7x7 (12. 267)

dromedary: Ze Frank’s True Facts (previously) about the camel 

client state: secretary of defence Hegseth orders Cyber Command to halt Russian contingency planning  

baud: a pair of AIs code-switch once they realise that the humans aren’t part of the conversation  

rosmålning: the decorative doll houses of Amy Balfour—via Messy Nessy Chic 

pulmonic ingressive affirmative: the Gaelic Gasp or how the Irish inhale their yeses  

hydro integrator: Vladimir Lukyanov’s unique water computer designed in the 1920s to improve the durability of reinforced concrete 

musk or us: lessons from the ostracising of apartheid South Africa is a resonant learning moment lesson in how boycotts can overcome evil  

capri candela was some ginchy chick, daddy-o: Wilbur’s Place from Peter Gunn—see also

gambling with world war iii (12. 266)

Trump and friends met with his Ukrainian counterpart Zelenskyy in the White House for a contentious exchange played out live with JD Vance accusing Ukraine of a lack of gratitude for US help, with Trumpadmonishing that he should be thankful, ultimately saying that he “disrespected he United States of America in its cherished Oval Office,” cancelling a planned joint press conference and suggesting that there was no deal until Ukraine was ready for constructive conversation. For his part, demanding extra security protections for entering into this contract, again over crucial mineral resources which were not forthcoming, Zelenskyy repeated warnings that further alignment with Russia was equal to appeasement for Putin and that repercussions would come home to roost and corrected exaggerated claims about US aid in comparison to European contributions and solidarity. The US wants to solidify a negotiated peace with Russia in order to lift sanctions and justify its own expansionist agenda.

foley artist (12. 265)

Via Web Curios, we are directed to a creative individual from the Sunday Sites social and coding club who spent an afternoon recording various audio samples, footfalls, creaking hinges, thumps, ticking and general din and dropped them in, mostly unheard, into a programme with an embedded player for each to produce a wall of sounds, landscaped according to the visitor’s choices. With some tweaking, replaying on a loop that gets richer and fuller the more one adds, one can create a unique sculpture from these isolated fragments in concert.

synchronoptica

one year ago: predictions for 2024 (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: a robotic crew member aboard the ISS plus Three Thousand Years of Art

eight years ago: a monumental civil engineering plan for Amsterdam plus outtakes from DJ Moby

nine years ago: more probable time travellers plus eradicating all mosquitos  

ten years ago: a table-top photo studio, knitted fashions plus a disgraced anchorman

ultra vires (12. 264)

US district judge William Alsup in San Francisco issued a decision that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must rescind directives sent to some departments and agencies ordering them to fire employees serving under their probationary periods—that it was overreach on their part, illegal and “in no universe” can OPM direct other bureaus to hire or fire. Although the defence maintains that the memoranda did not constitute a direct order, the judge citing substantial evidence to the contrary from unions, media and personal accounts sided, after another case had been dismissed for want of standing, and petitioning for legal remedy and relief, believing those dismissed are likely to win on the merits of their case. The initial ruling, pending a later evidentiary hearing, is limited in scope, however, and only pertaining a few agencies, the Bureau of Land Management (park rangers), the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and subsequent to this decision, parts of government that layoff employees, not included among the defendants, are doing so of their own volition and not entangled by legal proceedings.

11x11 (12. 263)

broadband equity, access and deployment: Trump administration thinks the BEAD programme of the Infrastructures Investment and Jobs Act is too woke   

fermata: a thousand artists release a ‘silent’ album to protest changes to UK intellectual property rights to attract AI companies interesting in training their models on copyrighted material—via the New Shelton wet/dry—also more music without sounds 

late stage capitalism: Washington Post owner Bezos will only allow editorials that defend “free markets” and “personal liberties”—see also   

annual reformulation: important meeting of the US Centres for Disease Control to discuss strains for next season’s influenza vaccine cancelled, confirming fears that the new health secretary will pivot away from proven preventative medicine 

rif me daddy: what Trump’s AI enhanced shitpostings reveal about the administration and plans for the future of Palestine 

