musique d’ameublement (12. 288)

Having previously learned about the introduction of music on demand, an early streaming service for subscribers and the accidental advent of hold music (muzak being a proprietary eponym), the former emerging at a time when exposure to song was a rarer treat and required some effort and received as a performance, whereas the latter shows how we are over-saturated at times, we quite enjoyed this segment on the “furniture music” of composer Erik Satie to complete the timeline with the immersive experience of incidental or mood music—or a pleasant background to ignore. Commiserating with an artist friend over the cacophonic playlist that typically filled restaurants, far from enhancing the dining ambiance rather magnified the general din and clang of cutlery, prompting Satie to design music to blend into the environment. Though under appreciated at the time, his tailored compositions eventually gave rise to the unintrusive and unengaging musak above and ambient, meditative songs from Brian Eno and John Cage. Much more from Open Culture at the link above.

time table (12. 287)

An upcoming conclusion of events, akin to Germany’s own Schicksalstag (Day of Fate) but augmented by the cycle of politics and government housekeeping which by rights ought to be pretty routine and unexciting (see also here and here) seems rather ominous or the United States. Not only is it the Ides of March when the backstop continuing resolution funding the government expires at midnight with congressional Democrats poised to withhold their support for any budget or increased debt-ceiling necessary for Trump’s tax cuts in order to blunt the pace of the unlawful dismantling of the administrative state, alienating allies and threatening the global order that has existed since the end of World War II all carried out by royal prerogative and against the will of the legislature, coincidentally it also marks the fifty-third day of the Trump presidency, which is precisely how long it took Hitler use the Weimar constitution to subvert democratic institutions after his appointment as chancellor, destroying the republic from within using its own laws and norms. The date also marks the fifth anniversary since America went into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suspect this upcoming Saturday might be a little wild.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a watchtower in the woods (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

eight years ago: more links to enjoy plus an underwater tunnel for ship traffic in Norway

nine years ago: Douglas babies, the right to be sheltered from dissent, repurposing abandoned churches plus shorthand as punctuation

ten years ago: Latin Christendom, unuselessness plus even more links 

eleven years ago: curtailing freedoms in Türkiye plus artist Carl Grossberg

liber novus (12. 286)

The manuscript named after its original leather binding, the folio penned by psychiatrist Carl Jung between 1914 and 1930 documents a series of personal observations and self-experimentation following the dissolution of his partnership with his interlocutor Sigmund Freud moreover reflects a psychotic break with reality and the journey of re-establishing an albeit tenuous connection with his soul and psyche. Although considered Jung’s main contribution, expounding such ideas as dream-interpretation, visions, the collective unconscious, common fate and the notions of introversion and extroversion, the work was meant never to be published in the traditional since and locked away in a vault until 2009. And whilst not intended for public consumption and still not available in a comprehensive volume freely accessible, Open Culture presents a variety of sources to learn more about the Red Book, including a relaxing, hour-long paging through the massive personal account with a definitive autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), a certain frisson and auditory-tactile synaesthesia which we’re sure that the author would have appreciated.

anaññātaññassāmītindriya (12. 285)

Via New Shelton wet/dry, we found this critique from the political and literary forum the Boston Review to be quite resonant as we here at PfRC essentially at our core blog when we learn a new word for a phenomenon or behaviour—way to name something that we didn’t know had a name or could draw a distinction that we weren’t aware of beforehand—or make connections, especially etymologically—be it on the topic of language, history, culture or current events. Pedantry is our mainstay. We’ve devoted a lot of posts to the untranslatable and the hyperspecific ways that language can impart feelings and states of being—see previously here, here and here—but we appreciated the counterpoint presented in the subject book review: the telling comes at the expense of showing, communicating through narrative or poetry rather than a borrowed short-hand explored through a treasury of terms from classical Indian literature. The title refers to the Pali concept for the mental faculty of coming to know, which is undoubtably a premium word but emotion and incident do not map neatly onto a linguistic framework and if not creating new experiences with words, one can bereft with neologisms that destroy them.

sticktok (12. 284)

