the devil in the details (13. 896)

Via { feuilleton }, we learn that at the film’s centenary, a recently rediscovered scrapbook of sketches and on-set photographs help limn the creative process of F W Murnau and his masterwork Faust. Very protective of his directorial methods, the production bible—a prop in the actual film—consigned to the hearth in a moment of despair by the itinerant alchemist, art directors rescued this artefact from the ashes and filled in with storyboards and stills to present to Murnau as a keepsake on the premiere. Leaving it behind when invited to Hollywood in Berlin, the leather bound tome was never retrieved and thought lost during WWII. After much searching, the Faust Bible reappeared and was acquired by Cinémathèque Française, who restored it and made it available to researchers and archivists, offering a unique insight into Murnau’s techniques and collaboration. More from the Guardian at the link above and see the whole silent classic as well. O lente, lente currite noctis equi!

9x9 (13. 883)

distressed assets: Disney to acquire chatbot that allegedly encouraged a fourteen-year old to commit suicide  

id 400: a profile of artist Tomoko Sawada’s self-portraiture 

forrester’s pictorial miscellany: the stilted knitting shepherds of Basque Les Bas Landes, a lovely rabbit-hole to tumble down 

nächster halt: digital train journeys with passing scenery from footage of the route—via Web Curios  

spruce wench: Tom Jones’ “Sexbomb” arranged as a chanson from the 1500s—see also  

please and thank you don’t cost a thing: the language for abusing machines is drawn from the human one  

step into the light: a longitudinal study on belief in the great hereafter—via Nag on the Lake 

space and place: the artwork of Ann Toebbe  

1up: a toxicologist tries to find out how and why amanita muscaria gummies exist—see previously here and here

synchronoptica

one year ago: Moog-artist Mort Garson (with synchronoptica) plus AI over-confidence and latent belief

two years ago: Pulp Fiction, a simplified LED typeface plus a mysterious visit from Mr Babbage 

three years ago: AI can unredact documents 

four years ago: Denmark plans a Synthetic Party led by an AI,  the first rail route in Japan (1872), more radio calling cards plus a song from English Beat

five years ago: Faust (1926) plus the architecture of Hélène Binet

six years ago: special meal requests plus more natic movements in plants

seven years ago: nominees for Word of the Year, Germany’s Mushroom of the Year plus New York City through an AI lens

eight years ago: the world’s first motion picture (1888),  Apollo 7 transmits from the Moon (1968), The Watersons, The Bells of Rhymney plus diplomatic tensions between the US and Turkey

 

rudelsburg und berg saaleck (13. 877)

The landscape reminding me a lot of the Rhein and the its valleys, particularly for its castles and viniculture, we arrived at our base camp to the explore the Saale-Unstrut region, a part of Germany we’ve regularly passed through but hadn’t devoted much time or attention to previously, finding a spot along the river, behind the limestone escarpments between Bad Kösen and the ruins of the Rudelsburg. Fortified around the mid-ninth century at the commission of a local bishop to secure trade and for border control, like its Hessian counterparts, archeological studies suggest it was the expansion of a defensive settlement occupied since the Bronze Age, the castle was first besieged in 1348 during a territorial dispute in the first documented case of gunpowder in Germany. 

 

No longer regarded as impenetrable, as was the fate with castles in general, it was rebuilt several times over the centuries as a symbol of power, though one expensive to maintain and eventually allowed to fall into disrepair. The masonry of the keep were ordered to be torn down and used for reinforcement elsewhere but a debilitating accident befell the owner, who took his ordered demolition as a bad omen, currying disfavour and decided to the ruins stand, the profile from the sixteenth century more or less remaining to this day, preserved by romantically-minded fraternities from the nearby university cities of Leipzig, Jena and Halle. An enterprising caretaker of the desolate grounds in the 1830s revitalised popular interest after offering food and drink for passing hikers, prompting citizens of the Naumburg to petition the barons von Schönberg to turn it into a official gastronomic destination and venue for visitors. A repast at the Rudelburg by the King Of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, during a large-scale military exercise solidified the locale’s prominence and as a meeting place for students’ corps, a society for tolerance and pacifism that rejected parallel movements during the lead ups to the first and second World Wars. A series of monuments were installed in the mid 1870s, taking a cue of public sentiment following the restoration of the Wartburg, including an obelisk honouring Wilhelm I, the Löwendenkmal in memory of fraternity brothers killed in the wars and young Otto von Bismarck seated with his dog, a early pledge to the society. With many of these memorials facing destruction during the East German era, the group relocated from Bad Kösen and the Rudelberg to Würzburg and the Marienburg.

