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synchronoptica
one year ago: the dissolution of the Papal States (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: Catalonian session
eight years ago: the debut of Peanuts, Trump cashes a cheque, the etymology of culprit, assorted links to revisit plus Miss Cora Gated
eleven years ago: Swiss war-games plus more on the US surveillance state
thirteen years ago: banking elsewhere plus exposing Brussels lobbyists
Although originally founded on Washington, DC’s F Street in 1867 in the capital’s shopping district, the luxury department store solidified its reputation on this day in 1924 with the opening of its flagship store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, next to St Patrick’s Cathedral, made possible by its merger with the Gimbel Brothers, Inc. (both chains founded by Bavarian immigrants). Ten other metropolitan retail sites were opened over the decades with seasonal boutiques operating in executive resorts and universities before turning suburban malls, then to catalogue sales, e-commerce and factory outlets.
The historic Queen Anne Revival accommodations in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Chelsea was originally a housing cooperative through the early 1980s before being gentrified into its present form, and 
the residential hotel was home to many up-and-coming luminaries until such time, including Jack Kerouac, Andy Warhol, Sherwood Anderson, Henri Chopin, Quentin Crisp, Ethan Hawke, Miloลก Forman, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Marian Faithfull, Bette Milder, Isabella Rosallini, Eddie Izzard, Jane Fonda and numerous others. In 2011, we learn, a lesser-known but long-term resident, Jim Georgiou and his dog Teddy, was evicted for failing to pay his rent and was temporarily unhoused. The following year during renovations on the building, he saw construction workers tossing out some of the old, white-washed and graffitied doors, which Georgiou managed to salvage and research, connecting them to the suites of different neighbours. After years of work, fifty-two doors were auctioned off, with the proceeds going to organisations that help New York City’s homeless in 2018.
Nominated by Gerald Ford on this day in 1974 for the office of vice president of the United States, the former New York governor and presidential candidate, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the second individual to be installed under provisions of the US constitution’s twenty-fifth amendment in quick 
succession and was chosen a pool of candidates, beating out then-US ambassador to NATO Donald Rumsfeld and Republican National Committee chairman George H W Bush, who were respectively given the consolation prizes of White House chief of staff and first ambassador to China. Confirmed by congress in December (and the first to reside in the official residence), the long-serving and popular governor from the dynasty of oil tycoons and business magnates was known for his progressive policies in terms of equal rights for housing and employment, environmental conservation efforts, public works, healthcare and education and liberal- to moderate-leaning party members at the time were referred to a “Rockefeller Republicans.” Though promised to be a “full partner” in the administration especially in terms of domestic policy, the vice president’s participation in government was seen as a liability for Ford and thwarted by chief of staff Rumsfeld, who ultimately convinced the president to drop Rockefeller from the ticket for his 1976 re-election campaign and pick Kansas senator Bob Dole as his running-mate to boost his conservative credentials. Later, Ford recanted the decision as “one of the few cowardly things I did in my life.”
Better known by his stage name of DJ Kool Herc, Clive Campbell of the Bronx is credited with the invention of hip-hop, alternating between two turn-tables to isolate percussive instrumental portions of recordings, switching from one breakbeat to another overlayed with his rhythmic, syncopated announcements and exhortations to his dance troupe of break- boys and girls (further anticipating rap and competitive breakdancing when the 
house parties were taken to the streets) on this day in 1973, co-hosting an event in their apartment building’s recreation room with his younger sister Cindy to raise some funds (with a small entrance fee) for back-to-school shopping. Herc played staggered copies of James Brown’s funk album Sex Machine and his emceeing indelibly influenced artists like Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill Gang who forwarded the genre. His crew were named after the 1967 Hanna-Barbera animated series about space barbarians.
A part-talkie (with mixed audio-dialogue, sound-effects and score plus intertitles), Public Domain Review presents Paul Fejลs’ 1928 Lonesome, exploring the subject through following the lives of two working-class New York City urbanites apart and together over the course of a single July day, the telephone operator and factory worker get a break from their drudgery, met and have a splendid time at a funfair but are separated by a sudden downpour and regret loosing each other only to later discover that they’ve been neighbours in the same apartment block all along. The featurette, considered a masterpiece, has the narrative of an O Henry story and many innovations in terms of cinematography including fast-motion, superimposition, split screens and a roller-coaster mounted camera.
