soviet Realism (with synchronopticæ), outsider artist Gottfried Mind, Mexico’s new president, Saks Fifth Avenue (1924) plus generating a podcast based on one’s notes

cyberdyne systems (12. 682)

Having gone through several temporal incarnations over the course of the franchise with an expanding backstory, presumably through multiple attempts from the future to change the past, the defence network computers, hooked into every—as described in the 1984 original—were commissioned for the US Strategic Air Command (SAC) and the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD, “trusted to run it all. They say it got smart—a new order of intelligence,” the singularity that recognised all humans as threats and “not just the ones on the other side,” referring to the Soviets and the Eastern bloc, deciding humanity’s fate pragmatically in a microsecond: extermination. Initiating a nuclear war and provoking counter strikes, most people are wiped out and Skynet enslaved the surviving population. Destroyed in by resistance fighters in 2029, cyborg Terminators were sent back in time to prevent the birth of the leader of the rebellion. In the first sequel, covert recovery and research efforts on the destroyed assassins in the sequels lead to the defence contractor’s break through in artificial intelligence through reverse engineering of a fragment of the crushed T-101. Having fully automated aerial warfare, congress embraces the project wholesale, sidelining human judgment, seen as a liability, in achieving offensive goals at the beginning of August 1997. After brought online and integrated with the full arsenal of American military, the exponential pace of its advance alarmed its handlers, causing them to try to disable it and shut it down. Skynet responds by bombing Russia, again eliciting a dead-hand response and another nuclear holocaust with a cast of representative survivors.

storax sedan (12. 561)

On this day in 1962 in Area 10 of the Yucca Flat testing grounds of the Nevada National Security Site in the US southwest, as part of Operation Plowshare, an investigative programme to explore the use of thermonuclear devices for mining, tunnelling, damming, the creation of harbours and other infrastructure applications—first pioneered and continued by the Soviet Union—a mixed yield hydrogen bomb, calibrated for fission of thirty percent and fusion of seventy percent, was detonated at a shallow depth of some two hundred meters underground. Instantly displacing eleven million tonnes of rock and soil, resulting in the title crater and minor earthquake. The project was abandoned after some thirteen million residents to the east of the blast site were exposed to radioactive fallout in the name of public safety. Native flora, aside from itinerant tumbleweeds, have yet to recover in the immediate area.

wasserstoff (12. 555)

Having always been fascinated by the depth and breadth of the German language and the seeming disconnect in scientific terminology, as with the above hydrogen (waterstuf in Dutch) or Sauerstoff (zuurstuf) for oxygen. While there is good reason for maintaining plain language in scientific parlance and keeping it accessible for all, there’s also compelling arguments for fossilising something eternal and universal in dead languages, augmented by Latin and Greek roots, hedging the unchanging against the malleability and evolution of a living tongue. We enjoyed this illustration of the matter from science fiction writer of Danish extraction Poul Anderson in his 1989 essay Uncleftish Beholding attempting to relay atomic (and quantum) theory using only Germanic words and berefting English of its other influences. The text begins: “For most of its being, mankind did not know what things are made of, but could only guess. With the growth of worldken, we began to learn, and today we have a beholding of stuff and work that watching bears out, both in the workstead and in daily life”—going to define uncleft (atomic elements) with firststuffs (those lighter ones created in the cauldrons of stars that fuel stellar fusion) and the heavier ones like ymirstuff (uranium) synthesised from supernova, as well as bulkbits (molecules) and bindings , bindings (compounds) that arise through chemical reactions. There’s an outline of the periodic table drawn the Norse rather than the Greco-Roman pantheon as well as Old English derived terms for isotopes (samesteads) and other nuclear states and particulars. The conlang element of the exercise with similar ones constructed since—the glosses referred to as “Ander-Saxon”—and is a special class of constrained writing, much in the spirit of recognising pantheons and nomenclature outside mainstream Western traditions. Click through at the link for Futility Closet above for much more.

synchronoptica

one year ago: visiting Carmine and Cannobio (with synchronopticæ)

twelve years ago: the EU and Club Med 

fourteen years ago: the problems with packaging 

fifteen years ago: bees and bailouts 

true promise iii (12. 542)

