adopt-a-data-centre (13. 917)

As we’ve recently learnt of a Google facility in the Finnish wilderness, attracted to the cheap real estate for its colder climate that does not necessitate as much water for cooling, not only ignored local zoning laws in felling over five hundred hectares of boreal forest without permission but that the destruction of the large swath of habitat, stripping even the top soil and leaving only vast tracts of mud, has driven packs of wolves into villages surrounding the site, the general and very much warranted NIMBYism in the US where data-centres are propagating like detestable toadstools and the fact that such monstrosities are probably not even needed for AI advancement in the long term, assuming that it all isn’t a bubble primed for bursting, we quite liked the notion of giving physical digital infrastructure—like the computer lab where the internet is kept—a cuddly mascot. The satirical project takes the form of a plushy that, when hugged purrs with the interminable high-pitched hum emitted by actual facilities, as sampled by people forced to live next to them. More from Design Boom at the link above.

a new stance for tomorrow (13. 890)

Whilst not exactly mass-produced, the Futuro House (see a current listing here) by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen was more than just a custom build and demonstration prototype—whose further success and adoption was thwarted in part by the oil crisis of 1973 that greatly increased the cost of the plastic it was moulded from—occupying a sort of liminal space in pre-fabricated, tiny dwellings more like the Raygun Gothic designs of one off cars, monuments and distributed around the world for preservation, like graffitied slabs of the Berlin Wall or remnants of the Tokyo capsule hotel in various states of upkeep. Only one hundred were produced. With a flying-saucer shape and an aircraft hatch entrance, Suuronen’s concept for a modular, mobile ski chalet was reflective of the prevailing post-war attitude of unlimited economic and technological growth. More from { feuilleton } at the link above including related projects and a link to a 1998 documentary on their conservation.

synchronoptica

one year ago: global twinned-towns (with synchronoptica) plus a time capsule to be unsealed in six thousand years

two years ago: the first private rocket company, first presidential photo-op (1924) plus the Fool’s Cap Map 

three years ago: one the world’s first photovoltaic power plants plus assorted links to revisit

four years ago: St Andrew of Crete,  more links to enjoy plus RRR

five years ago: the tragical death of an apple pie

six years ago: the taking of Harper’s Ferry (1859), the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, change what the bunny is holding plus even more links worth the revisit

seven years ago: The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago

eight years ago: pumpkin spice in everything, early Uber, The Republican Club plus assorted links to enjoy

 

9x9 (13. 766)

tokyo drift: where potential car owners have to show proof to the dealership of a place to park before purchase, Japanese architects carve automobile shaped voids in urban houses 

trickle down economics: diesel prices hit a record high in the US  

pew pew: laser-washing gives jeans a broken-in look  

mo6: Finnish company introduces carbon-negative building material produced from waste lignin from the timber industry  

tasting notes: visualisations and maps of coffee origins  

ceramic dalmatian: the Wheel of Fortune consolation prize added to the History of America in 100 Objects speaks to the evolution of the game show format and our collective aspirations  

a modified neublon-b escort frigate: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens in Los Angeles—see also  

newman’s own didn’t drop a these colours don’t run salad dressing: the attempt to rename Lake Ontario is a dumb distraction but with sinister, Orwellian undertones no matter how pathetic  

handmade utopia: the architecture of the back-to-the-land movement of Northern California of the 1960s and 1970s

synchronoptica

one year ago: linking celebrities across time and space (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth the revisit

two years ago: more links to enjoy

three years ago: Kenneth Anger’s first film plus hot labour summer

four years ago: the reservoirs of Saalfeld 

five years ago: AI generated movie posters, less and more of the old weird web, Space 1999,  a bluesy rendition of the Seinfeld theme, the Goethe-Schiller monument plus another MST3K classic

six years ago: Trump undermining public confidence in elections 

ear-shot (13. 652)

