ux (13. 521)

Vis-à-vis a recent post airing online exasperation, we felt this expanded list of rage-inducing shortcomings in networking and technology, via Kottke, to be quite resonant and an thorough examination of what’s a bug and what’s a feature and wither and wherefore the friction and disconnects occur. Through the lens of Pope Leo’s first encyclical, On Human Diginity (known by its incipit Magnifica Humanitas), a lengthy treatise about the struggle to uphold our universal commitment to society when awash in alienating artificiality, we look at that frustration and fatigue that grinds us down with the mill of a thousand micro-interactions that don’t need to be—not exactly a force majure or existential crisis, in a landscape where many are possible, in isolation but taken together nonetheless inform out experience and seep out into the real world: touchscreens in cars, having to scan a QR-code to read a menu—or having menu items reshuffle themselves whilst one is ordering at a kiosk, being lectured to about the Anti-Christ, shoehorning AI into everything, forced updates at the worst possible time. The final items on the list do address the industry’s insatiable drive to commodify and fetishise everything, which is a bad thing, and though maybe not a direct consequence of the litany of disruptions for the end-user, peppered with rubric—Jesus wept, but possibly of supplanting the frictions and imbalances of capitalism (see above) with new obstacles, leaving the experts and agents nowhere to go. Much more from Brian Phillips and The Ringer at the link above.

pearl of great price (13. 420)

Described variously as a star and planet—though to be fair, the distinction from prehistory to pre-modern times has not always been been clear-cut, in the Book of Abraham, we learn courtesy of Dangerous Minds, that the celestial body called Kolob is the seat of the throne of God. Beyond the Seventh Heaven and perhaps astronomically meant to be obscure by the Zone of Avoidance, the planet was sited by the eponymous prophet and Methuselah with the aid of the set of seer-stones Urim and Thummim (see above, see also), and in the Mormon belief system Jesus has his own home world and the righteous get their own planets at the centre of the Universe or near the galactic core (what does God need with a starship?) where a day measures one-thousand terrestrial years. More at the links above.

8x8 (13. 360)

what1tune: a musical address regimen to geohash the globe with simple melodies—see previously 

neon colour spreading: a compelling optical illusion—see also 

imperial megalomania: Commodus ordered the entire city of Rome named after himself, executed anyone who mocked him, dispatched and quick subject to damnatio memoriae 

measure for measure: the religious hypocrisy (and ignorance) on display in the Trump White House with attacks on the papacy and crusader mentality through the lens of Shakespeare’s play  

proleporn: AI slop in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four—see previously  

on the clock: Maarten Baas studio recruits a thousand volunteers to represent the hands of time at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport—see previously 

hollyworld: filming location substitutes in California

sunday service (13. 309)

The closure of sites and suspension of ceremonies in the Old City of Jerusalem was not an unilateral decision made by the Church out of abundance of caution but rather enforced by police with authorities blocking the Catholic prelate, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Hierosolyma, from entering his co-cathedra (shared with the Armenian and Greek orthodox churches as the most sacred site in Christianity) the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Upset by the global congregation and pressure from the US government, hellbent on religious freedoms at least for the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the Israeli prime minister has intervened to grant full and immediate access to the shrine built over Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion and resurrection within a framework of mutual understanding with local police. Pizzaballa will be allowed to hold mass as he sees fit but plans to curtail celebrations and avoid large gatherings for safety reasons.

king ahab (13. 232)

Though not without precedent to justify an unlawful war of choice with devout overtones, scores of troops have filed complaints under freedom of and freedom from religion advocacy group, claiming that without clear objectives coming from the administration for the purpose and goals of going to war with Israel against Iran, commanders have said that this adventure, possibly from the top down as the secretary of war, tatted out with what is self-described as the armour of a modern-day Crusader, is biblically sanctioned. The theocracy of fundamentalists and Christian nationalists, exchanging the rhetoric of one demagogue for another, profess to believe that Trump was anointed by God to gather the armies of the Earth for the battle of Armageddon as foretold in Book of Revelations (the Apocalypse of John, though none of this exactly canonical), ushering in judgment on the enemies of the righteous and the return of Jesus.

unterfladungen (13. 184)

Taking advantage of the sunny weather and with less of a bite to the winter wind, we followed a trail from Fladungen up the gentle slope of the Wurmberg, a southern spur of the Abstberg hill between the villages of Sands and Brüchs, the latter named for the historical quarrying activity of the settlement. 

