the year in memes (12. 094)

Hyperalleric curates a collection of the best viral shared images that sought to dull or cushion (a big ask from any inanimate object pushed beyond its breaking point by the harshness of the past twelve months) by trying to forge some connection and temporary reprieve in a landscape of atrocities, violence, degradation and disappointment. The chronology, which feels like a million years ago, include the Willy’s Chocolate Experience, the presidential debates, coconut tree/brat summer, that baby hippopotamus and the public beatification of Luigi Mangione, which sets the stage for the coming year rather perfectly. Much more from contributor Rhea Nayyar at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: ransomware shutters a library (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links to revisit 

seven years ago: an exhibition on knots plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: more needful words from The Meaning of Liff

ten years ago: gut flora, the history of chess plus an unreleased parody of North Korea

eleven years ago: the grammar of comic strips

 

project score (12. 093)

The first purpose-built communications satellite, abbreviation fore Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was launched on this day in 1958 atop an Atlas rocket and provided a follow up demonstration to broadcasts from space. Regarded as an advancement that brought the American space programme on par with the Soviet accomplishments of Sputnik I and Sputnik II, showing that messages could be transmitted through the upper atmosphere across multiple round stations. Albeit pre-recorded, Project SCOPE also delivered a Christmas greeting from US president Eisenhower (see previously), the first voice from space, capturing global attention. Like the signal from Sputnik, it could be picked up by sufficiently sensitive radios worldwide but most heard the message on news re-broadcasts.  After circling the Earth twelve times, the orbit degraded and the satellite burned up on re-entry.

「金」 (12. 092)

The Japanese Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation has announced their character of the year as kin, meaning gold or money, to capture the state of the world, and as in past years stretching back to 1995 with the proficiency society with the popular choice writ large by the head priest at the Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto on Kanji Day (12 December—see previously), the testing-body also an examine on twelve levels to assess one’s general literacy.

city不city (12. 091)

Sixth Tone has announced its Chinese language buzzwords that defined this past year (see previously) with the above dominating question, translating, “city or not”—cosmopolitan, sophisticated, the viral phenomenon illustrated below, which demonstrates how seamlessly loan words can be incorporated into the language’s structure. Other shortlisted neologisms include yìng kòng (硬控, pinned in place) borrowed from stalemate and the gaming world as an arresting rubber-necking and the inescapable allure of trending items, bān wèi (班味, office stench) to address that lingering malaise that comes from toil at a job that is not ideal, tōu găn (偷感, thief vibes) used to describe an individual whose definition of oversharing is different from their cadre and introduced as a shorthand for the preoccupation with MBTI personality profiles (see previously here and here), 淡人 vs 浓人 (dàn rén and nóng rén, introverted versus extroverted)—also expressed with 😐/😝. More at the links above.

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synchronoptica

one year ago: Pope decrees that blessings can be given to same-sex couples (with synchroptica), machine embodiment plus a special deck of playing cards

seven years ago: the Status Quo Ladder plus elevator operators are not extinct careerwise

eight years ago: gemstone batteries plus Spain reconsiders the siesta

nine years ago: emergency lights, weird antique Christmas greetings plus assorted links worth revisiting

ten years ago: Christmas markets past plus the paternalistic nature of the Internet of Things

startpaket (12. 090)

Two weeks ahead of the introduction of the new currency, the mints of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union began on this day in 2001 to distribute starter kits of coinage in Greece, Portugal and Germany in order to familiarise citizens and cashiers in advance of their upcoming €-Day (see previously, see also). With a face value of 10,23 or 20 DM, five thousand drachma or two thousand escudo, around fifty-four million sealed plastic sachets were given out through local banks. Having moved to Germany just after the transition that took place on New Year’s 2002, I remember it being a strange time with the sentiment that prices had doubled overnight—or one’s worth suddenly halved—and many retail outlets were still in the process of changing over, accepting both Mark and US dollars at parity.

the haves and have yachts (12. 089)

