winterovers (11. 257)

Courtesy of Waxy, we are pointed to an update in the epic blog about being stationed at McMurdo research facility in the South Pole (previously) regarding the author’s departure and redeployment from Antartica and homecoming. We do hope that these are not the end of the insights and intrepid adventures in logistics and dealing with the extreme and isolated conditions, otherworldly seasonal shifts much more jarring that what we are accostomed to. In any case, each entry has been well worth the read about living and working—challenges and the creature comforts afforded—at the research station (see also) and we are promised further updates coming soon.

nothingburger (11. 256)

First airing on this day in 1984, featuring manicurist recently discovered for her irascible mannerisms and unique voice (owing to advanced emphysema which prevented her from delivering the slogan as scripted, “Where is all the beef?”) Clara Peller, already in her eighties, the Wendy’s advertising campaign against its bigger competitors was a resonant indictment against the “Home of the Big Bun” with the catchphrase propagated seemingly everywhere. Later that same year Peller and popular Nashville-area radio host DJ Coyote McCloud had a hit-song based on the television commercial and was referenced again during the presidential primaries of the spring in the debates for the Democratic party nomination between Walter Mondale and rival Gary Hart, calling out the poverty and lack of substance of the latter’s “new ideas.” Despite the seemingly contemporary origin of the title phrase was popularised by a Hollywood gossip columnist in the early 1950s that saw a spotty ascent to political commentary.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus the language of plagues

two years ago: more links to enjoy 

three years ago: Moon radar, Metropolis (1927), striking oil (1901) plus illustrator Walter Molino

four years ago: Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon 

five years ago: the centenary of Bauhaus, a meditation from space, more useful German words, wireless charging for drones plus grifter nostalgia cannibalising the old internet

⢹⣇ (11. 255)

Via the latest instalment of Clive Thompson’s Linkfest, having explored ambigrams in the past, we were quite taken with this compilation of braille transformations collected by Sean M Burke (in Unicode) that convey a certain unexpected poetry and symmetry—like pondering the I-Ching for those unfamiliar, and would be a worthwhile effort to be able to re-orientate and read them for oneself. Much more to explore and contemplate at the links above.

10x10 (11. 254)

job security: the US only created seven-hundred new IT positions last year—compared to two-hundred seventy thousand in 2022—via the New Shelton wet/dry  

tidy mouse: an industrious rodent sorts out a human’s workspace 

a theft from those who hunger: Dwight Eisenhower’s Chance for Peace Speech of 1953   

seo: how Google’s search algorithm has shaped the web  

past is precedent: Austin Kleon shares one-hundred things that made his year—a very good list 

the big mac index: the rising costs of fast food and its political implications 

high school high: graphic designer Veronica Kraus curates gems from old yearbooks—see also—via Messy Nessy Chic  

armed conflict survey: mapping wars around the world  

double fantasy: celebrated photographer Kishin Shinoyama, who captured the intimate moments of John Lennon and Yoko Ono for their album art (see below) passes away, aged 83 

 year-on-year: the word from Davos forecasts anaemic economic growth

synchronoptica

one year ago: Nobody Told Me plus canal workers’ jargon

two years ago: Mambo Italiano, RMS Queen Elizabeth plus the premier of the iPhone (2007)

three years ago: classic rebrands, assorted links to revisit, a snowy day, more on Cats plus a diet inducing doorway

four years ago: attempts for a peaceful resolution to the Iraq War (1991), the yacht whisperer plus plans for a Woven City

five years ago: the diplomatic status of the EU downgraded, more Hampsterdance, repairing the Azure Window plus more links to enjoy

gin rummy (11. 253)

