7x7 (13. 003)

it cuts up a man’s youth and vigour most horribly: Jane Austen invented the wellness guy  

maplewashing: the deceptive practise of making things seem more Canadian than they actually are narrowly beat out “elbows up” for Canadian English Dictionary’s inaugural Word of the Year  

antipodes: Rothera Antarctic research station gets a new Royal Mail postbox 

genai.mil: Pentagon installs a chatbot on all DOD computers—immediately concludes that Hegseth is a war-criminal—via Super Punch  

dayton accords: a look back at the peace negotiations to end the war in after the collapse of Yugoslavia three decades on  

cut spelng: English orthographer Christopher Upward’s failed proposal for language reform through elimination of redundant letters—see previously, see also 

little wars: HG Wells’ contribution to table top role play games

synchronoptica

one year ago: Vince Collins celebrates the US bicentennial (with synchronopticæ), Intershop (1962) plus assorted links worth revisiting

thirteen years ago: IKEA instructions for that dapper monkey 

sixteen years ago: drug money helped banks weather the Great Recession 

they make a desert (12. 979)

An early target of DOGE’s institutional evisceration, the independent, non-profit think tank created by congress during the presidency of Ronald Reagan in 1985 with the mission to prevent conflict by working outside regular diplomatic channels, has been unironically named the Donald J Trump Institute of Peace—a White House spokesperson quoted whereas formerly it “was once a bloated and useless entity that blew,” its modest fifty million dollar per year budget allocated by the legislature for a mandate that includes outreach programmes for deescalation in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali and Burkina Faso abruptly halted by the Department of Government Efficiency along with USAID in March, “while delivering no peace,” and now to reflect the greatest dealmaker in the history of the nation, “beautifully and aptly named after a president who ended eight wars in less than a year, and will stand as a powerful reminder of what strong leadership can accomplish for global stability. The ceremony concluded with “Congrat-ulations world!” Though the ultimate fate of USIP is still being decided in the courts, placing it under control of the executive branch ruled illegal but on appeal all staff were dismissed and put in receivership of the General Services Administration—the vacated property—with several reversals—before the renaming—again of the building alone with no active operations and progress squandered, reflective of Trump’s ambitions for the Nobel prize, the façade was the backdrop for an armistice between the Congo and Rwanda. On the sidelines of the World Cup match taking place in Washington, a real collision of all these conflicted agendas of his second term for prestige, respect and concord countered with garish xenophobia and scoffing aggression and delegations (international fans and leaders alike) otherwise unwelcome to this shit hole country, Trump is expected to be awarded a newly minted peace prize by FIFA, whom I guess we could thank for taking one for the team.

10x10 (12. 899)

linguistic fossils: an exercise in autocomplete, eight English words only used for very specific circumstances 

elevated concerns: locations in Greater London above sea level and how those heights compare to countries existentially threatened by rising waters 

new meme format just dropped: the surprisingly cordial meeting between Trump and new New York City mayor Mamdani—“go ahead and call me a fascist—it’s easier, it’s easier than explaining—I don’t mind”  

the long game: US federal judge rules that Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp are not anticompetitive 

terra firma: a few modest proposals to rename our home planet  

squirearchy: the economy and governance of Hobbiton, which seems fifty-percent dependent on upper-class failsons—via Super Punch  

petsmart: Shanghai-based domestic animal supply store will close all physical stores after a year-long retail experiment 

home of the gnomes: a charming, anachronistic “Hansel and Gretel” cottage in New York City—via Strange Company  

houndsditch: Gustave Doré’s illustrations of the East End crocodile tears: the origin and spread of the oft-detested response “no worries”

synchronoptica

one year ago: high concept art (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to enjoy

twelve years ago: neuter and neutral plus limits on executive pay in Switzerland

thirteen years ago: talking turkey plus WWI day-by-day  

fourteen years ago: an insulation upgrade 

sixteen years ago: droid flu 

the helsinki accords (12. 623)

