völkischer beobachter (12. 424)

Coinciding with the suicide of Adolf Hitler, the Red Army’s capture of Berlin and the US forces taking of Munich, the official newspaper of the Nazi Party from Christmas 1920, originally a weekly then a daily publication with a hiatus of around two years between Hitler’s arrest for the abortive Bürgerbräu-Putsch until a relaunch in February of 1925 along with the movement’s reestablishment, the last edition of the Folkist Observer was published, though not distributed days before the capitulation of the Reich, on this date in 1945. The original authors of an anti-semitic newsletter advocating for territorial expansion saw their subscription base first acquired by the Thule Society, an occultist group formed after World War I and sponsor and financial backer of what would become the NSDAP political organisation who also informed the Nazis ideology and iconography with the swastika as their chosen symbol of Teutonic fraternity before the readership was sold by the indebted outlet to the party, early members finding a receptive audience. Widely circulated, the paper covered general news and heavily edited propaganda to buoy Nazi progress in in battles and economically—along with other publications, Stalin is said to have considered having it republished under the same title to appeal to former subscribers in East Germany, though ultimately dissuaded. Although the adroit mouthpiece for twenty-four years (Fox News first reached broad viewership during the contentious 2000 presidential election), it was not able to stop the presses for its last issue.

synchronoptica

one year ago: symbiosis (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: the Koreas realign their time-zones, commemorating US Marine Corps lore plus medieval European microstates

eight years ago: the right tries to appropriate Star Trek, cruise ships with amusement parks plus self-repairing concrete

nine years ago: dialectical shifts for the names of shopping bags 

ten years ago: Haitian artists recreate taro iconography, fun with family photos, assorted links to revisit plus Miss Piggy honoured as a feminist icon

woggele stä (12. 408)

Wandering a bit through the neighbouring market town of Ostheim vor der Rhön and learned our area had a connection—and a celebrated one at that—with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, marking his visits to the town in 1780, accompanying Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar, whom ennobled the writer and polymath, in his role as privy councillor and highway commissioner. 

 On one occasion, under the advisement of local economics chair, Goethe directed the construction of two ramparts bridging the river Streu, designed to straighten the flow of the waters and provide irrigation to the meadows, a system used by famers through 1985. Referred to in local dialect as the above (Wackeliege Stege) as the original wooden footbridges, replacing the stepping stones, became wobbly shortly after installation. 

 The master baker Hans Bickert was an avid researcher of local history and was particularly intrigued by the connection to Goethe and acquired in 1970 the old Saxe-Weimar Amtshaus (we have been to a Flöhmarkt inside this building) from the State of Bavaria (see above: Ostheim is historically tied to Thüringen but joined Bavaria in 1947)—restored and renovated the history structure next door and hung signs bearing important transitional dates in the ownership and allegiances of the town. 

The chronicle includes the second visit of Goethe in April of 1782, this time to recruit draftees for the American Revolutionary War, a task which Goethe detested as human thievery and resolved to keep his focus on his earlier project of improving the towns river shallows and apply new irrigation techniques, and adding a basin for wading and ablutions—see also. Not many men were conscripted for Prussia. This minor but lovingly attended to construction together with notable correspondence dispatched from here not only helped the amateur historian to commemorate Goethe’s time in Ostheim with several plaques but also inspired the baker to dress up as the poet laureate while giving guided tours of the town.

laguna hainersee oder living lagovida (12. 399)

Returning to the Störmthaler See campgrounds for Easter weekend with a view of the floating, phantom steeple, the Vineta created to evoke the leveled settlements during the height of mining and mechanisation, we visited some neighbouring lakes and marinas reclaimed from a heavily industralised landscape like all of the Leipziger Neuseenland, the Haubitzer, Hainer and Kahnsdorfer lakes were developed in the early to mid-1990s when a large open-cast lignite coal extraction operation was flooded and slowly converted into beach-front properties with resorts and recreational boating.  

