little computer people (13. 742)

Via MetaFilter, we are directed towards this rather incredible exhibit from the Internet Archive of early computer software that purports some aspect of artificial intelligence with the programme acting as task-masters, adversaries or interlocutors—illustrating the some of the first interactions between humans and machines. Not only does the curated collection feature text-based adventures (see more) with graphical interfaces, like the 1985 titular game (also branded for some markets and systems as House-on-a-Disk) considered the precursor to The Sims, multiple iterations of the Game of Life and interactive and a few franchise quests, each exhibit has detailed information on its play and provenance plus an emulator to (re)experience them—a few however have an appropriately vintage protocol to run the programme which, on a QWERTZ Mac keyboard—press Scroll Lock and then F2—was at a loss to puzzle out and would be nigh impossible on a Handy. Do poke around and let us know what you find.

@bitnic (13. 545)

Building off of the concept of distribution lists developed for IBM mainframes to handle email aliases, software engineer Éric Thomas studying at École Centrale Paris released the stable version of his modified application, with his own code, LISTSERV with automated features that allowed subscribers to join or leave groups without human administration as postmasters, edit templates and create auto-replies for system and welcome messages. Still foundational architecture, Thomas’ programme also included the first double opt-in methods and spam filters for junk- and grey-mail (bulk mailers at one point solicited but now considered a nuisance).

synchronoptica

one year ago: the menhirs of Bretagne (with synchronoptica) plus the Quiberon peninsula

two years ago: Lukmanier pass plus arriving at Lake Maggiore

three years ago: assorted links worth revisiting 

four years ago: a banger from The Knack, Logan’s Run plus the sterling area

five years ago: harvesting solar power plus Mid-Summer celebrations

six years ago: more links to enjoy, satisdiction plus scratching an itch

la mano de dios (13. 544)

Held on this day, the quarter final-match of the 1986 World Cup, pitting Argentina against England—the Falklands War still a recent memory and fuelling the heated rivalry between the two nations, included two of the most memorable goals in the history of football. Both scored by team captain Diego Maradona, first came the Hand of God manoeuvre, technically a foul though unpenalised, as none of the referees on the pitch could see him dribbling the ball towards the goalpost, which Maradona admitted in 2005 was not fair-play, some outlets saying the apology came too late but on balance still acknowledging the importance of the symbolism of an act of cheating caught on film as a defiant reassertion of sovereignty and dignity, the embodiment of viveza criolla, native cunning—the legacy being cited in other famous plays that providential strain the rules of the game and lapses in judgment, including by Lionel Messi and more recently in the New York Knickerbockers’ win attributed to divine intervention. Four minutes later came the Goal of the Century, with Maradona overtaking four English outfielders during a sixty-yard dash and kicking a ball past the goalkeeper, Argentina would go on to win the finals, defeating West Germany.

when you’re rolling out the dough (13. 292)

 

Debuting on this day in 1986, the mismatched-cultural sitcom relationship of midwestern aspiring journalist Larry Appleton compelled to cohabitate with distant cousin Balki Bartokomous, a shepherd from the fictional Mediterranean island of Mypos, has far too much free real estate in my head, to my mind.And whilst Perfect Strangers is not worthy of nostalgia, which I maintain, a tweet twittered in the midst of wholesale cultural reboots pandering to a specific age plugging continuation in which Bronson Pinchot’s character, having married his fitness coach girlfriend Mary Anne Spencer (having baby Robespierre-Boinki Bartokomous for the series finale), decide as a family to return to Mypos, plot a violent revolution and rule in the style of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu. Now we do the Dance of Joy!

synchronoptica

one year ago: the complete listing of Trump’s atrocities, part the second (with synchronopticæ) plus the granularity of Chinese foodways

thirteen years ago: defragmenting dreams 

fourteen years ago: repair cafes 

fifteen years ago: vide-poche 

untamed (13. 193)

As part three of an equine series for Spring Festival, we learn about Przewalski’s horse—