A cross-platform movement that’s particularly wholesome and encourages taking a walk in the woods really for its own sake and not needing add needless gamification and augmented reality called Stick Nation features participants from all over the globe, sharing remarkable sticks (see previously) they come across—generally showcasing where it was found, its provenance a bit of lore. The community accept both organic finds and ones with light modifications to enhance their inner excellence.

synchronoptica

one year ago: water worlds (with synchronoptica) plus squabbles among AI thought leaders

seven years ago: the fourteenth amendment of the US constitution

eight years ago: US Republicans go after Obama Care, the CIA spies on Germany, germ-repelling materials plus reversing the genders of the US presidential candidates

nine years ago: a conspiracy theory album cover, the actor who played the Alien plus the philosophical implications of faster than light travel

ten years ago: assorted links to revisit

10x10 (12. 283)

subwoof: opening of Star Trek: The Next Generation but with the theme coming from the ship  

sudoku: unsolvable sliding fourteen-fifteen wooden puzzles 

frame-by-frame: experimenting with 3D printing to achieve a stop-motion animation effect  

anglish: English without the influence of Romance languages  

dead letter office: Denmark’s postal service to end delivery of letters, citing a ninety percent decline in volume  

oddly compelling: underground comics and Kitchen Sink Press 

rebel with a clause: the self-styled den mother of grammarians sets up a table for language advice  

edelweißpiraten: a look at the loosely organised youth group that opposed Nazi Germany—via Strange Company 

🏃‍➡️: revisiting an appreciation of how Flash influenced gaming history—via Boing Boing  

cue ro laren drop: a library of audio sweeps, intros, outros and transitions for podcasters—via Web Curios

life’s good (12. 282)

The abstract corporate logo of the South Korea multinational conglomerate LG (formerly known as Lucky-Goldstar) we learn was inspired (see also) by an ancient roof-end tile with a human face and nicknamed for it’s era (roughly spanning the first millennium) as the Silla Smile (신라의 미소). Iconic and considered a national treasure, the artefact was first discovered in an antique shop in 1934. Much more from Amusing Planet at the link up top.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a music video from GMUNK (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus Sol Invictus

seven years ago: moving day 

eight years ago: invasive pat-downs, a tree with its own postal code plus a self-driving concept car

nine years ago: metro lines mapped as Super Mario levels 

ten years ago: cultural norms, ISIL’s destruction of heritage sites plus overzealous zoning

kayfabe (12. 281)

Recently confirmed by the US senate as Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon (previously), professional wrestling promoter, is expected to receive orders to dismantle the department via executive order. Drafts of the directive attempts to justify its closure, citing that the institution since its establishment in 1979—in itself quite remarkable—has cost over a trillion dollars and netted only nominal improvement in literacy and numeracy and being overtaken by “radicals, zealots and Marxists,” and while federal funds only account for ten percent of the funding for public schools—with most institutions supported by local and state tax though department remittances targeted to aid the most disadvantaged communities and students with disabilities and help level the playing field. The cabinet-level department established by congress, split from the Department of Health and Human Services, under Carter oversees policy on financial aid, educational reform and school accreditation, including diploma mills like Trump University. The title refers to the suspension of disbelief employed in the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) that pugilists maintain in in staged events to maintain rivalries and relationships for the audience and to stay in character. Delays in publishing the order coincided with a pause on levying some tariffs of Mexico after stock market turmoil over the uncertainty.

7x7 (12. 280)

yarn-bomb: a collection of museums and monuments around the world for knitting and craft enthusiasts   

defying democracy: Randy Rainbow breaks into the ballad from Wicked during an interview   

the living? the miraculous task of it: Joseph Fasano’s short poetic response to a student who used AI to write a paper 

eight million dollars to promote lgbtqi+ in the african nation of lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of: all you need to know about the southern African enclave (the only one outside of Italy) landlocked by South Africa   

fission chips: a survey of Mid-Century Modernism   

spinsrÿche: a mashup of “Jet City Woman” and prog metal   

mullet talley: cross-referencing hair-styles with football club fans in Australia—from the Annals of Improbable Research (previously)—via Pasa Bon!

