ev1 (12. 062)

With just over a thousand models produced over the span of three years until the pilot project was shuttered in 1999, General Motors’ subcompact car (available for leasing only) was the first mass-produced battery electric vehicle for the US market, introduced in response to a mandate by the California Air Resources Board stipulating that automakers must offer zero-emissions alternatives to keep access to the state’s market. The innovative plug-in pioneered many of the technologies found in electric cars today a quarter of a century ago, but despite being (mostly, its limited charge gave rise to the phenomenon that still haunts the industry of range anxiety) well received by drivers and critics, GM halted production—after California eased its standards due to industry pushback, and citing safety concerns over the lack of availability of replacement parts for the EV1’s specialised components, decided to scrap the entire fleet. Due to restrictions on outright ownership, only a very few examples remain but the small car that could make short trips has an outsized legacy. More from NPR at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: the Japanese wrapping art of furoshki

nine years ago: more links to enjoy

ten years ago: internet browsers as fashion models plus a list of French phrases that ought to be reintroduced to common-parlance

twelve years ago: a double-standard for secessionist movements plus decorating the office for Christmas

white elephant (12. 061)

Via tmn, we are directed to a regular emporium of choice gift selections perfect for the holiday office party Secret Santa exchange—or that variation that one organisation that I used to work for played where you could trade up or steal the mostly gag and ge-gifted presents from others or open a new one and put it into play. Although animosity towards co-workers, particularly the merely tedious ones, tended to dull with such gatherings and probably would have regretted pointedly picking something from this guide for a sworn nemesis, but this catalogue is just too good, especially for those who have a poisonous reputation to uphold and equally has application outside of the obligatory office ritual: like the orphaned volume II of the cinematic adaptation of Atlas Shrugged—particularly if one is playing the trading version and someone is vying for it, apparel from a retailer’s Pride Collection (vintage 2022) before said chain-store began to concede to homophobic pressure or a scented candle inspired by the Warhammer 40k gaming franchise. What others would you add to this list? Themed calendars seem like a good candidate.  Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.

adventus (12. 060)

Via Web Curios, we are directed to this festive digital demesne for Sankt Nicolaus Tag in the tradition of 31 Days of Halloween with this Advents calendar (see previously) that counts down the days until Christmas with a nice piece of digital art behind each of the twenty-four little doors. It’s a nice daily surprise (one cannot binge on this obviously) and a well-executed bit of JavaScript client coding. Read about the contributing artists and see past years’ editions at the link above.

now chitans are a type of molluscs that nature uses to bedazzle things like rocks and shells (12 059)

Courtesy of Ms Cellania, we are afforded the opportunity to to catch up on our intrepid science presenter Ze Frank (see previously) with his surprise invitation to join the taxonomical committee of Frankfurt’s Senkenberg Ocean Species Alliance and his humorous tour (to find out if the offer was legitimate or a hoax) of the facility with an introduction to its scientific mission to describe and catalogue the overwhelming understudied forms of life under the waves. Frank will serve on the committing naming newly discovered species and certainly brings a lot to the table and reminded us of this impressive oratory feat in classifying the sea shell of North American beaches.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: The Final Countdown (1986—with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: a private spy network, medical marijuana in Italy plus the philosophy of ikigai

eight years ago: the Château d’Aubiry plus repurposing love-locks

nine years ago: Æsop’s Fables

eleven years ago: non-English tongue twisters, Snowden’s home town plus infographic native advertising

summis desiderantes (12. 058)

From the Latin incipit “for desiring with supreme ardor” (see previously, see also), Pope Innocent VIII promulgated his papal bull on this day in 1484 condemning witchcraft, issued at the behest of one Dominican Inquisitor called Heinrich Kramer, who would go on to publish the widely popular Malleus Maleficarum (der Hexenshammer) petitioning higher authorities for license to persecute witches in Germany after the local clergy failed to champion his cause—signalling a rather dramatic shift in the Church’s attitude, having previously made a distinction between white and black magic and opposed the denunciation of supposed practitioners of either, restricting the punishment for transgression to confession, repentance and community service. Manifestly political in nature as a way of settling jurisdictional battles between priests in Mainz, Köln and Trier by installing, deputising his cadre (Henry Institoris) with more papal immediacy bypassing the established hierarchy. Recognising the existence of witches, the text of the bull began, and as a preface to Kramer’s own work, written during retirement when the directive to cooperate with inquisitions under pain of excommunication failed to garner support:

Many persons of both sexes, unmindful of their own salvation and straying from the Catholic Faith, have abandoned themselves to devils, incubi and succubi, and by their incantations, spells, conjurations, and other accursed charms and crafts, enormities and horrid offences, have slain infants yet in the mother’s womb, as also the offspring of cattle, have blasted the produce of the earth, the grapes of the vine, the fruits of the trees, nay, men and women, beasts of burthen, herd-beasts, as well as animals of other kinds, vineyards, orchards, meadows, pasture-land, corn, wheat, and all other cereals. These wretches furthermore afflict and torment men and women, beasts of burthen, herd-beasts, as well as animals of other kinds, with terrible and piteous pains and sore diseases, both internal and external; they hinder men from performing the sexual act and women from conceiving ... they blasphemously renounce that faith which is theirs by the sacrament of baptism, and at the instigation of the Enemy of Mankind they do not shrink from committing and perpetrating the foulest abominations and filthiest excesses to the deadly peril of their own souls ... the abominations and enormities in question remain unpunished not without open danger to the souls of many and peril of eternal damnation.

Despite the blurb, the Church condemned the publication as misleading and rejected the animosity towards independent women, though failing to do enough to staunch this apparent endorsement of witchhunts.

9x9 (12. 057)

globetrotter—more like globetriggered: a wrap of 2024 in therapy  

new doge, old tricks: Musk and Ramaswamy present their plan to rapture three-quarters of the government workforce but it’s going to be a challenge to achieve real cost-cutting or improved efficiency  

vote de censure: French government collapses after legislature moves to eject controversial prime minister Michel Barnier—see previously 

field of vision: the challenges of bringing the Vera Ruben perched high in the Andes on online includes unidentified intelligence agencies screening images before they are released to the public  

my empathy is out of network: Americas respond to the assassination of a major medical insurance CEO  

ekistical portrait: Rob Stephenson is documenting all the three hundred and fifty neighbourhoods of New York City’s five boroughs—via Kottke  

what just happened: South Korea’s declaration of marshal law, parliament’s rejection and the ongoing political crisis  

stonks: Bitcoin just hit $100 000 a piece  

hot topic: the year in Wikipedia, recent celebrity deaths topped the list again

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the Michelob Music Hour (with synchronoptica) plus modern art presented as a fun-fair

seven years ago: noisy GIFs, assorted links worth the revisit plus 52 more things

eight years ago: the origins of Play-Doh

nine years ago: red cup controversy, a trip to Rosenau plus our faithful chronicler

ten years ago: troublesome ideas in the marketplace plus an A-ha! reunion concert

one-trick pony (12. 056)

After threatening Mexico, Canada and China with punishing tariffs less for economic reasons but rather to staunch the flow of illegal immigration and illicit drugs—Trudeau as a seeming by-stander had an emergency dinner-date with Trump for damage control to which Trump offered an easy way out, to unify with American, politely declining, I wish the prime-minister had spit in his face—Trump is now threatening the BRICS nations with hundred percent export levies should they continue to entertain the idea of de-dollarisation and choose the path of less dependence to trade, hypothetically, in another reserve currency or pursue their own monetary union. Certain members of this cohort, whether or not contemplating an alternative (see also) whose negotiations would extend beyond current regimes, have already been effectively pushed out thanks to sanctions and manipulation that leverages American interests and priorities.

banco de portugal plot (12. 055)

Presenting a letter of introduction, credentialed and endorsed by the Royal Joh. Enschedé of the Netherlands, chartered maker of banknotes and other security documents, on this day in 1924 Artur Virgílio Aves Reis instigated one of the biggest financial frauds in history when he entered the offices of Waterlow and Sons Ltd, another respected and venerable printer of stock certificates, currency and postage stamps, and claiming to be on a secret mission on behalf of the governors of his native Portugal’s central bank, sought to fill a commission of two-hundred thousand, five hundred escudo notes (the cifrão $, from the Arabic for zero is a double-bar dollar sign, is the currency symbol and is used as the thousands and decimal point separator) for circulation and fund an infrastructure project in colonial Angola. Conceived during a short prison stint for illegal arms trade where he encountered his future associates and amid an absolute printing frenzy in Germany to counter hyperinflation, Aves Reis correctly wagered he could pull off a grand counterfeiting scheme, approaching both printers to produce the high denomination notes with identical serial numbers, then hiring an army of drones (zangões) back in Porto to launder the illicit millions, eventually establishing his own bank to expedite the process and avoid suspicion. The massive infusion of forged money, after having purchased a controlling share of stock in the central bank and nearly taking it over, was uncovered exactly one year and one day later with grave repercussions for the country’s economy and the ensuing financial crisis promulgating a collapse of the fragile first republic for a series of dictatorships.

