dalí atomicus (11. 596)

Via Strange Company, we enjoyed seeing the outtakes and creative process behind the 1948 surreal photograph taken after at least twenty-six attempts by Philippe Halsman and later published in Life magazine (see previously). The collaboration, one of many over decades of working together and complementing one another’s media, was instigated over his four year project of the Leda Atomica, the painting seen in the background, which dealt with ideas of suspension, repulsion and cohesion and reflected the Zeitgeist of the Nuclear Age. There was a countdown to coordinate the composition—on three, assistants threw the cats and buckets of water and on four, Dalí was to jump. After each take until both were satisfied, Halsman entered the darkroom to develop the film while the cats were collected and dried off.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a spy whale

two years ago: an optical illusion plus assorted links to revisit

three years ago: visualising marine traffic, Funky Town (1980), St Elizabeth plus the US Armed Forces Network Europe

four years ago: a US national protest map plus The Mythological Astronomy in Three Parts

five years ago: more punitive tariffs from Trump

swift justice (11. 595)

After a day’s deliberation, the jury in Manhattan found Donald Trump guilty on all thirty-four counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments and ostensibly alter the course of the 2016 election in his favour. As a convicted felon, it is unclear whether the former president will serve a prison term or will be sentenced to probation for a first time, non-violent offence and how this verdict will impact his campaign—the hearing is scheduled for mid-July, just days ahead of the Republican National Convention—he could still run from jail and will still be anointed by the GOP and could most likely, if not incarcerated, still cast a ballot for himself. Registered to vote in Florida, that state has harsh disenfranchisement regulations for convicts, however will likely respect the rules of the jurisdiction where the crime was committed, with New York only taking away suffrage from those who serve prison time. Having previously lost two civil cases with judgments rendered against him, Trump also faces criminal cases in his home state of Florida, Georgia and Washington, DC but due to appeals and various delay tactics, none are likely to go to trial before election day.

aabba (11. 594)

Via Futility Closet, we are reminded of the anatomy of a limerick (with the above rhyme scheme, see previously) with the following meta-versification by John Irwin, poet and professor of the humanities: 

A limerick’s cleverly versed—
The second line rhymes with the first;
The third one is short,
The fourth’s the same sort,
And the last line is often the worst.

This rendition is almost certainly in homage to the anonymous exemplar: 

The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

Heretofore, most often privileged showmanship, they often invoked exotic geographic locations as a way to subvert the rote teaching of the subject in schools, with several variations and violations. British wordplay and maths expert Leigh Mercer, best known for his palindromes, (¡“A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!), also famously a mathematical limerick:  

12 + 144+20 +3 ✖️ √4 / 7 + (5 ✖️ 11) = 9² + 0 

Or, as read: 

A dozen, a gross, and a score
Plus three times the square root of four
Divided by seven
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared and not a bit more.

operation landcrab (11. 593)

Concluding on this day in 1943 with US troops retaking the remote Aleutian island, the Battle of Attu, American and Imperial Japanese soldiers encountering one another in snowy conditions, was engaged nearly a year after the unopposed landing of a battalion of the Northern Army infantry, who wanted to establish forward airbases on this strategic location and create a barrier between the US and Russia, should the Soviets decide to join the fight against Japan. Only one of two sites on American soil invaded during the war and the only land confrontation, authorities were too late with orders to evacuate this most westerly part of the island chain and the forty-eight residents, mostly Aleut natives, who survived the annexation were imprisoned in a camp on Hokkaidō, where nearly half died. The fighting, beginning two weeks prior, was brutal and both sides sustained heavy casualties, with the Japanese forces suddenly attacking the Americans in a last ditch push with a large banzai charge (taken from the battle cry’s invocation of “long life” for his Majesty the Emperor and considered one method of gyokusai—shattered jewel, an honourable suicide) at Massacre Bay with nearly all of the troops killed. After the prisons were liberated, none despite a desire to return home, were repatriated and Attu became host to a series of navigation and ranging stations, eventually decommission in 2010, making the island the largest uninhabited area of the United States.

