etaoin shrdlu, esaitn ruoldc (13. 181)

Again via Web Curios, we are pointed to an addictive little bilingual (I wasn’t up to trying in French however) word game that is agreeably one of the best we’ve come across in some time and as likely to return to after our streak with Wordle clones. Simple and straightforward, each round presents three lettered tiles to build words from in order of the letters presented and are awarded points based on Scrabble rules, in turn derived from the titular letter frequency. There are daily challenges and play can continue with random combinations. Gently timed, once one runs out of chances, there’s a break down of one’s score and the optimal word from the dictionary, though one can’t dispute the lexicon.

parousia (13. 172)

Whilst one might be excused for thinking that the rather jarring news of the odds that Jesus Christ’s second coming will happen during this calendar year climbing might contain some wisdom of the masses how we are hurtling towards the End Times or how the Anti-Christ incarnate has seemingly arrived in the figure of the US president, in truth the cause of the growing likelihood is stultifyingly disappointing. Wagering in favour of such a black swan event seems nonsensical, especially if the faithful believe that they will be raptured—you can’t take it without, and without getting youth pastor theological, against scripture, with the Apostle Paul writing in his epistle to the Thessalonians, “For you are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night,” unpredictable and something no one knows. Rather than any of that, and with a touch of Dostoevsky, it is pure manipulation of the betting pool with secondary markets with gamblers trying to cash out on their odds for the over/under of their primary bet—and it isn’t even the first time that such grift as occurred. More from Gizmodo at the link up top.

8x8 (13. 097)

galactic resource utilisation: unfortunately named San Francisco startup’s designs for a lunar luxury hotel  

byob: meeting minutes from your local wine moms gang  

go: an obituary of Niè Wèiping (聂卫平) who helped restore Chinese interest in the ancient game of strategy—see previously

vmware: the history of virtualisation 

time’s arrow: the implications of shifting our concept of time from cyclical to linear  

urjo: an infinite series of logic puzzles to solve of red and blue dots on a grid—via MetaFilter  

the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears—it was their final, most essential command: protests, ICE raids and false narratives 

artemis ii: giant rocket positioned on the launch pad for the first crewed mission to the Moon since 1972

synchronoptica

one year ago: a 2012 internet blackout in protest of US regulations privileging copyright over access (with synchronopticæ), The Jeffersons (1975) plus assorted links worth revisiting

twelve years ago: an encounter with a comet, artisanal signage, more on dragnet surveillance, more Unwörter plus desserts that have shaped history

fourteen years ago: more on the protest blackout plus a deeper look at the threatening legislation 

fifteen years ago: uprisings in Tunisia 

 

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 

warmth is for sorry! this is not a hug (12. 995)

Via Kottke, we are directed to a gem of a McSweeney’s contribution from Robert Rooney, on par with their perennial offerings, with an imagined dialogue amongst the marketing and development staff of Invicta Games, LTᴰ on their packaging for Mastermind, a two-player board game for breaking code invented in 1970 by an Israeli postmaster and telecommunications specialist and later refined and released by the UK plastics company after debuting and unsuccessfully shopped at the Nürnberg International Toy Fair. The resulting box art since 1973 featured this photograph of a mature man in a suit jacket in the foreground seated with a young woman in the background—the two amateur models, Cecilia Fung and Bill Woodward, reuniting in 2003 to pose for a publicity photo. “Yes. Let the box look like it could pass a doctoral defence and start a coup d’etat at the same time.”

the size of life (12. 993)

The latest from Neal Agarwal (see previously) evokes the chain-reaction of the zero-player Game of Life and is well worth playing on your desktop with the volume up to appreciate the stirring cello score with increasing intensity and tempo as you scale up. As one advances, there are interesting facts about the largest examples of the small and the smallest of the big, including long extinct species like the Arthropleura, an invertebrate as big as a tiger that roamed steamy oxygen rich forests during the Carboniferous period three-hundred million years ago and the extant but threatened giant barrel sponge, the Red Wood of the Reefs, that could hold a human and can live for two-thousand years.

