say my name (12. 077)

Launching his bid for the party nomination for on this day in 1974—barred constitutionally from standing for the governorship of the state of Georgia for a second term—the fifty year old Carter began his campaign enunciating his intentions to counter the derision of opponents mocking his relatively unknown status with “Jimmy who?” A severe economic depression in the ensuing years prior to the 1976 election and Gerald Ford’s diminished public reception due to his pardoning of Nixon caused the Democrats to feel confident about returning to power. Ford’s debate gaffe that there was “no Soviet dominion in Eastern Europe and under Ford administration there never will be” did not help either—see also. Enlisting help from popular performers in the meantime, Carter raised his profile significantly and garnered a plurality of his party’s support in the primaries.

statute at large (12. 035)

Not exercised since the codification of the US congress’ role in determining the federal budget in 1974 in response to Nixon’s abuse of the prerogative of impoundment as a violation of the American system of checks and balances and separation of powers (specifically, the president frustrated the will of the legislature by arguing that the administration could withhold monetary assistance for water pollution reduction grants that the White House vetoed and was subsequently overridden, the Environmental Protection Agency a product of Nixon himself) until late July of 2019 when Trump attempted to direct the Office of Management and Budget to not disburse funds for Ukraine while coercing an investigation into the family of his political rival, Joe Biden—for which Trump was impeached for the first time, the matter never purview of the Supreme Court to debate its constitutionality. A tool limited by political norms afforded to past presidents and currently in the form of line-item vetos and requests for rescission of appropriated funds, Trump wants to now channel the act of congress and restore the power as yet another quiver to subvert fiduciary guidance and steamroll the legislative branch by empowering his Department of Government Efficiency.

a/res/3236 (12. 021)

On this day in 1974 during the General Assembly, the United Nations adopted a resolution recognising and reaffirming the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination (after the 1917 and 1948 agreements) “without external interference; the right to national independence and sovereignty and the inalienable right of return to homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted.” Simultaneously, the UN officially regarded the Palestine Liberation Organisation as a representative of the Palestinian people and granted observer status.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Freigeld, money with an expiration date (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: DC’s Bible museum, dismantling net neutrality plus UK water utilities employ dowsing

eight years ago: Xerox and zines, a forthcoming Dune remake, an experimental electromagentic propulsion drive plus Trump’s dictatorial tendencies

nine years ago: the Parable of the Puddle plus assorted links worth revisiting

eleven years ago: the Noun Project

 

the candy man (11. 948)

On this day in 1974 in Deer Park, Texas, optician and Baptist deacon Ronald Clark O’Bryan poisoned his eight year old son Timothy with a Pixy Stix laced with cyanide, ostensibly collected during neighbourhood trick-or-treating, to collect on a life-insurance claim and ease the family’s financial difficulties, O’Bryan having accumulated one-hundred thousand dollars in debt having problems holding a job longer than six-months and defaulting on several loans. While fears over tainted Halloween loot and accepting candy from strangers had been on the minds’ of parents beforehand, this gruesome, callous and senseless murder has perpetuated anxieties and is why candy is x-rayed for razor blades and carefully inspected for signs of tampering. Despite trunk-or-treat, the only occurrences have been cases of filicide with parents pretending it was the work of some mad poisoner. In order to make his crime seem plausible, O’Bryan and his son and daughter accompanied their neighbours and their children on the outing, and visited an apparently vacant house. No one answered the door and having grown impatient, the party left with O’Bryan catching up a few moments later, producing five packets of the sweet and sour powered confection that one pours into one’s mouth. Saying that they came to the door, O’Bryan distributed them amongst the children. On returning home, O’Bryan urged his son to eat some of the candy, claiming he chose the Pixy Stick—an unlikely first choice. Less than an hour after consuming the poison, a dose large enough to kill three adults, the son died, convulsing on the way to the hospital. The other children had not touched the poisoned candy (again, garbage candy). There was panic nationwide over the possibility of poisoned treats and investigators did not suspect O’Bryan initially, until his story began to fall apart—none of the homes in the two block radius of their trick-or-treating had given out Stix (...) and eventually locating the house with authorities that was slow to answer, O’Bryan maintained that the door only opened a crack and a man’s hairy arm emerged with the deadly candy but in implicating the owner, an air-traffic controller who had been working late that evening and had a solid alibi, police began to doubt his version of events. Undertaking a thorough inspection of his accounts and career history, authorities learned that O’Bryan was about to be dismissed from his current job and hid assets were on the verge of foreclosure and repossession—plus the high value of the policies he had taken out on his children and the purchase of two kilograms (the smallest unit of sale) of potassium-cyanide. O’Bryan was sentenced to death (given the title monicker and “the Man who Ruined Halloween”) and a decade later was executed by lethal injection.

