Any other day, a crewed mission to lunar orbit would be the only news story, but given the world of American hubris and hegemony, with wars in the Middle and Far East, Trump threatening to withdraw from NATO, the climate catastrophe, etc, etc, the awe-inspiring achievement that the world could collectively take pride in is overshadowed in the headlines. 
Whilst not landing on the Moon for this iteration, the capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, if all goes according to plan, will take four individuals the farthest anyone has been from Earth, tracing a figure-eight around the Moon and back in a ten day journey, the flyby the first foray beyond low Earth orbit since 1972. The Apollo XIII and X missions entered geostationary orbit around the Moon but Artemis will assume a free return trajectory, similar to Apollo XIII. Among the historical firsts in store for the crew include the first woman, person of colour and in Canadian Space Agency astronaut the first non-US citizen to leave low Earth orbit. The landing mission is currently scheduled for 2028. Watch the countdown live at NPR at the link up top.
Wednesday, 1 April 2026
artemis ii (13. 315)
moot court (13. 314)
The first for a sitting US president, Trump will attend oral arguments as the supreme court holds a hearing on a lower court ruling that struck down his executive order limiting birthright citizenship (see previously here and here). 
The appeal, if upheld and overruling the earlier verdict, will upend the established view that under the fourteenth amendment to the constitution, all individuals are conferred US citizenship regardless of the status of their parents whom are born on US soil. Though unclear whether his attendance will intimidate the justices and put a thumb on the scales but we can presume to know what Trump’s objective is. Previously, the president had entertained attending a hearing which ultimately ruled his reciprocal tariff scheme illegal but decided against it, saying it would be a distraction. The case on today’s docket won’t be decided likely until the early summer but this preliminary session will shape the trajectory of the arguments. Much more at the links above.
day thirty-three (13. 313)
Projecting a timeline of two to three weeks for ending the war—or at least US operations, Trump dictates that the responsibility of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is left to the countries that rely on it and not for America to police. After the conflict is concluded, the US secretary of state says that the relationship with NATO will need to be reevaluated after partner states after their reluctance to join in prosecuting this illegal war, notably Spain refusing access to Rota and Lages Field and latest Italy not allowing refuelling of US aircraft on Sigonella.
Trump says either those nations come and take the oil—or buy American as more troops enter the theatre, promising withdrawal with or without a deal. The United Arab Emirates may do exactly that, with reports it is planning to open the strait by force. Drone assaults continue in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and a western journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad. Beirut remains under fire. Israeli airstrikes target more Iranian nuclear facilities and a munitions depot in Isfahan and wide scale bombardment of Tehran as the country marks 12. Farvardin, Islamic Republic Day, proclaimed in 1979 after the revolution.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the US bicentennial train tour (with synchronopticรฆ), a marathon filibuster plus assorted links to revisit
twelve years ago: Springtime in Wiesbaden
thirteen years ago: a walk around Leipzig, a Russian Orthodox church, news digest plus prospecting for frozen methane
fourteen years ago: modifying crops to keep up with climate change, Easter decorations plus new utopias
fifteen years ago: censoring the Simpsons
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
i love my dead gay son (13. 312)
Courtesy of our faithful chronicler, we are treated to a coincidence of synchronicity with this day being the theatrical debut of Stanley Kubrick’s first film Fear and Desire (1953), an anti-war movie that earned praise from critics for the promising beginning director, he soon disowned it shortly after its release, displeased with his heavy exposition. 
