ecstacy garage (12. 532)

We are directed—courtesy of Web Curios (lots more to explore there) to this rather incredible archived catalogue of ephemera (see also) in this collection curated by the Cornell university library of scarce hip-hop party and event fliers, spanning from circa 1977 to 1984. Not only to these handcrafted promotions document the scene with information on performers, venues, admission and dress code, this is also an amazing graphic design resource that bookends a cultural moment. The archive is approaching five hundred items with additional information regarding provenance.

apocalypse hier et demain (12. 515)

Realising the resonance of revelation seems less abstract now than in more peaceful and sanguine times, a special exhibition put together by the Bibliothèque nationale de France of images and interpretations of the End of Days spanning from medieval manuscripts to nineteenth and twentieth century depictions, like the pictured rendition from chapter twenty of the enchained dragon locked away for a millennium from Symbolist draughtsman Odilon Redon, curated in a fashion that is meant to make visitors reflect on the choices that brought us to this eschatological inflection point and the spiritual housekeeping that might prove a measure redeeming rather than a fatalistic preoccupation with the end of the world. From the Koinē Greek incipit ἀποκάλυψις for unveiling, the prophetic text of John of Patmos, a series of visions recorded in the Book of Revelations in a grotto on the small Aegean volcanic island received by one of Jesus’ apostles banished like many others of this new cult seen as a political subversive to a penal colony and sentenced to hard labour. After a missive to the Seven Churches of Asia—“he who has an ear, let him listen to what the Holy Spirit say”—relating his instructions, John commits his fantastic and symbolic disclosures in florid detail with iconic and inscrutable figures like the Son of Man among seven lampstands, the Whore of Babylon, the Beast with Seven Heads, the Four Horsemen, the Woman Clothed with the Sun. The numbers seven and four in this context refer respectively the perfection of the hereafter and the imperfection of the present world according to ancient numerological traditions. Much more on the showing from Hyperallergic at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an early, dark version of ChatGPT (with synchronoptica), commencement addresses plus an extraordinary tree specimen in New Zealand

seven years ago: guidelines for nurturing democracy, THX’ Deep Note plus shape-shifting ghouls

eight years ago: Putin’s playbook, medieval games and pastimes plus continued tensions between Germany and Türkiye

nine years ago: the Lollards, diplomatics, a new Banksy graffiti  plus the US attempt to annex Iceland

thirteen years ago: the passage of Venus, flea market finds plus distorted Google maps views

9x9 (12. 483)

leaderboard: an exclusive look at the $TRUMP memecoin banquet   

leap together: Kermit the Frog delivers a commencement speech at Jim Henson’s alma mater 

biosignature: potential signs of alien life on exoplanet K2-18β raises the question of when evidence becomes definitive 

industrial light and magic: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by Star Wars franchise creator and slated to open next summer, made redundant fourteen percent of staff

mr tompkins in wonderland: after attending a lecture on relativity, a bank clerk discovers the ability to perceive quantum phenomena and the foreshortening of spacetime   

liquidity squeeze: collaborative scholarship and the fake Roman financial panic of 33 AD—via Strange Company 

yeah—it has been hard, mainly because of the numbers: a vintage 2005 spoof on every television news spot on the economy

matriculation: graduates answer questions posed by their past selves insider trading: US attorney general divested herself of between one and five million dollars worth of shares ahead of Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement

synchronoptica

one year ago: Phyllis Diller’s garage sale guide (with synchronoptica), an alternative space shuttle design, AI can’t do minor edits plus assorted links worth the revisit

seven years ago: more removing science from the classroom, a cosmic interloper, eyeball worlds, wine windows plus the Dear Leaders fail to meet

eight years ago: corporate welfare 

nine years ago: transparent wood plus a visit to Weimar

thirteen years ago: the chemistry of wine

hubertusburg (12. 400)

For Easter Sunday, we returned to Wermsdorf and the Rococo palace built at the behest of elector and Polish king Augustus the Strong, the hunting lodge (see previously here and here), known as the Saxon Versailles whose expansive grounds are also reminiscent of Schwetzingen in the Neckartal. 

