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.

9x9 (12. 981)

on average there are only 0.061 haunted locations per square mile in the uk: ghost mapper 

forty winks: an appreciation of sleep and everyday aesthetics  

married to the sea: CEO of US military contractor Palantir argues case for making war crimes constitutionally allowable  

grunts and thwops: cetologist share their first chat with a humpbacked whale named Twain—see previously 

the dangerous christmas of red riding hood: a 1965 revisionist fairytale from the Wolf’s perspective, starring Liza Minnelli  

ar 4294: giant sunspot cluster on par with the concentration that sparked the Carrington event pointed directly at Earth—via Damn Interesting  

mixtape: a growing repository of found cassettes from around the world with content and provenance—via Web Curios   

enhanced vetting: Trump’s state department directed to deny visas for fact-checkers and content-moderators in defence of free-speech absolutism  

mycology mapped: an engrossing explainer of the fungi kingdom and its place in the ecosystem 

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: Ze Frank on molluscs (with synchronopticæ), a digital advent calendar plus gift ideas for the holiday office party

thirteen years ago: a gaslit whistle-blower 

fourteen years ago: Eurozone credit downgrades 

fifteen years ago: net neutrality and IMF priorities 

seventeen years ago: Christmas decorations 

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