varietà antica (11. 976)

Via Pasa Bon!, we are directed to the Italian scientist Isabella Dalla Ragione who scours medieval archives, cloistered orchards and Renaissance paintings for produce that has disappeared from daily cuisine to bring some diversity back to the table in the form of gnarled but hardy and delicious apples, pears, peaches, quinces, grapes and other forgotten heirloom fruit. Dalle Ragione’s family home with its ancient grounds has become a showcase and incubator for this effort as the interviewer acts as a docent through a quite remarkable gallery of art works that display this culling of an overwhelming abundance of cultivars down to monoculture, hoping to reverse the trend. With a little detective work, an amazing catalogue of outmoded varietals emerge from generally overlooked details, instilled themselves with symbolism and hence the importance of accurate representation to convey the message. Much more at the links above.

sacro bosco (11. 942)

Mentioned in a recent post, we thoroughly enjoyed this tour of the sixteenth century Park of Monsters in Bomarzo. The mannerist style complex set amongst the wooded hills was commissioned by Duke Pier Francesco Orsini, designed by Pirro Ligorio and Simone Moschino, and is considered to be among the oldest sculpture gardens in the world. Intended to shock visitors, grotesques include many figures from classical mythology (see also) as well as fearsome real creatures represented like bears, lions and Hannibal’s alpine-crossing war elephants. The pictured god of the Underworld, Orcus, punisher of broken oaths in Etruscan and Roman traditions, and bears the inscription “Ogni pensiero vola” (All thoughts fly) on his upper lip—demonstrated by the fact that when one enters this Hell Mouth, the acoustics amplify and project any whisper—and was a favourite dining spot for guests. The gardens fell into disrepair during the nineteenth century and it was due to a painting and short documentary by Salvador Dalí in the 1950s that the park was rediscovered and rehabilitated.

synchronoptica 

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

seven years ago: AI generated people, vanlife, the Genius of Evil plus transforming blighted trees into sculpture

eight years ago: more links to enjoy

nine years ago: heritage railways plus even more links

ten years ago: TTIP

pyri (11. 844)

A wildfire detection device made of wax and charcoal, taking its inspiration from the botanical function of pyriscence (a type of serotiny which is triggered by an environmental factor like the seasons, weather conditions, moisture or in this case fire) wherein seeds are only released once their protective resin is melted away in a forest fire has won a UK James Dyson scholarship for further development of the prototype. Like the natural process to reseed the woods, the outer shell of the pine-cone shaped alarm is liquified and activates a radio beacon that alerts local authorities, the electronic components also made of organic materials to avoid leaving foreign objects in the environment and to forego the need of mining more raw materials of components. As compared to established methods of monitoring which rely on drone patrols, satellites and sensors Pyri offers a passive solution that can be widely deployed at low costs and requires no maintenance after distribution. More from Dezeen at the link up top.

ents and huorns (11. 612)

Via tmn, we directed to the thirty-two metre tall lone rātā (Metrosideros robusta) on the west coast of South Island that’s been picked by the public as New Zealand’s Tree of the Year. Given the nickname “The Walking Tree” after JRR Tolkien’s motile, sentient arboreal characters due to appearance of being frozen in mid-stride, the unusual lifecycle of the rātā bears out the comparison as well with the seeds germinating as hemiepiphyte high in the forest canopy (conspicuously absent for this exemplar) before slowly lowering roots that descend to the ground, forming a hollow pseudo-trunk around its host composed of interlocking rhizomes, and can live upwards of a thousand years. Threatened, replanting and rehabilation campaigns have seen their return.  In contrast to the Ents of Middle Earth (see also, Tolkien invented the army as a more satisfying belligerent for the coming of “Great Birnam Wood to Dunsinane” of Macbeth) that become more tree-like as they age, a huorn is undergoing the process of becoming more animated.

schutzzieles schutzwälder (11. 583)

Traveling a bit further on towards Suhl, we came to a crossroads of many trails through the Thüringer Wald but with an an embarrassment of choices but finite time could only pursue hiking a segment instead of the proper loop that was nearly thirty kilometers to see all the highlights and returning to the campsite, we picked a peak in the Rennsteig and walked to Adlersberg through the protected landscape, sensibly managed since 1937 after exploitation dating from the Middle Ages. 

There we found a restored observation tower from the late seventeen-hundreds that afforded a really commanding view of the region, with summits of the Kreuzberg. Gleichberge and Wasserkuppe in the panorama

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting

two years ago: more links to enjoy

three years ago: your daily demon: Leraje, Johnny Mnemonic, the murder of George Floyd one year on, an educational short, more links to revisit plus a precursor to NFTs

four years ago: Dracula (1897) plus a cursed alignment chart

five years ago: Sweden traffic switches orientation, the EU votes plus a trip to Saxony’s Elbsandsteingebirge

fairytale jungle trail (11. 582)

For another long-weekend getaway, H and I traveled an hour northeast back to the Thüringerwald nature reserve and found a campsite in Breitenbach along the Vesser river valley and southwest entrance to the park, with a lot of paths for wandering in the forest. 

