〄 (13. 370)

Vis-à-vis the previous post, we discover the so-called ghost characters, apparently erroneous kanji included and perpetuated in the Japanese Industrial Standards (the title is the is old Unicode symbol discontinued in 2005 with no proposal to update it to the current one, so itself sort of an orphaned emblem)—broader in reach but essentially the equivalent of the international safety company formerly known as Underwriters Laboratories now known only by the initialism UL—codified in 1978 but without clear authority for the regulation of manufacturing, publishing and cartographic Normung itself inherited from wartime production and subsequent US occupation. Manufacturers, statisticians and surveyors—each within their own non-overlapping magesteria once their scope of work and responsibility became more defined made note of characters whose usage was unknown or the hapax legomena of toponomy and uncommon personal names in registers for insurance companies. The list of orphaned and erroneous kanji was eventually reduced to twelve poorly-sourced characters, some declared typos and others unidentified, although difficult to excise with their inscription in the rolls of Unicode and other transnational protocols, with some adopted in common parlance, with 袮宜 sometimes an intentional misrendering for a deputy or assistant manager to signify expectations of their usefulness. Only 彁 (kai, sei) is still labeled as “authority unknown,” which is crime-dramas is sometimes left on a victim as a calling card.

azimuth (13. 369)

Tip of the hat to Language Hat for bringing resolution to an ongoing investigation to discover the meaning and inclusion of a puzzling glyph on the Unicode block of Miscellaneous Technical symbols, U+237C, called Angzarr (⍼), and not the logogram for the character who left his race of Muggles to do wizarding in the 1984 fantasy series by author Nancy K Stouffer whom JK Rowling allegedly plagiarised from. After nearly four years of research, Johnathan Chan discovers that the character represents azimuth (اَلسُّمُوت, the directions) the vector from the observer to target or point of interest, used for star charts, navigation, cartographical projections and in ballistics. The symbol itself seems to represent the way a beam of light passes through a sextant to measure an angle.

8x8 (13. 360)

what1tune: a musical address regimen to geohash the globe with simple melodies—see previously 

neon colour spreading: a compelling optical illusion—see also 

imperial megalomania: Commodus ordered the entire city of Rome named after himself, executed anyone who mocked him, dispatched and quick subject to damnatio memoriae 

measure for measure: the religious hypocrisy (and ignorance) on display in the Trump White House with attacks on the papacy and crusader mentality through the lens of Shakespeare’s play  

proleporn: AI slop in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four—see previously  

on the clock: Maarten Baas studio recruits a thousand volunteers to represent the hands of time at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport—see previously 

hollyworld: filming location substitutes in California

9x9 (13. 350)

reference desk: harness Google’s secret card catalog—via Kottke  

nitrate divas: a remarkable 1928 amateur film adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” 

📍: a Scrabble Map commissioned for the word play game’s (previously) international commemoration, celebrated yesterday  

middle powers: Carney’s Liberal Party secures supermajority in parliamentary special elections  

print gallery of an artist: an MC Escherque exploration of recursive spaces—via Waxy 

infallibilità papale: ally Meloni (previously) breaks with Trump over criticism of Pope, cancels security arrangement with Israel  

dutch cartocubism: an overlooked approach to simplify mapping from the early 1930s from the figures behind ISOTYPE—via Quantum of Sollazzo—see also  

connie converse: rediscovering the forgotten folk-music genius 

огас: the 1960s proto-internet that the Soviet Union passed on—see previously

random landing (13. 301)

Via the always excellent Web Curios, we are directed to the now occasional blog that visits a point in the contiguous states in the USA and reports back on the geographic features, watersheds, human settlements, history, local commerce, culture, etc nearby, emphasising the size of America and the vast sparsely populated places determined by chance selection of longitude and latitude with a certain methodology. Much research and record keeping has gone into these plots, often removed and remote—the middle of nowhere—that limn the nation as a whole spanning from sea to shining sea and inspired us to attempt some flattery for this personal project through imitation.

Throwing a dart at a map of Germany, at coordinates 49.9969614, 8.9482212 we arrived in the cornfield near Nieder-Roden within the urban district of Darmstadt and the municipality of Offenbach and a constituent community of Greater Roden near the city of Heusenstamm, the fiftieth parallel north passing directly through the Pusieaux-Platz in the centre of the borough.

When I lived in Wiesbaden, I recall the state news broadcast featuring a segment—weekly, daily?—called “Dolles Dörfer” so called in country dialect that highlighted a village in Hessen, some of which I visited with detours from my usual route.