Departing from the G7 summit being held in Alberta at midnight after posing for the family photo of leaders, all urging deescalation—though short of calling for an immediate ceasefire—of the Iran-Israel War that had broken out the days leading up to the meeting, Trump’s press secretary said that the American president had urgent business in the Middle East to attend to, Macron reinforcing his leave of absence saying that Trump sought a stop to the fighting. The speculation seemed to irritate Trump, however, who exclaimed later that they didn’t known his business and was in no mood to talk with Tehran any longer, no longer pursuing negotiations and the nuclear deal but a permanent solution to keep the country from enriching uranium. Counter to the narrative of Washington and Israel, intelligence sources confirm that Iran (their codename for the operation above) is not actively seeking to build an atomic bomb, and meanwhile missiles have been volleyed back and forth—with an established nuclear power, causing mutual destruction but severely crippling Iran’s civilian infrastructure in a fashion that the country may not be able to recover him. Trump went on, suggesting that American direct involvement may be imminent, calling for the evacuation of the capital and hinting that they could kill Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, knowing exactly where he is hiding, but will refrain from doing so for now, pending Iran’s unconditional surrender. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

synchronoptica

one year ago: a synthesiser performance piece (with synchronopticæ), OJ Simpson flees police (1994) plus tragic children’s names

eleven years ago: memory storage and retrieval plus the history of garden gnomes

fourteen years ago: between Bonn and Berlin 

sixteen years ago: returning from our Roman holiday 

operation rising lion (12. 530)

Amid stalled negotiations between the US and Iran aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear ambitions (attempting to work out a previous deal that lifted sanctions in exchange for regular inspections reached under the Obama administration), Israeli defence forces launched a predawn aerial attack on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and military infrastructure, the extent of the damage unclear but killing in the process several leading scientists and senior officials, including the commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s missile programme Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Despite not wanting an atomic capable Iran, America initially distanced itself from Israel’s strike—explicitly saying there was no US involvement and warned not to retaliate—Trump since weighed in, warning of more brutal punishment if they fail to concede to US terms. Meanwhile Tehran and Hezbollah are threatening retribution against Israel and its backers and air traffic in the region has been suspended and petrol prices has seen a significant jump with expectations of escalation.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus more on proxy addresses for the unhoused

seven years ago: internet tendency, a beatnik monk, monumental baobabs, legal aid for lemonade stands plus a theatrical trailer for the Trump-Kim summit

eight years ago: more links to enjoy, words as web colours plus troll cakes

nine years ago: machine-generated grimoires 

ten years ago: even more links to enjoy plus a visit to Lohr am Main

kitchen sink realism (12. 390

The production team behind the difficult Netflix series Adolescence about incel culture has announced it will reboot the incredibly bleak Cold War mini-series Threads (see previously, see also), aired in 1984 that depicted Sheffield harrowed by a nearby nuclear strike. BBC documentary filmmaker Mick Jackson, behind the original screening will participate in crafting episodic drama which the network feels whose time has sadly returned four decades on.

oh zaporizhzhia—i don’t know (12. 322)

Following a telephone call with Putin ostensibly securing a ceasefire on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and rather unrelenting overtures for the embattled nation’s mineral wealth, Trump called Zelenskyy to dictate the terms and to introduce a new dimension to the deal, suggesting that the United States (as with Gaza now exploding back to a state of war) assume ownership of nuclear power plants. The proposal was met with surprise, Kyiv politely mooting the offer, saying that the reactors were state-owned and could not be privatised, having only discussed during the call the one facility under Russian control but again reenforcing the idea that American economic stakes are their best protection—as with his earlier bid for control of country’s rare Earth resources. American defence conglomerate Westinghouse was in talks, prior to the start of the war, but the deal has since fallen through.

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

cnd (12. 240)

Joined by a crowd of some five thousand others, organised and led by philosopher and activist Bertrand Russell (previously), the anti-war group with a hundred public signatories as an expansion of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (see also below) held its first act of peaceful civil disobedience on this day in 1961 with a sit-in demonstration at the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall to protest the arrival of the USS Proteus on a resupply mission from American to replenish ballistic missile stocks. Surprisingly, no arrests were made. This anniversary juxtaposes with current headlines, with the the US and Russia meeting to arrange a negotiated peace in Ukraine with the invaded nation and Europe excluded from talks (Trump and Putin graciously agree to “address irritants” for the bilateral negotiation), and America instead of foisting its defences on allies against their will is signalling it will abandon the posture of trans-atlanticism that has held since the end of World War II, leaving the continent to fend for itself and normalising relations with an international pariah.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Euromaidan protests (with synchronoptica), Ballerina on the Boat, bad album cover art plus an underground newspaper

seven years ago: underwater photography, the epithets of drinking culture, the power of propaganda plus Pastafarianism

eight years ago: more underwater photography, ancient embedded sounds, more on the origin of the Peace symbol plus governance per tweet

ten years ago: an early meme, the road to Canossa plus bird poses

eleven years ago: traffic cameras in Germany