After the war, the palace was used as a hospital and in 2006, refurbished as specialist clinic with a psychotherapy, neurology and paediatric department and also contains the state archives and a museum hosting revolving exhibits, currently for local son and inmate Karl Hans Joachim Janke, prodigious modeller and illustrator of fantastic aerospace concepts which blur the line between engineering and art brut (see previously).  

Diagnosed with schizophrenia after being discharged from the military, Janke was afforded a meagre pension to operate a workshop crafting toy airplanes but due to wartime rationing for cardboard and other supplies had to discontinue his hobby, remanded to psychiatric care at Hubertusberg after a less than patriotic outburst for the lack of resources for even the smallest of distractions for children. At hospital, Janke never lacked for material and his designs and correspondence were rediscovered in an attic of the castle in 2000, including over three-thousand drawings for innovation aircraft, concepts for harnessing nuclear energy and the Earth’s magnetic field for propulsion.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Nutella introduced (with synchronoptica), the new flag of South Africa (1994) plus Japanese boomerang words

seven years ago: unprepared for the GDPR, assorted links to revisit, a walking tour of Tbilisi plus a suit filed over campaign interference

eight years ago: an abandoned Soviet base in East Germany, Eastern European animation, French political terms, manhole accessories plus Türkiye dedicates a museum victims of a supposed coup

nine years ago: the site of the first nuclear reactor plus a startup generator

eleven years ago: 420 friendly plus Kurt Vonnegut’s commencement speech

digital preservation jumpers (12. 382)

Courtesy of Web Curios (many more delights at the weekly roundup), we are directed towards this wonderful collection of knitwear with pixelated patterns inspired by legacy media formats that celebrates the intersectionality of punchcards and prints, albeit at scale rather than projects that one could undertake oneself. There’s also a sweater featuring the jumping dinosaur that Google displays when off-line. Detailed designs from archivist and creator Leontien Talboom of Cambridge library at the link above—even the floppy disks have the detail of the notch punched that made read-only ones writable and utilise both sides—replaced in the 3½" version with a shutter to prevent over-writing.

synchronoptica

one year ago: resurfacing buried rivers (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: a visit to the University of Heidelberg  

eight years ago: a cantilevered, overhanging pool, Lake Nemi, assorted links to revisit plus a Star Trek podcast

nine years ago: breaking the fourth wall, Jevon’s Paradox plus the Daily Mail to acquire Yahoo!

eleven years ago: a pioneering teutholog

8x8 (12. 365)

museum of now: This American Life invites us to sit with and reflect on the artefacts of day and hour 

rift valley: a Trump appointed special envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tiffany’s father-in-law, seeking to make a deal on mineral resources in hopes of securing peace with Rwandan rebels 

fay wray: a swarm of drones recreate the iconic scene of King Kong scaling the Empire State building  

toast malone: a short clip of the singer performing Circles, animated on one hundred thirty-three slices of bread  

altair 8800: a retrospective of Microsoft at fifty 

the bronx is up and the battery’s down: new NYC subway map is an homage to an early digrammatic version  

blanket non-fraternisation policy: US bans government personnel stationed in China from forming relationships with locals 

national endowment for the humanities: US museums, libraries and archives see their grants terminated—see previously

whistle-stop tour (12. 355)

With a similar route transversed just after World War II, proposed by the attorney general under FDR and Truman who feared that Americans were taking the principals of liberty for granted in the post-war years and the project becoming a model for future outreach efforts during the Cold War, the second American Freedom Train, twenty-six cars conveyed by a stream locomotive outfitted with a special livery, began its twenty-month long journey criss-crossing the continent and visiting all the forty-eight contiguous states on this day in 1975, arriving in Wilmington, Delaware in a lead-up to the country’s bicentennial celebrations—see previously. The display cars carried more than five-hundred pieces of America on loan from various institutions, artefacts including: the original constitution, the Louisiana Purchase, Jesse Owens’ Olympic medals, a Moon rock, Martin Luther King, Jr’s pulpit, George Washington’s fire engine and Judy Garland’s dress from The Wizard of Oz, and was visited by over seven million people in near one hundred forty cities. Afterwards, the cars (without their contents, see also) were purchased by National Museums of Canada and reflagged as the Discovery Train for a similar rail tour.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: Germany legalises marijuana (with synchronoptica) plus April Fools

