jules vernacular (13. 873)

Via Satyr’s Link Roll, we are directed towards this inventory of antique hand-painted and machined lettering of French public signage, a brilliant archive of examples that one can filter and peruse by a range techniques, regional flair and styles from émail to embossage and soupirs (punch-outs) to sablage (funerary fonts). This growing collection with new, brilliant exemplars  and samplers added regularly is a journeyman’s exploration and a genuine catalogue of singular signage has been celebrating popular trends and hyper-local, vernacular aesthetic since 2006, recently revamped to make the archive more accessible.

day two hundred thirteen (13. 860)

Canadien separatist party wins provincial elections in Quebec—promising another referendum on leaving the nation, but not whilst Trump remains in office. The internationally recognised government of Yemen claims gains in counteroffensive with the Houthis, retaking the port city of Mocha. Washington issues further warnings to foreign financial institutions doing business with Tehran, saying they may be subject to sanctions without notice. Garnering strong denouncement from the state’s governor, Trump intimates that Iran could “take out Los Angeles or San Diego,” maintaining that the pain at the pump is a small price to pay to ensure that the Islamic Republic never obtains a nuclear warhead. At the same rally in Nebraska, the American president brings auto-pen Natalie Harp on stage to sign an impromptu executive order rescinding the federal excise tax on so called red-dyed diesel and allowing any one to purchase it, whereas beforehand, it was the reserve for agriculture. Whilst this manoeuvre may temporarily lower prices by the 24¢ per gallon that government taxes, it does nothing to increase supply or address delivery shortfalls, and perhaps worse than doing nothing, it could create shortages for farmers who use the off-road formulation (it is normal fuel, just coloured to differentiate it from non-tax exempt sales and not at all related to that bizarre hoax a decade ago involving “red mercury” in hopes to extract the mythical substance from antique Singer sewing machines in hopes of miniaturising atomic weapons) during harvest season, stripping the Department of Transportation of revenue for highway maintenance and perhaps increasing prices overall with new demand pressure. Despite the weak US dollar, the euro looses value as contagion fears spread over the French bond market. IDF storms Bethlehem and demolishes homes in East Jerusalem.

synchronoptica

one year ago: US television networks decline request to pre-empt programming to carry a presidential speech from Ford (with synchronoptica) plus aura farming

two years ago: more adventures on the Mecklinburgischer Seeplate 

three years ago: touring the Mainschliefe plus island universes

four years ago: more research in the paranormal plus a 1975 McDonaldland mascot specification manual

five years ago: more streamlined designs,  a unique underpass plus a beloved Soviet cartoon character

 

six years ago: Trump emerges recovered from COVID, fascist nihilism, assorted links to revisit plus the first exoplanet confirmed (1995)

seven years ago: German-American Day

 

eight years ago: more fascist nihilism plus Carter debates Ford (1976)

 

day two hundred ten (13. 852)

Hegseth announces that US troops will get a day off to call their in the upcoming midterms—federal workers are granted up to three hours of administrative leave (down from four hours) whilst the rest of the voting public do not receive any allowance to exercise their democratic right. Pressure mounts for another referendum in the UK to annul Brexit and rejoin the EU as polls reveal over half of voters of all political persuasion support reentry into the single market. Russian airstrikes on bridges in Kyiv causes traffic chaos, whilst Putin attempts to convince the world that NATO is about to impose a blockade on Kaliningrad. Students in Paris riot over planned cuts to the education budget. Pope Leo puts out a missive in Latin as a withering takedown of AI. El Niño causes massive flooding in Thailand, the waters not receding and turning the streets of Bangkok into stagnant lakes, with speculation that the weather formation may mean there is no hurricane season in the Atlantic this year. More tankers are attached in the Strait of Hormuz. Revolutionary Guards spokesperson says that Tehran’s weapons-building capacities are fully restored and have reached maturity, in accordance with operational requirements, whilst the South Pars gasfield achieves peak production. Market analyst recognise Trump’s pressuring of G7 members to release strategic diesel reserves as a mere delay tactic which may provide temporary, nominal relief (if at all) and fails to address underlying structural problems and further erodes consumer confidence. IDF continues to terrorise Gaza, the West Bank and neighbours in southern Lebanon.