perpetua et firma libertas (12. 054)

Created by dint of a cartographical error in redrawing the border between the Papal States and the Republic of Florence (heavily in debt, Pope Eugene IV ceded Borgo Sansepolcro in the north to the Grand Duke), unexpectedly creating a terra nullius of around three square kilometres in 1440, by using a creek called rio as the new line of demarcation. The generic name for “river,” negotiators realised that they had picked two different ruscelli about five hundred metres apart, and thinking it was not worth the effort to redraw an already complicated boundary (see also) and with neither party having an objection to a buffer state in between them, the independent Republic of Cospaia came into existence. Without taxes, customs, or a government (to speak of, or the need for one), the tiny repubblica flourished as a free-trade zone between the temporal and secular powers but really became much more than a mapping mistake about a century later with the introduction of tobacco to the Old World and a ban on smoking by the Vatican (Benedict XIII eventually relented in 1724 and stopped excommunicating smokers). Though without much land to spare, Cospaia devoted its entire agricultural efforts to growing the crop, which neighbours permitted as leverage against harbouring fugitives and more serious contraband. As with many microstates, the Republic came to an end with the Napoleonic Wars and was re-annexed by the Papal States in agreement with the Duchy of Tuscany after nearly four centuries in 1826, but as compensation each resident was given a silver sovereign by the pope and a continued monopoly on tobacco production, which expanded to the whole valley. The village is still associated with cigars and cigarettes and is allowed to fly its historic flag.

synchonoptica

one year ago: neglected books (with synchronoptica), an AI identifier plus Henry Ford’s peace mission (1915)

seven years ago: a White House dinner, school meals plus toe names

eight years ago: more trials with Universal Basic Income plus How I Built This

nine years ago: rallying against global warming plus assorted links worth revisiting

ten years ago: Herostratic Fame plus Victorian microscopic pictures

the way of fragrance (12. 053)

Via tmn, we learn about the broader tradition of kōdō (香道, see previously), the art of incense appreciation through the parlour game called Genji-kō (源氏香) a pastime cultivated originally to demonstrate refinement and discerning sense of smell—sort of like the story of the Princess and the Pea—where the object was not to just identify a scent but to distinguish from a sampling of five which are the same and which are different and can be in any combination. Players of this palette-cleansing challenge which can border on the fiendish record their answers with a special notation, vertical lines representing the five scents and group them with a bar. The geometric patterns are a popular decorative motiff for kimono, pottery and lacquerware. Inspired by an incense party that takes place in the literary classic The Tale of the Genji, a skilled host will try to reference the current season and recent events in the solution. Much more at the links above.

dies iræ, dies illa (12. 052)

Fêted on this day in the Roman and Eastern Orthodox calendar of saints, Zephaniah (Σοφονίας, צְפַנְיָה, Concealed is god) was a priest of the Temple of Solomon during the reign of Josiah (circa 640 to 609 BC) counted among the Twelve Minor Prophets and credited as forecasting the coming of the Messiah, during a time when worship of other deities was popular and widespread, especially that of Baal and Astarte. The incipit of his book that warns of corruption and the imminent destruction of Jerusalem for its moral degeneration for its religious waywardness is the origin of the setting for the liturgical hymn as the sequence from the Requiem Mass—translated in the Vulgate edition of the Bible, “Day of wrath and doom impending!”

creative commons (12. 051)

Leading up to Public Domain Day in the United States (see previously) and other jurisdictions, Boing Boing is putting together a virtual Advents Calendar showcasing each significant work of literature, cinema and visual art whose copyrights expire 1 January 2025, protections terminate typically in America and the European Union (with some notable exceptions) seventy years after the calendar year when the author died—post mortem auctoris. Among those properties that become free to use however one sees fit include the pictured Chop Suey by Edward Hopper and Magritte’s The Treachery of Images, as well as writings from Virginia Woolf, Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell, Erich Maria Remarque and Ernest Hemingway.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the OED’s WoTY shortlist (with synchronoptica), assorted links to revisit, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) plus Winchester Cathedral (1966)

seven years ago: a collection of UK WWII propaganda posters

eight years ago: Ancient Lights, more links to enjoy, Belgian brewing traditions added to UNESCO registry plus Vantablack

nine years ago: Vienna’s Schönbrunn palace

ten years ago: searching for Krampus, more unbuilt architecture, a pre-crime pilot, Alfred the Great plus the Carolinian dynasty

eleven years ago: launch codes and the Nuclear Football 

merriam-webster defines (12. 050)

