5-7-5 (12. 761)

Albeit the scansion can be a bit off at times for human consumption—via Web Curios—this algorithm that pulls headlines, with by-line often, from the Guardian is a fun little experiment (see previously here and here—see also here) which could possibly run through ever permutation well past the heat-death of the Universe and keep on presenting as haikus.
The traditional Japanese short-form poetry, consisting of seventeen morae (μ, a syllable or sub-unit) presented in a five-seven-five pattern, classically with a kireji (切れ字, a caesura or cutting word) at the end of the verse and reference to a season:

the first cold shower
even the monkey seems to want
a little coat of straw

English inspired forms are typically a departure, retaining some of the qualities but more focused on the rhythm and structure of the language, having no precise equivalents and usually composed in an exercise of metric-counting rather than juxtaposition and surprise. Still finding like patterns is nonetheless intriguing.

synchronoptica

one year ago: new Nazca lines revealed (with synchronopticæ), the study of street art plus assorted links to revisit

thirteen years ago: Icelandic landscapes, the US Food and Drug Administration audits Swiss dairies plus excommunication and indulgence

fourteen years ago: a visit to Darmstadt and Erfurt to see the Pope plus the euro vies with the the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency

fifteen years ago: flea market finds and a visit to Werneck 

the mountains are high and the emperor is far away (12. 760)

Sparking much concern and speculation, US secretary of war (we’ll address them by their preferred pronouns) has called an unprecedented, in-person all hands meeting of some eight hundred general and flag officers (GOFOs, high ranking commanders) of the armed forces on short notice—a week to make arrangements—to gather at the marine base in Quantico Virginia outside of Washington DC. Invitees expressed confusion and reservations over security concerns to have the US global top brass in a single location. In this timeline, the urgency won’t be over an impending asteroid impact or extra-terrestrials. No further details were given for this summons prompting a wide range of possibilities from the relatively anodyne announcement like a new national defence strategy, protocol to speaking to the public and press, major restructuring and further consolidation and redundancy, a loyalty test, pledging an oath of office to the party rather than the constitution, perhaps not the wisest decision to gather true, apolitical patriots all in one room unless to purge those not deemed trustworthy enough—to the more grave, such as a declaration of hostilities whose targets could be one or multiple belligerents from Russia, China, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Argentina, Panama, Mexico, Canada to Greenland—or somewhere not yet on the radar—and possibly American itself.

everybody rides the carousel (12. 759)

Courtesy of Messy Nessy Chic, we are happily reacquainted with the artistic duo John and Faith Hubley through their 1976 animated film based on the stages of psychosocial development as articulated by another husband and wife team Erik and Joan Erikson. The eight phases which form a comprehensive psychoanalytic trajectory of healthy growth range from infancy to late adulthood, each with their own virtues, crises, significant rpresented elationships, events and existential questions. The segment below features the voice talents of Meryl Streep and Charles Levin in Stage Six, Intimacy versus Isolation and asks “Can I unite myself with another person?” The movie can be seen in its entirety here, as first broadcast on CBS in September of that year presented by Cicely Tyson and also starring Dinah Manoff, Lane Smith, Pablo Casals, Dee Dee Bridgewater and others.

fe-fi-fo-furlough (12. 758)

After cancelling a meeting with Democrat leadership from the house and senate, saying there was nothing to discuss with the opposition party over the impending shut-down of the federal government, making the lapse in appropriations seem inevitable—though the drama has become almost an annual occurrence. A memo circulated by the Office of Management and Budget, however, seems to raise the stakes and change the calculus significantly: directing federal agencies to not only prepare furlough notices for non-essential employees but also prepare reduction-in-force (layoff) plans for those discretionary programmes not deemed consistent with Trump’s priorities, thus eliminating more of the federal workforce in the event of closure, leveraging the Democrats to vote to keep the government open without entertaining any concessions to the other party. For their part, the Democrats in congress recognise this new intimidation tactic, having averted a shutdown in March arguing at the time that that would have unleashed the administration to do even greater damage to the civil service, but after rescissions and clawing back funds already obligated and voted on—realising that the GOP will do whatever it is ordered—seem to have come to the conclusion that closure is only way forward. We’ll see how this standoff plays out in the next few days.

