Released on this date in 1985, introduced at a gala held at Lincoln Center in New York City by Andy Warhol (see also) and Debbie Harry, but not widely available to the public until the following year due to production and distribution difficulties by Commodore International, the first personal computer of the Amiga series was powerful day standards of the day and featured a preemptive multitasking operating system that allowed it process high quality graphics and sounds, including a text-to-speech library and voice input/output, without degrading performance. The innovative model was especially well received by the gaming community and visual artists.
Tuesday 23 July 2024
a1000 (11. 713)
Monday 22 July 2024
tron/troff (11. 710)
Via Slashdot, we are directed towards a reflective essay from Harvard Computer Science professor Harry R Lewis, whom taught both Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, positing the two enduring lessons of technology: be careful what you ask them for and it can be hard to tell what they are doing. Gleaned already back in the mid- to late-1960s when electromechanical computers were far from inscrutable, prior to miniaturisation of circuits, Lewis, through switches and dials, learned how to listen to machines to not only diagnose problems but also, with careful attention (see also), to know if a programme was going to deliver reliable results and goes on to address the doubly blackboxed array of algorithms and lickspittle mimicry of artificial intelligence by never bypassing human judgment from the parameters and recognising that the humanities don’t provide ready answers but rather better informed questions and lines of inquiry.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Mary Magdalen (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: assorted links worth revisiting, a challenging diplomatic mission plus a history of ink
eleven years ago: a toy drone
fourteen years ago: a storied Berlin discothek plus a Bulli cake
Friday 19 July 2024
7x7 (11. 702)
drake’s equation: a reevaluation of the cosmic amenities we take for granted suggests that alien life might be exceedingly rare—via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links
now the chips are down: the archive of the BBC’s Computer Literacy Project—see previously—via Web Curios
sunnyside up: a supercut of the best egg scenes in cinema
duckmaster: a luxury hotel’s waterfowl tradition
crickets: how the chirping of the insect came to be synonymous with “a conspicuous silence”—via Strange Company
blue screen of death: transportation, media outlets and health care disrupted by largest IT outage yet, exposing the fragility of our digital infrastructure—essentially what the y2k patch worked against
star-studded: the shortlist revealed for Royal Greenwich Museum’s astronomy photographer of the year
synchronoptica
one year ago: a banger from Genesis (with synchronoptica), the UK 1881 census plus assorted links worth revisiting
seven years ago: a zombie emoji, an engraved dinner knife, a gameified office, the woman’s signature on the US Declaration of Independence plus a stop-motion fairy-tale
nine years ago: Syncro-Vox animation
fourteen years ago: the landscape of Top Secret America plus an inspired preoccupation with rockets
Sunday 14 July 2024
no responsive documents (11. 692)
Our friends at Muckrock (previously) have successfully through a FOIA petition to the US National Security Agency to locate a historic lecture delivered by computing pioneer Admiral Grace Hopper, authoring COBOL as a demonstration of a machine independent high-level programming language, at the intelligence agency’s Fort Meade headquarters. The NSA, however, is refusing to release the 1982 recording from its archives, preserved on an AMPEX video tape reel, because it has no equipment capable of making a copy. Although not an unsolvable problem, particularly for one of the most powerful and well-connected spy agencies in the world, and the Freedom of Information Action cannot require the records-holding entity to obtain hardware to access outdated file formats, it does speak to the problems of obsolete technology and our coming digital dark ages.
Friday 12 July 2024
7x7 (11. 684)
fernwood 2 night: Martin Mull (RIP) interviews Tom Waits on first talk show satire
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-57A3PGXqDSM/XoiIfP3oMpI/AAAAAAAAkR4/qA_HnXYIZqMbXibv9FV6qZJoK1zIbn8VACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/best-copy-availiable.jpg)
alberta bound: the Great Canadian Song Map—via Web Curios
tropic of cancer: some of the US falls outside of NATO’s geographic scope—see also
moved permanently: North American telephone area codes that are also HTTP response headers—see previously—via Kottke
shelley’s heart: Charles McCarry’s eerily prescient 1995 political thriller
now benson, i’m going to have to turn you into a dog for a while: Taika Waititi is serialising Terry Gilliams’s 1981 Time Bandits for television
Thursday 11 July 2024
splogoverse (11. 681)
Having previously tracked how that the zombification of dormant domains followed the cannibalisation of the oldweb and general enshittification as squats for AI-generated slop, we gave a close reading to this account involving the purchase of a long-abandoned URL of a mainly print newsletter that once hosted their contributions in order to spare their by-line from the indignity visited upon many legacy websites, coopted by prolific impostors for name-recognition (like Red Lobster being private-equitied). Like the above cannibalisation—which seems rather tame in comparison—archived content (which may be also hosted in parallel by a successor publisher) is lightly edited and updated to make it appear fresh and relevant, at least to search engines and advertisers. More from Tedium at the link above.
