american minerva (12. 071)

Originally founded on this day by lexicographer and text-book publisher Noah Webster under the above name with the extended subtitle Patroness of Peace, Commerce and the Liberal Arts, the daily was NewYork City’s first in circulation. Undergoing a series of rebrandings in its first few years of publication, it finally settled The Commercial Advertiser in 1803. Politically the paper was generally leaning towards support of the nationalist, conservative Federalist Party. A century later in 1904 it was again renamed The New York Globe, defunct with its consolidation in 1923 with the New York Sun, ending its run.

10x10 (12. 070)

willow: Google’s quantum computing labs unveil a new microchip that operates at amazing speeds by being in many states simultaneously  

skin-deep: a look at the tattoos of Defence Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth 

mind-machines: Arthur C Clark (previously) forecasts the rise of artificial intelligence in 1978 

yuletide classics: a treasury of ten great holiday action movies—see also  

saturday night bath in apple valley: Something Weird features the very best in exploitation film from the 1930s through the 1970s—via Obscure Media 

they see your photos: an app that assesses one’s images, opposite to a picture is worth one thousand words  

free syria awaits you: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham enters Damascus as Bashir al-Assad flees to Moscow and political prisoners are freed  

mocha mousse: a defence of Pantone’s colour for 2025—it’s first brown hue  

pratfall: the history of slipping on banana peels—see previously here and here  

undercoat: solar paint developed by Mercedes Benz could revolutionise EV charging

synchronoptica

one year ago: underappreciated cinematic masterworks (with synchronoptica), multifunction gadgets plus The Wicker Man (1973)

seven years ago: prospecting for bitcoin plus transparency in airfare

eight years ago: dinosaur plumage, no memory for sickness, Italy’s efforts to reduce government gridlock and promote efficiency plus assorted links to revisit

nine years ago: an extraordinary Jubilee Year, chain of command plus 3D face masking

ten years ago: lucky charms, visualising the passage of time plus a first, fatal shooting by police in Iceland

ampel aus (12. 067)

The Committee for the German Language (Gesellschaft füe deutsche Sprache—see below) has announced its Wort des Jahres for 2024 as a nod to the collapse of the Red, Yellow, Green party coalition in the government and the call for snap-elections, but there were several other words being monitored as contenders, including Klimaschönfäberei—essentially the German rendering of “green-washing,” kriegstüchtig, war-like, Rechtsdrift, a shift to more conservative and populist politics, die Selbstbestimmung in Bezug auf den Geschlechtseintrag (abbreviated SBGG), a update to the outdated 1980 law on transgender identity enacted in November that allows non-binary individuals to register under a new first name and sex without the bureaucratic onus and Messerverbot, in reference to a few incidents of knife-attacks at public events earlier in the year and the response of authorities.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica), the spelling of Christmas and Hanukkah plus Germany’s Word of the Year

seven years ago: the fraught and racist history of square-dancing, net-neutrality under threat plus a catalogue of spomenik of the former Yugoslavia

nine years ago: a real world copy of the Simpsons’ home

ten years ago: the historical Snow White plus the History of the World in 100 Objects 

eleven years ago: decorating for Christmas, spies in the skies plus the languages of Switzerland

 

9x9 (12. 057)

globetrotter—more like globetriggered: a wrap of 2024 in therapy  

new doge, old tricks: Musk and Ramaswamy present their plan to rapture three-quarters of the government workforce but it’s going to be a challenge to achieve real cost-cutting or improved efficiency  

vote de censure: French government collapses after legislature moves to eject controversial prime minister Michel Barnier—see previously 

field of vision: the challenges of bringing the Vera Ruben perched high in the Andes on online includes unidentified intelligence agencies screening images before they are released to the public  

my empathy is out of network: Americas respond to the assassination of a major medical insurance CEO  

ekistical portrait: Rob Stephenson is documenting all the three hundred and fifty neighbourhoods of New York City’s five boroughs—via Kottke  

what just happened: South Korea’s declaration of marshal law, parliament’s rejection and the ongoing political crisis  

stonks: Bitcoin just hit $100 000 a piece  

hot topic: the year in Wikipedia, recent celebrity deaths topped the list again

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the Michelob Music Hour (with synchronoptica) plus modern art presented as a fun-fair

seven years ago: noisy GIFs, assorted links worth the revisit plus 52 more things

eight years ago: the origins of Play-Doh

nine years ago: red cup controversy, a trip to Rosenau plus our faithful chronicler

ten years ago: troublesome ideas in the marketplace plus an A-ha! reunion concert

