юзнет (13. 930)

Having examined before the failure of the Soviet internet, once neck and neck with the inchoate ARPANET with the Politburo developing a comprehensive and ambitious programme to streamline and upgrade the entire planned economy that was ultimately derailed, preempted by problems that wouldn’t plague its Western competition until recently—see previously, see also—we enjoyed this investigation on how telepathy (a pursuit of both sides of the Iron Curtain) informed networking and connectivity in Russia and with the rest of the world. Whilst the belief in or privileging of the paranormal cannot be shown to be the cause of the Soviets’ backsliding in the tech-race—the Space Bridges linking communities in the East and the West live were Russian innovations regarded with skepticism as trickery by the US—the parallel to the current attitudes and factionalism regarding the potential of artificial intelligence are interesting to consider—AI and psychic powers might be equal amounts of woo and hype—with the roles reversed and sceptics and true-believers alternately told they’ll be the ones left behind, depending one one’s perspective and who one asks, magical or mere parlour-tricks. Both sides had their evangelists and zealots then as now—with the web and its linkages a surrogate for the promise of mind-reading and mesmerism. More from JSTOR Daily at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica), Tsar Bomba (1961) plus the Solvay Congress of 1927

two years ago: the Park of Monsters, more links to enjoy, Ford turns his back on NYC, Trump and the stock market, the Rumble in the Jungle plus a poem for the battle-worn 

three years ago: even more assorted links 

four year ago: drawing with Ed Emberley plus more links to revisit

five years ago: another MST3K classic—The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, more links to enjoy plus artist William-Adolphe Bourguereau

six years ago: the first residents board the International Space Station (2000), more on murderous dioramas, a wizarding curriculum from 1925 plus star charts for the yet to be born

seven years ago: East German counter-programming, Brexit postponed plus the lost dative case

eight years ago: stochastic terrorism, folksonomy, corporate fairy tales, birthright citizenship plus “Egyptian” Rocky Horror

 

new zoo revue (13. 928)

The recursively named Louisiana Hospital for the Insane of Louisiana, established in 1906 on the grounds of a formerly segregated facility “to accommodate the insane of both races” and to provide relief for the overburdened state prison system, still in operation today, is exemplary of a shift in in-patient care that informed the craft and occupational therapy associated with mental institutions of the era, spanning from Victorian attitudes of enlightenment and outreach to Mid-Century Modern journaling. Via Messy Nessy’s Cabinet, we are directed toward a weekly newsletter published by inmates, Hospital Banner—containing news, observations and various submissions from patients with light editorial control from staff.

dr x builds a creature (13. 926)

Courtesy of Messy Nessy’s Cabinet and here batch of latest finds, we are directed toward an arguably more refined cult-classic in Dr Caligari, comparable to all the trappings and traditions of Rocky Horror Picture Show. This 1989 campy, avant-garde film, pitched as an psycho-sexual thriller and quasi-sequel to the original 1920 (sharing aesthetic elements of its inspiration but through a late 80s filter (see previously here, here and here) , it details the unethical and illegal experimentation, that the titular doctor, granddaughter of the original mad scientist, conducts on her patients. Hoping to achieve a mental balance, Caligari, through clashing uncorrected personality traits, she selects subjects on opposite ends of the spectrum for mental-transference. A cult classic with the occasional screening as a Midnight Movie, learn more about the obscure Stephen Sayadian vehicle—the director and writer an acolyte of adult entertainment entrepreneur Larry Flynt—from Messy Nessy Chic at the link up top.

why don’t you pass the time with a nice game of solitaire (13. 912)

