happy blogoversary to us—we are fifteen (10. 943)

As PfRC turns fifteen we wanted to once again extend our thanks and gratitude to our readership and to the members of the wider blogosphere (listed under our Smøgåsblog) for their sustainment and inspiration that keeps the internet curious, entertaining, engrossing and engaging.  

Since hitting our last milestone, here’s a roundup of some of our most popular posts with a few honourable mentions:

10. A post on the New York premier of Stravinsky’s Firebird with Marie Tallchief  

9. A growing collection of bad book covers

8. The oldest formal data protection law from the State of Hessen, promulgated in 1970

7. a city map generator with a nice aesthetic

6. the graphic design of Joe and Elinor Selame

5. Street photographer Harold Feinstein

 4. The tyranny of time

3. an AI presents the most popular Halloween candy for each US state

2. an unusual beach house in Baja California

1. The celebration of the Discovery of the True Cross

Honourable mentions go to a claymation short expressing evolving human conscious, a scopitone classic and pie charts to dissect our anxieties

Wishing you all the best for the balance of the year and don’t be a stranger!

synchronoptica

one year ago: our blogging birthday, another Roman holiday, assorted links to revisit plus private equity

two years ago: our thirteenth blogoversary, Nixon takes the US off of the gold standard (1971), the Eternal Word Television Network (1980) plus a modern Euclidean proof

three years ago: high-brow toilet humour,  PfRC turns twelve, more gachapon machines plus a new logo for the beleaguered US postal service

four years ago: Woodstock (1969), a US seafood franchise, our blogging birthday, more on what3words, Japan surrenders (1945) plus the Kölner Dom

five years ago: we turn ten, composer Lalo Schifrin, an architect experiments with public versus private space, plocka uppa plus imagining written English were spoken phonetically

 

content pruning (10. 935)

Via Waxy, we learn that the venerable, global publisher of reviews and news on consumer electronics CNET is culling thousands of older articles in a possibly misguided attempt to improve its SEO rates and game Google search performance. Following developments that the media outlet—like many others—is cutting writing staff and turning increasingly to generative content, CNET believes that it is being penalised in the contemporary web ecosystem by hanging on to dated articles and would better appeal to search-engines by refreshing or deaccessioning “depreciated” stories. Once deemed irrelevant, older content will be no longer live on the site but rather archived and available on the Wayback Machine. Google itself—famously obscure about how the algorithm for optimisation works so one cannot game the results any more than they are by catch-penny operations—recommends against this practise and that of course older articles as a matter of public record have value and any attempts to game a platform that’s just as opaque and inscrutable to its own handlers is probably a losing proposition. Let’s hope that this sort of gamble doesn’t inspire the same from other organisation, putting more pressure on under-supported operations like the Internet Archive or worse yet just jettisoning old stories. We dredge up the old, outdated and cringe-worth on a daily basis and might not be the most relevant or flattering but it’s sometimes an interesting insight into a small part of the Zeitgeist. 

 synchronoptica

one year ago: C’est Chic plus the FBI searches the private residence of Donald Trump

two years ago: Ghostbusters! plus assorted links to revisit 

three years ago: more links to check out, scales of cosmological magnitude plus the start of the Mayan Long Count Calendar

four years ago: Clair the Obscure, the maps of Dan Mills plus lousy souvenirs from ancient times

five years ago: training birds to pick up litter, Vitis vinifera, the Marquess of Anglesey plus Robert G Ingersoll and the Free-Thinkers

 

princess irulan (10. 918)

Serialised previously in Analog magazine, Frank Herbert’s science fiction epic (see tag below for more on the Duniverse franchise) was first published in its complete form on this day in 1965 by Chilton press. Set in a far distant feudal future bereft of technological extensions (thinking machines abolished after they nearly destroy humanity) with the population spread amongst the stars, aristocratic houses vie for control of planetary fiefdoms including the inhospitable desert world of Arrakis—the only source of the psychedelic spice melange which extends life and vitality and opens up the mind to precognition—necessary for piloting heighliners through interstellar space—and is terminally addictive. The story is narrated through chapter epigraphs by historian and the eldest daughter of the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a taxonomical exploration plus an MST3K classic

two years ago: the debut of MTV (1981), hyperinflation, names for the Biblically nameless, more Universal Everything plus a “perfect” pollinator-friendly plant

three years ago: Lammas Day, a new song from deadmau5 plus facial coverings inspired by public transport upholstery

four years ago: a little museum on the Moon, the Swiss federation (1291), an interesting optical illusion plus book-lover tattoos

five years ago: another chatbot meltdown, first directly elected female president (1980), the paradox of good governance, land-use in the USA plus more backyard pollinators