10x10 (12. 049)

strapline: Cory Doctorow’s review of books for 2024  

week-by-week: Tom Whitwell’s gleanings from the past year—see previously—via Kottke 

bad precedent: the power of the pardon was never meant to condone crime 

the birthday paradox: illustrating the veridicality of coincidence—via Quantum of Sollazzo  

a boring roundup: a look at geotechnical investigations and advances in harnessing the Earth’s internal energy  

whamhalla: why Germans love and hate Last Christmas—see also  

the travelling salesman problem: a new Geotripper challenge to find the optimal route to take to a number of cities and return to the point of origin  

press-gang: Moscow authorities raid popular night clubs, seemingly detaining hundreds of men to draft for the war effort 

take time—it’s brief: one hundred superlative photos of the past twelve month—via Memo of the Air  

anthology: Lit Hub’s poetry recommendations for the year

font speciment (12. 048)

A kind of hot metal typesetting used for letterpress printing, the Ludlow Typograph issued a font catalogue in 1958—pictured a gallery of fourth edition scalable patterns to supplement their available collection of typefaces and font families. Metal slugs are cast by the system, melted down and recycled in a cauldron in situ—preferable to some printing operations, as opposed to Linotype, as it was smaller and more affordable and always had fresh matrices for a run without worrying about running out of any given sorts. Though not made since the late 1960s when printing press technologies changed, the company estimates around sixteen thousand models were still in operations around the world, and replacement parts still being produced. See a video of one of the machines at work and many more type samplers at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a gallery of visual anagrams (with synchronoptica) plus the coronation of Napoleon and Joséphine

seven years ago: alternating tread stairwells plus assorted links to revisit

eight years ago: Basil Brush endangered, rampant post-factual disinformation, hybrid cigarettes plus a plant leverages physics

nine years ago: Kraftwerk in concert

ten years ago: fossilised phrases in English Christmas songs

8x8 (12. 033)

this is all i’m asking for: Mariah Carey’s ubiquitous Christmas song in the style of classical composers  

anti-slapp legislation: lawmakers rush to protect journalist and protesters from nuisance lawsuits before Trump takes office  

🍭: experimental lickable devices extend augmented reality—see previously  

don’t bring your zombies to work: ULCA student creates an escape room in their dormitory  

the federation of damanhur: a spiritual commune outside of Turin constructed a spectacular network of secret underground temples in the 1970s, uncovered and protected, despite their illegal building, in 1992  

all delicious mac & cheese recipes are alike; each gross mac & cheese recipe is gross in its own way: a dish from Leo Tolstoy—aka, Mac & Peace—via Kottke  

11 bizarre things the US government actually spent money on: Musk’s mandate to increase efficiency does not add up, is sourced from a Readers’ Digest listicle 

anitra’s dance: quilts inspired by the music of Peer Gynt—see previously—via MetaFilter

8x8 (12. 025)

the mccallisters: Maculay Culkin digitally inserted in other Christmas movies by the Brothers Bell—via Waxy  

to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news: what a second Trump term means for journalism—see previously  

predatory pricing: Elizabeth Warren calls out industry over .com domains  

firehose: Bluesky posts as they happen 

this hour has twenty-two minutes: US national coding lessons have the look of extended commercial advertising  

walk right in—it’s a round back, just a half a mile from the railroad track: the title figure of the seasonal Arlo Guthrie song, Alice Brock, has passed away, aged 83 

life with grandpa: an unsettling example of perverse puppetry from the cult The Family International  

holidays are coming: Coca-Colas’s AI commercial spot improved—via Web Curios

consul junior (12. 023)

Via Friend of the Blog par excellence Nag on the Lake, we are introduced to the esteemed French-Russian surgeon, Serge Voronoff (see also, though we were hoping they were one in the same personage) who gained international fame for his xenotransplantation experiments (see previously) as a meanings of restoring virility and vitality by grafting simian glands onto human recipients. Controversial and subsequently debunked as quackery, Voronoff’s practise and outrageous claims made him very wealthy—initially he moved from research on the thyroid to transplanting testes from executed criminals onto millionaire clients but soon demand surpassed donors and the doctor turned to using chimpanzee (see above) tissue instead. We learn about this work, which has echoes of modern rejuvenation movements and seemingly similarly ill-informed courtesy of a defiant letter to the editor penned by playwright George Bernard Shaw in May 1928 on behalf of the titular London’s Regent’s Park zoo’s most famous resident of the monkey house, not keen on donating—ahead of Voronoff’s much-anticipated visit to the UK in response to detractors maintaining that the implantation would cause humans to take on the baser attributes of their close relative—as read by Andy Serkis (previously—here’s an alternate source as the original link has been sadly zombified by AI slop)—Golem and Caesar from Planet of the Apes.