Officially called straightforwardly “Urwaldpfad,” the app that we were using gave it the rather creatively translated name above and had a nice long hike along both banks of the river—originally planning to return via a second trail but it was proving too rough with a series of felled trees that had collapsed on the bank of the stream. 

The trail had advertised some attractions along the way like a Sensenhammer, an early industrial water-powered scythe forge for making tools and machine parts, and a historic mill (see also), but these were only waypoints with markers for installations gone and never rebuilt. 

Still the walk in the ancient woods was very pleasant with a stand of super-high firs and a nice stroll along the river—plus lots of lupines. On the way back, we stopped at a fine guesthouse with character perched on a hill overlooking the forest and village.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit

two years ago: Ciao! Manhattan, Return of the Jedi (1983) plus investigating Partygate

three years ago: HMS Pinafore, synchronisation plus Bosch with emoji

four years ago: Toki Pona, a delightfully translated menu, the Interregnum plus artist Nikolas Knüpfer

five years ago: Towel Day

kalaallit nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq (11. 571)

Founded on this day in 1974 and expanded in 1988 to protect nearly a million square kilometres in the northeastern part of the island, Grønlands Nationalpark is the world’s largest and tenth largest reserve in the world (the larger areas consist mostly of marine environments). Approximately the size of Egypt, the park has no permanent human population, though about four hundred encampments, research stations and cleanup sites of abandoned mining operations see use over the summer months. One of the least visited parks in the world, it is home to numerous walruses, polar bears, wolves, seals, narwals and whales and a significant portion of the world’s musk oxen. 

* * * * *

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Trevi Fountain (1762)

two years ago: Nsibidi signs, tramdriver championships, the Oompahs plus Icelandic horses answer your emails

three years ago: a crawling map, a generational chart, more on the blockchain, saving the Icelandic language plus politics and EuroVision

four years ago: PacMac (1980), assorted links to revisit plus the necessity of book culling

five years ago: a see-through church, IKEA’s test kitchen, heritage tourism, exploiting gig-workers, noctilucent clouds on Mars plus sacred groves in Ethiopia

7x7 (11. 544)

group tape №1: a 1981 compilation from the International Electronic Music Association collective  

the light eaters: plant cognition and agency—see previously  

hardfork: the duality of Vernor Vinge’s Singularity 

to share something is to risk losing it: an update on the beloved Broccoli Tree (not pictured), which was loved to death—see also  

mai-1: Microsofts new AI model could potentially over take rivals 

pod squad: Project CETI gains more insights into whale communication  

haus 33: a ride on the Techno Train that loops from Nürnberg to Würzburg

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Devil’s Bible

two years ago: a classic from Spandau Ballet

three years ago: cheugy plus Kraft Television Theatre

four years ago: cereal and straw craft, Kraftwerk plus Shelter-in-Place

five years ago: the long-delayed passage of a US constitutional amendment, designer Georg Elliot Olden, the unending attraction of nature plus haunted dolls 

 

das rennsteiglied (11. 489)

First performed on this day in 1951 in community hall of the Hirschbach (presently the Hotel Zum goldenen Hirsch) of Suhl by local musicians Herbert Roth and Waltraut Schulz, the hymn extolling the joy of wandering in nature (see previously here and here—see also) has become an auxiliary state anthem and better known than the official, Thüringen, holdes Land (Fair Country). 

The refrain goes: “I often walk this path to the Höhn (apparently a picturesque high hill with the ruins of Fischberg castle on top that we will make it a priority to see) , the little song birds singing / If I am far away, Thuringer Forest, I only long for you!”

synchronoptica

one year ago: Samuel Johnson’s dictionary (1755), General Dynamics’ playing cards plus assorted links to revisit 

two years ago: more links to enjoy, the Universal Day of Culture plus AI Easter eggs

three years ago: your daily demon: Valefor, more Star Fleet uniforms plus Canada’s Olympics closing ceremony costumes

four years ago: a North Korean holiday plus a prescient comic from 1990

five years ago: more on the cannibalisation of the Old Web plus the art collective messy modernism

truth windows (11. 441)

Courtesy of fellow internet peripatetic Messy Nessy Chic’s latest link curation (which also includes segments on the Satanic Panic and the colourful churches of Kerala worth a look as well), we were really enamoured with the the idea of keeping unfinished a small section of wall, as is traditional particularly in strawbale homes, for perspective, grounding and gratitude of what our sheltering places are constructed of—the alcove often serving as an ersatz altar. As we were moving in and had the interior of the house redone and modern, up-to-code insulation installed, we were surprised to see under the drop-ceilings in the oldest part of the house twigs and branches—certainly sourced from the woods behind us—and was a little sad to see them unceremoniously removed and replaced.  Maybe just retain a small first storey skylight in a nice antique frame.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit 

two years ago: more links to enjoy

three years ago: St Dareca plus even more links worth revisiting

four years ago: a big bomb detonated (1970), a gallery of conversation pits plus America’s Stonehenge (1980)

five years ago: a proposal to standardise toponymy, illustrator Rachel Eleanor, a submerged restaurant in Norway, replacing politicians with AI, more links plus a vintage Lada advert

