day one-hundred forty-one (13. 649)

Dragged into the next forever war, the UN chief and Chinese government sounds alarm over the situation quickly escalating out of control. After the thirteenth consecutive night of raids on Iran, Trump threatens that a “massive attack” is coming soon plus consequences for the Houthi rebels for blocking the Bab al-Mandab strait. Tehran declares states outside of the Middle East hosting US military in Europe and the UK to be legitimate targets. After consulting with his police force, Mamdani concedes that as mayor, he cannot apprehend the Israeli leader should he visit New York, but expresses hope that the US will enforce the International Criminal Court arrest warrant. Washington says that as part of its nuclear deal, Riyadh must recognise Tel Aviv and establish diplomatic relations.

wide area synchronous grid (13. 648)

Via MetaFilter, we are directed to a rather amazing project drawing on a lot of aggregated public data to visualise global energy infrastructure (zoom out a bit by punching, pinching the screen and one also see the constellations of satellites) with power plants, colour-coded for solar, wind, geo-thermal, nuclear, hydro and other fuel sources, data-centres (as consumers, represented by bright diamonds), transmission lines, undersea cables, electric substations and more from one Brian Bartholomew. Of course, exploring the network nearby is engrossing, but further afield, it is heartening to see the growing percentage of energy drawn from non-petroleum sources, particularly in areas with mindless political opposition.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an early emoticon (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronopticæ),  the Commodore A1000, dark oxygen, everything is context plus attempts to keep Trump off the ballot and Biden on it

three years ago: an MST3K classic, denizens of the deep, more links to enjoy plus a banger from The Cars

four years ago: secret spots in Scotland plus Highland Moors

five years ago: your daily demon, Neptunalia plus the first communications satellite

six years ago: even more links worth the revisit 

day one-hundred forty (13. 647)

Kyiv and Washington reach a bilateral defence agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian drone technology to the US. American legislators withhold additional funding for hugely unpopular and illegal war in Iran as worldwide alerts go out for Americans aboard and concerns grow over cyber sabotage. Washington and Riyadh sign a nuclear partnership deal to build the kingdom’s energy infrastructure (to include domestic enrichment) with US contracts amid the escalating conflict with Tehran. Yemen’s Ansar Allah—also known as the Houthis—fire on ships transiting from the Red Sea via the Bab al-Mandab strait, as the Hormuz remains closed, Trump promising that for every shot fired at a tanker, the US will bomb a bridge or power plant, to include those “located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran.”

9x9 (13. 646)

free play: the false nostalgia of the child-rearing in the 1980s 

it ends: capitalising on the popularity of liminal spaces, we discover the next trend, being trapped on an infinite trail  

eco chamber: the personal library of semiotician, philosopher and author Umberto Eco (previously) opens to the public in his Tuscan villa  

from the prepare-for-everything-to-get-very-stupid-and-xenophobic-department: USA to enforce same protectionist, nativist policies exercised in the Tik-Tok ban for open-source AI 

war & cheese: stalled European Union sanctions package for Russia exposes persistent divisions in the Bloc—see also 

the cemeteries are full of indispensable people: the dash to fill an America-shaped void  

hot merfolk summer: besting one’s holiday hashtags aspirations with Miss Margaret Morris’ choreography   

end of the road: uncelebrated termini and the Roman god of boundaries  

unquantified self movement: bucking the trend of maxxing and wellness-optimisation

the diffusion pilot (13. 645)

We enjoyed this interrogation of the medium that reflects on artistic control and authorship partnered with the rapid pace of the infusion of generative AI in everything, neither celebrating nor wholly condemning the technology, in this animated short by Aurelijus Čiupas. By turns overpowering and empowering, the piece, divided into two distinct halves seems to ask, if the traditional animator creates the magic motion out a series of static images, what is their role with an infinite number of them? Caution, the video below contains flashing images. More from Aeon Magazine at the link above.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: the bicycle from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure on display at the Alamo (with synchronoptica) plus the Epstein files

two years ago: enduring lessons of technology plus a thistle cousin

three years ago: Mary Magdalene 

four years ago: the Firth of Cromarty, a banger from Take That plus the North Coast 500

five years ago: Plan 9 from Outer Space 

six years ago: white Jesus 

day one-hundred thirty-nine (13. 644)