5x5 (10. 917)

scream real loud: Paul Reubens, actor who portrayed Pee-wee Herman has died after a private struggle with cancer

nudge theory: top behavioural science researchers fabricated data about engineering honest responses  

platonic solid: the enduring mystery of Gallo-Roman dodecahedra 

maxwell’s demons: plans to use AI to detoxify speech only dial up the rhetoric

live at the roxy: the 1981 HBO special that introduced the character Pee-wee

synchronoptica 

one year ago: a classic from The Eurhythmics, assorted links to revisit plus an antique celebrity abecedarium

two years ago: a potentially perpetual time crystal, the photography of Lora Webb Nichols, a new Olympic motto includes togetherness, assorted links worth revisiting, vintage internet radio plus David Bowie Halloween costumes

three years ago: more links to check out, China’s moon mission plus a new, smaller batch of emoji

four years ago: more Brexit omnishambles plus reforesting efforts in Ethiopia

five years ago: Franklin Armstrong (1968), more links, an exoplanet survey plus bands as football clubs

chick tracts (10. 914)

99% Invisible turns our attention to a strange and virulent form of evangelising in the form of an oddly collectible and exhaustive series of Christian comics from erstwhile cartoonist and Born-Again Jack Thomas Chick. First published in the 1960s from its headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, California and continuing through to today, this pocket-sized artefact of conservative mainstream Protestant theology that’s become a self-parody veered at times to hate-speech and attacked Catholics, Masons, queer-people, socialists, Communists, drug-users, trick-or-treaters (collect them all!) and denounced non-conformists and non-Christian faiths as devil-worshipping as well as stoking ugly conspiracy theories and paranoia. The back-panel of each tract includes a blank spaces for churches to stamp their name and contact information as well as a bespoke salvation prayer for sinners to recant their ways. More at the links above. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit

two years ago: the Norse goddess Freyja plus recreating classic screen-savers

three years ago: the microcars of Robert Hannoyer, pioneering oceanographer Marie Tharp, special edition Canadian coins,  fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto (RIP), St Hatebrand plus the rich tradition of Japanese souvenirs

four years ago: algorithmically-directed decisions and the architecture of choice, disruptive jewellery plus non-overlapping magisteria

five years ago: Outsider Art from Austria, BBC’s sound archives plus building a Martian base in situ

you will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me (10. 913)

Fêted on this day along with her siblings Lazarus and and Mary (often conflated with Mary Magdalene), Martha of Bethany, patron saint of hospitality workers, domestics and try-hards, is characterised in the Book of Luke as being conscientiously preoccupied with the task of hosting Jesus when he came for a visit.

Both sisters lamenting that had Jesus arrived earlier he might have healed their brother and prevented his death, Martha came out of mourning to receive their guest, while Mary waited and wept for her departed brother. Jesus wept. Moved by Mary’s emotions (whose patronage includes Spiritual Studies), Jesus resurrected Lazarus, restoring him to life after four days dead in a tomb. Later, the siblings hosted Jesus again for a in celebration and gratitude of Lazarus’ return with Mary in the course of the feast anointing the feet of Jesus with an entire vial of expensive perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. Many of the other other disciples were upset by this ostentatious display, especially Judas who argued that this costly albastron represented a year’s wages and could have been sold to benefit the poor—to which Jesus rebutted the above (somewhat confusingly as parables are not always the best didactic tools in one’s quiver) that Mary was saving the perfume for his burial, suggesting that she somehow sensed his imminent capture, trial and execution.  

synchronoptica

one year ago: departing Scotland

 

two years ago: St Olaf,  fighting runaway inflation with video game money, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil plus some philosophical captchas

 

three years ago: a collection of conchs, more Universal Everything, the wedding of Charles and Diana (1981) plus Trump’s medical advisors

 

four years ago: more consequences for America leaving the Universal Postal Union plus a feline fragrance