absalom, absalom: William Faulkner’s record-setting run-on sentence 

torus and tokamak: a German fusion startup is lauded for its plans, peer-reviewed, to launch a functioning power plant   

only the markets can save us: America’s total economic boycott planned for the last day in February 

touch grass: an app that blocks screentime and doomscrolling until one has proven one’s gone outside—via Waxy  

snoopers’ charter: Apple’s capitulation to the UK’s Investigative Powers Act is Chekov’s Gun for privacy worldwide   

by the people and for the people: dossiers of the people working for the Department of Government Efficiency

synchronoptica

one year ago: ceramicist Yoonmi Nam (with synchronoptica) plus the age of ludicrous inventions 

seven years ago: A Million Random Digits plus assorted links to revisit

eight years ago: more misattributed quotes 

nine years ago: Sàmi tone poems

ten years ago: theodicy, get anything delivered, more links to enjoy plus RIP Leonard Nimoy

able was i (12. 262)

Courtesy of our faithful chronicler, we learn that the exiled Napoleon Bonaparte eluded his guards and escaped aboard a Sylphe-class brig of the French navy called the Inconstant, making his way back to the mainland on this day in 1815, having under the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau been exiled to Elba less than a year before, conveyed there on the HMS Undaunted. Knowing the unpopularity of the King Louis XVIII, realising his family would not be joining him, not receiving the stipend promised and hearing rumours he was to be sent to a more remote location in the Atlantic, Napoleon plotted his return, amassing an army of followers. The banished emperor was not exactly a captive during his time on the Mediterranean island, with it designated as condition of his abdication as la principauté de l’île d’Elbe to be an independent principality “possessed by Bonaparte in complete sovereignty and as personal property”—until his death, at which point it would pass back to the Kingdom of Tuscany. Although eager to leave his villa in Portoferrario, aside from assembling an small army of loyalists, Napoleon during his short time there reformed the island’s legal and educational system, ordered the construction of roads, overhauled the nascent iron mining operations and improved agriculture.

88x31 (12. 261)

We had come across this collection of micro-bar banner advertisements from the 1990s and early 2000s a few years ago, and so were pleased—via Quantum of Sollazo—to discover the curation of button ads was a ongoing project of one anonymous individual and a reminder of the aesthetic that resonates somehow, certainly seeming less intrusive, distracting, badly juxtaposed and a bit more captivating than the commercial ecosystem we are served nowadays. There are two theories regarding the format, unobtrusive yet large enough to catch the eye—the first being that GeoCities, the then largest provider of personal hosting required users to have a link back somewhere on the page to the host or that Netscape sought a way to scale assets, informed by credit card logos, for publishers and promoters easily adjusted to fill blank space—either way many users started making buttons of their own to create a directory. Moreover, these banners, in deference to their chosen native platforms and browsers were sometimes labeled “best viewed in…” with recommended plugins to enhance the website’s experience, gradually displaced by pop-ups, badges and social media icons for sharing or subscribing.

synchronoptica

one year ago: 1983’s Thriller (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus the problem with loving the unborn

seven years ago: the art of craft, combatting food waste plus the spatial frequency effect

eight years ago: sign language lessons, civil forfeiture, passports of defunct countries plus flag emoji

nine years ago: the educational system of the Caliphate plus a spy-proof underseas cable from Brazil to Europe

ten years ago: more links to enjoy, DeepMind plus some otherworldly plants

done a lot of foolish things, that i really didn’t mean (12. 260)

Honouring his musical hero on this day in 2009, US president Barak Obama invited Stevie Wonder to the
White House to bestow a Gershwin prize on the artist, a distinction from the Library of Congress for popular music and lifetime contribution, given in the tradition of the fraternal collaboration that produced Rhapsody in Blue and many other standards from the American Songbook. The first recipient was, with input from public broadcasters PBS and NPR, was Paul Simon with a gala performance in 2007 including Philip Glass, Alison Krauss, Grover and Elmo and Art Garfunkel. The below promise was a campaign song for Obama’s bid for presidency and he doubted whether their relationship would have been sustainable if they had not been mutual fans.