judicial advocacy (11. 592)

US Supreme Court associate justice Samuel Alito, rebuffing calls from members of the legislation for recusal after two instances of flying provocative flags at his residences that signal his political alignment, responded to leaders of both chambers that his actions (he shifts the decision—see also—to his wife and an unneighbourly spat) to not rise to the threshold of removing himself from highly consequential cases upcoming on the high court’s docket. At a time when public confidence in the impartiality of the justice system in America is at an all time low and bias and agenda are seen to sway decisions, Alito invokes the court’s code of ethics, beholden to no higher authority, asserting it is a personal decision for each justice to choose to recuse themselves from cases or not. Reporting alleges that Alito makes his prejudice clear regarding to January Sixth Insurrection filings by flying an upside down American flag (a distress signal) and raising a revolutionary era Pine Tree, “Appeal to Heaven” flag (a historic banner used in New England with the motto referencing John Locke’s treatises on governance and the right of revolution) but both symbols are associated with Christian nationalism, far right extremism and Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign, ongoing election denialism as well as the assault on the Capitol to interrupt certification of voting results.

synchronoptica

one year ago: headstone rubbings of historic typographers plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: Paperback Writer (1966), Joan of Arc plus the Lincoln Memorial

three years ago: Sounds for the Supermarket, Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, safety protocols, a Sunday drive plus a storied pizza franchise

four years ago: a wave of protests across the US

five years ago: St Seraphim, antique thread cards, freedom gas plus celebrating the life and career of Leon Redbone

deutschland und die deutschen (11. 591)

Delivered in the US Library of Congress on this day in 1945, the lecture by Thomas Mann (auf englisch, appointed a docent of the institution) came a few weeks after the capitulation of the Nazis and in the milieu of the end of World War II in the European Theatre and assayed the German character of inwardness (Innerlichkeit), previously revealed by the Reformation and Romanticism, as a way to understand the complicity of the population in National Socialism. Setting out on this daring and too-soon undertaking, Mann aimed to address the “German problem” and try to unriddle the the vice and virtue of the nation, “which has undeniably given the world so much beauty and greatness and has repeatedly become a burden to it in such a disastrous ways,” portraying the German psyche as a Faustian bargain through figures as Goethe, Bismarck, Luther and Riemenscheider. Concluding with the formula that the victory of cosmopolitanism over tribalism would be the saving grace that the world in general needs. While criticised for over-simplification, universalising and self-promotion, quoting from his own works as something quintessentially German, it was the timing and the those very abbreviations that invited confession and reflection.

9x9 (11. 590)

priority seating: an account jammed packed with patterns for mass-transit upholstery—see previously—via Kottke 

ux: in the age of AI, perhaps it’s time to retire the term “user” 

voter turn-out: historically high temperatures in parts of India may skew election results 

🙂‍↔️: this year’s bracket for most misinterpreted emoji  

described herein as a beverage carrying assembly: a patent for a beer puppet for festivals and sporting events  

the second soul: a thoroughgoing essay by Anton Howes on the history of salt—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest  

instructions to the jury: closing arguments in the Trump trial and deliberation begins  

wasteful by design: digital technology and internet habits are becoming major contributors to the climate catastrophe 

transakcja: an endearing animation on courtship rituals in 1950s rural Poland

yokushitsu kansouki (11. 589)

