11x11 (12. 529)

somewhere beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see: Reuters’ delivers a deadpan juxtaposition of Trump’s attendance at a showing of Les Misérables just after sending in the US marines to quell demonstrations  

💩: defecation syncope and other perils of pooping 

renascidos: a cosplay parenting craze with hyperrealistic dolls has captivated Brazil, prompting some legislation against their appearance in public  

tin roof rusted: a VH-1 Behind the Music style documentary on the importance and influence of The B-52’s 

artek: the upcoming centenary of Crimea’s famed Soviet youth camp that once hosted Samantha Smith—see also  

have you tried clearing your cache: a concept artist with a reputation for the mischievous develops a dating website based on harmonious browsing history  

pomp and circumstance: a preview of Trump’s grand military parade to be held this weekend—previously  

more cow bell: artist Margareta Sarvana performs the Schalger song Itke en lemmen tähden (Nur nicht aus Liebe weinen) on a Swedish variety show in 1973—via Pasa Bon! 

the schwatz awakens: a preview trailer of the Space Balls sequel to premier in 2027, when Mel Brooks turns 101

simple article summaries: Wikipedia suspends an experiment that would display AI generated synopses after editor and contributor opposition  

i’m michael barbaro, see you tomorrow: California governor Gavin Newson interviewed by the New York Times on Trump’s ICE raids

synchronoptica

one year ago: counting crows (with synchronoptica), a Minoan archaeological discovery, emotion-cancelling technology, Trump’s revenge agenda plus assorted links to revisit

seven years ago: internet freedom index, more movies scripted by AI, Reagan tells Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall (1987) plus a meeting of Dear Leaders

eight years ago: memory holes, courtroom sketch artists, waste-water popsicles, mobility and mobile devices plus a surrogate social network

nine years ago: Citigroup tries to copyright the word Thanks, carbon sequestration plus more on the Trump travel ban

ten years ago: Erasmus and free-will, more links to enjoy plus Jung and Freud

the stand in the schoolhouse door speech (12. 528)

Occurring on this day in 1963, as our faithful chronicler reminds, possibly as a staged event to allow the governor whom promised to his constituents upon his inauguration for “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” to save face, George Wallace (previously) blocked the entry of into the University of Alabama’s Tuscaloosa campus for two matriculating students, Vivian Malone and James Hood—the former the first Black graduate and the latter returning years later in a teaching position after being forced out by racists and both given a death-bed apology by the former governor. The state national guard federalised by executive order (EO 11111, see above) compelled Wallace to step aside and allow the new students to complete their registration, providing “assistance for the removal of unlawful obstructions of justice” across the state and allowed students to enrol in previously all-white schools. The Kennedy administration afforded Wallace this publicity stunt over warnings for repeated counter-demonstrations and violence like that that had occurred in Mississippi with desegregation, and while not able to ultimately quell all riots did focus attention on Wallace and his arguments for states’ rights versus civil rights.

flaming mo (12. 527)

The fleet of self-driving murderbots already incendiary enough in both the figurative and literal sense have been making for some spectacular footage of Trump’s made-for-tv crackdown on dissent playing out in Los Angeles. Tear-gas canisters are generally not used on the streets because they can cause traditional petrol-powered automobiles to explode and possibly are far more flammable for a vehicle that stores ninety kilowatt hours of chemical energy in the battery array—the equivalent to some eighty kilograms of TNT that can cause a runaway reaction through the engine at over a thousand degrees centigrade. A battery aflame can require up to forty times the amount of water to extinguish that a regular dumpster fire. Waymo autonomous cars have attracted special attention—though as above not necessarily the work of protestors—as a symbol of rage against the technocracy that is more and more aligned with and facilitating the police state with well established contracts with authorities like ICE and other policing agencies to provide real-time surveillance with casual and passive use. To see these marauders circling the block for a potential client has supposed prompted some to hail a ride to commit arson once they show up, not to destroy dragnet evidence but rather punish the collaborators. Someone, I’m sure will use this as an argument against electric vehicles—and for individual ridership at the expense of mass-transit, then have it—but it’s far more a critique against their extractive nature (subscription services are a revenue-multiplier), deregulation and the spying of course.

smoke-filled room (12. 526)

