⊙ (11. 748)

Denoted by the above symbol in international chess notation, we are remembered by New Shelton wet/dry of the term in its literal and metaphorical senses of the disadvantageous requirement to move or otherwise respond in Zugzwang. Although imprecise in its use in the game (a player is said to be in such a prelude to a checkmate when an open option when in a turn-based game each side is compelled to move will worsen their position, the concept is well understood), endgame studies from the eighteenth century on formalised the unsatisfactory compulsion or obligation—Zugpflicht—to make a move that yields to the offence.

saturday nite at the duck-pond (11. 747)

Despite (or possibly because of) a ban by the BBC, the surf-rock 1963 single from The Cougars, a short-lived collaboration of rhythm and bass guitars and percussions, that sampled from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (the theme of Act II commonly known as the Dracula motif for its first use in sound cinematic adaptations of the vampire story and as a trope for other horror films), spent several weeks in the charts. The band also produced other instrumental variations on the composer’s body of work, including “Red Square” and “Caviar & Chips.” Cited as a travesty of a major classical piece and a distortion of melody and harmony, other reasons for the prohibitions on the airwaves included slushy sentimentality, innuendo and alleged drug references with the banned discography ranging from Mott the Hoople, select Beatles’ and Rolling Stones’ songs deemed too suggestive or political, Cher’s “Bang Bang,” “Dinner with Drac” from John Zacherle, “Monster Mash,” “I Don’t Like Mondays,” “In the Hall of Mountain King” the Nero and the Gladiators’ instrumental version and Bobby Darin’s and Louis Armstrong’s “Mack the Knife” takes on The Three Penny Opera. They really seemed to have it out for the undead and adulterated versions of the classics.  After mass protests following the broadcast of a censored version of The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York in 2007, BBC officially dropped its policy of cultural gatekeeping.

* * * * *

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a classic from Lisa Loeb (with synchronoptica) plus a wagon train to space

seven years ago: more meltdowns at the White House, landscaping by AI plus when Americans were weird with science

eight years ago: empty mansion hunting in the Loire valley, emoji as art, more on the birthplace of King Arthur, the first website plus Trump as a Manchurian Candidate

ten years ago: liminal beings plus vanishing New York

eleven years ago: the Church goes after predatory loans plus the German census

8x8 (11. 746)

divi recap: the obfuscating vocabulary of finance and corporate take-overs 

ch₄: methane removal may prove as the most effective way to curb the climate collapse  

anima and archetype: an overview of the thought of Carl Jung—see previously  

mamala: Maya Rudolf returning to the cast and reprising her role as Kamala Harris for the fiftieth season of Saturday Night Live—via Miss Cellania  

v. to remove monks from: demonachise and other infrequently used words  

wall flowers: increased appreciation of complex and nuanced botanical behaviour leads a new branch of plant philosophy  

rewiring: if billionaires truly wanted to save the planet, they’d buy heat-pumps for every home—via Kottke 

big brother and the holding company: the spiteful origins of Berkshire Hathaway and corporate hard-pivots

après moi, le déluge (11. 745)

We recall how a few weeks ago how Trump chillingly implored a group of Christian supporters to vote just once more and they’ll never need worry about doing it again, implying that he would bring about a theocracy, not just a breech of democratic norms—and although we should not dismiss this as hyperbole since he’s shown us who he is and what he’s capable of, Trump cannot run for an additional term and might presumably not care about his political heirs and what happens afterwards. On multiple occasions, however, and without the media attention Trump is telling crowds at his rallies not that they won’t need to cast ballots in the future but that they don’t need to bother showing up at the polls because Trump already has enough votes. Whether saying the quiet part out loud is a sign of delusion or misunderstanding (“My instruction: we don’t need votes—we’ve got plenty of votes.”), it suggests that Trump plans to claim victory regardless of the outcome and belies the fact that behind the scenes election officials have been installed strategically in counties in crucial wing states sympathetic to the narrative of the stolen 2020 election and have a demonstrated record of manipulation and could withhold certification, which would have cascading effect for statewide electors and cause chaos, likely sending the outcome to the US supreme court to decide.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the Anomaly Observatory (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus a very incriminating recording from the Watergate scandal

seven years ago: a musical tailpipe plus the movie role Trump turned down to run for US president

eight years ago: more links to enjoy, a simple political message, an economic nudge plus hybrid airships

nine years ago: even more links, a Norwegian monument plus loosing the plot

ten years ago: yeas and nays plus public health and disease drift

13x13 (11. 744)

hot clipmalabor summer: a Scots language translation of the latest trend 

the pudding: AI makes a data-driven visual story—via Kottke  

désolé! taking a mental health year: American vs European out-of-office auto-replies  

