9x9 (12. 412)

crytophasia: eye-witnesses to an accident, twins speaking in unison yield insights about language acquisition   

keep your cool: a 1967 garage rock number appropriate for our times by Terry and the Chain Reaction   

swiss pavilion: the country’s contribution to the Osaka Expo evokes the spirit of the original venue—see previously here and here   

all dams are temporary: an interesting look at the limitations of hydrological regimes   

universi dominici gregis: the faithful and world leaders gather at the Vatican for the pontiff’s funeral   

buying access: Trump offers largest holders of his meme coin exclusive dinner date 

 hilma’s ghost: a monumental glass mosaic installed in New York’s Grand Central Station—in homage to the mystic artist   

on the corner: Myles Davis’ rock and funk, at first panned but now considered a masterpiece 

rampant pedantry: an overview of prescriptivism and hyper-correction

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica), a massive gallery of Star Trek images plus ancient scrolls deciphered with the help of AI

seven years ago: Brutalist Tetris, Macron addresses the US congress, the mythological namesakes of the Chinese lunar programme plus conspicuous consumption and the Diderot effect

eight years ago: Japanese manhole covers, journalism from Wikipedia, more links to enjoy, the Turkish-Syrian border, a Nazi-era bronze back on display plus more persuasive maps

nine years ago: bat nurse, the Sykes-Picot agreement, US tax-havens plus cataclysmic anniversaries (caution flashing image)

ten years ago: American founding fables

8x8 (12. 318)

first comes the performance, then comes the repetition, then comes the integration: thirty lonely yet beautiful acts of defiance—even including social media—via Kottke 

fubar: Muckrock presents its FOIA Foilies awards for 2025—probably too early—see previously  

not shuttered, per se, just considered complete: venerable UbuWeb started back up after closure last year  

audible enclaves: researchers have discovered how to beam sounds to a targeted listener—via the New Shelton wet/dry 

it’s peanut butter jelly time: froghorn.exe is an homage to what used to be the internet’s biggest draw  

programmable mutterer: the allure of magical thinking and how the displaced grace of AI could prove more analogous to markets and institutions steering better than individuals  

smoking gun: Trump declassifies a tranche of documents on the JFK assassination, unredacted and “ushering in a new era of maximum transparency  

greeks bearing gifts: Senator Schumer votes to let the wooden horse into Troy

12x12 (12. 237)

little sisyphus: a challenging NES-style side-scrolling game—see previously—via Waxy  

behind every robot that turns evil there’s an engineer that installed red diodes in its eyes in anticipation: Meta wants to create AI powered robots to do your chores 

quipu: the largest known superstructure in the Cosmos, named for the corded knot accounting of the ancient Inca culture—via Strange Company  

parataxis: storytelling loves a list  

i will say this only once: John J Hoare responds to a video take-down notice for reposting an old clip—that suggests that YouTube is focused on hate speech against Nazis  

pantograph engraving: the unseen typeface all around us—via the new Shelton wet/dry 

pump and dump: nothing to see here, just another perfectly normal president pulling the rug out from under his country with a memecoin 

return to forever: Chick Corea and friends at the forty-third Jazzaldia festival 

stairwell of the quarter: more on the design efficiency of alternating tread stairs  

nanook of the north: Robert J Falherty’s 1922 documentary on the Inuit  

how many department of government efficiency employees does it take to screw in a lightbulb: a look at DOGE at work—via Nag on the Lake  

windows, icons, menus, pointers: a cursor dance party—via Pasa Bon!

send in the clowns (12. 107)

Known as the Bohemian Sousa for his vast body of works including marches, polkas and waltzes, we are introduced to the military bandmaster, conductor and composer Julius Ernest Wilhelm Fučík outside of Czech ceremonial and patriotic music via his opus sixty-eight, written in October 1897 whilst stationed in Sarajevo for the Austro-Hungarian Army, originally titled “Grande Marche Chromatique,” in reference to the climbing and descending scales used throughout, but retitled based on his personal interest in the Roman Empire and impressed by a particular scene in Quo Vadis? to Vjezd gladiátorů (Entrance of the Gladiators). Adapted for piano and later for woodwind orchestra, the air renamed to “Thunder and Blazes,” became up tempo synonymous by the turn of the century with circuses and anticipated the procession of clowns. Despite this well-established and enduring association (see also, see above), the popular piece was used accompany the arrival and departure of SS commandants in Nazi concentration camps.