As our faithful chronicler reminds, on this day (see PfRC passim), the neo-noir political thriller from John Frankenheimer based on the eponymous novel from three years earlier, starring Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, Laurence Harvey and Henry Silva, premiered on this day in 1962 at the height of tensions between the US and Soviet Union—during the Cuba Missile Crisis. The plot, from Richard Condon’s book, relates the narrative of a decorated veteran of the Korean conflict (Harvey), a member of a prominent American political dynasty, whom apparently escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp after his platoon was captured and welcomed home as a hero. His oedipal mother (Lansbury) exploits the Medal of Honour recipient to propel the campaign of her husband, a US senator, in his campaign for the vice-presidency, promoting claims that the incumbent has allowed the State Department to be infiltrated by Communist sympathisers, echoing the McCarthy witch hunt. Whilst in actuality detested by his subordinates as strict and aloof, other POW soldiers later freed give fawning testimonials that their commander was brave and sympathetic but was unbeknownst to all brainwashed during his captivity as a sleeper agent programmed to assassinate the running mate of his step-father, the party nominee for office of the president, by the USSR and China and cause the destabilisation of the US government, a plot uncovered by Major Marco (Sinatra), though one interpretation of the film suggests an Inception level of hypnosis with Marco being an accessory permitted recovered memories through his recurring nightmares and that Sinatra’s character was also a Manchurian agent under the influence of controller Eugenie Cheyney (Leigh)--possibly as a back-up or for plausible deniability, a stranger encountered on a train who later bails him out of jail for assaulting Chujin (Silva), the platoon’s Korean guide and translator who immigrates to the US after partition and becomes Harvey’s minder, posing as seeking gainful employment as his domestic—in one of the first depiction of East Asian martial arts in Hollywood. Playing cards trigger Harvey’s programming.

9x9 (13. 909)

screenage wasteland: adult children curating their senior parents’ algorithms to blunt engagement with AI slop, scams and ragebait—[archived]—via Web Curios  

menagerie: inmates care for animals at the world’s only penitentiary with a zoo in the Florida Keys—via Damn Interesting  

omnibus: an archive of the science and scifi anthology, published from 1978 to 1995—via Kottke  

epic elfie: a grateful pachyderm snaps a wide-angle photograph without the need for a selfie-stick—see also 

the battle of blythe road: a spell-hurling duel between Aleister Crowley and WB Yeats in 1900—via Strange Company  

eagle’s nest: arsonists torch Hitler’s Alpine retreat, the Kehlsteinhaus 

cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war: Palmer Luckey launches an initiative to produce genetically enhanced canines for the US military and law enforcement, reducing reliance on European kennels  

window from the house of d: a court and then a prison for wayward women informed the bohemian and queer character of Greenwich Village—see previously  

emomercial: targeted advertisement for an assumed demographic can become an unexpected catharsis

synchronoptica

one year ago: storyboarding with tarot (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth the revisit 

two years ago: AI learns to point and click, London’s mortality weekly plus the life of Boethius  

three years ago: Mole Day 

four year ago: arriving in Crete 

five years ago: your daily demon Sabnok plus more links to enjoy

six years ago: circuit judge Roy Cohn, a pretend Communist coup, more links, the beginning of the world plus an appreciation of the colour russet

seven years ago: even more links worth revisiting plus more on the far future night sky

eight years ago: the canals of Mars, swing sixties cover of Red Hot Chili Peppers, the first Russian rapper plus noteworthy files from the US National Records Archive

 

 

tea and gargoyles (13. 856)

As we get firmly ensconced in the Spooky Season, we are directed, courtesy of {feuilleton} to the the first modern ghost story anthology, as selected and compiled by Lady Cynthia Asquith—which marks its centenary in print this month (the cover from the 1970 edition pictured but all the original tales can be read here). As editor, Asquith’s discernment is to be lauded for expanding the genre to include the uncanny and nebulously menacing, recruiting notable contemporaries, like D H Lawrence, Algernon Blackwood, Hugh Walpole and Enid Bagnold, with some magical realism, psychological distress, preternatural abilities accepted as fact that anticipate later collections, like those featured in The Twilight Zone, without straying into the realm of unbidden horror or rustic superstition. Oliver Onions’ two vignettes, the author dismissing them as trifles, explores the notion that broadcast signals (the wireless a fairly new innovation at the time) are somehow interfering with spectral repose and invite hauntings, and Asquith’s own contribution under the pseudonym C L Ray deals in cursed antiques and unfinished business. A respected author in her own right, Asquith was also a diarist and a Royal-Watcher with a regular column on the Family and was personal secretary to J M Barrie, who left her his entire literary estate, except Peter Pan.  

