tabella defixionis (12. 386)

Popular and widely employed during Greco-Roman times well into the Christian era, curse tablets (κατάδεσμος—a binding spell) were often discretely or surreptitiously buried with the dead to settle a grudge with surviving competitors over business and romantic affairs and even among rival sports teams as a way to petition the chthonic gods or place spirits to compel malediction for the after life. Like the cache of twenty-two curses recently discovered in an ancient cemetery near Orleans, the most common media was thin lead scrolls as due to their malleability could be easily inscribed and were also an element associated with the underworld deities. What makes this particular discover unique is that one grave contained a curse written in Gaulish, the vulgar language of the region in common parlance (though really preserved in written form) for centuries after the Roman conquest. Because of the paucity of documentation for Gallo-Roman translating is a challenge but there is a another class of curse tablets called Voces mysticae (vox magica) which do not seem to be rendered in any known language and are a secret invocation that only demons can decipher—with scholars teasing out palindromes (previously here and here) and boustrophedon. Much more at The History Blog at the link above.

aplicó (12. 208)

The amazing mastery of Andean weaving and dyeing that surpassed the craft as known to Europeans at the time of contact is showcased in the vivid patchwork tunics of the Wari (Hurari) tribe, centred in what is now the western province of Ayacucho in Peru, which were well-preserved in desert burials. Surviving textiles also including hats and tapestries as grave goods, featured abstract motifs—possibly coded and too make through geometric distortions to make the wearer appear larger and more imposing befitting of their rank. These garments, whose requisite skills and traditions predate the Conquista by hundreds of years (circa the sixth to the tenth century) and have been transmitted and appropriated to an extent by successor cultures, both pre-Columbian and settlers, imparted as tribute along with treasure, but none can compete with this ancient that involved the multidisciplinary practise that involved exotic pigment-sourcing and precise llama husbandry for the ideal substrate, revealing social stratification and hierarchy. View a whole gallery at Public Domain Review at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus Saint Mél

seven years ago: women’s suffrage in Britain (1918), MLK, Jr on capitalism, more links to enjoy plus a vocabulary lesson

eight years ago: amoeboid robots

nine years ago: the evolution of corporate logos, high-definition rewatches plus threatening dust bunnies

ten years ago: vaccine scepticism plus even more links

8x8 (12. 165)

all the things that we’ve amassed sit before us, shattered to ash: interviews from celebrities who lost their homes in the Los Angeles megafire, which is still burning out of control  

facechan: some words of advice for disillusioned social media employees  

bepicolombo: final flyby of the space mission beams back extraordinary photos of Mercury’s polar region

obit.: Bob Canada’s two volume tribute to celebrity deaths of last year we may have overlooked  

erfolgreich abgemeldet: German and Austrian government and academic institutions leave X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, following the summit between Musk and Weidel  

chip off the old block: apparently in some families, it’s customary to nickname a son named after his father the former, a son named after his grandfather Skip and one named after all three Trip  

you’re so woke—diet coke: corporate America abandoning DEI (diversity, equality and inclusion) programs ahead of Trump’s return, hoping to curry favour with the new administration 

delta smelt: fact-checking the fallout over water shortage for emergency responders in California

synchronoptica

one year ago: David Lynch’s 1984 unfinished Dune sequel (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links with revisiting

seven years ago: John Wayne as Genghis Khan (1965), time and dark energy plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: even more links, misinformation about the refugee situation in Germany plus an anti cow bell campaigner denied Swiss citizenship

nine years ago: the elegance of heliocentrism, RIP David Bowie plus the performer as internet pioneer

ten years ago: a slow news day (1922) 

sgt pepper’s 2024 (12. 131)

Continuing a tradition started in 2016, Chris the Barker has made another collage (see previously), frequently updated and up to the last minute to eulogise Olivia Hussey and Jimmy Carter, in tribute to those passed away this year. 