7x7 (12. 076)

primordial soup and son of soup: Dirty Feed’s 2024 wrapped  

mobile ui: top neglected App Store add-ons of the year  

merriam-webster defines: polarisation has been selected as the Word of the Year for 2024—with runner-ups including pander, resonate, demure and allision for when that container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March  

survive ’til 25: Mrs Claus’ strategies for making it through Christmas  

fallout: a tour of the Soviet-era nuclear shelters of the Prague subway  

the late set: a year of jazz discoveries  

starbug: a to scale model of the shuttle from Red Dwarf

synchronoptica

one year ago: The Poseidon Adventure (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: more links to enjoy, the adoration of words plus a comprehensive and inclusive eye-chart

eight years ago: the centenary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, even more links, Batman’s gadgets plus Iceland to oust the US FBI

nine years ago: delightful small towns around the world

ten years ago: Santa’s sweat shops plus hypervelocity stars

hoots mon! (12. 027)

Topping the UK charts on this day in 1958, the song by the ensemble Lord Rockingham’s XI, a group of session musicians fronted saxophonist Harry Robinson were the resident band for Oh Boy!, was based on the traditional Scottish folk jig “One Hundred Pipers.” Mostly instrumental and one of the first rock and roll numbers to feature a Hammond organ, the number is punctuated with four stereotypical Scotts phrases including the titular expression of annoyance or dismissal, och aye—“oh yes” and two well accented phrases, there’s a mouse loose about this house and it’s a fine, bright moonlit night. Disbanded with the end of the television programme, Lord Rockingham’s XI was sued by the descendants of the real marquess of the County of Northhampton for capitalising on the baronet’s title.

*     *     *     *     *

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the Reluctant Bride (with synchronoptica), Band-Aid (1984) plus redesigning the Minnesota state flag

eight years ago: radical redesigns for US flag upon addition of Alaska and Hawaii, the musical stylings of Sigur Rós plus US presidential turkey pardons

nine years ago: assorted links to revisit plus coping with the emergency lockdown in Brussels

ten years ago: the moon Europa plus the development of the Romance languages

eleven years ago: the EU floats idea of negative interest rates

karaoke nights (11. 843)

Children’s author and musician Michael Hearst, expanding on a project to teach his young son about music from the 1980s, began recording his own cover versions of the classics and enlisting help from melodic friends from The Magnetic Fields, They Might Be Giants, creative commons session artist Jonathan Coulton and many others. There’s some new orchestration with a diverse range of unconventional instruments like the theremin, accordion and daxophone (a kind of friction-based idiophon, like a musical band saw) and is releasing a song a week for the next eighty weeks with the first batch recorded, ’Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry,” Gap Band’s “You Dropped a Bomb on Me,” “In My Room” by Yazoo, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” from Crowded House and The Cure’s “Lovecats.” Watch the whole discography unfold at the promotional video below.

*    *    *   *   *

 synchronoptica 

one year ago: storms and floods in Greece and Turkey (with synchronoptica) plus the US congress ousts the Speaker of the House

seven years ago: faking a driverless car plus the lost and found of Paris

 

eight years ago: hen fever, a fossil hoax plus crossing the uncanny valley

 

ten years ago: #otd in PfRC history plus Roman imperial succession

 

eleven years ago: Bavaria votes

café rouge (11. 520)

Often performing in the title nightclub of the Hotel Pennsylvania in midtown Manhattan along with other Big Band ensembles that the spacious venue could host, Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded his instrumental version of the tune (originally by Jerry Gray with lyrics by Carl Sigman—Numbers I’ve got by the dozen, everyone’s uncle and cousin but I can’t live without buzzing…) on this day in in 1940 at the RCA Victor Studios in New York. One of the oldest telephone exchanges still in use, the accommodations closed permanently in 2020 during the COVID pandemic and lost efforts to declare the building as a candidate for historical preservation (the club itself converted into a basket ball court in its final decade), currently being demolished to make way for new skyscrapers on Penn Plaza. Only Sigman’s refrain was retained after the telephone sound effect, shouted by band members. The foxtrot hit would go on to be recorded by many other artists, with homages and parodies, including Transylvania 6-5000 and Weird Al’s Plumbing Song with the number “Roto-Rooter 6-5000.”