ᠲᠠᠬᠢ

, тахь (pronounced like “taxi”) also called the Dzungarian horse, and named after the celebrated Russian explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky who was the first Westerner to travel through Bod and Amdo (now the autonomous regions of Tibet and Northern Xinjiang Uygur) and contributed substantially to European knowledge of Central Asian flora and fauna and geography—the truly wild horses in the world, American mustangs and Australian brumbies are the feral descendants of domesticated animals. Once considered extinct outside of captivity this rare and endangered breed with a complex social hierarchy has been reintroduced successfully back to the steppes of Mongolia and China in a concerted campaign that has spanned four decades. More from Sixth Tone at the link above.

synchronopticon

one year ago: rooting out non-existent fraud (with synchronopticæ), assorted links to revisit plus King Trump

fifteen years ago: a visit to Berlin 

sts-51-l (13. 124)

Seventy-three seconds after launch on this day in 1968, space shuttle Challenger broke apart, disintegrating fourteen kilometres over the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Cape Canaveral, killing the seven crew members and marking the first fatalities in US spaceflight on a craft that had left the launch pad—hence the l for lost on the flight designation. Scheduled to deploy a communications satellite and study the approaching Halley’s comet, astronauts included Christa McAuliffe as part of the Teacher in Space project, an outreach programme founded under the Reagan administration in 1984 to inspire STEM studies—cancelled found the death of its first participant.  Because of McAuliffe’s inclusion as a payload specialist, selected out of over eleven-thousand applicants, there was heightened media attention to the orbiter’s tenth and otherwise routine mission and many students in classrooms across America witnessed the disaster live, myself included recalling that TV cart. The cause of the break up was failure in the primary and backup o-ring seals, allowing hot pressurised gases to vent uncontrolled from the booster rockets and caused the craft, climbing at nearly twice the speed of sound to pitch and spin and was torn apart by aerodynamic stress. The launch continued despite warnings from flight engineers that the seal system would breach in the extreme cold—for Florida—weather that morning, possibly to take place before the president’s state of the union address scheduled to be delivered in the evening. A congressional investigation was launched and the shuttle programme suspended until September of 1988 with Discovery. The shuttle programme was retired in 2005 following the loss of Columbia during deorbiting in February 2003 when a piece of insulation foam that had dislodged during the launch struck the tiles that protect the craft from the heat of reentry, which as with the degredation of the o-rings, NASA did not considered to be a potential risk to the astronauts’ safety. The Soviet Union named two craters newly discovered on Venus in honour of the memory McAuliffe and mission specialist Judith Resnik and five other crew members. The second payload specialist Ronald McNair had brought his saxophone with him to record a track for inclusion for the upcoming album Rendez-Vous by John-Michel Jarre.  

all the kids in the marketplace say (13. 017)

The third single from the band’s second studio album, A Different Light, released earlier in the year in September climbed to the top of the US charts on this day in 1986, holding the number one slot for four weeks and marked the Bangles’ first hit, and ranked Billboard’s best song of 1987. Songwriter Liam Sternberg (also a producer and performer who worked with Devo, the Waitresses, Kirsty MacColl and many others) was inspired for the title—and his biggest credit to date—whilst on a ferry-crossing of the Channel in rough waters and witnessed fellow passengers stepping carefully with arms outstretched to keep their balance, reminding him of Ancient Egyptian friezes and reliefs, composing the track around that image. The below video also received accolades from MTV.

nederbeat (12. 213)

Topping the singles charts on the Billboard Top 100 on this day in 1970—repeating the accomplishment on several other markets internationally, as our faithful chronicler informs—the song by Shocking Blue, covered many times including by Bananarama in 1986 (though the studio discouraging a release as a dance tune) and also reaching number one shares lyrical etymology with the nineteenth century standard “Oh! Susanna.” The band’s lead vocalist, not fluent in English Mariska Veres—whom later released an album of jazz and lounge renditions of 60s and 70s pop hits—recorded and performed the song as written, typo included, as “A godness [sic] on a mountain top,” which was corrected in tribute releases.