Via the New Shelton wet/dry, we are are treating to some laundry lessons from Japan (see also) and a potential third way to cross the chasm on either side of the Atlantic when it comes to drying clothes. When have a nice rack in the backyard and try to line dry as much as possible but still have a heavy-duty tumble dryer that we have to resort to quite often, especially when the weather isn’t cooperating—and so were intrigued by the installation known as the “bathroom dryer” (浴室乾燥機, よくしつかんそうき) that blurs the lines between interior design and appliance that blows warm, dry air onto the hanging clothes. Efficient and effective as the outdoors, no ironing needed and kinder to fabrics, more on laundry technology and culture from Bloomberg at the link above.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a classic Tina Turner album (1984) plus hype cycles

two years ago: A Raisin in the Sun plus a visit to the Black Moor

three years ago: anatomical astrology, Noël Coward rap artist, St Bona plus the invention of the trampoline

four years ago: legislation per tweet, astronomer Maria Cunitz plus an AI parliament

five years ago: peak oil, air gaps, a concept car, modern still lifes plus the Mueller investigation

who wears the pants in this family? (11. 588)

On this day in 1923, the US Attorney General Harry M Daugherty nullified the ordinance that made it illegal for women to wear trousers in public—which like suffrage and many other incremental advancements towards equality had been propelled by a societal relenting caused by women in the workforce and politics, out of necessity during the Great War and to organisations such as the Victorian contrarian Rational Dress Society who advocated for disburdening and freedom of movement in tandem with the Lady Cyclist Association, the bicycle of course granting a measure of universal independence never before enjoyed. Ironically, the anniversary of the announcement, not a legal remedy despite the fact that many restrictions remained on the books decades afterwards, falls on the same day in 1431 when Joan of Arc was accused of a relapse of her heretical ways as evidenced by her wearing of male clothing and ultimately justifying her execution.

cain’s jawbone (11. 587)

Writing under the nom-de-plum Torquemada, poet, translator and advocate of cryptic crosswords Edward Powys Mathers’ 1934 premiered his epic murder mystery puzzle book (see also)—the title like his inquisitor pen-name a reference to the biblical story of the first fratricide—which consisted of a hundred pages (out of order) of narrative and to be solved must be rearranged as well as naming the murderers and victims, from a dense account of filled with contemporary references, poetic quotations and other word games. Republished in 2019, offering a cash prize as with the first edition (£25 originally shared among two readers and £1000 for five years ago, incidentally the equivalent of about £15 in 1934), the beguiling and vexing exercise in detective work probably would have remained unsolved had it not coincided with pandemic lockdown and sleuths of all stripes finding themselves with the luxury of time for such commitments. Much more from the Allusionist below.

 

* * * * *

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting, the Group of Seven (1983), John Hubley’s Moonbird plus predicting solar eclipses

two years ago: more links to enjoy plus seemingly anachronistic names

three years ago: even more links to revisit, the Chronicle of Georgia plus a primer in conchology

four years ago: a possible viral force-field, Blessed Margaret Pole, Studio Ghibli plus the original Monolith for 2001

five years ago: a visit to Burg Stolpen

priams schatz (11. 586)

Discovered on this day in 1873, the horde of gold treasure and other artefacts excavated at the site of modern day Hisarlık by Heinrich Schliemann (see previously) and his team. Though in his zeal to associate the treasure with the figure of the Homeric king, the archeologists were off by centuries in the stratification of this Bronze Age dig, subsequent research and scholarship confirm that Schliemann was correct in his quest to find the City of Troy (Τροία also called Ίλιον from the Hittie𒆳𒌷𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 and pronounced probably as Wiluša) and the besieged settlement of the epic Iliad was not just the stuff of legends, contrary to prevailing contemporary opinion. Investigating a wall of the supposed palace, Schliemann immediately dismissed the crew for a lunch-break to prise out the cache himself—with the assistance of his wife, Sophia—later criticised for being adorned with the “Jewels of Helen.” Not given permission by the Ottoman Empire to remove the gold, Schliemann smuggled the find out of Anatolia where it ended up being displayed in a museum in Berlin. The treasure was in turn plundered during the Red Army’s Battle of Berlin—with the Soviet Union denying it had taken such war trophies, until 1994 when the Pushkin Museum in Moscow owed that it had the Trojan gold.