Via tmn, we are directed to a brief chronology of the superyacht (its definition and the more exclusive class of gigayacht) and how that history corresponds with the larger world of oligarchy and status, beginning with (of course with acknowledged antecedents) shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis’ Christina O, a surplus Canadian anti-submarine frigate purchased in 1954 and outfitted with swimming pool that could be converted into a dance floor an appointed with furnishing crafted from the leather of whale foreskin and pornographic scenes from the Odyssey carved in whale teeth. Only keeping it for three years, the Trump Princess is flipped to another Saudi prince in 1991 after one of the previous owner’s casinos went bankrupt. A boasted new yacht, the Trump Princess II, which will be “something in excess of four hundred feet long—closer to five hundred feet” fails to materialise. There are dozens of other data points and anecdotes to consider on how that unattainable lifestyle informs the everyday reality of us all.

not my name (12. 088)

Via the always interesting quantum of sollazzo data newsletter, we are directed towards a fascinating project exploring the complexity of Chinese personal and family names and the challenges of Pinyin romanisation (see previously), which whilst creating name recognition for a global audience, creates ambiguities in the simplification, leaving out tonal qualities and how multiple characters can share the same transliteration. Over thirteen million individuals have Ma as a surname but it sourced from either 马, 吗 or less commonly 麻 (others have dozens of possibility occurring in the population) depending on stress, intonation and of course carry deeper meaning and associations—etymological and familial—than what can be conveyed in the Pinyin and comparable systems. Explore more on onomastics and naming conventions at the links above and hear examples of pronunciation that can vary widely and are quite distinct.

synchronoptica

one year ago: On the Beach (1959) with synchronoptica

seven years ago: youthquake plus molten salt reactors

eight years ago: Ottoman fairy tales, assorted links worth revisiting, railway competition, a lesson on euphemisms plus signs of the year

nine years ago: more links to enjoy, a special Jedi holiday service plus comparative cinematography 

ten years ago: biological burps on Mars, the Becker of St Hedwig plus Christmas Colorforms

l’ultima cena nell’arte (12. 087)

Fellow internet caretake and accomplished docent, Weird Universe, treats us to a grand tour of a museum in the border town of Douglas, Arizona that showcases collection of its curator of works inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic masterpiece, The Last Supper (see also). With interpretations ranging from the devotional to the irreverent, skewing to sci-fi and pop cultural with an array of items in place of Jesus and the apostles, it looks like a fun exhibition to visit. We liked this more traditional depiction from a different perspective showing a sleeping dog on the floor. Much more at the links above.

11x11 (12. 086)

top fifty: a review of the biggest literary stories of 2024—including the Brontë sisters getting their diaeresēs 

we all live in the ruins of the rot economy: a long-read about the abusive and exploitative ways that the tech industry treats people at scale—see previously  

bottle episode: the amazing dioramas of folk artist Carl Worner—via Messy Nessy Chic 

emporia: Kottke’s 2024 gift guide  

chirality: scientists warn strongly against research into synthetic biology and “mirror life”—compare to the handedness of thalidomide

do not obey in advance: in agreeing to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump, the network is courting further nuisance claims over critical coverage, forgetting the first lesson of On Tyranny 

body-horror: an AI-generated impossible gymnastic routine 

velben goods: premium and surge-pricing 

sovereign citizens brigade: group in England claiming extrajudicial standing tried to kidnap county coroner, accusing the officer of the Crown of necromancy   

the network effect: social media fire-exits 

home box office: the cable network’s December 1982 previews

an irwin allen production (12. 085)