synchronoptica

one year ago: a pocket phonograph plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: Rome’s Cinecittà plus more links to enjoy

three years ago: the impasses of Paris, antique furniture trade cards plus the animated Dutch version of Lord of the Rings

four years ago: wargaming the next US civil war

five years ago: Ukrainian Easter, the stained glass hall of fame of The Champion pub plus mutiny on the Bounty

oh no—my own dog, gone commercial (11. 137)

Via Waxy, we are directed to another soundtrack from Louie Zong (see previously) for a fictional albeit believable 1970s style Peanuts holiday special complete with Vince Guaraldi inspired jazz that captures the ethos not only for the shoppers but those working on Black Friday. Other musical segments include Cyber Monday Blues, Buyer’s Remorse, A New Week and Snoopy vs Capitalism. One could imagine the anti-consumerism messages of the limned out television special plus the harried cashiers and store workers just out the frame speaking with muffled trombone voices.

that ain’t nothing—just make me your leading man (11. 121)

Our gratitude to Pasa Bon! for the introduction to the musical stylings of King Solomon through the timely and resonant number Political Rag from his 1978 album Energy Crisis (see also). On the touring circuit as an opening act with the likes of B B King, Etta James and Sammy Davis Junior, originally the artist was not much known outside of local venues in Los Angeles and Las Vegas but later gained recognition for his solo career in funk and experimental music. 

 synchronoptica

one year ago:  assorted links worth revisiting  

two years ago: the Free City of Gdańsk

three years ago: more links to enjoy, the Cluttlers Murder (1959) plus Doc “Joe” Baker

four years ago: animated book covers,  more façadism plus the ethnography of dialing-codes

five years ago: Little Orphan Annie (1885) plus the musical stylings of Fugiya and Miyagi

queen of jazz (11. 059)

Having recently learned about the career and contributions of the Jazz Age legend Adelaide Hall, we appreciated having her biography limned more fully by the British Newspaper Archive (via Strange Company), gaining an appreciation of how Hall achieved the status of true superstardom in her adoptive UK and was remarkably resilient in her touring and performance schedule, appearing everywhere and adored by audiences. Spanning more than seven decades, Hall was inscribed inscribed in the Guinness Book of World Records among the most enduring recording artists and collaborated with Cab Calloway, Rudy Vallee, Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker and Louis Armstrong among countless others. Here is Hall in 1948 performing one of her signature songs, “A World is Turning,” at the Nightingale Club. More at the links above.

10x10 (11. 020)

osiris-rex: fulfilling a seven-year mission (previously) a space probe to collect samples from an asteroid—with further adventures planned 

succession: Rupert Murdoch’s departure from News Corp is a cold-comfort for the millions brainwashed by Fox and Friends 

be the first to like this post: more on the meaning and origins of the chain of riders and horses dispatched to send missives—see previously  

project cybersyn: more on Salvadore Allende’s plans to build a socialist internet 

fanfare: the history and physics of the trumpet  

shear madness: 1980 reportage on a cutting-edge hair salon in Kensington  

the joke and dagger department: an appreciation of the genius of Spy vs Spy, a political cartoon that wasn’t a political cartoon 

3r’s: the Swedish educational system has a renewed emphasis on handwriting, quiet reading time  

omni consumer products: New York City police lease a robocop to patrol Times Square subway station as a trial run  

all these worlds are yours—except europa, attempt no landing there: the JWST detects carbon on the surface of the Jovian moon

10x10 (10. 924)

manufactured crises: distractions and moral panics fabricated by the US GOP and associates  

sachal jazz: Pakistani musicians perform a rendition of David Brubeck’s “Take Five” on tabla and sitar with orchestral accompaniment 

illuminated text: an unfinished medieval manuscript reveals a step-by-step manual for its making  

finishing the hat: Stephen Sondheim’s (previously) Turtle Bay townhouse is on the market 

smiley head: custom screws requiring a special driver—via Pasa Bon!  

