wherewiki (12. 966)

Courtesy of the always fascinating Maps Mania that delivers a new and novel way of embarking on a wiki-walk (see previously) by using data-visualisations overlays to plot rabbit holes in a given vicinity on a broad (or narrow) subject of one’s choosing. The vectors, nodes and pin-drops represent a search of “Art Nouveau” based roughly on our location and is charting out some locations and connections that I’ve never cobbled together straying off topic in some research. Not intended as a replacement for the serendipity of wandering from link to link, this one-off project realised after eight years of work is put out there with all its faults and false-leads with automated up-keep (it’s outstanding to consider the debt AI owes to an effort like Wikipedia and it’s nice when it can return the favour) as a point of departure for one’s own spelunking. Let us know what you get drawn into? We’ll send out the dogs if we don’t hear back.

gini coefficient (12. 949)

Via the ever-marvellous Nag on the Lake, we are treated to a rather interesting and thorough comparison of Gross Domestic Product per capita and purchasing power parity of nations richer and poorer than the United States in 1980 (a rather unique instant in time given the 1979 Oil Crisis) versus how they are faring relative to today. 

 Of course a lot of things occurred over the intervening decades that factor into the changes and reversals, like with the benchmark of Germany of then and now but is nonetheless a revealing look at the geopolitics of economies and invites one to fill in the gaps between these snap-shots.

13x13 (12. 845)

norwalk platform: architect Jackie Ferrara ends her life, aged 95  

antedating: lexicographers talks lexicography through canonical form  

spoiler alert—some counties pronounce it as rhyming with stone: further exploration on British toponymy

index of multiple deprivation: UK office of government statistics releases its deciles of the most under-served  

willy and the poor boys: Creedance Clearwater Revival (previously) released their third studio album on this day in 1969 

loss-leader: an image editing tool on par with Adobe makes itself freely available to appeal to non-professionals  

holy war: Trump readies troops for action in Nigeria to protect Christian popular despite a paucity of evidence for persecution 

perfectly al dente: a research roundup of scientific investigations nearly overlooked 

body horror: biopolitics, the body politic and David Cronenberg  

police brutality: Sting and company release their debut album Outlandos on this day in 1978 

county stripes: visualising US demographics and distribution—see also 

anthimeria: the verbification of mystery writers—see previously 

first woman of fluxus: Alison Knowles passes away, aged 92—see more, see also

the farthest shore (12. 828)

As for other authors of the genre, the business of world building is a key first step, and no exception for godmother of high fantasy-fiction Ursula K LeGuin (previously here and here) who meticulously charted out her complex, layered narratives before populating them with her characters. Along the same lines as Le Guin’s pithy quote about how people who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by them—“from within”—mapping out her domains has an immediate impact: “I saw and named Earthsea and all its islands. I knew almost nothing about the but I knew their names. In the name is magic.” More on the exhibition from Hyperallergic at the link above.

7x7 (12. 816)

east wing: for a nation that’s precious about conserving its precious little history, there’s not much outcry over Trump’s extensive remodel of the People’s House—see more  

west bank: US vice president and secretary of state angry over a bill advanced in the Knesset to annex the larger of the two Palestinian territories against Trump’s twenty-point plan  

parallax view: a glasses-free three-dimensional mapping demonstration 

fairytale of new york: a tribute to the recently departed Alfa-Betty Olson and her Sin City Fables  

schleicher’s pie: revisiting the constructed Proto Indo-European apologue—see previously  

yerkökü və çubuq: Russo-American summit in Budapest is cancelled and a raft of new sanctions are imposed on Moscow 

arc de trump: plans drawn up for a triumphal arch over the Potomac

sister cities (12. 802)

Via Web Curios, we discover a pretty keen interactive visualisation of the globe’s twinned towns (see previously here and here), though I’m given to understand not yet complete—in Iceland there are certainly vinabæir, though one can contribute to the underlying dataset and it’s not wholly intuitive at first how to navigate along the arc that links communities across nations and continents. The effect of zooming in through all those ascendant lines, especially in areas where the twinning is dense is quite impressive. Although this kind of relationship has existed throughout history through trade and cultural exchange, the first official twinning was a pact between municipal leaders of Toledo Ohio and Toledo Spain in 1931, with the idea gaining momentum towards the end of World War II to establish solidarity and promote reconciliation and understanding.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the first private rocket company (with synchronopticæ), first presidential photo-op (1924) plus the Fool’s Cap Map

fourteen years ago: more travels in Ireland plus more on the Greek financial crisis