seven years ago: more early Easter greetings, a monopoly on local media, a vintage April calendar plus Granny’s University of the Imagination

eight years ago: alphabetic architecture, Trump’s supporting cast, more AI pranks plus the proposed Analemma Tower

nine years ago: precision crowd formation plus a once lost species makes a comeback

ten years ago: assorted links worth revisiting, the roots of monotheism plus an overview of heraldic charges

la a note to follow doge (12. 346)

Releasing yet another executive order aimed at whitewashing the country’s past, Trump’s “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” is aimed at museums and other cultural institutions to remedy what MAGA regards a concerted effort by the radical left of revisionism geared to deepen societal divides and promote national shame. The Smithsonian has been politicised and weaponised, ordered to halt exhibits and articles featuring “race-centred ideology,” calling examination of marginalisation effectively anti-American, with vice president Vance deputised with the power to review all publications, projects and presentations to ensure compliance. One wonders when Americans might have their fill of liberty—it seems like a line has already been crossed yet new horrors come. The order also implies that like with earlier dictates that there are only two genders, that race is a biological reality, rather than a social construct playing into the pseudoscience that justifies eugenics and segregation and directs the administration’s secretary of the interior to begin reinstalling and rededicating Confederate and racist statues and monuments toppled or taken down in the course of the Black Lives Matter movement. Attempts to erase the past follow the wholesale assault on present postures diversity, inclusion, equity and access is a regression of decades of struggle against hate and oppression but unlikely to determine the future shape of society.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a biblical epic (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: an earlier Trump portrait plus GDPR compliance

eight years ago: the basement level kiosks of Bulgaria, more long German words plus mapping facial measurements

nine years ago: more state flags that could use an update,  the Sir Vival auto plus garlic dreams

ten years ago: telepathic technology plus redefining the kilogramme

hr 1968 (12. 305)

Though hard to forecast what might have been the better path through an undesirable binary, and mostly cleaving to party lines, an early procedural vote against cloture and ultimately advancing of a continuing resolution through the senate to avoid a US government shutdown at midnight seems to have been a grave political miscalculation with Democrats squandering the only leverage they had to slow or derail Trump’s dismantling of the federal bureaucracy. In response to Musk commenting that closing down the government might be a preferable course of action for the DOGE agenda, senate minority leader Chuck Schumer reversed his stance on the spending bill that keeps government funded through the end of the fiscal year and along with nine other Democrats, voted with Republicans for the passage, reaching the sixty votes needed to avoid a filibuster—earning praise from Trump for his decision and highlighting deep divisions within the party. If the GOP had wanted the government to shutdown, they wouldn’t have advanced the budget in the first place, which until it passed the first hurdle of the house of representatives, Democrats were united against it. The CR is essentially a sequestration, maintaining funding levels but removing line item allocations and collapsing appropriations into larger pots of money, further abrogating the role of congress and allowing the executive branch to move funds, legally, as it sees fit.  Unabated with his assault on the republic, Trump issued more executive orders while roll-call was happening on the senate floor, rescinding the federal minimum wage of fifteen dollars per hour, the mandate for agencies to share data on emergent public health threats as well as order the closure of the parent agency that operates Voice of America and Radio Free Europe and smaller offices that handle labour disputes, the council on homelessness, developing minority-owned businesses and the institute of museum and library services—agency heads given seven days to justify their existence and prove that their work is statutorily required.

verkehrshaus der schweiz (12. 247)

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

england’s home of mystery (12. 154)

