11x11 (11. 625)

indemnity clause: a look at the exactingly detailed Sanborn maps created for US insurance firms in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries 

unseen persia: thousands of historic photographs of Iran during the Qajar dynasty leaked on-line from the archive of the Golestan Palace  

sweet thing: Chaka Khan’s debut Tiny Desk performance  

bahía de cochinos: Russian warships on drill visit Cuba  

doubly-disambiguated bishop non-capture statemale: a vlogger tries to categorise the rarest chess moves  

transponder: wood proves surprisingly durable material in space as agencies plan to launch experimental satellites, like ships on the high seas—via the Linkfest  

1337: a pretty exhaustive list of English words that can be spelled on a calculator turned upside down  

hollywood canteen: a fond farewell to Janis Page, recently departed at 101  

the brannock device: a better shoe-sizer based on the barley corn  

gallus gallus domesticus: photographer recreates exacting portraits of Edo-era Ito Jakuchu’s studies of chickens—via Nag on the Lake  

geochron: the incredible restoration of 1960s analog, electromechanical world clock and map

come retribution (11. 624)

Tonally quite different from his campaign announcement and really removed from his past platforms, the latest episode of This American Life takes its title from a litany of promises made during Donald Trump’s inaugural 2024 rally, the venue Waco, Texas, darkly proclaiming vengeance for those who crossed him: “In 2016, I declared, I am your voice. Today I add, ‘I am your warrior. I am your justice.’ And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, ‘I am your retribution—’” former advisor Steve Bannon further embellishing the speech by couching it in a supposed US civil war plot to kidnap and ransom Lincoln in order to pressure the Union to concede to to the Confederacy—foiled, again supposedly, by weak encryption that the North was able to easily decipher. Contributors go on during the broadcast to interview those who are definitely on Trump’s hit-list, including former staffer and White House (who infamously never gave a press conference) Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham who left during the storming of the US capitol and wrong a tell-all book about her time in the administration and LTC (ret.) Alexander Vindman, director for European affairs of the National Security Council whose testimony on Trump’s “perfect call” led to the first impeachment to try to understand what forms that revenge might take, their contingency plans and what it means for those yet to be targeted.

dis-disgruntled (11. 623)

Via Slashdot we learn that the investment holding company Softbank, after a three year study into the feasibility of “emotion cancelling” technology, it has introduced a trial of AI-powered voice-conversion routines into its call-centre operations in aims to reduce the psychological stress incurred by those phone-bank employees worn down by hostile clients, transforming angry tones into more pleasant and calming ones. What do you think? This one-sided conversation wouldn’t seem to de-escalate matters—like a troll that didn’t realise they were muted rather than blocked and I have wanted to disengage from plenty of calls and do funny voices in my head sometimes to take the edge off and things rarely get confrontational—but the software supposedly maintains a restrained level of dissatisfaction and urgency to ensure that the operator takes the cues. The system will also terminate calls that go on for too long or become overly abusive.

labyrinth (11. 622)

Earthmoving equipment for the construction of a new airport in northwest Crete, to replace the current second largest one in Heraklion, has revealed a monumental ancient circular structure from the Minoan Era (see previously here and here), consisting of eight concentric stone rings with a vault in the centre, reminiscent of a conical, beehive tomb, and radial walls that cross the rings. Excavations continue on the multicursal, branching Bronze Age site—and designated in the building plans as the location of the new airport’s radar array, a new place will be found.

counting crows (11. 621)

Previously we’ve visited general corvid intelligence (see previously here and here) and numeracy in bees—and given the recent discoveries of a whale language (not forgetting the Plant Kingdom, ibīdem) and elephantine endonymy—it is no wonder that we learn, via Clive Thompson’s latest Linkfest, that our cawing friends too understand the concept of numbers, according to preliminary studies undertaken at the University of Tübingen. Crows furthermore have been shown to vocalise actual numerals, corresponding to values from one to four consistently and have sophisticated maths skills. More at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting

two years ago: the precursor to the bicycle, Cleopatra (1957) plus good wine needs no bush

three years ago: Clash of the Titans (1981), shutter sounds, Russia Day, Deep Throat (1972), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) plus the tripartite devil

four years ago: Loving Day, more concatenation plus a unique geometrical construct

five years ago: Canada decriminalises abortion and homosexuality (1969), Volkswagen tries to clean up its reputation, vintage Kellogg’s advertising plus a horse of a different colour

solvitur ambulando (11. 620)

The paradoxes of ancient Greek philosopher Zeno, as recorded by Aristotle’s Physics, argues motion is illusionary with the dichotomy that a traveler must arrive at the half-way point before reaching the goal, and before getting to the mid-stage, must necessarily travel a quarter and before that an eighth, a sixteenth, a thirty-second, a sixty-fourth and so on. Not finding the sum that all these fractional steps forwards didn’t complete the journey wasn’t Zeno’s objection but rather how to finish an infinite—though infinitesimal—number of tasks. Fellow philosopher and noted Cynic Diogenes, simply got up and left the conversation to demonstrate the contrary after hearing this line of reasoning. Attributed later to Saint Augustine, the Latin phrase “it is solved by walking” from this account, has become a catch-all directing one to answer practical problems with practical rejoiners—to walk it off as the sovereign remedy for every travail.

hyperpleasures (11. 619)

Via tmn, we are introduced to the rising scaffolding in part underpinning the architecture of choice in off-the-scale experiences by default—and not just the dopamine of accelerated gratification—and how if a nice stroll spoilt by accompanying it with the yammer of a podcast, for example, it is not only the product of immersive and unrelenting technology as a vehicle to deliver constant entertainment and distraction and a means to avoid interaction with one’s immediate environment, but rather a decision informed by our minds and evolved reward-system, absent real dangers or discomforts that turn towards the cheaper easier and higher ranking pleasures. Whereas a quiet walk in nature might rate a reliable 10/10, it cannot hope to compete with a exponentially higher experience of listening to whatever one care to or doomscrolling, and it’s not an unexacting feat to claw oneself away from, coming down from giddy heights and back to the solid but small and ordinary, especially when a genuine social experience demands the responsibility and focus that might be marks against it. Cushioning ourselves from those attendant discomforts, moreover, helps us delude ourselves into thinking that our connected activities are a way of making and maintaining social connections when their real function is quite the opposite, it seems.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus the US supreme court on self-incrimination

two years ago: ET (1982), more on Magnus Hirschfeld plus Nordhein vor dem Rhön

three years ago: your daily demon: Botis, more links to enjoy, a Surrealist exhibition plus the Geometry of Circles

four years ago: a papal decree, slow adoption of US constitutional amendments, more links worth the revisit, Nordic flags, Juneteenth, the Los Angeles Free Press plus more Bardcore

five years ago: even more links to enjoy plus beyond the pale

7x7 (11. 618)

bernhard modern: pre- and proscriptions in font choice in legal briefs  

mind the gap: a huge collection of historic London Underground maps and posters—see previously 

in search of…: the Dogon culture and ancient astronomy

homebrewed: following his felony conviction, Trump’s licenses to sell liquor under scrutiny 

pay wall: you’ve read your last fee article, such is the nature of mortality

and peace and justice for all: Tweet of the Day re-litigates and exonerates all of Trump’s misdeeds  

poster child: the auction expertise of Nicho Lowry  

show bible: a reprinting of the DC Comics Style Guide from 1982