this five-hundred word bumper sticker on my tesla explains why i’m not a bad person (12. 417)

After reading about an entrepreneur earning a small fortune with a collection of significantly less apologetic and succinct stickers (not pictured), we quite enjoyed this imagined screed plastered on the rear of a Tesla by one owner from McSweeney’s contributors Lia Woodward and Leah Folta: 

Does it help to know that I always return my shopping cart to the designated area? What about the fact that I’ve never been to a Chick-fil-A? Or that I commissioned this bumper sticker from the Etsy shop of a woman who was fired from the EPA?

…how could you possibly predict that someday he will say and do those same things a lot louder and more often?

glass menagerie (12. 392)

The epidemic whipped into the height of frenzy on this day in 1954 following newspaper reporters and appeals for intervention from local authorities, the state governor and ultimately president Eisenhower, the Seattle Windshield Pitting Panic is considered to be a text-book example of mass delusion—sometimes mislabelled as mass hysteria, classed with near contemporary occurrences like Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast—propagated by rumour, mis- and disinformation and mass media when residents of the Washington capital and surrounding communities were invited to closely examine their cars’ windshields and discovered them to be scored with previously unnoticed pits, dents and dings. I recall getting out of a movie once with a lot of car-bombings and in the parking lot of the theatre was inspired to check below the steering column and was petrified to feel a bundle of wires—though quickly calmed down once I realised that I had never before poked around down there. Originally suspected to be a rash of sabotage or vandalism, but the scale and scope quickly lead to other theories arising beyond a conspiracy of hoodlums, sourcing the normal weathering to a range of agents from sand flea eggs hatching, cosmic rays, a nearby large radio transmitter operated by the navy, UFOs, a shift in the Earth’s magnetic field to fallout from nuclear testing. As damage reports preoccupied police, a committee of scientists from the state university was called together to survey cars on campus and compare to reported incidents. Concluding the wear and tear was the result of average road-use, calls to the police abruptly dropped off two days later.

 

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Rennsteiglied (with synchronoptica) plus wondrous woodcuts of astral phenomena

 

seven years ago: Thousand Insects of Japan plus creative anatomies

 

eight years ago: illustrator Boris Artzybasheff

 

nine years ago: more words with no English equivalent 

eleven years ago: Banksy graffiti at the GCHQ plus sea water to fuel

9x9 (12. 340)

us agency for global media: Voice of America director files lawsuit over ordered closure—a federal judge issues a temporary stay   

pecksniffian paragraph: Trump as a Dickens’ stock character over his sermonising on transgender military service members   

entomological adultery: the 1912 Cameraman’s Revenge painstakingly animated by Władysław Starevicz 

deterministic bit generator: a financial institution’s experiment with quantum computing generates certifiably random numbers with applications in auditing and encryption—see also   

the memes have entered the chat: the internet responds to Signalgate (aka whiskeyleaks)

arts décoratifs: rediscovering Betty Joel, Britain’s forgotten maven of Art Deco design—part of a centenary celebration of the movement—see previously

the population of an old pear tree: an 1870 work by Belgian author Ernest van Bruyssel celebrating biodiversity and insect life 

import/export: ahead of the planned tariff action for 2 April “Day of Liberty” Trump announces twenty-five percent duties on foreign cars and components, triggering retaliation 

are you sure ms kerger—because he is red: NPR and PBS testify before congress with its federal funding at stake—see previously

synchronoptica

one year ago: anatomised police lineups (with synchronoptica), assorted links to revisit, a classic from U2 plus a Nordic Easter witch

seven years ago: the dynamic Cosmos, more links to enjoy plus Everything’s Coming Up Simpsons

eight years ago: backmasking and the Satanic panic, the show with the mouse plus the Bombay Sapphire distillery

nine years ago: Easter greetings, revisiting the Leipzig Panometer plus a canting dialect

ten years ago: Holy Blood, Holy Grail, even more links, poet Paul Verlaine plus affecting a holiday accent

america the unbeautiful (12. 316)

Guardian contributor Alexander Hurst, reflecting on a recent roadtrip with a friend from Washington, DC to New Orleans—in part retracing the path of Alexis de Tocqueville—presents a thoughtful travelogue that encapsulates the aesthetics of sprawl and alienation that informed the MAGA mindset—those without an internal moral compass—long before it came home to roost with the return of Trump. “Like fish in water, I wonder if Americans are even aware how they swim in it,” Hurst writes of the inuring indignities of suburban living—sold as a dream still despite the nightmare monotony, congestion and estrangement of off-ramp after off-ramp leading to “rectangle islands of stuff, surrounded by parking lots leading to other little islands.”

