per scientiam tempestates prædicere (11. 842)

Coinciding with Cloud Appreciation Day (see also), the Met Office, the national weather and climate service, introduces a new unofficial mascot called Christopher Cumulonimbus as a series of stickers and sharable animations to express not only the forecast but also the moods it might leave you in.  These certainly might countenance a reaction to weather.

holidays are jollidays (11. 829)

Via the always excellent Nag on the Lake, we are directed to a retrospective exhibition of nostalgic photographer John Wilfrid Hinde whose carefully staged compositions influenced the style of picture postcards made famous through his commissioned series of Butlin’s holiday camps from the 1960s through the early 70s. Founded by Billy Butin in 1936 after a frustrating stay at a bed-and-breakfast in Wales during which he found himself locked out of the accommodations by his landlady during the day (common practise at the time) and was inspired to create seaside resort destinations that were affordable or the working-class with plenty of amenities and excitement. During the immediate post-war period, they were extremely popular with the franchise spreading across Britain, Ireland and the Bahamas but succumbed in the 1970s and 1980s to cheap package holidays to the Mediterranean. Most of the facilities are closed and long demolished or repurposed (see previously), with a few exceptions like the pictured pool lounge of Bognor Regis, but all the parks with attractions like heated pools, monorails, gondolas, sports facilities, stages for theatrical performances and rides but have a living legacy in the millions of postcards meticulously framed by Hinde.

in my considered judgment, we have comported ourselves in a manner faithful to our history (11. 815)

As the first major celebration of the bicentennial of the American revolution, the contemporary governors of the original Thirteen Colonies were invited to reenact, reconvene the First Continental Congress (see also) in Philadelphia, gathering for an event at the original venue of Carpenters’ Hall on this day on this day in 1974.

Chaired by Virginia governor Mills E Godwin, Junior as presiding officer, delegates re-legislated the several grievances lodged against the Crown, not quite revising history and remaining patriotic but coming to some re-evaluation and different conclusions on oppression and tyranny. The original 1774 summit, whose delegation makeup was more diverse than that of two centuries prior and included women and minorities, adopted among other things the Articles of Association that called for a general boycott of British goods, which was soon escalated by punitive sanctions against the Colonies.

synchronoptica

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

seven years ago: the first in-flight movie (1925) plus Excalibur found

eight years ago: the flak towers of World War II, weather at Jupiter’s pole, more on Merkel’s hand posture plus Michaelmas

nine years ago: the innovation of the stirrup, a vintage arcade in Saint Petersburg, a Bell logo redesign, emoji urls plus more on stave architecture

ten years ago:  the NATO summit in Wales

the farnborough international airshow (11. 809)

The biggest aerospace exhibition behind Paris, the showcase of civilian and military aircraft hosted on even years in Hampshire (the French take the odd) has debuted the Concorde, the Vickers, Airbus 380, the F-35 and the Eurofighter. The week-long event for clientele and only open to the public on the ending weekend on this day in 1974 hosted the arrival of a US Air Force reconnaissance jet setting a new transatlantic crossing record (still unbroken), from the environs of New York to London in just under two hours for a subsonic flight. Unfortunately this achievement was overshadowed by a fatal accident by a prototype Sikorsky Blackhawk attack helicopter that crashed with attempting an aerobatics demonstration. Both test pilots were killed and development of the aircraft ceased afterwards. A later model was eventually chosen in 1976 for the programme, named after the epithet and nom-de-guerre of Native American Sauk leader Mahkatêwe-meshi-kêhkêhkwa, whom fought alongside British forces during the War of 1812 in hopes of ridding his tribe’s lands of American settlers.

halleluja, hare, hare (11. 804)

As our faithful chronicler reminds, George Harrison was found guilty of unintentional plagiarism on this day in 1976 for his 1970 hit single My Sweet Lord (previously) of The Chiffon’s, Ronnie Mack 1963 song He’s So Fine recorded with an ensemble from Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Bad Finger, becoming the top release in the US and UK of any ex-Beatles artist. Produced by Phil Spector, whom had underwritten the hits of many girl groups from the 1950s through the seventies, there was a failure to note this inspiration—which Harrison subsequently attributed to the out-of-copyright gospel hymn “Oh Happy Day” during sessions for the triple album, All Things Must Pass. Despite the judgment in favour of infringement and later cases to define homage and sampling, the tune of universal religiosity and discovery endures.