Just when we thought we had exhausted the quirky and confusing subject of courtesy and conventional measurements (see previously), we discover the mil (via Futility Closet) which was used as a common unit of distance among the countries of Scandinavia. Ultimately derived from the same Roman source as the mile (mille passus, a thousand paces), it is now standardised as ten kilometres—the same as the obsolete myriametre (ten-thousand metres) once used in France with the inception of the metric system, and likewise is only used in informal contexts with no representation on maps or traffic signs, though still used colloquially and by Swedish tax authorities for calculating deductions for business travel and as the usual way to measure fuel consumption and efficiency, litres per mil, but historically varied widely by local surveying. In its final form, the Danish mil was reckoned as just over seven and a half kilometres as the equivalent of four minutes of latitude though a lot of regional variations persisted through the nineteenth century and endure in common parlance, halvmil being a widely used term for five kilometres, from skogsmil or rast, a Forest Mile or the distance that traveller on foot would be able to cover between breaks, like a league representing the pace of the average gait in the course of a hour. Synchronised along with the rest of the adoption of SI units ultimately, the Finnish, Suomi native term for mil, peninkulma, originally closer to those neighbouring shorter conventions between four and seven kilometres away came from how far removed one could hear a dog’s bark.

9x9 (13. 291)

crepuscular rays: the phenomena of sun pillars explained  

an exercise in attention: cultivating contemplation through a defence of pet portraiture  

关税: Trump’s reciprocal tariffs have failed against the Chinese export economy  

por la paz y justicia: Spain’s defiance and criticism under US duress is a template for the rest of European, allies threatened with sanction and invasion

the day of the locust: the Simpsons’ patriarch is taken from the protagonist of Nathanael West’s 1939 novel about Hollywood society with a cast of stock characters  

odonymy: UK regionalism for alleyways—see previously, see also  

смертономика: thanatology and Russia’s resistance to sanction  

dinergoth: the post-subcultural mainstream and the weirding of middle of the road America as a coping mechanism  

aurora borealis shining down in dallas: nineteenth century physicist Karl Lemström’s attempts to produce the Northern Lights on demand—see also

historjá (13. 189)

Via Everlasting Blört, we are introduced Sámi multimedia artist and designer Britta Margareta Marakatt-Labba through her monumental piece on the history and mythology of Sápmi, the homeland of the indigenous peoples that stretches from Norway to Russia, created between 2003 and 2007. Often drawing comparisons to the Bayeux Tapestry (see also), the twenty-four metre long embroidered textile normal is in residence on the campus of the Univerisity of Trømso but been displayed by several Scandinavian museums and galleries as well as documentca 14 in Kassel. Click through at the link up top for a guided tour with the artist including the time when the tradition of yoiking returned.

the porkkala concession (13. 117)

Operated as a Soviet naval base, leased to the USSR under the terms of the Moscow Armistice of 1944, the peninsular for a period of fifty, originally scheduled for repatriation in 1994, was returned to Finland early after eleven years of service on this day in 1956 with the displaced former inhabitants of the communities of Kirkkonummi, Ingå and Siuntio restored their lands. Hosting the bulk of the Baltic fleet and some sixteen thousand sailors and submariners at one point on the borderlands just some thirty kilometres from Helsinki, the withdrawal was based on several political factors in including the Finno-Russian Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance of 1948, Khrushchev’s shift away from Stalinism, other basing opportunities and Finland’s own post-war policy of neutrality, which also precluded its accession to NATO. Presently the Pokkala peninsula is home to main base of the Finnish naval forces at Upinniemi.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Welsh labyrinths (with synchronopticæ), assorted links to revisit plus a real life Voight-Kampff test

twelve years ago: nursing shortages, all-inclusive vacation packages plus more on the monomyth

thirteen years ago: tavern etymologies 

fourteen years ago: the potential of 3D printing plus the right to be forgotten

sixteen years ago: crafty advice plus Davos security chief found dead

mannerheim line (12. 717)