11x11 (12. 020)

enemy of the people: veteran journalists expect Trump to go after the press by every possible means  

net elevation: calculate the differential between the birth place and the death place of the good and the great—via Waxy 

panda diplomacy: Russia donates seventy animals to North Korean zoo with a plane sanctioned by the US normally dispatched to Syria—via Super Punch

jellyfish dream theatre: a visit to the Kamo Aquarium in Yamagata prefecture, home to the largest collection of medusazoa 

cryptobro: investigating undisclosed financial interest in various schemes, BBC trolled by Paul Logan impersonator 

icc: the International Criminal Court has issued warrants for the Israeli president, former defence secretary and Hamas’ military leader on charges of war crimes  

ai pimping: the growing industry of machine-generated influences  

exclusive gladiator experience: AirBNB’s booking at the Colosseum incites outrage  

test-fire: in response to strikes with Western missile systems, Putin orders the firing of experimental hyper-sonic armament deep into Ukraine  

allotted to companionship: a look at how a certain demographic spent their time in the 1930s as compared to today—via tmn  

grim meat-hook future: resistance to Trump’s authoritarian regime could result in a military coup—read the comments

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus a lost demo tape rediscovered decades later

seven years ago: endangered elements plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: more fun with shadows plus Eigengrau and colour perception

nine years ago: Alan Moore’s Star Wars

ten years ago: ransomware plus dialect and distinction

day 1000 (12. 015)

Addressing a special session of the EU parliament to mark a thousand days since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Europe to “push harder” against Putin’s aggression, adding that Russian resources, will and patience was not inexhaustible and there comes a breaking point and have to pursue a “just peace.” The speech and grim milestone come a day after Joe Biden lifted sanctions on the use of US-supplied long-range missile systems outside of Ukraine’s own borders, the approval following incursions into the Kursk region and the expected response by Russian and North Korean troops.

america’s finest news source (12. 000)

Actually not an article from The Onion—the satirical news outlet, we learn via Ernie Smith from Tedium, has bought the domain of Alex Jones’ Infowars during a bankruptcy auction with plans to relaunch it as a parody of itself to lampoon internet personalities starved for attention who peddle in misinformation, conspiracy theories and snakeoil. The sale (with sponsorship from a major gun safety advocacy group, see also) was sanctioned by families of the victims of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, whom won a billion dollar defamation suit against Jones for spreading the revolting lie that the tragic event (which keeps happening as per the evergreen headline of the publication, ‘No Way to Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens) was staged as ploy for the US government to strip Americans of their vaunted second amendment rights.

living insignia (11. 989)

Tasked by the editor of the San Francisco Examiner, one William Randolph Hearst, with finding, photographing and capturing alive a wild grizzly—believed to be extinct in California—reporter Allen Kelly went on a several months long expedition in the San Gabriel Mountains and eventually detected a large bear, later called Monarch, that they lured into a trap baited with honey and mutton. Becoming the last of his kind in captivity, Monarch was transported by livery to the city and presented to the public for the first time in his grotto at Woodward’s Gardens (later in Golden Gate Park) on this day in 1889. Surviving the devastating 1906 earthquake, the bear became a symbol of strength and reward and prominently displayed as San Francisco recovered and rebuilt, prompting the revision of the state flag (Ursus arctos horribilis—the name garnered a bad reputation for the creatures that were mostly herbivores and posed little threat to people or livestock—had been the California state animal and depicted already on earlier designs of the banner) to immortalise the bear. Euthanised at a very advanced age in 1911, Monarch’s taxidermied body is on display, maintained by the California Academy of Sciences.

ampelkoaltion (11. 978)

In a press conference, German chancellor Scholtz dismissed his Finance Minster Christian Linder (of the pro-business, laissez-faire Free Democrats—FDP, the yellow party, forming a coalition government along with the SPD—Social Democrats, red, and the Green Party) for being impossible to work with and hindering reforms meant to jump-start the country’s flagging economy, depressed by inflation and the war in Ukraine. Visibly upset and unable to contain his frustration, Scholtz’ made his decision despite appeals for the governing group to remain resolute and unified in the face of Trump’s re-election and will lead to a confidence vote as early as mid-January with the possibility of snap elections in March.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: Enceladus, an exoplanet from 1917, US weapons sales plus Berlin’s beer brush tower

nine years ago: experiencing the forest as animals do, Frtiz Haber’s dreadful excellence plus how blood influences the brain

ten years ago: the fall of the Berlin Wall plus more linguistic studies

twelve years ago: Obama reelected plus more arithromania

your terror is the hallmark of a functional state and nausea us the most civic emotion (11. 974)

McSweeney’s contributors have a selection of postings for US election day, finally arrived after a seemingly endless and surprising campaign which may still be far from over. There’s the usual advice columns and election day bingo plus this list of “I voted” stickers for voters outside of the narrow band of battleground precincts that have been receiving all the coverage and overtures by dint of America’s electoral college system and minoritarian rule. We’re sure they’ll be updates through the day.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica), WoTY: AI plus The Sinister Urge

seven years ago: imaginative play

eight years ago: more links to enjoy plus election influence peddling

nine years ago: Hilbert Hotels, Rasputin’s daughter plus esoteric influences in aerospace

ten years ago: theorising language families, circadian rhythms plus urban algae

if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same (11. 947)