Though not binding with status as a treaty to be ratified by national parliament, the attempted détente between the West and East was signed on this day in the Finnish capital by leaders of thirty-five countries, including Helmut Schmidt, Erich Honecker, Josef Tito, Leonid Brezhnev, Gerald Ford, Pierre Trudeau and all heads of state of Europe with the exception of Andorra and Albania under Hoxha lead to significant reforms and recognised the spheres of influence of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, sovereignty and self-determination and fostered universal respect for human rights. The declaration was divided into four baskets covering diplomacy; economic and scientific cooperation; promoting familiar integrity, freedom of marriage and travel, an unhindered press and cultural exchange; and the formation of a multinational committee to monitor implementation. Concessions for civil rights and open dialogue, however, came at a high cost, with the recognition of the Soviet Union’s annexation of the Baltic states and a continuation of the policy of broadcast jamming and censorship of Western media. Both Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter and challenger for the Republican party nomination Ronald Reagan accused Ford of legitimising the USSR’s domination of Eastern Europe and weakening the standing of the US as a foreign policy power during the 1976 presidential campaign. Although eventually seen as the catalyst for later peaceful revolutions, much of the diaspora and signatories were displeased with the outcome of their months of work.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Ford is prepped for his new role (with synchronopticæ),  the samplers of Lorina Buwler plus cartographic innovations

patrimoine mondial (12. 590)

As NPR reports, twenty-six new sites from all over the world have been inscribed into the UNESCO list of World Heritage (see previously) for 2025, including many we’d have thought would have already been among them like the ensemble of castles commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Jamaica’s Port Royal, the memorials of the Cambodian genocide and the coasts of Morbihan with the megaliths of Carnac, necropolises in China and Sardinia and Minoan archeological sites in Crete. Click through at the link above for a full list of the new additions with extensive information about each location.

global jukebox (12. 577)

Inspired by the success of the Band Aid supergroup’s charity album from a half-a-year earlier, though with the same attendant criticism, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure staged their dual-venue benefit concert to raise funds for relief of the devastating famine in Ethiopia on this day in 1985 with bands playing at both Wembley Stadium and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Whilst prompting decades of debate regarding the organisers’ methods and impacts—from prioritising humanitarian aid in foreign policy and focusing the world’s attention on the plight of the poor in favour with dissenters arguing that monies raised were diverted from real and sustaining support and further delayed the West coming to terms with its parochial and patriarchal tendencies and disabuse itself from the real factors behind inequity and the injustice of colonialism under a different guise. Proclaiming music to be the lingua franca—not English, nonetheless, Geldof, at the suggestion of Boy George, whom had also taken part in the recording of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” orchestrated a rather amazing spectacle with an enduring legacy. Mick Jagger and David Bowie had originally planned a transatlantic duet (see previously) though synchronisation problems ultimately lead to a compromise. Phil Collins did in fact play at Wembley, ferried by helicopter to Heathrow and took a Concorde flight to Pennsylvania and performed also at JFK, encountering Cher on the plane—who was unaware of the concert but was convinced to tag along and sing in the finale, an encore of the anti-hunger anthem “We Are the World.” Queen’s twenty-one-minute performance of a medley of hits was voted the greatest live gig in music history, Freddie Mercury many times leading the audience in unison refrains and his sustained cry of “Aaaaay-O” described as the “Note Heard Around the World.” The US event was hosted by Jack Nicholson and included acts by Madonna, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Tina Turner with reunions of the bands Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Black Sabbath, The Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin.

el pueblo de nuestra señora la reina de los ángeles del río porciúncula (12. 520)

In response to rallies against US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles over the weekend, Trump has federalised the Californian National Guard, deploying two-thousand troops to quell the protests. Over a dozen individuals have been arrested as agitators and insurrectionists for attempting to impede law enforcement activities as ICE agents clash with residents and have apprehended more than one hundred individuals suspected of being undocumented immigrants in sweeps that have so far been limited to isolated areas in the Paramount City, the garment district and the Civic Centre. Defence secretary Hegseth also threatened to mobilise marines if the violence continues. The state’s governor counters (whom Trump referred to as Gavin Newscum for his inability to control RIOTS and LOOTERS) that there is no shortage of law enforcement officials and that Trump only wants a spectacle and an excuse to escalate the situation and urges advocates to remain peaceful and not give the administration what it wants. Preparing for such raids and mass-deportations since Trump’s reelection, the ACLU and other groups championing immigrants have been coordinating efforts for outreach and advocacy as well, with city councilmember Eunisses Hernandez pushing back on the pledge that ICE would focus their efforts on dangerous criminals, coming at the time of graduation season and Pride Month celebrations: “It’s never, ever, ever been the case, because when they come for one of us, they come for all of us—and we have to remember that.”

tag der befreiung (12. 439)