7x7 (12. 799)

do not comply in advance: many news organisations are refusing to sign on to new US department of war rules to report on only officially vetted items 

haibao: a look back at the 2010 Shanghai world Expo plus a menagerie of other mascots  

touched by an angle: more biblically accurate heavenly hosts—see also here and here  

the lighthouse, the prioritiser and the flashlight: dozens of strategies for safeguarding one’s attention in an exhausting environment—via MetaFilter 

xeno canto: a geocaching tutorial for birdsong—from a revamped Maps Mania  

zoomorphic stereotypes: the 1806 human-animal hybrid caricatures of Charles Le Brun 

sos: Save our Signs project aims to preserve ten thousand placards in US national parks threatened with deletion for telling uncomfortable truths of the past for present and future generations

10x10 (12. 746)

the dominator model continues to run the world: Lydia Lunch’s timeless feminist manifesto 

jut: a new way to measure the magnitude and magnificence of mountains—via Metafilter  

and i’m floating in the most peculiar way: a cover of Major Tom by Magdalena Bay—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links  

bequest: an assortment of old customs and curious donations and charities 

red noise: the French musical underground’s decade of synths and situationists—via { feuilleton }  

𒀾: writing lessons in Cuneiform  

being of sound minds and body: collection of captivating wills and last testaments—via Strange Company  

you’ve really made the grade: a scroll through the archives of David Bowie  

pathfinder: a look into the inner-workings of Google Maps  

me and bobbie mckee: the forgotten inspiration for the gender-swapping ballad of Kris Kristofferson and Janis Joplin—see previously

synchronoptica

one year ago: Weird Al parodies Bob Dylan with palindromes (with synchronopticæ) plus more gerrymandering

twelve years ago: a possible clue to hidden Nazi loot hidden on sheet music 

fourteen years ago: the Pope comes home to Germany 

fifteen years ago: GMO salmon 

8x8 (12. 641)

practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking: the Art Room Plant presents multiple vignettes on author PL Travers and her most famous character, Mary Poppins  

savage garden: this year’s Edward Gorey envelope art competition has a sinister botanic theme—see previously—via Web Curios 

catsup and fries: potatoes evolved from tomatoes 

🌀: a two-part episode on tempestology—the study of hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones

drowned in sound: reflections on the current state of music discovery and serendipity in general 

liberation day: Trump’s tariffs go into effect—see more hapax: a project tracking every unique English word uttered on Bluesky, including those yet to be used—via Waxy  

society for the protection of underground networks: SPUN has created a subterranean global atlas to map the mycorrhizal connections (previously) under our feet that support the ecosystem above  

傘: the spiritual underpinnings of the umbrella in Japanese society

8x8 (12. 627)

the people of 1925: a survey of a century ago through the lives of people we never knew—via Strange Company  

the zendian problems: a detailed cartographic study of an imaginary republic used to train cryptanalysts for a simulated invasion 

американка: recollections of a summer exchange programme of a Russian literature major—via Web Curios  

universal soundtrack: Ze Frank (previously) on crickets, katydids and grasshoppers 

sonderauftrag bayeaux: a fragment of the famed tapestry taken by the Nazi Ahnenerbe Society will be reunited when it goes on display in England  

megastrike: the longest measured lightening bolt stretched near nine-hundred kilometres across Texas and Kansas  

revelations of a wife: the longest novel you’ve never heard of, serialised over four decades with a readership of millions 

indecent exposure: photographs of individuals being cited on Rockaway beach in New York City in 1946

8x8 (12. 566)

peering capacity: a chronological representation of the undersea cable network and earthbound exchange points that forms the global internet—via Maps Mania  

somewhere, somebody must have kicked you around some: a growing thread of emigration options  

turophiles’ delight: a two part podcast on fromology, the science of cheese and cheese-mongering 

this time for africa: a possibly unironic appreciation of the 2010 World Cup anthem—Waka Waka, inspired by Zangaléwa, the Cameroonian marching song—via Pasa Bon!  