Sadly demolished in 1905 to make way for offices and flats, we enjoyed this appreciation of the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, originally commissioned by antiquarian and naturalist William Bullock as a museum to house his collection of curiosities acquired by Captain Cook’s exploration (see also) of the South Seas and built in 1812 in the revival architecture style popularised (see also) by reports of Napoleon’s exploits and Admiral Nelson’s defeat of the French navy on the Nile, which after disposing of his ethnographic and natural history collection, transformed the space into a public exhibition hall, with rotating collections including Napoleon’s carriage captured as a war trophy at Waterloo, Egyptian artefacts and The Raft of Medusa. By the end of the nineteenth century, the hall became a venue for magical acts and spiritualism demonstrations, chiefly staged by the duo of Maskelyne and Cooke with a rather remarkable run of thirty-one years—the former, John Nevil, stage magician, card shark, professional sceptic (wanting to expose fraudsters and charlatans) and inventor of a typewriter of proportional character width (kerning was apparently all over the place and probably would have driven me to distraction) and the pay-toilet, hence the euphemism, “spend a penny.” Much more from Feuilleton at the link above including a gallery of show posters.

hearth and home (12. 148)

We’ve received a happy status update regarding this rather spectacular temple to outsider art, Ron’s Place in Birkenhead outside of Liverpool, a flat hidden within an unassuming brick residence holding a scarcely seen gallery of hearths, altars and murals created by renter Ron Gittin, now catalogued and conserved. The landlord a permissive sufferer of such flourishes was however mostly ignorant of the extent of the artist’s embellishments (as well as his friends and family upon his unexpected death in 2019) that celebrated the multi-hyphenate’s interest in Antiquity and repository of his other creative pursuits. Let’s wish all property owners could be so tolerant of their tenants’ eccentricities and had faith for the next occupant’s inheritance. Much more at the links above.

11x11 (12. 101)

boughs of holly: a gallery of Edwardians dressed up as Christmas trees—via the Everlasting Blört  

gifcities: the Internet Archive’s gallery of vintage animations  

hb3: Pornhub is pulling out of Florida over a new law that requires age verification on adult websites with a government issued form of identification—don’t say you weren’t warned

diplomatic corps: Trump pre-appoints a slew of woefully unqualified ambassadors  

superman is bleeding: the teaser trailer for the new cinematic adaptation 

neolithic octopoid: revisiting the Silurian hypothesis through cephalopods—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest  

by-line: Pulitzer’s year in news stories  

perfect fit content: Spotify ghosts human artist, avoiding royalties 

the campaign for economic democracy: Jane Fonda’s political action committee was funded through sales of Workout, inspired by serial presidential candidate and entrepreneur Lyndon LaRouche  

a court of thorns and roses: sexual congress with supernatural beings is illegal in Sweden—via Strange Company 

retrospective: around the world in the exhibitions of 2024 

and the blue and silver candles that would just have matched the hair on grandma’s wig: Postmodern Jukebox’ take (previously) on a reviled holiday tune

l’ultima cena nell’arte (12. 087)

Fellow internet caretake and accomplished docent, Weird Universe, treats us to a grand tour of a museum in the border town of Douglas, Arizona that showcases collection of its curator of works inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic masterpiece, The Last Supper (see also). With interpretations ranging from the devotional to the irreverent, skewing to sci-fi and pop cultural with an array of items in place of Jesus and the apostles, it looks like a fun exhibition to visit. We liked this more traditional depiction from a different perspective showing a sleeping dog on the floor. Much more at the links above.

6x6 (12. 043)

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

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

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

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

 katzenjammer: etymologies of hangover—see previously, see also  

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

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

 synchronoptica

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

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

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

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

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

pont y borth (11. 995)

A temporary export bar has been placed on a 1827 needlework sampler made by Mary Anne Hughes, aged eleven, to prevent the national treasure (“rare, modest and of enduring interest”) from leaving the UK by giving institutions (see previously) the chance to raise funds for its purchase ahead of auction. The image depicts the Menai Bridge, opened to the public just the year before after seven years of construction, Designed by Scottish engineer Thomas Telford as the first suspension span of this scale and carries road traffic to this day, the bridge connects Anglesey to the Welsh mainland, bypassing a treacherous water route (particularly for fording livestock) through the Menai Strait. More from The History Blog at the link above.