Premiering on this day in 1974, the disaster film (see previously) directed by John Guillermin (King Kong, The Bridge at Remagen) and featuring the all-star ensemble cast including Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Dabney Coleman, Richard Chamberlain and OJ Simpson had the highest grossing domestic box-office of the year and would go on to win numerous awards, among them the Academy Award for Best Music, scored by John Williams with the Oscar going to duo Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn for “We May Never Love Like This Again” who also collaborated for “The Morning After”—see above. The plot involves the return of a prize-winning architect to over see the dedication of the mixed-used skyscraper—at just over five hundred metres, the world’s tallest—in San Francisco. Concerns over potentially dangerous inadequacies in the electrical work by a subcontractor are ignored and the gala continues in the building’s Promenade Room, one hundred thirty five storeys above street level. As the male leads all wanted top-billing (see also), credits were staggered for posters and promotional material.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: façadism plus the art of Patrick Nagel

eight years ago: Sylvester Stallone to head the US National Endowment for the Arts, the microseasons of Japan, the EU’s headquarters plus recreating ancient soundscapes

nine years ago: an appreciation of the Galactic Empire’s bureaucracy

ten years ago: a feature length painted film about van Gogh plus the Witch of Endor

vexing vexillology (12. 084)

Via Web Curios, we very much appreciated, as an enthusiastic vexillophile, the chance to return to a favourite topic of national standards and iconography in this survey and analysis of flag design elements. Compared by colour distribution and proportion, they all can look alike—or by dent of dominate layouts—but what was most fascinating about this project was a chart of tracked-changes, revealing that the US flag had an unrivalled thirty-six
iterations (we suppose that most aren’t updated for incorporated territories) as contrasted with Germany’s ten or the second-place Afghanistan’s twenty-four, flag age (Denmark is the veteran) as a history lesson or this sort of periodic table that shows where unclaimed terra nullius could rise to statehood. Recursively, the above banner with a weaver’s hitch (or/azure) is the flag of the International Federation of Vexillological Associations, from vexillum, a type of square ensign for the Roman calvary which was coined for the study of flags—separate from heraldic scholarship—in 1957 by Whitney Smith, and encyclopaedist and graphic designer who contributed to the Guyana, Aruba and many newly independent, formerly colonial territories as well as a flag for Antarctica.

lame duck session (12. 083)

A host of contributors to a New York Times editorial piece have some good and intriguing suggestions for what US president Joe Biden might do between now and noon 20 January—“this winter of peril and possibility”—including crucial and meaningful stances on the death sentences of federal inmates, which could be commuted, the pardoning of those convicted of non-violent marijuana-related charges and even reclassifying cannabis (presently lumped with far more danger substance like heroine) in a move towards national legalisation and protecting more vulnerable federal lands. The most interesting proposal involves the certification of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would enshrine it in the constitution, and could be done under the president’s direction having satisfied the high hurdles for changing the supreme governing guidance. Originally drafted and introduced to congress in December of 1923, the brief and straightforward proposal explicitly prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex (believing that the IXX. Amendment guaranteeing universal suffrage was not enough to extend equality to other domains and counter arguments through the decades were based on the premise that men and women were already equal enough) and was eventually approved by both houses of the legislature in 1972. The other requirement to be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states had inertia throughout the 1970s but waned afterwards, just falling short—only meeting and surpassing the benchmark in 2020 motivated by Trump’s first term and his supreme court appointments. The judiciary blocked its inclusion at the time, arguing spurious that they failed to enact the proposed amendment within the established timeframe, though that expostulation had already been proved false. The passage of the ERA could protect reproductive rights though opposition would be strong and there is an alternative legal framework for its (or any other express value’s) undoing.

synchronoptica

one year ago: terrestrial radio broadcasts silenced to listen to Mars in 1924 (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: Halcyon days, assorted links worth revisiting, gadgets to match your volume plus an AI names bird species

eight years ago: a meme-based annual, the US electoral college votes plus medieval tableaux found in the church of Stratford-upon-Avon

nine years ago: break-away polities in Ukraine, the real Vitruvian Man plus Albert Kahn photographs the world

ten years ago: guard donkeys, humanising the gods, PEGIDA protests plus a camper trailer for a bicycle