synchronoptica

one year ago: the mental radio interceptions of Grant Wallace (with synchronoptica) plus more on endonyms and exonyms

seven years ago: Teen Look magazine plus a demonic backlog of unfinished business

eight years ago:  presidential pets, animator Tom Oreb, separating migrant families plus NASA’s style guide

ten years ago: assorted links to enjoy 

eleven years ago: neglected bestiaries

the man in black (12. 279)

Courtesy of our faithful chronicler, we learn that on this day in 1953, whilst stationed in West Germany Air Force staff sergeant Johnny Cash in Landsberg am Lech (which also hosted the detention facility where Hitler was incarcerated following the abortive Beer-Hall Putsch in 1921 and on the 1933 anniversary of the National Socialist party’s ascendancy in the Reichstag) was likely the among the first to learn about the death of revolutionary leader Joseph Stalin outside of the Soviet inner political circle. The General Secretary of the Communist Party had suffered a stroke a few days earlier and succumbed whilst recuperating in his dacha after extensive medical intervention (probably of a brain haemorrhage) and not announced to the public immediately and possibly disclosed due to this interception. Monitoring coded radio communiques, Cash broke the news through his chain of command to Eisenhower after the message was deciphered. Aside from this important intercept that penetrated the highest echelons of the regime, the balance of Cash’s three year tour was isolating and uneventful, leading to a formation of a band called the Landsberg Barbarians (a play on Bavarians) that played during off duty hours in local venues and saw the inspiration and development of such signature songs as “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Hey Porter.”

homebrew computer club (12. 278)

Meeting for the first time in the garage of founder and organiser Gordon French in Menlo Park California on this day in 1975, this informal association of electronic and programming enthusiasts was chartered as a forum for hobbyists to exchange ideas and create DIY personal computing devices to make the emerging technologies more accessible to everyone. Present for this inaugural gathering, Steve Wozniak (previously here and here) credited the demonstration and reverse-engineering of an Altair 8800 microcomputer as inspiration for designing the Apple I. Running regular meetings through 1986, Steve Jobs, John Draper (former phone phreak), Paul Terrell (proprietor of Byte Shop, the first hardware retail outlet), Jerry Lawson (creator of the first cartridge-based video game system, the Fairchild Channel F) and Liza Loop (who saw the potential to supplement classroom and distance learning and opened the first public-access computer labs) were also members.

from the it’s-the-only-real-story dept (12. 277)

Via Kottke, whose also turned coverage almost exclusively to stories about the Putsch unfolding in the United States, we are directed to Techdirt’s founder and senior editor Mike Masnick’s very resonant piece on why the technology site has pivoted its focus towards reporting on how rights and liberties are in peril and that it’s now a democracy blog (whether we like it or not), reemphasising that the venerable platform had always reported on not just technologic trends but moreover the intersectionality of innovation and policy—privacy, patents, intellectual property—and now that those institutions that fostered creativity and development are under threat. If they disappear, and those doing the dismantling are not offering something better to replace them in terms of education, access, autonomy or transparency, so does all of the other fun stuff that we internet caretakers curate, in tech and culture and science.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Odyssey in the Baltics (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth the revisit

seven years ago: bizarre Philip K Dick paperback cover art,  Picasso’s doppelganger plus more non-existent words

eight years ago: The Man in the High Castle,  Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel, AI travel agents plus Trump as the Manchurian Candidate

ten years ago: America and moral panics, more links to enjoy, serving wine to cattle plus capturing the panoramic sweep of sacred architecture

eleven years ago: transdimensional carpentry plus more developments in fusion energy

🟨▲⚪️ (12. 276)

Having been exposed to the avant-garde artistic performance directed by Oskar Schlemmer beforehand, we enjoyed this omnibus posting on the touring troupe put together for the Triadic Ballet to help spread the ethos of the Bauhaus movement from 1921 to 1929 through its various revivals and re-interpretations of choreographed geometry, privileging the form and function of dance to the level of appreciation for a well-conceived chair or building. Building off of multiples of three, the concept is to introduce and reinforce he unity of design across disciplines, as something transcendent despite and by dint of mass-production, the transformative power of art on industry. Much more at Colossal at the link above, including original costume designs and contemporary productions.