 

five years ago: the birth of NASA (1958) plus the portfolio of photographer Joshua Blackburn

💎 (10. 909)

Rivalling the Pentagon as the world’s largest office building—having held the title for the past eight decades, the Morphogenesis architecture group announces the completion of its diamond-trading bourse on the outskirts of Surat in Gujarat, a city with a strong, established heritage in the gem-cutting business as well as textile manufacture and other commercial enterprises. Although the six hundred thousand square metre complex which can host nearly seventy thousand professionals is certified as a green building project, one has to wonder about the human and environmental impact that the trade has and what synergy within a hub, campus means for those who work there. More from Dezeen at the link above. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the lochs of Scotland plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: Stevie Nicks’ solo debut (1981), network bumpers, previously unpublished pictures of David Bowie, beckoning cats, more on the inconsistencies of the English language, Avant Garde magazine plus AI generated Tarot cards

three years ago: one of the fourteen Holy Helpers, a iconic cartoon introduction (1940), a growing collection of non-words plus the GIFs of Katy Daft

four years ago: a funeral for a glacier, bee habitats on bus shelters, more on data breaches and lax consequences for compromising personal information plus more vexing vexillology

five years ago: Madonna Madonna, coral bleaching, a commemorative bee coin plus mapping climate change in Europe

you could have an aeroplane flying if you bring your blue sky back (10. 906)

Via our faithful chronicler, we learn that on this day in 1986 Peter Gabriel’s lead single from his fifth studio album So (“In Your Eyes,” “Big Time”) topped the US charts and peaked at number four in the UK, displacing the hit by his former bandmates of Genesis’ as number one. The dance-rock funk fusion was nominated for three Grammy awards and other accolades, including for its artfully crafted music video featuring stop motion animation and modelling clay figures. The backing vocalists are P P Arnold, Chyna Whyne and Dee Lewis. The introductory and closing solo is a synthesised Japanese bamboo flute called a shakuhachi (尺八)—which was a “preset” instrument in many electronic keyboards of the era.

synchronoptica

one year ago: exploring the Inner Hebrides and the Isle of Skye

two years ago:  the history of Home Office, Jesus’ grandmother, the linoleum patterns of Hazel Dell Brown plus “book-drunk”

three years ago: Esperanto Day, the end of segregation in the US armed forces (1948) plus assorted links to revisit

four years ago: the medals for the Tokyo Games will be reclaimed from e-waste, hairball headdresses plus a cute, retired shipping mascot

five years ago: assorted links worth revisiting, a look back at 1988 plus lone trees in fields

bye-bye blue bird (10. 903)

Rebranded as X, Elon Musk who owns the transformed social media platform which he plans to ultimately recreate as an everything-app akin to China’s WeChat, presumably replacing the bird logo across all devices once updates are pushed through, announced that tweets will henceforth be stylised hash marks as well, though the roll-out seems a bit uneven. Calling for submissions, Musk promised he would make the change immediate with a good enough monogram was proposed, and the 𝕏 selected seems to be a decorative insignia from the Monotype foundry’s Special Alphabets 4 font. The choice may prove provisional, however. The original x.com was co-founded by Musk—later rebranded as Paypal after Mush was unceremoniously ousted as CEO.  Though we’d given up on the site some time ago, we’ll still miss our little friend.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: the fall of Stirling Castle (1304) plus the sea cave of Smoo

two years ago: assorted links to revisit,  highbrow smut, a party in a box plus a student animation project that previsions CGI

three years ago: Congresswomen Bela Abzug, St Christina the Astonishing plus El Topo (1970)

four years ago: artefacts and equipment that travelled to the Moon,  the United States v Nixon (1974) plus re-tweet remorse

five years ago: the thagomizer, mapping the brain of a fruit fly plus the god of satire

the magdalene (10. 898)