11x11 (12. 895)

american psychosis: pathologising along with artist Jordan Sullivan  

kojève and cigarettes: uncovering the history of Hegelian tobacco and the American spirit  

usenet: a 1995 CBC segment featuring Cory Doctorow on how to internet—via Waxy   

karzer: revisiting privilege and imprisonment in German universities  

de facto recognition: leaked US draft to end Russian war in Ukraine  

dress code: ignoring all other disruptions and baseline unpleasantness, US transportation secretary encourages flyers to not dress down for their flights to improve the overall experience for all passengers  

tiled words: a daily crossword puzzle-Tetris hybrid—via MetaFilter  

algospeak: taboo, newly minted unwords of search and social media

victor insulations: the ubiquitous American diner mug—via Miss Cellania  

in like flynn: over-exposure to the stupidest ambitions of society at large has brought us all down—via Web Curios 

operation charlotte’s web: ICE ruins a classic of children’s literature—some pig 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronopticæ)

twelve years ago: hand-washing and optimism  

thirteen years ago: the holiday winterval plus Martin Luther and bowling

most other two-digit numbers had no meaningful trend over that period (12. 891)

For its WotY, Dictionies.com has selected “6-7” from its list of contenders for terms capturing the Zeitgeist of language and culture over the past twelve months, not just about confusion, neologism or popularity but moreover as a socio-linguistic mirror to visage. In the shortlist of other reference authorities, the meme, phrase and accompanying hand gestures from a nonsense lyric in a song by Philadelphia rapper Skrilla, titled “Doot Doot (Six-Seven).” And while grammarians have tried to apply several interpretations as to its meaning and etymology—from a reference to a street in the artist’s hometown or police code, which despite being incorrect have increased its rather enduring lore as opposed to recent marketing campaigns by fast food franchises and rumours that the next AI model will be called GPT-6-7 (surely a sign the trend is about to plummet)—it is genuinely a meaningless phrase though positive among cohorts who can share it together. The Wikipedia entry for the much older, fourteenth century English idiom to describe a situation in disarray—“at sixes and sevens”—from the proto-version of gambling dice game craps called hazard has not been updated to reflect this new phenomenon.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the events that inspired The Wicker Man (with synchronopticæ), an ancient amulet discovered, a thousand days of the war on Ukraine, shifting through default video titles plus Mister Plow (1992)

twelve years ago: digital footprints 

thirteen years ago: market bubbles 

fourteen years ago: in for a penny, in for a pound 

fifteen years ago: free-range exoplanets 

sixteen years ago: preppers and doubters 

oblique strategies (12. 795)

Though I am reluctant to add many executive toys to my physical desktop, I do catch myself staring off quite a bit in moments of tension or feeling overwhelmed at a collection of juggling practise bean bags, a memory match game wherein one tries to pair dogs with their owners (I think the idea is supposed to be pretty open ended and there are no wrong choices) to jar or dislodge or alleviate something, and so very much appreciated this new deck of cards to put in one’s rolodex to seek out a positive reframing rather and “avoid falling into the slipstream of prevailing trends” and performative expectations. Ambagious Tactics contain an aphorism or question to ponder on each cue-card, a prompt to cleanse the palette, following the format of the above worthwhile dilemmas co-created by Brian Eno (most famously used during the recording sessions of David Bowie’s Berlin trilogy) and Peter Schmidt in 1975 to encourage lateral thinking and help creatives—or anyone—break through an impasse. Only ever released in limited runs, physical copies of Strategies are hard to come by but are available on-line to shuffle through for suggestions—this cartomancy (see previously here, here and here) carefully crafted to be trusted even if the appropriateness is unclear, and with signicant cultural impact, many books, songs and film make oblique reference to the cards, including the bit of advice, “Withdrawing in disgust is not the same thing as apathy,” a lyric in REM’s What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? Other suggestions run along the lines: Emphasis repetition; Try faking it; Restate the problem as clearly as possible; What would your closest friend do? More to explore from { feuilleton } at the link above and perhaps the inspiration to make one’s own set for yourself or as a gift.

police procedural (12. 584)