Divided by thirds, it is approximately equally partitioned amongst human habitation, woodlands and agriculture with a prominent swampland stand of pine forest and was first documented in 791 as Rotaha inferior in the codex of Lorsch. If you live in the lower-48 or elsewhere, this would be a good project to cultivate for one’s own exploration, like our friend Diamond Geezer, virtual or otherwise.

5x5 (13. 280)

north oaks: mapping the wealthy Minnesota exclave that has remained virtually unmapped due to the way the municipality defines easement and public property

wikicity: the free encyclopaedia visualised as a three-dimensional metropolis of connected apartments to explore its densest articles—via Web Curios  

 

the way of the warrior: legendary action movie star Chuck Norris passes away unexpectedly, aged 86  

centuripe: viewed from above, this Sicilian village looks like a human figure  

border jumper: this cat does not care about your international boundaries

algeria, gabon, benin, the gambia (13. 257)

This was delightful and really could be integrated as a classroom geography lesson, since most of us are only disabused of our ignorance through wars. There I Ruined It (previously) improves Toto’s “Africa” by lyrically listing all fifty-four nations of the continent. More mnemonics from Kottke at the link above.

9x9 (13. 226)

strength is not strong: it takes more than might to make right 

right of reply: Palantir sues small Swiss media outlet for accurately reporting of the government’s rejection of their surveillance and analytic services offers  

lifeguard on duty: annual design competition to reimagine Toronto’s beach rescue stations as public art during the winter break  

a tuba to cuba: the travelogue of a jazz band’s trip to Havana to explore their musical roots  

visual variable: a free library of thousands of cartographical icons that can be scaled down to the head of a pin—via the Map Room  

the tamizdat project: a library curating literature smuggled into the Soviet Union as part of US spycraft (“published abroad”) to destablise the Bloc from within 

site specific: a roundup of some of the most garish public art installations in the world—via Miss Cellania   

homily: Pope Leo urges priests to stop using AI to write sermons 

brother fire: reflections on a war of choice and the dashed hopes of the Arab Spring

it’s a drag, it’s a bore, it’s really such a pity to be looking at the board, not looking at the city (13. 206)

Having coming across this fact elsewhere a few weeks ago, we enjoyed the chance to hear again the full name of the Thai capital known to outsiders by the toponym Bangkok (village on a stream in reference to the marshy area where King Rama I established his new residence in 1782, nicknamed Venice of the East for its canals and islands) and in common parlance as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (กรุงเทพมหานคร) or abbreviated even further to Krung Thep (กรุงเทพฯ), the City of Angels—see also. With some variation over the centuries, the metropolis has the ceremonial title of: 

 กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยา มหาดิลกภพ นพรัตนราชธานีบูรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์  

Transliterated from the Thai script and translated from the combined Sanskrit and Pāli (the classical sacred language of Theravada Buddhism), the title reads: 

Krung Thep Mahanakhon: City of Angels, Great City.
    Amon Rattanakosin: Eternal land of the Emerald Buddha.
    Mahinthara Ayuthaya: The impregnable city of God Indra.
    Mahadilok Phop: Grand capital of the world.
    Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom: Endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city.
    Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan: Abounding in enormous royal palaces.
    Amon Piman Awatan Sathit: Resembling the heavenly abode wherein dwell the reincarnated gods.
    Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit: Erected by Vishvakarman at Indra’s bidding. 

This demonstration and claim of course drew some quibbling over technicalities and comparisons to Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll—“pool of the white hazels of the Church of St Mary”—and its full placename elaborated during the Victorian era to encourage tourism (see also) to the second longest single albeit agglutinative word toponym in the world in: Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch. The longest officially recognised is the Maori name of a hill on Te Ika-a-Māui (New Zealand’s North Island) Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu, with the narrative epithet of the summit where big-kneed Tamatea (a celebrated fifteenth century cheiftain and explorer), climber of mountains, the land swallower, travelled about and played his flute to his beloved. Also in the top ten is the Cree Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik for a lake in Mantioba “where wild trout are caught by fishing with hooks.” More from Language Log at the link up top with pronunciation help and more contenders.