first serve: an overview of the history of tennis  

a fine bromance: a series of ruptures in the relationship between Trump and Putin—previously—possibly signals the end  

holding hands while the walls come tumbling down: a mental time-capsule of Gen-X doom ballads 

frame of preference: a story about early Mac settings and control panels narrated through ten interactive emulators—see previously—via Kottke

synchronoptica

one year ago: Savage Curtain (with sychronopticæ), impressions of West Berlin in the summer of 1977 plus Project 2025

twelve years ago: World Heritage Sites around Germany plus RIFs for the Pentagon

thirteen years ago: East-Bloc versions of Western vehicles 

7x7 (12. 510)

hero’s journey: researchers conducting a meta survey of fictional narratives find a consistent language patterns for compelling plots—see previously  

world’s tiniest violin: researchers make a functioning instrument smaller than a dust mote to test the abilities of nanolithography  

demi-troglodyte: cave homes for sale in France plus assorted miscellany from Messy Nessy Chic—including Edward Hopper in Paris, a David Lynch auction and a tactile picture book for the seeing impaired  

dangerous foreign agents: Trump imposes a new travel ban on citizens from twelve countries  

gipfel: German chancellor Merz to meet with Trump to discuss tariffs and trade and defence  

intransitive hand game: some interesting facts about rock paper scissors—see previously de facto, de jure: a survey of the world’s official languages

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to enjoy (with synchronoptica) plus civilised memorial regulations

seven years ago: the North Korean art market, a map of Prohibition Era Chicago plus trans-Atlantic relations

eight years ago: interoception, more on Trump’s tour of the Middle East plus making policy per tweet look more official

nine years ago: unbuilt architecture from Gaudí, a modern twist on the player piano, a mantis named after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg plus hidden messages in ancient manuscripts

ten years ago: more links to enjoy, contagious yawning plus a visit to Dreieich

neuspanien (12. 473)

Recalling how their leak of the covert Zimmermann telegram with the German Empire promising to award the lost territories of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico to Mexico if they invaded the United States and created a new front in the Great War in early 1917 pushed the US to engage in World War I, British intelligence forged (see also here and here) and publicised counterfeit attack plans allegedly by Nazi Germany for Central and South America—still very much considered within the US bailiwick as part of the Monroe doctrine—to motivate the administration of FDR to abandon its policy of neutrality in 1941 as Axis forces reached the French coast. The operation likely conceived by Canadian veteran flying ace and spymaster William Samuel Stephenson, responsible for British security on the continent who oversaw covert intelligence and propaganda efforts in South America, originally intended to leave a copy of the map in somewhere in Cuba in the hopes that American authorities would come across it of their own accord but it appears that Britain presented it to Roosevelt through intelligence channels directly, reportedly seized from a diplomatic courier in Buenos Aires. Presented to the American public as cautious not authentic bur rather secret (note the marking GEHEIM), it is unclear if the president was aware of its true nature.

she put the miss in misdemeanour when she stole the beans from lima (12. 404)

Although a bit too old for the PBS game show continuation of the franchise—though I’d defy anyone to not declare the theme song from house band (“Do it Rockapella!”—inspired by “Been Caught Stealing” by Jane’s Addiction) an absolute banger, I do remember the original educational computer game, Carmen Sandiego, released on this day in 1985 by Brøderbund software (whose catalogue includes Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing). Though upon reevaluation deemed edutainment, Carmen Sandiego and later incarnations were meant to teach geography in response to a significant portion of US children demonstrating a lack of basic knowledge when it came to the globe and atlas and questions were vetted and fact-checked by the National Geographic Society, a major underwriter of both the game and television version from 1991. The objective was for fledgling gumshoes of the ACME detective agency to thwart the organised crime ring of international art thieves headed by the titluar character using geography. The series was rebooted 2021 (see above) and Rockapella reprised their theme, though the production team criminally used another song. She’s a double-dealing diva with a taste for thievery.

*     *     *     *     *

synchronoptica

 

one year ago: the lost mixtape (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: more links to enjoy, David Bowie’s self-portraits plus Plain People on vacation

eight years ago: more bad flags, more terror attacks in Germany, a concept flying car, Trump dismisses the surgeon general plus Billy Butcher on love power ballads

nine years ago: breathing exercises plus pavement level pedestrian signals 

eleven years ago: populist politics plus TTIP and reciprocal tariffs

charted territory (12. 348)

