synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus The Book of Leaves
two years ago: Drake’s Equation, SMS (1992) plus a collection of airline safety cards
three years ago: your daily demon: Balam, a Roman holiday plus fifty-two gleanings from the year
four years ago: Camelot (1960) plus a Chicken Little opera
five years ago: a deck of Mayan playing cards, healthy brain flora, the cries and criers of Old London plus a deployment to the US-Mexico border
the big easy: Bonapartist diaspora had designs for Napoleon to retire in New Orleans—via Messy Nessy Chic—see also courtesy of Super Punch
holiday emporium: Kottke’s annual gift guide returns after a hiatus
triple word score: players and lexicographers are a bit mortified with Scrabble’s new tournament rules
colophon: the rise and fall of Borders Books
moonlight towers: during the infancy of electric lighting, there was a predecessor to serial lamps
pump and dump: insurance companies are exacerbating the climate crisis
fiat: during the bank strikes of Ireland in the 1970s, pubs stepped in to fill their function—via the new shelton wet/dry
ai garage sale: haggle with robots for real items—via Waxy
pas de goulots d’รฉtranglement dans la production: a strange 1940 diagram from linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf presenting French as a factory assembly line
last mile-problem: 2003 ad from a defunct automotive line lampooning the absurdity of cars—especially redesigning cities around them
broken record: the cover of the UN’s Environmental Programme Emissions Gap Report
whistle-blower: ufologist who testified before the US Congress urges declassification of documents on alien technology for America to get ahead of the coming, catastrophic leak
whole heap of zing: new studies may have found the culprit in the phenomenon of the red wine headache
oculi mundi: a gorgeous and interactive collection of antique and ancient depictions of the world to peruse—via Maps Mania
keith number: seemingly recreational, rare and hard to find repetitive Fiboncci-like digits whose sum are a whole of its parts
the marshmallow test: famous experiments in psychology recreated in LEGO
synchronoptica
one year ago: an early exercise craze
two years ago: assorted links worth revisiting
three years ago: the Nurnberg Trials (1945), more links to enjoy, artist Magritte plus cardboard cat shrines
four years ago: more Words of the Year, a Trump appointee turns, Martha Gellhorn plus reforming Ukrainian exonyms
five years ago: the Mayflower Compact, more links to enjoy, a ram registry plus the backstory of an IKEA poster
Via Good Internet, we learn that AI-powered robot chemist, analysing Martian meteorites as a proxy for available materials in-situ (see previously) the Red Planet, has devised an efficient method for splitting the 
abundant reserves of water ice into its components—hydrogen and oxygen not only for air for potential human explorers to breathe but also for fuel—by trialing millions of molecular compounds (metallic ores bonded with those component elements are normally inert) apparently readily present in the Martian terrain to find the best catalyst to set off the reaction with the least need for extra energy to trigger the reaction and least effort of extraction. Though accomplished without human-intervention—drawing on the sum of human learning—the proposal would still need to be vetted by scientists for unintended consequences or biases for Earth gravity and weather. If proven safe and effective, maybe as an encore, the robot chemist could come up with the best way to capture and store carbon back home.
synchronoptica
one year ago: The Mouse and his Child (1977), the first book printed in English (1477) plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: bias in photo developing, the consecration of Old and New St Peter’s plus not all symbols are universal
three years ago: your daily demon: Haagenti, more medieval remixes, a Star Trek TOS fashion show plus the origin of the asterisk
four years ago: the Triadic Ballet reprised, Super Robot manga, separating texting from emails plus the Rabbrexit tapestry
five years ago: exterior walls of Japan plus a 1950s scrapbook of Moscow
temporal excursions: advice for the modern time-travellers thinking about visiting medieval Europe
once and future: ex-PM David Cameron returns as Sunak’s foreign minister after a cabinet shake-up following the Home Secretary’s incendiary remarks
ototw: there are over six-thousand ‘on top of the world’ mountains—a peak so high no others in the range can be seen from its summit—we’ve only been to Brocken, I think out of them all
an aaron spelling production: an appreciation of Arthur Hailey’s Hotel (1983 - 1988) and its parade of guest stars
the house of tomorrow: Tex Avery’s vision of the smart home seems more user-friendly
return-to-office: automatic responses from those on a hybrid work-schedule
carbon-casting: a LEGO-like approach to CO₂ offset and removal at target costs
brideshead revisited: a new film on the eccentricities of the landed gentry—via Messy Nessy Chic
florantine codex: a sixteenth century ethnography on Mesoamerica and the Aztec culture has been digitalised and made accessible to the public
one year ago: The New Musical Express (1952), more Scopitone fun, more on English adjectival order plus assorted links to enjoy
two years ago: the Oort cloud, the Landshut Wedding (1475), more McMansion Hell plus a tale of guided chess
three years ago: the centenary of the BBC, the 2008 G20, paleomixology plus another MST3K classic
four years ago: assorted links to revisit
five years ago: Yale admits women (1968), Nellie Bly’s trip around the world, more on land-use plus social media platforms reimagined on outdated technology
falling for fall: an epic attempt to capture the Christian Girl Autumn aesthetic—via the morning news
paradox: NASA climate group issues a bleak warning on climate change—controversially suggesting that a reduction in aerosol pollution will accelerate warming
the hunting of the earl of rone: one individual’s quest to catalogue the folkways and traditions of the United Kingdom