First heard on NPR’s news quiz Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, we learned that over the weekend, police in Wisconsin searched a vehicle with an individual with a warrant out for their arrest—after a drug-sniffing dog gave authorities probable cause. Iconically they found various paraphernalia, a loaded gun, an amount of fiat currency and cocaine in a bag labeled ✨Definitely Not a Bag Full of Drugs✨. The driver and passenger were arrested for possession and as a felon with with a firearm. The photograph of confiscated evidence also features a dice bag used for role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, which should definitely not be considered criminal behaviour especially in the home state of Gary Gygax. It does, however, seem like a scoff-law move not to have stashed their everyday-carry in the more iconic (though possibly more obvious) Crown Royal bag. The Canadian blended whisky introduced on the occasion of the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939 as the first reigning monarchs to visit North America, the purple velvet satchel with golden draw-strings has been part of the brand’s identity ever since and is a genuinely useful object to have handy—and I’ll admit to buying some Crown Royal just to have one around in case of need. One can also order personalised bags from the distillery or request a care-package—so packaged—send to troops abroad.

11x11 (12. 472)

higher power: traditionally anodyne, new Chinese spaceflight mission patches (see also) might betray some secrets 

triple word score: fun variants, house rules and more Scrabble-related news—see previously 

a stra ze neca: no, the multinational pharmaceutical concern name does not mean “a road to death” in Latin 

hamburgervons: a flip book of font specimens to build the perfect typeface—the heading a typographer’s tool to test layout and legibility—see also   

revenge of the sith: a retrospective for the prequel twenty years on—see also here and here 

there i ruined it: interesting mashup of US national anthem to the tune of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” 

kyphosis bicyclistarum: an 1893 warning from the Lancet for wheelmen on the bad posture and stoop that frequent cycling can cause—see also   

sunny days: after Trump defunds PBS and NPR, Netflix is championing Sesame Street   

micro-camper: a well-appointed mobile tiny home in the bed of kei truck—via Things Magazine (much more to discover there)   

fan theory: Doctor Who’s “Interstellar Song Contest”—Eurovision counter programming—teases the return of a classic arch-villainess  

pinball wizard: the 1976 NBC gameshow flop, The Magnificent Marble Machine, with celebrity players 

niallia tiangongensis: evolution on display in novel bacteria found aboard China’s space-station—via Damn Interesting

synchronoptica

one year ago: more on the Kessler Effect (with synchronoptica), AI overviews plus two classes of typos

seven years ago: Pentecost, for-profit colleges plus a ride on a steam locomotive

eight years ago: reforming the US electoral college, the Global Seed Vault is flooding, protesting Trump’s bribes plus an AI names bespoke colours

nine years ago: a visit to Tintagel

ten years ago: a time lapse of climate change, assorted links to revisit plus the making of The Shining

big buck, big bucks and no whammies! (12. 470)

One this day in 1984, as Damn Interesting informs, television game show contestant in front of a live studio audience, Michael Larson, netted an incredible and record-setting cash prize in excess of one hundred thousand dollars. Although eliciting anxiety from his fellow panelists and host, Larson’s winning streak continued despite risking it all with each spin of the big board, dodging ruin for an improbable thirty-six rounds before ceding his surplus turns. It was not, however, luck that resulted in this sizeable fortune but rather a calculated modus operandi, gleaned from a long history of side-deals and schemes, an ice cream truck driver who during the off-season poured through media for get-rich quick ideas—maximising his productivity with an array of twelve tv sets tuned to different channels. Eventually a new game show called Press Your Luck captured Larson’s interest, realising it paid out better than others and confident he could beat the odds, studied the behaviour of the supposedly random squares and (with the help of a video cassette recorder to advanced the board frame by frame and practising with the pause button as a stand-in for the buzzer) detected the limited patterns that the gameboard followed. There were no rules restricting card-counting of this sort and Larson kept his winnings but his proclivity for easy opportunities left him outsmarted by a Ponzi scheme involving real estate flipping, relieving him of a chunk of the prize money. In response to a local radio station contest that offered a prize of thirty-thousand dollars to any individual who could produce a dollar bill with a matching serial number—which seems to have vanishingly small odds of occurring—Larson, with some objection from the bank—withdrew the rest of the prize money as singles. Larson and his common-law wife spent hours sorting through the cash in hopes of finding a match for this daily call-in segment.