 The bulk of the land too polluted to be rehabilitated, the fields of Witnitz II stretching for kilometre in every direction, now forms the largest photovoltaic park in Europe—the endless array not being quite so photogenic under overcast skies and at speed but impressive nonetheless. Inland, Kahnsdorf features a manorial estate owned once by the scholarly family of theologians, the Ernestis of Leipzig, the property, suffering years of neglect and near demolition during the DDR era as a relict of feudalism, celebrated for hosting the introductory meeting of Friedrich Schiller and jurist Christian Gottfried Körner of Dresden, of an established household of patrons of the arts and culture who entertained Goethe, Hiller and Mozart, on the first of July 1785.  

 Later a financial backer who saved the poet from wrack and ruin, Schiller dedicated An der Freudschaft (“On Friendship”) to Körner and the pivotal moment marking the turn around of Schiller’s fortunes was the inspiration, according to the premises, for Ode to Joy. The surrounding grounds are a park and a pasture for a local group of alpaca enthusiasts who sell wool products in the cafe of the main building.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a wine so nice they named it thrice (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links to revisit

seven years ago: robots assembling IKEA furniture, the Paris riots of 1968 plus springtime in Wiesbaden

eight years ago: an appreciation of edutainment, AI and implicit bias plus a profile of a North Korea day

nine years ago: a termite tent, the Sea-Monkey kingdom plus another experimental chatbot

eleven years ago: a light installation in Oberhausen, an arctic henge in Iceland plus EU lend-lease policy for Ukraine

gleichschaltung (12. 393)

From the relatively contemporaneous neologism developing apace with electrification, the term which historians employ to describe the system that Adolf Hitler used to impose totalitarian coordination and control over all aspects of German society within the constitution bounds of the Weimar Republic—from the press, to the economy, to culture and education—and refers to the conversion of alternating to direct current, technically rectification or phasing—it is usually translated in the socio-political sense of Nazification as “synchronisation” or “bringing into line.” The Nazis adopted similar terminology, like Ausschaltung, the act of switching off, the deletion of anyone counter to this fusion of party and state. Enabled by a series of laws enacted following Hitler’s election as chancellor in the space of nineteen months that undergirded various orders and decrees: measures include the declaration martial law following the burning of the Reichstag that suspended civil liberties and the media outlet, a cover for voter intimidation and suppression of opposition parties ahead of the general election; the formally titled “Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich” suspending parliament and giving the executive the power to pass legislation without them—called the Enabling Act, Ermächtigungsgesetz; deploying chancellery-appointed governors in each constituent state to reconstitute local legislatures according to ballots cast in the above 5 Match 1933 elections; the Law for the Restoration of a Professional Civil Service which dismantled the bureaucracy. Later supplemented by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to promote Nazi values and prejudices through clubs and associations (infiltrating existing ones and establishing compulsory membership in new ones) and oversee news and entertainment, and industry and trade unions were also aligned. Those whose loyalty was deemed unimpeachable, regardless of station or influence, were rewarded with the Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) programme with vacation resorts, hobbyists groups, vocational opportunities and motor clubs, leading to the building of the Autobahn network and the Volkswagen—which also aided in the perception that they were bolstering the German economy through make-work initiatives.

berufsbeamtengesetz (12. 372)

The full formal title in English having a familiar ring, The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was enacted on this day in 1933 two months after Hitler’s rise to power is among the earliest examples of racist and anti-Semitic legislation in the regime, the main thrust of decree was to establish and promote a “national” and expert administrative state by dismissing certain groups of tenured employees, compelling those with Jewish or “non-Aryan” origins to retire or resign and terminating members with ties, real or suspected, to the Communist Party and affiliate organisations. Forbidding these individuals from holding teaching positions or judgeships at first before being expanded to a range of jobs including lawyers, tax consultants, doctors and notaries public, the law and harsh conditions spurred many to flee the country before being expelled, due to heritage or political beliefs. While briefly offering functionaries who had been employed since 1918 and had not yet attained the training and skills to faithfully execute their office should be let go, the text in the main concerned itself with presenting a false narrative of races and how to gauge non-Aranan descent and putting the onus of proof on individuals wanting to keep their positions—Arienachweis, Ahnenpass. Civil servants could be made redundant without cause and forced into retirement to advance the “simplification of administration” with vacancies eliminated. Pensions for this dismissed class of employees were also eventually phased out.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Italian cafe culture accoutrements (with synchronoptica), pixelated dioramas,  assorted links worth the revisit plus a banger from Rick James