synchronoptica

one year ago: International Savings Day (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: a mythological horror plus the CIA and wax museums

eight years ago: campaign music, phreaking and toll-fraud plus Tales of the Unexpected

nine years ago: pale blue dot plus the hunt for the tomb and treasure of a Visigoth king

ten years ago: a prototype ambulance drone

 

the rumble in the jungle (11. 946)

Organised by the then relatively unknown Don King in collaboration with record producer Jerry Masucci, sixty thousand fans gathered on this day in 1974 in Kinshasa to watch the championship boxing match between George Forman and Muhammad Ali, hailed as the greatest sporting event of the century. With a purse of five million dollars—an enormous sum of money which the promoters had not yet secured—King sought a venue and sponsor outside of the United States, eventually convinced Mobutu Sese Seko (see previously) to host the event, possibly with the financial assistance of Muammar Gaddafi. A three night long music festival was held at the same stadium beforehand to build excitement and included performances by Miriam Makeba, BB King, James Brown, Bill Withers and the Fania All-Stars, the supergroup of Masucci’s label. Watched by a further television audience of a billion, including many by pay-per-view and in specially reserved theatres, the fight generated over a hundred million dollars in revenue. More from the Avocado at the link up top.

fernsehkrimiserie (11. 919)

Hugely popular and enjoying cult-status outside of West Germany, the crime drama featuring Horst Tappert as Kriminaloberinspekktor Stephan Derrick focussed on solving murder cases in the München area. Airing until 1998 when the principal actor attained the age-limit he’d set for himself announced his retirement, all episodes of the twenty-five season run had the same cast (with prominent guest stars) and were all written and produced by the team of Herbert Reinecker and Helmut Ringelmann. There were fan clubs internationally and as one of the first television programmes from the West broadcast in China, Derrick was reportedly used as part of police training curriculum. Like “Beam me up Scotty,” the tag line associated with show the show, “Harry, hol schon mal den Wagen,” (to his assistant, “Harry, bring the car around,”—to imply we’re done here”) the phrase is never actually said on screen though there are close occasions of it. The title melody for the establishing sequence (see also) is from English-German pop singer Les Humphries.

common rocket propulsion units (11. 909)

Founded on this day in 1974 in the Frankfurt suburb of Neu-Isenburg by entrepreneur and aerospace engineer Lutz Kayser, the West German company Orbital Transport - und Raketen-Aktiengesellschaft became the first commercial developer of satellite launch vehicles, attempting to undercut national space agencies with a cheaper, modular alternative to traditional rocketry, French Ariane rockets and the US space shuttle. With Wernher von Braun and retired NASA director Kurt Debus as scientific advisors, OTRAG carried out their first test launches in Zaire, hoping to secure the market potential of Africa, with mixed results. France and the Soviet Union, concerned by the prospect of German reentry into the field of long-distance rocket, pressured the Zairian government of Mobutu Sese Seko to close down the research and development facility, and eventually convince Bonn to withdraw its support for the private operations. In response Kayser relocated production and testing to Libya by 1981, and for the next six years made some rather significant advances (differing from traditional multi-stage launchers, their rockets were bundled tubes that could be mass produced inexpensively) and even attempted the launch of a private space vehicle, until Gaddafi seized the facility and equipment and nationalised it.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a solar energy firm established in 1905 (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: the panopticon of Piccadilly Circus plus more findings from gravitational waves

eight years ago: Mister Smith Goes to Washington plus atmospheric wells

nine years ago: the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards plus more on America’s drone wars

twelve years ago: US military bases in Germany plus oversized landmarks

dromomania (11. 887)