Set in the midst of a war between two unidentified belligerents (though pointedly made at the height of the Korean conflict) with a troop transport plane crashing behind enemy lines in a forest prefaced as outside of time influenced by the angst and impulse the audience choses to project on it as the only factors driving the narrative, and the surviving manifest struggling to make their way back to their side of the front. Calling the production a “bumbling amateur exercise,” Kubrick sought to halt its distribution and requested reels be destroyed, though some were preserved and as it lapsed into the public domain, it can in its entirety be watched here. Another first feature also premiered on this day in 1989 with Daniel Waters’ Heathers (see previously here and here), originally pitched as a spec script for Kubrick to direct, the writer feeling that only the individual behind Dr Strangelove could do his coming-of-age black comedy justice. .png)
As a foil to the optimistic teen movies of John Hughes, Waters portrayed a dark character, Jason “JD” Dean, coming to a high school in the fictional town of Sherwood, Ohio intent on murdering the cliques of popular students and staging their deaths as suicides. Not only did Kubrick decline the invitation, Waters was furthermore unable to secure the rights from author JD Salinger to The Catcher in Rye as originally written for the screenplay—instead passages from Moby Dick (out of copyright) were highlighted as confessional red herrings to cover his crimes—and neither the Doris Day version of “Que Sera, Sera” out of not wanting to promote profanity. The latter starring Winona Rider, Shannen Doherty and Christian Slater, the former featured Virginia Leith, the girl lashed to a tree, who would later go on to star in the cult classic The Brain that Wouldn’t Die. Still the cafeteria scene from the beginning of Heathers was an homage to Full Metal Jacket.
7x7 (13. 311)
jack-in-the-box: a list of restaurant franchises nominatively housed in unusual structures by order of appeal of the dining experience in said edifice
: – ): this generation will never the struggle of emoticons—see previously
smelting operations: with the world’s supply of aluminium stuck in the Persian Gulf and major production facilities disabled, automakers are cutting production of electric cars
fallout boy: Trump’s East Wing ballroom to act as shed atop of a war-graded military bunker
fahr’n, fahr’n, fahr’n auf der autobahn: Kraftwerk’s pioneering electronic music masterpiece in full—see previously
as slow as possible: Pippin Bar assesses attention span with meditative remakes of classic arcade games—via Waxy
smoke ‘em if you got ‘em: startups hope to put biometric age-verification technology in flavoured vape cartridges
day thirty-two (13. 310)
Although continuing to threaten to obliterate Iranian energy infrastructure (and desalination plants, a war crime under the Geneva Conventions) if Tehran does not capitulate by a deadline extended to Easter Monday—the paschal holidays making this a short trading week for stock markets and possibly with hopes of mopping up prior to the opening bell—Trump says he may cease military operations even without securing the Strait of Hormuz, leaving that logistical problem to be saved for a later date. 
A Kuwaiti-flagged tanker was struck by drone debris and may spilling its cargo into the waters of the Gulf and adding to the environmental disaster. Assaults continued in the Iranian and Lebanese capitals with counterstrikes in central Israel. Tรผrkiye intercepted a fourth missile targeting the NATO member. Israeli prime minister Netanyahu declined to give a timeline during an interview with the press but said that military objectives were half complete. Iranian leadership acknowledge receipt of US peace proposals via intermediaries, dismissing them as excessive and unrealistic, as US vice president JD Vance, apparently skeptical of the war from the beginning, is appointed as chief negotiator.
synchronoptica
one year ago: a secret apartment inside a mall (with synchronopticรฆ), handball alleys plus more on Eadweard Muybridge
twelve years ago: a visit to the Fulda Gap
fourteen years ago: harnessing lightning
fifteen years ago: an insolvent superpower
sixteen years ago: an Easter egg shortage
seventeen years ago: the G20 and a universal currency
Monday, 30 March 2026
sunday service (13. 309)
The closure of sites and suspension of ceremonies in the Old City of Jerusalem was not an unilateral decision made by the Church out of abundance of caution but rather enforced by police with authorities blocking the Catholic prelate, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Hierosolyma, from entering his co-cathedra (shared with the Armenian and Greek orthodox churches as the most sacred site in Christianity) the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 
Upset by the global congregation and pressure from the US government, hellbent on religious freedoms at least for the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the Israeli prime minister has intervened to grant full and immediate access to the shrine built over Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion and resurrection within a framework of mutual understanding with local police. Pizzaballa will be allowed to hold mass as he sees fit but plans to curtail celebrations and avoid large gatherings for safety reasons.