pro tempore (12. 275)

Inaugurated on this day in 1853 (see below—public ceremonies were held on 4 March with a few exceptions when the date fell on a Sunday from 1793 until 1933), William Rufus DeVane King became the thirteenth vice president of the United States—serving until his death about a month later. Previously a representative from North Carolina (under the constitutional age requirement of twenty-five but attaining that age by the time congress convened and then sworn in), senator of Alabama and ambassador to France and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, King assisted in the drafting of the Comprise of 1850 and generally held moderate positions (insofar as possible for such things) on slavery and westward expansion, opposing secession while resisting efforts to abolish enslavement in the congressionally administered District of Columbia. Suffering from a bout of tuberculosis, which would summarily be his demise, King was in residence at a sanitarium in Matanzas Cuba at the time of transition and by dint of a special act of Congress was administered his oath there by a consular officer. King and subsequent successor to the presidency, James Buchanan, were able to survive the political scandal of their long-term homosocial and homosexual relationship, having lived together for thirteen years, despite being mocked publicly as Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy respectively by the Jacksonian camp. Shortly after the ceremony, King made his way back to Washington, expiring two days after his arrival, never having discharged any act in his capacity with the office remaining vacant until thr inauguration of Buchanan in 187, with John C Breckinridge, often summoned to the White House to speak with Harriet Lane, Buchanan’s niece and acting First Lady—one of eleven such designees but never a divorcee to service a bachelor or widower, an accomplished hostess, for private office with the president.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a televised version of the Star Wars saga with product placement (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: Berlusconi returns 

eight years ago: pan to the right, Kellyanne Conway plus Türkiye takes a cue from MAGA

nine years ago: a trafficking board game plus a plant-identifying app

ten years ago: numeracy from The Simpsons, assorted links worth revisiting, executive functions plus the legacy of Bauhaus

fetch happens (12. 274)

Already taking certain cues from the dog when it comes to a vigorous shake of the head and big stretches as a reminder, from the New Shelton wet/dry comes another behaviour that maybe it’s wise to incorporate in that chewing wood may boost memory and brain antioxidants. Previous studies suggest that mastication has a positive influence on blood flow and brain function but new research points to how chewing wood—like a popsicle stick—as opposed to gnawing on piece of gum might stimulate production of glutathione, an important restorative that helps the brain repair oxidative stress, neutralising reactive chemicals. More longitudinal studies are needed to see if the correlation nets improved cognition and overall help.

ideas lying around (12. 273)

Cory Doctorow couches the current pandemonium that America has inherited in the succession of dormant crises that neoliberal economics professor turned advisor to Reagan and Thatcher Milton Friedman and his acolytes (previously), recognising that external pressures and anxiety can quickly spiral out of control “ideas can move from the periphery to the centre in an eyeblink,” and in his role was responsible keep those regressive notions in his quiver and ready to deploy at a moment’s notice when the public was most vulnerable and susceptible to turning.  As with the illiberalism that rose from the pandemic and second-wave inflation that followed, the US is emboldened to be disruptive but in ways that that are shortsighted, not sustainable and likely to backfire, repatriating off-shored industry is a process as gradual and fraught as any economic pressures that saw the loss of manufacturing capacity in the first place and won’t be fixed by tariffs, as bad as reversing posture on the environment are, clean, renewable energy is at a crucial juncture and looking less and less like that oil could ever recapture its primacy, dismantling the administrative state and defaming bureaucracy and rubbishing allies and a world order its helped maintain for decades does not put American interests first but rather risks its further descent into a pariah nation, a kleptocracy and failed petrostate with nuclear weapons. These uncertain times can also engender mainstreaming the fringe and reframing it something that people want desperately or reject categorically, but hopefully the cranks and charlatans have lost their lustre and those under their influence radicalised.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica), the inauguration of Andrew Jackson, Penrose tiles plus die variants

seven years ago: a quilted autograph collection plus modern day hobo symbols

eight years ago: Girls’ Day customs and doll displays, more links to enjoy plus US vice-president’s mixing of personal and official emails

nine years ago: sanctions imposed against North Korea, portable Macs for astronauts plus a robotic dog

ten years ago: even more links plus maps that never happened

blue ghost i (12. 272)