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump dollar coins (with synchronoptica) 

two years ago: anchor Dan Rather assaulted, an ongoing treasure hunt plus another scavenger hunt  

three years ago: a return visit to Markbreit 

four years ago: The Tornados’ Telstar plus assorted links to revisit

five years ago: The Final Programme (1973)

six years ago: the Feast of Francis of Assisi, cross-section infographics plus Sir David Attenborough as insects

seven years ago: a pastel makeover for London’s subway carriages,  cinnamon-roll day plus award-winning laundromats of Japan

eight years ago: a sketch a day for October, the International Geophysical Year plus Bavaria’s plans for a Space Force of its own

 

8x8 (13. 824)

claudefishing: AI slop is a new kind of creative poverty  

saint-pierre-et-miquleon: Mark Carney meets with Emmanuel Macron on the small French overseas territorial collective, which once toyed with the idea of joining the United States, just off the coast of Newfoundland  

soundscape: avian vocalisations can boost one’s mood but the positive effects are negated by traffic noise  

an imperfect analogy: what lessons nuclear proliferation treaties have for AI containment  

jefferies tubes: the first physical model of the Enterprise finds a home at the MIT museum  

old dog, new tricks: OK Go’s “White Knuckles” video sixteen yearrs on—see previously  

apostolic journey: the Pope’s upcoming to France includes a stop in Metz to pay tribute to Robert Schuman, one of the Founding Fathers of the European Union  

sunshine superman: understanding intention, agnosticism and the new uncanny valley

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a thwarted assassination attempt led to an involuntary outing (with synchronoptica), carbon-dating plus Donald in Mathmagic Land (1961)

two years ago: the Tanaka Memorial of 1927  

three years ago: a musical montage from DJ Earworm, an exhibition of antique home entertainment, assorted links to revisit plus The Love Boat (1977)

four years ago: more links to enjoy,  Our Lady of Mercy plus even more links

five years ago: assorted links to revisit plus punctuation appreciation day

six years ago: Pope Liberius, more links worth revisiting plus the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak

seven years ago: Trump pressures Ukrainian authorities for dirt on his apparent political opponent, more synthetic models, UK courts rule that the suspension of Parliament was an abuse of power plus variations on Misirlou

eight years ago: an atlas of remote islands, theatrics trumps discourse, and more and more links plus twenty-seven songs about the twenty-seven amendments to the US constitution

 

11x11 (13. 790)

hospoda: Czech tavern etiquette and drinking culture  

70up: following the death of Michael Apted, the cast of longest running documentary series is bowing out after the next and final instalment  

god’s own hand: the role of animacy in English genitive formation, X’s Y vs the Y of X  

area marker balls: those giant fishing bobs on power lines  

hexagonal close-packed: researchers form high pressure, high temperature ice, suspected to be present in the core of Uranus and Neptune 

dermatoglyphics: palm-reading and traditional medicine have always had a common intersection 

tacuini ægritudinum: the journey of a mysterious medical manuscript, supposedly from the legendary island of Hy-Brasil, from Baghdad to Ireland—via Strange Company  

short imaged monologues: Anthropic’s Claude responds to call to slow down AI research to prevent us from being wiped out by a paperclip maximiser—more here   

i pledge to the greatest president in the history of the united states that loves us so much he cant’t even breath: Trump urges crowd at the Republican Midterm convention to cheat like hell    