haute cuisine (13. 848)

If we are to believe gourmand and historian Jean-Paul Aron’s account, French food culture owes a debt to the Revolution and the guillotine that foisted the gastronomic practises of the aristocracy to the the Third Estate and the petite bourgeoisie that filled the void left by the dispatched nobility. Portraying an interesting if not unappetising picture of the evolution of the French table and restaurateurs over the course of the nineteenth century with all of its left-overs recycling schemes that trickled down through the classes and feats of conspicuous, competitive gluttony.  A translation of Le mangeur du XIXᵉ siecle, the whole volume can be checked-out here.

synchronoptica

one year ago:  a visit to Éguisheim (with synchronoptica)

two years ago: The Taking of Pelham 123 plus a giant hybrid sheep 

three years ago: the dissolution of the Papal States (1870) 

four years ago: assorted links to revisit, more on snail compasses plus Gulf War II (2001)

five years ago: Peanuts remixed, more on US exceptionalism plus a classic from Musical Youth

six years ago: Colonialism and Abstract Art (1936), more musical mashup annuals from Hood Internet,  Trump contracts the COVID-19 virus plus the caretaker presidency of Edith Wilson

seven years ago: more links worth revisiting 

eight years ago: the fight to save a remnant of ancient forest in Germany plus thumbnails of terrain

 

day two hundred one (13. 827)

France pledges to send fighters to Saudi Arabia to help repel Houthi rebels as other members of the alliance, Türkiye and Pakistan, join for an emergency military planning meeting . US sanctions on the entire industry force Iran to cancel some international flights. Tehran’s hardliners express anger and disappointment with Araqchi over meeting directly with Witkoff to layout terms for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz while Pezeshkian says Iran wants America to return to the MoU before the midterm elections. Thousands of demonstrators protest the arrival of Netanyahu and the Israeli delegation in New York, calling for his arrest as a war criminal, causing the prime minister to fly home directly after his short speech to the UN. A judge orders that banned news outlets’ access to the White House to be restored as Trump hosts Xi for a lavish state dinner with tech CEOs.

8x8 (13. 824)

claudefishing: AI slop is a new kind of creative poverty  

saint-pierre-et-miquleon: Mark Carney meets with Emmanuel Macron on the small French overseas territorial collective, which once toyed with the idea of joining the United States, just off the coast of Newfoundland  

soundscape: avian vocalisations can boost one’s mood but the positive effects are negated by traffic noise  

an imperfect analogy: what lessons nuclear proliferation treaties have for AI containment  

jefferies tubes: the first physical model of the Enterprise finds a home at the MIT museum  

old dog, new tricks: OK Go’s “White Knuckles” video sixteen yearrs on—see previously  

apostolic journey: the Pope’s upcoming to France includes a stop in Metz to pay tribute to Robert Schuman, one of the Founding Fathers of the European Union  

sunshine superman: understanding intention, agnosticism and the new uncanny valley

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a thwarted assassination attempt led to an involuntary outing (with synchronoptica), carbon-dating plus Donald in Mathmagic Land (1961)

two years ago: the Tanaka Memorial of 1927  

three years ago: a musical montage from DJ Earworm, an exhibition of antique home entertainment, assorted links to revisit plus The Love Boat (1977)

four years ago: more links to enjoy,  Our Lady of Mercy plus even more links

five years ago: assorted links to revisit plus punctuation appreciation day

six years ago: Pope Liberius, more links worth revisiting plus the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak

seven years ago: Trump pressures Ukrainian authorities for dirt on his apparent political opponent, more synthetic models, UK courts rule that the suspension of Parliament was an abuse of power plus variations on Misirlou

eight years ago: an atlas of remote islands, theatrics trumps discourse, and more and more links plus twenty-seven songs about the twenty-seven amendments to the US constitution

 

cheese chauvinism (13. 793)