9x9 (12. 082)

blame on the whiskey: DJ Earworm’s 2024 wrapped  

nhtsa: Trump transition team recommends scrapping crash reporting regulations with Tesla among the biggest offender for car-related fatalities—via the New Shelton wet/dry  

swaddling clothes: removal of a keffiyeh from a creche at the Vatican demonstrates how Nativity Scenes are never neutral  

flashpoint: charting possible frontlines on the continent if Russia pushes further on the NATO alliance  

as above, so below: the ensemble of pyramids of the Giza complex have eight sides, visible only during the equinoxes 

theatre of thought: Werner Herzog contemplates the nature of the mind in his latest documentary  

big band: Glenn Miller’s 1944 disappearance without a trace is an enduring aviation mystery, second to Amelia Earhart’s  

ka$h patel: FBI director’s resignation may hinder Trump loyalist’s succession as head of the bureau 

there ain’t no us in the private trust: a folk protest song about the state of American healthcare

intershop (12. 081)

With the first boutique of the chain owned and operated by East German (publicly, what’s classified as a VEB, Volkseigener Betrieb) on this day in 1962 in the East Berlin Friedrichstraße train station, the original target demographic was Western tourists transiting in and out of the country as a vehicle to increase holdings of hard currency reserves (Westmarks, dollars, pounds, francs—the domestic Ostmark not being accepted) by offering a selection of luxury items, alcohol and cigarettes not available on the DDR market—sort of like a duty free-shop. Because of restrictions on East German citizens from holding foreign currencies (relaxed in 1974), locals could not originally make purchases but (with some connections) could window-shopping, and as the number of outlets grew outside embassy row to border crossings on the Autobahn (nur für Reisende aus dem nicht-sozialistischen Ausland) and expanded to Western-style Interhotels, it had the unintended consequences of giving citizens insight into Western brands and their own limited selection. Lightly criticised by Erich Honecker in 1977 as a driver of inequality, the General Secretary said, “These shops are not obviously permanent companions of socialism, but we cannot ignore the fact that rising numbers of visitors are bring more such stable currency than before.” Over four hundred affiliates closing with reunification in 1990 and with no photography permitted inside, little documentation—outside of Stasi monitoring records—remains.

200 (12. 080)

Though without the nudity and slightly brain-melting morphing of characters of the animator’s best known short in 1982’s Malice in Wonderland, we appreciated being able to attribute the style to director Vince Collins (still actively creating) through this tribute to the United States’ then upcoming bicentenary (see previously)—commission by USIA—with a psychedelic review of its history through iconic symbols of Americana (caution flashing images). Maybe there will be a follow up for 2026.

*    *   *   *   *

 synchronoptica

one year ago: Hyperalleric’s Year in Memes (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: cartoon characters with alcohol problems, alternate Nativity plus Volta’s battery

eight years ago: more Trump appointees, assorted links to revisit, a sad Christmas tree for Rome plus Wonder Woman dropped as a UN goodwill ambassador

nine year ago: Fermat’s last theorem plus more links to enjoy

eleven years ago: double-meaning in genetic code, an alcohol periodic table plus bad signing

instavest (12. 079)

In 1962, Kenneth V Anderson (whom we imagine to be a prolific inventor) of La Crosse, Wisconsin secured a patent for his filing of a literal photo-jacket, an outer garment with pockets for displaying “friendship pictures” and shared snapshots, marketed specifically to teenagers and college students. Written to exacting tailoring details, Anderson suggests that the photographs could be turned inward facing at the wearer’s discretion and an empty sleeve could be used to convey a “hint” or invitation (see also, see previously) to another that it should be filled.

le livre qui dit la verité (12. 078)