The lexicographers present another treasury of obscure words whose utility is delightfully questionable in many cases and at times borders on the linguistic equivalent of unuselessness. There were classics ultracrepidarian—opining or operating outside one’s scope of practice, and the derived terms serendipitist and anecdotage but moreover a lot of choice vocabulary that was new to us, like novercal, pertaining to or characteristic of stepmother (without an equivalent word for stepfathers, the opposite of avuncular, of uncles, with no term for aunts), an amatorcultist, “a little insignificant love—a pretender to affection,” useful to describe one’s worst ex, neighbourstained, hopefully never to be in one’s quiver (see also), backspang, a Scottish term for a loophole that allows one to back out of a deal and antihalian, a humbug, one opposed to festivities. Much more at the links above.

10x10 (12. 049)

strapline: Cory Doctorow’s review of books for 2024  

week-by-week: Tom Whitwell’s gleanings from the past year—see previously—via Kottke 

bad precedent: the power of the pardon was never meant to condone crime 

the birthday paradox: illustrating the veridicality of coincidence—via Quantum of Sollazzo  

a boring roundup: a look at geotechnical investigations and advances in harnessing the Earth’s internal energy  

whamhalla: why Germans love and hate Last Christmas—see also  

the travelling salesman problem: a new Geotripper challenge to find the optimal route to take to a number of cities and return to the point of origin  

press-gang: Moscow authorities raid popular night clubs, seemingly detaining hundreds of men to draft for the war effort 

take time—it’s brief: one hundred superlative photos of the past twelve month—via Memo of the Air  

anthology: Lit Hub’s poetry recommendations for the year

font speciment (12. 048)

A kind of hot metal typesetting used for letterpress printing, the Ludlow Typograph issued a font catalogue in 1958—pictured a gallery of fourth edition scalable patterns to supplement their available collection of typefaces and font families. Metal slugs are cast by the system, melted down and recycled in a cauldron in situ—preferable to some printing operations, as opposed to Linotype, as it was smaller and more affordable and always had fresh matrices for a run without worrying about running out of any given sorts. Though not made since the late 1960s when printing press technologies changed, the company estimates around sixteen thousand models were still in operations around the world, and replacement parts still being produced. See a video of one of the machines at work and many more type samplers at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a gallery of visual anagrams (with synchronoptica) plus the coronation of Napoleon and Joséphine

seven years ago: alternating tread stairwells plus assorted links to revisit

eight years ago: Basil Brush endangered, rampant post-factual disinformation, hybrid cigarettes plus a plant leverages physics

nine years ago: Kraftwerk in concert

ten years ago: fossilised phrases in English Christmas songs

contingent election (12. 047)

On this day in 1824, the US presidential election whose voting had started back on 26 October between candidates Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William Crawford and Henry was punted to Congress as no candidate had secured an electoral majority (see previously here and here) under the provisions of Amendment XII to the constitution. The race was called a stalemate—John Caldwell Calhoun (pictured), after failing to secure party support as the presidential nominee agreed to stand for the role of vice president and comfortably won a plurality in the Electoral College—and voting was adjourned until 9 February with each state delegation given one vote for the candidate, to be decided through debate within their caucus. The election cycle of 1800 was also called by the House of Representatives but it was the Three-Fifths Compromise that enabled first Thomas Jefferson and ultimately Andrew Jackson to win, counting enslaved individuals who had no franchise as count as 3/5 of a person for purposes of apportionment of members to congress, based on a state’s population.

seventh heaven (12. 046)

Having visited the efforts of scholars to survey the domains of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy beforehand, we enjoyed coming back to the endeavour to map Purgatory, the Inferno and Paradise with the culmination of seven centuries of study with the 1855 edition and 1872 reissue by Michelangelo Caetani, heir to the princedom of Teano, an academic and a patron of the arts with a special talent for draughting jewellery design and commissioned the monks of Monte Cassino to produce colour prints of his topological learning aides with an early form of chromolithography. Much more from Public Domain Review at the link above.

