Whilst not wholly unrolling all barriers to trade nor unable to undo the disruption already wrought on global supply chains and proffer any sort of future security and certainty when it comes to relocating both manufacturing and sourcing, businesses, investors and consumers welcomed the deescalation following talks among intermediaries in Switzerland which defused, at least temporarily the retaliatory brinksmanship that Trump’s Liberation Day of reciprocal tariffs started with China the only party willing to raise the stakes. Washington and Beijing have retreated back to less punishing levies of thirty and ten percent respectively, discounting other measures already in place. Both delegations conceded that a decoupling of the two major economies benefited no one, with sanctions heretofore approaching the level of a trade embargo and hoped that this initial pause might gain a purchase on negotiations that would promote the predictability needed by all parties, despite the magnanimity for which the ordeal was played, appealing to Trump’s vanities to let him claim credit for solving a crisis of his own making. This deal follows talks between Starmer and Trump that while the blanket duty of ten percent remains on most international exports to the US removed tariffs on UK steel, aluminium and automobiles, in exchange for relaxing regulatory limits previously imposed on American beef and chlorinated poultry. The truce with Xi pointedly does not extend to those same heavy industry items or pharmaceuticals, the same day pledging an incredulous ninety-percent drop in medicine prices, aiming to “equalise,” redistribute drug costs with other countries, saying Europe and the rest of the world will apid more so the US can pay less.
Monday, 12 May 2025
total reset (12. 453)
Sunday, 11 May 2025
10x10 (12. 449)
shooting the messager: the AP reporter fired and blacklisted for scooping the story of Nazi Germany’s surrender eight years ago—via Strange Company
๐: Shanghai metro lets riders design their own bus routes
vision cantos: Denis Cooper on filmmaker Jud Yalkut—via { feuilleton }
the poyais scam: confidence tricker Gregor MacGregor’s con to lure investors in a fictional central American territory
that’s why the apostrophe is single and not plural: the story of Anna Jarvis—the creator that later sued for the abolition of Mother’s Day
flugsteighalle: a digital exhibition of Berlin’s monumental Tempelhof airport—previously—via das Kraftfuttermischwerk
the madison avenue beat: a selection of vintage advertising jingles presented as a dance remix
corner of the city: street photographer Tong Ho Chung Howard’s most famous image captures the traditional tong lau (ๅๆจ) architecture of Hong Kong, gradually being replaced by urban renewal programmes
root causes: competing narratives for WWII Victory Day celebrations
Wednesday, 7 May 2025
paper doll (12. 436)
Coinciding with tactics being employed by several toy manufacturers to mitigate the worst impacts of the US administration’s ruinous trade war—addressing specifically the comment from Trump that for Christmas that “maybe the children will have two dolls instead of thirty dolls and maybe they’ll cost a couple of dollars more”—including “pricing action” and differing “price points” for consumers, we enjoyed this latest comic from Ruben Bolling that’s an excellent alternative stocking stuffer for MAGA cultists with this printable dress-up Donald, though card-stock and printer cartridges will probably get pretty scarce as well by the time the holidays roll around, so it might be best to make one’s own.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit plus a treasury of unsolved mysteries
seven years ago: a visit to Nordheim vor der Rhรถn, Go Fact Yourself plus EULA boilerplate
eight years ago: aggressive cuts to funding for the arts, concept low-cost housing communities plus Trump’s Dark Triad undermining the government
ten years ago: Nazi kidnappings, more links to enjoy, wisdom from Poor Richard’s Almanack plus US resistance to engaging in WWII
eleven years ago: a trip to Hannoversh Mรผnden plus strained US-German relations over survelliance
Sunday, 4 May 2025
11x11 (12. 431)
hot, cold, clash and burn: some performances from candidates for the 2025 Dance Your PhD contest with real EuroVision vibes—see previously
man in motion: a biography of Eadweard Muybridge (previously) as a graphic novel
pc connection: the raccoon mascot that made the catalogue stand out amongst industry uniformity—via Nag on the Lake
popemobile: the pontiff’s conveyance used for his 2014 visit to Bethlehem to be converted into a mobile health clinic for Gaza
