syddanmark (13. 722)

synchronoptica

one year ago: emasculating waters (with synchronoptica) plus frog song

two years ago: a remote Icelandic movie theatre (with synchronopticæ) plus the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran (1953)

three years ago: assorted links to revisit plus Saturday morning entertainment (1950)

four years ago: daguerrotype technology gifted to the world (1839)

five years ago: Martin Luther as a passive-aggressive coworker, Afghani independence (1919) plus the Lithuanian solar deity

six years ago: Sputnik-2 (1960) plus the album cover art of Milton Glaser

nymindegrab strand (13. 715)

synchronoptica

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

two years ago: a gallery of images that look like AI but are not plus the proposed state of Absaroka

three years ago: variable verbs 

four years ago: Dancing Queen (1976) plus the first trans-Atlantic telegraph (1858)

five years ago: My Sharona (1979), the US withdraws from Afghanistan, mass-transit announcements plus artist Marjorie Cameron Parsons Kimmel 

six years ago: Australian wildfires, Freddie Mercury’s grade school band, photographer Chase Middleton, the Feast of Saint Roch, Fiddlesticks (1930) plus hobo maps

present /&/ correct (13. 676)

Having been a long-time fan and standard go-to resource for vintage stationary, brochures and advertising ephemera, we quite enjoyed this interview with Bloomsbury shop and blog co-founder Neal Whittington on the occasion of their entrance into the world of publishing and share some stories about their finds over the years—sometimes ambitions become deadstock but never surplus to needs. The history of the venture and the curated collections is inspired. Much more from It’s Nice That at the link above. Do explore their sundries.

7x7 (13. 675)

giant’s causeway: Curiosity rover discovers valley of honeycomb polygonal rock formations—see also  

ars notoria: a magical medieval text that promised a pathway to instant, universal mastery of the liberal arts 

singing seat: artist Dan Ortiz Leizman transforms Monobloc chairs into stringed instruments 

translator of original ‘minions’ epic poem slams sexless, bloodless film adaptation: most fun movie discourse since Barbenheimer—see more, see also here and here—via Kottke   

it’s giving: a glossary of Gen Z lexical constructs  

mittingsaia: a mysterious illustrated Swiss manuscript from the 1940s in the style of a European travel brochures with undecipherable captions that resemble AI hallucinations  

van allen belt: despite its small size, no bigger than North America, Mercury’s weak magnetic field can trap solar winds

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump administration obliterates Clean Air Act plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: obligatory voting in Australia (1924), the Likert scale plus more on millenialism

three years ago: more links to enjoy 

four years ago: a banger from Annie Lennox, even more links, more antique abecedaria plus graphic designers Elinor and Joe Selame

five years ago: time crystals, photographer Lora Webb Nichols, Olympic mottoes, assorted links worth the revisit, a world music radio station plus a David Bowie inspired costume

six years ago: more links to enjoy, a Chinese mission to Mars plus an interim emoji release

meanwhile back at the manse (13. 657)

When presented the opportunity to relocate from Denver to New Mexico, artist Johnny DeFeo was captured by a vision for the Land of Enchantment that came to him in a dream of a zoomorphic ensemble of buildings. Unable to act on this monumental impulse immediately after it came to him, DeFeo deferred his inspired idea but the vision lingered, until serendipity or svengali appeared in the form of a contest, call-for-submissions sponsored by an infamous unlicensed lodgings company—displacing local residents, hollowing out the souls of cities, contributing to overtourism and to the housing crisis—that would fund projects for the quirkiest rental properties. DeFeo was reluctant at first to even put in his entry, fearing it would compromise his yet unformed plans. Coyote Casita, otherwise known as The Trickster, was selected as a winner, eventually resulting in a one-of-a-kind guest accommodation executed in concrete and adobe, an abode that does not go unoccupied when there is a vacancy and benefited local artists whom helped design it. More from Wallpaper and the artist’s website at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump returns to his Scottish golf course (with synchronoptica) plus more inflorescence flowers 

two years ago: the Paris Games opening ceremonies 

three years ago: a banger from Peter Gabriel,  a fine art ranking plus RIP Shuhada' Sadacat

four years ago: around the Isle of Skye plus more of the Inner Hebrides

five years ago: office space, the Feast of Saint Anne, linoleum flooring patterns plus words that exist only in plural form

six years ago: Esperanto Day, segregation ends in the US military (1948) plus assorted links to enjoy