Coined by journalist Raymond Clapper and the Associated Press reporting on the selection process, leaders of the US Republican party gathered in a room at the Blackstone Hotel, considered one of the finest and most exclusive luxury accommodations of Chicago, host to numerous presidents during the twentieth century, to reach a consensus on whom their nominee would be. This secretive conclave of GOP power-brokers chose a compromise candidate in junior senator from Ohio, Warren G Harding (previously here and here) after several non-conclusive rounds of voting among delegates at the convention being held at the Coliseum across town. The fact that Harding had not been a serious contender prior to this private meeting confirmed in the minds of many that the American political machine was not truly representative and inscrutable, like the concept of the star chamber, and the phrase became shorthand for the murky, hazy inner workings.

synchronoptica

one year ago: constant entertainment (with synchronoptica) plus solving Zeno’s paradoxes

seven years ago: white-washing white supremacy, assorted links worth the revisit plus a memorial to those lost to Hurricane Maria

eight years ago: segregated America 

nine years ago: an ugly colour for cigarette packaging, rethinking heath and hygiene plus the Playboy mansion sold

ten years ago: romancing Sparta plus the immortal cells of Henrietta Lacks

avant la lettre (12. 525)

We thoroughly enjoyed this appreciation of one of the most successful products of all time in the BiC Cristal, introduced in 1950, the ballpoint pen ubiquitous and archetypal surpassing one hundred billion sold in 2006. In development since 1930 when inventor Lázló Bíró (the genericised namesake of the writing instrument “biro” in many European countries) when inspired for the mechanism, a rolling metal nib, by witnessing a group of children playing with marbles in a muddy puddle and observing how the objects left a trail of water in their wake, Bíró experimented with various models and eventually recreated a prototype with a narrow reservoir of viscous ink encased in the body and kept from drying out by the nib and cap. Incremental improvements continued over the every years until the launch of Cristal. The pen was enshrined in the permanent collection in the Museum of Modern Art (see previously), the design virtually unchanged for decades. Much more from Open Culture at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the EU votes (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: recycled illustrations and early modern memes plus the Alexander method for improving poise and posture

eight years ago: hung parliament in the UK  

nine years ago: an advertising homage to the cats of the internet, world food resources, removing Confederate symbols from Washington’s National Cathedral, Star Trek coins from the Canadian Mint, a sci-fi screenplay written by AI plus the gig economy and moonlighting

ten years ago: more links to enjoy 

 

forty-eight hours later (12. 524)

Following his messy and public falling-out with Elon Musk and the consequent stalling of his Big Beautiful Bill in the senate, Trump is manufacturing headlines more aligned with campaign promises with first reimposing a travel ban and stoking fears of mass-deportations, disappearances with US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE, which is a high-speed train in Germany) raids on Los Angeles, eager to have this fight as a pretext for invoking martial law. Mobilising the state’s national guard against protesters against the will of the governor for the first time since 1965 when Lyndon Johnson called up Alabama troops as protective escorts for civil rights activists marching from Selma to Montgomery, countermanding the refusal of arch-segregationist George Wallace—for completely opposite reasons, Trump is obviously yearning for a spectacle—which so far is being denied him by the rallies, most violence coming from ICE agents. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 restricts military service members from being used for civilian law enforcement within the United States but does allow them to protect other federal agents and property and ensure that the execution of their duties is not impeded. Only with the declaration of insurrection, something not authorised by Trump during the January Sixth attack on the Capitol, can troops be used to make arrests. Although George HW Bush sent in the California National Guard under this law in 1992 to quell the uprising following the acquittal of the police officers involved in the brutal beating of Rodney King, it was done with the consent of the state government. For his part, Governor Gavin Newsom, frequent target of Trump, is threatening to withhold remittance of federal taxes, in response to both funding cuts to the state’s university system and to defund the country’s clear decent into dictatorship, to which the administration is levying charges of criminal tax evasion.

qualis artifex pereo (12. 523)