9x9 (11. 585)

super easy, barely an inconvenience: if cats had podcasts  

minor arcana: a metaphysically intelligent™️ tarot reading—via Web Curios  

fleeting moments: a concept camera that only delivers ephemeral poetry based on the subject in the view-finder—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest  

the ghana must go: as ubiquitous as the IKEA bag but more practical, this tartan sack from Japan by way of Hong Kong contains multitudes  

god’s influencer: following a second miracle attributed to his intercession, the first Millennial saint is canonised  

atlas shrugged: AI-apocalypse Jennifer Lopez vehicle from James Cameron garners negative reviews but we found it enjoyable—going in blindly and wondering if it wasn’t part of the Duneiverse and setting up the Butlerian Jihad 

long averages: advances in the understanding of probability fuelling casino gambling—via Damn Interesting  

planchettes and re-enchantment: LLMs are haunted things toc-cat-a in b-major: Noam Oxman personalised musical pet portraits—via Waxy

 synchronoptica

one year ago:  a portrait of a dog, Berlin’s Mouse Bunker, a study of incomplete cubes plus men and women duelling in the Middle Ages

two years ago: a pact between NATO and Russia (1997), a dragon in Essex plus assorted links worth revisiting

three years ago: mojibake, font sizes, the Golden Gate Bridge (1937), relocating geese plus Dune manga

four years ago: more links to enjoy, a rock-climbing inspection, weasel iconography plus Trump 2.0 would be far more fraught

five years ago: getting around in Swiss Saxony

much sad (11. 584)

Already having to deal with the loss of Grumpy Cat in 2019 and encountering a feline with similar markings, it was a bit mournful to mark the passing of the Shiba Inu named Kabosu—albeit at the ripe and respectable old age of eighteen human years and suffering from various rather chronic ailments (such is the toll of an unnaturally long life)—who was recruited into internet celebrity and launched numerous memes as Doge and a crypto currency that has generated real value for some despite its parody origins.

schutzzieles schutzwälder (11. 583)

Traveling a bit further on towards Suhl, we came to a crossroads of many trails through the Thüringer Wald but with an an embarrassment of choices but finite time could only pursue hiking a segment instead of the proper loop that was nearly thirty kilometers to see all the highlights and returning to the campsite, we picked a peak in the Rennsteig and walked to Adlersberg through the protected landscape, sensibly managed since 1937 after exploitation dating from the Middle Ages. 

There we found a restored observation tower from the late seventeen-hundreds that afforded a really commanding view of the region, with summits of the Kreuzberg. Gleichberge and Wasserkuppe in the panorama

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting

two years ago: more links to enjoy

three years ago: your daily demon: Leraje, Johnny Mnemonic, the murder of George Floyd one year on, an educational short, more links to revisit plus a precursor to NFTs

four years ago: Dracula (1897) plus a cursed alignment chart

five years ago: Sweden traffic switches orientation, the EU votes plus a trip to Saxony’s Elbsandsteingebirge

fairytale jungle trail (11. 582)

For another long-weekend getaway, H and I traveled an hour northeast back to the Thüringerwald nature reserve and found a campsite in Breitenbach along the Vesser river valley and southwest entrance to the park, with a lot of paths for wandering in the forest. 

Officially called straightforwardly “Urwaldpfad,” the app that we were using gave it the rather creatively translated name above and had a nice long hike along both banks of the river—originally planning to return via a second trail but it was proving too rough with a series of felled trees that had collapsed on the bank of the stream. 

The trail had advertised some attractions along the way like a Sensenhammer, an early industrial water-powered scythe forge for making tools and machine parts, and a historic mill (see also), but these were only waypoints with markers for installations gone and never rebuilt. 

