mending fences (12. 705)

Broadcast on a 12 September episode of The Tonight Show whilst a congressional inquiry and a JAG inquest into the commanding officers involved in the incident were still on going—ultimately reinstating the lieutenant colonel to his position of command and clearing him and subordinates of all charges of wrong-doing—on this day in 1961, host Jack Paar of the long running NBC late-night talk show taped a segment in West Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate with four television cameras interviewing a group of some sixty US soldiers, along with panelist and announcer Peggy Cass (Agnes Gooch from Auntie Mame) whom brought along their Jeeps and guns, augmenting the staff of six usually assigned to guard the checkpoint complete with extra artillery and armaments just as the Wall was being erected. Veteran Army sergeant Parr interviewed several of the gathered guests while East German border patrol monitored the situation with bewilderment. The chief complaint of the Pentagon and the senate was such an uncoordinated stunt for the cameras could provoke an international incident (see also) or worse. Critics regarded the airing of the footage underwhelming, produced in conjunction with Radio Free Berlin, a disappointment considering all the trouble caused, inspiring no patriotic pride nor real entertainment value.

9x9 (12. 704)

the free encyclopaedia: why Wikipedia works—see more 

steeple with tyneham: 1970 reportage on the ghost village taken over by the Ministry of Defence in 1943 as a firing range  

john deere: venerable American agricultural equipment manufacturer struggling with tariff chaos, decreased demand for US crops  

primary residence: investigators find several Trump cabinet officials guilty of the same mortgage fraud leveraged against his enemies—see previously   

the fyurry byerds of the night: Ze Frank (previously) on bats  

fifty basis points: the US Fed signals it will cut interest rates due to successive poor jobs reports 

homeland security: Seoul sends diplomats to a Hyundai, LG factory in Georgia after immigration raids which saw the arrest of nearly five hundred workers, ICE dismissing claims that such actions deter foreign investments   

città dei balocchi: the abandoned Las Vegas of Italy  

gptzero: Wikipedia style guide that outs AI agents

synchronoptica

one year ago: a electromechanical rotor cipher (with synchronopticæ), the ugly, car-centric focus of American urban planning plus assorted links worth revisiting

twelve years ago: mapping US/Soviet bases in divided Germany, proposals for a permanent venue for the Olympics plus an act of bioterrorism by sabotaging harvests

thirteen years ago: some castles of Berlin-Brandenburg, visions of the Apocalypse plus honest book covers

fourteen years ago: the EU economy and the single currency plus facial-recognition and dragnet surveillance 

central casting (12. 703)

Though Trump only has the power without congress to bestow a nickname on a federal department and insist that those are their pronouns—requiring a delicate manoeuvre of double-speak, shifting tenant organisations to a new playable nemesis, from Mario to Wario, with Defence Finance and Accounting Agency to WFAS or DARPA to WARPA or Defence Acquisition University to WAU or Department of Defence Education Education Activity to DOWEA—the change, something only a draft-dodger could get behind, does have up- and downstream effects, not least the expense of all this rebranding, plus getting to revert to the old name once this administration overstays their welcome. Meanwhile, to counter mounting pressure to release the files with the community of surviving victims poised to publish their own list, Trump sycophant, Mike Johnson, speaker of the house of representatives, is making the claim that the president’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was based on Trump’s covert work as an FBI informant. Maintaining simultaneously that the dossier of child-rapist is a hoax instigated by the Democratic party to undermine the administration, Johnson offers that ongoing contact was part of deep-cover operation to entrap and reveal Epstein’s clientele. The White House has yet to verify the speaker’s claim—Robert Mueller would have been the FBI director during the time of Trump and Epstein’s falling out, over head-hunting Trump’s own pleasure-staff—with the alibi straining credibility. Never mind that such stool-pigeons are not whistle-blowers but are generally seeking a lighter punishment for cooperating with authorities, an asset like Krasnov surely didn’t have the time to be a double-agent.

goodbye england’s rose (12. 702)

With two thousand invited guests in attendance in Westminster Abbey, the route through London lined with over a million and two-and-a-half-billion viewers worldwide, the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales (previously), took place on this day in 1997—although not an official funeral but rather a royal ceremony, organisers relied on the plans, rehearsed for the previous two decades, codenamed Operation Tay Bridge (see also) for the Queen Mother, and was accorded the pageantry and liturgy usually reserved for the royal family. The dean of the cathedral had personally appealed to senior palace aides to secure Elton John’s performance at the service—to include something modern. Diana and John were last together only a few weeks prior, attending the funeral of mutual friend Gianni Versace in Milan, and immediately upon learning of the princess’ death, John reached out to lyricist Bernie Taupin to rework his 1973 tribute to Marilyn Monroe to honour Diana. A quarter of a century later to the day in 2022, Queen Elizabeth the second held an audience with outgoing and incoming prime ministers, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss respectively, at her residence in Balmoral as her last official acts before her death.