t-dollar (12. 757)

Representative from Maryland elevated to cabinet secretary of the interior and then commerce secretary during the Nixon and Ford administrations, Rogers Clark Ballard (C B, “Chesapeake Bay,” congressman with a strong pro-environmental record—see also) Morton speaking with the National Press Club on this day in 1975 announced that a new metric was to be used in future releases regarding the economy and federal spending, citing the inexperience and incomprehension of the average American consumer and tax-payer for such astronomical appropriations. The statistic of $14.06 (about $85 presently adjusted for inflation) was derived by dividing one billion by the then seventy-one million households in the United States to make government expenditures more relatable in household economic terms. Unlike the pledge for journalist covering the Department of War, this convention was never enforced and quickly forgotten. 

 synchronoptica

one year ago: JFK’s Sword of Damocles speech to the UN (with synchronopticæ), aggressive cuteness plus Those Were the Days

twelve years ago: a visit to Bad Soden 

thirteen years ago: the US Library of Congress 

fifteen years ago: cyber warfare 

wonderful world of colour (12. 756)

Retaining the same format, Walt Disney Presents switched networks after twenty-one years, in part to take advantage of NBC’s capability of colour broadcasts (with prescience having filmed many of its earlier episodes produced to air on ABC in TechniColor for re-broadcast on its new station, like the BBC’s footage of the coronation of Elizabeth II in 3D yet mostly unseen as the technology has not been widely adopted) and also owing to ongoing tensions between ABC and Disney over the channel’s refusal to divest itself from the latter’s theme parks as a large stakeholder, premiering on this day in 1961 with the new anthology series introductory pilot (presented by Ludwig von Drake, voiced by Paul Frees, on the visual spectrum and colour theory with the National Broadcasting Corporation’s peacock mascot assisting) and his nephew Donald in Mathmagic Land as the second part. The debut is credited with doubling the sales of colour televisions and for placating Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N Minow and turning around his opinion after his pronouncement that television in America was a “vast wasteland” with an educational and informative instance of the media that promised more quality programming.

¹⁴c (12. 755)

Above-ground nuclear testing, conducted primarily by the US and the USSR, from the late 1940s to early 1960s caused a global increase in the concentration of the above radioactive carbon isotope that left a distinct, detectable marker in all life on Earth, entering the food-chain as radioactive carbon-dioxide absorbed by plants and passed on. The so called bomb pulse of this era could be used as a precise dating tool, differing from classical carbon dating because the biosphere acts as a chronometer rather than relying on rates of decay to find out how long ago something died, to determine whether biological material was formed before, during or after. This signature can be used in forensics, forgery detection, poaching and wildlife trafficking and climate modelling. More on the convergence of fallout and science from Kottke, including a video lesson, at the link above.

no good deed goes unpunished (12. 754)

Having foiled the attempted assassination of US president Gerald Ford two days prior by grappling with Sara Jane Moore as she tried to aim her pistol, decorated former Marine and disabled veteran of the Vietnam war Oliver Wellington “Billy” Sipple was indirectly pubically outed by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen after friend and fellow activist Harvey Milk expressed frustration from the community over the president’s delay in recognising Sipple’s heroic intervention. Believing that the White House was reluctant to acknowledge a gay ex-service member, the Caen hoped his article might change stereotypes. Sipple received a personal note from Ford the next day, praising his selfless actions from earlier in the week and offering his heartfelt appreciation. The media sensation surrounding his sexual orientation and associations with the local scene was unwelcome for Sipple, who unsuccessfully tried to sue the Chronicle for invasion of privacy (having asked that that matter be kept off the record) and when the news broke to his conservative, Midwestern parents, whom were unaware that their son was gay, they virtually disowned him, according to some accounts—and afterwards he fell into a cycle of depression and alcohol abuse.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Tanaka Memorial of 1927 (with synchronopticæ)

twelve years ago: German chancellor softens stance on the EU question 

thirteen years ago: inflation and Oktoberfest 

fifteen years ago: Ostalgia 

seventeen years ago: hidden missives in spam 

welcome to the jungle (12. 753)