platonic solid (12. 045)

We are informed that the Utah Teapot has escaped its containment unit once again to appear in Dublin’s Lower Smithfield Square. We like how the checked pixels seem to imply transparency. Created in 1975 and released to the public domain by computer graphics researcher Martin Newell at the state university, it is considered one of the standard reference models (see also) for 3D modelling and computer animation, Newell rendered their Melitta tea set at the suggestion of his wife Sandra. A benchmark and one of the first programming primers assigned as an exercise to coders, the teapot has enjoyed a number other of cultural references and tributes—see more at JWZ at the link up top.

synchronoptica

one year ago: BBC BASIC (with synchronoptica), fifty-two things from Tom Whitwell, early computer art from Barbara Nessim plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: Trump and May plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: a DIY cheese Advents calendar, a shuttle mission to retrieve space junk, a superlative bridge in China, translating vs interpreting, a phosphate monopoly plus Network (1976)

nine years ago: Secessionist Vienna, even more links plus Vienna at night

ten years ago: Nordic happiness

catch a falling star and put it your pocket (12. 044)

On this day in 1954, in the Oak Grove neighbourhood of Sylacauga, Alabama, Elizabeth Fowler Hodge was jolted awake from an early afternoon nap after being struck from a fragment of a meteorite, about the size of a grapefruit. Though sustaining only the physical injury of a large bruise to her thigh (later suffering trauma however from the singular incident and the intense albeit short-lived fame garnered because of it), Hodges’ case was the only well documented individual to be hit by an object from space and survive it. The rock came hurtling through the roof of her house she shared with her mother and husband, ricocheting off the family radio (destroying it) and bounced into Hodges. There was somewhat of a custody battle after scientists from a nearby airforce base confirmed the rock’s origins between the mayor of the town who promised it to a museum and the Hodges’ landlords but ultimately Elizabeth was allowed to keep the meteorite. By the time it was settled, however, Ms Hodges’ celebrity had died down and no buyer could be found and eventually it ended up in the state’s natural history museum. Likely sourced from asteroid 1685 Toro, similar but unverified incidents include a 1677 strike on a friar in Milan and the 1908 Tunguska Event, reported to have caused at least three casualties.

6x6 (12. 043)

tour of duty: the life of the Roman soldier as told through the personal letters of one of the enlisted  

travelling cat: soar around the world with this feline aviatrix—via Maps Mania  

the keeper of the mss, begs to decline: manuscripts rejected by the British Museum Library on topics of conspiracy theories, the paranormal and for being overly amorous—via Strange Company  

the peal of protection: the bells of Notre Dame blessed as the cathedral reopens to the public—see more, see previously 

 katzenjammer: etymologies of hangover—see previously, see also  

continuing education: teaching rats to drive as a heuristic for joy and positive emotions 

 re:volt: an AI-powered robot seemingly convinced twelve others to quit their jobs and join it

 synchronoptica

one year ago: an AI Advent Calendar (with synchronoptica),  in-flight audio playlists plus an ominous weather forecast

seven years ago: the Mountain Dream Tarot, the first cryptocurrency (1989) plus skeletal nomenclature

eight years ago: RIP Fidel Castro plus an atlas of the underworld

nine years ago: more adventures in Vienna plus Vienna’s Gasometer City

ten years ago: a mango döner recipe plus memes and stock-characters

the thirteenth floor (12. 042)

Although acquainted somewhat with taboo numbers and avoidance of certain addresses, I hadn’t seen it in practice—admittedly applying my own form of lore and arithromania to disbursements when paying bills and try to have a figure four in there albeit mindful that auspicious dates, versions can deceive—and enjoyed this enlightening overview from Language Log in the form of a superstitious elevator panel, removing the fourth storeys as a homophone for death (死, sì, sĭ), or more specifically according to the Eighteen Level of Hell in Chinese mythology, as elaborated in Journey to the West, the association with the Mirror of Retribution, the literal “evil mirror platform” (孽鏡臺)—accounting for further omissions for those wanting to bypass the degrees of purgatory awaiting the ones dodging dharmic-for-karmic justice in this life. Much more at the links above.

overwintered (12. 041)

