riverfront brawl (10. 937)

We are directed to a circumspect reflection on the ugly racism on display in Montgomery, Alabama and the social media response that demonstrates that Black Twitter is irrepressible no matter how it’s rebranded over a group of white people shamefully accosting a riverboat captain asking that the partygoers of a pontoon move their vessel so they could dock in its assigned space. One individual came to the rescue with a folding chair, invented by a Black man called Nathaniel Alexander patented in 1911 for use in auditoriums, churches and schools and other places where “considerable sitting is done.” Be sure to watch the outro for Good Times and other associated memes at the links above. Dynomite!

content pruning (10. 936)

Via Waxy, we learn that the venerable, global publisher of reviews and news on consumer electronics CNET is culling thousands of older articles in a possibly misguided attempt to improve its SEO rates and game Google search performance. Following developments that the media outlet—like many others—is cutting writing staff and turning increasingly to generative content, CNET believes that it is being penalised in the contemporary web ecosystem by hanging on to dated articles and would better appeal to search-engines by refreshing or deaccessioning “depreciated” stories. Once deemed irrelevant, older content will be no longer live on the site but rather archived and available on the Wayback Machine. Google itself—famously obscure about how the algorithm for optimisation works so one cannot game the results any more than they are by catch-penny operations—recommends against this practise and that of course older articles as a matter of public record have value and any attempts to game a platform that’s just as opaque and inscrutable to its own handlers is probably a losing proposition. Let’s hope that this sort of gamble doesn’t inspire the same from other organisation, putting more pressure on under-supported operations like the Internet Archive or worse yet just jettisoning old stories. We dredge up the old, outdated and cringe-worth on a daily basis and might not be the most relevant or flattering but it’s sometimes an interesting insight into a small part of the Zeitgeist. 

 synchronoptica

one year ago: C’est Chic plus the FBI searches the private residence of Donald Trump

two years ago: Ghostbusters! plus assorted links to revisit 

three years ago: more links to check out, scales of cosmological magnitude plus the start of the Mayan Long Count Calendar

four years ago: Clair the Obscure, the maps of Dan Mills plus lousy souvenirs from ancient times

five years ago: training birds to pick up litter, Vitis vinifera, the Marquess of Anglesey plus Robert G Ingersoll and the Free-Thinkers

 

7x7 (10. 935)

latent stage—this is where boys and doing boy stuff, girls are doing girl stuff and most children typically purchase their second firearm: the state of Florida’s revised psychology advanced placement curriculum

songs in the key of z: a documentary about outsider musician Peter Grudzien who recorded one of the first gay country albums  

savey meal-bot: a frugal-minded grocery store app gives out a recipe for deadly chlorine gas  

the judgment of cambyses: documenting the thirty-eight luxury vacations that other billionaires have treated US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to—via Kottke—see previously  

lāhainā: wildfires engulf the historic royal capital of Hawaii with dozens killed on the island of Maui 

the green m&m: Steven Miller of America First Legal complains that Kellogg’s is sexualising its products, violating federal statues by promoting diversity in its workforce—see previously 

handmaid’s tale: professors and teachers’ union challenge laws that forbid the teaching of reproductive rights

gallon of scallops (10. 934)

We thoroughly enjoy one of the latest instalments of the podcast Judge John Hodgman that entertained cases submitted on codified language usage, idiolects and otherwise rampant pedantry with guest Merriam-Webster lexicographer Emily Brewster for its discussion on words but especially liked the tangential exchange on marriage customs with the new modern wedding anniversary gifts that diverge after the first five of paper, cotton, leather, linen and wood that hit all the show’s running gags: “And then the sixth anniversary, hotdog. Seventh anniversary, sandwich—because they’re not the same thing [some sources including Merriam-Webster infamously equate the two]…The eighth is Kung Pao chicken.” And so on, all needing citations for the unacquainted. The twentieth is separate bedrooms.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Treaty of Verdun (843) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: the opening of the Louvre (1793), the animation of Raoul Servais plus historic medically restricted diets

three years ago: a public bath in Stockholm, the first Blues hit (1920) plus on being a joyful rule breaker

four years ago: You are Here plus more on the former border between East and West Germany

five years ago: strained relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia, the very model of a modern age millennial, the disappointment that comes with the realisation that one’s travel experience is far from unique

it’s all too beautiful (10. 933)