the paris games: a look back at the other times the French capital hosted the Olympics—via Nag on the Lake

faustian bargain: Russian “Tiergarten Killer” released as part of prisoner-swap 

the lord house: a tour of a home designed by architecture Richard Neutra—see previously 

take me to the water: James Baldwin and the roots of the Palestinian-African American solidarity movement 

hop, skip and a jump: e-bikes for one’s legs  

dressage: Snoop Dogg as head Olympic cheerleader 

securing the peace: US mobilising to shore up defences in Middle East 

minoritarian rule: US in democracy self-destruct mode  

yay newfriend: a linguistic look at the new AI pendant companion 

emdunks: the internet’s infatuation with the Second- and possibly future First-Gentleman

say it to my face (11. 743)

After Trump’s initial refusal to participate in a debate with his new challenger was seen as weak, particularly in the racist harangue following shortly afterwards Trump delivered during a panel discussion arranged by the National Association of Black Journalists calling Harris a DEI candidate (an insulting reference to Diversity and Equality Initiatives in the workplace that has become shorthand for the allegation that power and position for people from minority or marginalised groups is unearned), going on to expound that, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know—is she Indian or is she black?” The multiracial former chief prosecutor, senator and sitting US vice-president is of multiracial background and is both and is only a rehashing of the equally false birtherism rumour that questioned the legitimacy of Barack Obama—and another example of authoritarians othering and defining others instead of allowing them to define themselves. After backing-out didn’t play well with the public, Trump arranged to spar with Harris albeit changing the conditions, pushing back on the new format—from an ABC moderated forum to a townhall-style one with a live studio audience hosted by Fox News, Harris noted how “any time, any place” became “one specific time, one specific safe space,“ for the conservative network’s noted favour for the Republican candidate. Fewer than one hundred days before the election, it is uncertain whether there will be a public parlay in any format.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus Arthur Conan-Doyle on tour

seven years ago: Trump’s transcripts, the evolution of trust plus an austerity cookbook for a divided Germany

eight years ago: the first private mission to the Moon

nine years ago: more links to enjoy plus Japanese myth and folklore

ten years ago: dazzle-camo plus novel ideas for carbon-sequestration

katzenkopf ii (11. 742)

Over the weekend, H and I returned with our neighbours and dogs to Frankish wine island of Sommerach, on the loop of the River Main. As the namesake of our campsite, it has one of the more famous and well-distributed vineyards of the region and dating from 1901, the one of the oldest cooperatives (Winzergenossenschaft) in Germany—we get most of our wine from the grocery stores from this area.

Landscaped by the creation of the canal connecting Volkach and Gerlachshausen (see above), the steep sloping hills and unique conditions of the soil, loamy and ancient limestone have made this spot particularly well suited for viticulture for untold generations. 

 For this visit, we toured more of the town and wandered the streets lined with individual wineries (Weingüter)—including a few with vending-machines after attending one tasting—which came to our campsite—and another in the historic Zehnthof, which delivered the cases we selected to the campground the next morning. Many of these buildings sourced to bureaucracies and tax regimes, began in medieval times because these “tithe farms,” originally storehouses for a tenth of harvests (see previously) collected by governing monasteries and other beneficent organisations from farmers individually were later given to a commissioned decimator to collect from tenants—the warehouses (see also) becoming stately manor homes for the overseers. 

 With the the end of ecclesiastical estates, this institution fell in the hands of prominent vintners representing the local industry. According to local lore, the name Katzenkopf comes from a woman who tried to dissuade her husband from drinking wine straight from the barrel and succeeded finally by frightening him into sobriety with a stuffed cat—otherwise a quick swat as a term for light corporal punishment of blow with the knuckles to the forehead.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a banger from Madonna (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: Russia displeased with continued sanctions, emotional granularity plus drone delivery

eight years ago: a poem by Brian Bilston, a elevated superbus plus Thomas Edison’s clickbait

nine years ago: a visit to the Rennsteig plus more on Venus Flytraps

ten years ago: armchair coaching, Israel eavesdropping plus indoctrinating radio

mara nags mara sang mara snag (11. 741)

Courtesy of Web Curios, we are directed to this wonderful little tool that lets you type in any word or phrase you like and it will generate all possible anagrams (see previously here and here)—also in German, French and Spanish. Who knew that PfRC contained such substantial words as superhero, heretofore, theretofore, prosecutor, prefecture and usherette? Out of more than a hundred thousand three-word solutions, I haven’t found the perfect phrase yet—but perhaps creeper effects roofer quoth or scoffer croquet thereof peer are pretty good candidates. In addition to an aid for word puzzles, I think that this could also be useful for creating memorable passwords, or finding the hidden epithet in your name. Jeremy’s Hammer?