catagories: ๐พ, ๐ฅธ, networking and blogging
double-click (11. 680)
Language Log presents an interesting discussion on the latest polarising and overused corporate buzz-word in double-click—as in to focus or drill-down on some matter, which admittedly didn’t at first blush register as a term I’ve heard employed inside or outside the office but then realise that I might just have a blindspot for such phrases—moreover leading to see how quickly technological neologisms are adopted and have staying power, like way English has a whole is peppered with rather fossilised sports metaphors that can have an othering effect for non-native-speakers. Offline (as in a sidebar discussion) and bandwidth (mental capacity) have become pervasive and we use this jargon without noticing it. The article also includes an interview with the inventor of the rapid tap mousing, engineer Bill Atkinson who conceived it for Apple’s Lisa Project back in 1979, who would eschew such talk—buzzwords quickly lose their buzz—and has some regrets about the gesture he designed, thinking that a shift key for computer mice might be more ergonomic and user-friendly.
synchronoptica
one year ago: military weather modification programmes (with synchronoptica), The Specials plus assorted links to revisit
seven years ago: May’s Little England, more model villages and company towns plus a capital ร
nine years ago: the collective amnesia of nationhood plus imagining parallel ecosystems
ten years ago: off to Croatia
eleven years ago: graffiti terminology, images of borders plus a spyware roundup
Wednesday 10 July 2024
stripware (11. 677)
Via Waxy, we enjoyed this look back at the briefly popular method of scanning code from paper from Cauzin Softstrip. A precursor to the modern QR-Code, programmes were printed in bands, highly compressed so encoding wouldn’t take up too much real estate in the periodicals that carried them (see also), most distributing computer games, like this early version of Minesweeper, Othello, Checks, Free Ski, etc. The scanning wand itself was about the size of a baguette and didn’t always produce the right output—and the games themselves in retrospect didn’t quite deliver in terms of play, though the cover art, illustrations and gaming manuals (plus a little imagination) completed the experience. More from Ironic Sans (previously) at the link above.
one year ago:Django Reinhardt’s jazz band (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting
seven years ago: more links to enjoy
nine years ago: even more links to revisit
ten years ago: the linocuts of Edward Bawden
eleven years ago: more public outrage over mass-surveillance
Thursday 20 June 2024
space crone (11. 641)
Via tmn, we are directed to an attempt to better understand the pioneering science-fiction author Ursula K Le Guin (†, previously)—and more generally all writers through their routines, chapbooks and other faded ephemera—and chancing upon her digital demesne in her websites, one curated by her estate and the other archive-only, as reflection of an author’s public-facing persona, from a time when websites took effort and imagination and no standard templates were available or enforced and provides insights how people want to be remembered extra-cannon. More from Dirt contributor Meghna Rao at the link above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: compilation albums (with synchronoptica), more marketing tie-ins for 2001 plus academic SEO
five years ago: the Munker-White optical illusion
six years ago: the Coconut Song, the EU enacts Article 13, electronic assistants for hotel rooms, the US withdraws from the UN Human Rights Council, Canada legalises recreational marijuana use, unique churches in southern India plus reflections on World Refugee Day
seven years ago: assorted links worth revisiting plus the unwritten rules of the English language
eight years ago: sense of direction and handedness plus conserving the historic record in the digital age
Tuesday 18 June 2024
webcollage (11. 638)
Launched on this day in 1999 by Jamie Zawinski (previously), one of the founders of Netscape and Mozilla and advocate for open-source software, the application inserts random noise into image search engines to create a pastiche of pictures—somehow with similar energy—and has been running with surprisingly minimal maintenance (given how much the web has grown since) for a quarter of century, scraping, drawing from various incarnations of internet retrieval tools. It automatically refreshes elements of the composition every minute and is also available as a screen-saver.
