9x9 (13. 609)

washington state: the incorporated polity was originally to be named Colombia after its chief river but people feared it would be confused with the national capital district, so gave it the name of the city that comprises DC 

hemi-finals: strange alignment of the last eight World Cup national teams  

mr pibb is aspirational—he’s currently in med school: sodas with a doctorate  

zero-sum game: circular deals and a shameless Ponzi scheme sends everyone to the moon  

false equivalence: political tribalism and the whataboutism of the Right for the Left 

a show about nothing: a scrolly-telling of the history of the sitcom Seinfeld—see previously here and here—via Web Curios  

wake up neo: a signet ring with OLED display shows the cascading green code from The Matrix  

après moi, le déluge: a forecasting tool for sea-level rise to drown the world  

separated by a common language: what North Americans call a cookie, the British call a biscuit—and what Americans call a biscuit has no exact counterpart in UK cuisine. Discuss.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Terracotta Army (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: double-click jargon, more on the zombification of the legacy web plus Biden vows to stay in the US presidential race   

three years ago: a secret weather modification programme for Vietnam, a ska special plus more links to enjoy

four years ago: the Hollywood Bowl, Avogadro’s Number plus US vs USSR in chess championship (1972)

five years ago: a stone ship in Sweden 

six years ago: the Ehrenburg of Ehrenbach 

9x9 (13. 605)

spitalfields life: street photographer Kurt Hutton  

djt: rentier-in-chief could potential benefit financially from the rebranding of Palm Beach International airport, just kilometres away from Mar-a-Lago 

turn around bright eyes: RIP Bonnie Tyler—see previously here, here and here 

l’odissea: the 1911 cinematic adaptation of the timeless classic  

freedom fuel: White House announces network of gas stations with prices capped (previously) at $3.47 per gallon, status quo ante bellum 

the night the earth shook, strangers started to draw: in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Syria and Türkiye in February of 2023, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team helped save lives—via Maps Mania 

twenty minutes into the future: a look at when the cola-wars where dominated by dystopian science-fiction—see previously

tax shelter: very much solicited financial advice on Trump Accounts for Kidz 

pixel skylines: urban grounds from vintage video games

9x9 (13. 585)

hospitalithings: a quiet, meticulous observation of common objects found in lodgings—via Nag on the Lake  

aka vlogging: Hank Green interviews Ze Frank (previously) about the YouTube format he pioneered, advising discomfort to put ideas out into the world—via Waxy  

yes, yes, very good—thank you for self-identifying as a short-sighted rube and saving us the trouble: the US constitution us for simple folk still burdened by the belief that words have meaning  

llog: Victor Henry Mair, sinologist and frequent Language Log contributor has passed away, aged 83  

new posting: an interactive map charting the careers of civil servants managing the bureaucracy of the British Empire—via Map Mania  

alignment chart: a cross-over of Chekhov’s Gun, Schrödinger’s Cat, Occam’s Razor and Murphy’s Law

in an instant: the last Polaroid factory in the world is in the Dutch town of Enschede 

bilberry buns: a Polish pastry gets its own holiday  

ozzy’s ozzy is a unique case: observations from a celebrity impersonator cruise—via Kottke 

qanoon-e-islam (13. 577)

Among the first attempts by the British to give an ethnographic account of the customs and observations of the denizens of Colonial India, particularly the the Muslim population of the southern portion of the subcontinent and reminiscent of the I-Ching and other auspicious augury, the supposed translation (the original lost to time) published by East India Company surgeon Gerhard Herklots, a hefty and encyclopaedic volume covering all aspects of life in Madras, food, language, clothing, superstition and folklore, contains only a small appendix on setting the optimal itinerary for a journey, direction, date of departure. This guide to propitious days for embarking on trade and travel, however superficially appropriated or re-approrriated (see above), gains a purchase on the thought and tradition underlying it, informed by astronomy, astrology and currying divine protection and intercession. Much more from Public Domain Review at the link above.

synchonoptica

one year ago: the commune of Belz (with synchronoptica) plus the city of Vannes

two years ago: the castles of Bellinzona plus the US supreme court grants presidents blanket immunity for official acts

three years ago: more venerable publications going out of print 

four years ago: and then they came for me (1937) plus Scottish devolution (1999)

five years ago: Julie Moon (1970), children’s author Dodie Smith, assorted links to revisit, a banger from Grandmaster Flash (1982) plus being well-read in Antiquity

six years ago: slavery abolished in the Netherlands and its colonies (1863), police crackdown in Hong Kong, America’s entitled class, US Homeland Security tasked with protecting statues plus the licence plates of Palau