The field more crowded than ever it seems, there are two hundred and eleven personages featured including Maggie Smith, Bob Newhart, Phil Donahue, Dr Ruth, OJ Simpson, the Tory Party and American Democracy. Much more at the artist’s web presence (including complete liner-notes) at the link above.

the ghost of christmas yet to come (12. 066)

The final resting place too far weathered by the centuries in the churchyard of St Chad’s in Shrewsbury (named for a seventh century Mercian monk and bishop—Charles Darwin was baptised there) was repurposed as the burial plot for the fictional Ebenezer Scrooge for a 1984 adaptation starring George C Scott and subsequent ones of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol—previously. The third spirit showed Scrooge his fate should he keep to his miserly ways. After discovering the vandals had overturned and smashed the headstone in late November, local stonemasons promptly repaired it free of charge, restoring the beloved attraction and quelling some of the outrage over the act.

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

the god of management (12. 038)

From Slashdot’s No Peace even in Death department, we learn that Panasonic plans to resurrect the company’s founder and long-time COO Kōnosuke Matsushita (松下 幸之助) as a digital clone, rebuilding his personality, leadership and decision making skills, revered as by the above title in business circles in Japan and beyond for creating the largest and enduring consumer electronics company in the country, with AI informed by Matsushita’s writing, recorded speeches, meeting minutes and notes. Having died in 1989 and with a generation mentored by the originator aging out themselves, Panasonic hopes that Matsushita will continue to be able to inspire and develop those who never got the chance to interact with him personally. What do you think? The verdict is still out on these sort of doppelgängers, whether they are effective beyond a compelling, cloying sense of nostalgia (especially in terms of running a large corporation) but one has to wonder about the ethical responsibility (see previously) of bringing one back from the dead without say in the matter—especially that of a god. Is it letting the genie out of the bottle or indenturing one’s restive soul?

synchronoptica

one year ago: Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year (with synchronoptica), the Origin and Evolution of the Palestine Problem (1978) plus a Bansky mural demolished

seven years ago: JFK’s undelivered speech plus artist Pepe Cruz Novillo

eight years ago: assorted links to revisit, the Stout Scarab plus bus fare in exchange for ads

nine years ago: a visit to Vienna 

ten years ago: kingship and coinage plus the comics of Ruben Bolling

kild by severall accidents (11. 926)

With casualty data drawn from the London weekly “mortality bill,” reporting on the causes of demise from most of the city’s parishes during 1665, Open Culture directs us to a morbid little diversion in a seventeenth century death roulette, which delivers the croupier (originally meaning rump or one who stands behind the gambler with extra cash reserve to back them up during play but now spins the wheel—that too originally a study in perpetual motion machines from Blaise Pascal) their grim fate. Given the state of medical science, the causes listed are vague at times and ring more like curses than disease but provides an engrossing glimpse at historical demographics and record-keeping (compare to this treasury of antique prescriptions and treatment plans that may or may not have improved one’s condition). Spin at your own peril and probably it is best to remain ignorant of what such terminal ailments like the riſing of the lights (lung disease, using the term for the organ as an ingredient), strangury (the inability to empty one’s bladder despite the urgent need to do so), surfeit (over indulgence), kingſevil (scrofula, an infection of the lymph nodes supposedly cured by the touch of the sovereign), etc. as those were that compiled these list. There was also the Plague and any number of environmental hazards.

lone eagle (11. 794)

