For a warm and sunny day on this first meteorological day of Spring, H and I returned to Hรถhe Geba (see previously, see also) and explored a circular path named after Helmershausen native son, novelist, physician and avid wanderer Dr Theo Malade through a juniper heath, past the source of a mountain spring and to a shelter on the western slope of the plateau, overlooking the Leichelberg (see above).
a real chadwick: nineteenth century missionary and polyglot John Ross’ role in why Hangul uses spaces whereas other Asian scripts do not
the count: an annual tally tradition from Diamond Geezer—see also
ฯฮตฯฯฮฑฯฮฑฮบฮฟฮฝฯฮฎฯฮทฯ: the ancient super-galley commissioned by Ptolemy IV Philopater, so named as it was rowed by forty
lettres decoratives: open source letterform templates inspired by the artisanal signs of Paris
calendar girl: RIP Neil Sedaka—more here
abc schengen: a bundle of fonts inspired the typefaces of the transportation industry—see previously
ฮดฯฮดฮตฮบฮฑฮธฮตฯฯฮผฯฯ: an introduction to the practitioners of the Hellenic religion who worship the twelve Olympian gods
happy map: in an increasingly fraught world, a deep longitudinal survey of tiny and momentuous moments of joy
data ≠ knowledge: poetic reflections on large language models by Rishi Dastidar—via Web Curios
Beginning a two-week run at the top of UK charts, the lead single from eponymous debut album from sixteen-year old Britney Spears, child actor with the All-New Mickey Mouse Club sought by proxy to expand her repertoire, came about as the result of rejections by several labels, downplaying her demos with indictments that there was not going to be another Madonna, Debbie Gibson or Tiffany, and traveling to Sweden to work with songwriters and producers on a multi-record deal. 
The parenthetical “Hit me” was interpreted by many not only as canonically the title but also as a narrative of wanting back an abusive ex- or a reference to sadism but is attributed to the lyrics’s Swedish author tenuous command of English slang and was meant to convey “hit me up”—a strange formulation in itself like all the un-euphemistic metaphors to sports and violence. Initially shopped around to the Back Street Boys and TLC, it was eventually taken by Spears’ agent. Thematically similar with its three-note opening to Beethoven’s Fifth and Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up,” it is considered one of the most influential pop tracks in the history of the genre, propelled by the accompanying video directed by Nigel Dick (Oasis, Toto, Band Aid, Guns N’ Roses, Tears for Fears, Taylor Dane).
Recorded on this day in 1926 at the studios of Okeh Records in Chicago, the group having performed their rendition of the Boyd Atkins arrangement at the Vendome Theatre (see also), the song is credited with solidifying the career of Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five. 
The single is also credited with popularising scat singing—though there were precedents with ragtime entertainers Gene Greene and Al Jolson with a few choruses and bars from the latter in faux-Chinese (see also) drawing from traditions of lilting, yodelling and yoiking—with the possible apocryphal anecdote that when Armstrong was in the studio, his sheet music had fallen off the stand and had to improvise, filling the time with nonsense lyrics, surprised by the producers’ decision to keep it in. The record company subsequently capitalised on its popularity by advertising a choreographed dance to the song. The phrase comes from a 1923 newspaper comic strip by cartoonist Billy DeBeck, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, and refers to a feeling of apprehension and anxiety—popular slang in the 1920s also inspiring the name for the number ten duotrigintillon, “sweet mama,” “horsefeathers” and leaving a legacy through catch-phrases “time’s a-wasting” “great balls o’ fire.”
Via the always excellent Present /&/ Correct (check out their sundries), we enjoyed perusing this comprehensive archive that has catalogued over a thousand portable audio players—the Walkman introduced by Sony first in 1979 and manufactured through 2010 (see previously here, here, here and here) and courting many imitators and innovations over the years as a genericised trademark with many other competiting brands. We had find trying to hunt down a specific model we had and discovering along the way others, each entry having detailed specifications, notes on features, manuals, family-trees accessories and advertising.