Returning to his hometown of Waseca, Minnesota from the west, having departed on his journey accompanied by his brother and a mule nearly four years earlier and setting forth eastward, on this day in 1974, having walked just over twenty-three thousand kilometres, Dave Kunst became the first independently verified individual to have circumambulated the globe. Received by Princess Grace in Monaco and by chance meeting fellow adventurer Thor Heyerdahl in a restaurant in Italy, the epic walkers solicited donations to UNICEF along the way. Denied entry into the Soviet Union, about midway through their journey, the team continued through India and Afghanistan, where the two were tragically ambushed by bandits who believed they were carrying the monies pledged to the United Nations’ emergency children’s fund, killing his brother John, but Kunst finished after months recuperation, joined by his older sibling Pete. After the loss of his mule in the Australian Outback, a schoolteacher, who Kunst became enamoured with and eventually married, towed his supplies with her car for a thousand miles at walking pace, Dave keeping up alongside. Kunst’s trip consisted of twenty million steps and went through twenty-one pairs of shoes.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: wine and quinces (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: drawing logos from memory plus biofuels from moss

eight years ago: turning Twitter into a public utility, ghost signs plus an unpopular file format

nine years ago: the Norman Conquest and the Divine Right of Kings

ten years ago: Roman tax regimes

we had a bomb scare in the bronx yesterday, but it turned out to be a cantaloupe (11.889)

Released on this day in 1974, with its title derived from the subway train’s radio call-sign, the downtown number 6 express originating from Pelham Bay Park station at 1:23, the hostage thriller by Joseph Sargent and Peter Stone, based on the eponymous novel from the year prior was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. Starring Walter Matthau, four men in disguise ransom the passengers, eighteen hostages, demanding a sum of one million dollars be delivered or in an hour lest one will be killed every minute that handover is delayed. The score by David Shire (Saturday Night Fever, All the President’s Men) was also lauded for its inventive nature. Most of the filming took place at the abandoned Brooklyn Court Street station, the location of several movies including Death Wish, The French Connection and the 2009 remake and later becoming the Metropolitan Transit Authority Museum, the MTA at first not cooperating with the production as it reflected badly on city governance and retired that particular call-sign. The colour-coded ransomers names is paid tribute in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.

*     *    *    *    *  

synchronoptica

one year ago: the dissolution of the Papal States (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: Catalonian session

eight years ago: the debut of Peanuts,  Trump cashes a cheque, the etymology of culprit, assorted links to revisit plus Miss Cora Gated

eleven years ago: Swiss war-games plus more on the US surveillance state

thirteen years ago: banking elsewhere plus exposing Brussels lobbyists

as safe as fort knox (11. 866)

With the exception of a brief tour granted to FDR in 1943 and a similar junket in August of 2017 to dispel the same rumours that the vaults had been emptied out, no members of the public had been admitted to the national gold bullion depository until when on this day in 1974 a contingent of journalists and a dozen congressional representatives were guided inspection by members of the American Mint (director Mary Brooks pictured) and the Treasury Department.