trial balloon (11. 778)

Much in the same way as Brexit provisioned and prefigured the politics of MAGA and the election of Trump, the same amplified contagion unchecked

that fuelled violent race riots is subjecting Britain to an experiment by omission and testing the bounds of social media advocacy for by an arbiter of truth who is incautious about dissemination of falsehoods and faces few challenges or repercussions in the echo chamber, star chamber for being critical of a government whose policies he is in disagreement with. With the guardrails removed and no consequences for weighing in on political matters—over that stay of contrition of four years ago during the insurrection went social networks promised to do better about policing dangerous and illegal content, ranging from political violence, interference operations, disenfranchisement to COVID conspiracies—indeed what is to stop influence peddlers and grifters and avowed agents of chaos from forecasting or declaring that the US (or any other polity) is on the brink of civil war? Such outrageous and irresponsible punditry has always existed but now has an insurmountable volume.

ceefax (11. 752)

Via Web Curios, we are referred to a rather stupendous gallery of screen-grabs of broadcast teletext pages (see previously), first introduced in 1974 in data hidden in the signals at the extremes of the TV screen, with an assortment of nostalgic advertisements, closed-captions, games, viewing guides, alpha-mosaic art and news supplements whose rollout preceded and provisioned the internet with this ASCII grid of twenty-four by forty characters with some limited interactive capabilities (in partnership with a phone call usually) accessed by remote control. I remember exploring occasionally these embedded channels (which are mostly still available and offer programme synopses and transcripts) when the parallel online world was not so readily accessible.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a classic from The Small Faces (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: work makes us passionate quitters plus reflections on a total eclipse

eight years ago: misadventures in tourism, Dr Who remixed plus Dr Teeth live in concert

nine years ago: assorted links worth revisiting

eleven years ago: the origin of kids’ menus and the family restaurant

saturday nite at the duck-pond (11. 747)

Despite (or possibly because of) a ban by the BBC, the surf-rock 1963 single from The Cougars, a short-lived collaboration of rhythm and bass guitars and percussions, that sampled from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (the theme of Act II commonly known as the Dracula motif for its first use in sound cinematic adaptations of the vampire story and as a trope for other horror films), spent several weeks in the charts. The band also produced other instrumental variations on the composer’s body of work, including “Red Square” and “Caviar & Chips.” Cited as a travesty of a major classical piece and a distortion of melody and harmony, other reasons for the prohibitions on the airwaves included slushy sentimentality, innuendo and alleged drug references with the banned discography ranging from Mott the Hoople, select Beatles’ and Rolling Stones’ songs deemed too suggestive or political, Cher’s “Bang Bang,” “Dinner with Drac” from John Zacherle, “Monster Mash,” “I Don’t Like Mondays,” “In the Hall of Mountain King” the Nero and the Gladiators’ instrumental version and Bobby Darin’s and Louis Armstrong’s “Mack the Knife” takes on The Three Penny Opera. They really seemed to have it out for the undead and adulterated versions of the classics.  After mass protests following the broadcast of a censored version of The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York in 2007, BBC officially dropped its policy of cultural gatekeeping.

* * * * *

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a classic from Lisa Loeb (with synchronoptica) plus a wagon train to space

seven years ago: more meltdowns at the White House, landscaping by AI plus when Americans were weird with science

eight years ago: empty mansion hunting in the Loire valley, emoji as art, more on the birthplace of King Arthur, the first website plus Trump as a Manchurian Candidate

ten years ago: liminal beings plus vanishing New York

eleven years ago: the Church goes after predatory loans plus the German census

olive branch petition (11. 673)