Along the way, and to this day I think about that psychedelic animated short from Sesame Street about the lost boy remembering his way home, “Try to remember everything you passed, but when you go back, make the first thing the last”—that’s some genuine memory palace advice, we were afforded some really nice vistas of the town in the valley below, a pair of friendly donkeys in an enclosure, the foundations of a demolished coke oven that was testament to the area’s mining history and an the open pit hewn out of the hillside as we made our way to the edge of the forested summit. 

In the middle, there was a clearing with the Stations of the Cross arranged in a circle, like the Kreuzweg of the chapel visible on the horizon looking back over Fladungen with a large wooden Crucifix, Hohe Kreuz. 

We descended from the peak via a shorter route through a neighbourhood and around a spa resort perched on the mountainside, so so much for my landmarks but nonetheless an enjoyable walk with opportunities to explore further.

parousia (13. 172)

Whilst one might be excused for thinking that the rather jarring news of the odds that Jesus Christ’s second coming will happen during this calendar year climbing might contain some wisdom of the masses how we are hurtling towards the End Times or how the Anti-Christ incarnate has seemingly arrived in the figure of the US president, in truth the cause of the growing likelihood is stultifyingly disappointing. Wagering in favour of such a black swan event seems nonsensical, especially if the faithful believe that they will be raptured—you can’t take it without, and without getting youth pastor theological, against scripture, with the Apostle Paul writing in his epistle to the Thessalonians, “For you are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night,” unpredictable and something no one knows. Rather than any of that, and with a touch of Dostoevsky, it is pure manipulation of the betting pool with secondary markets with gamblers trying to cash out on their odds for the over/under of their primary bet—and it isn’t even the first time that such grift as occurred. More from Gizmodo at the link up top.

8x8 (13. 057)

the gift of the magi: Better Living through Beowulf shares a Godfrey Rust poem for the Feast of the Epiphany  

wegmans: NewYork grocery store chain collecting biometric data, conversations of shoppers  

year of the fire horse: zodiacal facts about the upcoming annual cycle 

heavy sour crude: how realistic Trump’s designs on Venezuela’s reserves are—see more  

pea-brained: organoid culture research and experimentation raises ethical, philosophical concerns 

big brother and the holding company: the numerological and business significance of six-and-twenty  

john players’ special: the tobacco purveyor presents the celebrated gates of London 

mother superior jumped the gun: convert Elizabeth Ann Seton feted as first American saint for establishing the parochial education system in the New World

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump does not want lowered flags for his inauguration (with synchronopticæ), the chaotic twin of Pi, the right attacks Wikipedia plus Mussolini’s Black Shirts

twelve years ago: vaping regulations, landmarks lost to progress, miniature artists plus hyperobjects

thirteen years ago: the push for green energy plus fake smiles

fourteen years ago: marginal victories plus Three Kings’ Day 

sixteen years ago: holidays unwrapped

seventeen years ago: New Year’s resolutions 

9x9 (13. 027)

pot to kettle: US bans Europeans who encouraged social media to suppress American points of view—see also, whilst the Heritage Foundation openly calls for the dissolution of the European Union  

sight unseen: a collection of the best video essays of 2025  

winter tarotscope: a collective reading for the coming season from AX Mina  

first and main: store front churches as captured by Rob Stephenson—via Messy Nessy Chic with a lot more to explore including more on glass models of deep sea creatures  

x-mas post: holiday greeting cards to Paul Rand (previously) from other designers, artists and architects  

commodorchestra: Linus Åkesson (previously) performs an ambitious chip-tune arrangement of Boléro (see also) on an assortment of homemade eight-bit instruments 