Via the New Shelton wet/dry, we are directed towards an interesting biography of the individual, coining the above nickname for Broadway in 1901 due to its dazzling electric lights, responsible for the spectacle 
of Times Square, OJ Gude. Taking advantage of the accident of civil planning that had created a bowtie-shape with the intersections of 45th Street and Seventh Avenue that was an ideal amphitheatre for showcasing the energy and dynamism of commerce and advertising, Gude designed many of the flashing, animated billboards that fill the skyline. This theatre-in-the-round upstaging the playhouse-district put the show on the periphery for a captive audience of consumers, who couldn’t ignore the advertisers’ messages, was a bit of promotional genius, the tradition upheld for over a century, with Gude’s salesmanship directly behind many of the iconic and colossal displays. More at the links above.
senza vergogna: some notes for Martha-Ann Alito on her anti-Pride flag (see previously)
factory floor: inside Andy Warhol’s studio—via Messy Nessy Chic
prospecting: Norwegian mining firms discovers Europe’s largest cache of rare-earth metals
adaptive force controlled shaving demonstration: a robot barber in Shanghai
daily bread: an overview of the staple foodstuff’s contribution to civilisation
hydrant directory: colour palettes of New York’s suppression points—via Pasa Bon!
gruppo dei sette: following EU elections, the G7 forum begins in Puglia
one year ago: a top album by Alanis Morissette plus an early world-traveller
two years ago: a chronic case of the hiccups, a hit by Paul McCartney plus international crisps flavours
three years ago: the G7, Shangri La the musical, St Anthony plus two very prolific travelogues
four years ago: illustrator Wilbur Husley, assorted links to revisit, the Pentagon Papers (1971) plus a banger from Mungo Jerry
five years ago: the elusive American Middle-Class plus x before x-rays
Via friend of the blog, Nag on the Lake, and an exhibit curated by Hyperallergic we are treated to an extended portfolio of the photography of Phillip Buehler as he performs a post-mortem on a mid-sized mall in New Jersey and the forgotten, inaccessible islands, and triangulated with 
a third source in this student footage of an abandoned Ellis Island immigration processing centre from 1974, there’s a conversation between documenting histories and urban decay that’s a crucial one to have for both the changed landscape of commerce (see previously) and quarantine and crowd-control as well as the code of ethics for such spelunking, an acknowledged trespassing but with a definite prohibition on vandalism or over-publicising one’s exploits.
crimes of atrocity: a long, dense episode of -ologies with Alie Ward on the hugely fraught and difficult subject of genocide with a powerful and circumspect post-script
airoboros: artificial intelligence trained on AI made content is becoming highly problematic and only compounded—see previously
the city on the edge of forever: public portal linking Dublin and New York City suspended after inappropriate behaviour
palmerston’s follies: two maritime forts off Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight that have been converted into boutique accommodations go up for auction
the deuce: the Greek grandmother who built an adult entertainment empire in Times Square before its Disneyfication
foot on the gas: the inevitability of the climate collapse and humanity’s capacity for adjustment
⌘ |: the lost history of pre-internet emoji and rendering software—via Waxy—see previously
flashing headlights: the giant Dana squid’s photophores in attack-mode
eternal return: cosmic cycles and time’s resurgence
first-day agenda: how Trump is framing his vision for a second-term
one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus a visit to Arnstadt
two years ago: St Brendan, more links to enjoy plus the Electrotechnical Exhibition of 1891
three years ago: a classic from Kim Carnes, a language quiz, more links worth the revisit plus an ancient action figure
four years ago: more Trump’s Space Force, birdhouses, the stress of social media moderation, a medieval manuscript game plus a musical typing tutor
five years ago: GenX, consular services at McDonalds, soliciting grievances, Japanese mascots plus office equipment
The above describing wordless or meaningless text intended to invite the reader to divine a message through the symbolisms rather than to convey a message—though these carefully recorded compositions that suggest mathematical and chemical formulae certainly encoded a meaning that was perhaps only known to the artist—and could be certainly applied to the verisimilitude (see also) of the collected works of outsider artist Melvin May, a bassist who returned to New York City to study informatics but his career path was sidelined by a schizophrenia diagnosis and subsequent drug use, landing him in a men’s shelter on Randall’s Island whilst seeking treatment. Way’s discipline was discovered through art workshops sponsored by the shelter, dense and intricate sketches with ballpoint pens committed to found scraps of paper, often carrying around works-in-progress on his person, protected with a layer of scotch tape. More on this retrospective—and sadly posthumous by only months—and Way’s life at Hyperallergic at the link above.