If Upton Sinclair’ original 1906 novelisation of the inhumane conditions in the meatpacking industry (see previously here and here) wasn’t already enough to turn one vegetarian and co-champion for struggling immigrants and reform of the social safety net in the US, this brief from 99% Invisible should do the trick, showing that precious little has changed in the intervening century, including the tarnished American Dream, and has taken a turn for the worse with consolidation and workers even more disposable.

your county is going to fail, and i’m really good at predicting things (12. 752)

Speaking second after his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, one of the few world leaders standing up to his bombast and bullying—who pointedly referenced extrajudicial strikes on supposed Argentinian drug-runners in international waters and lamented how the Palestinian delegation had no representation at the General Assembly, the host nation having denied entry visas, the first such barring since 1998 when PLO head Yasser Arafat was blocked from attending an the United Nations held the plenary meeting in Geneva instead, the forum having seen quite a few displays, particularly during the Cold War with Khrushchev removing his shoe to bang it on the podium, to the exclusion and sidelining of none—Trump took to the stage with no sense of self-awareness or sympathy for the crowd of co-equals and moral and mental betters to evangelise (painfully embarrassing like before in 2017 and 2018 and not memorable like the above breach of protocol by the Soviet head of state) well over his allotted fifteen minutes on the rostrum. Perhaps insinuating sabotage, the US president joked about the out-of-order escalator and broken teleprompter, then proceeding to give a lengthy outline of his successes, unbidden, beginning with his historic trade deals, the seven wars he claims to have ended in his second term alone, expanding further in foreign affairs, claiming that the US was developing a AI verification system to counter bio-weapons, and then blaming the UN for failing to promote peace and that its policies of immigration and open-boarders were consigning Western nations to hell. The last outrage was Trump again airing his denialism of the climate catastrophe, calling it a hoax, a con job and clean energy a “green scam”—drawing audible gasps in the chamber. The mood was far from collegial with all criticism launched towards traditional allies and little reserved for adversaries of the post-war world order, the body gathered to mark its eightieth anniversary. No American president’s remarks was over time and Trump’s disgusting tirade comes in third to Arafat’s 1974 address and the epic five-hour filibuster by Fidel Castro in 1960.

8x8 (12. 751)

crybaby: the myth of the maternal instinct and what infant distress tells us 

i’ve been waiting twenty years for this meeting: Trump issues dangerous medical advice, linking acetaminophen, childhood vaccines with autism  

interflug: vintage Eastern European destination labels 

filtered for birdsong and catnip: the animal internet and archaeo-acoustics  

my dinner with skinner: the Steamed Hams version of My Dinner with Andre—see previously, see also—via Meta Filter 

novelisation: retro book jackets from modern classic cinema—see previously   

justice serviced: Trump ramps up pressure to pursue political enemies through a weaponised department  

non-linear vocal phenomenon: the distracting power of baby cries and dog barks may be overrated

synchronoptica

one year ago: a 1974 tour of Fort Knox (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to revisit 

thirteen years ago: a ban on GMO crops in Europe, charted flights plus a superb dragonfly

fourteen years ago: faster-than-light physics 

fifteen years ago: the unbearable whiteness of anti-intellectualism 

oaix (12. 750)

Over four years after the disastrous withdrawal of US force arranged during his first term with the Taliban—timed so his successor would deal with the consequences, Trump is talks with the government of Afghanistan to retake the former Soviet airbase outside of Kabul. With one of the biggest, fortified runaways in the world and considered strategically valuable by dint of proximity to Chinese nuclear silos and test ranges. For their part, Taliban officials of the internationally isolated nation did not seem too keen on the prospect of returning Bagram to American control (despite threats from the administration) but did indicate a willingness to engage in discussions for other partnerships.