exhibit a: a simple copy-and-paste undoes redactions to some of the Epstein files  

the address is cbs: the censored reporting on the infamous CECOT prison removed from 60 Minutes was bootlegged by international broadcasts—via Super Punch

synchronoptica

one year ago: the first wholly electronic television transmission (with synchronopticæ), the Bohemian John Phillips Souza plus a Christmas pause 

fourteen years ago: a Star Wars Nativity scene 

fifteen years ago: Christmas Eve greetings 

sixteen years ago: zodiacal mugs 

seventeen years ago: miscellany from Wikipedia 

troppo paradiso nelle loro menti (13. 026)

Via Laughing Squid, we are introduced to the musical stylings of the talented Italian guitar quartet 40 Fingers with this moody, acoustic rendition of the overture from Jesus Christ Superstar, the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice rock opera—with an absolutely brilliant arrangement (see previously—Silent Night was originally a guitar piece as well). The band’s biggest viral moment yet was a cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and have taken a particular interest in film scores.

the festival of reason (12. 870)

On this feast of Saint Monitor, fifth century bishop of Orléans of whom nothing is known, Pope Leo I, also active during the mid-four-hundreds, called the Great and a diplomat perhaps best remembered for his embassy with Attila the Hun that successfully persuaded him to turn back his armies and not invade Italy, and many others, revolutionary France declared a national Fête de la Raison on this day in 1793 (An II, 20. Brumaire), organised by humanist philosopher Antoine-François Momoro under the Cult of Reason, as a state-sponsored atheistic religion to replace the Catholic church (a policy of agnosticism and god-building or la construction de dieu as a surrogate as opposed to outright abolition), which was seen as a major catalyst for the uprising, arguing that deifications of such ideas as liberty and truth diminished the autonomy and self-determination of the individual. Former houses of worship were transformed into Temples of Reason, stripped of icons and idols—the largest event hosted in Notre Dame in Paris. Women dressed in togas and tricolour sashes of the republic tended a symbolic flame on the altar representing the values of the First Republic. Described by detractors with the lurid hallmarks of Roman excess and misplaced ritual, the holiday did not see a repeat, supplanted with the rival tradition, slightly more deistic and promoted by jurist and statesman Maximilien Robespierre with the Cult of the Supreme Being. Both sects were banned by Napoleon Bonaparte with the Law on Cults of 18 Germinal, Year X—re-privileging the old order.

saint cesario deacono (12. 843)

A deacon originally from the Roman province of Africa, Caesarius began preaching the gospel to the poor of the ancient harbour town of Terracina along the Via Appia between Naples and Rome, accidentally arriving their after a shipwreck brought him providentially to a receptive audience, is feted on this day on the occasion of his martyrdom in year 107 AD. Critical of the long-standing pagan custom—“Alas for a state and emperors who persuade by tortures and are fattened on the outpouring of blood”—of this community under the direction of the priest of Apollo of choosing every first of January a sacrifice, a young man to be indulged all material delights and luxuriated for a span of eight months to become a fit propitiatory offering for the god and on the kalends of the ninth (novem), ceremonially regaled in finery and mounted on a generally recalcitrant steed, made to throw himself from the clifftop into the sea. For refusing to honour their patron and protector (though the pictured temple on the promontory is actually dedicated to Anxurus, a youthful avatar of Juno) and sowing heresy among the community, the priest of Apollo, Caesarius and a local presbyter called Julian were incarcerated and ultimately sentenced to the same fate as the sacrifice, without the pampering beforehand and unceremoniously bundled in a sack and flung off the mountain top. His name meaning “devotee of Caesar,” prompting his sainthood was seen by the early Church as a way of replacing the cult of emperors with their own pious servants—particularly after the daughter of Valentinian I Galla was healed after a visit to his shrine in the fourth century, translating some of his relics to Rome, building a basilica for them on Palatine Hill. With reference to his manner of death, Caesarius is the patron invoked against drowning and protector of Caesarean sections—though Galla would later die during childbirth. Bone fragments are preserved in churches throughout Italy and around the world, including Germany, the United States, the Philippines, Croatia and England.