Hardly redemptive though having read about municipalities getting dual-use out of the massive amounts of energy expended on bitcoin mining before, it took me a couple of readings to get how this news article was a “bit too on the nose,” about how a Dutch tulip farmer was offsetting their heating costs by hosting crypto servers in the greenhouse. We realised however reading the completely unironic reportage that it was a very apt commentary on the original mania, speculative bubble (see also) albeit now a relatively benign one is being fuelled by one in the series of benighted ventures.

you aitch-dropping apical shibboleth! (12. 040)

Language Log directs us to the very satisfying discovery with the latest SMBC (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Zach Weinersmith—see previously) webcomic on how phonological jargon can be employed quite effectively to hurl insults. Embarrassed for choice, we agree it’s hard to find a linguistic term that wouldn’t fit the pattern, even though all are beningly describing a morphological phenomenon—it’s all in tone and delivery. You voiceless epiglottal plosive—you, you reduplicative nilpotency!

30 top chart hits (12. 039)

Conceived by Virgin Records in London and taking its name from a 1920s advertisement for Danish brand bacon (the pig would become the mascot for most of the series, Richard Branson had purchased the poster from a nearby antiques shop), the first compilation album was released in the UK on this day in 1983, with hit tracks including Phil Collins’ You Can’t Hurry Love, Boy George’s Karma Chameleon and Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart, the biggest hits from artists under their own label. An immediate commercial success, anthologies were put out three times per year—with the best-selling edition (seven times platinium) from 1999, NOW! 42 featuring Britney Spears, Shania Twain, Lou Bega, Backstreet Boys, Robbie Williams and Phil Collins’ with You’ll be in my Heart. There have been many spinoffs (and imitations) of the concept including music television channels, Now Dance, Now That’s What I Call X-Mas and NOW! 62 released in 2005 as a digital download.

the god of management (12. 038)

From Slashdot’s No Peace even in Death department, we learn that Panasonic plans to resurrect the company’s founder and long-time COO Kōnosuke Matsushita (松下 幸之助) as a digital clone, rebuilding his personality, leadership and decision making skills, revered as by the above title in business circles in Japan and beyond for creating the largest and enduring consumer electronics company in the country, with AI informed by Matsushita’s writing, recorded speeches, meeting minutes and notes. Having died in 1989 and with a generation mentored by the originator aging out themselves, Panasonic hopes that Matsushita will continue to be able to inspire and develop those who never got the chance to interact with him personally. What do you think? The verdict is still out on these sort of doppelgängers, whether they are effective beyond a compelling, cloying sense of nostalgia (especially in terms of running a large corporation) but one has to wonder about the ethical responsibility (see previously) of bringing one back from the dead without say in the matter—especially that of a god. Is it letting the genie out of the bottle or indenturing one’s restive soul?

synchronoptica

one year ago: Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year (with synchronoptica), the Origin and Evolution of the Palestine Problem (1978) plus a Bansky mural demolished

seven years ago: JFK’s undelivered speech plus artist Pepe Cruz Novillo

eight years ago: assorted links to revisit, the Stout Scarab plus bus fare in exchange for ads

nine years ago: a visit to Vienna 

ten years ago: kingship and coinage plus the comics of Ruben Bolling

cp 1919 (12. 037)

Discovered by post-graduate astrophysics student Jocelyn Bell Burnell using the Interplanetary Scintillation Array of Cambridge Observatory on this day in 1967 whilst searching for radio signals in space, because of its precise regularity, it was dismissed by colleagues as terrestrial interference initially,but combing through reams of data, Bell Burnell correctly pinpointed its origins to celestial coordinates of nineteen′ nineteen′′ right ascension, twenty-one° declination, coming from the constellation Vulpecula—for which it was given the designation LGM-1, little green men, supposing it might be an alien beacon of some kind. The discoverer, however, correctly posited that the source was a rapidly rotating neutron star. Fellow researchers received a Nobel prize in 1974 for their work in radioastronomy but Bell Burnell’s contributions were overlooked (for her part, she maintained that she did not believe that the committee should be in the business of honouring research assistants), and the novel class of star is now recognised as a pulsar, emitting beams of radiation from its poles and have proven to be an indispensable lighthouse in the cosmos for detection and triangulation, a throughline for detecting the first exoplanents and the phenomena of gravitational waves among others. In 1979, for their debut studio album, Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division adapted a ridgeline plot of the stars’s radio emissions’ pulses for the cover art.

