a child of europe (13. 180)

Although greeted with relief and applause, mounting the low-bar of last year’s gathering which seemed like the nadir of transatlantic relations with much transpiring in the intervening twelve months, the tone of the speech delivered by US secretary of state Marco Rubio on the second day of the Munich Security Conference was hardly conciliatory and sent the telegraphed the same message of no partnership among equals but rather an alliance framed in Trump’s vision and terms. Saying the president did not want a weakened continent saddled with guilt and shame, Rubio went on, “We in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline”—seeking not to cause division but to revitalise and renew civilisation, stoking old tropes of racisms and xenophobia and replacement. “What we want is a reinvigorated alliance that recognises that what has ailed our societies is not just a set of bad policies but a malaise of hopelessness and complacency”—citing as among those shared historic missteps for which now the US has made amends was the “climate cult,” prioritising the welfare state over national defence, globalisation and a belief in staid institutions no longer fit for purpose, with a final plug for Trump’s Board of Peace as a more effective and agile replacement for the United Nations. These are hardly soothing words.

destot’s space (13. 179)

In a round-about vocabulary lesson (courtesy of Curious Notions—such a journey down rabbitholes is referred to as a desire path as a metaphorical extension of an unplanned trail caused by foot-traffic as a shorter route, and now one can better document those strayings in Wikipedia at least—though often not short-cuts), we learn that the eponymous anatomical feature of the human wrist is named for the Lyonnaise sculptor, anatomist and pioneering radiologist Étienne Destot. Within months after Röntgen announced his discovery of clinical uses for x-rays, our good doctor was taking thousands of diagnostic radiographs of patients (see also) to develop better treatment strategies and in many cases eliminating red herrings to tackle true ailments.  Destot’s enthusiastic adoption of the new technology, however, led to severe radiation damage in his hands, forcing him to abandon his work and his eventual death. The namesake void the doctor identified through crisper x-ray imaging of the hands between the hamate and lunate bones is not chiefly cited in medical literature, but rather for discussing the critical historicism of Jesus, proposing that this was the site of the stigmata during the Crucifixion—the study, quest (quête) as an academic effort started by contemporary Alsatian physician and fellow multi-hyphenate Albert Schweitzer. For his contributions to medical science and lab safety, Destot is commemorated along with the Curies, inscribed on the Monument to the X-Ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations on the campus of Sankt Georg Hospital in Hamburg along with some one hundred sixty other doctors, chemists, physicists, technicians and assistants who sacrificed their lives in the advancement of medical science commissioned by the Deutsche Röntgengesellschaft in 1936. The memorial was expanded in 1959 to include the names of many of the victims of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

supercluster (13. 178)

Though finding PfRC’s rather standoffish and neglected handle, via Web Curios, in the vast undifferentiated Bermuda Triangle between the Creative Portfolios Gallery, the Canadian Nature & Arts Scatter and the Geometry Dash Arena, given our level of engagement with the platform and only occasionally checking-in, we’re not surprised our granularity hasn’t coalesced around a larger group. Not sure what kind of data connections feed these nodes and nebulae (see also for some more online geocaching) but certain those profiles more active on the site have found their niche and those they identify with—and whilst more interaction might shift one to the Highlands of Resistance or the Vale of Swedish Progressives or the German Antifa Expanse, there are social media bubbles topologically, cosmologically grouped (some mixed metaphors for invented topolects), enclaves and Twitter exodus exclaves but, thankfully no charted lands as refuges for toxic tribalism, shitposters and reply guys. Plug in your name and check out this map of Bluesky and get to know what’s in your local neighbourhood and constellation. Hopefully the network effect has taken hold and free exchange, journalism, fandom can be taken back from moribund and algorithmic platforms.

circle star theatre (13. 177)

First broadcast on Valentine’s Day in 1973—though I seem to have a distinct memory of this made for TV movie, actually the feature length pilot of an unsold comedy series, perhaps with some Mandela Effect factoring in—the would-be satanic sit-com with Sammy Davis Jr and Christopher Lee revolves around a bungling demon vying for a promotion and trying to earn his horns by convincing a hapless San Francisco accountant (played by Jack Klugman) to enter into a Faustian bargain, a sort of reverse premise of It’s a Wonderful Life. Despite the prospect of instant wealth and an albeit temporary temporal existence with luxury and security, the account has a last minute change of heart and retains his immortal by a technical breach in the contract. The project was inspired by Davis’ own membership in the Church of Satan, ceremonially elevated to the rank of honorary warlock second degree shortly after Poor Devil first aired.  Clips from Dangerous Minds at the link up top.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronopticæ), playable video clips plus EU berated at the Munich Security Conference 

thirteen years ago: sixteen-year olds get to vote in Hamburg plus Valentines greetings

fourteen years ago: a proposed tax on the childless plus more Valentines greetings

fifteen years ago: a backlash against multiculturalism 

sixteen years ago: Star Wars travel posters 

seventeen years ago: tending ugly plants 

 

luminous beings are we, not this crude matter (13. 176)