oaf of office: arguing that due process is cumbersome, Trump defers to his legal team on whether it his duty to uphold the constitution
pamflyt compiled of cheese, contayninge the differences, nature, qualities, and goodnes, of the same: an early Renaissance book on the staple food digitised and made available to the public
architecture of choice: AI buttons and the fat-finger economy pushing redesign and showhorning of non-options into everything
sustained presence: Israel expands operations, evictions in the occupied territory
papabili: the College of Cardinals’ report and coverage of the upcoming conclave—via Web Curios
mingkwai: the rediscovery of an incredible antique mechanical typewriter prototype for printing Chinese characters—via Neatorama—with a video demonstration
marge inalia: alert the grammar police, the Errorist strikes again
synchronoptica
one year ago: Expo '74 (with synchronoptica), the Cabbage Patch Kids’ maternity ward, assorted links worth revisiting plus the Grammies
seven years ago: more links to enjoy, lampooning mid-morning television, doggie bags plus election by Borda count
eight years ago: potential jail time for protesting the US attorney general, the Cornell carillon plays a tribute to the Grateful Dead plus even more links
nine years ago: gorillas sing little tunes as they eat, maps of Middle Earth, a market hall in Rotterdam plus a popular French tonic wine
ten years ago: Hee-Haw and the cancellation of Star Trek plus utopian thinking
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
first one hundred days (12, 422)
Though adopted as an arbitrary yet studied milestone by every subsequent US presidential administration, the phrase coined by the FDR administration was not meant to mark the anniversary of his inauguration in 1933 but rather his immediate summoning of congress back in session for three months of legislation and the passage of laws to counter the devastating economic effects of the Great Depression through fifteen major bills regarding work-programmes and reforming financial regulations. Roosevelt also signed ninety-nine executive orders during that period, a number unsurpassed by any president until Trump’s first day of his second term, albeit no significant legislation has been enacted with the involvement of the legislature. Despite celebrating his first one hundred days, lauding successes with little evidence to back it up and quite overwhelming indications of the contrary and declaring himself “unstoppable,” the campaign-style rally held in Michigan was punctuated with retribution and repetition of old grievances and lies regarding the stolen 2020 election, and while ostensibly winning on certain fronts of the culture wars and immigration with ending affirmative action, suppressing opposing viewpoints and generally affecting regressive social policies and making the prospect of coming to America—both for migrants and guests—more fraught (a serviceable PR smoke screen that few buy outside of the staunchest loyalists and probably none privately), Trump’s return has been viewed as a grift and abject failure on all counts: a burgeoning constitutional crisis with ignoring and threatening judges and sidestepping the senate, a foreign policy that abrogates the post-war world order that the US helped built and benefited greatly from with attendant loss of trust from allies and partners, rubbishing the global trade system with punishing tariffs and no way to extricate ourselves as well as retreating from its responsibilities from environmental stewardship and duty-to-care. Even the single issue that the administration can point to as a qualified success, controlling the borders, is being tainted with accounts of expulsions without cause and exporting what are considered undesirables—again with no due process—to foreign concentration camps, acts which are becoming increasingly unpalatable to even strong advocates. Detractors and even polls that indicate Trump’s approval ratings are underwater on his handling of the economy—the markets are one thing he cannot cow into submission or have “bend the knee”—and foreign policy, overplaying his hand with Putin and Xi, are dismissed as lies and fake news. The knock-on effects of blanket and threats of reposing reciprocal tariffs are just starting to be felt by average consumers, outside of the agricultural and shipping sectors and will present a rude surprise. After reports circulated that Jeff Bezos would be displaying tariff surcharges on Amazon items (see previously), then backing off after attracting Trump’s ire, it seems like the oligarch now has no choice but to go forward with the plan and commit to the bit.
