ms paint anything (11. 628)

Via Web Curios, whilst much kinder to the canines—though transposing their colours for some reason—and generally a bit unsettling in that spirit of AI body horror that we’ve seemed to have moved beyond expectation-wise even though we were only entrenched in it just bare months ago and only for a very brief time, we still had fun playing with this synthetic artist that runs your images through a poorly-executed standard Windows raster graphics editor, glitchy and hallucinating using the limited palette, brush styles and arguably ham-fisted fill-tools (a sort of constrained painting) in its quiver. Give it a try but be aware your ugly mugs are put in a public gallery for all to see.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the art movement the New Objectivity

two years ago: assorted links to revisit

three years ago: another MST3K classic, more links to enjoy plus the Vatican’s catalogue of banned books

four years ago: a preview of OpenAI’s capabilities, ghost towns along the former inter-German border plus poppies in bloom

five years ago: encoding data in DNA

via fittizia (11. 627)

While we’ve encountered before other outreach efforts to provide the unhoused with proper, proxy addresses for purposes of applying for jobs, assistance and bank accounts, we did not know about the Italian civil registry, first developed following the Risorgimento (see previously), to tie people to their newly unified territories for purposes of tax-collection and funding and parliamentary representation based on per capita. During the post-war period, the fictitious streets remained as a way for refugees and people who travelled and with no fixed address to sign up for municipal services and currently is mostly used by the homeless as their official, though virtual domicile. All large Italian cities have such invisible streets to make those in precarious situations once again seen, many being named in honour of their most famous residents, but some communities, already under financial strain, are avoiding building (the opposite of a trap-street and not on any map) vie fittizie for fear of attracting individuals needing social assistance. More from Atlas Obscura at the link above.

7x7 (11. 626)

senza vergogna: some notes for Martha-Ann Alito on her anti-Pride flag (see previously)  

factory floor: inside Andy Warhol’s studio—via Messy Nessy Chic  

prospecting: Norwegian mining firms discovers Europe’s largest cache of rare-earth metals  

adaptive force controlled shaving demonstration: a robot barber in Shanghai  

daily bread: an overview of the staple foodstuff’s contribution to civilisation  

hydrant directory: colour palettes of New York’s suppression points—via Pasa Bon!  

gruppo dei sette: following EU elections, the G7 forum begins in Puglia

synchronoptica

one year ago: a top album by Alanis Morissette plus an early world-traveller

two years ago: a chronic case of the hiccups, a hit by Paul McCartney plus international crisps flavours

three years ago: the G7, Shangri La the musical, St Anthony plus two very prolific travelogues

four years ago: illustrator Wilbur Husley, assorted links to revisit, the Pentagon Papers (1971) plus a banger from Mungo Jerry

five years ago: the elusive American Middle-Class plus x before x-rays

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