We took a short hike around the river’s bend to the twin Turme, architecturally related to Schloss Thurant, of Burg Saaleck—erected as a counter-foundation to the neighbouring episcopal, elevated to a knight’s estate before becoming quarry for the farmers of surrounding villages. Ultimately saved by the romanticisation of its neighbour and former foe, Burg Saaleck took a quite different trajectory in modern times after a tower served as the final refugee of the murders of Walther Rathenau, minister of reconstruction of the Weimar Republic and a signatory of the Treaty of Rapallo, in an attempt to overthrow the government—which eventually succeeded—the site became a sort of pilgrimage destination for Nazi-sympathisers but the memorial was removed in 2000 by the local pastor with the help of the Bundeswehr. Hiking trails from the campsite also led to a half-completed bridge over the Saale, a stone marking a ghost birch (no longer there) and the Johannisquelle, the pump-house and mill spring for the baths of Bad Kösen, first discovered in 1725 and covered in an Art Nouveau style pavilion in 1909.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Je t’aime... moi non plus (with synchronoptica), slowing light speed,  more esoteric programming languages, artistic idioms, assorted links to revisit plus the many anniversaries of SNL

two years ago: Texas Chainsaw Massacre plus a last day on the Havel 

three years ago: the death of Pope Pius XII plus more links to enjoy

four years ago: Barbarella (1968), ancient animation, a Coming Out simulator plus a declassified map of nuclear targets

five years ago: the micronation of Rose Island

six years ago: an appreciation of the Smiley Face, a system for coding emotional facial reactions,  St Gummarus plus the debut of Saturday Night Live (1975)

seven years ago: more on the moons of Jupiter plus the better letterer’s corner

eight years ago: päntsdrunk,  more on Coming Out Day, the technical mastery of chindōgu, a moon moon plus The Secret Life of Plants

 

9x9 (13. 861)

the need to understand and describe a thing before applying ai to it is a bottleneck: theory free machine learning and broken causality 

 ν_e: Nobel prize in physics awarded to Belgian scientist studying neutrinos at the South Pole  

mirror-test: Freddie Yauner’s looking-glass mask  

verschlusssachen: former German spy chief arrested for espionage 

melpomene: Meta’s Muse agentic AI is a privacy nightmare for the masses  

october is the treasurer of the year: John Dunbar’s ode to the month 

reflecting pool: stepping stones across a shallow pond on the roof of a cable car station offer a view of the Austrian Alps  

optogenetics: physiology top honours goes to three German researchers studying how light pulse affect body and mind 

we are going to kill unalive: self-censorship for the sake of the algorithm

day two hundred eleven (13. 857)

Daytime strikes continue on the Ukrainian capital and another bridge is hit as German chancellor Merz meets with Zelenskyy in Kyiv, a day after Moscow issued a warning that diplomats and foreign nationals face “mortal danger” if they decide to come to Ukraine. Zelenskyy has pledged to step up targeting of Russian energy infrastructure and to avoid civilian casualties, despite this apparent shift in aggression. Houthi rebels hit a Saudi Aramco petroleum facility outside of Riyadh—violent exchanges between the rebels and the internationally recognised government are escalating, the Houthis holding Sanaa whilst the exiled Yemeni federation holds Aden. Tehran’s chief negotiator, talks continuing through intermediaries after Trump rejected out of hand Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week, says that the era of “wasted time and” the US “dictating demands is over” and Washington must fulfil the seven conditions agreed upon in the Islamabad deal from June, reflected in the MoU.