9x9 (12. 036)

to john dillinger and hope he is still alive: William S Burroughs’ Thanksgiving Prayer  

sampler-sized: iconic electronic music remixes by year  

silent poems: a weird and wondrous, non-WYSIWYG word processor from graphic designer Lavinia Petrache—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest 

blacklisted: Musk publishes names of federal workers he wants to eliminate, a terror-inducing tactic that may force them to resign in lieu of being fired  

well, please post the rebuttal—then community notes will take care of the rest: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg explains to Elon Musk how EV charging works 

sortes vergilianae: a particular form of bibliomancy drawing random passages from The Aeneid (see also here and here) and other works by Roman poet Virgil  

anacyclosis: the rise and fall of civilisation and the undermining of democracy  

the nine lives of dr mabuse: avant garde pop band Propaganda celebrate the filmology of the chaotic villain—see previously  

pay no attention to that man behind the curtain: a political reading of Wicked

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Battle of Versailles (1973—with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth the revisit 

seven years ago: Tom Baker returns as Dr Who plus Trump celebrates Native American Heritage Month

eight years ago: emoluments and more

eleven years ago: the debut of MST3K (1998) plus Germany’s Goldfinger tax-model

twelve years ago: :D for Düsseldorf

statute at large (12. 035)

Not exercised since the codification of the US congress’ role in determining the federal budget in 1974 in response to Nixon’s abuse of the prerogative of impoundment as a violation of the American system of checks and balances and separation of powers (specifically, the president frustrated the will of the legislature by arguing that the administration could withhold monetary assistance for water pollution reduction grants that the White House vetoed and was subsequently overridden, the Environmental Protection Agency a product of Nixon himself) until late July of 2019 when Trump attempted to direct the Office of Management and Budget to not disburse funds for Ukraine while coercing an investigation into the family of his political rival, Joe Biden—for which Trump was impeached for the first time, the matter never purview of the Supreme Court to debate its constitutionality. A tool limited by political norms afforded to past presidents and currently in the form of line-item vetos and requests for rescission of appropriated funds, Trump wants to now channel the act of congress and restore the power as yet another quiver to subvert fiduciary guidance and steamroll the legislative branch by empowering his Department of Government Efficiency.

when the moon is in the seventh house (12. 034)

Courtesy of fellow internet caretaker, Messy Nessy, we are directed to a lavish performance of the medley The Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by the indomitable Miss Raquel Welch. Filmed in 1968 just one year after Hair and The Fifth Dimension’s popular rendition, it was shot on location at the Pirámide del Sol in Teotihuacán originally to promote the Mexico City Olympic Games (see previously here and here)—but probably more people retain a hazy memory, or fever dream, of this sequence for its inclusion in the 1970 CBS television special Raquel! with extravagant musical numbers set in exotic, cosmopolitan locales. The elaborate zodiac costumes were designed by Bob Mackie—dresser of such icons as Cher, Bette Midler, Barbara Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Tina Turner, Oprah among many other luminaries.

8x8 (12. 033)

this is all i’m asking for: Mariah Carey’s ubiquitous Christmas song in the style of classical composers  

anti-slapp legislation: lawmakers rush to protect journalist and protesters from nuisance lawsuits before Trump takes office  

🍭: experimental lickable devices extend augmented reality—see previously  

don’t bring your zombies to work: ULCA student creates an escape room in their dormitory  

the federation of damanhur: a spiritual commune outside of Turin constructed a spectacular network of secret underground temples in the 1970s, uncovered and protected, despite their illegal building, in 1992  

all delicious mac & cheese recipes are alike; each gross mac & cheese recipe is gross in its own way: a dish from Leo Tolstoy—aka, Mac & Peace—via Kottke  

11 bizarre things the US government actually spent money on: Musk’s mandate to increase efficiency does not add up, is sourced from a Readers’ Digest listicle 

anitra’s dance: quilts inspired by the music of Peer Gynt—see previously—via MetaFilter

grand marshal (12. 032)

