the new model army (13. 764)

Though always eager to disclaim its remit as a spoken history of a global language, the latest episode of The History of English presents a rather excellent overview of the English Civil War through the lens of linguistic developments and documentation from the decade of the 1640s, including the early discourse on orthography The English Primrose—1644, subtitled, the easiest and speediest-way, both for the true spelling and reading of English, as also the true-writing thereof ...Planted (with no smal pains) by Richard Hodges, a school-master, which includes the first instances of phonetic notation and expanded punctuation and Joshua Poole’s The English Accidence on inflection and a new way of expressing the future tense. Further we learn through the chronology that the term Tory, a traditionalist and supporter of political conservatism in the contemporary sense was a product of this tumultuous era, Irish guerrillas thwarting parliamentary republicans as royalist were labelled as tóraidhe from the Irish term for pursuer or outlaw. King Charles I pandered to these partisan even though Ireland, struggling for independence and aligned with the Catholic church, was seen as a traditional enemy of the monarchy and the association somehow survived the ensuing centuries. As a counterpoint, the term Whig has a similar rebellious and notably non-English etymology emerging from the same period of crisis as a shortening for the nickname Whiggamore for a Scottish presbyterian, a more liberal faction that opposed absolute monarchy, a robust parliament and religious toleration, and meant one who drives a horse briskly and by extension an outlaw or fanatic. The imposition of Anglican strictures on the Church of Scotland being on the chief causes of Charles’ downfall, the king ultimately surrendered to a group of Scottish sympathisers, hoping for clemency and the chance to return to power, inconceivable that the monarch could face trial and be held accountable for his actions. Though the latter was dissolved as a political party in the 1860s and does not carry the modern resonance that the Tories have, the two, despite their derogatory connotations, were the main caucuses of the House of Commons for two centuries.

9x9 (13. 621)

space jam: erythrulose, a simple sugar found in raspberries and fake-tan lotion, detected in an interstellar cloud  

vindolandia: a Roman “genius”—a familiar and household spirit sculpture discovered at Hadrian’s Wall  

the kingdom of hyrule: hand-drawn maps of the The Legend of Zelda, the land inspired by the Kyoto countryside, with a bestiary of monsters 

our lives are woven together in a fabric—but the connections that make society strong also make it vulnerable: the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on the legacy and lessons of Threads—via tmn  

médicos sin fronteras: US launches a global pressure campaign against Cuba’s last lifelines, exporting expert physicians 

the escherian stairwell: the invented legend of an impossible campus architectural feature and a perpetual downward loop 

clipart.studio: make and share cut-out collages from the Internet Archive’s magazine collection—via Waxy  

the lore of the rings: science is only beginning to appreciate the richness of the archives inside trees  

pop iii: astronomers scan the skies for elusive non-metallic behemoths, the first stars in the Cosmos

in search of… (13. 479)

Polymath and multi-hyphanate, Dr Robert Harvey Rines, whom helped develop the Microwave Early Warning System in the Cold War after serving as an officer in the army signals corps, as trained a jurist for intellectual property, prolific inventor, librettist penning musicals about the life of HL Mencken (previously) among others, violin prodigy playing a duet with Albert Einstein at age eleven at a summer camp in Maine, and adjunct professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the last forty five years of his career, is probably best known for leading the American expedition, sponsored by the US Academy of Applied Sciences and the The New York Times, the quest for Nessie, the most thorough and comprehensive search for the Loch Ness Monster up to that time, that commenced on this day in 1976. Becoming obsessed with the mystery of a possible cryptid after a visit to the area four years, Rines launched a scientific safari provisioned with sophisticated sonar and photographic, many instruments of his own design, and whilst garnering a great deal of publicity for his efforts, including several intriguing but blurry photographs, after six months, the project was halted due to lack of hard evidence. This famous “gargoyle head” image was later discovered to be a rotting tree stump on the silty bottom of the loch, since located and put on display in the Nessie gallery at Drumnadrochit on the western shore. Rines for his part never stopped believing that there was more to the legend and kept up the exploration, albeit on a smaller scale, for the next decades.