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

tunnel vision from the outsider’s screen (11. 894)

Whilst returning to his Park Avenue apartment on this day in 1986, veteran news anchor Dan Rather was assaulted by an individual demanding to know, “Kenneth, what is the frequency?,” repeating the question and pummelling and kicking Rather, the bizarre and dubious encounter remained a mystery for more than a decade until a television critic connected the suspected assailant to man convicted of killing a gaffer working for a rival network’s morning show in 1994 for the stagehand’s alleged complicity in beaming messages into the attacker’s brain, storming the studio to try to ascertain the frequency so he could block it. The escalated inquiry was the subject of the REM track from their ninth album Monster, released the same year as the manslaughter incident that solved the earlier mugging. When the band came to Madison Square Garden for a concert in the venue, Rather was invited to rehearsals and the outtakes were aired on late night talk show David Letterman.

*     *     *     *     *

synchronoptica

one year ago: a visit to Marktbreit (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: the continent of Zealandia plus assorted links worth revisiting

eight years ago: cocktails as still-life paintings, a vintage interior design catalogue plus St Dymphna

nine years ago: a visit to the Bamberg fleamarket

ten years ago: a visit to the Bamberg fleamarket 

riptide (11. 536)

Released as the second single from the titular eighth studio album from Robert Palmer was originally intended to be a duet with Chaka Khan but her vocal contributions were removed due to contractual obligations with another label, the song made it to number one on the US charts on this day in 1986. Reminiscent of the concept music video for Elton John lyricist Bernie Taupin’s vision for Benny and the Jets, the noted homage also references the work of Patrick Nagel and with several tributes to follow.

the tough get rough (11. 333)

Starting a four-week run on the top of the UK singles charts on this day in 1986, the Billy Ocean song was the theme of The Jewel of the Nile, the Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner vehicle and sequel to 1984’s Romancing the Stone. A global hit, it was eventually unseated by Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know,” the accompanying video was initially refused by Top of the Pops for the cast’s lip-syncing, not being members of the Musicians Union, with Danny DeVito’s miming as a saxophonist, like the August rendition of “You Can Call Me Al,” considered a violation of the guild’s rules for non-member performers.

with so many light years to go and things to be found (to be found) (11. 168)

Hitting number one on the UK singles chart (a feat repeated and sustained in over twenty five other national markets) on this day in 1986, the song by the Swedish rock group Europe was inspired by Space Oddity and with a keyboard riff that lead singer Joey Tempest had had experimented with for six years (and surely carried in his head the whole time though we are glad he does not have to endure that earworm alone any longer), it was originally conceived as a concert-opener before being expanded and limned as a complete tune. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Irish Free State (1922), Finnish independence, assorted links to revisit, stock price charting plus seasonally obscure terminology

two years ago: a reconstructed fable

three years ago: passive immunity, the bust of Nefertiti, the Encyclopedia Britannica plus the Villon Song

four years ago: greatest hits by decade—all the way back to prehistory plus the Washington Post waltz

five years ago: more links to enjoy

 

we walk the line and try to see (10. 973)

Lead single from his fourth solo studio album, “Back in the High Life,” and with supporting vocals from Chaka Khan, on this day in 1986 Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” rose to the top of the US charts, his first superlative and later garnering two Grammy awards. The percussion flourishes by session musician John “JR” Robinson were moved to the beginning of the song experimental and became one of the most iconic drum intros of the genre.

you could have an aeroplane flying if you bring your blue sky back (10. 906)

Via our faithful chronicler, we learn that on this day in 1986 Peter Gabriel’s lead single from his fifth studio album So (“In Your Eyes,” “Big Time”) topped the US charts and peaked at number four in the UK, displacing the hit by his former bandmates of Genesis’ as number one. The dance-rock funk fusion was nominated for three Grammy awards and other accolades, including for its artfully crafted music video featuring stop motion animation and modelling clay figures. The backing vocalists are P P Arnold, Chyna Whyne and Dee Lewis. The introductory and closing solo is a synthesised Japanese bamboo flute called a shakuhachi (尺八)—which was a “preset” instrument in many electronic keyboards of the era.