the revolution will not be biennalised (13. 831)

Although somewhat evocative of the mural of Dresden’s Kulturpalast and Soviet-era Realism, we agree that Germany’s pavilion at the sixty-first Venice international cultural exhibition does ring a bit hollow and is unreflective regarding the country’s present political realities, a safe-space nearly as insular as the installation from the US in its splendid isolation and wanton ignorance of the negative impacts it has visited on the world entire and the arts themselves, with the same mindset that would demolish their own national stage in the Kennedy Centre out of spite. In a follow-up piece, Hyperalleric’s Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian and critic Aruna D’Souza tour the grounds and offer their opinions, critiques and condemnations of such pavilions that miss the mark and fall flat.

synchronoptica

one year ago: haiku headlines (with synchronoptica) plus Skaterdater (1965)

two years ago: new Nazca lines revealed, the study of street art plus assorted links to revisit 

three years ago: harmless AI hallucinations, tarot-inspired motifs from Leonora Carrington, gravity as a governing factor plus the restoration of a Streamline Moderne observatory associated with Albert Einstein 

four year ago: Knight Rider (1982) plus an asteroid deflection test

five years ago: the Free City of Christiana (1971), Biosphere 2 (1991), more McMansion Hell, an AI names supermarkets plus Germany votes

six years ago: more links to enjoy plus the photography of Robert Bechtle

seven years ago: Trump’s “perfect call,” communal housing in the capital of Greenland plus the science vessel formerly known as Boaty McBoatface

eight years ago: World War III narrowly averted (1983), Trump at the UN General Assembly, the Afrofuturist art of Bodys Isek Kingelez, more on the Hyperloop project plus Gilligan’s Island (1964)

 

day one hundred ninety-eight (13. 818)

Lawmakers is Iran draft legislation to pull the country out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty whilst issuing stark warnings to the US following Trump’s prognosis of options available for ending the conflict are either total obliteration, economic rot or reaching a deal that suggest a fresh wave of military strikes. Tehran promises to retaliate “without limitations,” the Revolutionary Guard saying that the USA lacks the courage and resolve to defeat the Islamic Republic and the world will be “astounded” by Iran’s new weapons. Just as the White House East Wing renovations and the ballroom were a cover for an apocalypse grade bunker, the American president reveals that he plans for his triumphal arch in the capital to host a den of snipers and drones—ostensibly for defensive purposes but likely to quell riots. Trump sanctions the entire staff AfD secures a bald majority in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern but has no options of forming a state government. IDF carry out strikes in Lebanon’s Tyre district and enter Syria. European jet fuel imports fall by half with serious shortages expected.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica), American Idiot plus a banger from Earth, Wind & Fire

two years ago: Weird Al parodies Bob Dylan with palindromes plus more gerrymandering 

three year ago: grieving the loss of dark skies 

four years ago:  Ba-Dee-Ya, Martin Luther’s German translation of the Bible, more on the US Space Force plus a collection of manhole covers

five years ago: an advertisement for Ivermectin 

six years ago:  the Order of the Smile, The Hobbit (1937), the legacy of colonial goods stores, alternative chess plus wide-scale money laundering

seven years ago: The Far Side returns plus more Earth, Wind and Fire

eight years ago: assorted links to revisit, a sexy Handmaiden costume for Halloween plus Dial-a-Song

 

day one hundred ninety-seven (13. 815)