Launched in mid-January and touching down now in the Mare Crisium (the Sea of Crises, adjacent to the Sea of Tranquility, the basin of a huge impact crater visible from Earth to the naked eye flooded with ancient lava, originally named after the Caspian Sea for its apparent geological correspondence), Firefly Aerospace, sponsored in part by NASA and SpaceX, has achieved only the second successful landing by a commercial enterprise on lunar surface. Carrying a payload of experiments and demonstration projects. The payload of instruments include devices to gauge how the satellite’s regolith (dust) could affect future missions and measure how the Earth’s magnetosphere interacts with the Moon as ways to migrate exposure to solar radiation.

speldosa (12. 271)

Via Marco McClean’s Memo of the Air, we quite enjoyed seeing this impressive performance from Swedish folktronica band Wintergatan (the Milky Way, from the term for the galaxy, “winter street”) and the resident multi-instrumentalist and tinkerer Martin Molin’s documented construction of a music box that used cascading steel marbles to play, modulated by a hand-crank, the score programmed on LEGO Technic beams. Nearly a decade later, the group has returned to the idea, with a challenge to build a bigger version (powered by eighty-thousand marbles) robust enough for touring, turning to the Renaissance and contraptions of Da Vinci and Huygens for inspiration. More from New Atlas at the link above.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: a 1974 international crisis in West Berlin (with synchronoptica) plus the language of Dune

seven years ago: the science of toast, assorted links to revisit, an adventuresome archaeologist plus an Oscar preview

eight years ago: the women of NASA in LEGO form, a lunar mission, US cracks down on immigration plus more on space-elevators

nine years ago: perfect for Roquefort cheese, prohibition in Canada plus a luxurious time-capsule in Palm Springs

ten years ago: recruiting for the Second Crusade, more links to enjoy, misinformation plus that dress

 

mothman and the man in the moon (12. 270)

Having come across his astronomical illustrations beforehand, we appreciated this monograph on artist and amateur astronomer and entomologist Étienne Léopold Trouvelot of French extraction who fled to Massachusetts because of his republican leanings after the coup d’état by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte in 1851. Problems with raising silk-producing moths (previously) in his adopted home in North America revised his long time interest in studying insects, and unsuccessful in breeding domestic species, had shipment of spongy moth (Lymantria dispar, also known as the gypsy moth) egg masses sent over from Europe. The larvae Trouvelot was experimenting with unfortunately escaped into the wild, where this voracious, invasive species has been damaging woodland habitats ever since. The incident, realising the gravity of his actions, made Trouvelot return to sketching pictures of the heavens, eventually attracting the attention of the director of the Harvard College Observatory due to his prodigious and detailed output, ultimately leading to the publication of his pastel studies of the Sun, Moon and planets the opportunity to turn his hobby into a profession, contributing to a number of scientific papers.

eo 10924 (12. 269)

Established on this day by executive order from John F Kennedy and authorised by the US congress later in September, the Peace Corps is an independent agency of the federal government that trains volunteers and deploys them to local communities around the world to assist developing countries in health and environmental programmes, education, empowering women and the marginalised and making resilient polities that enshrine American values of democracy, free markets and entrepre-neurship, respecting local customs and norms by embedding participants with a command of the prevailing language and living under the same general conditions as their outreach group. Pitched as missionaries of democracy to provide technical advice and assistance, the Corps dispatched some nine hundred volunteers to fifty-two partner countries in its first year, Kennedy committed to its formation in the final days of his presidential campaign—realising the potential to genuinely help people in post-colonial Asia and Africa and counter stereotypes of US imperialism and hegemony—against his opponent Nixon who called the proposal a magnet for draft dodgers and a “cult of escapism.”