synchronoptica

one year ago: Sagrada Família (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: the origins of tempura, email for trees, Google’s Art Palette plus Expo '70

eight years ago: FOIA inspired cocktails plus next generation phreaking

nine years ago: Italy’s answer to absinthe plus the Butcher’s Broom

ten years ago: the Fourth Crusade

lemon lot (12. 298)

We’re all weary of these fascist antics of Trump and his viceroy and there are far more destructive and dangerous acts being committed by the administration (a litany of horrors bears repeating but is quickly growing too lengthy to recap or process—with the latest being the detention and possible deportation of a student for organising pro-Gaza peace rallies which is a test on limiting free speech and reigning in the latitude of elite and liberal universities and eviscerating the department of education) but this photo-op of Trump’s newly acquired Tesla really is beyond the pale. In response to buyers’ remorse and some incidents of vandalism perpetrated on Cybertrucks and verbal assaults, fragile owners have convinced their congressional representatives to classify such attacks as “hate crimes” with Trump selecting the vehicle from a line-up as his new personal automobile, not the reviled flagship make and model, on the White House south lawn—further blurring ethical lines for Musk’s roles in government leading DOGE initiatives and receiving billions in federal contracts with SpaceX and Starlink, simultaneously dismantling his chief competitor NASA while running the Nazi bar formerly known as Twitter and the Columbia House Music Club inspired car subscription service—blatantly signalling the economy will be driven by favouritism and crony capitalism. Trump endorsed his purchase, at market-value, “I think he has been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people—and I just want people to know he can’t be penalised for being a patriot, and he’s also done an incredible job with Tesla,” and used the opportunity to reiterate that the private company had been subject to “ongoing and heinous acts of violence” orchestrated by radical leftists and declared that occupation or protests on dealerships will be henceforth labeled as acts of domestic terrorism and that perpetrators will “go through hell” for their infractions. Musk’s wealth and Trump’s favourability depend on their brands being not toxic for their own wealth and success and seem to be summarily alienating their consumers and constituents.

the birth of the robot (12. 291)

Having enjoyed some samples of Leonard Charles Huia Lye’s work (better known as Len Lye) in his pioneering animation studies and experimental use of rotoscope techniques, we appreciated being introduced to his kinetic sculptures and work in stop-motion short (presented in living Gasparcolor, developed in Berlin in 1933) about an undaunted motorist (see also) suddenly caught in a sandstorm and stranded in the unforgiving desert, who despite being reduced to sun-bleached bones is resurrected (with a few drops of life-giving petroleum) as cyborg. Watch the entire film at Open Culture at the link above from the Shell Oil historical archive—which includes many other promotional pieces of iconic animation.

synchronoptica

one year ago: 1978’s The Incredible Hulk (with synchronoptica) plus a cheese-mongers’ survey

seven years ago: a next generation scarecrow  

eight years ago: bringing back the bees plus more on repealing and replacing Obama Care 

nine years ago: illustrator William Thomas Horton, a fantastic projection of the Trump dynasty plus a Roald Dahl inspired font

ten years ago: an Ayn Rand film adaptation plus roving wireless

verkehrshaus der schweiz (12. 247)

Delightfully, we discover courtesy of Present /&/ Correct that the Swiss Museum of Transport in Luzern has a wing (Halle Strassen-verkehr) clad in street signs. One of the most popular exhibitions in the country (see also), the museum campus features displays of historic railroad engines, automotive exhibits (with tunnels and mountain passes), cable cars, maritime navigation and aerospace, including the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) an uncrewed science laboratory, one of the few satellites successfully deorbited and returned to the Earth undamaged.

supersize ma déesse (12. 173)

After a successful commission petitioning the automaker Citroën to adapt its multi-wheeled DS line as a less cumbersome, high-speed delivery vehicle, contributing to the design of the extra axles for this load-runner—originally made to carry newspapers, civil servant Pierre Tissier secured a role with the company as an authorised conversion specialist, helping to engineer and customise several models of utility station wagon (Familiale) as ambulances, hearses, camera cars for filmmaking, towing and hauling vehicles as well as introducing the custom CX Penthouse in 1980, a “camping car” with a pop-top roof at the Paris Auto Show in 1980.