they’re all good dogs: the winners of the annual world canine photography award presented—plus a bonus vocabulary term for one who is favourably disposed to dogs—via Nag on the Lake
ja-da, ja-da, ja-da, jing jing jing: a soothing 1918 jazz standard covered for decades after
mechanical turk: exposing autonomous cars’ vast human support network to maintain an illusion of safety, reliability
roll on: a clever phonophore logo for a transport and logistics company in Hong Kong
cape canaveral: a 3D animated billboard recounts the chronology of the Kennedy Space Centre
momiji tunnel: a stunning section of the Eizan railway showcases the turning foliage—via the ever excellent Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links
one year ago: the Gun Powder Plot, a Commodore accordion, more McMansion Hell plus a Wikipedia list of common fallacies
two years ago: the Saint Felix Flood (1530)
three years ago: a tri-lingual dictionary (1499), a flashpoint labour strike (1916), a sรฉance on a wet afternoon plus the Rebel Rabbit GIF
four years ago: more on Guy Fawkes, Voyager 2 leaves the Solar System, ghoulish guacamole plus Facebook’s shift to the right
five years ago: representative Shirley Chisholm, an ancient boardgame, photographer Denise Scott Brown, words for the Winter Blues plus mapping the US mid-terms
Via the always excellent Web Curios, we are directed to the outstanding hand embroidered sixty-seven metre (two hundred-twenty foot) chronology—in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry (see previously)—from artist Sandra Sawatzy that documents the saga of the discovery of petroleum products, all edged with dinosaurs, and its attendant societal and environmental change through the millennia to the present. Be sure to visit Sawatzy’s accompanying blog on their creative process, main characters in these global shifts and exhibitions.
Via Kottke, we are directed to a fascinating technological artefact and possible point of departure, contra-factual in this profile of entrepreneur and inventor George Cove, an early advocate of renewable energy who developed solar panels (and battery storage) not much different from those systems employed today. In 1905. 
There was a significant interest in this new technology and its potential fuelled by no shortage of media coverage and incremental improvements with attendant cost savings and greater efficiency. Yet the enterprise and Cove’s prospects came to an abrupt halt in 1909 when he was kidnapped and would only be released if he withdrew his patents and shut up shop. Though Cove reportedly refused to give in to these conditions, he was nonetheless released. Whilst some contemporary accounts say that the inventor staged his ransom to generate publicity or was victim of a jilted investor, it seems more likely he was roughed up by a thug sent from nascent Oil, an industry not known to be a friend of the democratising effects that virtually limitless and unfettered energy could provide or willing to pull any punches with the threat of competition. Solar power had no more champions for decades, and although it might be painful and disheartening to contemplate alternate-histories in the face of squandered time, resources and a planet that is burning, the fact that dependence of petroleum wasn’t a foregone outcome of industrialisation and modernity and that energy alternatives always had an uneasy coexistence is something for one’s quiver of hopes and disabusing. More from The Conversation at the link above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: St Andrew of Crete, assorted links to revisit plus RRR
two years ago: the tragical death of an apple pie
three years ago: the taking of Harper’s Ferry (1859), the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, change what the bunny is holding plus more links to revisit
four years ago: The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago
five years ago: pumpkin spice in everything, early Uber, The Republican Club plus more links to enjoy
⏈: play around for a moment with the Water web toy—via Miss Cellania and the Everlasting Blรถrt
green new deal: modelled on FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps, US president Biden creates a federal jobs training and climate protection force
won’t someone think of the children: UK passes Online Safety bill—see previously
piramida: architectural photographer Danica O Kus documents the newly-repurposed monument in the Albanian capital of Tirana nine-man morris: archeologists discover a board game carved in the ruins of an ancient Polish castle
qed: a tiny Irish child has a brilliant solution to the trolley problem—see previously
the mascot of ascot: the magnificent millinery modelled by Gertrude Shilling—via Messy Nessy Chic
once i played a tanpura: electronic music from India from the early 1970s—via Things Magazine
written on water: physicists using an ionic pen and Brownian motion can draw lines and letters in liquid
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit
two years ago: the Global War on Terrorism declared (2001), photographer Charles Cylde Ebbets plus more links to enjoy
three years ago: St Eustace plus running out of hurricane names
four years ago: an AI names mushrooms, exploring a local wayside chapel, more links plus Randy Rainbow for the Emmy
five years ago: retro web bumpers, a then-and-now of New Zealand’s government, modern-day occupations plus the board game Careers
First affecting Greece and Turkey with massive floods before reorganising itself as a low front over the Mediterranean and overwhelming dams and causing a catastrophic breach in the Lebanese port city of Derna, the cyclone forming in the Ionian sea has proved the deadliest and most expensive event of the year, only just now dissipating with tens of thousands of casualties and exponentially more displaced. A quarter of the the ancient city was washed away with entire neighbourhoods unaccounted for, seeming carried to the sea. The unconscionable scale of the disaster is attributed in part of years of neglected infrastructure maintenance under the regime of of Muammar Gaddafi followed by civil war but the extreme weather is also on account of the effects of runaway climate change.