9x9 (13. 308)
ruina montium: an striking landscape in Spain created by the ancient Romans fracking for gold—via Miss Cellania
13 ๏ฝ 7 = 28: Abbot and Costello try to meet their sales quota—via MetaFilter
i’m your hell, i’m your dream—i’m nothing in between: a linguistic and semantic history of the term bitch
anatoly kolodkin: US waives sanctions to allow Russian tanker to deliver crude oil to Cuba
coalition of the willing: recalling the legacy Icelandic PM Davรญรฐ Oddsson of committing the nation to the unjustified invasion of Iraq in 2003, juxtaposed with contemporary Spain
cocktail nation: Spy Vibe’s regular segment on swank vintage soundtracks
lip-filler accent: influencers inform the way we speak—via Nag on the Lake, see also
gigo: AI is an accelerant for academic fraud, selling papers and citations to pad one’s portfolio
unoosa: a profile of the director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs who alerts the world of impending asteroid impacts
day thirty-one (13. 307)
Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have hit a UN peacekeeping convoy, killing an Indonesian member as the IDF is ordered to expand its buffer zone on the southern border. Palm Sunday processions cancelled in Jerusalem over the war, Pope Leo rebukes the Trump administration for Holy Week, saying that God rejects the prayers of war-mongers. Iran’s Supreme Leader, still not seen in public since his elevation, thanked the people of Iraq for their solidarity in the face of aggression as a supply train of the Shia militia is seen crossing into Iran. Oil prices continue to surge as world wide stock markets fall.
one year ago: new design for the Swiss passport (with synchronopticรฆ), AI stealing artists’ styles, a classic guide to fleeing America plus renewed attacks on pride celebrations
Sunday, 29 March 2026
an agony, in eight fits (13. 306)
With the above subtitle, as our faithful chronicler reminds, English writer Lewis Carroll (previously) published his nonsense poem on this day in 1876, borrowing stylistically from an earlier verse “Jabberwocky” and Through the Looking-Glass, whose first printing run included a religious tract, “An Easter Greeting to Every Child Who Loves ‘Alice.’” 
Variously interpreted as a lampoon against Victorian sensibilities, an allegory of tuberculosis, existential angst over the fear of losing one’s sense of self and a court case that was a cause cรฉlรจbre during its composition involving a man who claimed to be the missing heir to the Tichborne estate supposed lost in a shipwreck en route to Australia, and relates the narrative of a hunting party’s arrival in a strange land, the crew consisting of a bellman, bonnet-maker, a barrister, broker, billiard-maker, banker, a beaver, a baker and a butcher to pursue their quarry of the Snark, which is rumoured to be a highly dangerous boojum, which makes all take pause. 
Whilst the sense of derision or irreverence is onomatopoeic from the interjection to snort, the poem lends the sense of a wild-goose chase. The hunt commences:
They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share,
They charmed it with smiles and soap.
Along the way, the B-Team encounter a jubjub bird and are attacked by bandersnatch, causing the bank to lose his sanity and disappear without a trace, claiming to have spied their objective but none of the others catch sight of the elusive prey. With illustrated plates by stained-glass designer, muralist and architect Henry Holiday (see above), whose studies of ancient Egyptian motifs helped fuel the Mummy Mania craze, “The Hunting of the Snark” received mixed contemporary reviews and critics pronounced Carroll’s prose and poetry past its prime, although upon reevaluation the enduring references, vocabulary and cadence, structured like a limerick, it has been embraced an reinterpreted in many formats and a dedicated academic journal.
day thirty (13. 305)
After multiple universities came under attack in Iran, Tehran declares American institutions of higher education in the region to be legitimate targets. A contingency of paratroopers and marines arrive in the Middle East as the US prepares for ground operations, reportedly planning raids rather than a full-scale invasion. The exiled crown prince, the son of the deposed shah is encouraging protesters to rise up and overthrow the theocracy, signalling that he would be willing to take on a leadership role in government. Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon have killed three journalists and numerous health care workers, drawing international condemnation.
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Saturday, 28 March 2026
milo minderbinder (13. 304)
Corresponding with the last post of notes from the war, we really enjoyed this reading from Better Living through Beowulf through the lens of Catch-22 of Trump’s Iran adventure. The amoral deal-maker 1LTC Milo Minderbinder is the foil to Joseph Heller’s protagonist CPT John Yossarian as the chief mess officer whose single-minded focus on profit and complete lack of self-awareness drives him to make black market transactions with any side that will allow him to expand the operation of his Syndicate, a one-man operation of which Minderbinder claims all are stakeholders. 