Berlin, for the first time since reunification, observed a public holiday for this eightieth anniversary of VE Day with political leaders—pointedly excluding the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus—gathering in the Bundestag to commemorate liberation from Nazi dictatorship. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told guests assembled in the chamber that Germany must never downplay its burden of responsibility for the second world war and the Holocaust as the perpetrators that caused the Shoah and were unwilling or unable to resist the regime orchestrating these crimes against humanity. Steinmeier went on the acknowledge the role of the Red Army, comprised of Russians, Ukrainians and many others, in freeing Europe from the regime—but adds that the “liberators of Auschwitz have become the new aggressors,” rubbishing long-standing regional peace and security which stood as a sign of hope that we had retained some lessons from the past and revising and inverting the historical records—excusing his war of aggression as a fight against neo-Nazism—with imperial ambitions. That war casting a pall over solemnities that were otherwise celebrating the beginning of an unprecedented period of liberty and freedom, many others recognising the dire need for recommitting to the defence of democratic values and harmony.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Hard-Hat Riot of 1970 (with synchronoptica) plus locomotive music

seven years ago: a Prohibition Era Isle of Pleasure charted plus assorted links worth revisiting

eight years ago: HH Holmes’ murder castle, the French far-right, PC clones plus the cartographic trope of the land octopus

ten years ago: a utopian factory town plus an ingestible password 

eleven years ago: a self-massage technique called she-do

iec 60906-1 (12. 397)

Via Pasa Bon! we are directed to the Digital Museum of Plugs and Sockets which gives in extensive detail information regarding domestic and heavy-duty electricity standards and outlet types for countries all over the world, including exhibits on rare and superannuated for different kinds of current and low-voltage applications. There’s considerably less variation nowadays, but camping we’ve encountered a lot of these alternative groundings and have a kit of adapters and converters for contingencies, and it’s interesting to see how hybrid models incorporate USB standards for one’s personal electronics. The International Electrotechnical Commission published the above specification for plugs that look similar but are not identical in terms of pin number and spacing, wattage tolerance, etc with an eye towards a universal standard for the European Union (see Schuko design has a friendly face) and though harmonisation has continued apace since the 1990s, enforcement of the project has been put on hold.

tv.garden (12. 326)

Via the always stupendous Web Curios we are directed to a rather amazing resource that brings together thousands of live-streaming stations from around the world, covering nearly every country with dozens of free-to-air broadcasting for each. Point to a country and flip through the channels for a compelling glimpse of local reporting, talk-shows, soap operas, music videos and commercials with the obligatory home shopping networks. I’m not one to have television on in the background generally or with the patience to channel-surf but found this surprisingly absorbing and like a mini-vacation with a much broader selection than on hotel tv.

i18n/l10n (12. 175)

Abbreviated with the above numeronyms, internationalisation and localisation refer to the dual challenges of designing systems and applications that can be used both globally and in a specific and bounded spot for both output and input, display and data-encoding. Embracing translation and standardisation of regional metrics, time-zones, including register and format, Unicode maintains a registry of predefined variables covering scripts, directionality, layout, sorting and alphabetisation and punctuation. Specifically, however, it does not take into account economic differences (prompting user selection, though there are defaults) of paper size, post and telephone formats, currency, systems of measurement, compliance for privacy and accessibility, disputed borders, map keys and tax regimes, which require typically native knowledge.

earthstreak (12. 178)

Though the crew of the Apollo missions who captured Pale Blue Marble and Earthrise might take exception to the accolade of best photo ever, we do think that this image of cities whizzing by taken by veteran astronaut Donald Pettit, on his third tour aboard the International Space Station having spent over five hundred days in orbit, is pretty spectacular. The dazzling nature of the foreground in motion belies other details, like the galactic core on the horizon and the streaks of other satellites and the transition from night to day on the world’s edge. A gifted science communicator making the most of his stints onboard the ISS, Pettit is well equipped with cameras and lenses and has conducted numerous experiments and demonstrations for the curious and enquiring as well as his regiment of assigned tasks and holds the first patent for an object invented in space, the Zero G Cup, a coffee mug that uses the wetting angle, the incline where a liquid and solid meet, to avoid the need of using a straw.

england’s home of mystery (12. 154)

