vinegar tom (12. 164)

Having encountered the topic of animals on trial beforehand, we found intriguing this court docket, via ibīdem, on how canine familiars (obviously falsely accused, they were all good boys and girls) were implicated in the Salem Witch Trials. In superstitions predating the tribunal dogs had garnered associations with the sinister and while there are no records of dogs standing trial, those folklore traditions echo in testimony with dogs being bewitched and in league with the devil, evinced by the power of prayer to encourage obedience. Historical sources suggest that their implication was a shaggy dog story read into the record after the fact and sadly led, as with their feline and feminine cohort, to abuse and injustice.

summis desiderantes (12. 058)

From the Latin incipit “for desiring with supreme ardor” (see previously, see also), Pope Innocent VIII promulgated his papal bull on this day in 1484 condemning witchcraft, issued at the behest of one Dominican Inquisitor called Heinrich Kramer, who would go on to publish the widely popular Malleus Maleficarum (der Hexenshammer) petitioning higher authorities for license to persecute witches in Germany after the local clergy failed to champion his cause—signalling a rather dramatic shift in the Church’s attitude, having previously made a distinction between white and black magic and opposed the denunciation of supposed practitioners of either, restricting the punishment for transgression to confession, repentance and community service. Manifestly political in nature as a way of settling jurisdictional battles between priests in Mainz, Köln and Trier by installing, deputising his cadre (Henry Institoris) with more papal immediacy bypassing the established hierarchy. Recognising the existence of witches, the text of the bull began, and as a preface to Kramer’s own work, written during retirement when the directive to cooperate with inquisitions under pain of excommunication failed to garner support:

Many persons of both sexes, unmindful of their own salvation and straying from the Catholic Faith, have abandoned themselves to devils, incubi and succubi, and by their incantations, spells, conjurations, and other accursed charms and crafts, enormities and horrid offences, have slain infants yet in the mother’s womb, as also the offspring of cattle, have blasted the produce of the earth, the grapes of the vine, the fruits of the trees, nay, men and women, beasts of burthen, herd-beasts, as well as animals of other kinds, vineyards, orchards, meadows, pasture-land, corn, wheat, and all other cereals. These wretches furthermore afflict and torment men and women, beasts of burthen, herd-beasts, as well as animals of other kinds, with terrible and piteous pains and sore diseases, both internal and external; they hinder men from performing the sexual act and women from conceiving ... they blasphemously renounce that faith which is theirs by the sacrament of baptism, and at the instigation of the Enemy of Mankind they do not shrink from committing and perpetrating the foulest abominations and filthiest excesses to the deadly peril of their own souls ... the abominations and enormities in question remain unpunished not without open danger to the souls of many and peril of eternal damnation.

Despite the blurb, the Church condemned the publication as misleading and rejected the animosity towards independent women, though failing to do enough to staunch this apparent endorsement of witchhunts.

dies iræ, dies illa (12. 052)

Fêted on this day in the Roman and Eastern Orthodox calendar of saints, Zephaniah (Σοφονίας, צְפַנְיָה, Concealed is god) was a priest of the Temple of Solomon during the reign of Josiah (circa 640 to 609 BC) counted among the Twelve Minor Prophets and credited as forecasting the coming of the Messiah, during a time when worship of other deities was popular and widespread, especially that of Baal and Astarte. The incipit of his book that warns of corruption and the imminent destruction of Jerusalem for its moral degeneration for its religious waywardness is the origin of the setting for the liturgical hymn as the sequence from the Requiem Mass—translated in the Vulgate edition of the Bible, “Day of wrath and doom impending!”

the seal of solomon (12. 014)

Regarded as a patron of the army and surely with significance to the Roman calvary garrisoned, an amulet bearing the figure of the prophetic king Solomon horseback and spearing a demon has been uncovered by an archaeological team excavating the site of Hadrianopolis (Edirne) on the Black Sea. The fifth century pendant bears the inscription “Our Lord has overcome evil,” with the obverse listing the archangels Azrael, Michael, Gabriel and Israfil. Though no artefact of this type has been previously discovered in Anatolia, the motiff was a popular one, eventually replaced by St George and the dragon in the Middle Ages, where as the former eventually meets his down fall by the devils he enslaved.