Famed aviator, conservationist, isolationist and anti-Semite Charles Augustus Lindbergh died (*1902) on this day in 1974. Although like his father, congressional representative of Minnesota’s sixth district who was one of the few lawmakers to oppose America’s entry into World War I, and many other members of the public who promoted a non-interventionalist stance prior to Pearl Harbour, Lindbergh never explicitly endorsed the Nazi regime though his overarching comments on race seemed to suggest otherwise, a platform won by his historic transatlantic crossing, and public adoration was immense not only for his skilled piloting and goodwill tours but also in promoting transport and air-mail, with the enterprise expanding significantly during the 1930s with more than a fifty-percent increase of individuals seeking licenses to fly and a virtual Renaissance virtuosity demonstrated by contributions to the advancement of medical sciences co-authoring a procedure that made organ transplants more viable and charting routes that still make up airline itineraries to this day. US president Ford eulogised him, “In later years, his life was darkened by tragedy,” referring to the kidnapping and murder of his infant son, “and coloured political controversy, but, in both public and private life, General Lindbergh always remained a brave and sincere patriot.” A couple of weeks before his death at his seaside home in Maui, Hawaii from lymphoma, Lindbergh reached out to his secret families, seven children from three different women in West Germany and asked the mothers not to reveal his identity, only known by the alias Careu Kent—either the alter-ego of Superman or picked in honour of the place in England where he and his wife retreated after the abduction of their child and media circus—from annual visits—which all three women complied with and was not discovered by his offspring until over a decade after his demise.

a dying business (11. 609)

Legislation meant to curb superstition and feudal funerary rites in China in congress with changing traditions have resulted in serious strain on China’s grave good merchants, with local authorities adopting and enforcing so-called “civilised memorial” regulations, particularly impacting Baoding, a city in Hebei province southwest of Beijing also known for its donkey burgers and eponymous metal exercise balls that one rotates in one’s hand for therapy and to improve dexterity, and its “Wall Street of the Underworld,” a neighbourhood that had formerly produced ninety percent of the country’s ceremonial wares in the form of paper bankrolling and luxuries for offering and honouring dead ancestors. Encouraged to forego the burning of effigies under punishment of fines and sanctions, the industry has been forced to adapt creative measures to stay in business against a trend starting during the pandemic of virtual services.

9x9 (11. 598)

on covfefe day no less: a meme roundup on Trump’s felony conviction  

canine rainbow: dogs’ visual spectrum and how they see perceive the world 

love exposure: the acclaimed, sprawling 2008 comedy-drama by Sion Sono  

the scary ham: proper late rites for an aged cut of pork

leftovers: five thin volumes on post-apocalypse Briton

nondescript fern: researchers find the largest genome (fifty times the genetic material of humans) in a small plant on an Australian island  

why be dragons: the origins of the universal mythological creatures  

evening standard: venerable London newspaper to suspend daily publication after almost two hundred years—see previously  

today is my birthday, please like me: a Twitter feed of some the revolting, disturbing but morbidly compelling AI-generated slop inundating Facebook—via Web Curios

synchronoptica

one year ago: Crazy Frog (2005) plus Adobe’s Generative Fill

two years ago: Scotch whisky (1495) plus the Stresa Convention on Cheeses (1951)

three years ago: your daily demon: Eligos, The Ship of Fools (1497), more on monopolies and monopsonies plus a Simon and Garfunkel classic

four years ago: seasonal dormancy, more King Ubu, St Rónán plus elections matter

five years ago: re-creating TV living rooms with IKEA furnishings,  Japan’s first folklore museum, the Lennon-Ono Honeymoon Suite plus a robot job interviewer

outline of egypt (11. 483)

Through a series of photographs capturing the outlines of the ensemble of the Pyramids at Giza shrouded in mist, we discover the extensive portfolio of Karim Amr, a young professional whose able to hone and articulate his eye for images and subjects of choice partially by dent of living near the ancient necropolis. The nested silhouettes of the monumental tombs look like computer-rendered backgrounds of an vintage video game. Much more at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: NPR leaves Twitter plus a classic from The Fifth Dimension

two years ago: assorted links to revisit

three years ago: Yuri’s Night, the Union Jack, Bill Haley and his Comets plus On the Record

four years ago: a historic vaccination campaign, artist Jim Gary, St Julius, an Eames multipurpose piece of furniture plus a sketching lesson

five years ago: the found of Bauhaus (1919), more on First Flight, outsider artist Emma Kunz plus the first racoons in Germany