Monday, 28 April 2025
10x10 (12. 420)
america’s war: a special report from the Verge for the fiftieth anniversary of the Fall of Saigon
leaflet: an Art Nouveau study of botanical forms and their application in decor—see previously
mangajin: an appreciation of the month English-language publication for students of Japanese language and culture—full archives from the entire run from 1988 to 1997 here
do: inspirational words from artist Sol LeWitt to fellow creative pioneer Eva Hesse
chisanbop: the Korean technique of fingermath
i have to push the pram a lot: Monty Python and the Holy Grail at fifty
animal spirits: what felines, bovines, porcines, etc on the label say about wine quality
you wouldn’t right-click a car: US anti-piracy campaign filled with hypocrisy, including a stolen font—see also
bus error collective: a WSIWYG primer on oscilloscope music—via Waxy
worst one-hundred days: assessments of Trump first months in office for his second term—more here and here
synchronptica
one year ago: Pennsylvania 6-5000 (with synchronoptica) plus naming world wars
seven years ago: a corollary to the Bechdel test plus a visit to Stockheim
eight years ago: archaeology with trace DNA, Islamic gateways plus responding to nuclear extortion
nine years ago: crowd control robots, language acquisition plus a hand-held DNA sequencer
ten years ago: visiting FDR’s Georgia retreat, ribald limericks, assorted links to revisit plus pontoon bridges to alleviate traffic congestion
Sunday, 27 April 2025
[citation needed] (12. 416)
Taking longer than expected after Musk cast aspersions against what he styled as “Wokepedia”—though remember with these unimaginative and incurious MAGA toddlers every accusation is a confession—the Wikimedia Foundation is joining good company for a very bad precedent with the Trump administration’s Department of Justice issuing a boilerplate letter to the free encyclopaedia, threatening to strip it of its non-profit status for facilitating the spread of propaganda.
Following the memory-holing of entire programmes and purging US government websites of any established science, from vaccine efficacy, the climate catastrophe to the spectrum of sex and gender identity—as well as any affirmative action—and pressuring any corporations contracting with the government to do the same, department lawyers levy that Wikipedia permits and promotes the manipulation of historical events and the biographies of American political leaders, subverting Trump’s agenda and undermining the interests of US taxpayers, who subsidise the international consortium in the same way that tariffs equal economic prosperity. As with other respected scientific institutions, like the New England Journal of Medicine and universities that have seen federal funding withheld, Wikipedia has been audited for proof that they have sufficient counter measures in place to suppress partisan disinformation edited by foreign nationals and measures to include competition viewpoints, such demands being another tactic to silence dissent and control the dissemination of knowledge that does not align with administration’s narrative and agenda.
Friday, 25 April 2025
a1 is number one (12. 411)
Even as Trump has directed the responsible party to dismantle the institution, and is clawing back payment plans in arrears administered under department, he is encouraging the promotion of literacy in artificial intelligence, which the secretary so charged with making herself redundant referred to as the steak sauce, with the integration into the curriculum to teach the next generation of AI workers. Aside from sounding like a dystopian effort to drain human handlers of original, non-recursive thought, expendable once exhausted or replaced with a level of sycophancy useless to all parties, prioritising such initiatives following other governments stated reforms, which strike as far more feasible and responsible imbued with a functioning bureaucracy, Trump will need his DOE extant in some form to administer his Presidential AI Challenge and form partnerships within the industry, an unacknowledged tension for the organisation that he ordered dissolved and remanded to state school districts as the Supreme Court appears more focused on granting parental carve-outs for objectionable curricula rather than a hands off approach as promised.
