fralæggelse (11. 267)

On the same day as her ascension to the throne in 1972 on the occasion of the death of her father Frederik IX, Queen Margrethe II voluntarily resigned as Danish monarch, the first since 1146 when Erik III Lam abdicated to join a monastery, St Canute’s Abbey due to a debilitating illness, with her son proclaimed as Fredrik X—having announced her decision to a shocked public on New Year’s Eve. Fashion designer, stenographer and illustrator of national editions of the works of JRR Tolkien, Margrethe recently decreed that previous royal titles of prince and princess would cease to exist for members never expected to hold official roles, though courtesy titles would still be granted and has been a big proponent since decades of taking in immigrants of different backgrounds, and making them welcome despite their “dumsmarte bemærkninger” (cocky remarks), which has since been introduced into the lexicon.  Her regnal number is (see also) in deference to the regnant queen of all Scandinavia of the fourteenth century, Margaret, a fearless Lady Sovereign called King Pantsless, though never officially recognised claim closest to uniting the Nordic region.  The new king was coronated by the Danish prime minister with the motto “Forbundne, forpligtet, for Kongeriget Danmark (as is traditional, “United, committed, for the Kingdom”) and is especially interested in issues of climate change and sustainability as well as home-rule for Greenland and other autonomous territories.

hands-free device (11. 266)

Admitted seen to have one dangling from the rear-view mirror myself from time to time (maybe I ought to have hitched it to my last car), we hadn’t heard of this early 1950s, patented accessory (see also) called the Recording Rosary. Though I imagine it could still lead distracted driving—the innovation was for the Glory bead (traditionally made from the jet sourced to saints’ shrines or carved from olive pits from the garden of Gethsemane though substitute materials are sanctioned) to keep track of the decades if the process needed to be interrupted—and question if praying the rosary is something to be done whilst multitasking, the inventor’s intention were in the right place with proceeds going to charity and engaging in the activity during one’s commute or official duties (particularly for soldiers) was hoped to promote world peace. More at Weird Universe at the link up top.

stepford authors (11. 265)

We really were in agreement with this comparison of AI plagiarism to the 1975 horror film premising that the human wives of Stepford, Connecticut are having their identities transferred to more able cyborg replicas (to excel at household chores, cooking, sexual acts) without all the shrewish, independent aspects of their personalities that make the slightest bit objectionable to their husbands, having dispatched their biological templates and replacing them. Substituting a human writer with a synthetic one, for the publisher—or any employer for that matter—strikes one as far less bothersome. Meanwhile, the tech giants’ behind large language models arguments for “fair-use,” that machines are digesting and learning from the written word in the same way human readers do and not merely copying them is keeping lawsuits at bay within a legal-framework wholly unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with wholesale violation and lacking attributions—insufficient to even form a rigorous standard to hold the robots to. 

 synchronoptica

one year ago:  the Human Be-In (1967), Davy Jones changes his professional name (1966), ten years of Question Hound plus assorted links worth revisiting

two years ago: Davie Bowie’s Low (1977), a short by Gérald Frydman plus training an AI on vintage Batman comics

three years ago: a celebration of donkeys, Trump’s second impeachment, Laocoön, the US Congress’ electronic voting machines, marijuana and the munchies, premium pluralisation plus more on snail compasses

four years ago: forty-five-plus years of Fresh Air, US-Iranian relations, for America, separation of Church and State is becoming blurred plus Germany’s Un-Word of the Year

five years ago: pop-up poetry, view from a bus plus Cherubrashka

nuance (11. 264)

Via Kottke, we discover the Emoji Kitchen by Jennifer Daniels that allows one to combine and remix emoji (see previously here and here) as symbols for different accents, ranges of expressions and moods for angry kisses, pensive cowboys and forlorn robots to capture all the feels as well as some truly surreal abstractions (available directly only for certain platforms), like monkey cactus or monocled dustbin. See what you can come up with.