8x8 (11. 444)

going in style: fantastic custom sarcophagi from Ghanaian coffin-maker Paa Joe  

tiamat: the misremembered series finale of the Dungeons & Dragons Saturday morning cartoon—see previously  

spoofing: FlightRadar maps GPS jamming—see also

cincyflags: neighbourhood banners for all of Cincinnati’s fifty-two communities—via Pasa Bon! 

mergers and acquisitions: Trump expected to see a windfall from the sale of social media network 

coal holes: cast iron plate covers for the chutes of London—see also  

infantile amnesia: early childhood memories may not be lost and yield insights to brain development—via the New Shelton wet/dry 

regeneration: a look at the jurisdiction practising human composting

synchronoptica

one year ago: sampler silhouettes, punctuation in headlines plus scrimshaw from oceanic plastic trash

two years ago: assorted links worth revisiting

three years ago: AI-generated pick-up lines, a variation of the Medusa myth, the controlled-deorbit of the Mir (2001), lockdown on year on, vintage GIF buttons, pole tossing plus REM’s Out of Time (1991)

four years ago: dissolution of the African Economic Union (1985)

five years ago: the musical stylings of Carsie Blanton, a town’s strong connection to the number eleven, Nick of Time (1989), the tarot of Pamela Colman Smith, Robert Mueller concludes his investigation plus the UK votes

heimatblick (11. 428)

 Before the weather turned, we took the dog on a hike up above Stockheim for a panoramic view of the village below. The diversion in the trail up the Tanzberg was a bequest from a local landowner stipulated in his will after an unfortunate farming accident. A bit further along the main path, we encountered a Blitzstein, a memorial for an anonymous resident and likely not the above donor struck and killed by lightning though now an unlikely occurrence given tree height in the vicinity though yet memorable and cautionary. 

I’ve noticed such small headstones before and wondered if they memorialised similar Acts of God—and wondered whether if this was all the individual received for funerary rites since it did sort of seem like divine punishment. When I first came to Germany and began noticing makeshift cenotaphs the just off the shoulder of the road, commemorating the victims of a traffic accident, I remember first thinking, there sure are a lot of people walking on the side of the road and getting killed by cars and thought that the country must have a problem with pedestrian deaths. 

Of course, during our walkies, I wasn’t preoccupied with such morbid thoughts, just wanted to know more about the practise and customs but was not able to find anything else out. Both spots were equipped with a nice picnic area and a wooden sun lounger for warmer weather.  It was a beautiful early spring day and we went on down the valley with a glimpse of the next town of Mellrichstadt off in the distance.

 

8x8 (11. 411)

🚫: the origins of the circle-and-slash prohibition symbol, its adoption as an ISO standard coinciding with 1984’s Ghost Busters  

return to sender: as part of the Prize Papers Project, a pristine Faroese hand-knitted sweater was discovered in an impounded parcel from 1807 

electronic labyrinth: the 1967 student film from George Lucas that would be later reworked into the feature  

snowdrops: Robert Marsham’s Indications of Spring (1789)  

clairaudient: more on Rosemary Brown with other classical compositions from beyond the grave  

if it doesn’t exist on the internet, it doesn’t exist: as of the beginning of the year, the venerable repository, the Ubuweb whose founder Kenneth Goldsmith is famous for the axiom, of the avant-garde has gone into archive-mode—via Web Curios 

sella rotalis: Paul de Livron crafts beautiful wooden wheelchairs, including one for the Pope

belinda new: exploring the typography of Oscar nominated films

zombified by a thousand bots (11. 302)

Via Super Punch, we are referred to the sad insult waylaid on shuttered digital media outlets that are revived—due to a lapsed domain registration—by opportunists (in this case a Slovakian DJ who has bought hundreds of expired websites) seeking to cannibalise the defunct blogs for their reputation, longevity and wealth of backlinks and keeping them in circulation as a wholly AI-generated version of their former selves. Looking forward to their eventual distress and demise, media properties are advised to pay more attention to estate-planning to avoid this cruel fate and face regurgitation by the scavengers. This trend—and we’re sure we’ve not heard the last of it—sounds horrific, like seeing some veteran sites turned in on themselves and mirroring advice forums. More from Wired contributor (also a Condé Nast publication) at the link above.