After a failed attempt to the suppress the rebellion of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis when the governor Gauis Julius Vindex over the emperor’s tax policies, trying to enlist the aid of of the governor of Hispania Tarraonensis, Servius Sulpicius Galba backfired with the Iberian province declaring its opposition and joining the uprising, declared a public enemy by the Roman Senate and abandoned by the Praetorian Guard, Nero fled the capital—but not to seek sanctuary in one of the still loyal eastern regions of the Empire as planned after an open mutiny from his military escort, refusing to grant safe passage. Returning to the palace in the evening, Nero awoke at midnight to find his personal bodyguards had abandoned him. Having quoted Virgil’s line from the Aeneid earlier that day in response to his commanders’ disobedience—“Is it so dreadful a thing then to die?,” calling for friend or foe to put him out his suffering but none came forward and then intimated that he would hurl himself in the Tiber. Theatrics failing, Nero once again resolved to leave the city on this day in 68 AD to have a place to reflect in quiet and his confidant Phaon, an imperial freedman, offered up his private villa in the suburbs, with the emperor making his way their with a retinue loyal emancipated servants, including a Greek slave boy called Sporus, whom Nero had castrated and subsequently married the year before whilst touring the region and had taken a liking for a remarkable resemblance to his recently departed wife, Poppaea Sabina who had died either in childbirth or due to a physical assault by Nero, dressing him as befitting an empress. Once at the villa, he ordered his companions to begin digging his grave and he paced back and forth to prepare for his suicide, muttering to himself the title, “What an artist the world is losing.” Unable to steel his nerves, Nero asked his friends to set an example by killing themselves first, but upon hearing approaching horsemen, he knew he had to face the end, forcing his private secretary to do the deed. The arriving senatorial guards tried to save Nero’s life, prescient of the chaos that would follow with the civil wars and Year of the Four Emperors, but were unsuccessful. Nero’s final words were from ibīdem, “Too late! This is fidelity!”

synchronoptica

one year ago: AI refuses to answer who won the 2020 US presidential election (with synchronoptica) plus terminal text effects

seven years ago: Trump leaves the G7 early, accusing partners of unfair trade practises  

eight years ago: former FBI director’s public testimony plus UK calls snap elections to reinforce Brexit mandate

nine years ago: the last of the time-carriers of London plus new chemical elements named

ten years ago: paternoster elevators, divine handiworks plus seeing the pasternoster lifts in operation

shocking advantage (12. 522)

First spotted by Clive Thompson’s Linkfest back a few months ago, we were happy to be reminded of this rather incredible evolutionary adaptation of the tonka bean tree of central Panama that we’ve been intrigued about ever since, which not only appears to have selected traits that allow it (Dipteryx oleifera) to sustain lighting strikes but to actually benefit from them. Not only does its electrical encounters discharge them from their host of parasites—particularly choking vines that would otherwise be an impediment to their thriving (this argiculturally important resource having an internal structure like a well-insulated wire), these lanky individuals that tower above the canopy are a hazard to live next to, thinning out the competition. More about the findings and the research methology at the links above.

silent running (12. 521)

We appreciated the chance to revisit the works of graphic designer Edward Wadsworth, best known as a forerunner of the art movement known as Vorticism which saw a practical—though possibly not as effective as hoped—application in transferring dazzle camouflage designs for the Royal Navy fleet during World War I (see previously)—through the medium of his woodcuts. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s fourth studio album was inspired in concept and cover art by a 1983 gallery showing of Wadsworth’s works. Conscripted as a sub-lieutenant himself, Wadsworth’s monochromatic pieces reflect the same maritime and industrial themes and abstractions to decode and encode. Much more from John Coulthart’s Feuilleton at the link up top.

el pueblo de nuestra señora la reina de los ángeles del río porciúncula (12. 520)

In response to rallies against US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles over the weekend, Trump has federalised the Californian National Guard, deploying two-thousand troops to quell the protests. Over a dozen individuals have been arrested as agitators and insurrectionists for attempting to impede law enforcement activities as ICE agents clash with residents and have apprehended more than one hundred individuals suspected of being undocumented immigrants in sweeps that have so far been limited to isolated areas in the Paramount City, the garment district and the Civic Centre. Defence secretary Hegseth also threatened to mobilise marines if the violence continues. The state’s governor counters (whom Trump referred to as Gavin Newscum for his inability to control RIOTS and LOOTERS) that there is no shortage of law enforcement officials and that Trump only wants a spectacle and an excuse to escalate the situation and urges advocates to remain peaceful and not give the administration what it wants. Preparing for such raids and mass-deportations since Trump’s reelection, the ACLU and other groups championing immigrants have been coordinating efforts for outreach and advocacy as well, with city councilmember Eunisses Hernandez pushing back on the pledge that ICE would focus their efforts on dangerous criminals, coming at the time of graduation season and Pride Month celebrations: “It’s never, ever, ever been the case, because when they come for one of us, they come for all of us—and we have to remember that.”

gitlow v new york (12. 519)

Whilst ultimately narrowly upholding the conviction of Socialist politician and journalist Benjamin Gitlow for the publication of his manifesto that called for the violent overthrow of the American government under New York’s criminal anarchy law, the landmark case decided this day in 1925 by the US supreme court, headed by chief justice William Taft, significantly affirmed that amendment XIV did extend the First Amendment’s provisions (through the due process clause) protecting freedom of speech and the press from to the constituent states and their governments were bound to respect these fundamental liberties.