Ukraine bombards Moscow with hundreds of drone strikes on the final day of its elections for the Duma, angered that ballots were sent to illegally annexed territories. It is day one thousand six hundred seventy for that conflict. Two weeks after AfD strong results in Saxon-Anhalt, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern go to the polls with the chancellorship of Friedrich Merz hanging in the balance. Through Qatari and Pakistani mediators, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei conveys its conditions for resuming talks with Washington (only for reopening the Strait of Hormuz), demands including the unfreezing of Iranian assets, lifting the naval blockade and an immediate end to fighting on all fronts, to include Lebanon. Saudi forces attempt to repel Houthi attacks on the capital. Tehran rebuffs claims by US treasury secretary Scott Bessent that the sanctions of Operation Economic Outcast are working and that Iranians are queuing for hours for petrol, calling his propaganda baseless lies and projection as American filling stations report shortages, all time high prices and airlines cut marginal domestic routes. Bucking concerns that accelerated deployment of the technology could kill us all, Trump pledges to create an “AI Force” and appoint an artificial intelligence czar, whilst also proposing to rename it Eloquent Intelligence.

day one hundred eighty-five (13. 773)

Forces of the Yemeni regular army begin a counteroffensive in hopes of retaking Sanaa from Houthi rebels, the Saudi-led regional defensive pact vowing to intervene if more civilians are killed in the crossfire. Iraq searches for alternate routes for petroleum exports as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz again grinds to a halt. Israel constructs a road partitioning the West Bank. Qatar warns of an irrecoverable “industrial catastrophe” if the crisis in Iran is not resolved soon. EU pledges over two hundred million in aid to Greenland amid continued threats of annexation from Trump. The Panama Canal cuts maritime traffic further as El Niño strengthens. Russia closes a consulate in Germany as tensions rise.

day one hundred eighty-four (13. 771)

Iran announces a restricted zone surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, still settling in for a long war despite sustaining heavy attacks from the Americans, saying the era of proportional response is over. Tehran lifts its ban on social media use by government officials to allow them to address the people directly and refute the narrative of the Trump administration. EU sanctions North Korean reeducation camps where Russia sends kidnapped Ukrainian children. Though Kyiv calls for new trilateral talks after Kushner and Witkoff‘s audience with Putin, former ambassadors do not see any purchase for a breakthrough. Trump contemplates renaming the state of New Mexico to New America. IDF bombards southern Lebanon as Palestinian farmers fight settler saboteurs to save crops in Hebron. AfD wins in Saxon-Anhalt fall short of majority and cannot form a government without coalition support.

day one hundred eighty-three (13. 769)

With economic indicators like the better than expected jobs numbers and crippling inflation pointing to a need to increase interest rates, Trump (sporting a new coif apparently) threatens his newly minted chair of the Federal Reserve that if he does not comply and reduce rates, the American president will embargo countries that have a trade surplus with the US and suspend all economic activity—as an alternative to the reciprocal tariffs declared unlawful. The US fires upon at least six tankers headed towards Iranian ports—confirming by the numbers its new tit-for-tat policy of striking an Iranian affiliated ship for every commercial vessel or US asset targeted by Tehran, the Revolutionary Guard attacking a US naval warship enforcing the blockade. Netanyahu orders the IDF to bomb Qatar, labeling it a hostile state. Special envoys Kushner and Witkoff, despite their terrible track records, hold a late night meeting with Putin to discuss ending the war with Ukraine—in time for the midterms. AfD is poised to take over state government of Saxon-Anhalt as more suspected acts of sabotage against Germany‘s power grid are narrowly thwarted by authorities—Russian agents are thought to be behind the attacks. The US justice department pauses cooperation with the government of Canada.

splendor solis (13. 751)