Wednesday, 23 April 2025
10x10 (12. 405)
hug, marry, kill: internet roasts muttonhead JD Vance for his audience with Pope Francis—more here
kegsbreath: US defence secretary poised to be replaced and other news and developments from Superpunch—see more
trump slump: populist politicians over the globe are distancing themselves from MAGA
yolo: search data for Anglophone texting abbreviations
oh aunt jess: Angela Lansbury in fine art—via Miss Cellania
technics: an obstacle course for LEGO walkers
zwiebelfisch: a treasury of printers’ terminology, as in the German for a character misprinted with a dif๐erent font, and more including wayzgoose
one if by land, two if by sea: Heather Cox Richardson speaking at the two-hundred fiftieth anniversary of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
education for death: Walt Disney’s 1943 film on how fascists are made
a good book can help us weather the storm: Francis’ defence of literature for spiritual and mental enlightenment—see also this papal playlist
Wednesday, 9 April 2025
maga maoism (12. 376)
Though government officials, members of the armed services and civil servants are not yet subject to an explicit loyalty oath, pledging fealty to Trump, we learn—via Boing Boing—that there’s been an unsubtle change in dress-code on the Hill and in the Cabinet in the form a garish oversized golden lapel pin, replacing the usual flags and other charges, of a bust of the president. As China is adopting America’s own tactics when it comes too punishing tariffs that disrupt the global economic order (after relenting for most other nations, which is a positive sign but the vacillation runs counter to any of the stated aims of attracting foreign factories when such longterm commitments betray a capacious time horizon with the real objective seemingly to create a fire-sale on commodities by crashing the market), the US has reached back to the days of Chairman Mao and the Cultural Revolution for a show of allegiance and blind faith as regressive policies, urging unwarranted patience for a big gamble that is certain to fail spectacularly. The latest escalation was in part prompted by JD Vance referring to the Chinese workforce as peasants, which is not only insulting but a deflection of the US’s own feudalism and indenturedness, beholden to Trump’s ruinous ego and incompetence.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the opposite of Schadenfreude (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting
seven years ago: Trump and the Saudis plus the toads are spawning
eight years ago: Russia and LiveJournal
nine years ago: swanky office attire plus Jedi stew
ten years ago: a trip to the US, from whale oil to petroleum plus a monopoly on sainthood
Friday, 4 April 2025
8x8 (12. 365)
museum of now: This American Life invites us to sit with and reflect on the artefacts of day and hour
rift valley: a Trump appointed special envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tiffany’s father-in-law, seeking to make a deal on mineral resources in hopes of securing peace with Rwandan rebels
fay wray: a swarm of drones recreate the iconic scene of King Kong scaling the Empire State building
toast malone: a short clip of the singer performing Circles, animated on one hundred thirty-three slices of bread
altair 8800: a retrospective of Microsoft at fifty
the bronx is up and the battery’s down: new NYC subway map is an homage to an early digrammatic version
blanket non-fraternisation policy: US bans government personnel stationed in China from forming relationships with locals
national endowment for the humanities: US museums, libraries and archives see their grants terminated—see previously
Tuesday, 1 April 2025
i rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the united states senate for as long as i am physically able—i rise tonight because i believe sincerely that our nation is in crisis (12. 356)
As New Jersey Democratic Senator Corey Booker continues a marathon speech in the Senate, addressing the chamber for as long as he physically endure, beginning on Monday night and passing well into Tuesday to highlight the disruptions and dangers that the first seventy-one days of the Trump administration has wrought, he emphasised that these are not normal times in America and should not be treated as such, concluding this good filibustering on election day for three special elections, which normally would not garner much attention but are now seen as referenda on Trump’s performance and Musk’s clout in politics and the administration. Though the two districts in question in Florida are regarded as solidly Republican and are not up for competition normally, polling shows that Democrats could eke out a win, further narrowing Republican control of congress. One of the seats formerly was represented by Matt Gaetz, who vacated it prematurely to stand for attorney general before withdrawing his candidacy, and as a sign of caution over losing their hold on all three branches of government, Trump rescinded the nomination for UN ambassador for a congress woman from New York, owing that she was more important in the House of Representatives rather than the United Nations—“anyone can do that job.” The second seat was held by Mike Waltz, leaving to become a security advisor for the White House and apparent fall-guy for Signalgate. Outside of Florida, the other, supposedly non-partisan race that has become outsized is to fill a vacancy on the state supreme court of Wisconsin. While limited in jurisdiction, over one-hundred million dollars has been spent to secure or shift the ideological alignment of the justices that could impact voting rights, reproductive rights and the power of public unions nationally. Much of the backing for the conservative candidate has come from cheerleader for fascism Elon Musk, recognising the crucial nature of the swing-state for upcoming elections and to preserve the status quo through gerrymandering, and who also has a personal stake in the outcome, with a pending lawsuit filed against Wisconsin to allow direct sales of automobiles to consumers, without going through a dealership as state law requires, which Tesla practises.