According to his own account, courtesy of our faithful chronicler, Claude Vorihon—now known as Raël, fortieth and final prophet and founder of the international movement, first encountered the extraterrestrial guardians referred to as the Elohim (see also) whilst hiking in the ancient crater of an extinct volcano in the Clermont-Ferrand mountains. A space ship appeared and summoned Vorihon to return the next day with a Bible, which he did and over the course of the next year, was taught the aliens’ benevolent role in guiding human history. Although incorporating elements from Judaeo-Christian iconography (like the pictured “wormhole of David”) and Eastern traditions, Raëlianism is atheistic in so far as previous encounters and interventions were misapprehended as miracles and visits from gods. Vorihon was eventually taken to their home world and attended by a bevvy of cyborgs, learned their techniques of sensual mediation and tantric practises to produce a clone, after the philosophy of the quasi-immortal beings who have eschewed procreation in favour of limiting their population to ninety-thousand undying ones refreshed by clonal copies. Tenets of the movement, which numbers a membership of about ninety thousand worldwide (the same number as the individual Eloha) include advocacy for a single government modelled after Plato’s Republic, a technocracy and geniocracy, free love, gender fluidity and malleability, and various ventures such as Clonaid, rejecting the notion of an eternal and transcend soul and stressing that salvation is only secured through technological advances and an enlightened society.

synchronoptica

one year ago: more on the game of Life (with synchronoptica), assorted links to revisit plus Operation Red Dawn

seven years ago: microphotography plus the founding of Lufthansa

eight years ago: a new spider species discovered, the Rex Factor podcast plus Brexit negotiations

nine years ago: looking forward to the next episode of Star Wars plus Project ECHELON

eleven years ago: Germany’s Word of the Year 

say my name (12. 077)

Launching his bid for the party nomination for on this day in 1974—barred constitutionally from standing for the governorship of the state of Georgia for a second term—the fifty year old Carter began his campaign enunciating his intentions to counter the derision of opponents mocking his relatively unknown status with “Jimmy who?” A severe economic depression in the ensuing years prior to the 1976 election and Gerald Ford’s diminished public reception due to his pardoning of Nixon caused the Democrats to feel confident about returning to power. Ford’s debate gaffe that there was “no Soviet dominion in Eastern Europe and under Ford administration there never will be” did not help either—see also. Enlisting help from popular performers in the meantime, Carter raised his profile significantly and garnered a plurality of his party’s support in the primaries.

7x7 (12. 076)

primordial soup and son of soup: Dirty Feed’s 2024 wrapped  

mobile ui: top neglected App Store add-ons of the year  

merriam-webster defines: polarisation has been selected as the Word of the Year for 2024—with runner-ups including pander, resonate, demure and allision for when that container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March  

survive ’til 25: Mrs Claus’ strategies for making it through Christmas  

fallout: a tour of the Soviet-era nuclear shelters of the Prague subway  

the late set: a year of jazz discoveries  

starbug: a to scale model of the shuttle from Red Dwarf

synchronoptica

one year ago: The Poseidon Adventure (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: more links to enjoy, the adoration of words plus a comprehensive and inclusive eye-chart

eight years ago: the centenary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, even more links, Batman’s gadgets plus Iceland to oust the US FBI

nine years ago: delightful small towns around the world

ten years ago: Santa’s sweat shops plus hypervelocity stars

general audiences admitted (12. 075)

Coming into effect in November 1968, the first theatrical release to be given a G-rating by the Motion Picture Association of America—replacing the Hays Code as a voluntary, self-policing scheme for parental advisement—was the Monkees’ movie Head and the classification has been on a steady decline since with only documentaries able to secure it, having gone from general genres to niche, recalling those films that really pushed the envelope of decency and age-appropriateness (some seeking the restricted). Once the most prevalent rating for popular movies with non-objectionable if not exactly family-friendly themes like 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Andromeda Strain and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (each retroactively given PG status), it fell to a quarter of releases by the mid-1980s, pivoting to children’s films and with only a smattering of the box-office, posing the question of whether the current criteria are still fit for purpose. Much more from Tedium at the link above.

