the dark side of the rainbow (10. 841)

Though the experiments with synchronicity began earlier and were the subject of circulation of newsgroups and fan sites in the mid-90s (I recall seeing this in college but could not guarantee the accuracy of the timeline or if it happened at all), this week in 1997 following a newspaper article about the audio-visual phenomenon marked a surge in record sales for the 1973 Pink Floyd concept album with the suggestion that if one starts the music on the third roar of the MGM lion—then mute the movie—there’s an astonishing correspondence between Dark Side of the Moon and the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. The band disavowed any connection, sound engineer Alan Parsons, maintaining that “if you play any record with the volume turned down on the TV, you will find things that work,” adding it was all based on The Sound of Music. Dismissed by some as apophenia and the brain’s need to find patterns and ignoring those that don’t quite fit, there are still adherents who found the experience a bit transfixing, especially having to use two pieces of equipment simultaneously. And of course, there’s “Another Brick in the WALL·E”— synced to the track from the rock opera.

10x10 (10. 840)

⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️: Neal Fun’s (previously) infuriating password game  

ceiling cat: the European Souther Observatory in the Chilean mountains discovered a feline nebula

bad odds: wagering on climate change to bring the danger and risk to present and personal 

backstage: newsletters (from 1962 to 1980) published for Disneyland crew members, scanned in full—via Super Punch  

homage to magritte: a 1974 tribute in five vignettes to the Surrealist artist 

independent legislature theory: US Supreme Court strikes down suit that would cut checks and balances and judicial review of laws passed 

monkey bars: the first jungle gym (see previously) was built in hopes of teaching children about three-dimensional space and Cartesian coordinates 

magma: mining volcanoes could provide a more ecologically-friendly way to extract metals  

power of ten: NASA’s coding commandments focused on testability, readability and predictability that keeps critical systems safe and running in outer space  

goodnight phone: an interactive web comic for our shared present—via tmn

synchronoptica 

one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus a surprise session of the January Sixth hearings on the US Capitol Insurrections

two years ago: body language, the UN International Criminal Court (1993), Miss Continuous Towel and other spokesmodels plus Pitman shorthand

three years ago: a corporate typeface, a performative masculine simulator game, Martian meteors plus cataloguing one’s possessions

four years ago: the Stonewall Riots (1969), surveying Titan plus bringing back the chestnut tree

five years ago: Paul Simon on Sesame Street, silent cooking videos, assorted links to revisit plus combating fake product reviews

i have some notes (10. 839)

Via Kottke, we are directed towards the latest xkcd panel from Randall Munroe that’s a design critique on the Latin alphabet, which we love for registering all the inherited features and flaws in its design, from the semi-vowels, tittle and jot to the problematic X and coda.

paronomasia (10. 838)

Like our previous encounter with the “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den,” we learn via the new shelton wet/dry that the repetition of buffalo eight times can be parsed as a grammatically correct and true statement, illustrating how homophones and homonyms can create ambiguity as well as nuance. The animal name—the noun with null inflection like deer—is also used as an attributive adjunct and as a verb, and without Americanisms is semantically equivalent to [The] Buffalo [Minnesota] bison that other Buffalo [New York] bison bully also bully Buffalo [Indiana] bison.

synchronoptica  

one year ago: the US Supreme Court OKs right of lawyers to advertise their services (1977), “Captain Video” (1949), another MST3K classic, the Bored Ape Yacht Club Music festival plus hummingbird moths

two years ago: your daily demon—Purson,  Moby Dick (1956), Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Seven Sleepers, Freddie Mercury’s first show (1970) plus assorted links worth revisiting

three years ago: the first Pride March (1970), problematic upsampling plus Trump on Afghanistan

four years ago: Tironian shorthand, Zeitan characters plus a collection of modern-day retablos

five years ago: US Supreme Court upholds Trump’s travel ban plus the history of the US Pledge of Allegiance 

der rattenfänger von hameln (10. 837)