Signed following adoption by the Second Continental Congress on this day in 1775 after, formal request was last ditch effort to avoid open conflict between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies. The fact that the same group of delegates had just authorised the invasion of the Dominion of Canada and passage of the resolution titled the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms over the perception of parliament extending its influence across the Atlantic rather made its favourable reception unlikely despite its pledge of fealty to George III—the king refusing to read it and declaring the colonists traitorous. Interpreted as intransigence on the part of the British government—the signature page along with the rest of the missive in the US National archives features the prominent signature of John Hancock—it’s ignored read-receipt helped limn the choice for American settlers, entrenching a litany of grievances, and legitimising rebellion, informing Thomas Payne’s Common Sense. You say—the price of my love’s not a price that you’re willing to pay, you cry in your tea which hurl in the see when you see me go by. Why so sad?

never mind the ballots (11. 664)

In a welcome, refreshing bit of good news amid rather bleak outlooks for democracy in America with Trump given new dictatorial license, Biden encouraged to drop out of the race at this late stage and the rise of far-right in France, Labour bounces back after nearly a dozen years of Tory control of government, with the Conservative party trounced. Party leader Keir Starmer is appointed prime minister and forms a cabinet, and after the 4 July general election, many of the opposition, including members Boris Johnson, Theresa May, Jacob Rees-Moog and Liz Truss lost their seats in parliament when their home constituencies voted them out.

then they showed me a world where i could be so dependable, oh, clinical, oh, intellectual, cynical (11. 633)

Rising to number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 on this day in 1979 (the seventh spot in the UK charts), the lead single from Breakfast in America (see previously) was a deeply personal reflection by Supertramp’s singer-songwriter Charles “Roger” Pomfrit Hodgson, honoured with the Ivor Novello prize the following year for best song, both musically and lyrically, about his decade away from home as an adolescent at boarding school and an indictment on the priorities of the educational system for eroding individuality. The critically acclaimed song’s instrumentals feature castanets, saxophone and the tackle sound-effect from a Mattel electronic football game. The version by German techno band Scooter—as Ramp! (The Logical Song)—from 2001 peaked at second place in the United Kingdom, topping the charts in Norway, Ireland and Australia.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting, Screaming Lord Sutch, chicken orbs plus the exorcism of a werewolf demon (1983)

two years ago: Ziggy Stardust, the monkey puzzle tree plus Bloomsday

three years ago: your daily demon: Bathin, Psycho (1960), more links to enjoy, a summit in Switzerland plus a guide to hurricane name enunciation

four years ago: the sacking of Cambridge (1381), trends in house numbers, renaming US army bases, the first woman in space plus CPT Picard Day

five years ago: microplastics in our bodies, a field of poppies plus graphic designer Otto Aicher

six years ago: purging the Deep State, a visit to Burg Sonnenberg plus black hole solar systems

seven years ago: the Dunning-Kruger effect, IKEA cookery plus experiments in human-dolphin communication

eight years ago: denying a platform to dissenters, Funeral Parade of Roses (1969), coats-of-arms for same-sex couples plus Frankenstein and the year without a summer

roll subsidence mode (11. 631)

Jargony reporting on some scary turbulence and skilled piloting that led to subsequent recovery, a yaw and tumble sustaining a Dutch roll, resulted in some discussion on etymology and more broadly the label with possibly pejorative connotations, as in going Dutch or Dutch treat rooted in the general enmity of the English for the Netherlands dating to the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries over maritime trade and overseas colonies. Whereas the righting manoeuvre, borrowed from term originally applied to an ice skating move (twentse schoorijders), may have been the optimal correction for the aircraft as well as for the skater, phrases like Dutch courage implies something less than authentic. More at Language Log at the link up top.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a small piece of the US in the UK, assorted links worth revisiting plus Rembrandt’s Danaë

two years ago: potatoe, more on Eadweard Muybridge, a false dandelion plus Sukiyaki

three years ago: another MST3K classic, a mysterious notebook of Outsider Art, a chronology of the New York Times, the Rashomon effect plus the Durgan script

four years ago: the Magna Carta (1215)

five years ago: a pristine Peel Trident plus anatomical maps

jenny wren (11. 601)

Via Sentence First, we learn how the robin (and its distant American cousin—not closely related) got its name.  Prior to scientific and ordered taxonomy, in fifteenth century England—and elsewhere—it was common practise to give familiar species human names, this companionable nomenclature enduring in some of the more common monickers, like magpies from flocks originally called Margarets or a daw named Jack, and Robin Redbreast—from the diminutive form of Robert and their distinctive, easily recognisable orange plumage, the colour unknown and not distinguished until the introduction of the fruit about a hundred years later. More from Bird History at the link up top.