covenant of the goddess (12. 268)

The cross-traditional Wiccan organisation was founded on this day in 1975 by forty elder witches from fifteen different covens in Oakland, California in order to secure for practitioners and adherents the same rights and legal protections extended to other religious communities. Affiliate congregations, numbering presently over one hundred, focus on education, philanthropy, theology and ritual worship of the Goddess and the Old Gods, operating largely by consensus and with autonomy for separate chapters. In 2007, the group successfully lobbied the US Department of Veterans Affairs to recognise the pentacle as one of its suitable headstone emblems in national cemeteries, though this is probably not the case any longer with the establishment of the White House Faith Office and task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias. High priest and priestesses solemnise lifelong relationships among members in “handfasting” ceremonies, which transcending traditional marriages can include numbers greater than two.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an undiscovered marine ecosystem off the coast of Chile (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth the revisit plus Operation Crossroads

seven years ago: an Italian-designer cargo-droid plus a Brutalist housing estate outside of Amsterdam 

eight years ago: more links to enjoy, an extensive logo archive, legalising WiFi squatting, Obama for the president of France plus historic events on this day

nine years ago: the origin and development of the shopping buggy, the predictions of Nostradamus plus a planet populated by robots

ten years ago: the Caliphate and cultural destruction plus the nature of misconceptions

7x7 (12. 267)

dromedary: Ze Frank’s True Facts (previously) about the camel 

client state: secretary of defence Hegseth orders Cyber Command to halt Russian contingency planning  

baud: a pair of AIs code-switch once they realise that the humans aren’t part of the conversation  

rosmålning: the decorative doll houses of Amy Balfour—via Messy Nessy Chic 

pulmonic ingressive affirmative: the Gaelic Gasp or how the Irish inhale their yeses  

hydro integrator: Vladimir Lukyanov’s unique water computer designed in the 1920s to improve the durability of reinforced concrete 

musk or us: lessons from the ostracising of apartheid South Africa is a resonant learning moment lesson in how boycotts can overcome evil  

capri candela was some ginchy chick, daddy-o: Wilbur’s Place from Peter Gunn—see also

gambling with world war iii (12. 266)

Trump and friends met with his Ukrainian counterpart Zelenskyy in the White House for a contentious exchange played out live with JD Vance accusing Ukraine of a lack of gratitude for US help, with Trump admonishing that he should be thankful, ultimately saying that he “disrespected he United States of America in its cherished Oval Office,” cancelling a planned joint press conference and suggesting that there was no deal until Ukraine was ready for constructive conversation. For his part, demanding extra security protections for entering into this contract, again over crucial mineral resources which were not forthcoming, Zelenskyy repeated warnings that further alignment with Russia was equal to appeasement for Putin and that repercussions would come home to roost and corrected exaggerated claims about US aid in comparison to European contributions and solidarity. The US wants to solidify a negotiated peace with Russia in order to lift sanctions and justify its own expansionist agenda.

foley artist (12. 265)

Via Web Curios, we are directed to a creative individual from the Sunday Sites social and coding club who spent an afternoon recording various audio samples, footfalls, creaking hinges, thumps, ticking and general din and dropped them in, mostly unheard, into a programme with an embedded player for each to produce a wall of sounds, landscaped according to the visitor’s choices. With some tweaking, replaying on a loop that gets richer and fuller the more one adds, one can create a unique sculpture from these isolated fragments in concert.

synchronoptica

one year ago: predictions for 2024 (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: a robotic crew member aboard the ISS plus Three Thousand Years of Art

eight years ago: a monumental civil engineering plan for Amsterdam plus outtakes from DJ Moby

nine years ago: more probable time travellers plus eradicating all mosquitos  

ten years ago: a table-top photo studio, knitted fashions plus a disgraced anchorman

ultra vires (12. 264)

US district judge William Alsup in San Francisco issued a decision that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must rescind directives sent to some departments and agencies ordering them to fire employees serving under their probationary periods—that it was overreach on their part, illegal and “in no universe” can OPM direct other bureaus to hire or fire. Although the defence maintains that the memoranda did not constitute a direct order, the judge citing substantial evidence to the contrary from unions, media and personal accounts sided, after another case had been dismissed for want of standing, and petitioning for legal remedy and relief, believing those dismissed are likely to win on the merits of their case. The initial ruling, pending a later evidentiary hearing, is limited in scope, however, and only pertaining a few agencies, the Bureau of Land Management (park rangers), the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and subsequent to this decision, parts of government that layoff employees, not included among the defendants, are doing so of their own volition and not entangled by legal proceedings.