 

7x7 (11. 263)

photographie de rue: the images of Eugène Atget capture scenes of Paris unchanged since the turn of the last century  

ma che sera: more musical stylings from Raffaella Carrà with this 1974 TV appearance 

ray fay: the mostly-unreleased 1976 comedic spoof Queen Kong with traditional gender roles reversed  

from-to: reputational-based urban maps that can help you find the analogue East Village of London and other neighbourhoods in different cities 

tv mirror: leafing through the February 1977 includes an interview with Henry Winkler and more on the Dino De Laurentiis remake that condemned the above treatment of the colossus to obscurity 

isdn: a look at the once future-proof telecommunication standard quickly vanishing 

oppidum du mont beauvray: the successive rediscoveries of the ancient capital of the Gallic Aedui tribe, Bibracte

synchronoptica

one year ago: St Mungo plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: snow-plough names plus a very special episode of Bewitched

three years ago: more on sea-shanties, the art of Roger Brown plus COVID ex-votos

four years ago: Knut’s Day plus outcry over plant-based labels

five years ago: criticism over NordStream2,  interpretive GIFs plus more links to enjoy

erfundene mittelalter (11. 262)

Via Strange Company, we find ourselves directed to a real rabbit-hole of a conspiracy theory wrapped in the guise—possibly earnest and wholly without cause (like the counterfeit Donation of Constantine)—of scholarship articulated by academician Heribert Illig in 1991 known as the Phantom Time Theory, positing that events occurring in a three-century span from 614 to 911 were fabricated, advancing the Anno Domino dating system ahead in order to place the rule of either Pope Sylvester II, Holy Roman Emperor Otto III (plus legitimising his claim to the throne) or Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in power during the millennial of the death of Christ and ruling at the moment of the return of Jesus. Otto and the Pope made it but not Eastern emperor.  The fact that many manuscripts from the time are acknowledged copies of lost originals and including forgeries (see also), the preponderance of Romanesque architecture present after the influence should have abated and the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, adopted in phases, did not mathematically correct its predecessor (the reform was never intent on correcting and revising the the length of the year back all the way to its inception in 45 BC but rather to its state during the Council of Nicaea—covering this supposed three century discrepancy—when tying the date of Easter to the vernal equinox) and a fact that an alliance between the above three rulers, each preserving his magesteria, was likely, led Illig to conclude that personages and events like Charlemagne and his dynasty (for whom Otto had specious claim as no Caroligian, Frankish heir) led Illig to conclude that this period of history was an elaborate fraud, with retrograde, retroactive chronicles created and a populace willing as well to spring forward in time to be present for the Second Coming, though later the loss of a couple of weeks (or an hour) was seen to draw popular ire.  The alliance amongst these three potentates was strong enough, the theory suggests, to collaborate to create a revised timeline, though the idea is refuted as pseudoscience by medievalists, archaeological evidence, dendrochronology and of course recorded histories outside of western Europe.

#tbt (11. 261)

Via Web Curios, we are pointed towards an intriguing albeit a touch nostalgic and could have, should have been written for Gen X or any other cohort about the phenomena of ageing out of the internet in an NYT opinion column—which to a degree rises above the on-going argument that fun is work and its been haemorrhaging from being online for a while now and bemoaning the cannibalisation and repackaging of the old web that was no one’s particular bailiwick—and posits a generational shift to platforms, engagement and presentation that honestly does feel insufferable and burdensome. The places worth the visit are drying up (which is why we must cherish those who do remain) with some old standbys absolutely desiccated and much fewer opportunities for serendipity or at least shilly-shallying. Decades later, of course, we are also getting old and curmudgeonly, but the prospect of signing up for the next social media platform with its attendant “enjunkification” seems onerous (much the same way that the pivot to video has been) and not an in-group to be envious of.

so i tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time (11. 260)

A talented tattoo artist in Birmingham called Jon Arton shared some of their handiwork in rather epic form with Grampa Abe Simpson surrounded by a scroll that relates the long and rambling story that goes nowhere from the 1993 episode “Last Exit to Springfield” in order, conscripted as a strike buster, that distracts Mr Burns and helps convince him that Homer, as union leader for the power plant workers, is a master strategist and should concede to their demands. See the the tattoo and the original clip from season four, episode seventeen at the link above. My story begins in nineteen-dickey-two…

synchronoptica

one year ago: the manual on uniform traffic control devices, assorted links worth revisiting plus pioneers in cryogenics

two years ago: suits for hostile architecture plus a convocation from Toni Morrison

three years ago: more wonder turners plus Ezekiel 25:17

four years ago: The House that Screamed (1970), St Aelred, an urban forest, a disclaimer, a consortium of Parisian museums plus Sir Ian McKellen’s LOTR blog

five years ago: flower supersense,  Baby Shark plus a trip to Ohrdruf