7x7 (12. 074)

watermark: a year in illustrations from Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic  

大年三十: due to a quirk in the lunisolar calendar, Chinese New Year’s Eve will disappear for the next five years 

<div>: web designer demonstrates the virtuosity of cascading style sheets—via Boing Boing

you have died of dysentery: a cinematic adaptation of the Oregon Trail computer game—via Kottke  

liquidation: a bankruptcy judge voids the Onion’s purchase of Infowars, arguing there was money left on the table  

dalgona challenge: McDonald’s Australia introduces a Squid Game Happy Meal  

special perils policy: the brilliant, dynamic typography of the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps—see previously

synchronoptica

one year ago: another MST3K classic (with synchronoptica), DJ Riko’s X-Mas mix, Messiah of Evil (1974) plus a cosmetic automat

seven years ago: the French Revolutionary calendar, curvature blindness plus linguistic eggcorns

eight years ago: IKEA retail therapy, emoluments and self-dealing plus the legacy of Bauhaus design

nine years ago: LEGO Inferno plus assorted links to revisit

eleven years ago: It’s A Wonderful Life

deny, defend, depose, diarrhea (12. 073)

Symptomatic of far greater endemic problems with America’s labour and healthcare problems, individuals are submitting scathing reviews of one of the three McDonald’s franchises in Altoona, Pennsylvania that tipped off authorities regarding the whereabouts of the fugitive suspected of killing the CEO of a major insurance provider—see previously. Whilst his life is undergoing vivisection by the police and the press for his apparent act of retribution, the public is lamenting the selling out by an informant of folk-hero Luigi Mangione whose Monopoly money and manifesto speaks for everyone who has had a negative interaction with their insurance carrier by addle-brained employees who will never have coverage either (nor likely any other basic benefits, like paid leave or a pension) and won’t see the bounty as the tip went through local authorities and not the FBI hotline, no CEO stepping forward to reward this act of killing one of their own. PfRC does not condone this type of lawless vigilantism no matter how resonant and righteous, nor do we condone the above-the-law framework of for-profit healthcare and corporate welfare that props up businesses that rely on a woefully insufficient government safety net to make money and a parasocial system that is a feedback loop undermining people’s physical and mental well-being.

spes non confundit (12. 072)

Pope Francis has issued the bull of indication that the 2025 Jubilee, which will last from Christmas Eve this year to Epiphany of 2026, fulfilling the declaration made by John Paul II at the conclusion of 2000’s Great Jubilee, with the above convocation from the verse of the book of Romans “hope does not disappoint” and understanding that the youths attending the millennial celebration would be the leaders a quarter century later. Recognising the need, Francis had an intervening Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy a decade ago and this time all four mercy gates of the basilica of the Holy See, Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Saint Mary Major, St John Lateran and St Peter’s, are being unbricked to be opened is succession through Christmastide. A fifth door will be added for the first time in a tradition dating back to the fourteenth century with the entrance of Rebibbia prison, one of the chief incarceration facilities in Italy focused on social reintegration and rehabilitation of its inmates (including John Paul II’s attempted assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca, Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino and numerous mafiosi) symbolically representing all jails.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Pantone’s colour for 2024 (with synchronoptica), AI illustrated Christmas carols plus unit abbreviations

seven years ago: Dr Who villains, a space-faring micronation, curios British telly plus AI authored Christmas carols

eight years ago: mistaking the bad guys, more on netiquette plus A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

nine years ago: assorted links to revisit, nuance in language plus colonial powers vie for Africa

ten years ago: the commodification of foodstuffs, set designs for Kubrick films, an appreciation of clipart plus avocados and megafauna

american minerva (12. 071)

Originally founded on this day by lexicographer and text-book publisher Noah Webster under the above name with the extended subtitle Patroness of Peace, Commerce and the Liberal Arts, the daily was NewYork City’s first in circulation. Undergoing a series of rebrandings in its first few years of publication, it finally settled The Commercial Advertiser in 1803. Politically the paper was generally leaning towards support of the nationalist, conservative Federalist Party. A century later in 1904 it was again renamed The New York Globe, defunct with its consolidation in 1923 with the New York Sun, ending its run.