Requests to visit Ft Knox are summarily turned down but pressure by the House to conduct an independent audit of US gold reserves in response to the publication of a book, Conspiracy Against the Dollar: The Spirit of the New Imperialism by Peter David Beter, that attacked international monetary reform and cited the usual culprits, global elites, Bolsheviks, the Rockefeller-cartel, Soviet space lasers, important public figures were dead and had been replaced with “robotoids”—and most resoundingly with the public, that most of America’s gold had been trucked away and sold at depressed costs to European speculators—all claims without evidence or merit. Beter’s AM radio show gave him a platform to continue his allegations, making the military installation’s standing policy suspicious and proof that they had something to hide. The delegation was delighted with the tour and mostly cleared up the false speculation—largely imputed to America’s leaving the gold standard three years prior when the reality was that movement of gold had effectively halted (US silver bullion is stored at the military academy of West Point) and most gold is still in New York City—that is, until the rumours started circulating again and Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell visited with treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, proclaiming the nation’s stockpile to be secure. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: David Bowie’s Heroes (with synchronoptica), robinsonades plus urban wildlife photography

seven years ago: shibboleths 

eight years ago: smart carts for airport security, windpipes plus point-of-sales machines

nine years ago: algae-based membranes as liquid containers 

eleven years ago: a census of house plants

bulldozer exhibition (11. 845)

With the only officially sanctioned style of art for the USSR and satellites since the 1930s being that, like in the pictured mural from Dresden’s Kulturpalast Der Weg der Roten Fahne, of Soviet Realism—depicting idealised views of the state—all other movements of forms of expression were pushed underground. The unofficial showing which would become known as the titular event of non-conformist (see also), avant garde artists held on this day in 1974 in Moscow’s Bitsa Park was dispersed by a large police force that destroyed the paintings with earth-moving equipment and water cannons. The artists were arrested and visitors at the exhibit, including journalists and foreign diplomats, were attacked and fled. Extensive media coverage in the West of the incident embarrassed the government, who later relented and allowed, under controlled conditions, subsequent shows, regarded as an important turning point in freedom of expression. All the artworks were destroyed but a typical composition would have been like this abstract contribution from Lydia Masterkova, who left the Soviet Union for France after this event.

synchronoptica

 

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

eight years ago: the Singularity and Point Omegá, reimagining Star Wars, the sugar lobby, GOP caring about women’s health plus more on augmented reality

 

ten years ago: the CIA’s stay-behinds

 

eleven years ago: too big to fail plus brilliant posters for Star Trek: TOS episodes

 

twelve years ago: attacks on US diplomatic missions plus more on international banking reporting obligations

coup d’etat (11. 837)

Bringing an end to the House of Solomon that ruled since 1270, members of the Ethiopian army and police, a junta backed by the USSR, who would go on to govern the country as the Derg (ደርግ, the Provisional Military Administrative Council) deposed Emperor Haile Selassie on this day in 1974. The emperor was imprisoned by the Marxist-Leninist group upset with his failure to deliver on promised land-reform measures in the semi-feudal state that left many subsistence farmers destitute and effectively indentured to landlords, perpetuating famine and forced relocation of thousands, eventually nationalising all property and abolishing the empire but not before proclaiming crown prince, in exile, Asfaw Wossen Tafari, as king (significantly not emperor, Negusa Nagast, king of kings) who wisely declined and avoided the imprisonment and execution that awaited other members of the court and royal family as well as government ministers and the emperor himself under treacherous circumstances not revealed until after the people’s revolution overthrew the military regime. His death and later ceremonial reinterment was not accepted by adherents of the Rastafarian movement who regard Haile Selassie as god incarnate and hope of deliverance from colonial powers for Africa’s diaspora.

in my considered judgment, we have comported ourselves in a manner faithful to our history (11. 815)

As the first major celebration of the bicentennial of the American revolution, the contemporary governors of the original Thirteen Colonies were invited to reenact, reconvene the First Continental Congress (see also) in Philadelphia, gathering for an event at the original venue of Carpenters’ Hall on this day on this day in 1974.