This survey of the patriotic caseiculture of France, whose selective, reductive tolerance of local flavour was only developed after the Industrial Revolution—and could be said of any country with a cheesemaking tradition—is an interesting exercise in categorisation of what once had infinite variation. Artisanal and naturally resistant to classification, we’ve lost a lot in the struggle to maintain standard in cuisine and technique. We take one image used in the essay, The Ricotta Eaters from sixteenth century northern Italian mannerism painter, among the first to import the genre of Flemish realism, Vincenzo Campi—as one of the few foreign cheeses embraced by France (adopted as its own in recuite), its considered lineage dating back to the Bronze Age, verifiable and not needing an origin-fable, like Roquefort or Brie. Vincenzo entitled the work il Buffonaria, not for ricotta di bufala, from buffalo milk, but rather for four stock characters of Commedia dell’arte depicted (the artist included himself off-centre with the golden robe and white kerchief as Pantalone) that each presents a gesture marking various stages of cheese consumption, from right to left, the woman (perhaps the figure of Colombina) holding a wooden spoon but not appearing about to serve herself. The round hallowed out by scoops of the spoon resembles a skull as a memento mori, both exalting and mocking the pleasures of the table and associated refinements, and also is a bit despoiled by the addition of a tiny fly.

les trente-six vues de la tour eiffel (13. 785)

Best known for his picture series of the Eifel Tower (see previously), with the seasons changing, we appreciated this gallery of Henri Rivière’s lithographic works spanning the first decade of the twentieth century, capturing other quarters of Paris. Somewhat of a departure from the earlier project that was a faithful interpolation of Japonisme and Japanese printmakers in terms of layout and presentation, these vignettes still maintain the traditional minimal palette and outlines and previews the coming ligne claire style adopted by European comic artists like Hergé. Rivière also painted scenes of Breton and a study in waves, like his inspiration, Hokusai.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a customisable chyron roll (with synchronoptica), more synthetic geology plus AI as a calculator for words

two years ago: a nineteenth century puppet theatre, New York’s Chelsea Hotel, branding wild horses plus Haile Selassie deposed (1974) 

three years ago: The Blob (1958) 

four years ago: the Chaos Computer Club (1981), medieval dog names plus the beach photos of Philip Barlow

five years ago: the Battle of Marathon, a sudden revelation plus more nearby abandoned places

six years ago: doom loops, traffic planning and civil engineering, Lascaux Cave rediscovered (1940), flights to nowhere plus the invention of the written word

seven years ago: Bonanza (1959) plus the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (1990)

 

twa 355 (13. 780)

Hijacked on this day in 1976, the domestic flight from LaGuardia to O’Hare in Chicago was taken by a group of five Fighters for Free Croatia to further the independence movement of the constituent state from Yugoslavia. Halfway into the flight, the hijackers stormed the cockpit and directed the plane to Montreal’s Mirabel airport, allowed to refuel after telling authorities that a bomb had been planted in a locker at New York’s Grand Central Station and issued instructions on how to locate and disarm it. Further the group group demanded an appeal for the movement be printed in major American newspapers. The plane was flown to Gander, Newfoundland where an air traffic controller negotiated for the release of thirty-five passengers. Refused permission to land by the UK government in London, the aircraft touched down in Keflavík before traveling to Paris where the hijackers surrendered after talks with US ambassador Kenneth Rush. America writer and activist Julienne Bušić, married to the operation’s mastermind Zvonko Bušić, was hugged by the pilot for her help in keeping the passengers calm during the whole ordeal. Although a New York police officer was killed attempting to dismantle rather than detonate the explosive device planted at the train terminal, the devices on board the airplane were discovered to be fakes. The group of five were sentenced to long terms in prison, minimum of thirty years, for conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy and for the death of the police officer (Julienne Bušić served her time in a correctional facility in Dublin, California along with cellmate Squeaky Fromme, whom was reassigned after several incidents of violence perpetrated by Fromme), though eventually all were remanded to parole in an independent Croatia.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica), a posturepedic bed, AI can’t do clocks plus Russian threatens Finland’s sovereignty 

two years ago: more links to enjoy

three years ago: even more assorted links  

four years ago: Hey Jude (1968), links to enjoy, more telling the bees plus more even more links to revisit

five years ago: St Aubert, the ecological importance of oyster-beds, comparable to coral reefs plus even more links worth revisiting

six years ago: the largest basilica in the world, artist Marianne von Werefkin, a devastating earthquake in Constantinople (1509), the original and the reprised Fresh Prince, burning skies plus Hongkonger neologisms