and although death is represented in the form of a human skeleton, yet this is only an emblem for death is not a being but a state: early modern flap books aimed at young readers with a special format for transformations   

between the sheets: a 1930s recipe for a cognac sour sees a resurgence in popularity

synchronoptica

one year ago: animated vignettes from Plantopia (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus a banger from Hozier

two years ago: more links to enjoy, nights on Earth, the Ig Nobel prize, prayers vs spells plus Cloud Appreciation Day 

three years ago: Putin and Kim meet 

four years ago: the Poet Laureate’s tribute to the Queen, the Beatles’ Apple Electronics venture plus even more links worth the revisit

five years ago: your daily demon: Marchosias, more links to enjoy, the first teenage all music and dance show plus the release of Super Mario Brothers (1985)

six years ago: dissecting the original COVID hotspot, more on radio alphabets, The Stand, the stately manor that inspired Wuthering Heights plus St Venerius

😱 (13. 778)

In a fascinating panel discussion with the hosts of Tiny Matters, Helen Zaltzman’s latest episode of the Allusionist presents a thoroughgoing historical, linguistic and cultural survey of our concept of phobias, now defined as an anxiety disorder characterised by a persistent and irrational fear of an encounter or a situation.Although first described in detail and subject to clinical diagnosis since the Middle Ages, likely first Persian polymath Abu Zayd al-Balkhi who accurately attributed them to a psychological imbalance that manifests itself with physical symptoms like trembling, fainting or paleness, their debut in common-parlance during the Enlightenment came thanks to the correspondence that American revolutionary, founding father, social justice advocate and physician Benjamin Rush had with Dr Diederik Janssen of the University of Maastricht in 1786, the pair of letters half-humorously (in the same spirit of the fanciful books of venery that gave us collective terms like a murmuration of starlings), half in earnest explores specific phobias and manias that give us the modern, if informal, sense of aversion and affection as suffixes, though without the double-barrelled Greek binomials. Whereas in Rush’s day phobic disorders were used to describe diseases—like hydrophobia, the old name for rabies, for the avoidance that late-stage patience displayed for drinking water, those messages helped inspire others to name dread and panic in a clinical manner with Victorian interest in psychotherapy becoming recognised and wide spread over the ensuing decades, hitting at just the right time. Being able to name something can be a gateway to healing, community and sympathy. The legacy of word play however also gave rise to non-medical and political use as in xenophobia and transphobes, which really have nothing to do with a debilitating fear of anything and are rather euphemistic attempts to categorise unjustified bigotry and discrimination and to trivial uses, both in making light of those with serious conditions in hyperbolic empathy and a profusion of -phobias that cause little to no distress. Do give the show a listen and discover a myriad of others at the website up top.

latent diffusion (13. 677)

Via Web Curios, we are directed towards this excellent dissertation by Kevin Kelly (KK＊) that without recourse to analogy provides one of the most satisfying account—but not explanation since what’s going on under the hood is a mystery to its architects—of how large language models arrange information and build connections through the lens of the latent space—my metaphor, the synapses between neurones—as a potential new medium for artistic exploration. Conceived originally for translation only, the three terminological components of LLMs have semantic meanings behind them: large for containing all the knowledge of Wikipedia and whatever else can be gleaned digitally, language refers to the intent for automatic interpretation drawing on the sum of human writing and applying autocomplete rather than teaching the neural network grammar and the rules of individual tongues to synthesise and imitate and model for the compression routines that for efficiency marshalled concepts in vectors to contain all this statistical data of the next word locally, in the laboratory or on one’s own phone without the need to venture online for what’s on the tip of the tongue—a new kind of abstraction, mindfulness in the billions of rays shooting off in all directions. Researchers were shocked that not only did their experiment yield passable translations without being pre-programmed with the linguistic structure but without containing copies of the collected works of Shakespeare (only the metadata) could render their response in the form of a sonnet and could indeed compose an “original” work in the style of the Bard. Everything, all at once intersects eventually mapped out with an address a multitude of coordinates long. Maybe PfRC has been scraped but only in the sense that it’s not really plagiarised but only adding to an increasingly long, long register of relative whereabouts). Some in the industry maintain that for the model to make new connections and new insights requires data-centres, countless circuits working in concert—something not every one agrees on, with diminishing returns like prospecting for bitcoins, and push for open-source scalability—especially when no one knows where the spark, insight (if it can even be called that) comes from. The artistry enters in the triangulation, stream of conscious style, in that liminal space where the AI shows its work (in theory at least and can be conduced to) and can be dialled up along any lines of reasoning, more poetic, more understandable, coherent, etc without broaching the question of understanding.