Chaired by Virginia governor Mills E Godwin, Junior as presiding officer, delegates re-legislated the several grievances lodged against the Crown, not quite revising history and remaining patriotic but coming to some re-evaluation and different conclusions on oppression and tyranny. The original 1774 summit, whose delegation makeup was more diverse than that of two centuries prior and included women and minorities, adopted among other things the Articles of Association that called for a general boycott of British goods, which was soon escalated by punitive sanctions against the Colonies.

synchronoptica

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

seven years ago: the first in-flight movie (1925) plus Excalibur found

eight years ago: the flak towers of World War II, weather at Jupiter’s pole, more on Merkel’s hand posture plus Michaelmas

nine years ago: the innovation of the stirrup, a vintage arcade in Saint Petersburg, a Bell logo redesign, emoji urls plus more on stave architecture

ten years ago:  the NATO summit in Wales

the farnborough international airshow (11. 809)

The biggest aerospace exhibition behind Paris, the showcase of civilian and military aircraft hosted on even years in Hampshire (the French take the odd) has debuted the Concorde, the Vickers, Airbus 380, the F-35 and the Eurofighter. The week-long event for clientele and only open to the public on the ending weekend on this day in 1974 hosted the arrival of a US Air Force reconnaissance jet setting a new transatlantic crossing record (still unbroken), from the environs of New York to London in just under two hours for a subsonic flight. Unfortunately this achievement was overshadowed by a fatal accident by a prototype Sikorsky Blackhawk attack helicopter that crashed with attempting an aerobatics demonstration. Both test pilots were killed and development of the aircraft ceased afterwards. A later model was eventually chosen in 1976 for the programme, named after the epithet and nom-de-guerre of Native American Sauk leader Mahkatêwe-meshi-kêhkêhkwa, whom fought alongside British forces during the War of 1812 in hopes of ridding his tribe’s lands of American settlers.

lone eagle (11. 794)

Famed aviator, conservationist, isolationist and anti-Semite Charles Augustus Lindbergh died (*1902) on this day in 1974. Although like his father, congressional representative of Minnesota’s sixth district who was one of the few lawmakers to oppose America’s entry into World War I, and many other members of the public who promoted a non-interventionalist stance prior to Pearl Harbour, Lindbergh never explicitly endorsed the Nazi regime though his overarching comments on race seemed to suggest otherwise, a platform won by his historic transatlantic crossing, and public adoration was immense not only for his skilled piloting and goodwill tours but also in promoting transport and air-mail, with the enterprise expanding significantly during the 1930s with more than a fifty-percent increase of individuals seeking licenses to fly and a virtual Renaissance virtuosity demonstrated by contributions to the advancement of medical sciences co-authoring a procedure that made organ transplants more viable and charting routes that still make up airline itineraries to this day. US president Ford eulogised him, “In later years, his life was darkened by tragedy,” referring to the kidnapping and murder of his infant son, “and coloured political controversy, but, in both public and private life, General Lindbergh always remained a brave and sincere patriot.” A couple of weeks before his death at his seaside home in Maui, Hawaii from lymphoma, Lindbergh reached out to his secret families, seven children from three different women in West Germany and asked the mothers not to reveal his identity, only known by the alias Careu Kent—either the alter-ego of Superman or picked in honour of the place in England where he and his wife retreated after the abduction of their child and media circus—from annual visits—which all three women complied with and was not discovered by his offspring until over a decade after his demise.

wherever we look upon this earth, the opportunities take shape within the problems (11. 782)

Nominated by Gerald Ford on this day in 1974 for the office of vice president of the United States, the former New York governor and presidential candidate, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the second individual to be installed under provisions of the US constitution’s twenty-fifth amendment in quick succession and was chosen a pool of candidates, beating out then-US ambassador to NATO Donald Rumsfeld and Republican National Committee chairman George H W Bush, who were respectively given the consolation prizes of White House chief of staff and first ambassador to China. Confirmed by congress in December (and the first to reside in the official residence), the long-serving and popular governor from the dynasty of oil tycoons and business magnates was known for his progressive policies in terms of equal rights for housing and employment, environmental conservation efforts, public works, healthcare and education and liberal- to moderate-leaning party members at the time were referred to a “Rockefeller Republicans.” Though promised to be a “full partner” in the administration especially in terms of domestic policy, the vice president’s participation in government was seen as a liability for Ford and thwarted by chief of staff Rumsfeld, who ultimately convinced the president to drop Rockefeller from the ticket for his 1976 re-election campaign and pick Kansas senator Bob Dole as his running-mate to boost his conservative credentials. Later, Ford recanted the decision as “one of the few cowardly things I did in my life.”