seven years ago: the Smooth-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930

eight years ago: unmasking Trump critics plus more links to enjoy

nine years ago: a sonnet generating algorithm, more on the Panama Papers and other tax havens plus a German comedian fined for insulting Turkish leadership

ten years ago: criminal mastermind Adam Worth, a double dose of assorted links, grocery shopping without packaging plus Cyprus joins the eurozone

klein-venedig (12. 341)

Established on this day in 1528 as an outcome of the Treaty of Barcelona in which Holy Roman Emperor Karl V—also king of Spain—seeking relief from debts incurred and privately financed, granted to the Welser family of Augsburg and Nuremberg, a banking firm who claimed ancestry with the famed Byzantine general Belisarius, who reclaimed much of the land of the vestiges of the Western Roman Empire from the Vandals under Justinian I, a charter to rule, explore and colonise the territory known as Little Venice, later Weslerland (the exonym originally from Amerigo Vespucci after the Spanish equivalent), and seek out the legendary El Dorado and seven cities of gold. Governed from abroad, the colony was the German’s most significant stronghold in the Americas and though not lasting two decades before given to Spanish rule over mismanagement and the death of many German settlers and enslaved people dispatched to develop the land, the Welsers’ privilege was propagandised in later years to promote German imperial expansion in the 1880s and 1890s.

8x8 (12. 331)

fork in the road: AI misapprehension of a machine translated simple yes/no survey from Spanish rendered ‘i griega’ (upsilon) as a y-junction and all affirmative responses as the utensil   

hunter-gatherer: the handbag theory of human advancement—via Strange Company   

signature authority: after declaring his predecessor’s pardons invalid over the use of autopen, Trump faces scrutiny over unsigned deportation orders 

certificato di buona salute: pope discharged from hospital and sent home after five dicey weeks   

spring issue: the fourth instalment of the achingly beautiful HTML Review—see previously—is out, via MetaFilter   

vexatious lawsuits: mob boss Trump partially reverses executive order rescinding law firm’s contracts and security clearances for millions in pro bono services, prompting mass resignations 

schlachthof: ancient butchery for mammoths discovered in Austria   

cousin german: a comparison between English and Lower Saxon

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting, Cityspeak in Bladerunner plus The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound

seven years ago: the Ecosia web browser, an ancient passing red dwarf plus Cambridge Analytica

eight years ago: Trumpland, Trump’s triumphs, recreating the bedroom from 2001 plus more on concrete poetry

nine years ago: the christening of Boaty McBoatface, humorist Richard Littler plus a tubular tree house

ten years ago: God Bless You Mr Rosewater plus the crusades and the reconquista

auswärtiges amt (12. 319)

Following the detention and expulsion of three nationals (two tourists and a green-card holding permanent resident), the Foreign Office has issued a travel advisory for Germans travelling to the United States. While in most cases residents of the EU can enjoy visa-free travel in America for up to ninety-days, the decision on whether a traveller can enter ultimately lies with the host country’s border authorities, the enforcement reciprocated. Tantamount to a warning only in degree, Berlin advises prospective vacationers to prepare for arrest, holding (in the cited cases, for periods exceeding two weeks in austere conditions, far beyond just ruining one’s holiday) and deportation even with documentation and pre-flight vetting through ESTA (their Electronic System for Travel Authorisation visa-waiver programme).

synchronoptica 

one year ago: an intemperance scale (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: the Game of Life, an evacuation collection plus a profile of Atlantic City

eight years ago: mandalas from sifted red earth, plans for a paperclip skyscraper plus more on map projections

nine years ago: duelling constitutions plus belated pi day

ten years ago: assorted links to revisit plus collaborative human-robot experiments

time table (12. 287)