Saturday, 29 March 2025
la a note to follow doge (12. 346)
Releasing yet another executive order aimed at whitewashing the country’s past, Trump’s “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” is aimed at museums and other cultural institutions to remedy what MAGA regards a concerted effort by the radical left of revisionism geared to deepen societal divides and promote national shame. The Smithsonian has been politicised and weaponised, ordered to halt exhibits and articles featuring “race-centred ideology,” calling examination of marginalisation effectively anti-American, with vice president Vance deputised with the power to review all publications, projects and presentations to ensure compliance. One wonders when Americans might have their fill of liberty—it seems like a line has already been crossed yet new horrors come. The order also implies that like with earlier dictates that there are only two genders, that race is a biological reality, rather than a social construct playing into the pseudoscience that justifies eugenics and segregation and directs the administration’s secretary of the interior to begin reinstalling and rededicating Confederate and racist statues and monuments toppled or taken down in the course of the Black Lives Matter movement. Attempts to erase the past follow the wholesale assault on present postures diversity, inclusion, equity and access is a regression of decades of struggle against hate and oppression but unlikely to determine the future shape of society.
synchronoptica
one year ago: a biblical epic (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: an earlier Trump portrait plus GDPR compliance
eight years ago: the basement level kiosks of Bulgaria, more long German words plus mapping facial measurements
nine years ago: more state flags that could use an update, the Sir Vival auto plus garlic dreams
ten years ago: telepathic technology plus redefining the kilogramme
catagories: ⚖️, ๐, ๐จ, ๐️, libraries and museums
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
9x9 (12. 339)
debonair: an amazing and comprehensive collection of flight attendant uniforms—via Things Magazine
contrapoints: a documentary contextualising misinformation to point out it is misinformation
shortened itinerary: second lady’s tour of Greenland (now joined by her husband) is limited to inspecting the troops at Pituffik Space Base

jug band: a fun cover of Beat It!—with a powerful solo bridge by the Bottle Boys
boilerfaker: a new trend in microdosing alcohol—via tmn
duty to report: the 1890 attempt to coerce Canada into joining the US backfired spectacularly
signalgate: The Atlantic editor inadvertently added to a national security counsel group chat publishes transcript in full after Trump administration downplayed the seriousness of the breach
hmnd: an incomplete bestiary of humanoid robots
Saturday, 22 March 2025
the eagle has landed (12. 329)
Dropping its own diversity, equality and inclusion plans announced for the return trip to the Moon back in 2019, NASA administrators are left on a backfoot struggling to comply with the executive orders memory-holing real and perceived affirmative action and the original symbolism that the crew would include the first woman on the lunar surface and “the first person of colour” for the third mission of the Artemis programme, named after Apollo’s twin sister. One of the last official acts of his first term, NASA had ironically developed a graphic novel series celebrating the contributions of women to space exploration, including a fictional understudy to lead the diverse crew for the upcoming journey, slated for November 2027 but likely delayed further due to not having choose the landing crew and further cuts to the space agency’s workforce under DOGE—which has expressed a shift in priorities to go straight to Mars.
Friday, 21 March 2025
i love king charles—sounds like a great idea (12. 327)
In between issuing two new executive orders designed to further undermine recent judicial decisions against the assault on the administrative state to void rulings that the OPM could not order another agency to terminate employees and affirm loyalty oaths and that DOGE could not be refused access to “siloed” data, Trump, on his social media website, linked to an article from a UK tabloid suggesting that during his upcoming, second state visit, Charles will make a “secret offer” for the United States to join the Commonwealth as its fifty-seventh associate member, connected as former territories through historic and cultural ties, in order to dampen tension over pulling in Canada as the fifty-first state and escalating trade disputes and might be received as an alternative to the tenuous relationship to NATO and the EU. While floated and endorsed by the Queen, reportedly, during Trump’s first term, claims that it is being entertained at the highest levels challenge veracity. Charles III as the titular head of state with the wanna be king in fealty sounds preferable however symbolic and outside the realm of possibility and would possibly deflate tariffs by placating his ego. PfRC has reached out to the Commonwealth for comment.
