anaññātaññassāmītindriya (12. 285)

Via New Shelton wet/dry, we found this critique from the political and literary forum the Boston Review to be quite resonant as we here at PfRC essentially at our core blog when we learn a new word for a phenomenon or behaviour—way to name something that we didn’t know had a name or could draw a distinction that we weren’t aware of beforehand—or make connections, especially etymologically—be it on the topic of language, history, culture or current events. Pedantry is our mainstay. We’ve devoted a lot of posts to the untranslatable and the hyperspecific ways that language can impart feelings and states of being—see previously here, here and here—but we appreciated the counterpoint presented in the subject book review: the telling comes at the expense of showing, communicating through narrative or poetry rather than a borrowed short-hand explored through a treasury of terms from classical Indian literature. The title refers to the Pali concept for the mental faculty of coming to know, which is undoubtably a premium word but emotion and incident do not map neatly onto a linguistic framework and if not creating new experiences with words, one can bereft with neologisms that destroy them.

sticktok (12. 284)

A cross-platform movement that’s particularly wholesome and encourages taking a walk in the woods really for its own sake and not needing add needless gamification and augmented reality called Stick Nation features participants from all over the globe, sharing remarkable sticks (see previously) they come across—generally showcasing where it was found, its provenance a bit of lore. The community accept both organic finds and ones with light modifications to enhance their inner excellence.

synchronoptica

one year ago: water worlds (with synchronoptica) plus squabbles among AI thought leaders

seven years ago: the fourteenth amendment of the US constitution

eight years ago: US Republicans go after Obama Care, the CIA spies on Germany, germ-repelling materials plus reversing the genders of the US presidential candidates

nine years ago: a conspiracy theory album cover, the actor who played the Alien plus the philosophical implications of faster than light travel

ten years ago: assorted links to revisit

10x10 (12. 283)

subwoof: opening of Star Trek: The Next Generation but with the theme coming from the ship  

sudoku: unsolvable sliding fourteen-fifteen wooden puzzles 

frame-by-frame: experimenting with 3D printing to achieve a stop-motion animation effect  

anglish: English without the influence of Romance languages  

dead letter office: Denmark’s postal service to end delivery of letters, citing a ninety percent decline in volume  

oddly compelling: underground comics and Kitchen Sink Press 

rebel with a clause: the self-styled den mother of grammarians sets up a table for language advice  

edelweißpiraten: a look at the loosely organised youth group that opposed Nazi Germany—via Strange Company 

🏃‍➡️: revisiting an appreciation of how Flash influenced gaming history—via Boing Boing  

cue ro laren drop: a library of audio sweeps, intros, outros and transitions for podcasters—via Web Curios

life’s good (12. 282)

The abstract corporate logo of the South Korea multinational conglomerate LG (formerly known as Lucky-Goldstar) we learn was inspired (see also) by an ancient roof-end tile with a human face and nicknamed for it’s era (roughly spanning the first millennium) as the Silla Smile (신라의 미소). Iconic and considered a national treasure, the artefact was first discovered in an antique shop in 1934. Much more from Amusing Planet at the link up top.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a music video from GMUNK (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus Sol Invictus

seven years ago: moving day 

eight years ago: invasive pat-downs, a tree with its own postal code plus a self-driving concept car

nine years ago: metro lines mapped as Super Mario levels 

ten years ago: cultural norms, ISIL’s destruction of heritage sites plus overzealous zoning

kayfabe (12. 281)

Recently confirmed by the US senate as Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon (previously), professional wrestling promoter, is expected to receive orders to dismantle the department via executive order. Drafts of the directive attempts to justify its closure, citing that the institution since its establishment in 1979—in itself quite remarkable—has cost over a trillion dollars and netted only nominal improvement in literacy and numeracy and being overtaken by “radicals, zealots and Marxists,” and while federal funds only account for ten percent of the funding for public schools—with most institutions supported by local and state tax though department remittances targeted to aid the most disadvantaged communities and students with disabilities and help level the playing field. The cabinet-level department established by congress, split from the Department of Health and Human Services, under Carter oversees policy on financial aid, educational reform and school accreditation, including diploma mills like Trump University. The title refers to the suspension of disbelief employed in the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) that pugilists maintain in in staged events to maintain rivalries and relationships for the audience and to stay in character. Delays in publishing the order coincided with a pause on levying some tariffs of Mexico after stock market turmoil over the uncertainty.

7x7 (12. 280)

yarn-bomb: a collection of museums and monuments around the world for knitting and craft enthusiasts   

defying democracy: Randy Rainbow breaks into the ballad from Wicked during an interview   

the living? the miraculous task of it: Joseph Fasano’s short poetic response to a student who used AI to write a paper 

eight million dollars to promote lgbtqi+ in the african nation of lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of: all you need to know about the southern African enclave (the only one outside of Italy) landlocked by South Africa   

fission chips: a survey of Mid-Century Modernism   

spinsrÿche: a mashup of “Jet City Woman” and prog metal   

mullet talley: cross-referencing hair-styles with football club fans in Australia—from the Annals of Improbable Research (previously)—via Pasa Bon!

synchronoptica

one year ago: the mental radio interceptions of Grant Wallace (with synchronoptica) plus more on endonyms and exonyms

seven years ago: Teen Look magazine plus a demonic backlog of unfinished business

eight years ago:  presidential pets, animator Tom Oreb, separating migrant families plus NASA’s style guide

ten years ago: assorted links to enjoy 

eleven years ago: neglected bestiaries

the man in black (12. 279)

Courtesy of our faithful chronicler, we learn that on this day in 1953, whilst stationed in West Germany Air Force staff sergeant Johnny Cash in Landsberg am Lech (which also hosted the detention facility where Hitler was incarcerated following the abortive Beer-Hall Putsch in 1921 and on the 1933 anniversary of the National Socialist party’s ascendancy in the Reichstag) was likely the among the first to learn about the death of revolutionary leader Joseph Stalin outside of the Soviet inner political circle. The General Secretary of the Communist Party had suffered a stroke a few days earlier and succumbed whilst recuperating in his dacha after extensive medical intervention (probably of a brain haemorrhage) and not announced to the public immediately and possibly disclosed due to this interception. Monitoring coded radio communiques, Cash broke the news through his chain of command to Eisenhower after the message was deciphered. Aside from this important intercept that penetrated the highest echelons of the regime, the balance of Cash’s three year tour was isolating and uneventful, leading to a formation of a band called the Landsberg Barbarians (a play on Bavarians) that played during off duty hours in local venues and saw the inspiration and development of such signature songs as “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Hey Porter.”

homebrew computer club (12. 278)

Meeting for the first time in the garage of founder and organiser Gordon French in Menlo Park California on this day in 1975, this informal association of electronic and programming enthusiasts was chartered as a forum for hobbyists to exchange ideas and create DIY personal computing devices to make the emerging technologies more accessible to everyone. Present for this inaugural gathering, Steve Wozniak (previously here and here) credited the demonstration and reverse-engineering of an Altair 8800 microcomputer as inspiration for designing the Apple I. Running regular meetings through 1986, Steve Jobs, John Draper (former phone phreak), Paul Terrell (proprietor of Byte Shop, the first hardware retail outlet), Jerry Lawson (creator of the first cartridge-based video game system, the Fairchild Channel F) and Liza Loop (who saw the potential to supplement classroom and distance learning and opened the first public-access computer labs) were also members.