7x7 (13. 666)

serenity prayer: the EU can rein in Google and other tech behemoths despite Trump’s threats 

the fun palace: Cedric Price’s modular playground and social laboratory that was never realised  

hot 100: Paste magazine lists the greatest songs of the 1970s—via MetaFilter 

dear stranger: a disturbing experiment in voyeurism that turned into something beautiful  

ǝsᴉʅƎ ɹn̤ᖵ: Beethoven’s bagatelle inverted—originally as a prank—but hauntingly evocative—see also  

hedonic treadmill: welcome to the age of decadence without pleasure  

we used to be able to buy things in this country: the plexiglass retail landscape of America—via Kottke

8x8 (13. 643)

elbows up: Trump threatens to impose a fifty percent tariff on a range of Canadian export, claiming that the country discriminates against American dairy products, alcohol and automobiles  

ashurbanipal: massive stele discovered by the Sun Gate of Nineveh in Mosul  

no mutation without representation: the 1974 manuscript, The Periodic Table of Energy, authored by Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson during their unfortunate incarceration inside Vacaville Prison—via Boing Boing  

the old man and the strait: with apologies to Ernst Hemingway on his birthday 

calves and calves nots: guides’ exodus over global warming tourism  

fungus among us: mapping the underground of rhizomal networks—see also here and here 

 ziwiye horde: actor Zendaya, in the role of Athena, sharply criticised for wearing three-millennia old Assyrian earrings to an event promoting Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey—see previously  

fellow travellers: US department of state continues Red Scare on left politicians as Cuban agents

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump’s push to bring back the Redskins (with synchronoptica) plus Appetite for Destruction (1987)  

two years ago: an entrepôt on the Seine, assorted links worth revisiting, more from Marshall McLuhan plus Joe Biden steps down as the Democratic presidential nominee

three years ago: more links to enjoy 

four years ago: a concert in Potsdamer Platz to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall plus meandering along the Spey

five years ago: a nuclear powered cruise ship, the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925) plus the outskirts of Göteborg 

six years ago: the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World plus remote screaming into the void

9x9 (13. 633)

scrubbed launch: SpaceX has lost over a trillion dollars since its initial public offering on 12 June  

off-sides: the extensive rules and regulations governing tournaments in the Middle Ages—via Strange Company  

outside the far side: a short biography of comic creator Gary Larson—see previously 

two birds, one stone: alkaline thermal treatment of plastic waste produces high purity hydrogen as a fuel source 

memento: how memories and stored in the brain and how retrieval alters them  

street view: gorgeous photologs of San Diego in the 1970s plus more about this municipal mapping method  

the king’s great fortune: a fairy tale written in classic style with contemporary resonance 

from the chinagate hoax department: documents Trump ordered declassified to demonstrate meddling from Beijing cost him the 2020 presidential race show instead that Moscow was championing his re-election  

vikram-1: India’s first private rocket reaches low Earth orbit and deploys a satellite

the tyranny of small decisions (13. 620)