Performed by the Brotherhood of Man, the pop-schlager tune was selected as the UK’s entry on this day in 1976 to represent Britain at Eurovision Grand Prix held later in the spring in the Hague, winning the song contest, the single going on to become a best-seller. Describing the conflicted emotions of someone leaving for the day for work, the song ends with the twist that the singer was saying good bye to their infant daughter.
merrie melodies: Turner Movie Classics (TMC) has acquired Looney Tunes and will begin pairing the animated shorts with the main features from Warner Brothers studios as they were originally shown in theatres
el mencho: Mexico deploys thousands of troops to quell violence after death of cartel boss
taco tuesdays: Trump global tariffs come in at a lower ten percent rate
there’s no grace period so that’s a way in which i see us losing the interstitial: arguments for deplatforming oneself
slava ukraini: Zelenskyy’s address to the nation on the fourth anniversary since the Russia invasion, extending an invitation to Trump to see who the real aggressors are
i’m sorry but you can’t just name a weather event bombogenesis: tracking the winter storm slamming the North American eastern seaboard and other news
all ages: the concert archive of Lynn Fisher—via Waxy
synchronoptica
one year ago: the Ukraine war enters its fourth year (with synchronopticรฆ), assorted links worth the revisit plus Marbury v Madison
twelve years ago: revolutionary plaza plus positive psychology
thirteen years ago: Freistaat Flaschenhals plus the waning potency of pesticides
fifteen years ago: arch villains
sixteen years ago: spending priorities
As we are informed by MetaFilter, for Ash Wednesday, Irish band U2 released a surprise extended play collection of six tracks called Days of Ash—their first recording since 2017 originally planned for later this year but decided that they couldn’t wait as the songs were growing more and more impatient and urgent by the day. 
The below lead is dedicated to Renรฉe Good and the resistance of Minneapolis and others deal with the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, also paying tribute to Iranian teenager Sarina Esmailzadeh killed during protests and Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen. Postcards from the present moment, the album reaffirms the group’s political boldness and combines biblical allegory with partisan messaging. “The Tears of Things” and “Yours Eternally” was especially powerful.
sandboxels: a fun construction simulation with hundreds elements and building materials from Neil Agarwal—see previously, see also
tax-payer funded settlement: Trump is suing the US government for billions
innermost ward: a 3D reconstruction of the thousand year history of the Tower of London—via MetaFilter
pantone 222: test one’s memory for colour—via Miss Cellania
shallow fakes: historic image manipulation—see also
canary wharf: a visit to the impounding station of the West India docks
forbidden paradise: as Trump renews threats on the Chagos deal, a look at the mysterious atoll—see previously, via Damn Interesting
a sense of getting closer: a music video by Max Cooper and Conner Griffin about spectacle that isn’t inspired
chinamaxxing: sinophiles dominate online forums
next sunday a.d.: Mystery Science Theater 3000 to reunite almost all of the original cast and crew
blue monday: analysis of the quintessential 80s drum beat
sol invictus: unique Mithraic altars uncovered in Scotland go on display—see previously
bloqueo: US regional tactics fomenting rebellion in Cuba—see previously—with siege strategy
the golden road: Sanskrit and Tamil inscriptions uncovered in ancient Egyptian tombs
orchestral strike: you know this sound but not its name
just to be safe, here’s a scrollfrog: Cabel Sasser on one of the most incredible XOXO talks ever—see previously—via Waxy
lilliputian hallucinations: a common dietary mushroom, if undercooked, causes diners to see tiny humans on their plates—via Kottke
synchronoptica
one year ago: a papal bull on artificial intelligence (with synchronpticรฆ), the purge of US civil servants plus the foundations of ancient London
thirteen years ago: horsemeat and an explosive meteor
fourteen years ago: a mascot for the eurozone plus a Vatican political thriller
fifteen years ago: sovereign debt
seventeen years ago: lint eggs from the laundry fairy
With the music video inspired by the scene from Anchors Aweigh when Gene Kelly dances with the cartoon mouse from Tom and Jerry, the lead single, “Opposites Attract,” from the debut album of Paula Abdul, Forever Your Girl, rose to number one and number two on the US and UK charts respectively on this day in 1990. 
The rotoscoped, animated feline character (a collaboration of both Disney and Warner Brothers studios) was voiced by the duo the Wild Pair with an addition rap bridge performed by Derrick “Delite” Stevens would go on to win that year’s MTV Music Award for Breakthrough Video and garnered a Grammy in 1991. MC Skat Kat and the Stray Mob went on briefly with a musical career, featuring Abdul in another video, “Skat Strut” and were spokespeople (along with Melba Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Bette Midler, et al) for a recycling campaign, “Yakety Yak - Take it Back!”