9x9 (11. 636)
who is this imposter: AI ruins classic, static reaction memes with animation
๐ฅ: the bygone baguette boxes of French Polynesia—via Messy Nessy Chic
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d0wuwaN20Q4/W3RP_Iq8u8I/AAAAAAAAfNA/weeLOdJpb58EtSlliMtRtMnzGHFkTcxnQCLcBGAs/s320/sickfutre_traffic.gif)
crystal lake: the preponderance of 1980s horror movies set at summer camp
ball & chain: Nag on the Lake shares a special memory from Festival Express, the touring show of Monterey Pop, when the musicians came to Toronto
message in a bottle: the dozen times humans have tried to communicate with extra-terrestrial intelligences—see previously here, here and here
encarta: the short, happy reign of the multimedia CD-ROM as part of Fast Company’s 1994 Week—via Slashdot
casa bonita: a 1974 amusement park restaurant reopens under new management and with a monumental wait-list
surgeon general’s warning: US top doctor urges health notices for social media
synchronoptica
one year ago: an AI’s take on emoji (plus synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting, a human computer plus Adsense (2003)
five years ago: Sweden’s alcohol monopoly, the UK Carbon Brief plus more links to enjoy
six years ago: a Banksy gallery opens, first issue magazine covers, the War of 1812, a space slingshot, more links worth the revisit plus Trump and Merkel
seven years ago: the US withdrawal from the Paris Treaty plus even more links
nine years ago: tobacco introduced to the Old World, more links, Hocus Pocus plus the nobiliary particle
Monday 17 June 2024
al di meola (11. 634)
From an era when instrumental arrangements not only got music videos, but those performance pieces also received air-play, we quite enjoyed this track from jazz fusion guitarist from New Jersey with Italian root’s 1983 album Scenario, with keyboardist Jan Hammer and drummers Bill Bruford and Phil Collins, which gets exponentially weirder and better as the music progresses. The reoccurring drum sample was later incorporated into Hammer’s theme for the television series Miami Vice.
one year ago: NASCAR Pride (with synchronoptica) plus the exorcism of a werewolf demon (1983)
five years ago: the founding of independent Iceland (1944) plus proposals for a euro supplementary currency
six years ago: a day-trip to Frankfurt plus a pair of mythological prodigies
seven years ago: denizens of the deep, RIP Helmut Kohl plus Trump’s chief council
nine years ago: assorted links to revisit plus social networks in China
Sunday 9 June 2024
stack overflow (11. 616)
Courtesy of Waxy, we are directed to the flashy showroom of Terminal Text Effects, a collection of customisable coding scripts to apply to one’s website to create looping pages to assemble, decrypt and crumble content. There are quite a few to choose from and can be configured to match one’s themes and schemes. We especially liked the Burn, Black Hole and Rain routines and will one day learn how incorporate such pre-installs ourself although right now a bit too intermediate for us.
Saturday 11 May 2024
11x11 (11. 552)
syntax error: AI co-pilots are changing the way coders operate
baby lasagne: a preview of Eurovision acts to watch for—see also here and here
spaghettification: a NASA simulation shows what it’s like to be sucked into a Black Hole
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSohPsbboWxuuS5cxjOhtXrAOmybA8aUBYIzFYW4bVGy9VLyZ2TdoJMjcGHpmGIM_2KkgFhF2WKJF2cg1XC6GTVZMXjOYLAt9zshI1HERYlFS_ltPLKFLa1J6VRA4RfN9PxOWksrzSNwUS552_41XNpQJcw8wP6hOQOZXkQiJEIT-_V718ahYE-bX8Gg/s320/vonnegut.gif)
breakfast of champions: the drawings and doodles of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr—see previously
not a shared universe: a meta study on the perceived beliefs of fictional characters regarding other fictional characters
early machinations: development notes on xkcd’s collaborative Rube Goldberg machine, an annual tradition—via Waxy
my colours are blush and bashful, mama: Poseidon’s Underworld rewatches the 1989 star-studded Steel Magnolias
coronal mass ejection: strongest solar storm in two decades lights up the night sky in Europe
hind’s hall: the refreshing and unexpected entrรฉe of Macklemore’s protest rap—see more
syntax error: English being proposed as the new top-level coding language with the ability to articulate one’s wishes (as with a jerk genie) is of utmost importance
one year ago: Sweden passes world first personal data protection law (1973), those omnipresent cafe celebrity murals, a Trump townhall plus Nixon tries to strengthen the powers of the executive branch (1973)
two years ago: assorted links to revisit plus M (1931)
three years ago: more links to enjoy, Cats (1981), more on the Ice Saints plus the revival of night trains
four years ago: St Gangolf plus more links worth the revisit
five years ago: a sleep-over cinema plus a classic from Ottawan (1979)
Wednesday 1 May 2024
beginners’ all-purpose symbolic instruction code (11. 526)
The original version of the general-purpose programming language (see also) developed by Thomas Kurtz and John Kemeny of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire designed in mind to build computer literacy for those outside of speciality fields executed its first code with immediate user-feedback and released after the initial demonstration on this day in 1964. With simpler and more intuitive syntax, the compiler was put into the public domain and immediately spawned several dialects based on terminals’ operating systems and memory constraints and was ideal for porting and inclusion for the growing mini- and microcomputer market for enthusiasts and hobbyists (I can remember being very pleased with some of my programs, however basic) and considered to be the first user-friendly family of high-level languages.
