order of the friars of st francis of wycombe (13. 682)

Reopened and touted as a family friendly tourist attraction, the Hellfire Caves outside the village of West Wycombe are a a series of artificial caverns excavated at the behest of Francis Dashwood, the 11. Baron le Despencer (the second Post-Master General) in the mid 1700s as a meeting location for its membership of the exclusive, eponymous club for high society rakes, whose rolls included portrait artist William Hogarth (whom painted many fellow members but did not, as far as is known, document any of their activities) John Montagu, 4. Earl of Sandwich, satirist Paul Whitehead and American statesman Benjamin Franklin. Though difficult to ascertain the truth behind rumours of devil worship and orgies, it does seem that debauchery shielded from public inspection or judgement took place underground, and from the statuary in the chalk alcoves, suggests a strong element of pagan rituals, Hercules and the Nemean Lion, Bacchus and Venus also featured prominently. Locals generally respected their privacy for their lord’s munificence and the project having employed many during a time of poor harveststhe crated away material used also for road construction. Dashwood adopted for the group’s motto Fais ce que tu voudras—the mission statement associated with the fictional abbey of Thélème of Rabelais, later taken up by Aleister Crowley as “Do what thou wilt.” Just a short excursion from the capital, there are hand-hewn galleries named after associates Sandwich and Franklin and the Inner Temple with more details and a guided tour from Londonist’s Matt Brown at the link up top.

synchronoptica

one year ago: consoling the condemned (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus new standards from the US federal communications commission

two years ago: eye-chat with a stranger,  a pommel horse champion plus an anagram generator

three years ago: American Graffiti (1973) plus back-links and crediting sources

four years ago: more links to enjoy

five years ago: your daily demon, Dead Man’s Hand, the impetus for the Manhattan Project plus even more links

six years ago: the Lioness of Bretagne, the Blessed Basil of Moscow plus political malapropisms

present /&/ correct (13. 676)

Having been a long-time fan and standard go-to resource for vintage stationary, brochures and advertising ephemera, we quite enjoyed this interview with Bloomsbury shop and blog co-founder Neal Whittington on the occasion of their entrance into the world of publishing and share some stories about their finds over the years—sometimes ambitions become deadstock but never surplus to needs. The history of the venture and the curated collections is inspired. Much more from It’s Nice That at the link above. Do explore their sundries.

9x9 (13. 605)

spitalfields life: street photographer Kurt Hutton  

djt: rentier-in-chief could potential benefit financially from the rebranding of Palm Beach International airport, just kilometres away from Mar-a-Lago 

turn around bright eyes: RIP Bonnie Tyler—see previously here, here and here 

l’odissea: the 1911 cinematic adaptation of the timeless classic  

freedom fuel: White House announces network of gas stations with prices capped (previously) at $3.47 per gallon, status quo ante bellum 

the night the earth shook, strangers started to draw: in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Syria and Türkiye in February of 2023, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team helped save lives—via Maps Mania 

twenty minutes into the future: a look at when the cola-wars where dominated by dystopian science-fiction—see previously

tax shelter: very much solicited financial advice on Trump Accounts for Kidz 

pixel skylines: urban grounds from vintage video games

9x9 (13. 563)

pennsylvania dutch: an ethnographic profile of the Deitsch speaking Amish—see also  

it’s 1100 pm—do you know where your ai agent is: Janelle Shane (previously) on agentic artificial intelligence, vibe-coding and the need for guardrails  

hunshandake sandy land: battling creeping desertification with an army of chickens 

ethnic cleansing: US supreme court rules that the country can refuse asylum-seekers at the border and can begin the deportation of Syrian and Haitian refugees under temporary protected status        

⚙️⚙️⚙️🦑⚙️⚙️⚙️: manoeuvre your marine mollusc through an environment resembling dungeon levels from Zelda with Bubble Bobble type puzzles—via MetaFilter  

rainbow plaques: an alternative to Blue historical markers appear across London, honouring LGTBQ+  personages

final descent: the iconic airliner, the Boeing 747, is being phased out 

jerry’s world: a map of an imaginary land limned over decades using a deck of cards for procedural generation—see also  

despicable me: the influence of Minionese on the slang of Gen Alpha—see previously

grimthorpe (13. 443)