9x9 (11. 598)

on covfefe day no less: a meme roundup on Trump’s felony conviction  

canine rainbow: dogs’ visual spectrum and how they see perceive the world 

love exposure: the acclaimed, sprawling 2008 comedy-drama by Sion Sono  

the scary ham: proper late rites for an aged cut of pork

leftovers: five thin volumes on post-apocalypse Briton

nondescript fern: researchers find the largest genome (fifty times the genetic material of humans) in a small plant on an Australian island  

why be dragons: the origins of the universal mythological creatures  

evening standard: venerable London newspaper to suspend daily publication after almost two hundred years—see previously  

today is my birthday, please like me: a Twitter feed of some the revolting, disturbing but morbidly compelling AI-generated slop inundating Facebook—via Web Curios

synchronoptica

one year ago: Crazy Frog (2005) plus Adobe’s Generative Fill

two years ago: Scotch whisky (1495) plus the Stresa Convention on Cheeses (1951)

three years ago: your daily demon: Eligos, The Ship of Fools (1497), more on monopolies and monopsonies plus a Simon and Garfunkel classic

four years ago: seasonal dormancy, more King Ubu, St Rónán plus elections matter

five years ago: re-creating TV living rooms with IKEA furnishings,  Japan’s first folklore museum, the Lennon-Ono Honeymoon Suite plus a robot job interviewer

aabba (11. 594)

Via Futility Closet, we are reminded of the anatomy of a limerick (with the above rhyme scheme, see previously) with the following meta-versification by John Irwin, poet and professor of the humanities: 

A limerick’s cleverly versed—
The second line rhymes with the first;
The third one is short,
The fourth’s the same sort,
And the last line is often the worst.

This rendition is almost certainly in homage to the anonymous exemplar: 

The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

Heretofore, most often privileged showmanship, they often invoked exotic geographic locations as a way to subvert the rote teaching of the subject in schools, with several variations and violations. British wordplay and maths expert Leigh Mercer, best known for his palindromes, (¡“A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!), also famously a mathematical limerick:  

12 + 144+20 +3 ✖️ √4 / 7 + (5 ✖️ 11) = 9² + 0 

Or, as read: 

A dozen, a gross, and a score
Plus three times the square root of four
Divided by seven
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared and not a bit more.

6x6 (11. 581)

gyermekvasút: the Budapest Children’s Railway, a functioning training project founded in the Communist era—see previously 

funny farm: an Ancient Greek agricultural emulator 

beacon hill: Massachusetts millionaire surtax surpasses revenue targets—via Miss Cellania 

he spends £1 a week on his hair: early reviews of British pop icons—via Strange Company 

god mode: a world simulation where the user has complete dominion—via Web Curios 

east side story: a documentary about musics in Warsaw Pact countries—see previously

10x10 (11. 562)

crimes of atrocity: a long, dense episode of -ologies with Alie Ward on the hugely fraught and difficult subject of genocide with a powerful and circumspect post-script 

airoboros: artificial intelligence trained on AI made content is becoming highly problematic and only compounded—see previously  

the city on the edge of forever: public portal linking Dublin and New York City suspended after inappropriate behaviour  

palmerston’s follies: two maritime forts off Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight that have been converted into boutique accommodations go up for auction  

the deuce: the Greek grandmother who built an adult entertainment empire in Times Square before its Disneyfication 

foot on the gas: the inevitability of the climate collapse and humanity’s capacity for adjustment  