Thursday, 20 March 2025
oh zaporizhzhia—i don’t know (12. 322)
Following a telephone call with Putin ostensibly securing a ceasefire on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and rather unrelenting overtures for the embattled nation’s mineral wealth, Trump called Zelenskyy to dictate the terms and to introduce a new dimension to the deal, suggesting that the United States (as with Gaza now exploding back to a state of war) assume ownership of nuclear power plants. The proposal was met with surprise, Kyiv politely mooting the offer, saying that the reactors were state-owned and could not be privatised, having only discussed during the call the one facility under Russian control but again reenforcing the idea that American economic stakes are their best protection—as with his earlier bid for control of country’s rare Earth resources. American defence conglomerate Westinghouse was in talks, prior to the start of the war, but the deal has since fallen through.
Monday, 17 March 2025
polygraph (12. 313)
In an angry late-night post to his social networking platform, Trump said that Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons for individuals associated with the investigation of the January Sixth Capitol insurrection were “hereby declared VOID, VACANT AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OF EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.” Unclear if the clemency grants were not signed by hand in the first place, the claim is baseless, because if so, the exercise of this broad and magisterial presidential power requires no signature, just that the recipients accept the pardon—Trump then pivoting his accusation that Biden’s diminished mental capacity meant he was unaware that his endorsement was being mimeographed. The tool has been used by many in high office to personalise correspondence as well as by institutes of higher learning to confer diplomas and certificates and at least once—that we know of—to sign legislation, Obama telegraphing his approval of the extension of the Patriot Act whilst in France in 2011. And while bills have been flown around the world for the executive signature in order to suppress any doubt of legality, still the language of the constitution stipulates that legislation is to be accepted or returned, vetoed without outlining how it is recorded. Patented under the title trademark, Thomas Jefferson was an early-adopter of this prototype, allowing two pens to move simultaneously and doubling efficiency. The pseudo-scientific technique of lie-detection shares the name because of its range of physiological indicators.
alien enemies act (12. 312)
Over the weekend, Trump deported over two hundred alleged Venezuelan gang members to an infamous prison in El Salvador, despite the a temporary stay issued by a judge stating that the right to due process for the detainees, the president saying the block was not lawful, delivered verbally and not in writing and coming after the planes had already departed the US (which according to flight records seems not to be true). Marking perhaps the first time Trump ignored a ruling, lost in the midst of everything else going on, these expulsion seem to inform—re-enforce if not merely signal loudly (though out-shouted by other news) the constitutional crisis on display in America. Citing an 1798 law codified when tensions were high with France that has only been invoked during times of war, all “subjects of the hostile nation or government shall be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed as alien enemies,” with the infamous Japanese interment camps of World War II. Gang membership or criminal association was not established during immigration proceedings and this initial dragnet detention and deportation seems based on national origin rather than a substantiated threat to the country.
synchronoptica
one year ago: a maglev train on existing tracks (with synchronoptica), a chatbot on a spreadsheet, an arch insult generator plus revisiting some abandoned settlements along the former border
seven years ago: Japanese lessons
eight years ago: the Spanish civil war and WWII, assorted links worth the revisit plus tensions on the Korean peninsula
nine year ago: EU appeals to Tรผrkiye to stem immigration, the distribution of primes, the knock on effects of food waste plus stochastic engineering
ten years ago: Mister Linea, a partial solar eclipse plus more links to enjoy
Saturday, 15 March 2025
pocket veto (12. 308)
As of this posting (timestamps are important as we’ve gleaned from every episode of the NPR Politics podcast), the continuing resolution to keep the US government funded and in operation has yet to be signed into law by Trump. Normally a failure to endorse after a ten day period, de facto the bill becomes law, but the titular technicality occurs when the president cannot return the bill to congress because it is adjourned, as it is for Monday (Sundays also excepted)—and the language of the CR has the provision that for the purposes of the bill that the remainder of the fiscal year constitutes one congressional day (with no pro-forma members present to keep the legislature open) despite returning in session on Tuesday, meaning that deadline never arrives—an unusual proviso perhaps to hedge his bets. Something legally ambiguous that cannot be overridden that Trump could keep in his quiver to exercise at will, the GOP were perhaps expecting more resistance from the Democrats, which could explain the reversal of party leadership—with a shutdown, which is in effect, and solely owned by the Republicans.