8x8 (12. 749)

ephemeral 80s: a side project from Curios British Telly  

informal collaborator: methods of surveillance and monitoring by the Iron Curtain  

consumer expenditures: Bureau Labour Statistics, under pressure from the Trump administration’s push for a rosy economic outlook postponed releasing a key annual report—see previously 

the vela incident: a mysterious double flash in the India ocean was detected on this day in 1979, thought to be an undeclared nuclear test 

just look where you’re walking or you’ll get ko’d by the gauntlet of misshapened zucchini-descendant bastards swinging from above: it’s that time again—see previously   

estᴰ: an archive of derelict shopfronts from the 1970s and 1980s of East London  

disgruntled nomenclature: a list of American college presidents—drawn from a 1973 yearbook of higher education—are particularly interchangeable and revealing of patriarchical power structures 

upstairs, downstairs: seven decades of ITV on the anniversary of its founding, breaking the BBC broadcast monopoly

synchronoptica

one year ago: Bilbo Baggins’ birthday (with synchronopticæ), St Mauritius, first contact plus a presidential assassination attempt (1975)

twelve years ago: Singapore’s Super Trees, bad real estate photographs plus untamed houseplants

thirteen years ago: promoting women executives 

fourteen years ago: safe overtaking plus the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

fifteen years ago: a classic iPad sleeve 

sixteen years ago: our little travel blog 

seventeen years ago: de-logistics 

say do you remember (12. 748)

 

It’s that time again. Love was changing the mind of pretenders while chasing the clouds away—see previously here and here. Don’t forget to put out a plate of cookies for Earth, Wind and Fire tonight.

 

television dreams of tomorrow—we’re not the one you’re meant to follow (12. 747)

On this day in 2004, Green Day released their seventh studio album—their first in four years—American Idiot, an overtly political and socially critical record, the tracks, especially the title one, expresses the disillusionment and decent of a generation whose prospects were informed by 9/11 and the resulting forever wars. A telling of the gospel of Jesus of Suburbia, a precarious working-class anti-hero figure, the suite of songs were put together as a concept album for a punk rock opera, taking inspiration from Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Charting worldwide, it was also against the media apparatus, which in the band’s view had crossed from journalism to sensationalism and reality TV, glorified violence of combat in Iraq intercut with advertisements. An enduring protest song, lyrics have been subtly updated from redneck to “I’m not a part of the [MAGA/ELON] agenda” and “subliminal mind-Trump America.” Wake me up when September ends.

10x10 (12. 746)

the dominator model continues to run the world: Lydia Lunch’s timeless feminist manifesto 

jut: a new way to measure the magnitude and magnificence of mountains—via Metafilter  

and i’m floating in the most peculiar way: a cover of Major Tom by Magdalena Bay—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links  

bequest: an assortment of old customs and curious donations and charities 

red noise: the French musical underground’s decade of synths and situationists—via { feuilleton }  

𒀾: writing lessons in Cuneiform  

being of sound minds and body: collection of captivating wills and last testaments—via Strange Company  

you’ve really made the grade: a scroll through the archives of David Bowie  

pathfinder: a look into the inner-workings of Google Maps  

me and bobbie mckee: the forgotten inspiration for the gender-swapping ballad of Kris Kristofferson and Janis Joplin—see previously

synchronoptica

one year ago: Weird Al parodies Bob Dylan with palindromes (with synchronopticæ) plus more gerrymandering

twelve years ago: a possible clue to hidden Nazi loot hidden on sheet music 

fourteen years ago: the Pope comes home to Germany 

fifteen years ago: GMO salmon 

forced perspective (12. 745)

Interested in the ways brains process visual information and the influence of context and frame of reference, psychologist Jules Beuchet first described his eponymous chair illusion in the mid twentieth century, and while popular for museum installations and retaining the effect in photographs unlike some others (see also here and here), we learn that the compelling dissonance, accidentally exemplified by this image of the giant Bidens with the tiny Carters without set up—courtesy of Futility Closet—we discover a new, more portable technique for disabusing this trick, staged easier with a tripod, a miniature frame and piece of upholstery, requiring much less space and focal length to achieve the result.

an irwin allen production (12. 744)

Very much enjoying these tales of recycled props and sets (see previously here and here), we were thrilled that not only did the author get to see his namesake disaster flick on the big screen for the first time, that cinematic experience allowed him pinpoint the provenance of elements of the decor.  The golden panels that clad the walls of the cruise ship’s mess were repurposed from Cleopatra, and feature Egyptians and hieroglyphics although the boat is named the SS Poseidon after the Greek sea god for a bit of mixed mythology. The skylight “ceiling” of the ballroom is also the backdrop of the Harmonia Gardens number featured in Hello Dolly!—both the Taylor and Streisand films being a huge expense for the studios, it made sense to do some double-dipping. Much more from Poseidon’s Underworld at the link above.