Via Kottke, we learn of the best and worst paradox, eponym of computer scientist and physicist Edward Fredkin, known for advances in deterministic, reversible programming in the tradition of Konrad Zuse and experiments with cellular automata, which proffers that the more attractive two alternatives seem, the harder it can be to choose between them—no matter that, in the same degree, the choice can only matter less. Though unclear what the context was for the formulation of Fredkin’s Paradox—probably frustration over coding architecture—it explains why nothing seems to get done with the most time and effort going to decisions of least consequence, and whilst an intuitive solution would be to match each point in planning with the importance of the decision (see also) but that leads to a further spiral and vicious cycle with the optimisation of the optimisation and so on ad infinitum.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a cinematic lexicon of infrequent words (with synchronoptica) plus Cyberstress! (1997)

two years ago: a storied gay bar in Seattle, the Great White Way, an unavailable lecture by Grace Hopper plus assorted links to revisit

three years ago: a Talking Heads’ album, molecule of the month, social summarisations plus Marie Antoinette 

four years ago: Dr Spock’s baby book plus assorted links worth the revisit 

five years ago: the coat of arms of Black County, Fortress Kronoberg, roadside attractions in Götaland plus camping in Vadstena

six years ago: filmmaker Kenneth Anger 

value-captured (13. 597)

Via Kottke, we are directed towards an anti-Bildungsroman about reflections on the growth and development of a digital native and a life squandered in the pursuit of increasingly tantalising internet points and the Overton window, the normative discourse of one’s peers as less than perspective and insight but rather something tethered, untethered and estranging, of others. Vicarious and evangelical, our protagonist aspires to live the life of others—achievable but deferred—and nonetheless consumed with consumption, and in the end, looking back at these parasocial relationships, realises too late it came at the expense of her own dreams and aspirations. While it may strike as a touch sententious and judgemental, that’s the exact impetus for reflection and to evaluate those metrics that malnourish us (sometimes described as gamification but I think that’s a misnomer as the most oppressive ones are the most ungamely) from those that help us reach our potentials.

synchronoptica

one year ago: everything becomes crab (with synchronoptica) 

two years ago: assorted links worth revisiting, a forgotten pioneer of cinematography, swimming with Benjamin Franklin plus France at the polls

three years ago: the first study-abroad programme 

four years ago: assorted links to enjoy plus volcanologist William Hamilton 

five years ago: sliced bread, the Quasi-War of 1798 plus a visit to Fladungen

six years ago: titleist Maurice Binder plus more adventures along the Moselle

an american in paris (13. 593)

Courtesy of Messy Nessy Chic via a link roundup that celebrates the US’ special relationship with France as told though its expatriates and exiles, we learn about American Air Force veteran and expert archer Erika Eiffel (née LaBrie) whom married the famous tower in a commitment ceremony in 2007. Polyamorous by nature, Eiffel first discovered her unique subcategory of paraphilia after an attempted sexual assault by a fellow cadet in the academy, rebuffing her attacker with a training sword, which she was reluctant ever to be without, then credits her skill with archery to her relationship with her bow, Lance. After her first visit to the tower in 2004, Eiffel felt an immediate connection on several levels and was inspired to found an organisation for those with similar feelings for inanimate objects (see also here and here) and advocate how love is reciprocated and empowering, as she explained in an interview with Good Morning America and the Tyra Banks’ Show. Aside from the mythical sculptor Pygmalion and Quasimodo’s love for the bells of Notre Dame, real life examples include a Swedish woman who wed the Berlin Wall in 1979 and an Australian woman who married Le Pont du Diable in Hérault in 2013.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica)

two years ago: returning via Switzerland plus a new Labour government for the UK

three years ago: a banger from Janet Jackson, more links to enjoy, Tynwald Day in Manx, the Tiny Awards plus pull-tabs for canned beverages

four years ago: Saint Zoe plus a passport for the stateless (1922)

five years ago: points of departure 

six years ago: Thomas Cook travel agency (1841), a 90s music festival generator plus even more links