 

 

le baiser de l’hôtel de ville (13. 744)

Best known for his commission for Life magazine, known in Anglophone circles simply as The Kiss as an internationally recognised symbol of young love—from a series of images for a photo essay on affection and infatuation in the capital, we quite enjoyed this collection—it is a Russian LiveJournal site but seems safe to peruse though some of the later marquee pictures are water-marked—of humanist photographer and photojournalism pioneer (privileging the documentation of the everyday over the reportage of the latter) of Robert Doisneau’s lesser known works, spanning his entire career from the 1930s to the 1990s, courtesy of Messy Nessy. His work gives prominence to the street culture of children and unstructured play in urban environments, unfettered by parents and teachers. Before becoming a freelancer, Doisneau worked in industrial advertising and then for the Rapho agency in Paris, the world’s oldest press syndicate specialising in images until WWII and the occupation of France, using his picture taking skills and training as a draughtsman to forge passports and identity papers for the resistance. His first commercial photo essay was on the subject of the Saint-Ouen flea market, Le marché aux Puces, which he sold to the publication Excelsior.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump tries to out Fed board member (with synchronoptica), a US consulate in Nuuk plus an unapologetic AI hater

two years ago: a skilled sniper plus a circle-and-spoke map of the London Underground 

three years ago: The Guinness Book of World Records (1955)

four years ago: George Jetson’s birthday (2022), St Monica, AI displays a certain virtuosity plus assorted links worth the revisit

five years ago: the eruption of Krakatoa (1883), an interactive job listing plus more round-trip words

six years ago: the Zugspitze summitted (1820), mail-order shopping, abundance of caution, the Hatch Act of 1939 plus an antique German friend book

day one hundred seventy (13. 729)

Iran doubles the bounty on US soldiers for women who kill or capture them un the event of a ground invasion. NATO is said to be exploring options to ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. As countries around the world shrug off Trump call for solidarity and economic warfare, the American president, cryptically and confusedly, suggests that the US military could be enlisted—somehow—to offset loses in the bond markets, global skepticism in the future solvency in the country that makes it more expensive to finance its debt, possibly intimating that the armed forces could become mercenaries for hire for third-party conflicts. The US only other option for leverage against Iran, having painted itself into a corner, would be to sanction Chinese banks and small, independent “teapot” refineries that import Iranian oil, but ahead of Xi’s planned state visit to the US, it does not seem like a palatable course of action—strong-arming has gotten them nowhere. France pledges delivery of air interceptors to Ukraine after deadly waves of Russian attacks. Canada hits America with a retaliatory tariffs as trade war escalates. Washington removes Syria from its list of states sponsoring terrorism after fifty years following a congressional review and hints that Damascus might play along with the embargo against Tehran.

day one hundred sixty-two (13. 711)

Rebuffing criticism regarding the welfare of sailors in the Persian gulf, US secretary of war Hegseth claims America can maintain its blockade of Iranian ports indefinitely as the commerce department announces plans to further isolate Tehran economically, though it’s already starting at near zero and only needs to eke out survival one day at a time and outlast the US financial trickery until the markets no longer accept Trump’s word as fiat.

Also splintering with traditional allies—those required for upping the latest round of sanctions, American announces a multi-modal drone task force, Falcon Strike. As traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continues to stagnate, Norway‘s foreign minister joins a growing chorus calling the joint US-Israeli adventure a regressive failure, whilst US consumer sentiment falters on hopes of any relief or recovery any time soon. France condemns Israeli settlers for occupying the homes of evicted Palestinian, whilst Netanyahu calls the UK the Islamic Republic of Britain—amplifying a xenophobic dog-whistle, adding that the UK is the first nuclear capable Muslim country.