8x8 (13. 198)

the mckinley colonies: the US settlement on Cuba’s Isla de la Juventud 

„…“: another omnibus listing of aphorisms and sage quotations  

manannán: 1940 sci-fi Irish language novel that contains the likely first use of a mecha outside of Japanese literature  

in the realms of the unreal: outsider artist Henry Darger—see previously 

spring has sprung: early heralds of the coming season—see previously 

archive.yesterday: Wikipedia bans controversial news and features article mirror for citations after the service launches denial of service attacks on websites linking to it—via MetaFilter  

lapsis muris: linguists uncover another usage case of uh—see previously  

tron/troff: explore your neighbourhood in the virtual grid

synchronoptica

one year ago: Ukraine and Europe excluded from peace talks (with synchronopticæ), an enigmatic online diary plus an ancient cistern in Naples

thirteen years ago: elision and mishearing 

fourteen years ago: graphic artist Tim Doyle 

supercluster (13. 178)

Though finding PfRC’s rather standoffish and neglected handle, via Web Curios, in the vast undifferentiated Bermuda Triangle between the Creative Portfolios Gallery, the Canadian Nature & Arts Scatter and the Geometry Dash Arena, given our level of engagement with the platform and only occasionally checking-in, we’re not surprised our granularity hasn’t coalesced around a larger group. Not sure what kind of data connections feed these nodes and nebulae (see also for some more online geocaching) but certain those profiles more active on the site have found their niche and those they identify with—and whilst more interaction might shift one to the Highlands of Resistance or the Vale of Swedish Progressives or the German Antifa Expanse, there are social media bubbles topologically, cosmologically grouped (some mixed metaphors for invented topolects), enclaves and Twitter exodus exclaves but, thankfully no charted lands as refuges for toxic tribalism, shitposters and reply guys. Plug in your name and check out this map of Bluesky and get to know what’s in your local neighbourhood and constellation. Hopefully the network effect has taken hold and free exchange, journalism, fandom can be taken back from moribund and algorithmic platforms.

dérive (13. 135)

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

two turntables and a microphone (13. 128)

At times frustrated by the requirement for unanimity on decisions—though consensus-building is laudable—France and Germany have invited the key economies of Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland into an as yet informal club designated as the E6 to allow for a more agile response to geoeconomic threats without sacrificing the spirit of the experiment or devolving/evolving into a United States of Europe with this two-speed proposal. This small-group chat has precedence in the eurozone and the Schengen area and is configured to forward trans-national objectives with buy-in from all members, particularly to criticism the that the institution is ossified and inefficient amid the rise of nationalist in-turning at the expense of those relegated to being middle-powers.

hyperion (13. 108)

Named after the solar deity, a Titan whom according to several theogonies sired the Sun, Moon and Dawn in an incestuous act, the ambitious data centre that Meta—having recently abandoned and embraced telepresence—is constructing in the marshland of northern Louisiana, on the foundations likely of vacated Alligator Alcatraz. Difficult to grasp the scale of this project, the footprint of the structure spanning over five miles in length and more than a mile wide in the middle of no where, we are directed towards this tool which will overlay the massive building in perspective of any given address in the States and next to landmarks and routes that one may have walked, like Central Park in New York City, the National Mall in Washington DC, dwarfing the heretofore largest office space in the world, the Pentagon or the arrondissements of Paris. This wager on AI is being seen as increasingly risky and may fail to deliver a return on investment and couching the size of these data centres, which are seeing a building boom with Meta not the only player, in a familiar setting helps one understand the new nimbyism (I’d much rather a windmill in my backyard) with these sprawling projects that may not contribute to the local economy and have raised utility prices for the surrounding communities.

10x10 (13. 100)

the cameraman’s revenge: a 1912 stop-motion film featuring taxidermied insects by Ladislas Starevich—see previously  

collateral damage: Trump’s seizure of Venezuela has deliberate knock-on effects for Cuba 

the monkey’s paw curls: prediction markets and betting on everything  

a spirit of dialogue: the World Economic Forum begins its summit in Davos (previously) in moment of geoeconomic warfare 

il tormento di sant’antonio: an examination of Michaelangelo’s juvenilia, the painting (more on the subject) not attributed to the artist for half a millennium  

bic cristal: the flagship product of the French sundry firm turned seventy-five—see previously  

mercator projection: famed Flemish cartographer believed that there was a magnetic mountain, Rupes Nigra, at the North Pole, accounting why compasses point towards the arctic—see also  

snow crash: Facebook quietly discontinues the Metaverse  

vanity project: Trump has formed an intergovernmental agency to oversee reconstruction in Gaza called the Board of Peace as an alt-UN with billion dollar membership dues—see previously here and here 

how now, brown cow: back-scratching bovine causes animal behaviourist to reassess their intellect—see also

electoral collage (13. 078)