One of the first major cases involving the Bill of Rights, it defined the scope of the guarantees and defined the standard to which a state’s or the federal government would be held should it try to criminalise or suppress publication or distribution. While most of the justices agreed that calling for an unlawful coup exceeded the limits of free speech, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr dissented, saying that governments should only be permitted to do so under the clear and present danger test and that indefinite advocacy is not the same thing as conscription and subversive action. Gitlow’s case was the first brought to the supreme court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Gitlow was represented by renown defence attorney Clarence Darrow and the ruling has been cited in numerous later judgements as precedent.   

 

synchronoptica 

one year ago: a visit to Ellertshäusen See (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: the G7 in Quebec plus Project Maven

eight years ago: Trump motels plus J Edgar Hoover tried to convince Disney to produce Christian cartoons

nine years ago: plebiscites, the Bilderberg in Dresden, wage distribution in filmmaking, crimes of the art plus reflecting on y2k

ten years ago: the Pope defends science,  Big Pharma, assorted links to revisit plus the Hobo Museum of Britt Iowa

way-marker (12. 518)

Whilst assigned light duty convalescing from an injury in battle with a regiment of the corps of engineers working on the construction of the Alaska-Canada highway to connect the noncontiguous territory with the forty-eight lower states in 1942 near Watson Lake in the Yukon and on the border with British Columbia, homesick GI Pvt Carl K Lindley was tasked with repairing sign post that gave direction and distance to various points along the tote road that had been damaged. Deciding to personalise the project a bit by adding a marker pointing to his hometown of Danville Illinois (forty-four hundred kilometres due southwest), Lindley had started a tradition that continues to this day. First fellow soldiers began adding directions to their own places of birth and once the artery was opened to the public in 1948, travellers from all over the world have stopped at the Sign Post Forest have contributed their own street signs and license plates covering an area of several hectares that extends through the surrounding woods. More from Weird Universe at the link above.

ce qu’elle a dit, ce soir-là (12. 517)

A few members having trialed an early version of the song at CBGBs in December of 1975 opening for the Ramones, refining it further over the next two years for their debut performance at the same venue in 1977, the Talking Heads (previously) have released an official music video for their hit number in the lead up to the fiftieth anniversary of their debut studio album. Featuring Saoirse Ronan in very relatable circumstances with those inuring but burdening routines that can become a trigger that has a resolution over the short arc of narrative that is neither violent nor obvious.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

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

seven years ago: fantasy video games, duty to be informed, the Day of the Tiles (1788), a kei truck decorating competition plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech, amplifying random noise plus the Roman road network as a tube map

nine years ago: a geopolitical flow-chart, Italy’s industrial heritage plus former German royals as ceremonial presidents

ten years ago: textiles and technology, farming birds plus the Rod Pyramid outside of Frankfurt

 

fly towards those dreams you’ve left so very, so very far behind (12. 516)

Released on this day in 1969, Empty Sky is Elton John’s debut studio album, and the harpsichord track (later remastered with piano and orchestra for Don’t Shoot Me—I’m Only the Piano Player) below, which became the most famous and enduring song from the record still occasionally performed at live shows and in 1990 for the funeral service of young HIV/AIDS victim Ryan White, has been described by the duo of John and Taupin as their first collaboration that they were genuinely excited about putting out. Although the premier work never topped the charts, critics roundly agreed that it deserved a deep listen and demonstrated John’s potential. The hymn’s lyrics give the account of a pigeon flying high and free after being released from its metal coop by a sympathetic hand.

apocalypse hier et demain (12. 515)

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

synchronoptica

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

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

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

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

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

a fine bromance (12. 514)