synchronoptica

one year ago:  automated purging of US government workers (with synchronopticæ) plus a Star Trek: TNG superfan

fourteen years ago: looking forward to our Norway holiday 

fifteen years ago: Ascension Day 

sixteen years ago: the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 

8x8 (13. 433)

marathon du médoc: get in shape for the annual event combining wine tasting and running at the Bordeaux château and vineyard—via Messy Nessy Chic 

of mice and men: the difference between singing rodents and the non-verbal variety maybe similar to the evolutionary split that humans took from other primates 

net exporter: Ukraine sees drone demand from eleven countries as manufacturers expand production  

childlore: a growing list of popular adolescent myths that have passed from generation to generation  

thirty-eighth parallel: North Korea abandons goal of reunification with the south—see previously  

scope of work: the ingenious design of the screwdriver handle  

gravitational constant: geometers including surveyor Charles Mason (of Mason-Dixon line fame) conducted the Sciehallion Experiment in the Scottish Highlands to determine the mean-density of the Earth, weighing the mountain Sith Chailleann—fairy hill of the Caledonians  

holztrompete: Richard Wagner fused a brass and a woodwind instrument for Tristan und Isolde—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest

9x9 (13. 220)

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  

τεσσαρακοντήρης: 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  

δώδεκαθεϊσμός: 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

9x9 (13. 183)

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 synchronpticæ), 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 

 

7x7 (13. 112)

les chansons de bilitis: a century old literary hoax of a fictional lesbian poet incited dialogue and reevaluation on the genuine figure of Sappho and queerness in antiquity  

apt mascot: a manufacturing error created the Cry-Cry Horse and its popularity for the Lunar New Year has prompted suppliers to reinstate the stitching mistake  

tam o’shanter: a poem for Sunday’s Burns Night  

ts and cs apply: new updated user agreement for US TikTok draws scrutiny regarding its privacy policy, including sexual orientation, mental health and immigration status  

coming attractions: an imagined trailer for Star Trek: Voyage to Vengeance as directed by Quentin Tarantino 

the disappointed tourist: an elegy to lost places  

composition yellow, blue, black red and white: reevaluating the cross-dressing Cornish artist Marlow Moss whose work influenced that of Piet Mondrian—via Kottke

synchronoptica

one year ago: jazz artist Keith Jarrett (with synchronopticæ), a Bolivian abundance festival, assorted links to enjoy plus Trump pledges to overhaul federal emergency response agency

thirteen years ago: the assassination of Caligula 

twelve years ago: impending base closures and a reduction in US forces 

sixteen years ago: relaxing US campaign financing reforms plus petty kingdoms 

7x7 (12. 701)

people are flushing toilets ten times, fifteen times, as opposed to once—john jay: other AI-generated quotes of America’s foundational figures at new Smithsonian exhibit—see also  

coronation street: a recent celebration of the eleven hundredth anniversary of the enthronement of King Æthelstan, the first ruler of united England  

_invalid_username: a short, seemingly intuitive quiz—we failed miserably at—on what constitutes an email address—via Web Curios  

in a galaxy far, far away: the official map of the Star Wars paracosm 

dj earworm: an end of summer mashup  

double, double toil and trouble: Shakespeare added the witches, weird sisters (see also) to Macbeth for the benefit of his patron James I—see previously  

founding fathers: the colourful life US constitutional signatory turned harsh critic of the mythos Gouverneur Morris—via Strange Company

synchronoptica

one year ago: a nuclear war preparedness exercise (with synchronopticæ)

twelve years ago: Iranian president offers a Rosh Hashanah blessing 

thirteen years ago: some castles of Rheinland-Pfalz plus a bleak economic picture

fourteen years ago: revisionism and security theatre persist ahead of the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks 

fifteen years ago: bird-watching plus a trip along the Danube

sixteen years ago: mascot mayhem 

seventeen years ago: a trip to the Wasserkuppe 

arguably the most famous and celebrated cnidarian of all time (12. 634)

Outliving her discoverers and with a career spanning the Victorian Era, under the care of a succession of Edinburgh naturalists, the beadlet sea anemone (Actini equina), affectionately known as Granny passed away on this day in 1887 at the advanced age of sixty-seven—though reports of her death were embargoed for the public good until October, with lengthy obituaries first published by The Scotsman and then The New York Times. Receiving many distinguished visitors, as evinced by a guest book with over a thousand entries, Granny, whom was collected as a mature specimen off the shores of North Berwick, is credited with educational reform, igniting popular interest in the sciences outside of professional and specialist circles, and inviting Victorians to bring nature into their homes, with various fashions from houseplants to terraria and aquaria and imparted a sense of curiosity, albeit kept, that advanced understanding and appreciation of marine ecology.

best picture ever (12. 631)