7x7 (11. 435)

deadwooding: Banksy acknowledges authorship of a new mural bringing back some greenery to an aggressive prune tree in Finsbury Park  

subspace: an ultra high-definition video of a cat chasing a laser-pointer was beamed over thirty million kilometres to improve future video calls to the Moon and Mars 

running-stitch: beautiful embroidered portraits from Karola Pezarro  

deadspin: more on the internet’s undead, reanimated by private equity and name recognition—see previously, see more  

bunga bunga: Italy’s Foreign Press Association to move into former home of Silvio Berlusconi, who famously disparaged reporters as Communists  

honeytrap: Aphra Behn’s intersecting careers as a professional writer and spy  

sequoiadendron giganteum: imported by the Victorians as status symbols, Giant Redwoods (see also) are thriving in the UK at more than half-a-million and growing

wüstungsperioden (11. 432)

Travelling a few villages over towards the former border, driving past some abandoned settlements, vacated owing to they’re being a liability too close to the boundary, we took another nice hike with the dog up to the ruins of Hutsburg on the summit of the Hutsberg, which also was a victim of its formerly strategic location and shifting allegiances.

On the way back, we stopped in Filke to revisit the so called Mauerschädel, another ruined remains, this time of early abandonment and then rendered inaccessible, like the above stronghold, during DDR times and its nave acting as the line of demarcation. 

 

heimatblick (11. 428)

 Before the weather turned, we took the dog on a hike up above Stockheim for a panoramic view of the village below. The diversion in the trail up the Tanzberg was a bequest from a local landowner stipulated in his will after an unfortunate farming accident. A bit further along the main path, we encountered a Blitzstein, a memorial for an anonymous resident and likely not the above donor struck and killed by lightning though now an unlikely occurrence given tree height in the vicinity though yet memorable and cautionary. 

I’ve noticed such small headstones before and wondered if they memorialised similar Acts of God—and wondered whether if this was all the individual received for funerary rites since it did sort of seem like divine punishment. When I first came to Germany and began noticing makeshift cenotaphs the just off the shoulder of the road, commemorating the victims of a traffic accident, I remember first thinking, there sure are a lot of people walking on the side of the road and getting killed by cars and thought that the country must have a problem with pedestrian deaths. 

Of course, during our walkies, I wasn’t preoccupied with such morbid thoughts, just wanted to know more about the practise and customs but was not able to find anything else out. Both spots were equipped with a nice picnic area and a wooden sun lounger for warmer weather.  It was a beautiful early spring day and we went on down the valley with a glimpse of the next town of Mellrichstadt off in the distance.

 

9x9 (11. 078)

page rank: the SEO trend of naming establishments X Near Me seems to actually drive customers—via Waxy  

cyanea pohaku: a species of tree discovered right before it was driven to extinction

saint eom: the psychedelic compound of folk artist and fortune-teller Eddie Owens Martin outside of Buena Vista in the US state of Georgia and listed on the National Register of Historic Places  

usonian homes: a pair of Frank Lloyd Wright (see previously) houses on the market in Kalamazoo in the US state of Michigan  

saob: the official Swedish dictionary published after one hundred forty years of work

the united states of guns: another sadly evergreen post about how an armed society is not a free society   

happiness hotel: a luxury kennel once occupied the grounds of New York City’s Lincoln Center 

report of my death having been most industriously circulated by several of the london daily newspapers, would the times permit me to contradict the same through your valuable columns and refute the account: sculptor John Ternouth, designer of the plinth for Nelson’s Column, was surprised to learn of his premature demise—via Strange Company  

i am altering the deal—pray i don’t alter it any further: Amazon’s Alexa is ending inoperability support with severe punishment for those who try to hack their way around it

dschungelweg (11. 042)

Deciding to try again to find the route we were searching for yesterday but from a better trodden starting point and walked through the vineyards on another educational trail (Lehrpfad) that this time had information about the different varieties of grapes grown and harvested here with more views of Escherndorf, Nordheim and the Main valley, passing the Vogelsberg and the orchards on the other side of the Weinberg. 

We entered an ancient old-growth stretch of woods hugging the bank of the river, untouched except for a very narrow footpath through the forest. Passing Fahr and back up to the top of the ridge through a second nature path for some more views of the valleys and vineyards before returning to the campground. 

 

synchronoptica

 

one year ago:  absinthe banned in Switzerland, the Feast of Sergius and Bacchus plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: a cool ghoul and your ghost host, the Cyrus Charter, a bird wife plus a catalogue of invasive toys

 

three years ago: most senior US government officials in quarantine,  a typing tutor, a birdhouse apartment plus more historic maps

 

four years ago: a minimum wage machine

 

five years ago: more links to check out, East Germany’s Tag der Republik, a visit to an automotive and aviation museum plus himpathy and related neologisms