11x11 (12. 263)

broadband equity, access and deployment: Trump administration thinks the BEAD programme of the Infrastructures Investment and Jobs Act is too woke   

fermata: a thousand artists release a ‘silent’ album to protest changes to UK intellectual property rights to attract AI companies interesting in training their models on copyrighted material—via the New Shelton wet/dry—also more music without sounds 

late stage capitalism: Washington Post owner Bezos will only allow editorials that defend “free markets” and “personal liberties”—see also   

annual reformulation: important meeting of the US Centres for Disease Control to discuss strains for next season’s influenza vaccine cancelled, confirming fears that the new health secretary will pivot away from proven preventative medicine 

rif me daddy: what Trump’s AI enhanced shitpostings reveal about the administration and plans for the future of Palestine 

absalom, absalom: William Faulkner’s record-setting run-on sentence 

torus and tokamak: a German fusion startup is lauded for its plans, peer-reviewed, to launch a functioning power plant   

only the markets can save us: America’s total economic boycott planned for the last day in February 

touch grass: an app that blocks screentime and doomscrolling until one has proven one’s gone outside—via Waxy  

snoopers’ charter: Apple’s capitulation to the UK’s Investigative Powers Act is Chekov’s Gun for privacy worldwide   

by the people and for the people: dossiers of the people working for the Department of Government Efficiency

synchronoptica

one year ago: ceramicist Yoonmi Nam (with synchronoptica) plus the age of ludicrous inventions 

seven years ago: A Million Random Digits plus assorted links to revisit

eight years ago: more misattributed quotes 

nine years ago: Sàmi tone poems

ten years ago: theodicy, get anything delivered, more links to enjoy plus RIP Leonard Nimoy

able was i (12. 262)

Courtesy of our faithful chronicler, we learn that the exiled Napoleon Bonaparte eluded his guards and escaped aboard a Sylphe-class brig of the French navy called the Inconstant, making his way back to the mainland on this day in 1815, having under the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau been exiled to Elba less than a year before, conveyed there on the HMS Undaunted. Knowing the unpopularity of the King Louis XVIII, realising his family would not be joining him, not receiving the stipend promised and hearing rumours he was to be sent to a more remote location in the Atlantic, Napoleon plotted his return, amassing an army of followers. The banished emperor was not exactly a captive during his time on the Mediterranean island, with it designated as condition of his abdication as la principauté de l’île d’Elbe to be an independent principality “possessed by Bonaparte in complete sovereignty and as personal property”—until his death, at which point it would pass back to the Kingdom of Tuscany. Although eager to leave his villa in Portoferrario, aside from assembling an small army of loyalists, Napoleon during his short time there reformed the island’s legal and educational system, ordered the construction of roads, overhauled the nascent iron mining operations and improved agriculture.

88x31 (12. 261)

We had come across this collection of micro-bar banner advertisements from the 1990s and early 2000s a few years ago, and so were pleased—via Quantum of Sollazo—to discover the curation of button ads was a ongoing project of one anonymous individual and a reminder of the aesthetic that resonates somehow, certainly seeming less intrusive, distracting, badly juxtaposed and a bit more captivating than the commercial ecosystem we are served nowadays. There are two theories regarding the format, unobtrusive yet large enough to catch the eye—the first being that GeoCities, the then largest provider of personal hosting required users to have a link back somewhere on the page to the host or that Netscape sought a way to scale assets, informed by credit card logos, for publishers and promoters easily adjusted to fill blank space—either way many users started making buttons of their own to create a directory. Moreover, these banners, in deference to their chosen native platforms and browsers were sometimes labeled “best viewed in…” with recommended plugins to enhance the website’s experience, gradually displaced by pop-ups, badges and social media icons for sharing or subscribing.