10x10 (12. 070)

willow: Google’s quantum computing labs unveil a new microchip that operates at amazing speeds by being in many states simultaneously  

skin-deep: a look at the tattoos of Defence Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth 

mind-machines: Arthur C Clark (previously) forecasts the rise of artificial intelligence in 1978 

yuletide classics: a treasury of ten great holiday action movies—see also  

saturday night bath in apple valley: Something Weird features the very best in exploitation film from the 1930s through the 1970s—via Obscure Media 

they see your photos: an app that assesses one’s images, opposite to a picture is worth one thousand words  

free syria awaits you: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham enters Damascus as Bashir al-Assad flees to Moscow and political prisoners are freed  

mocha mousse: a defence of Pantone’s colour for 2025—it’s first brown hue  

pratfall: the history of slipping on banana peels—see previously here and here  

undercoat: solar paint developed by Mercedes Benz could revolutionise EV charging

synchronoptica

one year ago: underappreciated cinematic masterworks (with synchronoptica), multifunction gadgets plus The Wicker Man (1973)

seven years ago: prospecting for bitcoin plus transparency in airfare

eight years ago: dinosaur plumage, no memory for sickness, Italy’s efforts to reduce government gridlock and promote efficiency plus assorted links to revisit

nine years ago: an extraordinary Jubilee Year, chain of command plus 3D face masking

ten years ago: lucky charms, visualising the passage of time plus a first, fatal shooting by police in Iceland

in media res (12. 069)

Having recently learned about the origin stories of some of the characters of the Illiad and how these narratives would have been known to ancient audiences though known canonically as prequels and supplement material, we quite enjoyed reading about this incredible archeological find in Durocortorum (Reims) in the form of a luxurious Roman-Gallo villa recently excavated, no expense spared to showcase the residents’ affection for culture and refinement, including the likeness of Achilles dressed as handmaid (a rare example from Zeugma pictured). Prior to enlistment to fight with the Achaean armies against Troy, in this post-Homeric episode, well-known to imperial attendees, Achilles’ mother, the sea nymph Thetis, despite her efforts to help him knew her son’s fate and Achilles’ heel and so had him hidden away at the court of Lycomedes, king of Skyros, disguised as a young woman, on the premise that her daughter was raised with an Amazon upbringing and now needed to learn more feminine ways from young women her own age—called Pyrrha (Red)—and while sitting out the draft, had a relationship with princess Deidamia, siring two boys by her—originally opposed to his mother’s plan, the hero relented once meeting his inmates. Odysseus tricked Achilles into revealing himself, dragging his compatriot off to the front. Other exquisite artefacts found at the site also attest to the owners Romanophilia and education.

who, where, what (12. 068)

Via Nag on the Lake’s always outstanding Sunday Links, we are directed to the annual challenge in the King William’s College Winter Break quiz (see previously)—which never fails to baffle and probably never, honestly at least broke a cross of two. Our almanac activities are seeming to pay off at least a little bit in helping know a few answers from a century ago including: In the renaming of which city was a leading apostle replaced in honour of a revolutionary leader?  The publication of which forged document may have influenced a Conservative landslide?  The one-page assignment issued since 1904 is no longer formally graded as homework but rather as an opportunity or pupils and their families to think about research strategies over the holidays.

ampel aus (12. 067)

The Committee for the German Language (Gesellschaft füe deutsche Sprache—see below) has announced its Wort des Jahres for 2024 as a nod to the collapse of the Red, Yellow, Green party coalition in the government and the call for snap-elections, but there were several other words being monitored as contenders, including Klimaschönfäberei—essentially the German rendering of “green-washing,” kriegstüchtig, war-like, Rechtsdrift, a shift to more conservative and populist politics, die Selbstbestimmung in Bezug auf den Geschlechtseintrag (abbreviated SBGG), a update to the outdated 1980 law on transgender identity enacted in November that allows non-binary individuals to register under a new first name and sex without the bureaucratic onus and Messerverbot, in reference to a few incidents of knife-attacks at public events earlier in the year and the response of authorities.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica), the spelling of Christmas and Hanukkah plus Germany’s Word of the Year

seven years ago: the fraught and racist history of square-dancing, net-neutrality under threat plus a catalogue of spomenik of the former Yugoslavia

nine years ago: a real world copy of the Simpsons’ home

ten years ago: the historical Snow White plus the History of the World in 100 Objects 

eleven years ago: decorating for Christmas, spies in the skies plus the languages of Switzerland