This is premium advice from Better Living through Beowulf. Though I did cancel our subscription over the decision for a non-endorsement and this is no apologetic for the owner’s behaviour, we could be swayed to rejoin by one disappointed but not defeated columnist’s argument that cites not only the accolades that the publication has been awarded and the as yet relative newsroom independence that the paper has enjoyed (the agnostic Bezos is no Musk and the Washington Post is no vanity project) but also the stoical 1895 poem “If—” by Rudyard Kipling—not only as a stance and signal for freedom of the press but moreover a way to combat election anxiety:

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
    And stoop and ‘em up with worn-out tools…

“If you can keep your head when all about you  /  Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,” recalls those above false councillors are not the ultimate arbiters and no victory or defeat is ever final; the struggle goes on and we have work to do.

extra, extra (11. 944)

Headlines covering a statement delivered the evening before by US president Gerald Ford pledging to veto any federal aid for New York City to save it from bankruptcy, The Daily News, as we are informed by our faithful chronicler, lead with the front page story on this day in 1975 for its morning edition. Though Ford never said this line (the paper is known for its pithy and blunt copy), the sentiment was there and made a lasting impression among business and political leaders, demanding that the city make austere cuts to social programmes, raising transit fares and abolishing rent-controls in exchange for nationalising municipal debt. Two months later, Ford relented and gave New York loans, to be repaid with interest. Like Marie Antoinette (who never said “Let them eat cake”), Ford was haunted by this infamous misquotation (and unlike the Trump campaign that actually has said all the taunts, slurs and insults imaginable but will hopefully met the same indecorous fate) with career-ending consequences one year later, New Yorkers remembering, when the state pivoted narrowly to elect Jimmy Carter.

non-endorsement (11. 933)

Following on from the decision of The Los Angeles Times not to support the Harris-Walz ticket for the US presidential election, ostensibly owing to the newspaper’s billionaire surgeon’s possible appointment as a health care reform tsar in a second Trump administration, Jeff Bezos has reportedly killed the notion of his media outlet taking any stance in the vote, despite the Washington Post’s rigorous reporting on Trump’s misdeeds and Trump’s exposing Bezos’ infidelity that led to the breakup of his marriage—again owing to government contracts that Amazon holds. Meanwhile Trump himself pretended to work as a fry-cook for a staged event (see previously) at a closed-to-the-public fast-food franchise—we guess to rebuke his opponent’s bona fides for having worked there as a teenager and show he can do the same—while McDonald’s has backed away from the stunt, maintaining they are “golden,” not Red or Blue. While political endorsements are not necessarily a hallmark of journalistic independence, this suppression certainly does speak to the integrity of management and interference with the editorial board and how the spoils system is subject to intimidation. PfRC is certainly backing Kamala.

synchronoptica

one year ago: artist Robert Martiensen (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting, a petroleum tapestry plus location-based podcasts

seven years ago: the osage orange plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: the Vatican on last rites

nine years ago: The Sea Devil Raids America, even more links plus tensions in the South China Sea

ten years ago: charting languages, a dive from space plus matchbook collecting

winner, winner chicken dinner (11. 922)

Calling the sweepstakes a means to “maximise awareness of our petition to support the Constitution,” the world’s richest man and ardent Trump supporter, Elon Musk, has founded a political action committee (PAC) that is awarding a prize of one-million dollars to a random signatory, pledging to upload the US founding document’s first two amendments, freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, each night until the election. Awardees must also live in crucial swing-districts, like Pennsylvania, which may decide an election essentially in a dead-heat between the two candidates, and be registered to vote—potentially in violation of federal voting laws as coercion with a financial incentive—but no one at the townhall seemed too concerned about statue or norms. Musk, whom holds several multibillion dollar contracts with US government agencies, has had an overture from the campaign to take a grace-and-favour within the administration as a sort of cost-cutting tsar under the executive branch.

pseudo event (11. 910)

Planned, planted or incited—and retroactively described as the above or more commonly as a media event by Marshal McLuhan and others, the first in the history of a US presidential campaign occurred on this day in 1924, conceived by master propagandist and public-relations pioneer Edward Bernays, in the form of a breakfast at the White House hosted by incumbent Calvin Coolidge attended by a retinue of Broadway luminaries. Considered rather groundbreaking to stage a “non-event” to improve a politician’s public image (Coolidge was considered dour and retreating, nicknamed “Silent Cal” by association with celebrities), Coolidge was re-elected for a first full-term in his own right eighteen days later, having succeeded to the presidency in August of the previous year due to the sudden death of Warren G Harding.