Eventually these escalating trades lead to contracting missions for the German enemy and bombing the American base (like the blowback for the Gulf states hosting US assets or the hollow promises to support Iranian protestors rallying for regime change) where Minderbinder and his squadron are stationed, and though court-martialled for treason for this, he is ultimately acquitted by a congressional committee, with the help of an expensive legal team, absolving his betrayal when it was disclosed how lucrative the business of playing both sides was, convincing the legislators that it was capitalism that makes America great, paraphrasing Calvin Coolidge’s axiom that the business of government is business. Whilst the are parallels certainly in the crassness of Trump’s behaviour and self-enrichment through market manipulation and insider trading (or miraculously cleaning up the mess of high gas prices and crippling inflation just in time for the mid-terms) without regard to putting lives at risk or the global economy in shambles, these very foreseeable consequences of his actions are not the actions of a skilled businessman—just the opposite in his unreflective greed and toolish idiocy–and whatever intent is behind them, like de-sanctioning Russian and Iranian oil to alleviate supply pressures, the formerly illicit petroleum being traded in yuan and not the dollar as the reserve currency. More from Robin Bates at the link above.
sitrep and scuttlebutt (13. 303)
Daily digest notwithstanding, our gratitude to Web Curios for the recommendation to read a piece that’s been making the rounds from the third week of the war with some postcards from the front—given the propensity for the platform to amplify and enable actual Nazis and the pace of change, we skipped it—that is a fairly good distillation of how the Israeli-US attack on Iran is playing out including America’s anti-strategy and rapid fire contradictions that even predates the phantom peace talks and Persian TACO.
From Friday’s press gaggle [20 March]. Barely exaggerated: at 12:03 PM, President Trump told reporters he wanted a ceasefire with Iran. At 12:05 he declared victory. At 12:07 he announced he was sending Marines. At 12:08 he said no boots on the ground. At 12:11 he said he did not want a ceasefire. At 12:16 he declared victory again. At 12:17 he asked for a ceasefire. At 12:23 he told NATO they were cowards. At 12:29 he said Iran was begging for a ceasefire. At 12:31 he said everything was perfect. At 12:36 he said $500 oil was a good thing. At 12:37 he demanded Iran open Hormuz. At 12:39 he said Hormuz was never closed. At 12:41 he said the US was not at war with Iran. At 12:42 he declared victory in Iran. A perfect encapsulation of the concept of Poe’s law—satire requires a degree of hyperbole and whilst there’s some register of editorialised snark, events are presented without embellishment as everything is already saturated in absurdity. The geographic lessons of geopolitics are presented as is the concept of a plan to capture Kharg Island, de-sanctioning Russian and Iranian oil and how the retreat of the US navy’s flagship aircraft carrier was tracked by a sailor deciding to take a jog around the deck and more. Be sure to read the next instalment.
day twenty-nine (13. 302)
Houthi forces have launched missiles into Israeli territory and explosions were heard in Damascus. Iranian drones attacked the Prince Sultan Airbase in Al Kharj, damaging several refuelling aircraft and severely injuring a dozen US troops following reports that the Saudi government is urging Trump to continue the war. Iranian nuclear facilities again came under attack, including a deuterium complex and a yellowcake uranium enrichment plant. Intelligence suggests that Russia is working to replenish Iran’s drone and ballistic missile stocks, returning some of the munitions and supplying new ones from the Iranian surplus used in prosecuting its war on Ukraine. Only seen in the news lately following a ruling that he had mislead investors during his hostile take over of the microblogging platform Twitter, for some reason Elon Musk was included on a call with Trump to India’s president Narendra Modi earlier in the week about ending the conflict in the Middle East. 
one year ago: more on Fermi’s paradox (with synchronopticรฆ), embroidery artist Tomoko Kubo, introspective descriptors plus Chinese gaslighting
Friday, 27 March 2026
random landing (13. 301)
Via the always excellent Web Curios, we are directed to the now occasional blog that visits a point in the contiguous states in the USA and reports back on the geographic features, watersheds, human settlements, history, local commerce, culture, etc nearby, emphasising the size of America and the vast sparsely populated places determined by chance selection of longitude and latitude with a certain methodology. Much research and record keeping has gone into these plots, often removed and remote—the middle of nowhere—that limn the nation as a whole spanning from sea to shining sea and inspired us to attempt some flattery for this personal project through imitation.