Via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links, we are referred to this hypothetical map (see previously)—which albeit premised on a lot of assumptions, like the United States actually annexing Canada as its fifty-first state and continuing to having free and fair elections—illustrates what the addition of the nation’s population would mean demographically and for the political landscape. It was long assumed Washington, DC might become a state jointly with Puerto Rico but now that the latter has turned less conservative, establishment Republicans don’t want to take the risk of ceding minoritarian rule. Assuming also rules governing the apportionment of representatives as outlined in their constitution and redistricting procedures controlled by individual states hold, the enlarged America (with different scenarios played out) would decidedly skew blue in favour of the Democrats and blunt the outsized power and influence of senators from rural, low-population polities. More at the links above.

the technate of north america (13. 054)

Given the recent invasion by the United States on the southern limit of this hypothetical map of a continental federation, a sphere of influence, self-sufficient and only requiring minimum trade with outsiders, aligned with the recently published Trump Corollary, the technocracy movement, founded chiefly by engineer Howard Scott after World War I, flourishing in the minds of many as a genuine alternative political ideology, more popular than fascism or communism, up through the Great Depression and the entry of the US in World War II—though suffering many internecine breakups and dogmatists at odds in the steering committees of the various groups and factions under this umbrella, just like Scott’s own falling out with the unionists and the IWW that first fostered his ideas, has again been garnering attention. Understandably with propagandised charts showing US influence stretching from Greenland to the north, through Panama all the way down to Venezuela, people are worried that Trump may make good on his threats of annexation by force, but Technocracy Incorporated, administered by besuited technocrats with legions of working-class followers, including one chiropractor (a suspect pseudo-science itself) from Regina, Joshua Norman Haldeman, the maternal grandfather of Elon Musk (members were required to adopt numbers in place of names, which may have inspired great-grandson XÆ A-12 as well as other notions of Musk’s), was not premised on utopian technology that would make labour superfluous and end scarcity but rather its opposite, suggesting that progress would never outpace population-growth and that the monetary system needed reform—proposing an energy theory of value to replace the price based systems of economy, privileging exchange and property and believed to perpetuate market inefficiencies. Energy input and output would replace fiat currency as a metric of labour and worth, non-fungible rationed allotments distributed to regulate the flow of energy that could not be bartered outside the system—tied to an individual’s productive credit account—and having an expiration date to discourage hoarding and accumulation of capital, as a form of technological feudalism.

⅊ (13. 037)

Exclaves and enclaves being a favourite topic and particular obsession of ours, we really enjoyed this introduction to the blog and travelogue of vice president of the International Border Research Group—an organisation of frontier studies enthusiasts (the title is the cartographical symbol demarcating a property line) through the lens of a house in Trieste (Trst) directly on the Italo-Slovene border boxed in by Italian neighbours (see also where BorderPoints treks the bifurcated addresses of the town of Baarle-Hertog tracing every twist and turn of this other historic curiosity). Such boundaries of course no longer carry the burden of animosity and division but it’s a rather brilliant undertaking to trace all the markers and stroll back in time (there are several of these photographic safaris in the spirit of Diamond Geezer’s excursions) and something we’d quite like doing next time we’re landlocked.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ) plus a visit to Frickenhäusersee 

twelve years ago: Switzerland searches for a new national anthem plus cinnamon safety

thirteen years ago: Swedish words of the year plus the GOP hijacks the US government 

fourteen years ago: blooming baobabs 

fifteen years ago: strobe light internet plus the Feast of the Holy Innocents

sixteen years ago: a sensible safety-to-convenience ratio 

9x9 (13. 016)

brought to you by the inkjet lobby: the amount of redactions in the US justice department’s release of the Epstein files sparks outrage  

christmas and commerce: a David Sedaris holiday classic—see previously  

global building atlas: an ambitious project mapping all three-billion built structures worldwide  

grabenanlage: rescue archaeology in southwestern German town of Herxheim in 1996 suggests ritual cannibalism on a massive scale with research still ongoing  

your attention is all you have—wasting it is annihilating: Blackbird Spyplane on a life of screen-time—via Kottke

pithos: Roman amphora of sardines found in Switzerland 

orthorectified panorama: the Apollo transforming printer that developed cartographically accurate photographs of the Moon 

a christmas memory: Truman Capote recalls holidays past  

formerly known as the kennedy center: the history of the US national stage for the performing arts—see previously

objective unclear (13. 008)

Via Quantum of Solazzo’s latest data-driven newsletter, we are referred to this rather impressive planespotting application, which drawing telemetry from various sources, shows airplanes crossing the skies rendered on a 3D map in real time at the location of one’s choosing. Of course one’s experience will depend on factors like whereabouts and time of day but even for fly-over country, one can zoom out with Airloom and click on an aircraft to get information on the flight number, origin, destination, carrier and make and model—and virtually travel to any hub to monitor arrivals and departures as planes weave a network overhead.