f-91w: fully-function ring watches from Casio  

blogoversary: JWZ turns twenty-five 

the partridge family 2200 a.d.: a round up of animated spin-offs  

super fun pak: the novelty cards of Pee-wee’s Playhouse  

now you’re cooking with gas: the culture wars come to the stove 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the invention of champagne (1693), the Zone of Galactic Obscuration plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: an infamous bugging device discovered (1945), the Lady of Elx, pipe architecture, working against one’s own self-interest plus assorted links worth revisiting

three years ago: more miniatures from Tatsuya Tanaka, St Sithney, the patron saint of dogs plus the birthday of Helen Thomas, Barack Obama

four years ago: sounds lost to lossy compression plus bouba or kiki

five years ago: interviews with author Philip K Dick

6x6 (10. 895)

tijuana brass: Herb Alpert and Lani Hall cover “Maniac” from Flashdance for the Oscars (1984)  

choose your own adventure: the rise and fall of type-in narrative games, an addendum to Fifty Years of Text Games (previously)—via Waxy 

collective nouns: a group of butterflies is properly a kaleidoscope, whilst a swarm of caterpillars is an army—see more 

tayme that crabbe: a medieval guide to food presentation 

the blobs are happy in their new, hand-build wizzinator and that’s all that’s important to me right now: experimenting with a fun physics sandbox—see also  

jennyanydots: a favourite Mountain Goats’ character returns

8x8 (10. 760)

the four republican “freedoms”: the US GOP manifesto is not geared for governance—see previously

little deuce coupe: modern automaker faithfully fashions the unrealised 1974 Pony by Giorgetto Giugiaro (see also)—unveiled in Lake Como 

action kids: a 1965 choreographed work-out to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass’ rendition of The Third Man theme  

the heart of the ocean: advanced scanning technique produce a digital twin of the wreck of the Titanic  

a corecore experiment: presenting the post-post-post-truth future of AI—see previously  

consider the jackalope: more—see also—on this real, taxidermic cryptid’s origins and implications 

little darlin: the demo-tape from 1992 from an unknown duo that changed their name after reviewer called them “daft punky trash”—see previously  

tax, title and license: the state of Texas to charge electric-vehicle drivers extorted fees to register their cars

tetromino (10. 529)

Via the Awesomer, we are treated to the musical stylings of the artist JER and his rendition of the Tetris theme as a super-energising Ska cover. The folksong ‘The Peddlers’ (Коробе́йники) has a ironical O Henryesque twist—the comedic courtship of two young fabric-sellers takes a tragic turn when one rejects the gift of all of the other’s wares in order to encourage him to stay in the business and ends up being mugged after a successful day of sales—somehow seems ripe for the genre. More chiptune adaptations from The Skatune Network at the link above.

last post

Whereas the B♭ version might be more familiar, the E♭ variation is employed by the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry and the particular flourish was acquired by British troops garrisoned in the Netherlands (see also), drawing on an older Dutch custom called taptoe—root of a military tattoo or send-off and the North American version of “taps”—signalling the end of the duty day, the solemnity of the taptoe itself adopted as an extension of last call, Doe den tap toe—a reminder to make sure that the beer spigots were closed before shutting down for the evening. More coverage of the historic state funeral, including this ceremony, from the BBC and the Guardian. 

everybody wants to rule the tuba (10. 060)

Our gratitude to our peripatetic friends at Marco McClean’s Memo of the Air for directing us back to the musical stylings of Seb Skelly (see previously) in his latest perfectly arranged for brass quintet and masterfully performed (all by Skelly) Tears for Fears’ track. Much more to explore at the links above.

frieden / мир

H had discovered MEUTE, the techno marching band ensemble, a couple of years ago through their rooftop sessions in Hamburg and were very pleased to be reminded of this absolutely mind-blowing percussive and brass orchestra in their latest performance for peace in Ukraine in an abandoned power-plant (Kraftwerk) in their home town, courtesy of friend of the blog Nag on the Lake. Click through for more information on their recordings and a list of charitable organisations.

eddie calvert & orchestra

The first chart topping hit to come out of the storied Abbey Road recording studio (previously) was the trumpeting-rendition of the nostalgic Swiss-German number “Oh, Mein Papa,” which began a nine-week run on this day in 1954. Known throughout his career as The Man with the Golden Trumpet, Calvert’s other number one hit came the following year with “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White,” with versions “Miserlou” and “Stranger in Paradise” also later charting.