Saying that the US is not yet done with air strikes on Iran, Trump condemns government officials as “savages” after the latest execution of political protestors. Tehran warns Bulgaria against allowing America to use its bases for staging. US forces have their sites set on Pickaxe Mountain (Kuh-e Kolang), a secretive bunker believed to house centrifuges near the Natanz nuclear facility, destroyed in last summers campaign. Several tankers headed to Saudi ports made u-turns in the Red Sea after warnings from the Houthis. Lebanon hails the US-brokered agreement with Israel but clashes with Hezbollah still continue with no timeframe for IDF to withdraw from southern Beirut. Secretary of war Hegseth gives a rather low estimate for the costs of the Iranian conflict at thirty eight billion as he requests additional funding from the senate.

8x8 (13. 643)

elbows up: Trump threatens to impose a fifty percent tariff on a range of Canadian export, claiming that the country discriminates against American dairy products, alcohol and automobiles  

ashurbanipal: massive stele discovered by the Sun Gate of Nineveh in Mosul  

no mutation without representation: the 1974 manuscript, The Periodic Table of Energy, authored by Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson during their unfortunate incarceration inside Vacaville Prison—via Boing Boing  

the old man and the strait: with apologies to Ernst Hemingway on his birthday 

calves and calves nots: guides’ exodus over global warming tourism  

fungus among us: mapping the underground of rhizomal networks—see also here and here 

 ziwiye horde: actor Zendaya, in the role of Athena, sharply criticised for wearing three-millennia old Assyrian earrings to an event promoting Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey—see previously  

fellow travellers: US department of state continues Red Scare on left politicians as Cuban agents

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump’s push to bring back the Redskins (with synchronoptica) plus Appetite for Destruction (1987)  

two years ago: an entrepôt on the Seine, assorted links worth revisiting, more from Marshall McLuhan plus Joe Biden steps down as the Democratic presidential nominee

three years ago: more links to enjoy 

four years ago: a concert in Potsdamer Platz to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall plus meandering along the Spey

five years ago: a nuclear powered cruise ship, the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925) plus the outskirts of Göteborg 

six years ago: the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World plus remote screaming into the void

gestion des déchets (13. 642)

Having always snickered a bit at the French signage for a waste bin, I recently disabused of my bemusement upon discovering the etymology having nothing to do with poo but rather the namesake of compulsory use of garbage containers, lawyer and diplomat Eugène-René Poubelle—a proposal considered so innovative for late-nineteenth century Paris that his surname is synonymous with the term for trash cans. In 1884, Poubelle decreed as the city’s préfet, essentially holding the authority of the mayorship, that landlords must provide tenants with three covered containers for household refuse to be sorted into classes of compostable and recyclable refuse—encouraged to call them Boîtes Poubelle by the newspaper Le Figaro, meeting stiff resistance by building owners for their cost and upkeep (plumping and drainage was also championed) and regarded by chiffonniers (traditional rag-and-bone men) as a threat to their profession. Likewise, we were surprised to learn, the English, American word for a movable waste container (skips or scows being more common outside of North America), designed to be brought and taken away by specially designed garbage truck lifts originated as sort of a portmanteau for the Dempster Dumpmaster, the company run by three brothers, George Roby, Thomas and John, in Knoxville Tennessee who patented and standardised a system (see also) of bulk trash removals in the mid-1930s with their dumpster model. George Roby Dempster was also a city manager, philanthropist and politician, initially motivated to support the demolition and construction wing of the family business.