Witnessed on this day in 1990 by two unidentified hikers in the moors above Calvine in Perthshire, the pair later told their account of their encounter with a diamond-shaped craft hovering silently with Glasgow tabloid Daily Record, handing over their prints and negatives to the newspaper. The story was never published and the tabloid handed over the photographic evidence to the Ministry of Defence. Despite or perhaps because of the paucity of substantiating documentation or corroboration, rumours and speculation persisted over the years, teased by a partial acknowledgment on the part of the MOD, claiming to have lost the pictures that piqued researchers’ curiosity even more. One of the six lost photographs was discovered in archives in 2022 and published by the Daily Mail, close to the anniversary of the reported sighting. With an veneer of authenticity suggested by the ministry as undoctored and witnessed two days after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the Calvine UFO has undergone various interpretations as proof of the semi-legendary Aurora reconnaissance jet, a secret black project supposedly launched by the US Air Force with stealth technology, and the subject, exhibit of a more recent American congressional effort to expose government knowledge about UAPs. 

  synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump belittles Harris (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to enjoy

thirteen years ago: more Irish sheep counting plus more flea market finds

fourteen years ago: a return trip to Dresden 

fifteen years ago: a bus that towers over city traffic 

par for the course (12. 609)

Amid vocal protests that refuse to let the issue of the Epstein files go away quietly, Trump and entourage has returned to his Scottish golf course and resort (see previously) to discuss tariff and trade deal as well as immigration policy and rehash his NIMBYistic complaints about wind turbines with the UK and the EU. Meanwhile, as Trump attempts to deflect reporters’ questions regarding the above scandal, a US Justice Department official, former Trump defence attorney in a blatant case of witness tampering and quid pro quo for a pardon, has been sent to interview convicted sexual predator and longtime pimp for Epstein and associates, Ghislaine Maxwell, presenting a list of a hundred named individuals for review in an apparent exchange for clemency on her prison sentence from a fellow felon. One could safely assume that the list mirrors closely anyone on the syndicate’s hit list, including Obama, the Clintons (Bill and Hillary recently subpoenaed to testify regarding the client list which supposedly does not exist), the Bidens, LTC Vindman, Hunter Biden’s laptop, Reality Winner, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Rosie O’Donnell, ex-best buds Musk and Putin, the aforementioned windmills, sharks, Greta Thunberg and anyone else who dared cross him, hoping such a catalogue will satisfy dissenters within the MAGA movement. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Paris Games opening ceremonies (with synchronoptiæ)

twelve years ago: speech cannibalisation plus charting literature

fifteen years ago: shock and awe and the quagmire of forever wars 

evenweave (12. 138)

Via Kottke, we are introduced to the embroidery journals that Sophie O’Neill, California transplant in Glasgow, has been keeping daily (sometimes batched—we can relate) since New Year’s 2020 as a log of each day’s events and memories, represented by stitching a tiny icon. The practise, not dissimilar to other diary-keeping techniques and cultivating gratitude even for those mundane and tedious periods when it seems nothing noteworthy happens and was tempted to throw in the towel. Streaks are important and motivating to keep up but not for the faith of heart (see also here and here), when each entry requires patience, dexterity and imagination.

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

13x13 (11. 744)

hot clipmalabor summer: a Scots language translation of the latest trend 

the pudding: AI makes a data-driven visual story—via Kottke  

désolé! taking a mental health year: American vs European out-of-office auto-replies  

the paris games: a look back at the other times the French capital hosted the Olympics—via Nag on the Lake

faustian bargain: Russian “Tiergarten Killer” released as part of prisoner-swap 

the lord house: a tour of a home designed by architecture Richard Neutra—see previously 

take me to the water: James Baldwin and the roots of the Palestinian-African American solidarity movement 

hop, skip and a jump: e-bikes for one’s legs  

dressage: Snoop Dogg as head Olympic cheerleader 

securing the peace: US mobilising to shore up defences in Middle East 

minoritarian rule: US in democracy self-destruct mode  

yay newfriend: a linguistic look at the new AI pendant companion 

emdunks: the internet’s infatuation with the Second- and possibly future First-Gentleman

never mind the ballots (11. 664)

In a welcome, refreshing bit of good news amid rather bleak outlooks for democracy in America with Trump given new dictatorial license, Biden encouraged to drop out of the race at this late stage and the rise of far-right in France, Labour bounces back after nearly a dozen years of Tory control of government, with the Conservative party trounced. Party leader Keir Starmer is appointed prime minister and forms a cabinet, and after the 4 July general election, many of the opposition, including members Boris Johnson, Theresa May, Jacob Rees-Moog and Liz Truss lost their seats in parliament when their home constituencies voted them out.