8x8 (11. 239)

the year of the dragon: Japanese designer New Year’s cards for 2024—see previously  

virdiphyta: an exploration of the interrelatedness of the Plant Kingdom  

in memoriam: more celebrity obituaries you might have missed  

paku paku: one-dimensional PacMan—see also—via Waxy  

🌝: the Moon-Making-Side-Eyes emoji has entered the stock market and had its day in court—see previously—via Slashdot 

shoegazing: TikTok revitalises the indie subgenre—via tmn  

on to other adventures: Tom Scott bids his viewers farewell after a decade of educational videos—with a long explanatory walk-and-talk   

trace loops: hypnotic animation from layered paper

synchronoptica 

one year ago: a comprehensive listing of North American supermarket chain, past and present

two years ago: Saint Daniel plus Monty Python in German

three years ago: the Seditious Dozen, the Fraktur-Antiqua Dispute, Oregon Trail plus Martin Luther excommunicated

four years ago: (You’ve got) the Power, banana republics, more dead malls, Trump’s Middle East policy plus Japanese New Years cards

five years ago: China’s lunar mission plus the introduction bitcoin (2009)

rest in power (11. 234)

Continuing a long-standing tradition, Chris the Barker (previously) has made another Sgt Pepper’s style collage as a tribute and remembrance to those who have passed in 2023, updated until the last minute and reaching back all the way to the beginning of the year lest we forget any legends lost. It’s a crowded assembly to reflect on and features a key—also in the style of the album’s liner notes. Pee-wee Herman, Dame Edna, Sinéad O’Connor, Tina Turner, and Jane Birkin feature prominently but also includes political figures and cross-over moguls like Silvio Berlusconi, Jerry Springer and Gina Lollobrigida as well as Bobi, the oldest dog ever, and the Sycamore Gap tree who get their visual obituaries.  Shared on X, we can’t locate a reference to the death of Twitter on the cover however.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a new addition to the family plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: St Telemachus, the umbrella patented, Hearts of Space, rogue waves plus Dinner for One

three years ago: making it through 2020, your daily demon: Ose, a Scooby Doo clone, the Julian calendar plus the launch of VH1 (1985)

four years ago: welcoming 2020, Unix time plus Star Wars on a synthesiser 

five years ago: ringing in 2019, banning single-use plastics, generated automobiles plus more on Ultima Thule

six years ago: more welcoming the New Year, the corrugated sculptures of Warren King plus artful thinking

mmxxiii (11. 224)

As this calendar draws to a close and we look forward to 2024, we again take time to reflect on a selection of some of the things and events that took place during the past year. Thanks as always for visiting. We’ve made it through another wild year together.

january: Hundred of thousands pay their respects, attend funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, presided over by his predecessor in Vatican City. Supporters of defeated president Jair Bolsanaro stormed the capitol in Brasilia.  Caches of official records and classified files have been discovered mishandled and stored in offices used by Joe Biden after his vice-presidency. Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck passes away, aged 78.  Lisa Marie Presley, artist and singer, has died, aged 54.  Wracked with successive and endemic problems, Haiti descends into anarchy after the last of its elected officials depart the country.  Singer David Crosby has passed away, aged 81.  Jacinda Arden steps down as Prime Minister of New Zealand.  US and Germany agree to send tanks to Ukraine.  A group of five police officers in Memphis, Tennessee brutally murder Tyre Nichols with no justifiable provocation. After speaking out against the criminalisation of same-sex partnerships and denial of basic civil rights, the Pope will journey to South Sudan, joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Church of Scotland for a dialogue with local church leaders preaching a gospel of intolerance.  Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday Addams, passes away, aged 64.