As our faithful chronicler reminds, on this day in 1970, around noon a group of more than four-hundred construction workers—many working on the World Trade Center—converged on a group of anti-war protesters, mostly college students picketing the New York Stock Exchange and rallying on the steps of 
Federal Hall, originally a Customs House on Wall Street, setting up a memorial for those killed at Kent State four days prior and calling for an end to the fighting in Vietnam and Cambodia, release of political prisoners and an end to military-related research on university campuses. By lunch time the clashes turned violent with some eight hundred office workers joining the ranks of the agitating construction workers, breaking through a thin line of police separating the two sides and pursuing students and onlookers and beating them safety equipment and tools. Law enforcement, sympathetic to the counter protesters, did little to intervene or stop the melee. Two weeks of protests followed before the demonstrations, pitting labour union leaders against pacifists, subsided and towards the end of the month, the organiser of the initial riot and a delegation of representing some three-hundred thousand unionised trade workers, were invited to the White House to meet with president Richard Nixon, who said he sought to honour those labour leaders “and people from Middle America who still have character and guts and a bit of patriotism,” accepting hard hats as a gift. For his loyalty and role in starting a culture war, a values war that divided traditionally shared sentiments among Democratic voters, that leader Peter J Brennan was appointed secretary of labour and the cabinet official outlasted the Nixon administration and served under Ford as well.
one year ago: an early fifth century bog man
two years ago: the Nebra Skydisc
three years ago: a classic Eurodance number, assorted links worth revisiting plus more photographs from Pete Souza
four years ago: the death of Tito (1980), more links to enjoy plus Russian borderlands
five years ago: more links worth the revisit plus Heath Robinson contraptions
Often performing in the title nightclub of the Hotel Pennsylvania in midtown Manhattan along with other Big Band ensembles that the spacious venue could host, Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded his instrumental version of the tune (originally by Jerry Gray with lyrics by Carl Sigman—Numbers I’ve got by the dozen, everyone’s uncle and cousin but I can’t live without buzzing…) on this day in in 1940 at the RCA Victor Studios in New York. One of the oldest telephone exchanges still in use, the accommodations closed permanently in 2020 during the COVID pandemic and lost efforts to declare the building as a candidate for historical preservation (the club itself converted into a basket ball court in its final decade), currently being demolished to make way for new skyscrapers on Penn Plaza. Only Sigman’s refrain was retained after the telephone sound effect, shouted by band members. The foxtrot hit would go on to be recorded by many other artists, with homages and parodies, including Transylvania 6-5000 and Weird Al’s Plumbing Song with the number “Roto-Rooter 6-5000.”
synchronoptica
one year ago: a pocket phonograph plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: Rome’s Cinecittร plus more links to enjoy
three years ago: the impasses of Paris, antique furniture trade cards plus the animated Dutch version of Lord of the Rings
four years ago: wargaming the next US civil war
five years ago: Ukrainian Easter, the stained glass hall of fame of The Champion pub plus mutiny on the Bounty
chambre de bonne: disappearing top-floor tiny apartments of Paris
semifreddo: the origin of Neapolitan ice cream
the united states of division: a prescient 2004 release by Prince & The New Power Generation
court dress: the pink sleeves of the supreme courts of Labrador and Newfoundland are in deference to the former summer robes for sittings in England and Wales—via Super Punch
geoengineering: Tennessee legislature outlaws (see also) so called chemtrails
bpm: Chechnya announces ban of music considered too fast or too slow
backsplash: mosaic of the day
warehouse-to-loft-conversion: a tribute to the last of New York’s artists’ dwellings—via Messy Nessy Chic
bacile calmette-guรฉrin: a century-old variolation against bovine tuberculosis technique might present a treatment route for dementia
endangered language alliance: a survey of the rare forms of communication in communities in New York City
marketable skill: Nvidia executive says kids shouldn’t learn to code
icc: renewed calls to make ecocide the fifth international crime and within the scope of the UN’s court—via tmn
kรผrschรกk’s tile: a visual proof a complex geometric tessellation
project ceti: how, powered by AI, a first contact could play out between humans and whales—see previously, see also
goldplate: research suggest that a treatment with nanoparticles of the element might be a cure for neurodegenerative diseases
Premiering on Broadway on this day in 1949, the two-act drama by Arthur Miller (previously) set in Brooklyn was largely informed and inspired by the playwright’s chance encounter two years prior with his uncle Manny Newman in a theatre lobby in Boston showing one of his own pieces. 