An upcoming conclusion of events, akin to Germany’s own Schicksalstag (Day of Fate) but augmented by the cycle of politics and government housekeeping which by rights ought to be pretty routine and unexciting (see also here and here) seems rather ominous or the United States. Not only is it the Ides of March when the backstop continuing resolution funding the government expires at midnight with congressional Democrats poised to withhold their support for any budget or increased debt-ceiling necessary for Trump’s tax cuts in order to blunt the pace of the unlawful dismantling of the administrative state, alienating allies and threatening the global order that has existed since the end of World War II all carried out by royal prerogative and against the will of the legislature, coincidentally it also marks the fifty-third day of the Trump presidency, which is precisely how long it took Hitler use the Weimar constitution to subvert democratic institutions after his appointment as chancellor, destroying the republic from within using its own laws and norms. The date also marks the fifth anniversary since America went into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suspect this upcoming Saturday might be a little wild.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a watchtower in the woods (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

eight years ago: more links to enjoy plus an underwater tunnel for ship traffic in Norway

nine years ago: Douglas babies, the right to be sheltered from dissent, repurposing abandoned churches plus shorthand as punctuation

ten years ago: Latin Christendom, unuselessness plus even more links 

eleven years ago: curtailing freedoms in Türkiye plus artist Carl Grossberg

the man in black (12. 279)

Courtesy of our faithful chronicler, we learn that on this day in 1953, whilst stationed in West Germany Air Force staff sergeant Johnny Cash in Landsberg am Lech (which also hosted the detention facility where Hitler was incarcerated following the abortive Beer-Hall Putsch in 1921 and on the 1933 anniversary of the National Socialist party’s ascendancy in the Reichstag) was likely the among the first to learn about the death of revolutionary leader Joseph Stalin outside of the Soviet inner political circle. The General Secretary of the Communist Party had suffered a stroke a few days earlier and succumbed whilst recuperating in his dacha after extensive medical intervention (probably of a brain haemorrhage) and not announced to the public immediately and possibly disclosed due to this interception. Monitoring coded radio communiques, Cash broke the news through his chain of command to Eisenhower after the message was deciphered. Aside from this important intercept that penetrated the highest echelons of the regime, the balance of Cash’s three year tour was isolating and uneventful, leading to a formation of a band called the Landsberg Barbarians (a play on Bavarians) that played during off duty hours in local venues and saw the inspiration and development of such signature songs as “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Hey Porter.”

bundestagswahl (12. 255)

With the highest voter turn-out since the reunification in 1990, exit polling suggest that the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Friedrich Merz. In light of recent events, the prospective chancellor is vowing “independence” from the US and hopes to build a coalition government quickly. Invigorated by violent crime, immigration and lingering inflation, AfD doubled its results vis-a-vis the last federal election, but all parties have pledged to maintain a firewall to cordon off the far-right, populist opposition. Final distribution of the parliamentary seats are still pending, but the most likely scenario is a partnership with the SPD (Social Democratic Party) or a three-way governance with the Greens. The administration of Olaf Scholz underwent an acrimonious collapse over differences in spending priorities hours after the reelection of Donald Trump.

if american democracy can survive ten years of scolding from greta thunberg, you guys can survive a few months of elon musk (12. 233)

US Vice President and tortured man-child JD Vance opened the Munich Security Conference with a scorching assault on European partners, reframing their attempts to uphold the democratic order by cordoning off extreme nationalist elements (indeed the firewall is for MAGA too) as the true commination to freedom and liberty and accusing their governments of censorship, suppressing free speech—nullifying election results and condoning dangerous and illegal immigration. Citing the threat from within—and questioning whether the US and Europe had any shared values, Vance deviated from the expected topics of Ukraine and the overall security agenda to awkwardly to lecture politicians and policy makers he characterised as running scared from their electorate and paralysed be political correctness and elitism—deputising Trump as the “new sheriff” and that democratic institutions would indeed fail if the people’s issues were deemed invalid. The hall was in shock and did not appreciate the undeniable deflection as being labeled authoritarian regimes, recognising the ill-judged sermon (whose jokes did not land) as aimed for domestic consumption only, at best, and election interference for upcoming voting in Germany at worst.