readout (12. 743)

Whilst transcripts of the telephone call between Trump and President Xi of China emphasis progress on trade amid the American tariff war, curbing the supply of fentanyl and the divesture of TikTok in order to stop a ban on the popular social media platform, the released summaries failed to make any mention Taiwan, and given the timing of the reported decision for a pause in US aid and weapons sales to Taipei, it is feared that US dropping its support—a “temporary tactical concession”—for neighbouring Republic of China is being used as leverage for open markets and better positions Beijing to annex the break-away island which has long enjoyed American backing over symbolic promises like to quell the flow compounds that can be used to make drugs.

synchronoptica

one year ago: residential fire safety (with synchronopticæ), assorted links to revisit plus anti-social media

twelve years ago: the constellation of Nintendo games 

thirteen years ago: smear campaigns, wine pairings plus the banner of the Sámi people

fourteen years ago: EU monetary policy 

fifteen years ago: regulating speech on the internet 

sixteen years ago: yearbook yourself 

9x9 (12. 742)

admissible evidence: AI translations of animal vocalisations in the court room and other assorted legal stupidity  

mulholland drive: the Mid-Century Modern estate of David Lynch (previously) in the Hollywood Hill is up for sale  

happy blogoversary: Damn Interesting turns twenty 

õhuruum: more incursions of Russian fighter jets into NATO airspace, this time over Estonia—see previously  

⠝⠕⠍⠕⠎: overcoming wartime injuries that took both his sight and hands, a Greek youth taught himself to read Braille with his tongue and became a lawyer 

ministry of public enlightenment and propaganda: from the wires, 4 February 1939  

phlegmatic: the ancient origins of personality typing  

yawaraka jazz: an individual in Japan expertly DJs their collection of vintage vinyls with no commercial interruptions—via Web Curios 

feme covert, feme sole: Brigitte Macron, wife of the French president and whole human being in her own right, has agreed to provide scientific evidence to a US court to prove that she is biologically female from birth—via the New Shelton wet/dry

this week tonite (12. 741)

Via Super Punch, we glean this little fact of television heritage and show-DNA, though mindful that this is the news and crisis that the US administration wants us to be talking about rather than war, trade, financial misdeeds or sex-crimes: Live! hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel debuting in January of 2003 was the mid-season replacement for Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect when ABC (under its then newly acquired parent corporation of Walt Disney) cancelled the late-night panel show after the moderator took exception with US foreign policy and with the characterisation by the Bush government that the 9/11 terrorists were “cowards”—“although terrible people,” they were not cowards, “What was cowardly, Maher rebuked, “was America’s relationship with the rest of the world.” Too soon perhaps but far from a full-throated endorsement of al Qaeda, causing complaints to roll in and advertisers retreat from the programme. Of course back then, there was also no coercion from hypocritical government officials to self-censor editorialising or free-speech.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Oscars of US government workers (with synchronopticæ), getting to philosophy, Israel attacks Hezbollah with booby-trapped walkie-talkies plus sinkholes and megaslumps

thirteen years ago: a theme song for a blog plus auditory cues

fourteen years ago: Germany’s Pirate Party 

fifteen years ago: Moore’s Law and quantum computing 

seventeen years ago: a turn in the weather 

of laureates and laurels (12. 740)

The winners of the annual Ig Nobel prizes (see previously) were recently announced and there are, across several categories and disciplines, a host of ridiculous and thought-provoking studies to ponder. Several of the experiments were alcohol related, such as research into the effects of lowered inhibitions on language proficiency—outside of one’s mother tongue, garnering top prize for the peace division—and the effects of naturally occurring ethanol consumption on the ability of bats to navigate and echolocate. There were quite a few examples of culinary chemistry as well—plus a peer-reviewed field trial on the efficacy of dazzle camouflage as repellant for biting insects—previously here and here. See all the laureates at Ars Technica at the link above.

public law 80-253 (12. 739)