Fêted on this day as the patron protector of converts, glovers, milliners, perfumeries, apothecaries, penitent sinners and sexual temptation, Mary of Magdala, which gives us the name Madeleine, travelled with Jesus and the apostles and was regarded as the only disciple that truly understood Jesus’ message, garnering the jealousy of Peter and the others—and according to some persistent extra-canonical traditions, the bride of Christ, having journeyed to Gaul to start a family. Her depiction as a reformed prostitution began in the late sixth century with a sermon by Pope Gregory I that conflated an unnamed “Sinful Woman,” later identified as Mary of Bethany, who is deigned to anoint the feet of Jesus, which the Catholic Church didn’t officially dispel until thirteen hundred years later with Pope Paul VI’s calendar reform but has proven another persistent association. Elaborated and romanced during the medieval period through modern times, Mary Magdalen was upheld as a example of redemption, though her popular cult was ignored by authoritative theologians, and it was said that seven demons were exorcised from her which became embodiments of the contemporary idea of the Seven Deadly Sins, and from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance is often depicted as rather hirsute by dent of her newly acquired modesty, iconographically publicly nude (vulgaris meretrix) but not obscured with a fig-leaf or Daryl Hanna Mermaid-style with strategically placed plaits but rather lycanthropically in full body hair (like this painting in Gdańsk or Tilman Riemenschneider’s altar ensemble in Münnerstadt), like the so called ‘feather tights’ affect given to angelic figures, a costume of scales aligned with the fashion and sensibilities of the time. Elevated from a memorial feast to a liturgical one in 2016 by Pope Francis directed Mary Magdalene be hailed as apostolorum apostola, the “Apostle of the apostles.”

synchronoptica 

one year ago: more adventures through the Scottish Highlands, a hit from Take That (1991) plus driving along the North Coast 500

two years ago: Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) 

three years ago: the origins of the depiction of Jesus as a white European

four years ago: and whitey’s on the Moon plus assorted links to revisit

five years ago: the search for Dark Matter, assorted links worth revisiting, on eggccorns and oronyms plus the smell of rain

7x7 (10. 897)

equity: UK’s actors’ union in solidarity with American counterparts in protest

spatula city—where your thirteenth spatula is free: the Weird Al Yankovic (previously) tribute to public-access television premiered this day in 1989—via our faithful chronicler 

litli-hrútur: Icelandic volcano watch  

magical mystery tour: revisiting the ‘lost’ Ashram of the Beatles in the Himalayan foothills

american songbook: Tony Bennett, crooner, Nazi hunter, civil rights champion, RIP—via Super Punch

barbie once commanded the stage with the rockers—now, the last thing she wanted to do was talk: channelling Ernest Hemingway on his birthday to narrate modern happenings  

watership down: disturbing film adaptation given a PG rating after forty-five years of indelible nightmares

  synchronoptica 

one year ago: a concert to commemorate the Fall of the Berlin Wall plus more adventures in Scotland

two years ago: the experimental nuclear cruise ship NS Savanna, the Scopes Monkey Trial plus Sweden’s Bohus Fortress

three years ago: more on The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World plus some scream therapy in Iceland

four years ago: Japan’s broadcast daily constitutional

hrólfr (10. 896)

Following his uncertain defeat on this day in 911 in the Siege of Chartres, the Viking leader Rollo entered into negotiations with Frankish king Charles III, called the Simple (Carolus Simplex) and despite his loss in battle, as a result of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, discussed in person between the two figures was granted the Duchy of Normandy, having rejected the offer of Flanders as uncultivable, and the king’s daughter Princess Gisela in exchange for Rollo’s oath of fealty and conversion to Christianity—plus protection from general Viking brigandry as well as agreeing to halt his own raids—see also. As the first duke of the realm, his immediate heirs, William Longsword (Guillaume Longue-Épée) and Richard I, Sans-Peur established Normandy as a formidable principality and his great-great-great grandson, one William the Conquerer, went on to found the Angevin and Plantagenet dynasties.

synchronoptica  

one year ago: a special cocktail to celebrate the lunar landing plus visiting Aberdeenshire

two years ago: more adventures in Sweden

three years ago: St Wilgefortis

four years ago: the abstract art of Fritz Glarner, Viking I on Mars (1976),  Operation Valkyrie (1944) plus the Apollo landing (1969)

five years ago: more on the American gun cult, Radio Free Europe, a poorly executed extinction bell that’s somehow apt, a remixed School House Rock! for turbulent times plus on in-fixes and tmesis

she has a built in ability to take everything she sees (10. 893)