Throwing a dart at a map of Germany, at coordinates 49.9969614, 8.9482212 we arrived in the cornfield near Nieder-Roden within the urban district of Darmstadt and the municipality of Offenbach and a constituent community of Greater Roden near the city of Heusenstamm, the fiftieth parallel north passing directly through the Pusieaux-Platz in the centre of the borough.
When I lived in Wiesbaden, I recall the state news broadcast featuring a segment—weekly, daily?—called “Dolles Dรถrfer” so called in country dialect that highlighted a village in Hessen, some of which I visited with detours from my usual route.
Divided by thirds, it is approximately equally partitioned amongst human habitation, woodlands and agriculture with a prominent swampland stand of pine forest and was first documented in 791 as Rotaha inferior in the codex of Lorsch. If you live in the lower-48 or elsewhere, this would be a good project to cultivate for one’s own exploration, like our friend Diamond Geezer, virtual or otherwise.
7x7 (13. 300)
reverse game theory: a novel approach to the housing crisis—via Damn Interesting
twen: the publications of art director Willy Fleckhaus
whoami.wiki: a scrapbook and photo album in the form of a personal Wikipedia built with the help of AI
i’d never lend my name to an inferior product: Trump’s signature to appear on hundred dollar bills, a first for a sitting US president
return of the king: Stephen Colbert co-authoring a Lord of the Rings movie, possibly featuring the character of Tom Bombadil
the red book of bath: a unique civil administration almanac—via Strange Company
laissez-faire: a modest proposal from John Maynard Keynes to solve unemploymentby burying money under landfills
day twenty-eight (13. 299)
Despite the veracity of the claims, Iran we think has no appetite to work with the same negotiators, Kusher and Witkoff, who orchestrated all the previous rounds when, resulting in last year’s attack on Iranian nuclear research facilities (now cited as a casus belli) and lately all out war (which led to the closure of shipping lanes) rather than achieving any semblance of cooperation or compromise. Meanwhile the Houthi militia in Yemen seem to be plotting opening up another front in the war by seizing control of Bab-el-Mandeb (Gate of Grief, the strait that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, fed by the Suez canal and the Indian Ocean. Bombardment and counterstrikes continue.
one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticรฆ) plus a German colonial holding in the Americas
Thursday, 26 March 2026
w97m.melissa (13. 298)
Released into the wild on this day in 1999, the destructive macrovirus whose vector was infected email Word documents that propagated itself through accessing its victims’ Outlook address book established the articles of faith in cyber-security that are still prescribed to today of not clicking on unsolicited links, opening attachments and that Windows OS was and remains an open-target for hacking despite the fact that Apple operating systems are not immune. Contemporary IT support reckoned that the Melissa virus cost hundreds of millions in man hours to contain damages and rebuild email servers, posted to a pornographic newsgroup by a hacker with the monicker Kwyjibo which quickly spread to corporate networks. Lingering and still actively trying to exploit vulnerabilities since paved over with multiple software patches to achieve herd immunity, it was the fastest spreading email worm.
hypothecated tax (13. 297)
Though the US air travel industry faces chaos and imminent collapse as the government shutdown of a single agency, the Department of Homeland Security to force reform in enforcement practises, surpassing a month in duration—ICE agents themselves unaffected by the lapse in appropriations and the insertion of untrained helpers, whom are being paid, is only adding injury to insult—with unpaid transportation security agents and screeners unable to keep showing up for work uncompensated, not only unable to afford basic necessities but also fuel for their commute to and from work more costly—there was a funding mechanism outside of congress to specifically pay for the TSA within the massive department created in response to the 9/11 terror attacks.