Speaking as chair of the Russian Security Council earlier this week, former president Dmitry Medvedev threatened the sovereignty of Finland using provocative language that directly parallels that false arguments circulated before the 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine. Medvedev said that the former autonomous principality of the Russian Empire, full independence achieved following World War I had aligned itself with Nazi Germany (as a continuation of the Winter War that saw the eventual repelling and retreat of invading Soviet forces) with alleged ambitions to expand its borders to St Petersburg and the Kola peninsula, with a lingering russophobic hysteria that persists in its current government, determined to eliminate ethnic Slav culture, joining NATO not out of defence but as a way to bolster offensive capabilities and declare war on Russia. Patently false, this narrative of antagonising the western alliance and the EU is now new or unique and part of a continuum of rousing domestic aggression (renewing demands for reparations dating back to World War II, claiming Finnish posture nullifies settled treaties) through disinformation and sets the stage for justifying further incursions. Historical myths make for a convenient target for redirection, especially immediately after surprisingly steadfast response to threats to core members (something that was missing in the international handling of the above conflict that revealed coordination problems all around and how external borders were treated as buffer terrority)—and the rather askance request for more indirect sanctions against Russia by the US to the European Union to tariff remaining trade partners with a one hundred percent tariff.

8x8 (12. 227)

patch barracks: military families boo and heckle defence secretary during a whistle-stop visit in Stuttgart en route to the Munich Security Conference 

stakes, novelty, anger, retention and fear: the SNARF model of viral content 

yrjö kukkapuro: a tribute to the pre-eminent Finnish furniture designer 

crossing a line: Timothy Snyder on hurtling towards authoritarianism—via Kottke  

agnotology: an encore episode on the study of wilful ignorance

måke califørnia great ægain: US imperial aspirations prompt counter offers ranging from the serious to satirical 

ザ: the nuances of definite article in article-less and uninflected Japanese language  

cultural moments: under pressure from anti-DEI diktats, Google removing Black History Month and Pride from its calendars—though the decision will not impact the daily Doodle

12x12 (12. 191)

dyson trees: lesser known than his eponymous sphere, a hypothetical genetically engineered plant could be grown inside a comet and provide a self-sustaining habitat for space-faring 

cold case: US retailer regrets installing advertising screens in its frozen food section and is struggling to get out of the contract—see also 

fourth-wall: a filmmakers’ dilemma about the unseen camera’s point-of-view  

decipherment: a solicitation for cursive users to transcribe and classify two centuries of undigitised documents—check the comments section—see previously  

why this is hell, nor am i out of it: Trump, like Satan, doesn’t get away with it 

drawing board: the Nokia Design Archive of prototypes never put in production

twentytwentyfive: George Orwell is to be honoured with a commemorative ￡2 coin for the seventy-ftfth anniversary of his death

erythrosine: US federal drug administration bans Red Dye 3 as food colouring and other business news—see previously  

onite clam discrepancy: personal AI-chatbots yield more problematic advice—see previously 

a stone only rolls downhill: a new music video from OK Go shot on sixty-four phones for sixty-four one take pieces  

the toasters are flying: a history of screen-savers—see previously  

☄️: meteorite strike caught on a doorbell camera in Prince Edward Island

påskhäxa (11. 455)

Via Messy Nessy Chic, we are reminded (see previously) of the Swedish and Finnish legend of the Easter witches who fly off to Blockula (Blåkulla, cognate with Blocksberg or the Brocken in the Harz mountains and host to a similar congress) to meet the Devil on the night between Holy Wednesday (Dymmelonsdag, also known as Spy Wednesday to mark the bargain of Judas and his betrayal of Jesus’ whereabouts) and Maundy Thursday (Skärtorsdagen). Though with dark origins in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the witch mania and hunts in Scandinavia, when implements that witches could use for their magical flight, broomsticks, fence posts, beams and farm animals, were locked away, modern traditions include children dressing as witches, to commemorate the ride and rites, and go door-to-door for Easter treats in exchange for hand-drawn greetings.