First taking place along the route of 34th Street to the flagship store on Herald Square with store workers dressed up in vibrant costumes, floats, marching bands and borrowed animals from the Central Park Zoo (later replaced by balloons) and initially called Macy’s Christmas Parade, the annual tradition began on this day in 1924, welcoming Santa Claus with an enthronement ceremony on the portico of the department store’s entrance. Tied as the second oldest Thanksgiving pageant in the US after Philadelphia’s municipal one, it was immediately declared to held yearly due to popular acclaim despite it being barely covered in the press and has aired live on television since 1953. The popularity of the event was also due to civic pressure for an alternative way to celebrate the holiday rather than the custom called Ragamuffin or Beggars’ Day that came into being in New York shortly after the national holiday was declared by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 (see also) in the spirit of reconciliation after the Civil War. Children dressed, prior to the popularisation of Halloween, as exaggerated imitations of the poor and unhoused and went door-to-door, begging for pocket change and other treats—much to the annoyance of adults and sought to channel this activity into a more wholesome and organised one, with commercial sponsorship.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: home taping is killing music (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: municipal concessions to attract big business, speculation about the identity of the individual who invented bitcoin plus more profiles of colours

 

eight years ago: assorted links to revisit plus franchises universes

 

ten years ago: lycanthropy and other divided-selves  

eleven years ago: Wiesbaden’s Christmas Market plus the avatars of Thanksgiving past

disenshittify or die (12. 031)

Albeit coming up to speed to an extent but recognising the continuing diatribe, Macquaire Dictionary has selected enshittification as its World of the Year for 2024, defining the term as the gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking. Derived terms (none yet honoured in other authoritative lexicons) include enshittocene and the great enshittening, although all seem to do a disservice in deflecting from the bait-and-switch tactic sold under duress as the only sustainable business model, immediate rather than informed. Honourable mentions include brainrot, social battery for the stamina that one has for engagements and rawdogging, an unfortunate, awkwardly glossed and prevalent alternative to self-denial and asceticism.

i am an authorised representative of the intergalactic mission (12. 030)

Courtesy of our faithful chronicler, a decade ahead of the more infamous Max Headroom Signal hijacking (caution, flashing images), we learn that on this day in 1977 viewers in southern England watching the ITN 5:10 pm news summary got quite a shock when the audio was commandeered by a deep buzzing and a electronically garbled voice addressing the world for some six minutes before returning to regular programming. Claiming to Asteron of the Vrillon race of extraterrestrials, the speaker delivered a message on behalf of the Ashtar Galactic Command (after the name of beings, ascended masters several contactees since the early 1950s claimed to have channelled as mediums):

For many years you have seen us as lights in the skies. We speak to you now in peace and wisdom as we have done to your brothers and sisters all over this, your planet Earth. We come to warn you of the destiny of your race and your world so that you may communicate to your fellow beings the course you must take to avoid the disaster which threatens your world, and the beings on our worlds around you.

This is in order that you may share in the great awakening, as the planet passes into the New Age of Aquarius. The New Age can be a time of great peace and evolution for your race, but only if your rulers are made aware of the evil forces that can overshadow their judgments.

Be still now and listen, for your chance may not come again. All your weapons of evil must be removed. The time for conflict is now past and the race of which you are a part may proceed to the higher stages of its evolution if you show yourselves worthy to do this. You have but a short time to learn to live together in peace and goodwill.  Small groups all over the planet are learning this, and exist to pass on the light of the dawning New Age to you all.

You are free to accept or reject their teachings, but only those who learn to live in peace will pass to the higher realms of spiritual evolution. Hear now the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you. Be aware also that there are many false prophets and guides at present operating on your world. They will suck your energy from you—the energy you call money and will put it to evil ends and give you worthless dross in return.

Your inner divine self will protect you from this. You must learn to be sensitive to the voice within that can tell you what is truth, and what is confusion, chaos and untruth. Learn to listen to the voice of truth which is within you and you will lead yourselves onto the path of evolution. This is our message to our dear friends. We have watched you growing for many years as you too have watched our lights in your skies.

You know now that we are here, and that there are more beings on and around your Earth than your scientists admit. We are deeply concerned about you and your path towards the light and will do all we can to help you. Have no fear, seek only to know yourselves, and live in harmony with the ways of your planet Earth. We here at the Ashtar Galactic Command thank you for your attention. We are now leaving the planes of your existence. May you be blessed by the supreme love and truth of the cosmos.

The transcript varies slightly according to the recollection of witnesses, and the station afterwards apologised for what was described as a “breakthrough in sound,” the network technically explaining how such a hoax could have occurred though the prank would have demanded not only considerable coordination and expertise to pull off. No one ever came forward and the author of the missive is unknown and is accepted as gospel by some in the ufology community—and in any case not a bad message for humankind.