On this day in 1986, the lead single from the eponymous thirteenth studio album (also including “Tonight, Tonight” and “The Land of Confusion”) from Genesis topped the charts in the US with former band member Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer at number two. The lead singer’s decision to leave for a solo career a decade prior caused Phil Collins, drummer, to take over the role.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a ferry from Amsterdam to England, the 1980 Summer Games plus crossing into Scotland

two years ago: the island of Vindön

three years ago: the Upping of the Swans plus a drive through the Rhön

four years ago: the 1981 G7 summit, aria infuriate plus a new adaptation of Cats

five years ago: assorted links worth revisiting

which almost always means an arrest and indictment (10. 892)

Donald Trump announced in a post (and fund-raising appeal) on his platform Truth Social that special counsel Jack Smith informed him that he was the subject of the investigation, uncorroborated, though if true according to the former US president’s characterisation it would represent the third charge rising to the threshold of criminal offences and perhaps the most consequential after falsifying business records to cover up hush money and mishandling classified documents with the suggestion he is the ‘target’ of the January 6th grand jury investigation. Though not confirmed by the prosecution—having repeatedly cited Trump for public comment regarding ongoing matters, a range of recommended filings emerged this past December including conspiracy in support of false statements, aiding and abetting an insurrection, obstruction of official business and attempts to defraud United States—the latter two specifically in attempts to overturn election results with frivolous, costly and disproven demands for recounts which have exhausted party coffers in several polities.

synchronoptica 

two years ago: your daily demon: Naberus, Castle Läckö plus a gallery of pets through the looking-glass

three years ago: Trump and paramilitary organisations, “Obloquy to most men is more painful than death,” plus more on corporate sing-a-longs

four years ago: les Horrible Cernettes, the first image on the world-wide-web, West Germany’s film rating scale (1949) plus the unrelenting assaults on rights and decency from Trump

five years ago: “they are an aggressive people” plus the sophisti-pop genre

batter my heart, three-person’d god (10. 889)

The first demonstration resulting from the Manhattan Project, a race to harness the destructive power of a nuclear weapon—the allied US and Great Britain urged to master the technology before fascist powers, Trinity, occurred on this day in 1945, the test carried out in the Jornada del Muerto desert in New Mexico, using the only pre-existing structures in the area as a laboratory to study the effects of “the Gadget,” the McDonald family ranch requisitioned by the American government and also where bomb components were assembled. J Robert Oppenheimer recalls that the project’s code name was inspired by the poetry of John Donne and of witnessing the dread blast with a retinue of some four-hundred fifty scientists and military observers that a parallel verse from the Bhagavad Gita also came to mind, knowing the world would not be the same and narrating the feelings of the awe-struck, the hysterical and inconsolable, thought of Vishnu’s attempt to persuade Prince Arjuna to perform his duty and overcome his moral dilemmas in a state of war and appeared before him in the aspect of his universal form, announcing, “Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.” A near copy of the bomb was detonated in August over Nagasaki.

esprit d’corps (10. 887)

While problematically exclusively white and male with militaristic overtones, we enjoyed looking through this workwear catalogue in a classic instalment of the Daily Heller from the George Master Garment Corporation dated 1951—reflective of the post-war ideal of reintegrating soldiers into the civilian workforce. Whilst perhaps not as finely tailored and mass-produced, many trades in Germany still keep to a professional uniform (not to say it hasn’t become more relaxed and informal here too) provided by the company or guild, especially for manufacturing and construction, usually in the form of a monogrammed jumpsuit.  More from Print magazine at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the flag of Estonia plus assorted links worth revisiting

two years ago: Askersund, Sweden and adventures in Värmland

three years ago: Disney’s pandemic reopening plus more links to revisit 

four years ago: a celebration of usual holidays, the Space Race was meant to be a call for international cooperation plus farewell to an iconic sign

five years ago:  Breakthrough Starshot, Trump and Putin meet plus the TV advertisements of David Lynch

international commission on stratigraphy (10. 875)