9x9 (11. 950)

hotwired: an oral history of Wired! magazine and the choices made with its 1994 launch—via Kottke 

enjoy it while you can: duo forms political action committee to appeal to inconsistent voters through ads on porn sites

affaire des poisons: a murder scandal with accusations of witchcraft in the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV  

nutty narrows: a catenary suspension bridge built over a busy road in Washington state to give squirrels safe passage 

oh brave new world with so many goodly creatures: Uranus’ moon Miranda may harbour a subsurface ocean 

la jetée: an influential time-travel movie made of still images  

scope of practise: a new museum dedicated to the paranormal and Victorian spiritualism opens in Carmarthen’s Penuel chapel 

if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed: a terrifying theory on the truth behind Trump and Johnson’s ‘little secret’ that defers the election to 11 December  

ghost jobs: banking resumes for vacancies that don’t really exist are haunting already demoralised tech workers

synchronoptica

one year ago: Three Wishes for Cinderella (with synchronoptica), McDonald theogony plus assorted links to revisit

seven years ago: books and things, art entrêpots plus assorted links worth revisiting

eight years ago: US sending troops to Norway to counter Russian aggression, mobile office space, high-fives plus synthehol

nine years ago: esotericism in the Third Reich plus advances in fusion power

ten years ago: Rome abandons the West

living museum (11. 912)

Albeit a bit hodgepodge in terms of curation and by dent of prompts and cues (though appreciative of the honesty and transparency regarding how it was acquired), we enjoyed our AI-enabled conversation, via Web Curios (at lot more to explore there), with reanimated artefacts of the British Museum. Whilst not as good as a resident docent, our talk with the mummy of Cleopatra (not the pharaoh but with a history equally intriguing and deserving to be told) was engaging—and surprising to see how quickly the practise is being adopted and embraced—and could fill in some gaps in my knowledge about mythology and the afterlife.  Peruse to see what you can find.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the US House of Representatives without a Speaker (with synchronoptica) plus more unuselessness

seven years ago: de-wilding the Rhein plus the mad genius of the OED

eight years ago: re-christening Boaty McBoatface, incremental architecture, the medical contributions of the Eames duo plus an Art Deco droid

nine years ago: the Plague and the Enlightenment

twelve years ago: a series of tubes, online safety plus bottles of wine as time-capsules

peabody visual aids (11. 899)

Courtesy of Messy Nessy Chic, we enjoyed perusing this gallery of antique library infographics salvaged from the trash in 2003. Making use of the Dewey decimal system, the reference and the periodical desk less daunting for students, these posters which date from the 1930s and 1940s (see also) and were designed by Professor Ruby Ethel Cundiff who pioneered the use of multimedia and cooperation between school libraries and the classroom in a career spanning five decades, defining reference collections and library science during her tenure at the Peabody College for Teachers, now part of Vanderbilt University.

7x7 (11. 758)

pop quiz: extended CVs of classic game show hosts  

pass the mayo: condiment’s dynamic nature could help solve containment challenges for nuclear fusion  

wingnut: a South Berkley salvage store turned museum—via Nag on the Lake’s always excellent Sunday Links  

cocónonós: a Bogota-based fusion band—possibly named after the ill-fated Tiki drink shared with Geordi La Forge and Christy Henshaw on their first date  

bias towards coherence: Trump’s latest on rally attendance and his greatest hits  

the type specimen of humanity: the designated permanent reference for Homo sapiens is Carl Linnaeus  

magick show: Richard Metzger’s latest occult project

 synchronoptica

one year ago: cutting archived content for the sake of SEO (with synchronoptica), a racist brawl in Alabama plus multi-hyphenates

seven years ago: reproductive awareness

eight years ago: ant wars, Martian landscapes, disproportionate and xenophobic calls for burqa bans, a floating home in Canada plus Facebook and clickbait

nine years ago: Liberia and the US 

ten years ago: a party at Neuseenland plus the geopolitics of terrorism