10x10 (11. 923)

potalapitsi: a 3D resin replica of ancient Wauja cave carvings presented after the original was vandalised is helping keep their tradition and ancestral wisdom alive  

stop the steal: the Trump campaign’s coup endgame—via Kottke  

waymo: robocars circling the block 

pumpkin spice: the untold story of the rebellious photographer that helped found the tradition of craft beer and the seasonal flavour  

👻: guide to converting one’s haunted mansion to an AirBNB  

grab-bag: vintage trick-or-treating paper sacks 

ㅛ: revisiting a demonic number  

charter cities: how wealth redraws geopolitical borders  

because i was not a trade-unionist: the political implication of mass-deportations

hillfort: a preserved early Celtic wooden chamber tomb

 synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: Trump’s possibly fake Renoir, a two party system plus the first and only Space Cat

eight years ago: ICANN meets, turning leaves plus a massive internet outage that could impact the US election

nine years ago: more links to enjoy, time-travel plus even more links

eleven years ago: sacred architecture in France, Chartreuse plus lavender cultivation

8x8 (11. 908)

jianmen underground neutrino observatory: a tour of JUNO, the massive Chinese lab built to study the elusive particle—Damn Interesting’s Curated Links 

xoxo: Cabel Sasser’s talk on rediscovering a forgotten artist—more here from the presenter, see also

post on own site, syndicate elsewhere: more on the POSSE technique for retaining control of one’s work—see previously  

first draft: the Balloon Boy Hoax of 2009 illustrates the problems of for-profit journalism—see also 

saturday night soirées: the house parties of Charles Babbage (previously) boasted an impressive guest list, including Faraday, the Darwins, Dickens and more  

central casting: recalculating the Kevin Bacon Game with eigenvectors to reveal the most well connected film is Pulp Fiction—via Quantum of Sollazzo 

monsters and madonnas: the eerie, erotic photography of William Mortensen—labelled the “Antichrist of Hollywood” in the 1930s for his horror film inspired compositions  

strong thermal emission velocity enhancement: the rare atmospheric phenomenon called Steve (which science made a backronym) that sometimes accompanies geostorms

nightgaunts (11. 906)

Via Fancy Notions, we are directed towards a quirky, creepy featurette that definitely has the look and feel of a silent work from the 1920s, an homage to the great puppet animator Władysław Starewicz and by extension, inspiration Tim Burton, but was only made in 1998. From studio Screen Novelties’ Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero in this stop-motion animation—with fitting accompaniment—a weird little old man is captured by flying demons (the titular creatures based on an HP Lovecraft story) and taken to the goblins’ lair. Watching the cartoon was reminiscent of perennially viewing of Disney’s Halloween Treat and the inclusion of the 1929 Silly Symphony The Skeleton Dance but much better crafted and with a spookier soundtrack best left on repeat.

big chris, little chris (11. 717)

Venerated on this day in German-speaking dioceses (the following day on the General Roman Calendar of the Saints) on the occasion of his martyrdom in 251 in Anatolia, the Canaanite of legendary stature, imposing and standing at five cubits (2,3 metres), called Reprobus (reprobate and also by some accounts and portrayals, dog-headed due to a misunderstanding of the Latin demonym Cananeus for suggesting cynocephaly) was determined to be in service to the greatest king of all, and upon seeing his ruler blessing