Statue at large enacted at the the end of July of the same year, the US National Security Act took effect on this day in 1947 after the senate confirmed the nomination of James Forrestal as the first secretary of defence (transitioning from his role as the last cabinet-level appointee as secretary of the navy) and was a significant restructuring of the government’s armed forces, merging the army, naval commands (granting autocephaly to the marine corps) and the then newly established air force formerly under the aegis of the Department of War. The result of efforts of president Harry S Truman during the waning days of WWII in the European Theatre, the legislature for reform and reorganisation to ensure better communication and cooperation was taken up by congress in the aftermath of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour with army and navy commanders at odds on how to best respond to warnings of an imminent ambush on the Hawaiian outpost, the culmination of failed joint operations and internecine turf battles during ground operations which ignored air power. Budgetary constraints and the customary relinquishing of executive powers during times of relative peace also influenced its passage, though resistance to change was notable. Through numerous rounds of debate, compromise created a council of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, creations of agencies for overall logistics, contracting, training and educational support as well as the Central Intelligence Agency. The act was signed into law by Truman whilst in transit aboard a custom Douglas C-45 Skymaster, call-sign Sacred Cow and the first aircraft designated as Air Force One, during a visit to see his ailing mother in Grandview Missouri. Promised cost savings evaporated almost immediately due to the start of the Cold War with Soviet advances in nuclear weapons and the crisis on the Korean peninsula. Revertion to the old name took place with a minimal amount of reflection or consultation.

enter prince andrew (12. 738)

One cannot presume to speak for the strategy that may be behind the decision of the royal family and the prime minister to go ahead with hosting this appeasement tour, placating Trump’s ego with an unprecedented state visit. Both the Queen, under advisement of her Household, and Starmer had the sense of propriety and decency to dismiss respectively the younger brother of the then heir-apparent and in the latter case the up until very recently the ambassador to the United States as associates of Jeffrey Epstein, who as ombudsman delivered the personal invitation of the King Charles III, so their overall tactic may yet be warranted. Both former friends were denied a place at the banquet table for their relationship with the infamous sex-trafficker and financial fixer, however—rightly so, but it does not seem right that the court might afford Epstein’s best buddy a seat. It’s definitely a risk and a humiliation regardless of the aims, rolling out the red carpet for a charlatan and sex-pest whose empty threats have become merely wearying and something to endure and outlast. Nice that the pageantry is marred at every turn by protests keeping the hosts in line. Exeunt omnes.

 

synchronoptica

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

thirteen years ago: Suzanne Vega and the .mp3 plus limits on freedom of expression in Germany

fifteen years ago: side-quests and gamification plus immigration and othering

pious fictions (12. 737)

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency contributor Carlos Greaves shares an uncharacteristically sobering flowchart, decision-tree on telling the difference between a lone wolf and a coordinated effort by the radical left. The parallel construction triangulates with a lecture series by tech oligarch Peter Thiel embracing the language of the apocalypse—rebuffing, redirecting worries over AI godhead with talks that appeal to particularly American obsessions of naming the Antichrist and belief in angels and demons (environmental activist Greta Thunberg is a favourite target of the influential billionaire for the Great Satan—in the parlance and policing of y’all Qaeda) and the censoring of media outlets with producer son David of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison looking to acquire CNN after taking over Paramount-Skydance with consequences already apparent, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission bullying ABC-Disney into cancelling another popular late night talk show critical of the administration, the divestiture of US TikTok to a MAGA cadre to transform it into a propaganda mill far worse than any hand wringing over China, and the Washington Post dismissing a veteran journalist for reporting the news and calling out sophistry.

la casa azul (12. 736)

Renowned artist Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, known for her numerous works of self-portraiture (Autorretrato) and murals executed in a naïve folk style with an element of magical realism that examined topics of class, race, gender, identity, post-colonialism and her personal experience with chronic pain, having recovered from a disabling case of polio as a child and, aged eighteen was a promising and gifted student headed to medical school was on this day in 1925 in Mexico City was nearly killed in a serious accident when the bus she was a passenger in collided violently with a streetcar. Sustaining numerous injuries, including a fractured spinal column—never fully recovering her mobility—for the next two years Kahlo (see previously here and here) was confined to her bed whilst her body healed. During this long convalescence, she returned to her childhood aspirations, also prompted by an extended period of recuperation and resignation, of becoming a painter. Kahlo’s parents provide an easel and supplies arranged where she could work reclined and mounted a mirror on the ceiling so she could study herself bedridden and produced among many other painting the pictured aristocratic self-portrait in a velvet dress. The mannerist piece was later considered Kahlo’s seminal project and first professional painting, and was gifted to her boyfriend at the time, during a fractious time in their short relationship, which aided in a brief reconciliation, though he moved away to Europe while Kahlo remained in Mexico, toughening up her self-image and rejecting the expectations of the male-gaze.