9x9 (12. 836)

pareidolia: a massive rock formation outside of Sedona Arizona looks like Snoopy atop his dog house  

birch benders: tell-tale rounded type that AI seems to prefer  

chaotic evil: wildly popular Sultan’s Game has a labyrinthine narrative that evokes Borges’ The Garden of Forking Paths   

can you do facial: US customs and border protection forced scans and use of automated recognition to verify citizenship judged illegal 

faith ecosystem: ousted Intel CEO on a mission to create a Christian AI  

locofaulism: hyper-specific, hyper-local insults, mostly Dutch

ultracrepidarian: Chinese legislation prevents influencers from addressing important topics unless they are licensed professionals—see previously  

groked and pilfered: Wikipedia alternative (see previously) has a penchant for plagiarism and heavy citation  

storch und stag: concept power lines shaped as giant animals for Austria

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Park of Monsters (with synchronopticæ), assorted links worth the revisit, Ford turns his back on NYC, Trump and the stock market, the Rumble in the Jungle plus a poem for the battle-worn

twelve years ago: bridging the Bosphorus plus spying on the conclave  

fourteen years ago: goats and horses 

fifteen years ago: air travel security theatre 

charring cross (12. 826)

Another property saved from falling into abject disrepair from the Spitalfield’s Trust, the Gentle Author directs our attention to the real estate on the market in the Kentish Weald of the remnants of the archbishop’s palace, a favoured respite during the day’s journey from Canterbury to Lambeth Palace in London for centuries as well as hosting Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon (and vast entourage) on their embassy with France’s Francis I for their representatively opulent summit at the Field of Cloth of Gold. Ultimately converted into a dwelling space following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1545 (also the work of Henry under the Reformation) this storied way-station (see also) was redeveloped as a farming complex and is in need of a good caretaker. We wish we had the spare resources for such a noble endeavour lying around.

8x8

tor’s cabinet of curiosities: a collection of weird hagiographies 

photographie de rue: photography student Lionel Derimais’ impressions of New York City in the winter of 1980 

non-generative ai: artist Pablo Delcan responds to human prompts  

canary in the coal mine: the collapse of US private equity firms echoes the collapse of the sub-prime real estate market that caused the Great Recession of 2008  

to catch a thief: reconstructing the Louvre heist  

grattacieli: the medieval skyscrapers of Bologna—see previously 

breaker one-niner: the computer industry’s first challenge from the US federal communications commission was over frequency interference for citizens’ band radio—see previously  

elevator pitch: podcasters debate listening to episodes at 2x speed

hassock (12. 810)

Via the latest link round-up (all on the theme of needlework and knitting) by fellow internet peripatetic Messy Nessy Chic, we are referred to this cosy archive of embroidered kneeling cushionssourced from the pews of various congregations around Cornwall.

Inspired by a visit to the parish church of Saint Breage (a nun and missionary under Saint Brigid) and surrounding villages and noticing the tuffets—genuflexoria, the collection records not only Bible stories and local legends but also instil a sense of community featuring details about the lives of parishioners. We wonder if there’s a scramble as services begin to claim one’s favourite—kneelers a sixteenth century invention as genuflecting was not part of the liturgy, spurred on by the Protestant Reformation and calls for regular and permanent furnishings, until then but until the mid-twentieth century it was common practise in Anglican churches to rent pews to seatholders, raising money for the diocese and as a show of social standing when on one’s knees.

synchronoptica

one year ago: pivotal tech year 2004 (with synchronopticæ), a method for guaranteeing equal chance and distribution, a West German crime drama plus a rare Mac Tonight clip emerges

seventeen years ago: returning from a trip to Ireland 

7x7 (12. 799)

do not comply in advance: many news organisations are refusing to sign on to new US department of war rules to report on only officially vetted items 

haibao: a look back at the 2010 Shanghai world Expo plus a menagerie of other mascots  

touched by an angle: more biblically accurate heavenly hosts—see also here and here  

the lighthouse, the prioritiser and the flashlight: dozens of strategies for safeguarding one’s attention in an exhausting environment—via MetaFilter 

xeno canto: a geocaching tutorial for birdsong—from a revamped Maps Mania  

zoomorphic stereotypes: the 1806 human-animal hybrid caricatures of Charles Le Brun 

sos: Save our Signs project aims to preserve ten thousand placards in US national parks threatened with deletion for telling uncomfortable truths of the past for present and future generations

ribeauvillé et hunawihr (12.767)