himself with the sacrament of the sign of the cross at the mention of Satan and reasoning that the devil able to inspire such trepidation must certainly be more powerful abandoned his post and sought out this master to service. Falling in with a gang of robbers claiming to be in league with the devil, the giant of a man was again disappointed by seeing the leader avoiding Christian iconography and sought out the faith under the guidance of a hermit he had encountered. Responding with prayer and fasting when asked how to best serve Christ, Reprobus answered that would be unable to comply with either of those tasks. The hermit reasoned due his size and strength he could please Christ by helping people ford a treacherous river. One day after many successful and easy crossings, a young boy sought passage with the burden becoming almost too much to bear and the river difficult to trudge across, the rapids becoming leaden around his legs. After the arduous journey, the passenger revealed himself to be Christ his king, whom was well served by this work. The ferryman henceforth was known as Christopher (Χριστόφορος, the Christ-bearer), ultimately beheaded in Lycia for his evangelising and refusing to sacrifice to the local pagan gods. Patron saint of Baden, Mecklenburg and Braunschweig, Rab in Croatia, Vilnius, Riga and St Kitts, Christopher is also the protector of athletes, mariners and travellers, as well as invoked as an intercessor against sudden death (owing to the dangerous river-crossing) an toothaches. This spurious association comes from a donation of a supposed relic in the form of a giant moral to a group of friars in the Piedmontese town of Vercelli in the late Middle Ages. Described by one of the numerous pilgrims seeking relief over centuries, the silver and gold reliquary as dena molaris pugno major (a tooth bigger than a fist), the inheriting order of the Barnabites had the attraction examined scientifically in the late eighteenth century and was determined to have belonged to a hippopotamus. The object was summarily deaccessioned and forbidden to be treated with idolatry. The community apparently keeps the tooth out of public view as a curiosity in their monastery.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the death of Twitter (with synchronoptica) plus AI and dragnet surveillance

seven years ago: a Tagalong word for overwhelming cuteness plus an act to prevent pernicious political activities

eight years ago: acts of terrorism across Europe, visiting Château d’Oléron, a coup in Turkey, presidential commercial interests, colouring black and white photos per algorithm, lanterns of the dead plus punditry in America

nine years ago: a Venus flytrap, assorted links worth revisiting plus Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Cologne

eleven years ago: the frequency illusion

people don’t get better, they just get smarter—when you get smarter you don’t stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it (11. 469)

First published by on this day in 1974 by Double Day, and adapted into a film just two years later—with three cinematic versions and a musical to follow, the debut horror novel by high school teacher and

aspiring author, Stephen King, a moderate commercial success on first printing but became a best-seller upon release as a paperback by Signet Press and establishing not only King’s credentials as a writer but also the appetite for the genre. Set five years in the future in the New England village of Chamberlain, Maine, a sixteen-year old Carietta “Carrie” White is ridiculed by other girls in high school, the the oppressively religious home-life that’s left her sheltered, naive and guilt-ridden, constant bullying and humiliation eventually causing her to unleash her nascent telekinetic powers to destroy the school and the town. Dealing with universal themes of ostracism, vengeance and disaffirmation—society makes monsters and refuses to address their monstrous aspects, instead of the story ending with the federal government declaring a state of emergency for the devastated township and Congress launching the White Commission to study paranormal abilities, King’s original conclusion confirmed the religious mother’s suspicion of demonic possession, growing horns and continuing her destructive rampage—but was convinced to leave the nature of Carrie’s powers more of a mystery. 

 synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit

two years ago: removing an obstacle to maritime navigation (1958) plus the bridgehead at Mainz

three years ago: more links to enjoy plus First Contact

four years ago: Easter Island, snaking walls, public health turns political plus Fox’ Sunday Night Line-Up

five years ago: more links worth revisiting plus metaphysical tools

påskhäxa (11. 455)

Via Messy Nessy Chic, we are reminded (see previously) of the Swedish and Finnish legend of the Easter witches who fly off to Blockula (Blåkulla, cognate with Blocksberg or the Brocken in the Harz mountains and host to a similar congress) to meet the Devil on the night between Holy Wednesday (Dymmelonsdag, also known as Spy Wednesday to mark the bargain of Judas and his betrayal of Jesus’ whereabouts) and Maundy Thursday (Skärtorsdagen). Though with dark origins in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the witch mania and hunts in Scandinavia, when implements that witches could use for their magical flight, broomsticks, fence posts, beams and farm animals, were locked away, modern traditions include children dressing as witches, to commemorate the ride and rites, and go door-to-door for Easter treats in exchange for hand-drawn greetings.