synchronoptica
one year ago: a latter day prophet of peace (with synchronopticรฆ), assorted links worth revisiting plus The Ugly American
twelve years ago: Swiss vote on immigration policy
thirteen years ago: pharmaceutical vocabulary plus more on Germany’s renewable revolution
fourteen years ago: splintered support for EU IP bill
fifteen years ago: stock market mergers
sixteen years ago: elections in Ukraine
seventeen years ago: stimulants and sedatives
que rico ser latino: staging Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time celebration
coed darcy village: a building project on the brownfield site of a former Welsh mine abandoned without explanation—via Things Magazine
printing films: vintage educational and instructional shorts on typesetting and the publishing industry—via Kottke
as slow as possible: anticipating the next chord change after almost two years for the organ in a church in Haberstadt playing six-hundred year John Cage (see previously) composition
wseg-10: with nuclear treaties lapsed and the US retrofitting obsolete silos, an interactive map showing areas of the US most likely to be affected by an atomic exchange material worlds: revisiting architecture Bruce Goff and his homespun futurism through a new retrospective exhibit—via Nag on the Lake
lawful neutral: Jeremy Bentham’s 1817 categorical table of human impulse as an early form of alignment chart
pitchforks: San Francisco’s pro-billionaire march turns out as a bust
tangible media: a collection of data one can hold
hagyomรกny, identitรกs, tรถrtรฉnelemthe: mysterious Rohonc Codex that has resisted decipherment—see also
viva italiano: Winter Games opening ceremony was a celebration of the host country’s cultural icons—including Bialetti’s Moka Express
In the conlang Kobaรฏan invented by drummer and founder of the experimental prog rock and jazz fusion French band Magma, Christian Vander, the title means in combination with แบortz means “celestial force” and has become a sub-genre unto itself distinct from the related Space Music and Kosmische Musik sound. 
Established two years after the death of John Coltrane, unmatched and unmeted, Magma’s members sought in all reverence and humility to carry on the transcendental tradition and create something new and never before experienced. The band’s tracks, stretching across seven albums and with a couple of inspired surrogates, notably in Japan, Belgium and Sweden as well as garnering French compatriots, also extensively sampled from the neoclassical canon, including the structure of Carmina Burana. The chief and often exclusive lyrical language for Magma’s songs, the group still continuing in one form or another to the present, the libretto for a literal space opera about a group of human refugees settling on the distant world of Kobaรฏa after the Earth was rendered uninhabitable. Much more from John Coulthart’s journal {feuilleton} with performances, appearances and cross-overs at the link up top.
The lead single from their tenth studio album Freeze Frame (with the b-side Rage in the Cage) climbed to the top of the charts of the US Billboard Hot 100 on this day in 1982, holding the spot for six weeks, the record also reaching number one at the same time with parallel success in Canadian and Australian markets. 
Though arising a few years late, “Centerfold” for its hook and chorus is counted among the album-oriented radio hits, a play format that embraces the full-repertoire of a group and exploring deep-cuts, originating out of a 1964 US Federal Communications Commission regulation prohibiting simulcasts for stations’ AM and FM broadcast bands and programming pivoting to exploration to balance out regular rotation of the latest most popular songs, giving rise to speciality call-signs and defining the genre of classic rock. Narratively about a man shocked by the discovery that his former high school unrequited love interest has appeared in an adult magazine, the singer’s lustful thoughts continue to the end. The previous hit of the J Geils’s Band, “Love Stinks,” informed the guitar riff in “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and caused their shift from Blues to Pop-Rock.
DJ Earworm’s (previously) reprised mashup, Tops of the World, features the number one song in one hundred forty nine countries from the past twelve months, showcasing some one hundred five hits (obliviously some cross-over) is back online. 
This lesson in geography, music and culture expressed through dance, instrumentation and fashion as a global exchange is ambitious and inevitably ran into some legal entanglements and take-down notices due to the range of copyright laws that one would expect to have to navigate. Annotated, click through for a full listing of the samples and learn more about each source track and artist and inclusion methodology. This compilation might end the need for international song competitions. Let us know your new favourites and what you have learnt.
Though the success of the single was unmatched by the short-lived Lemon Pipers, the song topping the Billboard charts on this day in 1968, the band could not be fairly classified as merely a one-hit wonder as “Green Tambourine” is regarded as the breakthrough song for bubblegum pop and psychedelia, exposing the listening public to both seemingly disparate genres in one track. 