synchronoptica
one year ago: The Waltons (1972), spreading seeds plus an AI illustrated Bible
two years ago: assorted links to revisit plus rice harvest art
three years ago: one of the first laws enshrining freedom of the press (1770), explaining the year 2020 to someone from the past plus music to move by
four years ago: seeing the tarnish of the golden era plus RIP Eddie Money
five years ago: Trump downplays deaths in Hurricane Maria, a new Russian cathedral, Jimmy Carter Says Yes, more on calendar reforms plus Trump’s campaign manager in court
miracle house: a singular property that survived the devastating wildfires opened up to the community as a beacon of hope for a destroyed Lahaina neighbourhood
service manual showcase: a growing curated archive of quirky and niche instruction guides—via Waxy
book ‘em danno: Trump arrested and released on bail in Fulton County in the US state of Georgia—with a historic mug-shot take the d-train: artist Stipan Tadiฤ documented a year long route from the Bronx to Brooklyn and back—via Nag on the Lake
spaghetti mayhem: Jan Hakon Erichsen has fun with uncooked pasta
word of the day: Susie Dent’s logophilia
ฯ ฮณฯฯ ฯฯฯ: emergency responders struggle to contain fires ravishing Greece—the largest in the EU
On this day in 2018, when Europe was suffering from droughts and a heatwave (also inspired by students 
at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida who refused to return after the shootings), ahead of parliamentary elections and the first day of class after summer break, then fifteen-year-old Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg sat on the steps of the Svergies Riksdag calling for a “School-Strike for the Climate.” Alone in her protest, the image was picked up by the Swedish press and garnering criticism from her parents and teachers for her truancy and message, Thunberg returned everyday for three weeks until the 9 September ballot, demanding that the government commit to reducing carbon-emissions aligned with the pledges of the Paris Agreement. Thunberg’s activism inspired the Fridays for Future movement of millions of students globally using the day to rally for environmental causes and has been a necessary gadfly to spur action, calling out greenwashing and repeating that “our house is still on fire.”
effective altruism: FTX lobbyist tried to purchase the island nation of Nauru as a doomsday bunker and create a genetically enhanced human species
getting drunk at a disco: 1977 found footage of an evening not necessarily going downhill
this is not a love poem: a round-up of favourites that are not all lovey-dovey—via tmn
rambler: a collection of illustrated exteriors of California ranch homes—see also 1975: Kuala Lumpur authorities shut down the Good Vibes festival after headliner Matty Healy criticised Malaysia’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws
point of no return: time is running out on the Climate Clock
stooping: trend adopted by Chinese young people involves decorating with cast-off furniture left by the curb
smokey, this is not ‘nam—this is bowling, there are rules: Big Lebowski (previously) inspired bowling alley via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links (lots more to explore there)
typoglycemia: bypassing chatbot’s ethical subroutines using word scrambling and transposed letters
We found this gallery of images of the permanent scars that human activity has been inflicting on the planet since the early 1950s curated in response to the retroactive inauguration of the new, dread geological epoch. 