7x7 (12. 222)

vandalising purposes—in this economy: one hundred thousand eggs are stolen in Pennsylvania 

we stand on guard: a ten year old graphic novel about a US invasion of Canada is surging in popularity  

narrow meaning: a love poem revealed by holding the page level with the eyes, foreshortening the characters—see previously here and here 

sandbox game: an omnibus appreciation of The Sims on their twenty-fifth anniversary—via MissCellania  

antipodes: an exploration of obscure islands  

read-ahead: a pre-summit release from the Munich Security Conference (previously) suggests that due to its imperial aspirations, the US no longer a trusted partner 

the price of eggs in china: inflation and rationing in America

nackte und naturnah (12. 221)

Via fellow internet caretaker Messy Nessy Chic, we are directed to a profile of Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, whom whilst rubbished by critics as the Kohlrabi (turnip) Apostle is regarded as the forefather alternative movements, championing naturism, vegetarianism and pacifism from a commune outside of Vienna and cooperative on Monte Verità on Lago Maggiore, established by protégés. His first moment of transcendence happened on this day in 1882 came at sunrise in the alpine foreland of Bavaria with the vocation of being a prophetic reformer, travelling to

München shortly thereafter in a woollen habit and sandals (though often unshod) and delivered his message, turning away from society’s institutions. Authorities suppressed his teachings and Diefenbach retreated to the countryside to focus on his paintings, though his fame did not materialise as with another follower’s, Hugo Höppener called Fidus and praise from the contemporaries like Egon Schiele, with the public focused on his unorthodox ways and a series of failed exhibitions though finally establishing a studio on Capri. Much more at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit, Lunar New Year plus Death of a Salesman (1949)

seven years ago: rewilding plus notes on adulting

eight years ago: the official White House photographer, parliamentary procedure plus more links to enjoy

nine years ago: a van Gogh retreat and retrospective 

ten years ago: Werner Herzog motivational posters, Deutschland 1983, reputed time-travellers plus social media and net-neutrality

13x13 (12. 185)

embossed: turn of the century tactile teaching aids for the visually impaired for lessons on nature and geography  

lab-leak theory: US Central Intelligence Agency embraces controversial vector for COVID-19 pandemic, discounting zoonosis factors 

ghostwatch: the supernatural horror BBC mockumentary broadcast on Halloween (see also) 1992 and never shown again due to the panic it elicited  

sb593: Oklahoma legislature introduces bill to “restore moral sanity” and criminalise production, distribution and possession of adult material—see previously 

minimoog: a fully-functional analogue synthesiser in LEGO  

haptics and macros: an idea to add gait gestures to one’s smart phone—we can hardly do the right kind of fake kick to open the rear hatch on our car 

mox nix: language borrowings from German propagated by US and UK soldiers stationed there post WWII  

electric garden: a run-down lodge transformed into a living museum mapchat: interact with AI shopkeepers for local businesses—results may vary 

wassergöttin: prehistoric figurine from the Hallstadt culture found in 2022 in Lower Franconia goes on display at the Bavarian State Archaeological Museum in München  

walk without rhythm and you won’t attract the worm: graboids—see also—the other in-jokes that Tremors leans into  

underrepresentation: as part of order to eliminate DEI programmes, US Food and Drug Administration curbs clinical trials aimed at diverse populations for cancer research 

 switchmen: the sign language of railroad workers

the köln concert (12. 177)

Recorded on this day in 1975 at the West Germany city’s opera house Keith Jarrett’s live double-album went on to become the best-selling solo jazz and the best-selling piano record in history despite some inauspicious beginnings. Problems with booking pushed the hour-long performance (attended by a sold-out audience) to late Friday night, and the requested concert grand was not available and so the musician, who was fatigued from touring, had to make due with an out-of-tune and meek sounding baby grand that was only used for rehearsals. Jarrett however was able to lean into the instrument’s shortcomings (see also) and improvised in such a way that celebrated its disrepair.