7x7 (11. 474)

my dad is dracula (and a very good dog): the funny webcomic by Jason Poland—via Miss Cellania  

good night george: a last nostalgic look the Glasgow hotel featured in Trainspotting, Taggart and with other cameos in television and film—via Nag on the Lake  

volcanic vortex rings: Mount Etna is sending out smoke signals, a phenomenon never before documented on film  

penny hike: instructions to create a lodestone for mindful, distraction-free wandering, using AI, to return you to where you started—via Web Curios—it has a certain resonance but I’ll give you a magic pebble to keep in your pocket so you don’t get too lost 

spyware: the secret weapons of Cold War espionage  

carmel-by-the-sea: a historic hotel known as the birthplace of the Apple Macintosh restored  

bug bytes: US government created comic books to fight disinformation and increase media literacy fall rather flat of their goals appealing to old tropes—via Hyperallergic

mamma, we reap what we sow (11. 471)

Via our faithful chronicler, among many other events of pith and circumstance, Annie Lennox (previously) released her debut solo Diva album on this day in UK markets in 1992, following a hiatus from performing after the dissolution of the Eurythmics two years prior and spawning five hit singles including “Little Bird” put out as a double A-Side with “Love Song for a Vampire” made for the soundtrack of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The accompanying music video, shot while Lennox was eight months pregnant with the MC outfit reminiscent of Cabaret tailored to conceal her baby-bump, features a cast of personae from previous songs portrayed by impersonators and drag-artists vying for the spotlight.

featherstonehaugh (11. 427)

Thanks to raft of gossip and speculation from 2019 revived in part due the obsession over the whereabouts of the Princess of Wales, we’ve been educated that the Marchioness of Cholmondeley of interest holds the peerage style of the Most Honourable Lady CHUM-lee, and so we appreciated these further lessons in pronunciation of historic British and Irish titles and surnames (respecting the fact that one’s name is pronounced how they tell you to pronounce it and subject to variation). There are some really non-intuitive examples like the title—usually said like Fernshaw—and while we would have liked more detailed explanations like with family name Menzies with its archaic letter ȝ (yogh), it was nonetheless interesting to contemplate how those estranging shifts might have occurred, like with Geoghegan (GAY-gən) or Wriothesley as RIZZ-lee.

world of pure imagination (11. 390)

As with other disastrous and disappointing venues, last week’s fiasco surrounding what was billed as an immersive family event organised by the House of Illuminati did not fail to garner a viral attention over this sad and pricy—up to £ 40 for a group ticket and spurring angry visitors to call the police and shut down the attraction that same afternoon (I recall similar reportage over dull and expensive Christmas Carnivals and Winter Wonderlands—Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory Experience. Contrary to an advertisement campaign aggressively enhanced by AI, the venue was in a largely empty warehouse in Glasgow sparsely festooned with a few candy-themed props, a bouncy castle and some vinyl printed backdrops from the above ad guided by poorly costumed actors. One photograph that emerged of this Oompa Loompa, looking herself rather humiliated to be party to this all around flop, adding insult to injury by framing her as some dreary technician at a meth lab, but awarding (or cursing) her with some standout meme-treatment and twice interviewed about the mortifying few hours. Rightfully skeptical about the gig posted on a jobs site, the professional actor, children’s entertainer and yoga instructor, she walked into a slapdash production not fully thought out but couldn’t back out of the contract (none of the cast was paid ultimately) and hope she might bring a little redemptive fun to the show. Much more from Super Punch at the link above.

selenology (11. 356)

From the Amusing Planet’s archives, we are directed towards the 1874 work of engineer and hobbyist astronomer and photographer James Nasmyth of Edinburgh through his speculate volume on lunar geology called The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite, a compendium of research and observations, supplemented by a number of highly detailed photographic plates produced during a time when it was not technically possible to take such striking images directly through a telescope. Instead, Nasmyth improvised by making sketches from what he could see through his self-made observatory and transforming them into plaster relief scale models and photographing those under electric illumination to highlight the shadows and contours of his topographic globes. This work carried out after retirement from heavy industry, having invented the hydraulic press and the steam hammer and other machine tools, an impact crater (he had incorrectly theorised volcanic origins, though later research confirms lava flows) on the Moon is named in honour of Nasmyth himself, just to the west of the pictured Wargentin, for his lifetime of accomplishments.