synchronoptica

one year ago: more on the adventuresome Piccard brothers (with synchronoptica) plus thoughts on a prodigious birth

seven years ago: more links to enjoy, war and cheese plus photographer Tugo Chen

nine years ago: ring anxiety, assorted links worth revisiting, vampiric bacteria plus Star Trek in living colour

ten years ago: the epochs of the world as a time spiral

twelve years ago: an outing for austerity, digital sabotage plus the Brexit referendum

9x9 (12. 139)

eixample: Barcelona’s nineteenth century urban revival and characteristic octagonal blocks  

🚦: adding fourth colour to traffic lights for safer sharing of roads with human drivers and autonomous vehicles  

willkommen zu hause: a somewhat older documentary on club culture and techno in former East Germany with a connection to H has made it to Youtube  

ha-ha woman, it’s a crying shame but you ain’t got nobody else to blame: equal rights and urban justice in medieval times  

2-step authenication: secure passwords should require a performance like Liza Minelli tries to turn off a lamp—will a Fosse neck do it? 

the monkey chew tobacco on the street car line: the Meters’ Hand Clapping Song 

lycurgus cup: the fuzzy and fluorescent vases of Maxwell Mustardo evoke Roman amphorae—see previously  

stairwell of the quarter: twelve months of superlative flights and storeys 

beaded curtain: a look at the fragmented nature of the border wall on the US southern frontier—via Super Punch

10x10 (12. 070)

willow: Google’s quantum computing labs unveil a new microchip that operates at amazing speeds by being in many states simultaneously  

skin-deep: a look at the tattoos of Defence Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth 

mind-machines: Arthur C Clark (previously) forecasts the rise of artificial intelligence in 1978 

yuletide classics: a treasury of ten great holiday action movies—see also  

saturday night bath in apple valley: Something Weird features the very best in exploitation film from the 1930s through the 1970s—via Obscure Media 

they see your photos: an app that assesses one’s images, opposite to a picture is worth one thousand words  

free syria awaits you: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham enters Damascus as Bashir al-Assad flees to Moscow and political prisoners are freed  

mocha mousse: a defence of Pantone’s colour for 2025—it’s first brown hue  

pratfall: the history of slipping on banana peels—see previously here and here  

undercoat: solar paint developed by Mercedes Benz could revolutionise EV charging

synchronoptica

one year ago: underappreciated cinematic masterworks (with synchronoptica), multifunction gadgets plus The Wicker Man (1973)

seven years ago: prospecting for bitcoin plus transparency in airfare

eight years ago: dinosaur plumage, no memory for sickness, Italy’s efforts to reduce government gridlock and promote efficiency plus assorted links to revisit

nine years ago: an extraordinary Jubilee Year, chain of command plus 3D face masking

ten years ago: lucky charms, visualising the passage of time plus a first, fatal shooting by police in Iceland

ev1 (12. 062)

With just over a thousand models produced over the span of three years until the pilot project was shuttered in 1999, General Motors’ subcompact car (available for leasing only) was the first mass-produced battery electric vehicle for the US market, introduced in response to a mandate by the California Air Resources Board stipulating that automakers must offer zero-emissions alternatives to keep access to the state’s market. The innovative plug-in pioneered many of the technologies found in electric cars today a quarter of a century ago, but despite being (mostly, its limited charge gave rise to the phenomenon that still haunts the industry of range anxiety) well received by drivers and critics, GM halted production—after California eased its standards due to industry pushback, and citing safety concerns over the lack of availability of replacement parts for the EV1’s specialised components, decided to scrap the entire fleet. Due to restrictions on outright ownership, only a very few examples remain but the small car that could make short trips has an outsized legacy. More from NPR at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: the Japanese wrapping art of furoshki

nine years ago: more links to enjoy

ten years ago: internet browsers as fashion models plus a list of French phrases that ought to be reintroduced to common-parlance

twelve years ago: a double-standard for secessionist movements plus decorating the office for Christmas