 

 

Going a bit further afield, we toured the commune historically known as Rappoltsweiler / Ràppschwihr after the eighth century town passed from the ownership of the Bishopric of Basel to the countship of Rappoltstein (Ribeaupierre), the hereditary king charged with the protection and patronage of the itinerant minstrels of Alsace, who paid a busking tribute to their lord in exchange—the office of the Pfeiferkönig eventually was inherited by the ranks of the prince-electors of Bavaria, and made an annal pilgrimage to their sainted patronness Maria von Dusenbach, a chapel in the Capuchin cloister complex just outside of Ribeauvillé dedicated to the Presentation of Jesus. The Gothic centre with preserved medieval houses is overlooked by a primeval forest (re-seeded much later in its history with giant sequoia—see also—and containing the largest stand outside of North America) and the ensemble of three ruined castles, Saint-Ulrich, Girsberg and Haut Rappoltstein.

 

Next we visited Hunawihr on the way back to Riquewihr—also with a beautifully preserved layout from the 1300s—it was named after the residence of another Frankish lord called Huno, built on the foundations of a Gallo-Roman villa. Renowned for her piety and charity, the sainted lady of the estate, Huna, took it upon herself to do the laundry for the poor and the sick in the fountain at the base of the village, imbuing the clean clothes with powers to restore the health of the ill—with one instance of the dirty wash-water transformed into wine during a particularly bad harvest year. The hilltop fortified church (Kirchenburg, l'église fortifiée) in view of the legendary spring became a pilgrimage site and became, like many of the sacred buildings of the region what’s called a simultaneum, following the Treaty of Westphalia that guaranteed religious liberties for the people of Alsace, and holds both Catholic mass and Protestant services.

pious fictions (12. 737)

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency contributor Carlos Greaves shares an uncharacteristically sobering flowchart, decision-tree on telling the difference between a lone wolf and a coordinated effort by the radical left. The parallel construction triangulates with a lecture series by tech oligarch Peter Thiel embracing the language of the apocalypse—rebuffing, redirecting worries over AI godhead with talks that appeal to particularly American obsessions of naming the Antichrist and belief in angels and demons (environmental activist Greta Thunberg is a favourite target of the influential billionaire for the Great Satan—in the parlance and policing of y’all Qaeda) and the censoring of media outlets with producer son David of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison looking to acquire CNN after taking over Paramount-Skydance with consequences already apparent, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission bullying ABC-Disney into cancelling another popular late night talk show critical of the administration, the divestiture of US TikTok to a MAGA cadre to transform it into a propaganda mill far worse than any hand wringing over China, and the Washington Post dismissing a veteran journalist for reporting the news and calling out sophistry.

i’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife (12. 725)

Released on this day in 2013, the debut single from Irish singer-songwriter Andrew John Hozier-Byrne (professionally known by the mononym Hozier) is a soulful hymn that uses religious terminology to describe a forbidden relationship as an invective against discrimination with attendant shame and trauma promulgated by the Catholic Church. With the help of the music video that is somewhat of a departure lyricly and the recently introduced platforms of Shazam (as a cataloguer and registry to discover new songs) and Spotify, it became an international chart-topper, spending a then record twenty-three consecutive weeks at the top, tying with Imagine Dragons’ 2012 Radioactive. Written and demo recording made in the attic of his parents’ home in County Wicklow, it caught the attention of an independent label and turned the artist’s career prospects around. Hozier’s body of works all share social conscious themes and both his songs and continued advocacy have a strong message of justice and champion the poor and marginalised.