12x12 (13. 670)

we should rely less on the nazi bar somewhat: Elon Musk is given a pass for his virulent racism on the social media site he owns  

googlewhack: it’s becoming impossible to find old emails for reference—see previously 

pitsur í steinofni: the history of pizza in Iceland 

claim-jumping: taking space prospecting down a notch with no known commodity resources that could be sold profitably on Earth  

pyrocumulonimbus: the wildfires in southwest France have grown so intense that their smoke columns became a thunderstorm, with lightning strikes that ignited new fires  

absurdly optimised: the antithesis of a product review site—via Card House  

spirit airlines: Evangelical preachers, much to the dismay of fellow passengers, are turning planes in pulpits with a captive congregation       

dinopocalypse: all life with the Chicxulub impact zone sixty-six million years ago would have been immediately obliterated and grateful for it 

icc: US is pressuring countries to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, with Chad and Venezuela being the latest to begin the process of leaving the Hague 

today’s special: restaurateurs are increasingly reject AI generated advertising and menus as cheap and lazy and turn to the handmade and bespoke  

blame the home row: a work-around for not reenforcing one’s browser history and being lured into to distraction—we can relate to this 

regular animals: artist Beeple (previously) put the head of Elon Musk on a robot dog for a dynamic art installation in Berlin

synchronoptica

one year ago: balance of trade (with synchronoptica) plus more misheard lyrics

two years ago: JD Vance’s sofa memoirs, nobody reads ads, twirling towards freedom, a phoney controversy over the Olympics opening ceremony plus Friday Night Videos (1983)

three years ago: Martha of Bethany 

four years ago: departing from Newcastle 

five years ago: St Olaf, in-game economies, Lord of the Rings (1954) plus philosophical CAPTCHAs

six years ago: the Seashells of North America, more Universal Everything, the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana (1981) plus Trump’s personal physician

 

9x9 (13. 655)

all the queens houses: the eclectic architectural vernacular that makes up the New York City’s most diverse borough  

everything counts in large amounts: the moral imperative to understand big numbers, however unimaginable—via Kottke   

incendie de forêt: over a quarter million residents in France and Spain are evacuated from encroaching wildfires  

question de forme: the geometric animation of René Jodoin—see also, see previously

concurso de belleza: Trump cites his beauty pageant credentials to claim to be the competent authority when Venezuela is ready for elections  

plotlines: charting the journey of the protagonist in select classic novels with period maps—via Language Hat 

devil dog: Poseidon’s Underworld (previously) reviews the 1978 made-for-television star-studded spectacular about a satanic litter  

interstitial: Western science seems to recognise the meridians and subtle body of acupuncture and Ayurvedic traditions with a popular article on human anatomy’s third circulatory system  

cornell, 1965: filmmaker Lawrence Jordan’s 1978 profile of peer and colleague Joseph Cornell of Utopia Parkway, Flushing Queens

gestion des déchets (13. 642)

Having always snickered a bit at the French signage for a waste bin, I recently disabused of my bemusement upon discovering the etymology having nothing to do with poo but rather the namesake of compulsory use of garbage containers, lawyer and diplomat Eugène-René Poubelle—a proposal considered so innovative for late-nineteenth century Paris that his surname is synonymous with the term for trash cans. In 1884, Poubelle decreed as the city’s préfet, essentially holding the authority of the mayorship, that landlords must provide tenants with three covered containers for household refuse to be sorted into classes of compostable and recyclable refuse—encouraged to call them Boîtes Poubelle by the newspaper Le Figaro, meeting stiff resistance by building owners for their cost and upkeep (plumping and drainage was also championed) and regarded by chiffonniers (traditional rag-and-bone men) as a threat to their profession. Likewise, we were surprised to learn, the English, American word for a movable waste container (skips or scows being more common outside of North America), designed to be brought and taken away by specially designed garbage truck lifts originated as sort of a portmanteau for the Dempster Dumpmaster, the company run by three brothers, George Roby, Thomas and John, in Knoxville Tennessee who patented and standardised a system (see also) of bulk trash removals in the mid-1930s with their dumpster model. George Roby Dempster was also a city manager, philanthropist and politician, initially motivated to support the demolition and construction wing of the family business.

an american in paris (13. 593)