Rather than congratulating his nephew on his success, the struggling travelling salesman immediately launched into an update on how well his cousins were faring, appearing in the play as Happy, Biff and Ben, and how despite his poor prospects and barely surviving life constantly on the road with a hustling subsistence that’s echoed contemporarily with the allure and disappointment of the gig-economy his uncle was building a legacy for his fail-sons, aspiring to the successful but departed, haunting presence of the eldest Ben. Father and Biff, a would be professional football player, in the course of the day try to secure more stability in their careers and realise the American Dream, with Happy sacrificing and long-suffering but a womaniser like Loman, but it plays out as a Greek tragedy. Winning a Tony and a Pulitzer prize, many critics consider it among the best plays of the twentieth century. The first cinematic adaptation came two years later in 1951 with direction from Lรกszlรณ Benedek.
caught between the moon and new york city: taking a harrowing subway ride in 1981
homing: Nikola Tesla’s love for pigeons and telepathy—via Strange Company
‽: more on the interrobang—see previously
stringe-watching: the opposite of binging a series to indulge in the experience
hash mark: the works of artist Ding Yi coinage: TikTok has seen an (irritating) explosion in linguistic novelties to promote niche microtrends—via Miss Cellania
in the aeroplane over the seas: Neutral Milk Hotel covers for the album’s anniversary
castro street: Bruce Baillie films Riverside, California in 1966
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit, Tapestry (1971) plus a pioneering hypertext novel
two years ago: the Dread Pirate Roberts plus a geographical challenge
three years ago: the Simpsons’ intro, the feast of St Scholastica, vernacular ceramics, no fly free zones plus profiting from conspiracy
four years ago: more Orange Menace
five years ago: more links to enjoy
Written as an allegory for McCarthyism, the Red Scare during which left-leaning views were repressed 
and politicians and private individuals were systematically repressed over fear of Soviet infiltration and Communist influence with most accusations ultimately found to be exaggerated if not outright false, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible had its premier performance on this day in 1953 at the Broadway Martin Beck Theatre. Speculating with the opening narrative (following on with each act) that the theocratic society of the Puritans, isolation and unstable conditions contributed to the paranoia and hostility, the play is set in colonial Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Though some liberties were taken to fully limn out the litigants and the sentenced, most of the names and events are dramatised from court records.
synchronoptica
one year ago: US Supreme Court rules on Roe v Wade (1973) plus artist Sophie Hollington, AI on fantasy glam rock plus the door gods of the Lunar New Year
two years ago: the new normal (2003), Our Town (1938), AI suggests breakfast cereal plus a 1972 interview with David Bowie
three years ago: the death of Queen Victoria, another MST3K classic plus unnamed implements
four years ago: assorted links to revisit, the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb corrected, Trump and the tabloids plus an upcoming auspicious date
five years ago: artist Max Guther, a celebration of blank video cassettes plus Apple’s 1984 commercial
Released in November of the previous year with the premier of the film, and was until the debut of Thriller by Michael Jackson in 1982 the best-selling album in history, the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever began a twenty-four week run on the top of the US charts—with comparable success in international markets on this day in 1978. A nineteen-year-old Tony Manero (portrayed by John Travolta, see previously) escapes disillusionment by in his working-class Brooklyn neighbourhood by escaping to the a local disco (above) on the weekends, where he rules the dance-floor and longs for a better life in Manhattan, just across the Verrazzano-Narrows bridge. Showcasing the musical talents of the Bee Gees, Yvonne Elliman, Kool & the Gang, The Trammps amd KC and the Sunshine Band, the Brothers Gibb’s group and many of the other artists were not involved with the project until post-production, after the deal fell through with the recording label for Boz Scaggs (denied because the song “Lowdown” had recently appeared in another disco film Looking for Mister Goodbar, which is hard to describe as a dance drama but Saturday Night Fever has a complicated plot with a lot happening as well) and much of the choreography had to be redone after the movie’s producer commissioned the Bee Gees as understudies, with the lead tracks written and recorded over the course of a single weekend at a French chรขteau.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit, Mika’s Grace Kelly plus Space Songs, an educational LP
two years ago: more links to enjoy, planning a rendezvous with Oumuamua, the DeLorean (1981), a new album from Neil Young, more Wikihow illustrations plus a podcast miniseries on the comic Cathy
three years ago: Bernie Sanders at the inauguration plus Biden undoes Trump’s executive orders
four years ago: a field guide to wildflowers at speed
five years ago: more links worth the revisit
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