Although it was bound to happen eventually (see also), we were a little surprised that the very public and acrimonious split between Elon Musk and Donald Trump took as long as it did to occur, with insults exchanged on their respective social media platforms coming to a breaking point during Trump’s meeting with the Chancellor of Germany, Merz (see below) did not seem quite to know what to make of the US president’s asides: “You saw a man who was very happy when her stood behind the Oval desk—even with a black eye,” asking Musk if he wanted some concealer, which Musk declined. “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.” Their partnership showed its first signs of strain with reservations over Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, ultimately ratcheted up to calling in a “disgusting abomination” and threatening to his influence to unseat Republican members who vote for it, discarding restraint and reluctance to air their private differences. Trump appeared at first only slightly taken aback over what was characterised as full-throated endorsement of his economy and domestic policy omnibus bill and only update because language mandating the accelerated adoption of electric vehicles was removed from the legislation, which prompted Musk to unleash his ire. Having announced his support for Trump after the failed assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, Musk told Trump that he would not have won the election without his help, both on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter and his generous donations. “Such ingratitude.” Trump then responded on his Truth Social that he had fired Musk from DOGE as he had worn out his welcome. Musk then escalated the feud even further denying he had been fired and re-tweeting calls for Trump to be impeached and accusing the government of suppressing the release the files on Jeffrey Epstein and his underage sex trafficking ring because they implicated Trump. Unclear if he will follow through with the threat, Trump concluding that a big cost savings measure would be to terminate the billions spent on Tesla and SpaceX government subsidies and defence contracts. Rightwing writer who Musk sired his fourteenth known child with, Ashley St Clair, now estranged and suing for alimony, @‘d Trump, “Let me know if u need any breakup advice.”

geburtsurkunde (12. 513)

In quite the diplomatic flex, Chancellor Friedrich Merz presented Trump with the birth certificate of Friedrich Merz, Trump’s grandfather who was deported to the United States for draft-dodging and desertion, to subtly signal that Trump too has immigrant roots and in a way to defuse some of the past rhetoric of birtherism for his predecessor and current rehashing of travel bans (see below), during their White House meeting. Suffering childish, incoherent drivel from Trump about trade deals with China that do not exist, backhanded praise for increased defence spending (“I’m not sure that General MacArthur would have said it’s positive. He made a statement: ‘Never let Germany rearm.’ I always think about that when he says, “Sir, we’re spending more. I say—ooh, is that a good thing or a bad thing? I think it’s a good thing.”) and drawing moral equivalency for Russia and Ukraine (“like children fighting in a park”), Merz pointed out that tomorrow is the anniversary of D-Day, marking America’s entry into the war. “That was not a pleasant day for you? This is not a great day,” Trump countered, to which Merz responded that it was the beginning of his country’s liberation from Nazi dictatorship. That obnoxious punchline lays bare his true vacuousness and shortcomings for dealing with consequences and I think maybe this encounter (see further below) might have given Trump, despite his stultifying lack of self-awareness, a glimpse, however temporary, into his own boorishness and Merz may have made his point.

el arte peruano en la escuela (12. 512)

We enjoyed learning about the career and works of illustrator, textile designer and educator Elena Izcue through her 1930 inclusion of Incan and other pre-Columbian works into the curriculum of Lima’s National School of Fine Arts, much to the displeasure of some of her fellow academics aired with a very public debate—detractors finding nothing redeeming in native culture and a surrogate for a larger question of Peruvian identity. In the face of this resistance and aesthetic judgement, Izcue’s insistence and advocacy ultimately led to appreciation and a syllabus that included a set of workbooks she produced drawn from the motifs of Indigenous ceramics and fabrics and archaeological finds. Much more from Public Domain Review at the link up top.

air gap (12. 511)

We enjoyed these collected reflections from The Curious Brain on how genuine experiences and inauthenticity has broken trust and belief in what formerly was upheld as evidence but in that betrayal has sparked not regression or aversion necessarily but rather an appreciation for what’s not flawless and frictionless (whether we’ve asked for it or not) and in this post-verification era when seeing is not believing, distancing ourselves with presence and identify and define oneself with showing up and—despite the fraughtness and frailty of memories and expressions otherwise not committed to documentation and curation, made less reliable when seen through a distorting and optimising lens—“I was there.” In this age, authenticity it’s free—it’s currency. It’s status. It’s luxury.