9x9 (13. 570)

general magic: an ambitious project to create the smart phone (see below) in the early 1990s failed over lack of constraint and too much freedom, not lack of vision, talent or technology

odyssey: charting the great journeys of fiction—see also  

humphrey’ executor: US supreme court strikes down federal laws that prevent the president from firing heads of (some) independent agencies—see previously  

don’t swear jerry—and don’t bleed in the sink, i’ve just cleaned it: actor and comedian Penelope Keith has died, aged 89  

🧸: Nuigurumi Jinja (Plushie Shire) dedicated in northern Kyoto for honouring beloved stuffed animals—see also here and here 

keedoozle: the grocery store vending machine of the 1930s 

 île de peliz: the solitary natural islet of Lake Geneva, with room for a plane tree  

hypergraphia: history’s most prolific writers 

how about this: 1960s housewife and the pocket phone of the future

synchronoptica

one year ago:  a walk along the beach at Gârves (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: a visit to the Rocco di Caldè 

three years ago: animatronic Trump, an updated We Didn’t Start the Fire plus US supreme court strikes down affirmative action for college admissions

four years ago: goodwill ambassador Samantha Reed Smith 

five years ago: cartoonist Thornton Hee plus a record-setting Van Gogh auction (1987)

six years ago: Quo Vadis,  the feast of SS Peter and Paul, the debut of the iPhone (2007), a chiptune classic, exotic crisps plus Japanese train station jingles

9x9 (13. 563)

pennsylvania dutch: an ethnographic profile of the Deitsch speaking Amish—see also  

it’s 1100 pm—do you know where your ai agent is: Janelle Shane (previously) on agentic artificial intelligence, vibe-coding and the need for guardrails  

hunshandake sandy land: battling creeping desertification with an army of chickens 

ethnic cleansing: US supreme court rules that the country can refuse asylum-seekers at the border and can begin the deportation of Syrian and Haitian refugees under temporary protected status        

⚙️⚙️⚙️🦑⚙️⚙️⚙️: manoeuvre your marine mollusc through an environment resembling dungeon levels from Zelda with Bubble Bobble type puzzles—via MetaFilter  

rainbow plaques: an alternative to Blue historical markers appear across London, honouring LGTBQ+  personages

final descent: the iconic airliner, the Boeing 747, is being phased out 

jerry’s world: a map of an imaginary land limned over decades using a deck of cards for procedural generation—see also  

despicable me: the influence of Minionese on the slang of Gen Alpha—see previously

four colour theorem (13. 538)

The heretofore unverified but practically applied in cartography conjecture that no more than four colours are needed to distinguish bordering regions on a map was announced as proven on this day in 1976 after more than century since it was first proposed by two mathematicians at the the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Not feasible to perform the brute calculation by hand, this topology problem (see previously) was solved with the aid of a supercomputer, the first instance of a technical assist for a math problem, the claim rejected by some peers at the time because they couldn’t check the work.

synchronoptica

one year ago: arriving in Morbihan (with synchronoptica)

two years ago: Putin and Kim hold a summit, the premiere of Evita plus the estate of Jim Henson selling off its Hollywood lot

three years ago: California v Miller plus assorted links worth the revisit

four years ago: pioneering parachutist Tiny Broadwick (1913), Texas v Johnson plus more links to enjoy

five years ago: the Stonehenge Free Festival (1974), the introduction of the LP record (1948) plus Return to Oz (1985) 

six years ago: a CNN competitor (1982), EU proposes a digital services tax, remixing the Bayeux tapestry, setting the record straight, AI-generated perfumes plus Internation Yoga Day

8x8 (13. 417)

little green men: pivoting to priorities, US Department of War’s latest tranche of declassified files on UAPs—via Maps Mania  

4½ to fish 7: humanity’s obsession with large numbers 

hide the pain harold: Sweden state broadcaster found András István Arató, the retired electrician whose stock photo is behind the meme, celebrating the Saturday’s inauguration of Péter Magyar as prime minister in the streets of Budapest  

a comparison using like or as: a meta-analysis of similes from popular fiction—via Nag on the Lake 

d-line: after a century of delays, Los Angeles metro Wilshire Boulevard extension opens   

frictionless transactions: an AI agent pickpocketed $200k from a crypto-wallet with Morse code  

ultrafinitism: an exploration of what can be gained by rejecting the concept of the infinity—via Web Curios 

this way up: an appreciation of the cartographical studies of the Map Men

〄 (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.