synchronoptica

one year ago: 1983’s Thriller (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus the problem with loving the unborn

seven years ago: the art of craft, combatting food waste plus the spatial frequency effect

eight years ago: sign language lessons, civil forfeiture, passports of defunct countries plus flag emoji

nine years ago: the educational system of the Caliphate plus a spy-proof underseas cable from Brazil to Europe

ten years ago: more links to enjoy, DeepMind plus some otherworldly plants

done a lot of foolish things, that i really didn’t mean (12. 260)

Honouring his musical hero on this day in 2009, US president Barak Obama invited Stevie Wonder to the
White House to bestow a Gershwin prize on the artist, a distinction from the Library of Congress for popular music and lifetime contribution, given in the tradition of the fraternal collaboration that produced Rhapsody in Blue and many other standards from the American Songbook. The first recipient was, with input from public broadcasters PBS and NPR, was Paul Simon with a gala performance in 2007 including Philip Glass, Alison Krauss, Grover and Elmo and Art Garfunkel. The below promise was a campaign song for Obama’s bid for presidency and he doubted whether their relationship would have been sustainable if they had not been mutual fans.

eye opener (12. 259)

Via Clive Thompson’s always excellent Linkfest (lots to explore there), we are directed to a revealing tool created by the photo app-maker Ente that discloses what the Google Vision API (Application Programming Interface) sees when it sees your photos. Intrigued by the idea of seeing myself how the algorithms see me and not having a standard headshot handy, I snapped a quick selfie and uploaded it—not the best picture and obviously it got a few things right but didn’t think I necessarily presented as fatigued or wary—or particularly agnostic (I like to think of myself as a vaguely Jesus-y bon vivant, thank you), and not only did it zero in on my location, it also annoyingly focused on the pile of laundry in the background and decor and makes up a little narrative of insights for targeted advertisements, which are way-off base. I understand that’s how the commercial ecosystem works and people are algorithmically pigeon-holed and typecast all the time—sometimes with consequence, but seeing it in action, all the good and bad bits to be gleaned even from information and artefacts that are not public-facing, is a bit of off-putting fun.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Austria’s national anthem (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus Hitler’s first official postion

seven years ago: a Trump-branded property in Panama, street debater kits plus animator Len Lye

eight years ago: signals to the stars, a cruel captivity called off, our privileged view of the Cosmos, a flatpack pavilion for urban gardening plus a fast food franchise with a view of a Roman road

nine years ago: where are my flying cars, attentive listeners plus a Beaux Arts apartment in Manhattan

ten years ago: a tarot deck inspired by the art of Edward Gorey

marbury v madison (12. 258)

In the aftermath of the fiercely contested US presidential election of 1800 (see previously), a three-way race among incumbent John Adams, Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson, with Jefferson ultimately winning with the electoral college by a very narrow margin. Once realising that they were unseated Adams and the Federalist party attempted to fill as many judicial vacancies as possible with loyalists and avowed “anti-Jeffersonians”—mostly circuit judges, during the last days in office. One of these appointees was a wealthy businessman and lawyer from Maryland, the plaintiff, William Marbury—nominees approved by the senate en masse. The new judges received their commissions and sworn in, however, for a few, it was not accomplished before inauguration day—including for Marbury—Jefferson instructing his secretary of state, James Madison, to withhold those commissions not yet delivered and declare them void. The ensuing lawsuit, elevated to the supreme court, was decided on this day in 1803, ruling that Marbury was legally entitled to his commission and withholding it was a violation of his rights—issuing a writ of mandamus and ordering the matter be remediated, but more over established the principle of judicial review, meaning that the courts have the power to strike down statues and legislation that run counter to the constitution, understood as the national codex and not just a statement of political ideas and aspirations and gives the judicial branch the responsibility to review the acts of the legislative and executive.