7x7 (12. 510)

hero’s journey: researchers conducting a meta survey of fictional narratives find a consistent language patterns for compelling plots—see previously  

world’s tiniest violin: researchers make a functioning instrument smaller than a dust mote to test the abilities of nanolithography  

demi-troglodyte: cave homes for sale in France plus assorted miscellany from Messy Nessy Chic—including Edward Hopper in Paris, a David Lynch auction and a tactile picture book for the seeing impaired  

dangerous foreign agents: Trump imposes a new travel ban on citizens from twelve countries  

gipfel: German chancellor Merz to meet with Trump to discuss tariffs and trade and defence  

intransitive hand game: some interesting facts about rock paper scissors—see previously de facto, de jure: a survey of the world’s official languages

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to enjoy (with synchronoptica) plus civilised memorial regulations

seven years ago: the North Korean art market, a map of Prohibition Era Chicago plus trans-Atlantic relations

eight years ago: interoception, more on Trump’s tour of the Middle East plus making policy per tweet look more official

nine years ago: unbuilt architecture from Gaudí, a modern twist on the player piano, a mantis named after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg plus hidden messages in ancient manuscripts

ten years ago: more links to enjoy, contagious yawning plus a visit to Dreieich

local on the the eights (12. 509)

Though hardly seeming retro to me being raised in an established tradition of a certain vintage of families who left the television on CNN Headline News, C-SPAN and The Weather Channel for ambiance, we got some nostalgic feelings over, via Waxy, the WeatherStar 4000 service developed by Matt Walsh (complete with a compliment of code to make your own project) as an attested weather watcher, cycling through the forecast with various statics from the almanac. Giving up-to-date conditions and predictions with appropriate musical accompaniment of pop and smooth jazz, the site emulates the eponymous STAR (Satellite Transponder Addressable Receiver) proprietary technology, compiling data from the National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Centre, initially sold as an add-on for customised meteorological reports before being targeted to local markets—now drawing on NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the acronym pronounced as ‘Noah’) only localised forecasts for the United States are available but an international version exists here.

павутина (12. 508)

Some eighteen months in planning—and a strong repudiation of that infamous White House meeting when Trump hurled insults at Zelenskyy and said that his country had no cards left—and with off the shelf hardware and software trained on old Soviet bombers on display in a museum to calibrate and target the semi-autonomous operation, Ukrainian security services carried out a sneak attack deep inside Russian territory, coordinated across five geographic regions, destroying up to a third of long-range air assets, a legacy fleet not quickly rebuilt, if at all. This stunning blow, codenamed Spider’s Web, was carried out on Sunday by three dozen basic quadcopters with heavy armament were covertly transported to their deployment sites near multiple area bases in containers disguised as mobile wooden cabins with retractable roofs on flatbed trucks, not an uncommon site and arousing no suspicions. Once in place, operators helped guide the drones through the domestic mobile telephone network, forgoing the need for satellite telemetry and avoid potential signal jamming technologies, from a command base located provocatively near to an FSB field office. The estimated damage to Russia’s missile carriers—which also includes a class of strategic nuclear bombers from the Cold War which cannot be kept in hangars under the terms of the START treaties—runs over seven-billion euro. 

This ingenious attack—which has drawn some comparisons to the booby trapped pagers that Israel used against Hezbollah, though Ukraine was far more surgical and had no collateral casualties—and was the biggest surprise victory since the sinking of the Moskva, followed with an encore of the third bombing of the Kerch bridge to Crimea. In the past weeks, Russia has significantly increased deadly strikes on Ukraine and comes just days ahead of planned peace talks in Istanbul. While a symbolic win and a potential set back that may spare some beleaguered communities from bombardment, this operation also illustrates a major shift in war fighting strategies and asymmetric engagement.

łaguna (12. 507)

Via Nag on the Lake—and reminiscent of the magical realism of the painter Rob Gonsalves though a bit over-articulated by AI—we enjoyed this cut-away image of the foundations of Venice (see previously), the marshy shallows of the lagoon since the fifth century when Romans fled successive waves of Hun and Visigoth forages into nearby cities to an area more easily defendable than the open countryside and learned to build on this sandy and muddy refuge by driving piles of trunks of alder trees into the ground until coming to rest on the more substantial level of compressed clay below the silt. Structural foundations themselves rested on plates of limestone placed on top of the closely spaced piles, the logs eventually petrifying in the brackish waters to a consistency that matches any modern construction material. More from Vintage Everyday at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a thousand year old gaming collection (with synchronoptica), Taco Bell wall art plus artist Carlo Bossoli

seven years ago: US tariffs on steel and aluminium plus NSA motivational posters

eight years ago: the oligarchs of Antiquity, Melbourne’s Portrait apartment, An Inconvenient Truth revisited, a Tolkien tale of forbidden romance, an AI writes descriptions of works of art plus the invention of Roquefort cheese

nine years ago: what3words, knowing one’s own mind, modern day ukiyo-e, vampiric traits plus Mid-Century Maori

ten years ago: holy avatars plus the philosophy of happiness and thriving

turnabout intruder (12. 506)