omero nel baltico (11. 401)

Via the New Shelton wet/dry, we are directed towards an interesting academic speculation from amateur historian Felice Vinci who transposes the epic, decade-long, decade-delayed homecoming of Odysseus (see previously here and here) from the Mediterranean to the higher climes of the Baltic Seas. Positing that conditions during the Holocene Climate Optimum during the time of the Trojan War made northern Europe more like Greece, the main battleground was on the plains of Finland, with Circe’s Isle Jan Mayen Island, the Sirens and Cyclops on the Norwegian coast, shipbuilding Aetolian Pylene the German town of Plön and Thebes Stockholm. Though many of the toponyms in Homer’s poem are frustratingly nondescript (most believed that Troy was legendary until it was discovered) and malleable, like the Matter of Britain or Charlemagne’s heritage claimed by many peoples, Vinci’s theory is an intriguing idea but does not seem particularly convincing or rigorous and follows a tradition of projection and syncretism. Much more at the links above.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago:  The Jaywalker (1956), the Great Michigan Pizza Funeral (1973), more needful punctuation plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: the Iron Curtain (1946), a cinematic preview in retrospect plus translation choices for a global product

three years ago: ultracrepidarian, photographer AL Schafer plus another MST3K classic

four years ago: assorted links to revisit, Sinclair Computers (1981) plus Disney’s back catalogue

five years ago: artist Gunta Slölzl, parcours, Florida Man plus the Odyssey as a cruise itinerary

ydinjätteen loppusijoitustila (10. 969)

Via fellow internet peripatetic Messy Nessy Chic, we are directed towards a quick but ruminative tour of an installation in Finland, which in two short years will see no human traffic for the next hundred thousand. The deep geological repository of Onkalo near the Eurajoki power plant on the western coast will be the first long-term disposal facility for spent fuel rods and other highly radioactive material currently warehoused in storage depots around the world, the site chosen for its geologic stability and informed by residents around the site’s location. The reflections of being among the last to tread these caverns is particularly poignant as one imagines the surface landscape taking on a new character in the intervening aeons and how might these seals remain unbroken for untold future generations.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: Culture Beat’ Mister Vain (1993) plus the short-lived BBC spy drama Quiller

two years ago: your daily demon: Asmodeus,  assorted links to revisit plus the art of Arthur Tress

three years ago: the death of Emmett Till (1955)

four years ago: the iconic artwork Marianne Saxl-Deutsch

five years ago: the Ramstein Air-Show Disaster, Late-Stage Capitalism, more links to enjoy plus more on the Great Span

 

9x9 (10. 794)

all star festival: the 1963 charity concert sponsored by the UN for refugee aid with headliners Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day and Louis Armstrong  

smoke from a distant fire: New York City’s air quality falls to the most hazardous in the world—see also  

progressive punishment: a speeding driver in the Åland region gets a six-figure ticket  

bezold-brücke shift: the Sun shines green  

better living through chemistry: a glossary of manufactured terminology  

wopr: Nicolas Temese creates dioramas of miniature vintage computers—see previously  

espionage act: Trump summoned to the federal courthouse in Miami on charges of illegally retaining classified files  

cop 28: the warming weather cycle of El Niño is upon us  

wall of sound: the logistics of touring that defies credulity

sampo (10. 665)

A rock formation and cave system in Sipoo some thirty kilometres from Helsinki reputed to house the Lemminkäinen Hoard (see previously), a mythical treasure trove of gold, jewels and ancient artefacts of immense value is in the news again after first making headlines three decades ago, with excavators and treasure-hunters claiming to be once more on the brink of a break-through as was asserted back in 1987 when a Finnish-born tantric yogi and mystic related his family saga passed down generation after generation, revealing the location of a ritual site on his family’s property. Though an archeological survey determined the buried chambers to be of a natural origin, the guide and corroborating folklore holds that the area, the birthplace of humanity, was sealed off for protection once Christianity was introduced to the region in the tenth century. More from BBC Reel at the link above.