Sadly demolished in 1905 to make way for offices and flats, we enjoyed this appreciation of the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, originally commissioned by antiquarian and naturalist William Bullock as a museum to house his collection of curiosities acquired by Captain Cook’s exploration (see also) of the South Seas and built in 1812 in the revival architecture style popularised (see also) by reports of Napoleon’s exploits and Admiral Nelson’s defeat of the French navy on the Nile, which after disposing of his ethnographic and natural history collection, transformed the space into a public exhibition hall, with rotating collections including Napoleon’s carriage captured as a war trophy at Waterloo, Egyptian artefacts and The Raft of Medusa. By the end of the nineteenth century, the hall became a venue for magical acts and spiritualism demonstrations, chiefly staged by the duo of Maskelyne and Cooke with a rather remarkable run of thirty-one years—the former, John Nevil, stage magician, card shark, professional sceptic (wanting to expose fraudsters and charlatans) and inventor of a typewriter of proportional character width (kerning was apparently all over the place and probably would have driven me to distraction) and the pay-toilet, hence the euphemism, “spend a penny.” Much more from Feuilleton at the link above including a gallery of show posters.

solstice (12. 099)

Also referred to as the Southern Solstice not to privilege the Northern Hemisphere (see previously, see below) when the Sun pivots directly over the Tropic of Cancer, marking the shortest and longest day of the year depending on one’s climes, at the extremes nearest the poles in the Baltics and Russia there are zero hours of daylight as compared to fifteen plus in Australia, Oceania and South America, NPR has a list of suggestions for observing this change in seasons occurring today from the Stonehenge live-feed, special concerts to sampling traditions and customs (see more) from around the globe plus tips for a little self-care as we cannot opt just to hibernate this time out. 

 synchronoptica

one year ago:  Midwinter Night traditions (with synchronoptica), Strange Paradise plus Christmas cards from Dan Quayle

seven years ago: Trump moves the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, what do you call a world that can’t learn from itself, a sleek sedan plus no more email signature blocks with motivational quotations

eight years ago: assorted links to enjoy, Christingle plus the VR experience

nine years ago: a new HTTP status code that calls out censorship plus the sewers of Wiesbaden

ten years ago: the Russian rouble and the Dutch Disease plus 2014 in review

the rumble in the jungle (11. 946)

Organised by the then relatively unknown Don King in collaboration with record producer Jerry Masucci, sixty thousand fans gathered on this day in 1974 in Kinshasa to watch the championship boxing match between George Forman and Muhammad Ali, hailed as the greatest sporting event of the century. With a purse of five million dollars—an enormous sum of money which the promoters had not yet secured—King sought a venue and sponsor outside of the United States, eventually convinced Mobutu Sese Seko (see previously) to host the event, possibly with the financial assistance of Muammar Gaddafi. A three night long music festival was held at the same stadium beforehand to build excitement and included performances by Miriam Makeba, BB King, James Brown, Bill Withers and the Fania All-Stars, the supergroup of Masucci’s label. Watched by a further television audience of a billion, including many by pay-per-view and in specially reserved theatres, the fight generated over a hundred million dollars in revenue. More from the Avocado at the link up top.

iata identifier (11. 921)

Reposting exactly in the spirit of how it was shared—with the spark of enjoy and novelty that goes into a website one will probably only look at once for the scholarship and coincidence yet will remember and think about it for a long time afterwards (the hallmark of a good single-purpose website), we enjoyed via Maps Mania this project charting airport geolocation codes (see previously) that also happen to be filetype extensions. CSO, for instance, is Cochstedt Flughafen in Magdeburg and also a Compiled Shader Object used in graphics rendering assemblies, Cherbourg-Maupertus Aéroport is also a Windows Security Certificate and Ostend-Bruges International is also an Outlook email Offline Storage Table. Is your local airport also a filename?

synchronoptica

one year ago: a camping trip to the Land of a Thousand Lakes (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: the life of Tiresias, Photographic Treatment, bonsai marijuana, protesting the draft plus declassifying the Warren Commission

eight years ago: indented writing, composite air planes in take off, dynamic projection mapping (caution flashing images) plus the CIA’s art collection

nine years ago: white hat hacking plus searching for unicorns

ten years ago: Byzantine Rome plus an extraordinary papal synod  

common rocket propulsion units (11. 909)