Courtesy of our faithful chronicler we are reminded that on this day in 1969, the originally scheduled broadcast preempted more than two months due to special network coverage following the death of former president Dwight Eisenhower (see also here and here), the original run of Star Trek came to a rather ignominious end with its final episode (previously), two years short of its five year mission. Responding to a cry for help from an archaeological team on an Alpha Quadrant planet, (Captain’s log, Stardate 5928.5: The Enterprise has received a distress call from a group of scientists on Camus II, who are exploring the ruins of a dead civilisation. Their situation is desperate. Two of the survivors are the expedition’s surgeon, Dr Coleman and the leader of the expedition Dr Janice Lester) Kirk is reunited with a former romantic interest from his Academy days, the latter being attended by the former who claims that she is suffering from acute radiation poisoning which killed the others. Lester and Kirk reminisce about their shared time in training, Lester blaming Starfleet’s patriarchal culture and sexism for halting her career progression and activating an alien technology to Freaky Friday their life-entities and switch bodies, with Lester as Kirk taking command of the ship and remanding Kirk as Lester to sick bay. In a course of events that are a carefully constructed indictment against Lester’s ambitious takeover and a tribunal ensues to declare Lester unfit for command with the imposter Kirk pushing back against this mutiny. Eventually the crew realises that the captain is not himself and the two personalities are once again swapped with the alien artefact. Dismissive of Lester’s hysteria, the final lines of dialogue, spoken by Kirk restored in his own body are “Her life could have been as rich as any woman’s—if only… if only…” Poorly received by audiences and considered one of the worst episodes of the original series—though in fairness, the the show was cancelled prematurely and did not have the chance to complete its story arc as planned, critics found it to be misogynistic and playing into the prejudices and sexism that Dr Lester had sought to overcome.

the carpenters - space encounters (12. 506)

Airing in mid-May 1978, we are directed, courtesy of Poseidon’s Underworld to another questionable but fun project inspired by Star Wars mania (see also here and here) in this ABC television special featuring the brother and sister musical duo with guest stars Suzanne Somers, John Davidson and Charlie Callas, who are abducted by aliens and beamed up to the mothership’s nightclub (there’s a lot of crossing of franchises here) and perform a medley of their songs and other disco standards in order to help the extraterrestrials deemphasise their focus on technological advancement and embrace love and art. Check out the synopsis at the link above with production notes and more publicity stills from the show and enjoy the playlist below.

gideon v wainwright (12. 505)

Arrested on this day in 1961 in Panama City Florida on suspicion of a committing a burglary at pool hall based on the testimony of a single witness who claimed to have seen the unemployed drifter at the scene of the crime that morning, Clarence Earl Gideon falsely charged with petty larceny and breaking and entering appeared in court alone for his trial, unable to afford a defence lawyer, and had to represent himself, the laws of the state only requiring counsel to be proved in cases of capital offences. Gideon correctly countered the judge citing the US constitution’s VI. and XIV. amendments but could not persuade him otherwise and was forced to stand up himself to the authorities bringing the charges and was ultimately remanded to five years in prison for a crime he did not commit. During his incarceration, Gideon researched the law in the jail’s library and on prison stationary (a handwritten petition for a writ of certiorari) requested review by the state supreme court, which rejected it and was subsequently appealed to the nation’s high court, bringing suit against the then incumbent secretary of the Florida depart of corrections, Louie L Wainwright, for violation of his constitutional rights. The Supreme Court issued its landmark decision two years later, assigning Gideon prominent Washington, DC attorney and future associate justice Abe Fortas of the firm Arnold, Fortas & Porter to argue his case pro bono, ruling that selective application of this entitlement, weighted factors like the complexity of the charges, illiteracy or low intelligence of the defendant were irrelevant (Gideon himself certainly lawyered up despite leaving school after eighth grade) and counsel for those who could not afford it was guaranteed in all proceedings to navigate the rules of evidence and admissibility. The decision informed the US public defender system for the indigent for help ensure fair trials and over two thousand incarcerated inmates in Florida were released in 1963, mistrials declared and found that their right to due process had been violated. Gideon himself opted to have his name exonerated with a speedy retrial, acquitted by a jury in less than an hour. Part of a series of court decisions that confirmed the rights of defendants at trial, the ruling was extended to police interrogation with Miranda v Arizona, this anniversary seems especially resonant now with unheard of retributive attacks on law firms and individual lawyers, which is placing a chilling effect on pro bono work and legal aid for those up against those virtually unchallenged and untouchable.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus candidate Bill Clinton on a late night talk show (1992)