11x11 (11. 448)

inauspicious beginnings: a rift opens up in a group of official astrologers employed by the Sri Lankan government to pick ideal dates for new years rituals  

disco arabesquo: record label Habibi Funk aims to introduce Middle Eastern vintage music to wider audiences 

typecraft: a transformative font foundry in India 

the allegory of the cave: on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the film’s premiere, we may be still trapped in the Matrix 

banjaxed and bockety: two curious Irish terms 

der buch der hasengeschichten: Tom Seidmann-Freud’s 1924 collection of hare fables 

working for tips: bizarrely robot baristas will accept gratuities, in a service sector landscape already fraught with insecurity and precarity—via tmn  

the juice is on the loose: a sequel thirty-six years in the making, reuniting the original cast—via Miss Cellania  

international system of typographic picture education: an archive of the pictograms of Gerd Arntz—see previously  

pocket full of kryptonite: the preponderance of alternative rock songs about Superman in the 1990s, 2000s 

prosopometamorphopsia: a new study on generalised social anxiety disorder tries to see from the perspective of those with a rare condition that causes faces to appear distorted, demonic—via the New Shelton wet/dry

from the depths of wikipedia (11. 207)

Via Super Punch, not only do we learn that Colonel Sanders guest starred on the soap opera General Hospital (on National Fried Chicken Day in 2018, which also exists), there is also a chaotic, esoteric—but serviceable programming language called Malbolge (see also), named after the eighth circle of Hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy, Malebolge, for fraudsters. The level of the inferno itself is divided into ten concentric trenches, bolgias, to segregate the panderers, mediums, grafters, grifters from the thieves and hypocrites and is guarded by a horde of torturing demons called the Malebranche. Someone is trying to kill Sanders to obtain the secret recipe of eleven herbs and spices and has placed a detonation device in the hospital. Because the Colonel knows Malbolge, he is able to disarm the bomb and stop the destruct sequence. Though not such a deep rabbit-hole, earlier in the week we also learned that aptly none of the original text from a 2003 entry on the philosophical quandary “The Ship of Theseus” remains.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Chinese internet slang, how to draw Christmas plus more data-visualisations from Daniel Huffman

two years ago: Latinisation of Chinese, Tibb’s Eve, coal-mining operations in Essen cease (1986), the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493), graphic designs of Uruguay plus the coat of arms of Paul McCartney

three years ago: assorted links worth revisiting 

four years ago: hortatory Antiphons

five years ago: St Thorlak, investigating glitter plus the Extinction Rebellion

9x9 (11. 160)

caput apri defero, reddens laudes domino: an annual procession dating back to the fourteenth century that marks the beginning of Christmas season in London 

pingxiety: an update on the aerospace engineer’s anti-smart phone—see previously  

settled law: a carol to reaffirm that Die Hard is in fact a Christmas movie  

pocket universe: scientists in Germany re-create the Cosmos in a test tube to tweak the laws of physics for this primordial simulation  

pilea peperomiodes: the Chinese money plant goes by another common name for good reasons  

such fun: noun and adjectival usage of the intensifier on either side of the Atlantic  

anthrobots: researchers have created tiny, living robots from human cells that could one day patrol for diseases and repair damaged tissue  

there used to be a house at 6114 california street: a interview at home with Anton LaVey in 1967—see previously—via r/Obscure Media  

coquito ho ho: a guide to festive variations on classic cocktails

8x8 (11. 093)

outsider art: revisiting the narrative embroidery of Agnes Richter and other works in the Prinzhorn Collection  

market sundries: the paper bag baron of the East End—via Strange Company  

the crispy r: more on rhoticity and unusual consonant 

pentimenti: conservators reveal a hidden demonic figure in Joshua Reynold’s “The Death of Cardinal Beaufort”—see also 

the statistical breviary: an overview of the history of digital design 

uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco, cinco, seis: DJ Cummerbund (previously) presents a mashup of the The Offspring and Boney M—with quite a few other musical cameos 

face-hugger: the parasitic crustacean Phronima sedentaria was the inspiration for Ridley Scott’s Alien  

sgraffito: the alleged safe-room where Michelangelo hid from his political enemies, decorated with his anatomical and engineering studies opens to the public

the devil’s ball (11. 084)

With introductory remarks on how artists are rebelling against having their works and style scraped and assimilated often without attribution or respect and are fighting back, Fancy Notions directs us to a spooky Halloween treat, fever dream in the form of the uncut animated short from pioneering stop-motion storyteller Władysław Starewicz from 1933. The original was considerably edited for length prior to release and many of the film segments are lost but using AI to help fill in the gaps, the original story of this le Fétiche (the Mascot) series has been restored. The surreal cast of creepy toys and re-animated bones (Starewicz’ earliest experiments used dead insects articulated with wires, which reviewers believed were expertly trained bugs) coming to life and vie for a prize orange. Later filmmakers, like Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mister Fox (Starewicz’ most acclaimed work was Le Roman de Renard) or Tim Burton’s Nightmare before Christmas, pay homage to the artist’s influence.