synchronoptica

one year ago: more camping on the farmstead (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: American apartheid plus an auditory illusion

eight years ago: a history of the t-shirt,  a Norwegian prison plus the release of Chelsea Manning

nine years ago: the posters of the 1968 Paris Riots, a visit to Portsmouth plus coming attractions

ten years ago: automating trucking plus a visit to Fort Morgan in Gulf Shores Alabama

a pair ⁊ ſequence (12. 254)

Via Language Hat, we are directed to multilingual list of the historic catalogue of card and dice games that Rabelais includes in the twenty-second chapter of his 1534 Gargantua (see previously, see also)—possibly some of the over two hundred mentioned invented by the author or lost to time and no one knows how to play any longer. Some old favourites, likely best forgot are a la boutte foyꝛe—shitty yew twigs, a la boutte foyꝛe—flay the fox, a pet en gueulle—top and tail or fart-in-the-throat and a pillemouſtard—pestle the mustard, which all sound likely as inventions of Pantagruel and the other horrid, grotesque cast of characters. See the link above for more actual games with instructions for play.

synchronoptica

one year ago: 1984’s inaugural TED (with synchronoptica), Chinese name connotations on US ballots, best acting over a landline and other Oscar categories that should exist plus assorted links to revisit

seven years ago: a seventeenth century treatise on sign language plus a German language version of America’s national anthem

eight years ago: the Washington Post adopts a new motto, Colin’s barn plus more links to enjoy

nine years ago: a strange sound during Apollo X, a fifth suite for playing cards plus a 3D printer for the International Space Station

ten years ago: more on Pope Urban II’s crusade plus the origins of hold muzak

the gourd question (12. 195)

First documented around two thousand years ago in divination manuals, the tradition of playing the race game called huluwen (translated as above but has many regional variations and diverse and contemporary themes, also called “to drive away eight snakes,” “bureaucratic promotion table or “chaos at dragon palace” for example) during family gatherings for the Spring Festival has endured and evolved over the centuries with the gods and political or career ambitions. Players advance according to a roll of the dice (or a spin of a dreidel-like top) a certain number of spaces landing on an image and then must jump forward or back to an identical square, the first reaching the centre winning. Though the seemingly humble gourd was not always the goal, in Taoism the calabash (互录, also a homophone for “interactive recording,” hence the streaming service) symbolises longevity through medical or miraculous intervention and can also represent a portal to another realm or be interpreted as a scapegoat or pharmakós, a object that could absorb bad luck and be cast out—from the same Greek root as drugs, potions and spells.

the way of fragrance (12. 053)

Via tmn, we learn about the broader tradition of kōdō (香道, see previously), the art of incense appreciation through the parlour game called Genji-kō (源氏香) a pastime cultivated originally to demonstrate refinement and discerning sense of smell—sort of like the story of the Princess and the Pea—where the object was not to just identify a scent but to distinguish from a sampling of five which are the same and which are different and can be in any combination. Players of this palette-cleansing challenge which can border on the fiendish record their answers with a special notation, vertical lines representing the five scents and group them with a bar. The geometric patterns are a popular decorative motiff for kimono, pottery and lacquerware. Inspired by an incense party that takes place in the literary classic The Tale of the Genji, a skilled host will try to reference the current season and recent events in the solution. Much more at the links above.

amidakuji (11. 918)

A way of establishing 1:1 correspondence with any number of random pairings of equal size—for instance assigning roles to actors or chores to a group of helpers—the lottery game of chance, guaranteeing equal chance and distribution is called the above in Japan (阿弥陀籤, after the aspect of the Buddha associated with discernment and perception), in Korean as Sadaritagi (사다리타기, ladder climbing) and in Chinese as Guijiaotu (鬼腳圖, a ghost leg diagram). Participants’ names are listed in the row above with vertical lines dropping down to an assignment directly below. Concealing the names and jobs, the lines are hashed with random horizontal detours that must be taken on to the next column until reaching the bottom. Revealing the lines to the players but still keeping the other names and jobs concealed, they choose their path downward, the permutations in the snaking path ensuring all tasks are taken—unlike with drawing lots, flipping a coin. Aside from practical applications, such lottery elements can be found in the bonus rounds in video games to randomise one’s chances of getting the best prize.

roll for insight (11. 901)

As Dungeons & Dragons marks its fiftieth anniversary—the tabletop role-playing game that invites players to invent and articulate their own narrative arcs, psychiatrists are increasingly prone to recognise the benefit of play as a heuristic for group therapy. Whilst research is ongoing regarding improving social skills and empathy, many patients and counsellors (in the loose role of Dungeon Master, despite or because of the attendant Satanic Panic) alike have accepted the approach as effective.

