einsteinturm (11. 027)

Closed for renovations for over a year, the solar observatory on Potsdam’s Telegraphenberg in the science park also named for the renowned physicist, the solar observatory with a range of experiments designed to validate—or disprove—the theory of relativity has now been reopened to the public. Designed by industrial, Streamline Moderne architect Erich Mendelsohn and Richard Neutra in consultation with astronomer Erwin Finlay-Freundlich 1920 and operational by 1924, the accessible laboratory could demonstrate the gravitational red-shift (detectable in slight variations in the Sun’s spectral signature) by Einstein and introduce visitors, not just scientists and educators, to the new cosmological model and introduce basic research principles to general audiences. An active scientific facility run by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics to the present day, the Einstein Tower focuses on studies of the solar magnetic field and Sun spot activity. During the Nazi regime, the observatory was stripped of its name and independence and a bronze bust of Albert Einstein was removed from the premises. Employees and associates have maintained a tradition of placing a single, substitute stone (ein stein) in its place since.

all objects and some questions (11. 026)

Via Kottke, we are referred to this rather elegant two-dimensional plot that at the core of a presentation that surveys the thermodynamic history of the Cosmos, for the dense and energetic Big Bang to the cold, lonely Heat Death of the Universe, with time as a function of density and gravity as a governing factor. Some assumptions are made and I can’t pretend to comprehend it all but one can view the entire slide deck with notes and see if you reach the same conclusion posited the the Universe is a black hole.

tarotic art (11. 025)

We appreciated this introduction to surrealist painter and social justice activist Leonora Carrington through her esoteric series inspired and informed by the iconography of the Major Arcana, whose symbolism is reflected everyone when one is ready for it. First exposed to the movement in the works of Max Ernst at the International Surrealist Exhibition, both artists later met, bonded and married, collaborating on projects and supporting one another’s work. Having settled outside of Paris, French authorities arrested the German Ernst with the outbreak of World War II as a “hostile alien.” Remanded to Germany, Ernst was taken into custody again by the Gestapo as a promoter of degenerate art. Dealt quite a hand and inconsolable over the detention of her husband (Ernst later was able to escape and flee to the US with the help of Peggy Guggenheim) and on the verge of a psychotic breakdown, Carrington agreed to a course of treatment in an asylum in Spain and underwent a regiment of electroshock therapy and powerful drugs. Carrington’s parents decided to then send her to a sanatorium in South Africa for continued care. Escaping en route in Portugal, Carrington sought refuge at the Mexican consulate and arranged a marriage-of-convenience to the ambassador so as to be liberated from the custody of her family and given the diplomatic immunity to travel. Ernst married Guggenheim, with Carrington joining a community of exiles in Mexico, where she was also a champion of women’s rights. Carrington’s body of work reflects Mesoamerican folkways and matriarchal traditions that whose points of departure limn her own biography. More from Hyperallergic at the link up top.

dank meme (11. 024)

We’ve already witnessed how accomplished artificial intelligence can potentially be at generating fake news and history with persuasive confidence, and our trusty AI wrangler (see previously) is uncovering another insistent unreality in the form of trolling chatbots and calling on them to delivery a summary or explanation of a cultural happening that didn’t actually happen. This experiment demonstrates the chasm between human requestor and their synthetic correspondent, which is seeking information versus predicting a plausible outcome. These examples are pretty innocent and fun but underlie something a touch sinister when one can be served an account that never occurred. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: Knight Rider (1982) plus an asteroid deflection test

two years ago: the Free City of Christiana (1971), Biosphere 2 (1991), more McMansion Hell, an AI names supermarkets plus Germany votes

three years ago: assorted links to revisit plus the photography of Robert Bechtle

four years ago: Trump’s “perfect call,” communal housing in the capital of Greenland plus the science vessel formerly known as Boaty McBoatface

five years ago: World War III narrowly averted (1983), Trump at the UN General Assembly, the Afrofuturist art of Bodys Isek Kingelez, more on the Hyperloop project plus Gilligan’s Island (1964)

featured ruinations (11. 023)

Via Kottke, this is more fun than expected. Admittedly though I had seen musician Dustin Ballard’s intriguing series “There I Ruined It” but dismissed them as a bit too jarring (of course delivering as promised) after a few seconds, however, we know have a restored appreciation for favourite songs, lovingly destroyed—like Eminem v Mario.Whoops there goes gravity.

happy blogoversary (11. 022)

Go check out fellow internet caretaker’s veteran blog, Everlasting Blört, and raise a glass for twenty-three years of finely curated posts, active non-stop since we were collectively recovering from our y2k celebration hangover. Some greatest hit have been collected from the past years but do indulge in a long scroll. I regret that EU service providers seem to take objection to the ‘meepzorp’ extension and we find ourselves not able to visit as much as we’d like, but we take advantage whenever we can to check in.  Here’s to many, many more years of quality hyperlinked content.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit, the JWST eyes Neptune, more luxury bunkers plus exploring the inaccessible with elementary particles

two years ago: a Scissor Sisters’ hit, a Wagner classic, sneakers patterned off of vintage VHS packaging plus a visit to Gemünden am Main

three years ago: the first radio-controlled robot (1906), Facebook modelled itself off Big Tobacco plus something expressed in gesture alone

four years ago: the first newspaper in the Americas, the downfall of Thomas Cook plus the US constitution’s Bill of Rights

five years ago: Looney Tunes’ propaganda, the Rubik’s Cube plus misheard lyrics of a Star Wars anthem

your captain, merrill stubing (11. 021)

Premiering on this day in 1977 after three pilots airing as made for television movies and broadcast for nine seasons—including five specials—the Aaron Spelling venture of the port-of-calls of the MS Pacific Princess, featured in a Saturday night weekly lineup including Fantasy Island. Though not the first to do so, it solidified the cross-over, guest-star anthology format, bringing in celebrities from film and pioneered parallel plots, with an A-, B- and C-stories in each episode. Aside from the roles of captain, ship’s doctor, and your bartender (promoted to yeoman pursuer, portrayed by Gavin MacLeod, Bernie Kopell, and Ted Lange, the cast rotated. Fred Grady as your yeoman pursuer—Burl “Gopher” Smith was in all the televised episodes but opted out of the specials to campaign for the US congress.

10x10 (11. 020)

osiris-rex: fulfilling a seven-year mission (previously) a space probe to collect samples from an asteroid—with further adventures planned 

succession: Rupert Murdoch’s departure from News Corp is a cold-comfort for the millions brainwashed by Fox and Friends 

be the first to like this post: more on the meaning and origins of the chain of riders and horses dispatched to send missives—see previously  

project cybersyn: more on Salvadore Allende’s plans to build a socialist internet 

fanfare: the history and physics of the trumpet  

shear madness: 1980 reportage on a cutting-edge hair salon in Kensington  

the joke and dagger department: an appreciation of the genius of Spy vs Spy, a political cartoon that wasn’t a political cartoon 

3r’s: the Swedish educational system has a renewed emphasis on handwriting, quiet reading time  

omni consumer products: New York City police lease a robocop to patrol Times Square subway station as a trial run  

all these worlds are yours—except europa, attempt no landing there: the JWST detects carbon on the surface of the Jovian moon