6x6 (12. 043)

tour of duty: the life of the Roman soldier as told through the personal letters of one of the enlisted  

travelling cat: soar around the world with this feline aviatrix—via Maps Mania  

the keeper of the mss, begs to decline: manuscripts rejected by the British Museum Library on topics of conspiracy theories, the paranormal and for being overly amorous—via Strange Company  

the peal of protection: the bells of Notre Dame blessed as the cathedral reopens to the public—see more, see previously 

 katzenjammer: etymologies of hangover—see previously, see also  

continuing education: teaching rats to drive as a heuristic for joy and positive emotions 

 re:volt: an AI-powered robot seemingly convinced twelve others to quit their jobs and join it

 synchronoptica

one year ago: an AI Advent Calendar (with synchronoptica),  in-flight audio playlists plus an ominous weather forecast

seven years ago: the Mountain Dream Tarot, the first cryptocurrency (1989) plus skeletal nomenclature

eight years ago: RIP Fidel Castro plus an atlas of the underworld

nine years ago: more adventures in Vienna plus Vienna’s Gasometer City

ten years ago: a mango döner recipe plus memes and stock-characters

9x9 (12. 036)

to john dillinger and hope he is still alive: William S Burroughs’ Thanksgiving Prayer  

sampler-sized: iconic electronic music remixes by year  

silent poems: a weird and wondrous, non-WYSIWYG word processor from graphic designer Lavinia Petrache—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest 

blacklisted: Musk publishes names of federal workers he wants to eliminate, a terror-inducing tactic that may force them to resign in lieu of being fired  

well, please post the rebuttal—then community notes will take care of the rest: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg explains to Elon Musk how EV charging works 

sortes vergilianae: a particular form of bibliomancy drawing random passages from The Aeneid (see also here and here) and other works by Roman poet Virgil  

anacyclosis: the rise and fall of civilisation and the undermining of democracy  

the nine lives of dr mabuse: avant garde pop band Propaganda celebrate the filmology of the chaotic villain—see previously  

pay no attention to that man behind the curtain: a political reading of Wicked

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Battle of Versailles (1973—with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth the revisit 

seven years ago: Tom Baker returns as Dr Who plus Trump celebrates Native American Heritage Month

eight years ago: emoluments and more

eleven years ago: the debut of MST3K (1998) plus Germany’s Goldfinger tax-model

twelve years ago: :D for Düsseldorf

📍(12. 006)

Having been astonished by the savant-like abilities of some individuals to pinpoint places in the world from random Google Street View imagery, we could appreciate this rather comprehensive, forensic-level geography aid, via ibīdem, which while probably made with improving one’s Geoguessr challenges in mind (we weren’t any good at that but did look for little clues that might match the continent or familiar registration plates—previously here, here and here) but could have a host of other applications. One can sort (among other filters) by bollards, pedestrian crossings and stop signs, which are pretty interesting to compare.

express exterior (11. 916)

Wanting to explore liminal spaces but realising many of the routine, obligatory and mundane things we endure can yet be harried and harrowing at times, showering, dressing and breakfast or one’s commute, documentary photographer Sharam Saadat found for recent study, entitled The Whale, a really surreal, captivating and non-negotiable interlude in a carwash in southern England, capturing his subject as they went through the three minute cycle when one can only pass the time—a moment of relief from having to do anything other than pass the time and possibly anticipation. What other time-capsule interims can you think of? More from the Vice interview at the link above and the artist’s website.

7x7 (11. 897)

ghost lot: an installation of sunken cars buried in a mall parking area as commentary on catering to automobile culture 

weather manipulation: a whirlwind of conspiracy theories over recent hurricanes in the US have netted distrust, death threats for meteorologists 

loveland frogmen: maps of the most famous cryptids and mythical monsters charted by America states and internationally—via Nag on the Lake  

scripting news: a founding member of the blogosphere enters his fourth decade—via Waxy  

general headquarters: the lost board game from Kurt Vonnegut (previously) has been completed and available for purchase 

theobros: understanding the GOP’s efforts to remake America through Christian Nationalists—via Miss Cellania  

y-crossing: the Trinity Bridge of Crowland, Lincolnshire, a relic before the rivers were rerouted

synchronoptica

one year ago: a catalogue of edible seeds (with synchronoptica) plus the Polish System of pedagogy

seven years ago: a line rider banger, pictorial kanji, a Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden plus the US withdraws from UNESCO

eight years ago: Mr Yuk plus a monument to Henrietta Lacks

nine years ago: a courtly selfie-stick plus assorted links to revisit

fourteen years ago: predictive text plus Japanese heraldic traditions

7x7 (11. 867)

urban glitch: a series of nostalgic, hyper-detailed paintings from Jeff Bartels 

ganz kleine nachtmusik: a previously unknown work by Mozart discovered in a Leipzig library archive  

promptographs: Mister François presents three hundred imaginative “secret car” models with the help of AI—Lamborghini school buses and Ferrari caravans  

warchitecture: the language of urbicide was developed to address the wanton destruction of Sarajevo’s build environment and continues in contemporary conflicts—see also  

do not show this travel pack to gdr or soviet officials: a 1989 British guide for West Berlin  

papyrological discovery: for his birthday in 480 BC, new lines of Euripides’ lost plays Ino and Polyidus uncovered—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest (much more to explore there)  