Founded on this day in 1974 in the Frankfurt suburb of Neu-Isenburg by entrepreneur and aerospace engineer Lutz Kayser, the West German company Orbital Transport - und Raketen-Aktiengesellschaft became the first commercial developer of satellite launch vehicles, attempting to undercut national space agencies with a cheaper, modular alternative to traditional rocketry, French Ariane rockets and the US space shuttle. With Wernher von Braun and retired NASA director Kurt Debus as scientific advisors, OTRAG carried out their first test launches in Zaire, hoping to secure the market potential of Africa, with mixed results. France and the Soviet Union, concerned by the prospect of German reentry into the field of long-distance rocket, pressured the Zairian government of Mobutu Sese Seko to close down the research and development facility, and eventually convince Bonn to withdraw its support for the private operations. In response Kayser relocated production and testing to Libya by 1981, and for the next six years made some rather significant advances (differing from traditional multi-stage launchers, their rockets were bundled tubes that could be mass produced inexpensively) and even attempted the launch of a private space vehicle, until Gaddafi seized the facility and equipment and nationalised it.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a solar energy firm established in 1905 (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: the panopticon of Piccadilly Circus plus more findings from gravitational waves

eight years ago: Mister Smith Goes to Washington plus atmospheric wells

nine years ago: the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards plus more on America’s drone wars

twelve years ago: US military bases in Germany plus oversized landmarks

dromomania (11. 887)

Returning to his hometown of Waseca, Minnesota from the west, having departed on his journey accompanied by his brother and a mule nearly four years earlier and setting forth eastward, on this day in 1974, having walked just over twenty-three thousand kilometres, Dave Kunst became the first independently verified individual to have circumambulated the globe. Received by Princess Grace in Monaco and by chance meeting fellow adventurer Thor Heyerdahl in a restaurant in Italy, the epic walkers solicited donations to UNICEF along the way. Denied entry into the Soviet Union, about midway through their journey, the team continued through India and Afghanistan, where the two were tragically ambushed by bandits who believed they were carrying the monies pledged to the United Nations’ emergency children’s fund, killing his brother John, but Kunst finished after months recuperation, joined by his older sibling Pete. After the loss of his mule in the Australian Outback, a schoolteacher, who Kunst became enamoured with and eventually married, towed his supplies with her car for a thousand miles at walking pace, Dave keeping up alongside. Kunst’s trip consisted of twenty million steps and went through twenty-one pairs of shoes.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: wine and quinces (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: drawing logos from memory plus biofuels from moss

eight years ago: turning Twitter into a public utility, ghost signs plus an unpopular file format

nine years ago: the Norman Conquest and the Divine Right of Kings

ten years ago: Roman tax regimes

project skydrop (11. 886)

Corresponding with the previous post, another treasure hunt has just concluded with the discovery of a golden trophy and pot prize of money that grew as hunters joined in, totalling at the end of more than one-hundred-thousand dollars. The radius where the prize was hidden shrank incremental from an area covering Washington, DC to New Hampshire, eventually going down to a square foot. Tension building as the search area got smaller, but not minuscule and still a sizeable amount of forested terrain to explore, the treasure was discovered by a local weatherman who took advantage of meteorological data embedded in a live-feed, and found the trophy through a process of elimination according to where it might be clear or overcast.

mauritius (11. 863)

Fêted on this day on the occasion of his martyrdom in 287 by execution for refusing to kill local Christians under order of Emperor Maximian, this disobedience punished with decimation—killing one out of every ten rebellious soldiers, at the Roman outpost of Agaunum (present day Saint-Maurice in the canton of Valais, and not to be confused with St Moritz in the Engadine, also named for the same leader of the Theban Legion), Maurice (Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲙⲱⲣⲓⲥ) is a popular and widely venerated saint whose patronage includes multiple kingdoms, municipalities and professions. Depictions and iconography of Maurice have been contentions throughout the centuries, with some suggesting that Holy Roman Emperor (who the saint champions with some crowned before his altar in St Peter’s) Frederich II in the eleventh century initiated the darker-complected trope as a symbol for the Crusades, and that the Christian mission was a universal and non-discriminatory one. Others argue Maurice was never turned Black, though the otherness (see also) went through periods of acceptance and intolerance, including the Nazis’ forbidding the city of Coburg’s coat of arms (since 1493) for glorifying another race and temporary replaced the Wappen with a sword (as guardian of sword-makers) with a swastika on its pommel. Patronage also include armorers, Alpine troops, infantry soldiers, cloth-makers, weavers, dyers and the Pontifical Swiss Guard, Austria, Piedmont, Sardinia, the Houses of Savoy, Lombard and the Merovingians and is invoked against muscle cramps and gout.