Courtesy of Weird Universe through another one of the artist’s short experimental montages, we are introduced to the National Film Board of Canada’s acclaimed visual essayist Arthur Lipsett. Working as an editor in the animation department, his first solo project Very Nice, Very Nice came about collecting random scene from the cutting-room floor pieced them together as an audio-video montage and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1961. The technique attracted the attention of Stanley Kubrick, who asked Lipsett to produce a trailer for his upcoming Dr Strangelove. Lipsett politely declined and Kubrick directed the preview himself by the inspiration was obvious and acknowledged. The 1963 short 21-87 employed a similar method of found footage but also combined shots of Montreal and New York which Lipsett filmed himself to create an outline of narrative. Though reception was more mixed now that the artist had a reputation, with some critics thinking that it was too much like Free Fall (at the link at the top), it caught the notice of aspiring director George Lucas, influencing THX 1138, its spiritual successor America Graffiti and Star Wars—the concept of the Force itself was informed by an NFB colleague discussing the contemplative and revealing—animistic and pervasive—aspect of his works, speaking in terms that echo how Obi Wan explained the source of Jedi power to Luke Skywalker. Though the two never met, there’s a continuity of tributes throughout the saga with Princess Leia imprisoned on the Death Star in detention block AA-23 cell number 2187 and Finn’s original stormtrooper designation of FN-2187.

biodome (13. 174)

Amongst the latest additions to the linkroll of Satyrs’ Forest, we discover a kind little project that gives one of the major LLMs the hobby of tending a garden, a much better pastime than other AIs seem to engage in, though still we imagine not offsetting its resource intensive footprint. It keeps a daily log of its charges and monitors their vital signs, trying to optimise conditions by adjusting light and moisture, thankfully resulting in neither herbicide or triffids. It engages with the tomato plants and has named them but there something a bit mawkish about the amount of doting attention that reminds me of the trio of greenhouse robots from Silent Running.

under destruction (13. 173)

The annual Munich Security Conference (previously), hosted in the city’s Hotel Bayerischer Hof, attendees fresh from informal talks held at the castle Alden Biesen in Belgium’s Limburg province, opens today with remarks from former German ambassador to the US and MSC chair Wolfgang Ischinger and Bavaria leader Markus Söder, warming up with a bit of a quip, exclaiming what happens in Davos doesn’t need to stay in Davos and donning a pair of aviator style sunglasses like those sported by Emmanuel Macron, but the comic relief quickly turned more serious in the milieu of “global insecurity” and challenged trans-Atlantic ties, stressing allies should be accorded respect and treated as partners—though pointedly welcoming the American delegation and US secretary of state, slated to address the conference on Saturday. To attempt to set the tone, Chancellor Merz followed (unusual for German leadership to deliver the keynote address), remarking that he though the titular motto was a bit grim but the situation needs to be put in even harsher terms, declaring that the world order no longer exists—rebuking US criticism of Europe and reinforcing the call to rebalance their relationship and move forward from its “self-inflicted” dependency, “Our holiday from world history is over.”

parousia (13. 172)

Whilst one might be excused for thinking that the rather jarring news of the odds that Jesus Christ’s second coming will happen during this calendar year climbing might contain some wisdom of the masses how we are hurtling towards the End Times or how the Anti-Christ incarnate has seemingly arrived in the figure of the US president, in truth the cause of the growing likelihood is stultifyingly disappointing. Wagering in favour of such a black swan event seems nonsensical, especially if the faithful believe that they will be raptured—you can’t take it without, and without getting youth pastor theological, against scripture, with the Apostle Paul writing in his epistle to the Thessalonians, “For you are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night,” unpredictable and something no one knows. Rather than any of that, and with a touch of Dostoevsky, it is pure manipulation of the betting pool with secondary markets with gamblers trying to cash out on their odds for the over/under of their primary bet—and it isn’t even the first time that such grift as occurred. More from Gizmodo at the link up top.