Still the walk in the ancient woods was very pleasant with a stand of super-high firs and a nice stroll along the river—plus lots of lupines. On the way back, we stopped at a fine guesthouse with character perched on a hill overlooking the forest and village.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit

two years ago: Ciao! Manhattan, Return of the Jedi (1983) plus investigating Partygate

three years ago: HMS Pinafore, synchronisation plus Bosch with emoji

four years ago: Toki Pona, a delightfully translated menu, the Interregnum plus artist Nikolas Knüpfer

five years ago: Towel Day

6x6 (11. 581)

gyermekvasút: the Budapest Children’s Railway, a functioning training project founded in the Communist era—see previously 

funny farm: an Ancient Greek agricultural emulator 

beacon hill: Massachusetts millionaire surtax surpasses revenue targets—via Miss Cellania 

he spends £1 a week on his hair: early reviews of British pop icons—via Strange Company 

god mode: a world simulation where the user has complete dominion—via Web Curios 

east side story: a documentary about musics in Warsaw Pact countries—see previously

internal audit (11. 580)

Our trusty AI wrangler, Janelle Shane (previously) vents her frustration over a shared lament that many artists, marketers and prompters—to the point where close enough is good enough—are experiencing with generated images. Often times tantalised with results that are preternaturally approaching the desired outcome, asking for an edit with a minor detail results, yields instead a completely different picture, ruining the assignment over a small and clearly articulated revision. I suppose AI doesn’t have object permanence despite the fact it clearly remembers, and this limitation is a strong argument for engaging a human artist who can understand one’s notes. More at the links above.

airfoil (11. 579)

Via Super Punch, we get this chance to revisit renowned industrial and commercial designer Lutz “Luigi” Colani with his Polymorph Space Shuttle concept model showcased at the 1984 Expo held in Otaru, Hokkaido (awarded with top honours however during the show for his designs for Canon cameras, including the prototype for the T90). The aerodynamic proposal failed to take off at the time but is perennially revisited by companies in the orbital freight business and included a new stylised logo for the US Space Agency.

i haven’t had this many people in my garage since the vice squad raided fang’s going-out-of-marriage party (11. 578)

We enjoyed this fun 1987 VHS guide from legendary comedian Phyllis Diller (see previously) on how to have a successful yard sale—we’ve been thinking of the same but one generally finds centralised Flohmärkte over here rather than individual sales at homes and to participate takes some planning, organisation and an entire weekend of committent—and really presents some practical advice on decluttering and culling as well as the importance of presentation and merchandising. More tips from Boing Boing at the link above.

* * * * *

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Judgment of Paris (1976) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: Mystery Park in Interlaken plus an earlier version of “don’t say gay” legislation overturned

three years ago: St Joanna, more links to enjoy, a classic film montage plus phonetic courtesy characters

four years ago: the Kola Superdeep Bore Hole, Diamond Dogs (1974), obituaries, more links worth the revisit, a walk in the woods, city fonts plus plutodemocracy

five years ago: even more links, Queen Victoria, a Prime Minister steps down, more bad flags plus a unique house in Oklahoma

aerophone (11. 577)

Officially recognised and granted a patent for his invention on this day in 1829, Armenian extract working in Vienna the accordion (from the German Akkord for concord of sounds) of Cyrill Demian (Կյուրեղ Դեմյան) and sons was only half of modern version with bellows and a single button board but was considered distinct enough for court authorities from the portable klezmers and harmonicas available for vocal accompaniment. Numerous variations followed and there is some debate amongst historians who credit Friedrichroda native Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschman with the innovation but the accordion of Demian’s was clearly based on a common prototype called the Handäoline with a lot of competing models being introduced at the time (see also), and Garfield’s dad Jon, an attested aficionado, states in the comic strip that Demian is his hero, making it cannon.

a compilation of reliable recipes with a casual culinary chat (11. 576)