9x9 (13. 585)

hospitalithings: a quiet, meticulous observation of common objects found in lodgings—via Nag on the Lake  

aka vlogging: Hank Green interviews Ze Frank (previously) about the YouTube format he pioneered, advising discomfort to put ideas out into the world—via Waxy  

yes, yes, very good—thank you for self-identifying as a short-sighted rube and saving us the trouble: the US constitution us for simple folk still burdened by the belief that words have meaning  

llog: Victor Henry Mair, sinologist and frequent Language Log contributor has passed away, aged 83  

new posting: an interactive map charting the careers of civil servants managing the bureaucracy of the British Empire—via Map Mania  

alignment chart: a cross-over of Chekhov’s Gun, Schrödinger’s Cat, Occam’s Razor and Murphy’s Law

in an instant: the last Polaroid factory in the world is in the Dutch town of Enschede 

bilberry buns: a Polish pastry gets its own holiday  

ozzy’s ozzy is a unique case: observations from a celebrity impersonator cruise—via Kottke 

portu ii (13. 482)

 

For our last full day in Corsica, we returned to Porto (Portu)—the harbour of the community of Ota, located higher up on the cliffs, and enjoyed a longer stroll around the marina, watching the waves break against the rocks at the foot of the Torregiana, the fifteenth century fortified watchtower to rebuff piracy. 

Marvelling also at the mountains that just a bit inland gave us the sense of being in a massive crater, we descended to the roiling rapids of the stream to the so called Grotto of the Serpents, a cave whose weathered features certainly can conjure up all sorts of phantasms.

 

 

synchronoptica

one year ago:  Gideon v Wainwright (with synchronopticæ), the Carpenters in space (1978) plus Star Trek: TOS’ disappointing final episode

fourteen years ago: more EU budgetary shortfalls plus Mid-Century Modern textile patterns 

fifteen years ago: public-facing websites 

sixteen years ago: social media and SharePoint 

seventeen years ago: eavesdropping 

bocca di verghiu (13. 476)

Passing again through the Spelunca gorge, we drove the highest mountain pass on the island, linking the two Corsican départments of Sud-Corse in the west and Haute-Corse in the east. The forested way tops out at an impressive elevation of 1470 metres but the surrounding snowcapped peaks, Punte Licciola, are much higher than the col of the Rotondo massif. A monumental statue of Christ Roi by Corsican sculptor Noël Bonardi stands at the summit of the ascent (the previous picture is of a smaller shrine with votive offerings at the gorge at the foot of the mountain).

The profusion of yellow blossoms are shrubs called immortelle (Helichrysum stoechas, the straw flower or common shrubby everlasting or the curry plant for the smell it excudes whilst moisture-proofing for the summer) for their reputation for hardiness and medicinal properties. The twelfth day of the month of Vendémiaire of the French Revolutionary calendar is named after the plant and generally corresponds to 3 October.

synchronoptica

one year ago:  Trump Always Chickens Out (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to revisit

fourteen years ago: language acquisition plus US and Israel launch a cyberattack on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure

fifteen years ago: plutocracy plus the US unveils its Cyber Command

sixteen years ago: language translation with context 

seventeen years ago: a surfeit of pillows 

stradi di e calanchi (13. 468)

Travelling west down the Route of the Calanques, narrow, steep coastal inlets, along the Gulf of Porto, passing many fantastical and breathtaking rock formations along the way, negotiating on-coming traffic, tour buses and those parked in the middle of the single carriageway road to marvel at the view, we stopped at the entrance to a hiking trail that began with the monolithic Tête du Chien (Head of the Dog). We progressed along a mostly forested path through a landscape that was at times otherworldly, like this hollowed out boulder that resembled Yoda’s dwelling on Dagobah, following an ancient trail used by mules and required some climbing to reach the cliff top called Castellu di Ghineparu—not a castle but a plateau with incredible vistas of the Mediterranean and valley below. 

Afterwards we went on to the small village of Piana, listed among France’s most beautiful and dating from its rebuilding in late fifteenth century, caught up it the territorial struggle between the Republics of Pisa and Genoa centuries before and abandoned and falling into disrepair—only resettled once Genoa took control of the whole island and were motivated to keep the Barbary pirates at bay. 

As with the whole of Corsica, during World War II, it was a stronghold of the resistance and Piana was a staging location for the covert Opération Pearl Harbour in 1942 to arm and organise and prevent the Axis powers from obtaining another base of operation in the region, sponsored with coordination by the American’s and codenamed for the attack in Hawaiʻi from the year before. In the centre of the village is l’Église l’Assomption (Ghjesgia di l’Assunta) dedicated to Sainte-Maire with multiple shrines.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the engineering of wine bottles (with synchronopticæ), closed-captioning plus a return to the Saale valley

seventeen years ago: climate change mitigation