Named for King’s Council, Edmund Beckett, the title of peerage created within the county of York in 1886 for the controversial barrister, architect and horologist, elevated from the rank of baronet to baron, the eponym (see also), we learn via Curious Notions, was came about in the press in reference to his oversight role in the renovation of the much beloved Norman era cathedral of St Albans, the abbey dedicated to Britain’s first Christian martyr. Fiercely criticised at the time and causing a public outcry for alterations to the transept and the roofline, grimthorping is remodelling without sympathy, whilst lavish and expensive, not considered in keeping with the historical character of the building. So honoured for his earlier achievement as a clockwork engineer for his design of the mechanism of the chimes of Big Ben and quoted as saying “I am the only architect with whom I have never quarrelled,” Grimthorpe is buried in the churchyard of St Albans. The addition of the ensemble of the evangelists at the western entrance include St Matthew sculpted with Grimthorpe’s visage.

day sixty (13. 391)

The United Arab Emirates announces it will quit OPEC in order to increase exports, seen as a victory by some for Trump who opposes the cartel’s caps on production and price controls. Although the conflict remains essentially frozen and tensions still remain high among allies, during a state visit to the US, King Charles delivered a masterful address to a joint-session of congress in the semiquinncentennial year of the American declaration of independence, apolitical but a model of using soft power to heal rifts. Neighbouring gulf states hold a summit in Riyadh and issue a statement that Tehran must make serious efforts to rebuild confidence and trust following “treacherous” attacks on the region. Russia reiterates financial and materiel support for Iran, as Trump claims that the country is on the verge of collapse and eager to submit to a deal under America’s terms, whilst threatening new sanctions on China for refining Iranian crude oil exports and goes after Iran’s network of shadow banking.

synchronoptica

one year ago: droodles (with synchronopticæ), Trump’s first hundred days plus more e-moluments for the Trump family syndicate

twelve years ago: European far-right parties affinity for Moscow 

thirteen years ago: Iceland’s Jedi party 

fourteen years ago: an intemperate island plus fortress London

fifteen years ago: macroeconomics 

seventeen years ago: German traffic signs 

7x7 (13.275)

rocketman: more on the centenary of Robert Goddard’s first launch—via Miss Cellania  

take the q train: a 1987 subway trip to Coney Island captured by pre-internet vlogger Nelson Sullivan  

cabbage architecture: how a bitter shrub became scores of distinct vegetables—via Quantum of Sollazzo  

limehouse: reconstructing Pennyfield’s Chinatown in East London  

outrageous fortune: the 1931 novel Windfall by Robert Andrews line of sight: see how far you can see plus the grandest vistas

twinkle, twinkle: a guide to identifying the planets and stars from xkcd—previously

11x11 (13. 268)

epistemic cocoon: filters, bubbles, synthetic friends and the personal theatre of disinformation—via Web Curios  

no yokes: a quarter of a century in market fluctuations  

semantic drift: the etymological and entomological history of the word drone  

belated blogoversary: Kottke turns twenty-eight  

wet shelter: the house photographer of the aid mission in the crypt of St Botolph’s 

le salaire de la peur: in a demonstration project to expand research partnerships with other laboratories, CERN attempts to transport a microscopic payload of antimatter for the first time—see previously  

caged lorries: Singapore, despite pressure from businesses that rely on migrant labour, is moving towards banning the dehumanising way workers are transported to job sites  

unbirthday: salutations and reflections from veteran blogger Diamond Geezer  

áfram með smjörið: delightful Icelandic idioms—via friend of the blog Nag on the Lake  

what’s that got to do with the price of tea in china: US egg cost down forty-two percent—hope it was all worth it  

ai is african intelligence: the exploited workers who tutor and moderate chatbots fight back

dérive (13. 135)

Via {feuilleton} we are directed towards this essay by Hari Kunzru whose recent rather disenchanting drift through London gave him pause to reflect on the Situationists and their manifesto of psychogeography and how, under a permanent curfew, not just by law enforcement but also by consumerism and spectacle, were a boxed in by the geometry of our built environments—a situation that the peripatetics of sixty years ago could have imagined and warned us about that makes the spirit of wandering and discovery near impossible in our unconscionable architecture of choice. Albeit while such a lament may be overdue for us idle flâneurs and has been sometime in the making with algorithmic and optimised nudges not allowing us to stray from the well-trodden path, it’s still worthwhile to consider what sort of blinders our routines and deviations are heir to.

whistle-stop (13. 131)