7x7 (12. 701)

people are flushing toilets ten times, fifteen times, as opposed to once—john jay: other AI-generated quotes of America’s foundational figures at new Smithsonian exhibit—see also  

coronation street: a recent celebration of the eleven hundredth anniversary of the enthronement of King Æthelstan, the first ruler of united England  

_invalid_username: a short, seemingly intuitive quiz—we failed miserably at—on what constitutes an email address—via Web Curios  

in a galaxy far, far away: the official map of the Star Wars paracosm 

dj earworm: an end of summer mashup  

double, double toil and trouble: Shakespeare added the witches, weird sisters (see also) to Macbeth for the benefit of his patron James I—see previously  

founding fathers: the colourful life US constitutional signatory turned harsh critic of the mythos Gouverneur Morris—via Strange Company

synchronoptica

one year ago: a nuclear war preparedness exercise (with synchronopticæ)

twelve years ago: Iranian president offers a Rosh Hashanah blessing 

thirteen years ago: some castles of Rheinland-Pfalz plus a bleak economic picture

fourteen years ago: revisionism and security theatre persist ahead of the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks 

fifteen years ago: bird-watching plus a trip along the Danube

sixteen years ago: mascot mayhem 

seventeen years ago: a trip to the Wasserkuppe 

cartooner (12. 700)

Another fun juxtaposition from ibīdem, is this single panel comics caption swapper that draws the extensive archives of Gary Larson’s The Far Side, Bill Keane’s Family Circus, George Gately’s Heathcliff and Hank Ketcham’s Dennis the Menace—the franchises in syndication taken up by other artists. The comic strips of themselves aren’t terribly humorous on their own (exceptions for Larson’s work) but in this form do elicit a laugh and a moment more of study and worth cycling through to find the correspondence and sheer wealth in the way flipping the script as it were works.

parts of speech (12. 699)

Mad-lib style, we discover, via Web Curios, this search engine that combines random adjectives and nouns and delivers a side-by-side comparison of what Wikipedia and one of the front-page browsers (Bing, Google, Duck-Duck-Go with varying degrees of AI) turn up with potential rabbitholes for every query, the former invariably telling you that the articles does not exist—whilst inviting you to make one—but not making presumptions about what you meant, just offering articles containing those keywords, making for a rather delightful non-sequitur medley to explore, whereas the latter confidently serves up what it thinks you meant, no more googlewhacks or 404 errors, or invents an enticing, seemingly relevant, overlay—probably not worthy of further exploration as impromptu catch-penny clickbait—see previously here and here, but the parallel frames make an intriguing juxtaposition.

all the way alive (12. 698)

On this day in 1975, Manson Family cult member Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (previously) attempted to assassinate US president Gerald Ford (see previously) in Sacramento on the grounds of the California state capitol to set an example for those refusing to stop environmental pollution and its effects on Air, Trees, Water and Animals (ATWA, also the acronym above—the ecological belief system expounded by Charles Manson and his followers) as the interrelated life-support network of the Earth with attendant acts of civil disobedience and eco-terrorism. The then new Democratic governor Jerry Brown had refused an invitation to address an annual gathering of wealthy business leaders of the state. Members of the politically powerful group called “Host Breakfast,” upset with the shun wanted to teach the recently elected Brown, considered to be an obstacle to industry with a host of regulations and taxes that were unpopular with the lobby, a lesson for his “dilatory response” and had instead invited Ford, a Republican and ally, to deliver the opening speech—which Ford accepted as a chance to appeal to more local voters in the upcoming election and retain office. Preceding his arrival, Ford had asked congress to relax certain provision of the Clean Air act of 1963 and pressure California to roll-back some of its automobile emissions standards, already garnering threats from environmental activists. Feeling personally responsible for the fate of California’s giant redwoods, in danger from smog and urban sprawl, Fromme resolved ambush Ford (studying the agenda of his visit) and demand that respect be paid to nature. Making her way through the crowd, Fromme raised her pistol but the weapon failed to discharge and was immediately apprehended by the Secret Service. A few months following Fromme’s trial and sentencing, director George Lucas was prompted to change the name of his protagonist mid-production from Luke Starkiller for unpleasant connotations and a perceived connection to the Manson Family. After thirty-four years in prison and two years after Ford’s death, Fromme was released on probation in 2009. The malfunctioning gun was donated to the presidential library in Grand Rapids, Michigan and is on display there.

synchronoptica

one year ago: America begins its bicentennial celebrations (with synchronopticæ), coordination problems plus Trump announces the Department of Government Efficiency 

twelve years ago: German license plate naming conventions 

thirteen years ago: some castles of Hessen plus open all hours

fourteen years ago: a visit to Rohr 

seventeen years ago: TGIF