A service fee of up to eleven dollars was added to the ticket price of each American domestic fight and a pooled airport fee paid by carriers in order to offset costs enhanced flight security—this process of ring-fencing also known as the above, wherein a specific surcharge, say for the flying public, tv taxes to support public broadcasters or historically seaports to fund the navy is earmarked for a specific service rather than directed to the coffers of the general fund. In times of relative stability, this revenue, however, tends to get raided by legislators and put to different use, as was the case with the passenger fee, the funding stream redirected in 2013 to help pay off the national debt, a higher political priority at the time. As the situation worsens for flyers and agents, the money cannot be restored without the intervention of congress, at the same impasse that’s holding up funding, and until compromised is reached—which also requires the approval of the president who has announced refusal to sign any bill into law unless it includes election reform as well—it is likely to only degrade further before it gets better, with more absenteeism, quitting and the summer travel season, including an expected influx of visitors for the World Cup.
day twenty seven (13. 296)
Mixed signals came out of both Tehran and Washington over potential peace talks, Iranians insisting that Trump is delusional and holding court with himself and that they will never surrender to the US excessive demands and never accept defeat, Trump pushing for a status quo ante bellum that was nearly achieved before fighting commenced (the goals seem to have shifted to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before the war) and Iran signalling its readiness to carpet bomb its own land should US troops set foot and seize Bahraini and Emirati territory in response. Not entertaining the draft peace plan, Iran further demands any truce must include stopping hostilities in Lebanon and an Israeli withdrawal and reparations. Aside from the rising death toll approaching nine thousand individuals, the global economic fallout has nearly reached a tipping point with the worldwide petrodollar market dictating costs even for countries saturated in oil and natural gas, importers enacting energy-saving measures, supply chains and infrastructure points disrupted and not quickly or cheaply restored and clouding prospects for industry and manufacturing as resources dwindle—even the AI boom and bubble that is buoying up the broader stock market is in peril, relying not only on investment for mushrooming data centres, those facilities themselves very energy- and water-intensive. 
one year ago: the unique pop culture of Greenland (with synchronopticรฆ) plus assorted links to revisit
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
jazzy spies (13. 295)
Also known by the above for the closing undercover lineup, the Jazz Number series was a collaboration between Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick,whom provided the vocals after her then husband, Jerry Slick of San Francisco animation studio Imagination, Inc, was commissioned to produce the segments for the new Children’s Television Workshop show Sesame Street. Slick’s team of animators were also behind the noonee, noonee typewriter guy and this upbeat psychedelic interstitial certainly belongs on the pantheon of nostalgia along with the pinball count and Multiplication Rock! More from Open Culture at the link up top.
there were plants and birds and rocks and things (13. 294)
Recorded in Doric mode and composed whilst the trio was staying with shock-rock artist Arthur Brown in Puddletown, Dorset, the track, originally called “Desert Song” was not included on the band’s eponymous debut album, achieving only modest success for its European release, “A Horse with No Name” began a three-week run on the US singles charts on this day in 1972, 
achieving similar commercial achievements in the UK and the Netherlands. America’s song writer Dewey Bunnell (all members were army brats that met while their fathers served in the US Air Force at RAF Ruislip outside of London) wrote the lyrics as a reminiscence of his time where his family was stationed at Vandenberg Airbase and his childhood travels through Arizona and New Mexico, the nameless conveyance being a metaphor for escaping life’s confusion and finding refuge in peace and quiet. Some stations refused airplay as they thought “horse” was a reference to heroine use, and whilst the band maintains there was no illicit allegory, the above catalogue was written under the influence, the band a little embarrassed in the recording studio over the awkwardness of “the heat was hot” and “cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain” but were convinced to stay true to their final draft.
day twenty-six (13. 293)
Despite the reported delivery of a fifteen-point plan through Pakistani surrogates and claims that the US has won the war with negotiations ongoing and major concessions on the part of Iran—without elaboration but implied it was related to oil and gas shipments and Tehran abandoning its nuclear ambitions—though doubts persist whether any dialogue has occurred and whether Iran would be receptive to any deal, Trump tempered his victory during the swearing in ceremony his new of homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, with the aside that Hegseth and Joint Chief Of Staff were disappointed to broker a ceasefire rather than continuing the destruction, by announcing the deployment of a thousand more troops to the region while airstrikes intensified on US bases in the theatre. 