Opening its route in west London today, the UK begins passenger service on a eight kilometre branch connecting West Ealing to the Greenford line run exclusively on superfast-charging battery technology, the batteries replenished in just under three-and-a-half minutes at the last of four stops before making its return. Much of the city’s transport system is already electrified but this demonstration project aims to show the potential of cheaply retrofitting old diesel routes where installing overhead power lines (the third rail is only live for re-charging when the engine is directly under the docking station) was formerly impractical or avoided due to disruptions it would have caused for the transit network. More from The Guardian at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ) plus Trump administration orders removal of all gender ideology from public government websites and resources

twelve years ago: the Year of the Wood Horse 

fourteen years ago: the German job market 

8x8 (13. 057)

the gift of the magi: Better Living through Beowulf shares a Godfrey Rust poem for the Feast of the Epiphany  

wegmans: NewYork grocery store chain collecting biometric data, conversations of shoppers  

year of the fire horse: zodiacal facts about the upcoming annual cycle 

heavy sour crude: how realistic Trump’s designs on Venezuela’s reserves are—see more  

pea-brained: organoid culture research and experimentation raises ethical, philosophical concerns 

big brother and the holding company: the numerological and business significance of six-and-twenty  

john players’ special: the tobacco purveyor presents the celebrated gates of London 

mother superior jumped the gun: convert Elizabeth Ann Seton feted as first American saint for establishing the parochial education system in the New World

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump does not want lowered flags for his inauguration (with synchronopticæ), the chaotic twin of Pi, the right attacks Wikipedia plus Mussolini’s Black Shirts

twelve years ago: vaping regulations, landmarks lost to progress, miniature artists plus hyperobjects

thirteen years ago: the push for green energy plus fake smiles

fourteen years ago: marginal victories plus Three Kings’ Day 

sixteen years ago: holidays unwrapped

seventeen years ago: New Year’s resolutions 

10x10 (12. 899)

linguistic fossils: an exercise in autocomplete, eight English words only used for very specific circumstances 

elevated concerns: locations in Greater London above sea level and how those heights compare to countries existentially threatened by rising waters 

new meme format just dropped: the surprisingly cordial meeting between Trump and new New York City mayor Mamdani—“go ahead and call me a fascist—it’s easier, it’s easier than explaining—I don’t mind”  

the long game: US federal judge rules that Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp are not anticompetitive 

terra firma: a few modest proposals to rename our home planet  

squirearchy: the economy and governance of Hobbiton, which seems fifty-percent dependent on upper-class failsons—via Super Punch  

petsmart: Shanghai-based domestic animal supply store will close all physical stores after a year-long retail experiment 

home of the gnomes: a charming, anachronistic “Hansel and Gretel” cottage in New York City—via Strange Company  

houndsditch: Gustave Doré’s illustrations of the East End crocodile tears: the origin and spread of the oft-detested response “no worries”

synchronoptica

one year ago: high concept art (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to enjoy

twelve years ago: neuter and neutral plus limits on executive pay in Switzerland

thirteen years ago: talking turkey plus WWI day-by-day  

fourteen years ago: an insulation upgrade 

sixteen years ago: droid flu 

8x8 (12. 749)

ephemeral 80s: a side project from Curios British Telly  

informal collaborator: methods of surveillance and monitoring by the Iron Curtain  

consumer expenditures: Bureau Labour Statistics, under pressure from the Trump administration’s push for a rosy economic outlook postponed releasing a key annual report—see previously 

the vela incident: a mysterious double flash in the India ocean was detected on this day in 1979, thought to be an undeclared nuclear test 

just look where you’re walking or you’ll get ko’d by the gauntlet of misshapened zucchini-descendant bastards swinging from above: it’s that time again—see previously   

estᴰ: an archive of derelict shopfronts from the 1970s and 1980s of East London  

disgruntled nomenclature: a list of American college presidents—drawn from a 1973 yearbook of higher education—are particularly interchangeable and revealing of patriarchical power structures 

upstairs, downstairs: seven decades of ITV on the anniversary of its founding, breaking the BBC broadcast monopoly

synchronoptica

one year ago: Bilbo Baggins’ birthday (with synchronopticæ), St Mauritius, first contact plus a presidential assassination attempt (1975)

twelve years ago: Singapore’s Super Trees, bad real estate photographs plus untamed houseplants

thirteen years ago: promoting women executives 

fourteen years ago: safe overtaking plus the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

fifteen years ago: a classic iPad sleeve 

sixteen years ago: our little travel blog 

seventeen years ago: de-logistics 

enter prince andrew (12. 738)

One cannot presume to speak for the strategy that may be behind the decision of the royal family and the prime minister to go ahead with hosting this appeasement tour, placating Trump’s ego with an unprecedented state visit. Both the Queen, under advisement of her Household, and Starmer had the sense of propriety and decency to dismiss respectively the younger brother of the then heir-apparent and in the latter case the up until very recently the ambassador to the United States as associates of Jeffrey Epstein, who as ombudsman delivered the personal invitation of the King Charles III, so their overall tactic may yet be warranted. Both former friends were denied a place at the banquet table for their relationship with the infamous sex-trafficker and financial fixer, however—rightly so, but it does not seem right that the court might afford Epstein’s best buddy a seat. It’s definitely a risk and a humiliation regardless of the aims, rolling out the red carpet for a charlatan and sex-pest whose empty threats have become merely wearying and something to endure and outlast. Nice that the pageantry is marred at every turn by protests keeping the hosts in line. Exeunt omnes.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronopticæ)

thirteen years ago: Suzanne Vega and the .mp3 plus limits on freedom of expression in Germany

fifteen years ago: side-quests and gamification plus immigration and othering

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 

street where the riches of ages are stowed (12. 418)