On this day, the Feast of SS John and Paul, in 1284—according to the Lüneberg manuscript, the Pied Piper paid a visit to the town of Hamlet, commission to rid the place of rats, which he manages tidily luring them with his magic pipe to the shores of the river Weser where they all drowned. The mayor however reneged on his promised bounty of a thousand guilders, offering only a fraction of the princely sum, and returning avenged his slight attracting the town’s children whilst the parents were in church—into the hills and never to be seen again. According to the legend, three children remained as witness and pieced together what happened to their inconsolable parents, one lame, one blind and one deaf that couldn’t join the procession. Various theories and allegorical readings exist ranging from a deliverance from the Plague, a clash between Christianity and paganism still practised in parts of Lower Saxony at the time to an interesting conjecture regarding emigration and over-population that saw mass-resettlement out of the area to Moravia, Prussia and a de-populated Transylvania (Siebenbürgen). The street in the Altstadt where reportedly the children were last seen is called Bungelosenstraße (drum-less) and to this day, singing and dancing are prohibited there.

8x8 (10. 836)

vers une architecture: architects on the centenary of Le Corbusier  

mall city: the 1983 NYU ethnograph of the culture—via Open Culture 

bladerunner 1929: with the help of AI, a trailer of the film in the style of Frtiz Lang’s Metropolis 

single fare zone: riotous 1960s Milwaukee metro passes 

for all intensive purposes: more eggcorns (previously) in English speech—featuring the linguist who coined the term 

push any key to begin: a brief history of splash screens and boot-up messages  

misinformation ouroboros: AI is ravaging the guardians of the Old Web and hindering innovation  

wonderful, wonderful copenhagen: the Danish city doubles as the seat of the UNESCO World Capital of Architecture 

 

synchronoptica 

one year ago: the Soviet calendar plus merfolk cosplay

two years ago: a twisting tower in Arles plus historic over the counter heroine as an alternative to opium (1896)

three years ago: assorted links to revisit, the first UPC barcode (1974) plus a rallying song from The Chicks

four years ago: Obergefell v Hodges (2015), assorted links to revisit,  a history of the mouse cursor, the Prosecco Hills content for UNESCO recognition, American military to return to Iceland plus the archaeology of Woodstock

five years ago: Kennedy visits Berlin (1963),  an ominous warning about artificial intelligence, assorted links to revisit plus the cathedral of Peter and Paul of Bristol

confessio ausgustana (10. 835)

Presented to the public on this day in 1530, the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church was drafted during the previous summer (as the Articles of Schwabach) by Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon and Justus Jonas as a summary of the faith to be given to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who decided to convene a diet in the city of Augsburg, calling on the princes and free states to advocate and explain their religious convictions in an attempt at reconciliation—aimed at restoring political unity within the empire and present a united opposition to counter Ottoman incursions in Austria and prevent a repeat of the ultimately unsuccessful Siege of Vienna. The twenty-eight articles of faith were read out by the rulers of the territories where Protestantism was the majority and consisted of twenty-one positive teachings (theses)—chief tenets of the confession, and seven negative (antitheses)—representing their split with Catholic doctrine and ceremony, mostly do to with dietary proscriptions (XXVI: On the Distinction of Meats) and the requirement for confession (XXV) to a priest for absolution of sin. At the conclusion of the diet, the Lutheran princes concurrently entered into a military pact called the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of mutual protection should the emperor make untoward demands of their domains, which eventually petitioned for official recognition of the faith in the empire under the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 under the principle of cuius regio, eius religio, “whose realm, his religion,” where the confession of the ruler became the state religion and all of its subjects.

l’oiseau de feu (10. 834)

The premiere work for then virtually unknown composer Igor Stravinsky debuted on this day in 1910 at the Palais Garnier, performed by the company Ballet Russe to critical acclaim, immediately solidifying him through this collaboration with choreographer Michel Fokine as an international figure in operatic productions and orchestral virtuoso. Staging, set and costume designs were quite phenomenal but the music alone was enough to propel Stravinsky’s career, The Firebird (see previously) tells the hero’s journey of protagonist Prince Ivan, based on the folktale, who becomes lost during a hunting expedition, loses his party and strays into the enchanted realm of the malevolent wizard Koschei the Immortal, kept deathless by keeping his soul in a pin in a magic egg. Ivan captures but spares the life of the Firebird, who is both boon and curse for her captors, who offers a feather as a token of gratitude to summon her aid in a moment of dire need, which comes when the prince confronts the wizard.