Originally self-published in 1931 as means of coping with the loss of her husband, the jacket design which captured the popular poster, cut-out style of the day was created by the author’s daughter Marion Rombauer Becker, who helped write subsequent editions. The Art Deco cover features Martha of Bethany, the patron saint of Home Economics, vanquishing the dragon of domestic drudgery—according to the Golden Legend, the Tarasque, a fearsome chimera that tormented the people of Gaul, that Martha tamed with her faith, though once obedient and docile was unfortunately beset by angry villagers with rocks and spears until it died. Rombauer Becker was the director of the Art Department of a school in Ohio and the typeface is inspired by a Cassandre specimen of the contemporaneous excess of the decorative font Bifur. In print continuously since with over twenty-million copies sold, it is considered the quintessential American cookbook, its popularity sustained by Julia Child, and is a snowclone for many topical overviews.

saltando (11. 575)

Via Waxy, we are given a chance to revisit the godfather of anime, Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫, see previously) in his 1984 award-winning short Jumping (ジャンピング). Shot in one continuous cut over four thousand cells—more on the making of the work with whole storyboard mapped out—and animated from the perspective of a small child skipping down a suburban street, jumps become progressively higher, striding across the city and higher and higher, eventually gaining a view on all of humanity, bounding through jungles and a battlefield and harrowing Hell, before bouncing back to the quiet lane where the adventure started. As with Tezuka’s other works, there is a strong and earnest anti-war sentiment grounded by privileged but everyday magic.

* * * * *

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting

two years ago: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

three years ago: a close encounter, toponymy of the British Isles plus John Steinbeck’s werewolf novel

four years ago: The Shining (1980), an anti-compliation of short clips, watermelon snow, the French language assigns a gender to the virus, the etymology of epidemics plus more typographical samplers

five years ago: more links to enjoy, gardening and medical intervention, EU hoodies plus a scandal in the Austrian government

à votre santé (11. 574)

Via Messy Nessy Chic, we are treated to a tasting-tour of a late fourteenth century wine cellar (la cave)—one of the more historic and storied sites in Alsace, beneath the twelfth century Hôpital civil de Strasbourg, today a preeminent teaching-hospital but twain with viniculture as it touches many aspects of French society. Traditionally different varietals were prescribed for specific ailments and over the centuries grateful patients bequeathed the institution with a portion of their harvest, amassed in the cellars and creating a present legacy of over one hundred thousand premium bottles sold annually and a regimen of wine-cures that were only officially discontinued in the mid 1990s. Financing the upkeep of the institution, proceeds are reinvested and now go to new medical equipment but seen today as no longer Hippocratic—the Greek physician a proponent of such treatments—but rather hypocritical to mix inebriation with healthcare, the hospital accomplishes this volume of sales without advertising. More from BBC Travels at the link above.

permalink (11. 573)

Cory Doctorow presents a winsome and circumspect consideration of the recent survey of the internet’s perishable nature and how a figure approaching forty percent of websites, news articles and government websites have no legacy and succumb to linkrot—with reference sites particularly left untethered from their original source material—not withstanding preservation efforts through his personal and persistent practise of keeping a daily journal—an indexed memory of associated thoughts and connections that harkens back to earliest theories of informatics—and making the process public. One’s own record is of course an aid and antidote to the peekaboo when neglect and decay follow creative collaboration and the context, steps and milieu all slip away and a heuristic to gauge the sad truth that institutions and archives are brittle, gearing more towards discovery and derivation rather than rediscovery and reflection. More from Pluralistic at the link up top.

v 16.0β (11. 572)

The Unicode Consortium is proposing the inclusion of seven emoji for the standardised catalogues referenced by operating systems and will be under review through the beginning of July, when expected to be officially adopted. Though uniform and universal (with some exceptions), it will be some time before we can use a leafless tree to convey climate change and drought or the exhausted eyebag expression in general as platforms add their own vernacular in a process that can lag for several months. In addition to these pictograms, scripts from west Africa, India and Nepal are being added as well as new Japanese ideographs plus some four thousand Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and a historic Albanian set of characters and symbols from legacy computing.