february: After announcing that conflict with China was on the near horizon, the US acquires additional bases in the Philippines to encircle its rival and potential adversary.  Just days ahead of US Secretary of State’s visit to Beijing, NORAD announces the detection of a Chinese spy balloon over western America, prompting Blinkin to cancel his trip. Fashion designer and perfumier Paco Rabane passes away, aged 88.  The EU holds a summit in Kyiv on Ukraine’s bid for membership.  Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf passes away, aged 77, after contending with a long illness.  A powerful earthquake on the border of Syria and Türkiye claims over five thousand lives, the death toll soon quadrupling.  Songwriter Burt Bacharach passes away, aged 94.  Facing a series of crises and increasing pressure from the war in neighbouring Ukraine, the government of Moldova is dissolved.  Top-tier Czech footballer Jakub Jankto comes out as homosexual, the first professional player to do so.  Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon surprises her party by announcing her departure with no clear successor.  Actor Raquel Welch passes away, aged 82.  North Korea resumes missile tests in the Pacific and the US warns that China may attempt to arm Russia and delegates at the Munich Security Conference urge immediate fortification of Ukraine in order to prevent imminent defeat.  Stand-up comedian and tv detective Richard Belzer dies, aged 78.  Humanitarian and former US president Jimmy Carter enters hospice care.  Just ahead of the one year anniversary of the start of the invasion, Joe Biden makes a surprise visit to Kyiv.  Tech companies and media outlets continue tranche after tranche of staff layoffs.  US House Speaker gives previously unreleased trove of January Sixth insurrection footage to conservative pundit Tucker Carlson.  The Russian invasion of Ukraine marks its one year anniversary.

march: Evidence emerges that Ukrainian saboteurs were responsible for the underwater explosions that ruptured the NordStream I pipeline though questions remain.  In the second largest bank collapse in the history of the US and the first of its kind since the 2008 crash, the Silicone Valley Bank servicing tech-sector start-up has become insolvent and went into government receivership.  Thousands of civil servants in France go on strike in protest of legislation to raise retirement age.  After Manhattan district attorney investigation into Trump directing hush-money to Stormy Daniels, US presidential candidate announces that he expects to be arrested and calls for protests.  Mounting evidence seems to vilify suggestions that COVID originated from a lab leak in Wuhan.  Despite attempts to contain the contagion, the fall out from the crisis with California fintech institutions cause havoc with banking stocks worldwide.  UBS absorbs a beleaguered Credit Suisse.  Xi and Putin enter an apparent entente against American influence.   UN warns that time has run out on combating runaway climate change.  Deadly, hour-long tornado strikes ravage rural Mississippi and Alabama.  Intel Corp founder and thinker behind the eponymous law about the exponential improvement of technology Alan Moore passes away, aged 94.

april: Trump arraigned in the Manhattan district court over falsifying business records pursuant to hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels.  A US federal judge in Texas suspends the 2000 approval by the country’s food and drug regulatory body on the safety of an abortion pill, restricting its use.  Demanding stricter gun-laws in the wake of another school and church mass-shooting, the Tennessee state legislator expel two Black lawmakers for their stance.  Preoccupied with filibusters over trans-rights, the Nebraska state senate fails to pass a single law in this year’s legislative session.  Tory ministers begin to walk-back plans for a full-scale repeal of EU regulations following an inter-party revolt against the post-Brexit arrangement.  Phasing out of nuclear energy entirely, Germany closes its final remaining reactors.  Revival military leaders have brought Sudan to the brink of civil war as factions of the regular army face the paramilitary rapid response force in Khartoum.  More media organizations fold as ad revenue dries up and newsrooms turn to AI to generate copy, like BuzzFeed and Vice being the two latest to declare bankruptcy and curtail operations.  Comedian and creator of Dame Edna Barry Humphries has passed away, aged 89.  Civil rights activist and entertainer Harry Belafonte dies, aged 96.  Joe Biden declares his party’s candidacy for a second term for president of the United States.