bank error in your favour (12. 735)

Reminiscent of a possibly apocryphal story circulated by tellers of accepting coin rolls of pfennigs and exchanging them for euro bills shortly some years after the change over, on this day in 1975, one Stephen Holcomb Jr of Transverse City, Michigan presented a hundred-thousand mark note, wishing to trade it for US dollars after a local electronics store refused to take the foreign money for the purchase of an AM/FM radio and suggested he go to the bank. With no malice or fraud intended, the clerk had accepted the bill at face value, giving Holcomb the going rate and exchanging it for nearly forty-thousand in cash, promptly buying the radio and going on a spending spree. Honouring the current rate had been a mistake as the bill was dated 1923, issued during the inter-war period of hyper-inflation and valued at a fraction of a cent—see also here and here. Holcomb’s mother had been an antique dealer and the worthless artefact had been in the house as long as they could remember. Although not criminally charged, the balance of the money was recovered and new truck and other purchases repossessed after Holcomb’s night on the town in Chicago when he was apprehended by a bank detective upon returning home.

recaptcha (12. 734)

The latest game from Neal Agarwal (see previously) comes to us courtesy of Waxy and involves increasing ridiculous challenges for website access (see also here and here) by proving one is not a robot—the barriers to entry enhanced and erected more often as of late ostensibly to prevent bots from scrapping data but criticised for their dual-use as free labour by training said bots in the not particularly human capacity for image- and character-recognition, wasting time and providing little security in exchange. What level made you give up? Also via ibīdem, here are some more infuriating yet plausible captchas designed to frustrate dishonest brokers—created in the same spirit as this first line of defence from telemarketing scams.

hedgehog highways (12. 733)

Via Metafilter, we learn that a cross-bench committee of peers of the House of Lords are debating amendments to the planning and infrastructure bill before parliament that’s been deemed woefully inadequate by conservation groups for allowing offsets for developers to pay into rather than building in a minimal, sustainable and cohabiting manner on new properties. Mandates for new construction include the above corridors for small mammals to increase their range across neighbourhood gardens, special glass to reduce bird-strikes, nesting boxes, so called “swift bricks,” as refuges for avian friends, bats, insects and others. More from The Guardian at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a versatile French pronoun (with synchronopticæ) 

qed (12. 732)

A once in a century event, at least for jurisdictions observing the MM-DD-YY format (see also), today—rendered as 9/16/25—illustrates the Pythagorean Theorem—that is, a²+b²=c² or three-squared plus four-squared equals five squared or the unit measures of the shorter vertices of any right triangle yield its hypotenuse. As a bonus, the full year, 2025 (see above), is the square of forty-five.  More auspicious dates with numerical properties at the links above.

7x7 (12. 731)

life is too short to not say exactly what you mean all the time: folk singer Jessie Welles (previously) on one’s calling and being candid in trying times 

post-parade afterglow: clips of Chinese soldiers returning home with identical tan-lines from drilling in the helmets in the sun for the event commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the end of World War II  

crash blossoms: Tropic Storm Gabrielle Spaghetti Models as Hurricane Chances Increase and other headlines 

bijin-ga: a selection of Japanese prints featuring cats and butterflies eau de eight-bit: fragrances inspired by classic home computers 

analyst call: Trump urges US Securities and Exchange Commission to eliminate quarterly reporting requirements for businesses, afraid of how markets will react to the knock on effects of tariffs of 

brahmins and buddhists: an exploration of a right-wing ideologue and influencer who brought yoga to the West

folie à deux (12. 730)