vpotus (11. 753)

Set aside as an occasion in the US to reflect on the line of succession, the executive branch of the federal government and the constitutional role of the office also empowered to preside (president pro tempore of the legislative branch) over the senate and cast a vote in the case of a tie, National Veep Day recognises all vice presidents, but falling on this date, the observance coincides with the elevation of Gerald Ford at noon on this day in 1974 following the resignation of Richard Nixon—an individual who was elected to neither high office. The twenty-fifth amendment to the American constitution enumerates the order of precedence for filling the vacancy through removal by impeachment or disability, the order next going from speaker of the house of congress, president pro tem of the senate (the most senior member of the majority party) and then to the presidential cabinet: secretary of state, treasury, defence, attorney general, secretary of the interior, agriculture, labour, health and human services, housing and urban development, transportation, energy, education, veterans’ affairs and finally Homeland Security.

ceefax (11. 752)

Via Web Curios, we are referred to a rather stupendous gallery of screen-grabs of broadcast teletext pages (see previously), first introduced in 1974 in data hidden in the signals at the extremes of the TV screen, with an assortment of nostalgic advertisements, closed-captions, games, viewing guides, alpha-mosaic art and news supplements whose rollout preceded and provisioned the internet with this ASCII grid of twenty-four by forty characters with some limited interactive capabilities (in partnership with a phone call usually) accessed by remote control. I remember exploring occasionally these embedded channels (which are mostly still available and offer programme synopses and transcripts) when the parallel online world was not so readily accessible.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a classic from The Small Faces (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: work makes us passionate quitters plus reflections on a total eclipse

eight years ago: misadventures in tourism, Dr Who remixed plus Dr Teeth live in concert

nine years ago: assorted links worth revisiting

eleven years ago: the origin of kids’ menus and the family restaurant

number one observatory circle (11. 736)

In anticipation of a new highly incriminating tape to be released the following week (see previously) that would likely result in impeachment or resignation, White House chief of staff Alexander Haig came to visit the vice presidential couple in their home in Alexandria, Virginia, the Fords not having yet had the chance to move to the official residence after the departure of Spiro Agnew and Ford’s elevation—urging him to be prepared to step up for his new role. Ford replied, “Betty, I don’t think we’re ever going to live in the vice president’s house. Meanwhile the same day congressional leadership scheduled the impeachment trial and approved gavel-to-gavel television coverage of proceedings.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the publication of Dune (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus Trump indicted for a third time

seven years ago: modern day presidential, alien ctenophores plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: lavish lodgings for bees, isolating effects of technology, permanent botanicals plus augmented realities

ten years ago: the Croatian language

eleven years ago: Revivalist architecture plus classic book jackets as ice-cream flavours

united states v richard milhous nixon, president of the united states, et al (11. 720)

On this day in 1974, the US supreme court issued a unanimous order to the seated incumbent to surrender tape recordings and other subpoenaed material related to the Watergate scandal to the federal district court for the district of Columbia, amidst the continuing impeachment trial for his part in the affair begun two years prior. In April, Nixon had furnished edited transcripts in hopes that the concession would satisfy the prosecution and the public, to which the Attorney General responded: “The President wants me to argue that he is as powerful a monarch as Louis XIV, only four years at a time, and is not subject to the processes of any court in the land except the court of impeachment.” Arguing that the president should not be subject to “judicial resolution” as a concern of the executive branch, the appeals of the president’s defence team were ultimately rejected, overriding the position that privilege and the doctrine of separation of powers could hinder the process of justice but failing to define its bounds. In lieu of impeachment, Nixon tendered his resignation sixteen days later on 9 August.