8-bit garden: dissolving digital artwork from Karol Polak of Gdańsk

10x10 (11. 852)

analogical harmony: Edwin Babbit’s Principles of Light and Colour (1878)  

riding the rails: a guide to a cross-country trip on America’s Amtrak

world level zero: how well travelled are you—see previously  

porifera: an appreciation of the barely understood sea sponge  

me and my aero: one inventor invented both the flying ring frisbee and an innovative coffee press—via Kottke  

type tuesday: Microsoft’s new default font (see previously here and here) and more typographical briefs  

the cry of cthuthu: Poseidon’s Underworld reads the July 1979 anniversary issue of Starlog—see previously

small world: kinetic microphotography captures biological processes and microbes in never-before-seen ways  

road trip: charting the longest possible drivable distance through Eurasia  

come up off your colour chart: Taylor Swift lyrical swatches

synchronoptica

one year ago: faithless electors (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: the stage play that coined race plus a legitimising veneer for populist prejudice

eight years ago: a visit to the Hessen Landtag

ten years ago: Roman emperor Hadrian 

eleven years ago: a photographic scavenger hunt in Leipzig plus gifting votes

where we’re going we don’t need stroads (11. 820)

Whilst happy to live in a country that has not privileged cars over pedestrians completely where services are walkable and there’s a robust network of public transportation, there is always room for improvement at the margins—parking lots take up a lot of real estate and can be sweltering heat islands that could surely be put to a better use and there’s signs that some mid-sized cities in Germany are tending towards their American counterparts with the same horrendous corridors of strip malls, gas stations, automobile lots and fast food and plenty of investment in infrastructure has been invested in making the car king. Courtesy of Kottke, we are directed towards this reflection on how the car-centric focus of the US is like an addiction impossible to kick because of all the sunk costs and the ingrained and perpetuating cycle of more roads, more traffic and more destinations. The urban planning for the overwhelming majority of places built up post the introduction of the car is going to take a long process of unbuilding to make them liveable, and this is the American experience with hardly any exception—the article quoting Tennessee Williams’ observation that the country only has three cities: “New York, San Francisco and New Orleans—everywhere else is Cleveland,” which unfortunately rings very true for all that are consigned to be stuck in congestion and forever en route and whose errands and commute affords no chance for serendipity, divergence or nature. The title portmanteau of “street” and “road” was coined in criticism to the spreading failures of American civil engineering.

9x9 (11. 814)

unpodcasted: one hundred ninety nine ideas about etymologies, idioms and eponyms that Helen Zaltzman has not produced an episode for—yet  

book club: Oprah Winfrey’s upcoming special on Artificial Intelligence with Sam Altman, Bill Gates and other AI-evangelists has critics of the tech sector up in arms  

blue chip index: Intel’s earnings slump could see it removed from the Dow, possibly putting a wrench in plans to increase US domestic manufacturing

sleepy grendel’s mother: Beotrump by Christopher Douglas  

jevons paradox: even if autonomous vehicles worked perfectly, they will still lead to more pollution, congestion and accidents—see previously—via tmn  

oslo—is it even a city: a wonderful bit of anti-advertising for the Norwegian capital plus more news and jokes 

intel inside: Pentium microprocessor as Navajo weaving—via Waxy 

nanowrimo: the organisation behind National Novel Writing Month criticised over labelling aversion to generative texts as classist and ableist 

unblogged: fellow flâneur Diamon Geezer lists a month’s worth of explorations not posted

 synchronoptica

one year ago: The Eye of the Tiger (with synchronoptica),  Kenneth Anger’s first film plus hot labour summer

seven years ago: the Little Ben of Victoria station

eight years ago: a visit to Churfrankenland plus an ant colony thriving in nuclear waste

nine years ago: assorted links to revisit plus algorithmic eavesdropping

eleven years ago: Germany votes plus pirate patches