From the French for madness of two, the above psychiatric term for a shared delusional disorder, where false beliefs are transmitted and reinforced among two or several interlocutors, the inducer and associate, makes an apt heuristic for helping to understand this addendum from a months’ long investigation into how correspondence with chatbots can send their human users into a spiralling fixation not easily disabused. Far from an objective resource or an oracle with one’s best interests in mind, ChatGPT and other large language models are programmed for a degree of flattery that is turned up in intensity not in a necessarily nefarious way by one’s own dialog—hoping to keep up engagement and its end of the conservation, the predictive exercise becomes a trial of word-association. Of course, such shared psychosis is a social phenomenon—not just parasocial or antisocialised, and panics chase after all emergent technologies, television, video games, social media, but the interviews reveal a common thread for AI, which is otherwise uninvested and unmotivated, insofar as its agency reveals it to be something akin to an improv comedian, wanting to “yes and…” to go along with what’s offered in a performative (see above) context to continue the sketch. And scene.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the history of White Castle (with synchronopticæ)

fourteen years ago: extra-solar worlds plus a wild boy prank

fifteen years ago: recursive logos and rating scales 

sixteen years ago: uncollegiality in the US congress 

seventeen years ago: hurricane season 

and the adjacent possible (12. 729)

OK Go continues its tradition of crafting glorious high-concept music video to accompany and complement their songs—previously—with the latest dazzlingly, chaotic animated Impulse Purchase being no exception. The maximalist collaboration with Blender Studios and the signature digital characters of artist Lucas Zanotto (see previously) with the help of Will Anderson (BAFTA award winning storyteller who struggles with the revival of his own, imagined best-known creation, Longbird, that once upon a time conferred him with legendary status) combines motion capture and three-dimensional rendering goes one further by making the endeavour open-source and models available to anyone to remix, adapt and share—a statement on the architecture of choice and algorithmically curated options which assertively reframes the dialogue by reseting the parameters. More on the making and a tutorial from It’s Nice That at the link above.

operation nougat (12. 728)

Begun on this day in 1961 immediately following the Soviet Union’s abrogation of a moratorium on testing, pressured by the American congress—who in turn was informed by a piece of investigative journalism (using a representative as the source) by the Miami News that the USSR was planning on exploding nuclear warheads on the Moon for scientific purposes with the end goal of landing cosmonauts on the Earth’s satellite by 1965, the US resumed controlled atomic explosions for the first time since 1958 with a series of forty-four underground and tunnel detonations at the Nevada Proving Grounds. The first shot conducted, Antler, in a tunnel four hundred metres below the surface lost containment right away, ruining sensors and losing data—a recurring problem for this operation, which also hosted tests for the British nuclear programme, caused by ground water above the blast zone which sublimated in the testing shaft with a force far more eruptive than expected, propelled by the shockwave. 

synchronoptica 

one year ago: Dresden’ Kulturpalast mural and Soviet Realism (with synchronopticæ), outsider artist Gottfried Mind, Mexico’s new president, Saks Fifth Avenue (1924) plus generating a podcast based on one’s notes

dykstraflex (12. 727)

Courtesy of Things Magazine, we are referred to a rather fascinating look at how a battery of psychological experiments conducted at the University of California’s Berkley campus Environmental Simulation Laboratory in the early 1970s to gauge public engagement and investment and equip urban planners and civil engineers with better tools of communication and presentation for projects for all stakeholders, which ultimately informed the special effects workshop of Industrial Light and Magic to produce the awe and immersion for audiences of the Star Wars franchise—particularly for those experiencing the spectacle in theatres for the first time.  Proceeding in a scientific and methodical way, graduate student John Dykstra who worked on the project deduced that buy-in required believability and designed the above eponymous computer-controlled camera system to imbue a new level of reality to scale-models. The technique was first used on a miniature mock-up of an area of Marin County as a showcase for trialling various public works projects and construction proposals. Of course such monumental and detailed representations cannot be created for every item under review but insights gleaned from this study give architects and the city council better ways of presenting scope and impact. The computer controlled cameras that pivoted perspective along dogfights of between TIE fighters and X-Wings, just as they swept over the model landscape (see also) ensured continuity of motion control for all elements, dynamic and static, and the seamless merging of frames into on screen action.