At an event marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the office of the foreign ministry, German president and former Bundesminister des Auswรคrtigen Frank-Walter Steinmeier reaffirmed that the joint Israeli-American attacks on Iran and Lebanon violate international law and constitute war crimes, questioning the value of diplomacy and foreign policy when bad actors rubbish order and norms. Israel solidifies its hold on a buffer zone thirty kilometres inland from the current border between the countries and is poised for long-term occupation, presenting the question of sovereignty for Lebanon separate from Hezbollah into an existential crisis. Contrary to assurances, an errant missile hits the Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr as a military spokesman mocks the American administration’s attempt to control the narrative as a profound strategic failure, chiding them for disguising failure and the inability to extricate themselves from this mess as a truce and they are negotiating with imaginary interlocutors, insisting Tehran has been given no terms and would never capitulate to a hollow superpower.
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 Ceauศescu. Now we do the Dance of Joy!
synchronoptica
one year ago: the complete listing of Trump’s atrocities, part the second (with synchronopticรฆ) plus the granularity of Chinese foodways
thirteen years ago: defragmenting dreams
fourteen years ago: repair cafes
fifteen years ago: vide-poche
Tuesday, 24 March 2026
9x9 (13. 291)
crepuscular rays: the phenomena of sun pillars explained
an exercise in attention: cultivating contemplation through a defence of pet portraiture
ๅ ณ็จ: Trump’s reciprocal tariffs have failed against the Chinese export economy
por la paz y justicia: Spain’s defiance and criticism under US duress is a template for the rest of European, allies threatened with sanction and invasion
the day of the locust: the Simpsons’ patriarch is taken from the protagonist of Nathanael West’s 1939 novel about Hollywood society with a cast of stock characters
odonymy: UK regionalism for alleyways—see previously, see also
ัะผะตััะพะฝะพะผะธะบะฐ: thanatology and Russia’s resistance to sanction
dinergoth: the post-subcultural mainstream and the weirding of middle of the road America as a coping mechanism
aurora borealis shining down in dallas: nineteenth century physicist Karl Lemstrรถm’s attempts to produce the Northern Lights on demand—see also
hot spot (13. 290)
Courtesy of Miss Cellania, we are directed to a 1945 instalment in a series of animated instructional films produced by Warner Brothers and featuring PVT Snafu stationed this time in Iran as the logistics hub for delivering materiel to the Soviet Union during the waning days of war in Europe. Intrigued by reports of scorching temperatures, which first dismissed as propaganda, Satan, voiced by Mel Blanc, inspects the supply lines whilst our private bears the brunt of the burden in sizzling conditions. Bugs Bunny makes a cameo appearance in the gazetteer that the devil consults.
day twenty-five (13. 289)
Despite counterclaims that there has been no dialogue between Tehran and Washington since the outbreak of the war, Trump insisted on multiple occasions that he has talked with Iranian leadership—no, not the Supreme Leader but someone very high up—and they are making progress towards a deal. 
Pakistani (engaged in its own battle with Afghanistan) and Egyptian diplomats have acting as intermediaries, and whilst attacks continue by the US on Iranian military targets, Trump has relented on his original threat to destroy energy infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz was not reopened within forty-eight hours, extending the deadline for five days, Iran calling him out for spreading fake news to manipulate oil and financial markets. Israel has launched widespread bombardment of Iran and southern Lebanon, announcing plans to occupy the security zone up to the Litani river. Slovenia begins fuel rationing as Vietnam slashes domestic flights and New Zealand introduces a stipend to make petrol more affordable.
synchronoptica
one year ago: pioneering moments in rocketry (with synchronopticรฆ), Trump sends a delegation to Greenland plus assorted links to revisit
twelve years ago: gustatory hallucinations
thirteen years ago: the pineal gland plus the Dutch East India Company
fourteen years ago: patio plants
fifteen years ago: Japan rebuilds plus narcissism and social media
sixteen years ago: social safety nets for the US plus zoo babies
seventeen years ago: moving house and home
Monday, 23 March 2026
ancient aliens (13. 288)
Half buried in the storied vineyards of Nemea, near the mythic and archaeological sites of the Peloponnesian peninsula, architecture studio 314 has installed a winery that evokes an imaginative narrative that reaches back even further in prehistory with its saucer-like construction that suggests the crash site of a UFO, the extraterrestrial material comprising the hull unweathered by the passing eons but incorporated into the arcadian landscape as a unique visitors’ centre to sample reds made from the area’s renowned Agiorgitiko grape. More images from designboom at the link above.