7x7 (11. 897)

ghost lot: an installation of sunken cars buried in a mall parking area as commentary on catering to automobile culture 

weather manipulation: a whirlwind of conspiracy theories over recent hurricanes in the US have netted distrust, death threats for meteorologists 

loveland frogmen: maps of the most famous cryptids and mythical monsters charted by America states and internationally—via Nag on the Lake  

scripting news: a founding member of the blogosphere enters his fourth decade—via Waxy  

general headquarters: the lost board game from Kurt Vonnegut (previously) has been completed and available for purchase 

theobros: understanding the GOP’s efforts to remake America through Christian Nationalists—via Miss Cellania  

y-crossing: the Trinity Bridge of Crowland, Lincolnshire, a relic before the rivers were rerouted

synchronoptica

one year ago: a catalogue of edible seeds (with synchronoptica) plus the Polish System of pedagogy

seven years ago: a line rider banger, pictorial kanji, a Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden plus the US withdraws from UNESCO

eight years ago: Mr Yuk plus a monument to Henrietta Lacks

nine years ago: a courtly selfie-stick plus assorted links to revisit

fourteen years ago: predictive text plus Japanese heraldic traditions

schnelling points (11. 816)

Humans have a seemingly uncanny knack for solving complex coordination problems when communication and prior planning is limited by uncovering the shared cultural or knowledge-based default in a such situation, concerting the intentions and expectations and land on the above foci, named after economist and game-theorist Thomas Schelling. 

Cooperative experiments demonstrate that a team of individuals acting towards shared end will pick the same time and place for a rendezvous. Part of the allure of AI models is that they seem also quite good at coordination problems—from predictive text, to routine emails to proofreading to peer-review, insofar as they have been trained on the social norms that we draw on as well to achieve a common goal. Artificial intelligence has a worse track record when it comes to something genuinely innovative or unprecedented, and moreover may erode the implicit social bargain that underpins cooperative efforts. The routine is also ritual and outsourcing them, like the above onerous tasks, dulls not only the refining practise when it comes to composing an email—which is also the author’s assessment of their audience—but of course lands as disingenuous and meritless when one can’t be bothered to dash off a good reference or buy someone a gift that was not generated by algorithm. What do you think? We’ve always been taking short-cuts but subverting ceremony altogether seems more serious. More from Henry Farrell at the link above.

night owl (11. 812)

Wanting to garner greater influence in Nevada feeling past his prime in California, a reclusive and withdrawn Howard Hughes (see previously), at sixty, took up permanent residence at the Desert Inn of Las Vegas, occupying both upper storeys of the hotel—eventually to the proprietor’s consternation over the extended stay to which Hughes responded by purchasing the entire building—and remained holed up there. An avid fan of television, particularly movies, Hughes’ tendency towards insomnia turned into an acute frustration, given the limited choice of three networks and broadcasters signing off at 2300. Leaning heavily on his preferred local CBS affiliate KLAS (channel eight on the dial), Hughes had his employees often make requests to the station, Westerns or aviation dramas, and even would have regularly scheduled programming preempted or replayed if he happened to miss a part. Rather than dealing with upset sponsors, the network’s manager eventually suggested that Hughes buy the station and run things his way, which in 1967 he did, essentially turning it into a personal streaming service. The daytime schedule mostly stuck to CBS shows but late nights (the station airing on a twenty-four schedule) were Hughes’ playlist, to the confusion of other viewers, with films (including ones still in theatres through special deals with studios, owning RKO Pictures personally) sometimes paused, rewound or switched to an entirely different one without warning. It sounds like a more benign version of other contemporary vanity projects though just as audacious. More from Mental Floss at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the life of a DJ (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: a top-down review of quantum mechanics plus a trip around the Rhön

eight years ago: the Frank Reade Library specialising in the genre of science fiction

nine years ago: the myth of medieval torture chambers, assorted links to revisit plus the Albigensian Crusade

ten years ago: the gig-economy versus registered taxis, accommodations