Putting the hubris and destructive nature of humanity on the same level as the meteor impact that wiped out the dinosaurs—after a fashion—which began the Cenozoic Era some sixty-six million years ago, a working group of scientists have chosen a representative Gold Spike (see previously) as a marker to symbolise the start of the Anthropocene Epoch in the sinkhole Lake Crawford in Ontario. Though overwhelming evidence abounds of humans’ negative impact on the environment from ocean plastics, the supersaturated, warming atmosphere, mass-extinctions, in particular this body of water that ought to be pristine and far removed (see above) shows exponential increases in impurities the early 1950s on, documenting nuclear tests and fertilisers and mining-runoff polluting waterways. Researchers are gauging Plutonium fallout in the silt and sediment (a faithful though frightening annual record) the lakebed as a sign of the start of the epoch and is expected to mark the beginning of a new, dread and disruptive geological time period.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: Saint Veronica plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago:  In the Year 2525

three years ago:  the end of a politically independent judiciary in the US plus a double-duty face mask

four years ago: a creative video for Kate Bush’s Running Up that Hill, protests in Hong Kong plus the pitfalls of self-assessments

five years ago: predictive policing,  The Americans and Operation Ghost Stories, generative Tarot cards plus Trump’s plan for stacking judges

quintette du hot club de france (10. 870)

The influential jazz ensemble, often billed with the abbreviated name QdHCdF, founded by Belgian Romani guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappeli in 1934 had already established their promenance through a series of international tours but thanks to their engagement and debut this night in 1937 at the venue of La Grosse Pomme in Montmartre, a nightclub opened by Harlem Renaissance singer Adelaide Nicole Hall and her husband Bert Hicks, as the house-band, we have recordings of many of their titles and the group was afforded the chance to expand their repertoire.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Escape from New York (1981) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: the equal sign (1557), “Afternoon Delight” (1976) plus a visit to Ystad, Sweden

three years ago: more adventures along the Moselle plus a campsite unter dem Burgen

four years ago: EU ombudsman excluded from diplomatic talks

five years ago: highlighting overlooked women in politics and the sciences, EU entertains the idea of getting rid of day light saving time plus assorted links worth the revisit

6x6 (10. 869)

kherson herbarium: botanists risked their lives in war-torn Ukraine to save a unique plant collection—see also  

public access: cute stuffed animals jam to vintage records at Otto’s Shrunken Head Tiki Bar & Lounge  

mctrains: a look at the fast food giant’s failed ventures 

föhnkrankheit: alpine downdrafts attributed to outbreaks of madness—via Strange Company  

msg sphere: a colossal orb covers an events venue in Las Vegas  

weedwork: a tour of the first cannabis coworking space in New York City

synchronoptica 

one year ago: Tron (1982), the first animated adaptation of The Hobbit, Chroegraphy for Copy Machine (1991), the Charles Bridge of Prague (1357) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: past life regression for pets, the presidency of Millard Fillmore plus transiting through Denmark

three years ago: more adventures along the Moselle plus independence for the Republic of Palau (1981)

four years ago: electromagnetic pulse experiments (1961) plus the minimal republics of Rubén Martín de Lucas

five years ago: spider ballooning, salterns from above, the Brexit Bulldog resigns plus artist Joshua Reynolds

 

😎 (10. 865)

Owing to the population distribution of the Earth (fewer people live at the North Pole so after the June solstice once the Sun has slipped a bit further south toward the more populous equator), the different definitions of sunrise, sunset and twilight—civilian, nautical and astronomical and the underestimated size (half the globe) of the Pacific Ocean, on 8 July annually about ninety-nine percent of the people of Earth will be under the sun, experiencing daylight after a fashion at the same time. Despite the two hemisphere and the progression of the seasons, during the northern summer, this sunny side phenomenon can occur for a couple of minutes each day from mid-May through mid-July—charted out after some fact-checking on what seemed like an outrageous but somewhat true internet claim, and while it might be a bit more intriguing to have found it a singular instance on the calendar when only one percent of the world’s population was (temporary—Oceana and Baja California still get their daylight hours, just after the rest of the world’s dusk and dawn), it’s even more remarkable that it happens over a span of sixty days.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: the Roswell Incident (1947), more on the Trolley Problem plus the animations of Sam Lyon

two years ago: your daily demon: Ipos, a hierarchy of merfolk, uncombable hair syndrome, top-selling albums (1958) plus the death of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1822)

three years ago: St Kilian and companions, more adventures in Moselle wine country plus the fortifications of the upper Moselle valley

five years ago: a treasury of southwest Native American folktales, the colossal art of Thrashbird plus the street photography collection of Barry L Gfeller

six years ago: a trove of historical data uncovered in teletext pages, the Hamburg G20 plus taking action against contrived obsolescence