Via the New Shelton wet/dry, we are referred to a vintage but still actively and updating resource that catalogues the rules of play for hundreds of traditional, propriety and invented card games from all around the world and in several languages with detailed instructions and diagrams like this initial setup for a racing to discard hand called Peanuts, Squeal or Scrooge. There are a lot of historic games, some for play with specially suited decks, that sound intriguing like Ruff and Honours, Seven-Toed Pete, the Victorian pastime Pope Joan, Jemima Puddle Duck and Canadian Salad. There are also listings by number of players, available equipment. Try and pick up a new game to play with friends and family.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago:  Man with a Movie Camera (1929), All Creatures Great and Small (1978) Fourteen Points for Peace (1918), the chemistry of bread plus an insurrection in Brasilia

two years ago: I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (1971), more rogue planets, French Roswell plus the breakup of Ma Bell

three years ago: some loyalists denounce Trump, assorted links to revisit plus more conspiratorial thinking

four years ago: the last of the Beothuk,  posters for the Tokyo Games plus more links to enjoy

five years ago: no longer existing urban rail routes,  a family-run pizzeria, an artificial moon, songs in minor keys plus cryptic complaints about a lapse in appropriations

nine times nine to dispel the cold (11. 252)

In northern parts of China, where the winter months can seem particularly long and bleak, a folk-reckoning of the time until spring’s arrival emerged in ancient times called “Counting the Nine” (shujiu, 數九) and is still observed. Beginning on the solstice, the season is divided into nine intervals of nine days each, this form of almanac or Advent calendar (the number nine chosen as a seasonally accurate number and concept of renewal or reset as it the last digit before leaping to a new exponent) was not only important to farmers and herders for anticipating the planting season and return of growth, they also were a welcome distraction (eighty-one days is a long time) that taught numeracy and literacy—families devising activity posters, like with plum blossoms, mnemonics or other early indicators in the environment, to countdown the days.

chorioactis geaster (11. 251)

Appearing only in parts of Texas (recognised as the official state fungi since 2021), Oklahoma and Japan, this leathery star-shaped (usually seven-pointed) flower-like mushroom is delighting mycologists, professionals and amateurs alike. Nothing quite so uncommon, the Lone Star State mushroom also nicknamed the Devil’s Cigar as it is reported

to produce an audible hiss (quite a rare ability at least for the human range of hearing) before unfurling from a clylindrical shape to release spores, but after the thaw, we’ve been noticing quite a few winter funguses distinct from the autumnal ones that we are most accustomed to encountering,
like this formation of hair ice (Haareis) that we thought at first were patches of frost but is a phenomena that occurs when weather conditions are just right, damp and humid and just at the freezing point when ice forms on the substate of a specific kind of mould (Exidiopsis effusa, not identified as the catalyst until 2015) growing on dead wood. The resulting strands and curls, however, are not formed on this fungus but rather extruded, expressed in the shape of ephemeral fine hairs before they sublimate away, though a still unknown mechanism and chemistry.

ensh*ttification (11. 250)

As shared by Waxy, the venerable American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, selected as its Word of the Year (technically referred to in the broader sense as a “vocabulary item”) the coinage from Cory Doctorow used to describe, and perfectly encapsulate, how digital platforms degrade and become decrepit, following a tragic bait and switch trajectory of first being good and usefully, then abusing users by commoditising them for the sake of advertisers to finally abuse those sponsors and shunt value for themselves as a brand—to die the death. Among other contenders short-listed were ceasefire for those calling to stop the hostilities in Palestine, context for its invocations from university presidents on free-speech, Kenaissance for the depiction of the heroine’s companion in the Barbie movie, “let someone cook” as an urging to allow an individual to do something they are good at without interference and stochastic parrot for the tendency of language models to generate plausible text without any understanding. The jury also announced categories of most useful, mostly likely to succeed, such as a gendered-x, girl math, boy math and era defined as a personal period of defining style or behaviour. Their euphemism of the year nominees included effective altruism as a movement to benefit all of humanity but as an excuse to spend the money of others, and in the politics category, 🍉 (employed for the similar colours to the flag) was picked as a symbol of solidarity with the people of Gaza with hot labour summer in second place. More at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: close-up photos of the year, the US House of Congress elects a Speaker, a tiny generative remixer, Emperor Norton I plus assorted links worth revisiting

two years ago: the Slovak gaming community, the Tokyo metro in real-time, Powers of Ten, St Distaff’s Day, more links to enjoy, Web 3.0 plus Macron’s vulgarities

three years ago: words that are their own opposites plus the introduction of DALL·E

four years ago: here come the seventies, an animated medieval songbook, the tattoos of a Danish king, fancy apple varieties plus covering GITMO

five years ago: more Japanese New Year cards plus more on the Year of the Periodic Table