⌘ |: the lost history of pre-internet emoji and rendering software—via Waxy—see previously 

flashing headlights: the giant Dana squid’s photophores in attack-mode  

eternal return: cosmic cycles and time’s resurgence  

first-day agenda: how Trump is framing his vision for a second-term

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus a visit to Arnstadt

two years ago: St Brendan, more links to enjoy plus the Electrotechnical Exhibition of 1891

three years ago: a classic from Kim Carnes, a language quiz, more links worth the revisit plus an ancient action figure

four years ago: more Trump’s Space Force, birdhouses, the stress of social media moderation, a medieval manuscript game plus a musical typing tutor

five years ago: GenX, consular services at McDonalds, soliciting grievances, Japanese mascots plus office equipment

progrock (11. 558)

Established after the breakup of two of the founding bands of British progressive rock Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer in 1981—with John Wetton of Uriah Heap and Geoff Downes of the Buggles later joining Steve Howe and Carl Palmer—the supergroup’s eponymous debut album reached number one on the US charts on this day in 1982, holding top place for nine weeks, ranked as the best-selling record for that year in America and in several other countries. The signature lead single from lyricist Wetton and keyboardist Downes is described as an abject apology to the dreadful way he treated his first wife.

synchronoptica

one year ago: EuroVision, a papal encyclical plus a singing computer (1961)

two years ago: lavaforming, Kepler’s Laws, a rejects’ gallery plus an ancient, mysterious herb

three years ago: your daily demon: Sitru, St Olaf, recognising women in the sciences, duck icons, AI-splaining plus Subterranean Homesick Blues

four years ago: assorted links worth revisiting plus a musical rooster

five years ago: a new art gallery in China, celebrating waters, returning to the Moon, more links to enjoy plus a disruptive network hack

about some useless information supposed to drive my imagination (11. 554)

Recorded at the RCA Studios in Hollywood on this day in 1965 a week after Keith Richard’s wrote the song and played a rough version of the introductory and driving riff in his sleep captured on a cassette recorded, two-minutes of acoustic guitar strumming before hearing the pick drop and the rest of the tape was filled with Richards’ snoring and Mick Jagger’s lyrics contribution poolside in Clearwater, Florida, the single’s release on 4 June immediately solidified the success of The Rolling Stones with an iconic and recognisable musical hook, ranking on charts internationally and is consistently counted among the greatest rock songs of all time, whose themes critiquing commercialism, dithering between cynicism and a plaintive protest, were quite revolutionary and could be perceived as threatening to older audiences.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: philosophy bros plus early computer art

two years ago: a celebration of locomotives

three years ago: the affection of felines, an NFT defined, assorted links to revisit plus putting one’s website to bed

four years ago: the united states of Voronoi, an AI entry for EuroVision, a socially-distanced press conference plus the soundtrack to Flash Gordon

five years ago: a list of silent letters plus a way to help out the unbanked

tea party (11. 551)

Passed on this day in 1773 by the parliament of Great Britain, the Tea Act was principally designed to help the British East India Company remain profitable and offload some of its surplus by undercutting the price for illegal imports, mostly smuggled into the American colonies through Dutch suppliers, by enabling direct and duty-free exports. The supplemental tariff under the Townsend Acts meant to generate revenue for colonial administration and the paid the salaries of governors (to ensure allegiance) as well as leverage to obtain better terms of trade with transportation companies. Although the quality of the black market tea was inferior to the British, it was considered patriotic to drink the smuggled tea by some groups as a political protest to the taxes levied. Despite the elimination of elimination of duties with the license for direct sales that bypassed the need for middlemen (these merchants also angered because they were rendered superfluous as were the marketeers) resulting in lower prices for higher quality tea, colonists were still upset on principal of the retention of the nominal tax used to pay the salaries of crown officials. Harbour masters in New York and Philadelphia were refusing delivery of tea shipments and reached a crisis point in December that year when the Sons of Liberty (cosplaying Native Americans, the tax was set to expire if not renewed by Parliament) raided ships docked in Boston and dumped the cargo overboard—an event known later as the Boston Tea Party, mythologised, which resulted in the embargo and closure of the port until the destroyed shipments were paid for.