 

the ghost of christmas yet to come (12. 066)

The final resting place too far weathered by the centuries in the churchyard of St Chad’s in Shrewsbury (named for a seventh century Mercian monk and bishop—Charles Darwin was baptised there) was repurposed as the burial plot for the fictional Ebenezer Scrooge for a 1984 adaptation starring George C Scott and subsequent ones of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol—previously. The third spirit showed Scrooge his fate should he keep to his miserly ways. After discovering the vandals had overturned and smashed the headstone in late November, local stonemasons promptly repaired it free of charge, restoring the beloved attraction and quelling some of the outrage over the act.

footnote (12. 065)

Once the preserve of daisy-chains of ideas that built off another, the ability of AI to abstract and summarise the answer to a query in the search engine itself (see also), the loss of linkages threatens to flatten out the architecture of learning and the serendipity when one diverges from the affiliated index and embraces the flowchart, algorithmic (albeit cosmetic and reliant for now on those vast, networked underpinnings until, unless it becomes recursive regurgitation). Collin Jennings invites us to consider Alexander Pope’s mock-epic The Dunciad, considered a broadside of word in print by Marshall McLuhan, which lampoons the agents of the goddess of dullness who champion tastelessness and imbecility through publishing and the press presented over four editions as hypertextual with its appendices and commentary that far exceed the lines of verse in subsequent issues. AI doesn’t google like people google, to investigate, check spelling, check or outsource memories, and I certain am not looking for a tee-shirt version of my last search. The linear nature of the printed page and packaged answers—which great writers have always striven to transcend—was a limitation of the medium and its successors did rise above in the internet, collaborative and full of serendipitous deviations but artificial intelligence becomes an inscrutable blackbox not so much in its magic predictions but moreover when one is shielded from the tapestry of associations that inform its results.

A Lumberhouse of books in ev’ry head,
For ever reading, never to be read.
Next o’er his books his eyes began to roll
In pleasing memory of all he stole.

More from Aeon at the link above.

veni redemptor gentium (12. 064)

Fêted on this day on the anniversary of his consecration as the bishop of Milan in 374 AD, the statesman and theologian Saint Ambrose was a strong and influential proponent of heterodoxy in the Latin rite and was also celebrated for a cycle of Advents hymns and antiphonal chants that inform later traditions of carolling. Along with Augustine of Hippo (whom Ambrose converted), Jerome and Pope Gregory the Great, he is considered in western traditions a Doctor of the Church. Born in Augusta Treverorum around 339, it is said a swarm of bees descended on the infant whilst in his crib, leaving the baby unharmed and anointed with droplets of honey—taken as an auspicious sign and his patronage of apiculturists and by extension candle-makers. Moving to Rome from the provinces, Ambrose would study law and rhetoric and enter public service, like his father, becoming governor of Liguria and Emilia with the captial in Milan. Intervening in a succession crisis for the city’s bishop seat, not standing for the office, the politician accepted the vacancy compelled by popular acclaim of the assembled council, the Church afforded a measure of autonomy by Ambrose’s imperial connections, which tended towards deferment to his decisions and a level of independence. Charitable and advocating a kind of liturgical flexibility and rejecting rigid customs—including tolerance for pagans and other non-Christians, his advice to Augustine about respecting local ways stays with us, distilled as, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

directors’ cut (12. 063)

What an absolute gift to be able to watch an individual being paid tribute while they can still be part of it. Via Nag on the Lake, we are directed to this brilliant music video from Spike Jonze and Mary Wigmore from Coldplay’s new album, Moon Music, for the track “All My Love,” which together with the band they turned into a moving early birthday celebration for Dick Van Dyke (*1925) who sang and danced and was joined by his extended family. Chris Martin on piano delights at the end with an impromptu song about growing old for Van Dyke.