First issued in 2022, Kottke extols the redesign of the coveted Swiss passport from Geneva based studio RETINAA which excels at the intersection of aesthetics and enhanced security features, an homage to the sleek and simple branding of the country, travelling through each of the twenty-six cantons like driving atlas on his pages for entry- and exit-stamps, visas and other endorsements. Authentication measures (see also) that burst out under ultraviolet inspection reveal the cartographic traditions of the alpine ranges, valleys and passes, resulting in an identity document that the holder can be proud of and cherish through its expiry date, for which there is no reason, like classic diplomas and commendations, should not be the case with all official documents.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a visit to Neuseenland (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: the magazine Children’s Land,  a trip to a local shrine plus No Mates Nigel

eight years ago: the collected landscapes of Bob Ross,  new cloud designations plus German contractors bid to build Trump’s border wall

nine years ago: German flea-markets and other scavenger hunts, the referendum on Scottish independence plus the LGBTQ+ corner of the US congressional cemetery

ten years ago: the last crusades, the etymology of tidings plus assorted links worth revisiting

6x6 (12. 335)

reading between the lines: Trump regime shutters access to border-straddling opera and library, the Haskell House, which served as neutral territory for family reunions and marriages during his first term’s travel ban  

shreve, lamb and harmon: hidden details of New York City’s iconic buildings—via Damn Interesting 

kennedy center honors: Conan O’Brien awarded the Mark Twain prize for American humour, embracing the irony and tension of the moment 

backstroke of the west: an incomprehensible translation and re-translation of a Star Wars bootleg DVD  

free spaced repetition scheduler: geography with positive reinforcement—via Maps Mania 

opsec: Trump administration inadvertently shared its plans to to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen with a journalist from The Atlantic

epicentre (12. 321)

Initially really taken by the wire-frame geopolitical globe overlay (I can remember playing with such a model in a computer programme ages ago), this 3D quake-watcher—via Pasa Bon!—monitors seismic activity in real time. In full-screen mode, it delivers a cinematic visualisation (with sound) as the transparent Earth rotates with a sidebar of live events, listing location, depth (hypocentre), magnitude, alerts and tsunami risk plus an explorer mode to track hotspots.

10x10 (12. 241)

bustin by numbers: bizarre 1990 edit of a Peter Greenaway film featuring an instrumental version of Young MC’s hit 

mazinibaganjigan: the art of birchbark bitings, practised by the Objiwe and Algonquian peoples  

twenty-two nautical miles: Mexico threatens to sue Google over the change to the gulf’s name  

democracy dies in darkness: Bezos owned Washington Post refused to run an advertisement critical of DOGE  

acolyte: a profile of the actual Nazis overrunning the US government—via Kottke  

paypal mafia: Trump administration is clawing back funds already disbursed and has designs to gain control over banking and wire-transfers 

the molotov-ribbentrop pact: historic examples—with devastating consequences—of not inviting all parties to the negotiating table—via Damn Interesting  

deemed accomplices: Sheinbaum warns us renewed legal action for US gunmakers over complicity if drug cartels are designated as terror groups 

a very large faucet: water-sharing treaties between Canada and its neighbour to the south have attracted unwanted attention  

you say neato, check your libido and roll to the church your new tuxedo: that’s Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on jazz bass

we have this unelected fourth, unconstitutional branch of government (12. 225)

Journalists from the Associated Press were barred from attending an Oval Office event, a signing ceremony for yet another executive order—newsworthy for its magnitude and ineptitude—with Elon Musk in attendance to announce agency heads were to undertake preparations, working with DOGE to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce after “billions and billions of dollars” in fraud, waste and abuse had been uncovered, for not referring as the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in its syndicated articles, and reporters would continue to be excluded from the White House press pool until such time as wire service aligns its language with that of Trump’s. An EO banning the use of paper straws in federal facilities was also signed.  Several news organisations have rallied to the AP’s defence, saying that the president cannot dictate reporting or editing decisions. This follows other attacks against the press, including suits for supposed libel and deplatforming and banishing several outlets from the Pentagon, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN and NPR as well as threatening the same group’s broadcasting licenses over newsroom and network diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives characterised as promotion “invidious forms of discrimination” that will not be tolerated.

7x7 (12. 222)

vandalising purposes—in this economy: one hundred thousand eggs are stolen in Pennsylvania 

we stand on guard: a ten year old graphic novel about a US invasion of Canada is surging in popularity  

narrow meaning: a love poem revealed by holding the page level with the eyes, foreshortening the characters—see previously here and here 

sandbox game: an omnibus appreciation of The Sims on their twenty-fifth anniversary—via MissCellania  

antipodes: an exploration of obscure islands  

read-ahead: a pre-summit release from the Munich Security Conference (previously) suggests that due to its imperial aspirations, the US no longer a trusted partner 

the price of eggs in china: inflation and rationing in America