Peaking at number three after entering the UK singles charts on this day in 1967, bested by Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco” (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) and The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love,” The Small Faces’ “Itchycoo Park” was among the first songs to use the technique called flanging that can be heard in the post-refrain bridges—the swooshing audio effect is produced by mixing two identical signals one with a delay of a few milliseconds that resolves in harmonisation. Classed as psychedelic-pop, the identity of the titular park has been subject to debate, proposals ranging from Manor Park or Wansteads Flats in East London to Little Ilford or Valentine’s Park in Charring Cross—regardless of the location, so nicknamed for the preponderance of stinging nettles. Regarded as “refreshing” and inspired with their other hits “All or Nothing,” “Lazy Sunday” and “Tin Soldier,” The Small Faces’ classic had a 1995 techno version released by M People.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a 1970 promotional short from Bell Labs plus an artist homage to cinematic classics

two years ago: assorted links to revisit plus the 1975 Song of the Summer

three years ago: science lost to aggressive formatting, an anthology of Tarot cards, more links to revisit plus St Edith Stein

four years ago: a short by Ishu Patel,  Nixon tenders his resignation (1974), Solomon’s Paradox plus more US gun-violence

five years ago: the bombing of Nagasaki (1945), bokeh plus a search-and-rescue robot

33 spaceships for another planet (10. 932)

Via friend of the blog Nag on the Lake, we thoroughly enjoyed contemplating these otherworldly compositions by Karla Knight that use schemata and alien glyphs to craft evoking something ancient and pictogrammatic. Check out Knight’s whole portfolio here and explore how her work is a study in evolving diagrams and flow-charts.  

synchronoptica

one year ago: Nixon resigns (1974) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: your daily demon: Berlith plus another MST3K classic to enjoy

three years ago: motivational sessions for the long-distance runner, Xanadu (1980) plus a selection of LEGO user-interfaces

four years ago: Abbey Road (1969) plus more on the very American problem of gun violence

five years ago: more McMansion Hell,  a World War I Allied advance, Trump brand asbestos plus more links worth the revisit

walled garden (10. 931)

JWZ turns our attention to the tectonic landscape of the internet with a pair of excellent geo-political maps from Randall Munroe of xkcd (click through to embiggen here and here) which are incredibly only three years apart—with the latter being already over a dozen years old. Not sure whether it would be exactly a “fun” exercise to make a contemporary version in a unipolar world of nonoverlapping magisteria that doesn’t respect sovereignty and stokes civil war and internecine fighting but it does show that the downfall and demise of platforms is nothing new. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: Come on Eileen

two years ago: St Donatus, letters postmarked from the Moon, more dazzle camo, an unpopular emoji plus “Marriage Trees”

three years ago: more on the end of a naval tradition plus wine windows are making a comeback

four years ago: flying through the Arc d’Triomphe (1919), the Fevres Ranger plus a privately-funded Moon Shot

five years ago: everything apps, a climate tipping-point, Zsa Zsa Gabor’s FBI files plus the US blocks trade with Iran

a desilu production or the first frontier (10. 930)

Born this day in 1911, comic, actor and accomplished producer was assuredly iconic for sense of timing, tolerance and advocacy as well as a real American hero for having detected and reported underground enemy radio transmissions intercepted through the lead fillings in her dentures, Lucille Ball should be remembered for hatching her star to a little project she called a “Wagon Train” to space, helping Gene Roddenbury develop the script and pitch the pilot to the networks.  Read more about the unmatched Ball at the link above.