The earliest version of the illuminated manuscript appearing in Augsburg around 1530, the alchemical guide with allegorical instructions on transmutational experiments is attributed to legendary Renaissance natural philosopher Salomon Trismosin and features rich illustrations by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach and Hans Holbein with a format comparable to a book of hours. According to the author’s own lore as laid out in a brief autobiography in a second volume attributed to him, Aureum Vellus (the Golden Parchment), Trismosin set out on a quest to find the true Philosopher’s Stone after observing a miner called Flocker transform lead into gold but took the secret to his grave. Encountering only charlatans during his search, Trismosin finally met a genuine alchemist in Venice, a fellow German seeker called Tauler, who taught him the rudiments of preparing the Stein der Weisen (Lapis philosophorum). Producing precious metals, however, was a rather basic trick when it came to wielding its power, which was said to be able to imbue bodily rejuvenation as the panacea or even immortality, and Trismosin is said to have then travelled East to unlock its further secrets. Early Renaissance surgeon Paracelsus encountered Trismosin in Constantinople where he was mentored in the arts of alchemy himself. The text does not contain the recipe but rather the process of discovery that one has to be willing to submit to comprehend humanity’s place in the natural world—the symbolism of the imagery is unknown, perhaps lost on us novices—but may, read with the text provide a key to esoteric alchemical reaction. Much more from Open Culture at the link above—which although most appreciative of the introduction, the way on the main page it bleeds into the previous article about how AI companies are buying and shredding antique books without a break gave us a little scare that The Splendour of the Sun had already been consigned to the woodchipper as well.

danmarks flymuseum (13. 721)

For a grey day, with the bonus that dogs are allowed inside, we took a tour of the Danish Air Museum annex of the Stauning regional airfield just east of Ringkøbing Fjord. Founded in 1975 under the name of the Denmark Veteran Air Collection, the double hangers contain about seventy aircraft from all over the world including domestically built Kramme & Zeuthen and Scandinavian Aero Industri planes. There were historical exhibits of the first gliders and an early helicopter—plus the Danish naval Sikorsky redningshelikopter, the fleet used for sea rescue and to transport the royal family. 

There were also many defensive planes from the Spitfire to modern fighter jets and shelves of model planes of every era, including many made of LEGO bricks, to discover. The museum also holds the plane of Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg, the Swedish diplomat who helped negotiate the release of hundreds from Danish and Swedish concentration camps and thirty thousand more prisoners of war as vice-president of the Swedish Red Cross and was instrumental in securing the surrender of the Third Reich—Heinrich Himmler personally asked the count for an armistice and to convey a peace proposal to Truman and Churchill that Nazi Germany be allowed to capitulate to the Allies only and continue to fight the Soviet Union, without the Führer’s knowledge. That plan went no where but did lead to eventual acceptance of defeat.

Following the war, Bernadotte, as a UN mediator, tried to ease Arab and Israeli fighting following the partition of Palestine and the creation of an independent Jewish state—recommending Muslim nations have the final say on the disposition of the country in consultation with the local populace—and achieved a temporary ceasefire but was assassinated by Zionist paramilitary militants posing as IDF soldiers before he could further advocate for his proposal. Denmark itself was “invited” to join the Anti-Comintern Pact against the Communist International (the USSR) and pressured to accept what was frame by Germany as protective occupation, enjoying a relatively light subjugation—though any appearance of independence was a sham for foreign propaganda and politicians particularly were under the control of Nazi authorities. Conditions for the Danes took a turn for the worst with the ordered a general crack down, the withdrawal of Danish troops from Jutland and a prime minister installed of the Reich’s choosing after Hitler sent King Christian a long and flattering birthday greeting by telegram, with the monarch responding only, “Meinen bester Dank aus. Chr— Rex,” which sent the Führer into a fit of rage over the perceived lack of gratitude.

nymindegrab strand (13. 715)

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica)

two years ago: a gallery of images that look like AI but are not plus the proposed state of Absaroka

three years ago: variable verbs 

four years ago: Dancing Queen (1976) plus the first trans-Atlantic telegraph (1858)

five years ago: My Sharona (1979), the US withdraws from Afghanistan, mass-transit announcements plus artist Marjorie Cameron Parsons Kimmel 

six years ago: Australian wildfires, Freddie Mercury’s grade school band, photographer Chase Middleton, the Feast of Saint Roch, Fiddlesticks (1930) plus hobo maps