*     *     *     *     *

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Family of Man (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: A Fashionable Melange of English Words, website traffic, RIP Ursula Le Guin, an AI generated concert lineup plus the Babylon Bee

eight years ago: a conflict of interest 

nine years ago: an X-Files reboot plus the Ronnie Horror Picture Show

ten years ago: Hildegard of Bingen, canine astronauts plus Charlie Hebdo wine labels

8x8 (12. 176)

cryptobiosis: a nematode was reanimated when pulled out of the Siberia permafrost after forty-six thousand years 

fresh air, town square: Mastodon is becoming a non-profit organisation—via Waxy  

wrack and ruin: a superlative gallery of abandoned places  

a sprained ankle on a country walk is allowable but you must not go very far beyond this: in praise of Jane Austin 

hollywood hills: architects reckon with the scale of destruction from the Los Angles fires—more here 

luthersadt eisleben: a horde of coins found hidden in a statue’s leg in the reformer’s home church 

the joe rogan experience: Elizabeth Lopatto summarises the three-hour interview with Zuckerberg 

 ™: Sweden’s attempt to copyright Sweden thwarted plus other assorted legal stupidity

unwort des jahres (12. 173)

For the thirty-fourth time, the jury has selected its Un-word of the Year (see also below) for this past twelve months, the panel of linguists (for the first two years, the selection was announced by the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache along with the Wort des Jahres but an internal row led to the committee to become independent and refuse any state funding) calling out a recently popularised term that denigrates human rights and democratic principles through euphemism or deflection. For 2024, with dishonourable mentions going to Heizungsverbot, misleading as implying a heating ban and attempting to discredit environmental protection measures but only effects standards for the construction of new heating systems, the overall winner was the neologism that repackages old, everyday racism biodeutsch, that is—biologically German. Gaining parlance on social media, it is used to classify, evaluate and discriminate against an out-group on supposed biological criteria, originally used ironically from the organic seal for domestic produce but used for some time in this non-satirical and unreflective way. The construct implies a non-existent biological connection to nationality and is meant to exclude those with immigrant roots, real or presumed.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus more emoji remixers

seven years ago: Martin Luther King Day universally celebrated in the US plus the leader of the American Nazi party

eight years ago: bat-friendly tequila, promotion via voice-analysis, modern grotesques, MAGA international plus image compression

nine years ago: Germany’s Unwort of the Year 

ten years ago: Switzerland retires some of its civilian defence infrastructure, the origins of bio-feedback plus no crisis unexploited

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) 

c the unseen (12. 149)

Deutsche Welle has a pair of interesting profiles of the cities—three actually—that will serve as the 2025 European Cultural Capitals. Once the flagship metropolis of the DDR (see previously), Chemnitz (formerly Karl-Marx-Stadt) has mostly dimmed since reunification and attracting negative attention, but under the motto above (“C” for the vehicle registration plate) organisers hope to highlight the city’s long history and rich heritage, including showcasing a selection of the thirty-thousand garages built during the East German era as a backdrop to explore their functions not just for parking but also storage and communal spaces, like the allotments of Gardenstädte. The other municipalities participating is Görz, once the home to an Alpine dynasty under the Hapsburg Empire, now divided into Nova Gorica and Gorizia along the Italian-Slovenia border but for the first time celebrated together as a joint culture capital. The former cosmopolitan and culturally diverse city was annexed by Italy following the dissolution of Austro-Hungary at the end of World War I and the German and Slovene populations were either expelled or assimilated, borders redrawn again in the aftermath of World War II with Yugoslavia’s Tito founding a new district on the divide between East and West. More on the year’s schedule of events and programme at the link up top.

synchronoptica

one year ago: YMCA at number one (with synchronoptica), Epiphany in Greenland plus assorted links to revisit

seven years ago: the animations of Jonathan Stroh, an AI generates plausible Wikipedia categories, designer candies plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: even more links, more Japanese designer New Year’s cards, an inaugural prop plus The Running Man (1987)

nine year ago: more links worth revisiting, wearable tech plus underwater farming

ten years ago: CNN’s apocalyptical sign off plus a supposed Nazi UFO