may: Gordon Lightfoot, folk legend, dies, aged 84.  The WHO declares the global COVID-19 health emergency over.  Charles III and Camilla are enthroned during a lavish ceremony in London.  A jury finds Donald Trump guilty on the charge of sexual abuse and battery, labelling him a predator and pest.  Elon Musk appoints a former television advertising executive as head of Twitter as he announces plans to transform the ailing social network into a multi-purpose app similar to China’s WeChat.  Harry and Meghan are recklessly pursued by paparazzi in New York—with strong echoes of the death of his mum’s fatal encounter.  China begins to call in loans to some of the world’s most impoverished countries after making them dependent on cheap credit.  Tina Turner passed away peacefully, aged 83, in her home outside of Zurich—Simply the Best.  Florida governor Ron DeSantis announces his presidential candidacy on Twitter.

june: The death toll of a catastrophic train crash in India approaches three hundred with countless more injured.  After months of drama and tension, the US raises its debt ceiling to avoid default.  A dam breach, blamed on Russia, causes massive flooding along the Dnipro river and forces tens of thousands to
evacuate.  Astrud Gilberto, the Queen of Bossa Nova, and original singer of the infinitely covered ‘Girl from Ipanema,’ has passed away, aged 83.  Wildfires rage in Canada, smoke enveloping the Eastern Seaboard.  The awaited Ukraine counteroffensive begins.  Four children who survived an airplane crash in the jungles are Columbia are found alive having survived the forty day ordeal.  Donald Trump is indicted on federal charges for retention of classified documents imperilling US national security. Boris Johnson quits Parliament ahead of an official rebuke from the House of Commons over Partygate. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber and CIA UK Ultra test subject, is dead, aged 81.  Media tycoon and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi passes away, aged 86.  NATO holds large scale military exercises in Germany.  The whistleblower and leaker behind the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, passes away, aged 92.  A submersible taking a compliment of five tourist to the wreck of the Titanic is lost.  Mercenary Wagner Group turns critical of the invasion of Ukraine and stages a mutiny after announced take-over by the Russian defence ministry, occupying Rostov-on-Don and proposing a march on Moscow, reaching half-way to the capital before a truce is negotiated by the Belarusian president.  France riots over the death of a teenager after being shot by a police officer.  US Supreme Court overturns affirmative action in college admissions, student loan forgiveness and LGBTQI+ anti-discrimination laws, though at least on the last case, it looks as if evidence was fabricated.  

july: Joseph Pedott, marketing virtuoso, passed away, aged 91.  Israel conducts a major military raid into a Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin.  Despite warnings from humanitarians and a ban in place for their use by over a hundred countries, the US is sending surplus cluster-bombs from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts to Ukraine.  Catastrophic flooding devastates Vermont and other parts of New England.  Hollywood’s Screen Actors Guild joins the writers’ strike.  Jane Birkin, singer, activist and French icon, dies aged 76.  Crooner Tony Bennett passes away, aged 96.  After months of media hype and anticipation, the Barbieheimer phenomenon comes to cinemas.  Singer Sinéad O’Connor has died, aged 56—nothing compares 2 u.  Hunter Biden appears before court on charges of tax evasion and illegal gun-ownership, days after boudoir photos of him enter the congressional record, possibly in violation of laws against revenge porn. The Nigeria government falls to a military coup d’etat with the president taken into custody.  Paul Reubens, the actor who portrayed Pee-Wee Herman, passed away aged 70, after a private bout with cancer.  Voyager 2 after two weeks of radio silence has re-established contact with Earth.

august: Donald Trump is indicted for his role in fanning the flames that culminated in the January Sixth raid on the Capitol and attempts to over turn the 2020 election.  Wildfires devastate the Hawaiian island of Maui and the town of Yellowknife is evacuated as forests are engulfed in Canada.  A rare hurricane, the first in eighty years, passes over Baja California, causing flooding and heavy rains, a year’s worth in a single day.  Ex-Wagner chief and senior leadership perish in an airplane crash.  Indian lands a probe at the lunar south pole.  Trump is arrested, booked and released on bail after in Fulton County Georgia.  Long-time US game show host Bob Barker dies, aged 99 (playing by Price-is-Right rules until the end).  An unprecedented hurricane strikes Florida’s Big Bend region between the panhandle and peninsula.  “Margaritaville” singer Jimmy Buffett passes away, aged 76.