on-line relationship (13.287)
Via Nag on the Lake and MetaFilter, we are turned to analysis and reflection that no one has heretofore managed to articulate well, in my opinion, muddled with concerns of privacy, the Internet of Things, the pivot away from physical media, tiered subscription models, algorithimic recommendations and baking AI into everything from software engineer Terry Godier about the gradual awakening of our gadgets, accessories and appliances over the past two decades. 
I feel like we first started experiencing this with electronic toys which instead of running on imagination created a technical debt between the cared for and the caretaker that required attention at regular cycles otherwise it would wither away, then it coffee pods, requiring a regular and recurring replenishment and not just dosing of one’s choosing and then vehicles that gave one service reminders, which ignoring could void one’s warranty—and maybe these happened all at once—that was in part by design and inadvertently scaled up into architectural layers underpinned by a thousand interdependent systems vying for attention and maintenance. Screen-time becomes a “you problem” and moral failure, scolded by our objects and made to feel as sense of shame for over-engagement—not to worry there’s an app for that with its own host of knock-on perils—when in actuality a significant portion of that time is spent in maintenance of the platform, updates and de-conflicting, swatting away nuisances rather than the preening of self-curation. The distinction between smart and dumb have taken on whole new meanings in terms of uncompensated labour keeping the whole system configured. More at the links above and advice to help one curate more quiet.
day twenty-four (13. 286)
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent defended Trump’s erratic statements on the war with Iran, arguing that “winding down” and escalation were not mutually exclusive stances, whilst Iranian leaders maintain that terror and threats, like the looming deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, only served to strengthen solidarity and resolve. Houthi rebels in Yemen join the fight. Pope Leo calls the death and suffering and environmental damage caused by the conflict in the Middle East a “scandal for the whole human family” as the civilian toll continues to rise. The International Energy Agency calls for the release of more stockpiles as the present crisis dwarfs the oil supply shocks of 1973 and 1979 combined.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticรฆ) plus author Ray Nayler
twelve years ago: a halibut recipe, antique Japanese travel posters plus the NATO intervention in Kosovo
thirteen years ago: Easter greetings plus a census of the secret internet
fourteen years ago: inside out socks look like a sea slug plus the debate over continuing financial assistance for former East Germany
fifteen years ago: rutherfords and risk assessments plus intervention in Libya
sixteen years ago: water throughout the solar system
Sunday, 22 March 2026
table manners (13. 285)
Though admittedly sometimes we practise with the wooden, break-apart pair included with store-bought sushi that includes a brief guide, like those napkins that one used to find in Greek and Italian restaurants that included a vocabulary lesson for native pleasantries to exchange with the waitstaff (one doesn’t find them so often any more), we knew we were doing it wrong and would never assay such behaviour during an authentic meal unless by limited utensils and were not prepared this extensive list, courtesy of MetaFilter, of breaches of etiquette that one can commit with chopsticks (็ฎธ, ใฏใ in Kana and pronounced as hashi). 
Dating back to antiquity with their first archeological evidence as cooking implements, the use of chopsticks spread with Confucian philosophy as civilised and refined with the modern aphorism that whereas knives are for the slaughterhouse and battle, chopsticks are for scholars—so called grand chopsticks (ๆ็็ฎธ, ryลribashi) used for preparation rather than eating are longer and also measure temperature as a property of bamboo by their sounds or silence during frying. Whilst not intended as prescriptive or shame-inducing but rather as cultivating eating as an art and act of reverence, there are orders of precedence, using the serving implements, not double-dipping and many others, including the pictured transgression called ogamibashi (ๆใฟ็ฎธ), it being considered rude to hold one’s chopsticks during the expression of thanks (itadakimasu, ใใใ ใใพใ) for what one is about to receive, the equivalent (though more nuanced as a recognition of humility rather than hierarchy and that one’s needs have a larger meaning) of having one’s knife and fork at the ready during grace.