Via our peripatetic companion, Messy Nessy Chic, we learn that the iconic anchor antique shop, Alice’s, of the famous fleamarket mile of London’s Portobello Road—the scene sadly a bit diminished in recent years with gentrification—is on the market. The business had been in the same family for three generations and was featured in the original Italian Job movie as well as in the Paddington Bear stories. The property consists not only of the retail space but the maisonette also has a spacious living quarters above. Much more at the links above—anything and everything a chap can unload is sold off the barrow in Portobello Road.

great calamary (12. 396)

Published as literature to educate and to disabuse attendees of the 1883 International Fisheries Exhibition held on the campus of the Royal Horticultural Society in South Kensington, the event running from May to October perhaps not as storied as other Victorian world’s fairs but heretofore attracting the most visitors and exhibitors due to its rather well-apportioned aquaria on a scale never before seen and menagerie of sea birds and marine mammals gathered from all over the Empire. Distributed by the Literary Committee, also charged with documenting the proceedings of the exhibit, the pair of illustrated guides commissioned of one Henry Lee, “sometimes naturalist of the Brighton Aquarium,” were meant to unmask the mythos of the deep by glossing the monsters and fables of the sea and tempering the imagination with scientific reason and technological and exploratory advances that left little room for the leviathans and merfolk. Demonstrating how such encounters could be explained away while expressing concern over less fantastic natural treasures and how our penchant for conquest could be their undoing as well, it’s interesting timing to come across these handbooks as the first documented footage of a colossal squid, a Kraken albeit a baby one, has been captured and shared. More from Public Domain Review at the link above, with an array of fantastical sightings including the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary and barnacle geese.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: oceanic microplastic plus Britain from Above 

eight years ago: leek pasta plus the Turkish expatriate vote

nine years ago: worlds out of balance plus auditory hallucinations

eleven years ago: a night at the opera

listen—strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government, supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony (12. 304)

As the monarch bound by the constitution does not hold political opinion, Charles III has resorted to subtler ways to signal his stance and support, much like his predecessor recently to show solidarity with Canada by wearing his national regalia lately and most recently bestowing a ceremonial sword (see also) to his personal ombudsman and senior protocol officer, the Usher of the Black Rod in the Canadian senate, during an audience with the king. This show of concord comes amid incessant overtures for annexation repeated even during the Quebec hosted G7 conference to reinforce sovereignty as the country’s monarch. Elbows up!

♀ (12. 293)

Courtesy of our faithful chronicler, we learn that on this day in 1914 suffragette and activist Mary Raleigh Richardson walked into the National Gallery and attacked The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velázquez with a meat cleaver in protest of the arrest and incarceration of movement leader Emmeline Pankhurst the day prior. After slashing the canvas, apprehended and sentenced to the maximum allowable for vandalising a work of art of six-months, Richardson issued a statement to the press: “I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the government for destroying Mrs Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history,” her actions further embellished in the papers in violent terms and framed as a callous murder of a actual person—an enduring problem when most female eponyms bestowed on places are not for actual figures but rather goddesses and deifications and more defamed by the omission, see also here and here. Velázquez’ 1651 work, successfully restored after the attack but again vandalised in 2023 by Just Stop Oil activists, was rather singular as one of the few nudes to come out of Spain during the Inquisition (Richardson also objected to the way gentleman gallery-goers leered at the image) and the motif, often copied, gave rise to the psychological, depictive departure known as the Venus Effect (cf, titular planetary symbol) with the goddess contemplating her reflection with back turned to the audience, seeing her face though not directly behind her, the intuitive framing often used in cinema to better frame an actor looking in the mirror.

paydirt (12. 236)

The foundations of the first Roman basilica in London (Londinium) have been unearthed beneath the basement level of an office building scheduled for demolition and redevelopment on Gracechurch street. Much expanded as the conquest of Britain continued through the first century AD, this structure before an open public courtyard would have been the civic centre of the settlement and seat of the administration and judicial and commerce, the public-facing edifice for festivals and announcements. After a series of exploratory excavations, a plan has been developed to create a sublevel access for the archaeological site (see previously), preserving the remains under the high street.