september: Drought and wildfires are followed by flooding in Greece. An earthquake strikes the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco, killing hundreds and destroying parts of Marrakesh.  Rupert Murdoch steps down from News Corp.  Fighting erupts in Nagorno-Karabakh, the breakaway region of Azerbaijan. After more than five months, the Hollywood Writers’ Guild reaches a deal with the studio and ends its strike.  In solidarity with striking autoworkers, US president Joe Biden joins the picket line, the first for a sitting holder of the high office.  As counter-programming to the second Republican debate, Trump also makes an appearance with union workers.

october: Hamas and other terror groups launch a surprise attack on Israel, causing Tel Aviv to declare war against Gaza with thousands killed on both sides.  Earthquakes in Afghanistan leaves over a thousand dead.  An eastern Pacific tropical cyclone devastates Acapulco with hundreds killed and many more displaced. 

november: Three-hundred thousand marched for peace in Palestine through London during Armistice Day celebrations after earlier rallies drawing in huge numbers to urge Israel enact a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.  Pope Francis dismisses an ultra conservative bishop in Texas who criticised the pontiff's more progressive stance on non-gender-conforming members of the Church. OpenAI’s board of directors have ousted founder and CEO Sam Altman, the chief representative of the chatbot revolution and proponent for regulatory framework, for his lack of candour and transparency.  Microsoft immediately hired Altman and fellow defectors.  Humanitarian and former US First Lady Rosalynn Carter passes away.  Rightwing populist Geert Wilders wins a controlling share of the Netherlands’ parliament. A temporary cease-fire is called in Gaza to allow the release of hostages and more humanitarian aid to enter the beleaguered city.  Henry Kissinger dead at one-hundred.

december: Fabulist and fraudster George Santos expelled from the US congress.  Israel renews attacks on Palestine after a temporary truce. Legendary television producer Norman Lear passes away at 101. Israeli forces extend attacks in southern Gaza, where many fled to avoid the violence.  Ousted US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy tenders his retirement from Congress, leaving the Republicans a controlling majority of only two seats.  The EU enacts the world’s first comprehensive AI regulatory framework.  A volcanic eruption occurs on the Icelandic Reykjanes peninsula with Sundhnúkagígar dumping lava and prompting evacuations.  Trump confidant and former New York City mayor Rudi Guliani declares bankrupcy after being ordered to pay nearly one hundred-fifty million dollars in restitution for libelling Georgia election workers.  Houthi pirates attacking cargo ships in the Red Sea cause transportation to round the Cape of Good Hope.  A mass shooting in Prague leaves fifteen individuals dead.  Missing Russian opposition figure Alexei Nalvalny emerges, detained in a penal colony above the Arctic Circle.  A heavy barrage of missiles hit Kyiv as US financial and materiel backing driess up.Veteran German parliamentarian Wolfgang Schäuble passes away, aged 81.  Jacques Delors, statesman who helped shaped the European Union dead at 98.  Entertainer Tommy Smothers dies at 86.  Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues, with the death toll of civilians surpassing twenty-thousand.

the war to end all wars

Reflecting on the holiness of Armistice Day when God spoke clearly to mankind, perhaps for the last time, during the silence observed in the name of peace, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr reflected on its becoming a modern American holiday how the latter is sacred but “Veterans’ Day is not… I don’t want to throw away any sacred things. What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance—and all music is,” we too take umbrage with how a commemoration of loss and laying down arms became to some a celebration of the warrior and his errant adventures. We appreciated this touching memorial on Remembrance Sunday of those fallen in the East London district of Spitalfields. It’s a moving tribute with short biographies, a map of where they lived and images of the doorways and thresholds that they passed under. More at Spitalfields Life from the Gentle Author.