chick tracts (10. 914)

99% Invisible turns our attention to a strange and virulent form of evangelising in the form of an oddly collectible and exhaustive series of Christian comics from erstwhile cartoonist and Born-Again Jack Thomas Chick. First published in the 1960s from its headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, California and continuing through to today, this pocket-sized artefact of conservative mainstream Protestant theology that’s become a self-parody veered at times to hate-speech and attacked Catholics, Masons, queer-people, socialists, Communists, drug-users, trick-or-treaters (collect them all!) and denounced non-conformists and non-Christian faiths as devil-worshipping as well as stoking ugly conspiracy theories and paranoia. The back-panel of each tract includes a blank spaces for churches to stamp their name and contact information as well as a bespoke salvation prayer for sinners to recant their ways. More at the links above. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit

two years ago: the Norse goddess Freyja plus recreating classic screen-savers

three years ago: the microcars of Robert Hannoyer, pioneering oceanographer Marie Tharp, special edition Canadian coins,  fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto (RIP), St Hatebrand plus the rich tradition of Japanese souvenirs

four years ago: algorithmically-directed decisions and the architecture of choice, disruptive jewellery plus non-overlapping magisteria

five years ago: Outsider Art from Austria, BBC’s sound archives plus building a Martian base in situ

sliver bullet (10. 814)

On this day in 1983, husband and wife team of paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren, performed the exorcism of a “werewolf demon”—Edward, a self-taught demonologist and Lorraine a professed medium and clairvoyant were involved in a number of high profile hauntings and founded the New England Society for Psychic Research, one of the most venerable institutions of its kind, and their cases were the inspiration for the Amityville Horror and Conjuring franchises.During a book-tour of England, they encountered the tragic predicament of Southend-on-Sea community bedevilled by the undiagnosed seizures of one William Ramsey, thought to be a case of lycanthropy for the blackouts and preternatural feats of strength and arranged to have him brought to Connecticut for treatment.

8x8 (10. 765)

simply the best: tributes pour in from around the world for the Queen of Rock and Roll, Tina Turner—previously

fabric swatches meticulously arranged: piecing together the mystery of the dress diary of Missus Anne Sykes—via Nag of the Lake  

midnight train: routes of Europe’s overnighters—see previously—via Kottke  

pasteurised prepared cheese product: attempts at rehabilitating the impoverished state of American caseiculture  

cotton tree: Sierra Leone’s iconic landmark brought down by a heavy storm  

концептуальный консерватизм: chief of Russian mercenary forces, retreating from Bakhmut, says that the offensive in Ukraine has backfired  

chintzy: a history of the calico, block printed textile

hollywood babylon: occultist and underground maker of experimental short films, Kenneth Anger has passed away—see previously

codex gigas (10. 725)

The largest extant medieval manuscript in the world, this “giant book” (Obří kniha) was saved from destruction when the medieval royal palace of Stockholm went up in flames by being thrown from a window on this day in 1679. Taken from Prague as spoils of the Thirty Years; War by Swedish forces, the illuminated tome (weighing in at 75 kg) contains the complete Vulgate Bible and other thirteenth century reference material and is known for picture of the devil that takes up a full page with no other text—so prominently featured according to legend due to a pact with Satan by one of the monk scribes in exchange for allowing him time to completely transcribe the text before the source material was overdue.

7x7 (10. 459)

salt of the earth: a tour of Ukraine’s Soledar salt mines—presently under siege 

black mass: Boston is hosting the Satanic Temple’s SatanCon—see previously

verpertilio-homo: what the Great Moon Hoax of 1835 reveals about contemporary misinformation  

lhs 475β: JWST discovers its first exoplanet—via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links  

discretionary time off: salaried Microsoft employees given unlimited vacation leave  

jot and tittle: an unorthodox scholar ferrets out biblical forgeries  

russie d’aujourd’hui: a look back at Soviet boosterism and propaganda publications