seven years ago: a visit to Kloster Veßra, ultimate Monopoly, Andy Warhol shot (1968) plus the revival of an ancient Sumerian religion

eight years ago: a four-dimensional toy box, a cove of abandoned ships, political gaslighting plus Trump rallies against Pride month

nine years ago: tensions between Germany and Türkiye 

ten years ago: more links to enjoy

memory alpha (12. 504)

Courtesy of Kottke, we are introduced to a wonderfully obsessive superfan whose meticulous interest and encyclopaedic knowledge of Star Trek: The Next Generation has translated to him becoming a stagehand and consultant for later incarnations of the franchise named Jörg Hillebrand, a mild-mannered German elementary school teacher by day, who has taken easter eggs from TNG and other series and worked in several callbacks for Star Trek: Picard. The book on display in the captain’s ready room is an edition of The Annotated Shakespeare, Volume One and is open to various pages during each episode, one time, with some close examination, revealing proof that not only does classical thespian Patrick Stewart existed in the show’s universe (see also) but that Jean Luc is aware of him, the spread in question featuring a still from a 1968 production of As You Like It with Stewart in the role of Touchstone. Much more trivia, hidden messages and recycled costumes and set-dressing at the links above.

resumix (12. 503)

To be instituted in mid-July when the federal hiring freeze is scheduled to be relaxed, albeit limited to one new employee for every four leaving the workforce on top of the three-hundred thousand target reduction—of which about half has already been achieved through normal attrition, leveraged buyouts and illegal firings by DOGE with the rest left up to AI and a programme called TurboRIF—the new recruitment plan to fill vacancies will require applicants to praise the administration’s executive orders, neither law nor policy and could be undone just as easily, and submit to a process of continuous vetting. The latter being not a mid-point evaluation or more rigorous scrutiny but rather a loyalty test and the former would require prospective to be judged on the merits not of education, credentials or experience but instead on their ability to pen an essay response, limited to two hundred words, that demonstrates their patriotism and citing which EOs that their job performance, if selected, would advance.
I wonder if there will be a catalogue of regressive measures corresponding to each career field—to cross-reference for each public sector position of trust, like combatting DEI, protecting women, ending tax payer subsidies for biased media, promoting religious liberties, unleashing off-shore drilling, strengthening high education, reinstating common sense, restoring American seafood competitiveness, addressing the synthetic opioid supply chain in the People’s Republic of China as applied to low-value imports, etc. Answers to these four questions are not to be generated by chatbots and new hires must consent to assessments of their post-appointment conduct following onboarding to ensure that their responses were genuine and have not become hardened and disillusioned by turning in an assignment outlining who they’ll cast aspersions against minorities and the marginalised for a pay check, and contradictory adhering to an oath to uphold the law of the land. Human Resources and Human Capital Management professionals are taking exception with these highly qualifying criteria as unmeasurable and far from streamlining hiring are making the process much more onerous (by design) for rating and referral with unquantifiable standards.

synchronoptica

one year ago: astronomers question existence of Vulcan home world (with synchronoptica), how the robin got its name plus ghost malls and other modern ruins

seven years ago: Universology, kinetic, computational art plus tariffs and crony capitalism

eight years ago: pigeon shoes, the US leaves the Paris Climate Accords, the coronation of Elizabeth II (1953), a plant-filled bus plus assorted links worth revisiting

nine years ago: turning one’s social media presence over to a robot, existing in a simulated reality plus forgotten superstitions

ten years ago: more links to enjoy, closing down Germany’s nuclear power plants plus romanticising youth