9x9 (13. 533)

biometrics: the after effects of gamification of physical activity—sometimes I want to launch my pedometer and everything else into the Sun 

sovereign wealth fund: Bernie Sanders’ proposal to cede control and profits of AI to the American public  

cinecope: an archive of rare and rarefied films—via Web Curios  

battle of the bit: an authoritative archive of chiptune and MIDI renditions  

otome: the rise of synthetic, choose-your-own-adventure romance  

a privet matter: a farmer hacks down China’s lonely tree—see also here and here  

chromacity: the colours on the spectrum that your screens cannot deliver—via MetaFilter  

a show of hands: designing more finger-friendly haptics for our devices—plus dispelling old myths, via Waxy  

dark flow: how your scrolling addiction was built off casino gambling

you made this? (13. 530)

Knowing it was ongoing project, I was not completely surprised to see references to John Koenig’s Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows circulating on the internet but we did not realise that the revival was not due to a reissue or a follow up edition by the author but rather an act of wholesale plagiarism. Whilst nonsensically including the entire text of the book and all his neologisms for universally felt emotions that we don’t have the words to express (not the best marketing strategy to sell a book), the slick impostor website, which includes blurbs and a biography and links to purchase the dictionary, absent were any of the illustrations to accompany the definitions, instead replaced with unpolished AI-generated images and a feature to gin up a new sorrow with the help of GPT-4—which seemed pretty off-brand for the writer and the attempt to limn lacunas of human experience. Every submitted sorrow is a bit rubbish and unneeded with fussy and overcomplicated etymologies and pronunciation guides (see also). Andy Baio of Waxy got in touch with Koenig and tracks down the mystery of this unauthorised “tribute” site. Vibe coded, I suspected that this might have been a case of spontaneous generation but arguably more tragic, malicious and pervasive, the bootleg site siphoning off profits from another’s creativity is a marketing agency feeling entitled. There ought to be a word for this sad state.

leval ii (13. 489)

 

For the first time on a return trip, I think, we stayed again at the campsite outside the village of Leval near the German border for the last overnighter before getting back home, prepared this time now to try to capture some images of the brooding stork nests that seemed to occupy every available eave and column of the little town.

The wading birds are considered a symbol of Alsace of course—we hadn’t encountered such a preponderance of them before—and the subject of many legends and folktales, like the tradition of the Easter bunny that also originated here, first described by fifteenth-century botanist (see also) Georg Franck von Franckenau of Strasbourg, and though their association with fertility and expectant mothers go back to Ancient Egyptian myth, the lore was especially articulated in the Middle Ages, with storks said to retrieve babies from a nursery hidden inside caves and dropped them down the chimney (chimney-sweeping also understood psychoanalytically as an expression wish fulfilment or magical-thinking) of desirous households.

synchronoptica

one year ago: curating the Apocalypse (with synchronopticæ) plus Elton John’s debut album

fifteen years ago: misused tools plus macroeconomic woes

sixteen years ago: the year of the Tiger 

 

 

vox humana (13. 442)

Severely traumatised during his conscription during World War I as a stretcher-bearer and subsequently diagnosed with shell-shock, haunted by from persistent auditory hallucinations of the screaming of injured and dying soldiers, Alfred Wolfsohn did not respond well to treatments offered. We learn, courtesy of Weird Universe, taking his health and mental well-being into his own hands by vocalising an extreme range of sounds, the timbre and flexibility of his voice dramatically augmented by his practise of self-therapy, eventually resulting in what was described as exorcism and catharsis. Amazed that he was able to mitigate his suffering despite no formal training as a singing teacher or psychologist, though well read in Jungian thought, Wolfsohn—fleeing Nazi Germany—wanted to help heal others with his techniques, believing that the added expressiveness to the voice corresponded to increased potential, aptitude in all areas of life. His pedagogy and later performance pieces were considered highly influential and counted Aldous Huxley, R D Laing among others.