synchronoptica

one year ago: exploring the Inner Hebrides and the Isle of Skye

two years ago:  the history of Home Office, Jesus’ grandmother, the linoleum patterns of Hazel Dell Brown plus “book-drunk”

three years ago: Esperanto Day, the end of segregation in the US armed forces (1948) plus assorted links to revisit

four years ago: the medals for the Tokyo Games will be reclaimed from e-waste, hairball headdresses plus a cute, retired shipping mascot

five years ago: assorted links worth revisiting, a look back at 1988 plus lone trees in fields

she has a built in ability to take everything she sees (10. 893)

On this day in 1986, the lead single from the eponymous thirteenth studio album (also including “Tonight, Tonight” and “The Land of Confusion”) from Genesis topped the charts in the US with former band member Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer at number two. The lead singer’s decision to leave for a solo career a decade prior caused Phil Collins, drummer, to take over the role.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a ferry from Amsterdam to England, the 1980 Summer Games plus crossing into Scotland

two years ago: the island of Vindön

three years ago: the Upping of the Swans plus a drive through the Rhön

four years ago: the 1981 G7 summit, aria infuriate plus a new adaptation of Cats

five years ago: assorted links worth revisiting

it’s janet—ms jackson if you’re nasty (10. 858)

Third studio album by the artist, considered to be a genre-defining masterwork fusing funk, disco and R&B, the semi-autobiographical Control began a two-week run at the top of US charts on this day back in 1986. This breakthrough record, establishing her credentials independent from her siblings and firing her father, the Jackson Family patriach, as her manager, would go on to win Grammies for production and choreography as well as superlative industry accolades, as well being inspirational and aspirational for other artists. The dancing for the below video accompanying “Nasty” was directed by Paula Abdul, securing her an MTV Video Music Award, narrating a recent event when Jackson was being stalked and stood up to their harassment until they backed down.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: Saint Zoe of Rome plus the Nansen passport for the stateless and displaced (1922)

two years ago: the magic of piers and docks and other points of departure 

three years ago: the first Thomas Cook excursion (1841), a fantasy music festival generator plus assorted links to revisit

four years ago: an instant, farm-free source of protein plus a plan to plant a trillion trees

five years ago: a visit to Sirmione 

turning and returning to some secret place to hide (10. 282)

Written by Tom Whitlock and Giorgio Moroder (also to his credit, “Danger Zone”) and performed by the new wave band Berlin for Top Gun, the Oscar award winning song climbed to the top of the UK singles chart on this day in 1986, holding that position for four weeks. Also topping the charts in the US, the Netherland, Ireland and Belgium, it repeated its performance in Britain with Peugeot’s October 1990 advertising campaign coinciding with the movie screened on ITV. The producers were so pleased with this addition to the sound track that they reshot the romantic scenes with Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis to showcase the tune. The accompanying music video (interspersed with scenes from the movie) features Terri Nunn walking in a windswept aircraft boneyard—part of the Mojave Air & Space Port, at night.

black ribbon day (10.081)

Officially the European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism and broadly for all who suffered under authoritarian regimes, this day was chosen for its observance as the anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939, a treaty of non-aggression between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which contained a secret protocol that partitioned Europe into spheres of influence. To counter historic revisionism and Russia’s categorical denial of the deal which held until 1941 as well as grave crimes, twenty one Western cities, organised chiefly by Central and Eastern European refugees living in Canada, staged the first memorial in 1986, spreading to the Baltics three years later with the Cold War-era protests eventually leading to revolution. In 2019, the European Parliament adopted the resolution to enshrine (reaffirming the formal designation of 2008) the annual observance to broadly condemn the propaganda and disinformation that would deny or glorify totalitarianism and undermines liberal democracies.

section 28

With echoes of Florida’s current controversial Don’t Say Gay Bill and in effect until 2003 (Scotland dropped the series of laws in 2000 as one of Holyrood’s first items of business as a newly devolved parliament), the government of Margaret Thatcher introduced and enacted legislative measures that prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities on this day in 1988, causing many support groups to fold or severely curtail their activities. Named after the amendment to the Local Government Act of 1986, the language stated that municipal authorities shall not “intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality or promote the teaching in any maintained [public] school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”