All the photographs in the project portfolio are unbelievable and terrible to contemplate but we were especially taken with this view of potash-extracting operations in the Urals, mining for this vital fertiliser ingredient underground causes this spiralling pattern that resembles a trilobite fossil.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Handel’s Water Music (1717) plus a visit to Amersfoort, downriver from Amsterdam
two years ago: Emoji Day plus the shores of Lake Vรคnern, Sweden
three years ago: the Feast of the Romanovs and their Domestics, a working couple’s cookbook plus Banksy’s lockdown tags
four years ago: more on Emoji Day plus forward basing of nuclear arsenals
five years ago: Yellow Submarine (1968), a living, incognito Pride flag, more on Trump and Putin, anti-car-sickness glasses plus the British royal family adopts the surname Windsor (1917)
purl 2.0: performative social media is symptomatic of influencer culture and won’t get better until we do
flag of convenience: the secret language of ships
extended character set: contenders for inclusion on the new Emoji list include a Phoenix and a broken chain new normal: a third of the US under a dangerous heatwave
sag-aftra: members of the Hollywood actors’ guild join the writers’ strike—see previously, see more
eternal september: the Threads bandwagon, matriculation is “a contradictory mixture of earnest online community building and craven creator-brained growth hacking”
synchronoptica
one year ago: “Hanoi Jane” (1972) plus Gangam Style (2012)
two years ago: the elder Fuรพark and the runestone of Rรถk plus the Stone Ship of Nรคssja
three years ago: a variant line-rider animation with a synchronised roller coaster, Pollux and Castor plus more official American state junk
four years ago: Trump attacks the Squad, honouring Alan Turing plus finding Bob Ross’ lost landscapes
five years ago: assorted links to revisit, Trump’s Scottish golf course, Nintendo made a sewing machine game plus more Brexit fun—aren’t we having fun yet
Putting the hubris and destructive nature of humanity on the same level as the meteor impact that wiped out the dinosaurs—after a fashion—which began the Cenozoic Era some sixty-six million years ago, a working group of scientists have chosen a representative Gold Spike (see previously) as a marker to symbolise the start of the Anthropocene Epoch in the sinkhole Lake Crawford in Ontario. 
Though overwhelming evidence abounds of humans’ negative impact on the environment from ocean plastics, the supersaturated, warming atmosphere, mass-extinctions, in particular this body of water that ought to be pristine and far removed (see above) shows exponential increases in impurities the early 1950s on, documenting nuclear tests and fertilisers and mining-runoff polluting waterways. Researchers are gauging Plutonium fallout in the silt and sediment (a faithful though frightening annual record) the lakebed as a sign of the start of the epoch and is expected to mark the beginning of a new, dread and disruptive geological time period.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Saint Veronica plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: In the Year 2525
three years ago: the end of a politically independent judiciary in the US plus a double-duty face mask
four years ago: a creative video for Kate Bush’s Running Up that Hill, protests in Hong Kong plus the pitfalls of self-assessments
five years ago: predictive policing, The Americans and Operation Ghost Stories, generative Tarot cards plus Trump’s plan for stacking judges
armada model zero: prototype flying, electric car cleared for takeoff
๊ตญ๋ณด: ancient Corinthian helmet found in Olympia and awarded as a trophy in 1936 among South Korea’s National Treasures
el niรฑo southern oscillation: combination of global warming and cyclical weather patterns have yielded the hottest day since record-keeping began
๐งต: Meta to launch Twitter alternative in twenty-four hours
cop27: UK to walk-back its climate pledge
luteciam parisiorum: a virtual tour of Roman Paris
astral projection: the brain’s precuneus seems to be responsible for grounding and for the sensation of out-of-body experiences
⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️: Neal Fun’s (previously) infuriating password game
ceiling cat: the European Souther Observatory in the Chilean mountains discovered a feline nebula
bad odds: wagering on climate change to bring the danger and risk to present and personal
backstage: newsletters (from 1962 to 1980) published for Disneyland crew members, scanned in full—via Super Punch
homage to magritte: a 1974 tribute in five vignettes to the Surrealist artist independent legislature theory: US Supreme Court strikes down suit that would cut checks and balances and judicial review of laws passed
monkey bars: the first jungle gym (see previously) was built in hopes of teaching children about three-dimensional space and Cartesian coordinates
magma: mining volcanoes could provide a more ecologically-friendly way to extract metals
power of ten: NASA’s coding commandments focused on testability, readability and predictability that keeps critical systems safe and running in outer space
goodnight phone: an interactive web comic for our shared present—via tmn
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus a surprise session of the January Sixth hearings on the US Capitol Insurrections
two years ago: body language, the UN International Criminal Court (1993), Miss Continuous Towel and other spokesmodels plus Pitman shorthand
three years ago: a corporate typeface, a performative masculine simulator game, Martian meteors plus cataloguing one’s possessions
four years ago: the Stonewall Riots (1969), surveying Titan plus bringing back the chestnut tree
five years ago: Paul Simon on Sesame Street, silent cooking videos, assorted links to revisit plus combating fake product reviews
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 ร
land region gets a six-figure ticket
bezold-brรผcke 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 Niรฑo is upon us
wall of sound: the logistics of touring that defies credulity
fowl-mouthed: Apple’s newest IOS to tweak auto-correct feature that turns a common expletive to “ducking”
olive grove: climate change bringing new crops to Canada’s Pacific Northwest
pop 101: a guided formulaic approach to composition
magic kingdom: research finds that fungi sequester a third of carbon emissions—via Slashdot
fact-checking: the rise, fall and rebirth of Snopes
ski googles: Apple previews new prototype AR/VR headset—to be on the market next year