Cowritten by Shelley Pinz, a writer and lyricist working at the Brill Building in Manhattan’s historic Tin Pan Alley neighbourhood—housing offices of industry executives and studios, producing the American songbook of influential and popular music from the Big Band era through the 1970s with the address bestowing a signature sound—the words were inspired by a busker Pinz saw on the street one day and wrote a verse wondering what happened to him. Arranged for tambourine and electric sitar, it introduces the dechronicisation elements of time signature changes, fades and tape echo that no one was certain would be received well in a mainstream release. The Lemon Pipers had some moderate follow up success with “Jelly Jungle,” “Rice is Nice” and “Blueberry Blue”—also by Pinz but did not like working for a label after they were discovered feeling stereotyped and only allowed to record what was intended to capitalise on their initial hit and disbanded in 1969. Outside of US markets, more radio play was given to a cover version that appeared on the eponymous debut album Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the Status Quo.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the acting FBI director (with synchronopticรฆ) plus assorted links worth the revisit
twelve years ago: cross-border pizza deliveries
thirteen years ago: Shakespearian words
fourteen years ago: tensions in the Middle East
fifteen years ago: the Twitter revolutions
sixteen years ago: US military embraces social media
seventeen years ago: chain-of-command
As our faithful chronicler informs, on this day in 1988 the lead single from the band’s sixth studio album Kick climbed to the top of the US charts, subsequently approaching number one in Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK. The music video, influencing radio play, is combination of “Need You Tonight” with the following track from the album, “Meditate,” which segue together, in the tradition of Queen’s “We Will Rock You”/“We Are the Champions,” the movements from the 1987 concept record are generally combined as a set. The poetry slam of “Meditate” is an homage to Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with INXS members displaying title cards—ending with the date that atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and “sax solo.” Kylie Minogue and Bonnie Raitt, among many others, have performed covers of the song.
synchronoptica
one year ago: a fireless engine (with synchronpticรฆ) plus a Lunar New Year’s gaming tradition
twelve years ago: pension supplements
thirteen years ago: diet fads plus English as She is Spoke
fourteen years ago: Greek haircut
sixteen years ago: plus-sized iPods plus couple’s sleep positions
no ordinary venue: disgraced FIFA ex-president Sepp Blatter encourages a World Cup boycott of the US
slideshow: reconstructing the lecture series of Theosophist and meteorologist Clement Wragge
margin unit: Persevereance rover discovers evidence of an ancient beach in Mars’ Jezero crater
jesse garon presley: Scott Walker’s ballad about Elvis’ lost twin
squaring the circle: a clever workaround to the geometrical conundrum
optimised for nastiness: Sir Tim Berners-Lee is in a battle for the soul of the web
the streets of minneapolis: Bruce Springsteen’s tribute to the resistance and its fallen champions
don’t look up: asteroid 2024 YR4 has a four percent chance of striking the Moon
tangible data: information that one can hold in one’s hands—via Kottke
host nation: Italian officials condemn planned presence of US ICE agents for the Winter Games
write his merits on your mind: a fitting eulogy for murdered ICE victims from eighteenth century poet William Drennen on the persecuted and defamed activist William Orr
drizzle: the controversial conservatory teacher Li Jinhui (้ป้ฆๆ) who brought jazz to Shanghai
sons of torum: the dreamtime legends of the vast taiga
fungus among us: the sociophonetics of the mushroom kingdom—from the Roman legal Latin res fungibiles, replaceable things
the life aquatic: a tribute to David Bowie on the tenth anniversary of his passing with beautiful Portuguese covers of the classics
arsenal and armoury: a new exhibit examines global traditions of battlewear, beyond white knights
stooky bill: a visit to the London address where television was first demonstrated—see previously—a hundred years ago today
deluge: British Museum curator on the “ark tablet” and the universal myth of the Great Flood
chill session: a set of deep cuts from Daft Punk
border czar: Trump dispatches Tom Homan to Minnesota to manage the campaign of state terror
Youth choir, whose early members were mostly comprised of individuals orphaned during the war founded in 1948 in Obernkirchen in Niedersachsen (named after the constituent county in West Germany), the Schaumburg Fairytale Singers rapidly attained a high degree of musical excellence, winning many competitions in their class, and were propelled to a level of international fame unexpectedly on this day when their English interpretation of Der frรถhliche Wanderer (Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann) peaking at number two of the British singles on this day in 1954, 
remaining in the charts for twenty-three weeks after it was broadcasted by the BBC as the encore after placing during a performance in Wales. Domestically, the arrangement composed by the choir director’s brother made to sound like an authentic folk song, the success of the Schaumburger Mรคrchesรคnger was boosted by the Merry Wanderer being made into a Heimatfilm (a nostalgic, pastoral genre especially popular in West Germany and Austria from the late 1940s to early 1960s, and abroad lead numerous tours, concerts and special appearances, including the Ed Sullivan Show and at the Kennedy White House. With an expanded repertoire and extended alumni association, the choir and music school (also with multiple campuses) continues the legacy of its founders in cultivating talent.