liittyminen (10. 654)

In a ceremony that saw the raising of the national banner joining thirty others at the international defence pact headquarter’s and coinciding with the aniversary of the founding of the organisation in 1949, Finland’s accession to NATO, approved by all members in under a year and prompted by Russian aggression in the region more than doubles its the size of the border abutting the Western alliance and Russia. In a process that saw its formal beginning in last May, along with neighbouring Sweden, Finland abandoned decades of military nonalignment for increased security and mutual, multilateral response.

7x7 (10. 649)

the house of mouse: Disney lawyers thwart Florida governor’s interference plans by linking status quo to the British monarchy 

the highrise collection: a drone exploration of beautiful early twentieth century skyscrapers of the US

mambabatok: Vogue Philippines has 106-year-old traditional tattoo Apo Whang-Od artist on its cover  

fraktur folk art: the lettering of German dissident émigré communities in Pennsylvania (see also) 

pretty fly for a white guy: Finnish politicians, as their rapping alter-egos Qruu and Cstar, drop some rhymes for their campaign platform—via Miss Cellania    

gelatinous cube: the 1977 Dungeon’s & Dragons Monster Manual  

g: all. of. the. above: a Trump indictment quiz

9x9 (10. 635)

concrete sign: Pope Francis returns marble fragments held by the Vatican Museum to the Parthenon

house of thunder: the everlasting lightning storm over Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo 

queen street: a personal view of the prettiest thoroughfare in Ontario, in Niagara-on-the-Lake plus assorted links to visit 

april showers bring may flowers: the joyful floral illustrations of Iancu Barbărasă  

thinking outside of the box: innovations in pizza 

beauty paget: the varied career and roles of Miss Deborah Paget  

the theory of mediatization: press coverage of pseudo-events, like press-conferences and political rallies, has increased significantly while journalistic rigour in actual reporting (see also) has stagnated—via the New Shelton wet/dry  

master class: Finland offering a crash course in happiness, securing the title for six years in a row  

age-appropriate: Florida principal forced to resign after including Michelangelo’s David in middle schooler’s art curriculum without prior parental approval—see also

lemminkäinen, very pretty (10. 471)

First subjected to the MST3K treatment on this day in 1993 (broadcast edition below, preceded by the short “Here Comes the Circus”), the 1959 cinematic anthology of Finnish folk tales and loosely based of the national epic sage Kalevala, the co-Suomi-Soviet production by Aleksandr Ptushko and Risto Orko was also marketed under the title of the main MacGuffin, the mystical Sampo (see also)—a magical mill that will grant limitless prosperity to whomever possesses it. The only person in the realm able to craft a Sampo is the smith Ilmarien, who cannot make it until his sister Annikki falls in love, which she eventually does, enamoured with our pure-of-heart and hard-working protagonist. A evil witch called Louhi, ruler of the dark and dismal Pohjola is also desirous of a Sampo and ransoms Annikki to her land, kidnapping her by means of an enchanted cloak. Lemminkäinen must perform a series of seemingly impossible tasks to win her back, with the last challenge going to her brother, Ilmarien, to fashion a Sampo. ”Look, it‘s Thomas Edison and his Electric Child!“

6x6 (10. 431)

your posture is correct if you can lift your right foot in the air and rotate it effortlessly without falling: a Finnish tutorial from 1979 on the proper way to open doors—with subtitles in several languages

gebrausgraphik: the ornament and logo design of Max Körner 

de laudibus sanctae crucis: the medieval pattern poems—that reference the Phaistos Disk and anticipate calligrams—of Magister Rabanus Maurus (see previously here and here)  

sword out of the stone: King Tut’s space dagger and other superlative archaeological finds—see previously  

wood wide web: ethereal ghost flower forgoes photosynthesis—via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links  

inside story: an appreciation of Slim Goodbody