Courtesy of Messy Nessy Chic via a link roundup that celebrates the US’ special relationship with France as told though its expatriates and exiles, we learn about American Air Force veteran and expert archer Erika Eiffel (née LaBrie) whom married the famous tower in a commitment ceremony in 2007. Polyamorous by nature, Eiffel first discovered her unique subcategory of paraphilia after an attempted sexual assault by a fellow cadet in the academy, rebuffing her attacker with a training sword, which she was reluctant ever to be without, then credits her skill with archery to her relationship with her bow, Lance. After her first visit to the tower in 2004, Eiffel felt an immediate connection on several levels and was inspired to found an organisation for those with similar feelings for inanimate objects (see also here and here) and advocate how love is reciprocated and empowering, as she explained in an interview with Good Morning America and the Tyra Banks’ Show. Aside from the mythical sculptor Pygmalion and Quasimodo’s love for the bells of Notre Dame, real life examples include a Swedish woman who wed the Berlin Wall in 1979 and an Australian woman who married Le Pont du Diable in Hérault in 2013.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica)

two years ago: returning via Switzerland plus a new Labour government for the UK

three years ago: a banger from Janet Jackson, more links to enjoy, Tynwald Day in Manx, the Tiny Awards plus pull-tabs for canned beverages

four years ago: Saint Zoe plus a passport for the stateless (1922)

five years ago: points of departure 

six years ago: Thomas Cook travel agency (1841), a 90s music festival generator plus even more links

day one-hundred twenty-one (13. 576)

The Qatari foreign ministry confirms that no high-level meeting between US and Iranian officials is scheduled to take place in Doha over the coming days despite the arrival of envoys Kushner and Witkoff, Tehran saying it is currently not negotiating with Washington in any capacity and will not resume talks until violence ends in Lebanon. Concerned over increased executions has prompted French lawmakers to sponsor individual death-row political prisoners, whilst German intelligence services find that Iran is spying on opposition activists domestically.

vague de chaleur (13. 558)

Reminiscent of the restrictions placed on the tradition of shooting off fireworks in Germany for New Year’s during the height of the COVID pandemic in order to not put more pressure on already overburdened hospitals, Paris has imposed a temporary ban on the sale of off-license (take-away) alcohol and public consumption as the country swelters under an unprecedented heat wave as emergency services is being overwhelmed by heat-related incidents. The weekend’s prohibition does not apply to restaurants and cafés but may be extended as the forecast for France and the rest of the continent bodes of more stifling temperatures.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Uncleftish Beholding (with synchronoptica) plus oyster-culture

two years ago: visiting Carmine and Cannobio

three years ago: assorted links to enjoy plus the Pied-Piper

four years ago: the end of the Soviet calendar plus mermaiding

five years ago: a Frank Gehry twisted tower plus a morphine substitute (1896)

six years ago: more links to revisit, the first UPC code plus a protest anthem

@bitnic (13. 545)

Building off of the concept of distribution lists developed for IBM mainframes to handle email aliases, software engineer Éric Thomas studying at École Centrale Paris released the stable version of his modified application, with his own code, LISTSERV with automated features that allowed subscribers to join or leave groups without human administration as postmasters, edit templates and create auto-replies for system and welcome messages. Still foundational architecture, Thomas’ programme also included the first double opt-in methods and spam filters for junk- and grey-mail (bulk mailers at one point solicited but now considered a nuisance).

synchronoptica

one year ago: the menhirs of Bretagne (with synchronoptica) plus the Quiberon peninsula

two years ago: Lukmanier pass plus arriving at Lake Maggiore

three years ago: assorted links worth revisiting 

four years ago: a banger from The Knack, Logan’s Run plus the sterling area

five years ago: harvesting solar power plus Mid-Summer celebrations

six years ago: more links to enjoy, satisdiction plus scratching an itch

les étoiles d’ivry (13. 511)

Via ibīdem, we are directed to the ensemble housing estate of Ivry ˢ/ Seine, a Parisian suburb just southeast of the capital, designed by architects Renée Gailhoustet and Jean Renaudie constructed between 1969 and 1975, happily still standing though in need of some care and attention. The name of the mixed-used complex with forty residential units for social housing with commercial and office spaces refers the stellar rays of the triangular points of exposed concrete and whilst the overall style could be described as Brutalist (see also here and here), the open form structure with staggered verdant terraces and ramps and platforms connecting public and private spaces has an element of social engagement and spontaneity of interaction not found in all projects of the genre. See more photographs and floor plans from Architecture Lab at the link above.