Saturday 27 April 2024
nederlandse verenigning van en voor computer- en tech-liefhebbers (11. 518)
Founded on this day in Leiden in 1977 at the initiative of Dick Barnhoorn, inspired by the success of the 1973 establishment of the Amateur Computer Club by Mike Lord in England, the Hobby Computer Club—modelled off of model train enthusiasts and often caucusing with those sorts of groups, drew individuals together with the goal of creating custom, powerful mainframes and form a software exchange (see also). Though membership is declining and interest in homemade systems is waning to a degree, the association is still active, with irregular meetings, conference, fairs and workshops held across the Netherlands.
Tuesday 16 April 2024
web elements (11. 491)
Via Waxy, we discover a unique time of digital time capsule in this tribute and trove of early 1990s clip art collections (see previously), capturing a snapshot of the decade frozen in time, like contemporary advertising ephemera—which were also informed by the graphic templates in the era before computers when designers had libraries of pre-printed icons at their disposal—showcasing obsolete technologies, vintage fashions and monoculture. More from Benj Edwards’ Vintage Computing and Gaming at the link up top, plus search for yourself, rummaging through the DiscMaster archives.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the Shrug Guy from Wikipedia plus a new notional system
two years ago: a moveable feast
three years ago: assorted links to revisit
four years ago: more found art, St Drogo, hug a tree plus flag mashups
five years ago: AI gives us the answers we want to hear plus Notre Dame in flames
Sunday 7 April 2024
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
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuEhzfr_VfSuQVcV2GYU4nGq7cJEDpV4AQtLLk260aGqPypzxdiWYg7YtNI-KFPKbMz_AAy8Q0X2NyueLpacVvLCGATIE-J2l-4ReQUZpFmOrzSDMqYXXtFU_v4dxidDdr12ipiXlX0YYlnq9pZ6j6UpIRa_v42LDOScd3PBaeAKsPJkMayeekydFdvzk/s1600/compass-tiemnokryskin.gif)
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
Thursday 4 April 2024
9x9 (11. 467)
and palmeres for to seken straunge strondes: the Gentle Author makes a pilgrimage along London’s ancient Black Path
the 2531 sato-san problem: given demographic trends, legal requirements and custom, all Japanese residents could eventually share the same surnamesymphony № 42: animator Rรฉka Busci presents forty-seven ironic vignettes
double doors open, why aren’t i reacting in this shot: a literal video version of Total Eclipse of the Heart—I walk out on a terrace where I think I’m alone, but Arthur Fonzarelli’s got an army of clones
into the butterverse: the variations of the Unicode emoji—via Pasa Bon!
chalcolithic tattooing: a study of รtzi the ice mummy’s body markings on living volunteers—via Super Punch
apiculture: experiments involving social problem-solving suggest that bees have the capacity to pass on learnt experience
not a bug but a feature: a collection of absurd software and end-user errors solved—via Waxy
the society of wood engravers: the art and illustration of carver Harry Brockway—via Things Magazine
synchronoptica
one year ago: New York v Trump plus Finland’s accession to NATO
two years ago: Japanese police boxes plus the Ukrainian roots of world-wide wheat
three years ago: your daily demon: Samigina, Winston Smith makes a diary entry plus the Hildesheimer Dom
four years ago: the flag of Hong Kong (1990), assorted links to revisit plus St Tigernach
five years ago: the founding of NATO (1949), saving the pollinators, the Buttigieg bid for US president plus historic mass transit systems
Wednesday 27 March 2024
9x9 (11. 453)
you are old, father william, the young man said: Better Living Through Beowulf has been applying Lewis Carroll characters to the trials and tribulations of Biden and Trump
gรผneล enerjili santrali: power plant in Turkeyi’s Konya region is straight out of science fiction
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5HzJo-fSGLVfY7cxAPoFL1MZBwxqpnQ6cgInEVhCq11JEzOM5oIdogy7_u4Xsofg1bFquoy5N66X4Ha7Gu_fRu688J8CXh-1eaJ3VtlBiHNbT3-ueKdyPAY3EvidYL01jTVcDUxlL74m3UV44Xhp9ZAQug2jvjOCyRLoBBsT8bZbdDghuATrLPmWx/s320/ruby-slippers.gif)
toto, i don’t think we’re in kansas anymore: the Ruby Slippers theft saga continues
read/write drive: Infinite Macs and making computing history accessible, including an emulation of the original World Wide Web browser—via Waxy
licensed broker: the rise and fall of the professional appellation electragist
fleischer studios: the history and evolution of animation from the phenakistiscope to Pixar
low-vacuum pipeline magnetic levitation technology: a hyperloop test track in the Netherlands
come to jesus moment: Trump attempts to capitalise on Biden’s split with Israeli leadership