value-captured (13. 597)

Via Kottke, we are directed towards an anti-Bildungsroman about reflections on the growth and development of a digital native and a life squandered in the pursuit of increasingly tantalising internet points and the Overton window, the normative discourse of one’s peers as less than perspective and insight but rather something tethered, untethered and estranging, of others. Vicarious and evangelical, our protagonist aspires to live the life of others—achievable but deferred—and nonetheless consumed with consumption, and in the end, looking back at these parasocial relationships, realises too late it came at the expense of her own dreams and aspirations. While it is a touch sententious and judgemental, that’s the impetus for reflection and to evaluate the metrics that malnourish us from those that help us reach our potentials.

synchronoptica

one year ago: everything becomes crab (with synchronoptica) 

two years ago: assorted links worth revisiting, a forgotten pioneer of cinematography, swimming with Benjamin Franklin plus France at the polls

three years ago: the first study-abroad programme 

four years ago: assorted links to enjoy plus volcanologist William Hamilton 

five years ago: sliced bread, the Quasi-War of 1798 plus a visit to Fladungen

six years ago: titleist Maurice Binder plus more adventures along the Moselle

day one-hundred twenty-six (13. 596)

After granting Iran a week off out of respect for the funeral of the late Supreme Leader, Trump renews his threats to “finish the job” militarily if Tehran does not agree to a deal under US terms. A fleet of Japanese flagged tankers leave the Persian gulf after being stranded for months, whilst ships come under fire cleaving close to the Omani coast. Netanyahu claims Christian villages in southern Lebanon have asked to be annexed by Israel to protect them from Hezbollah. Zelenskyy reportedly will not be allowed to speak during the NATO summit. During a play-off, the American president intervenes to pressure FIFA officials to reconsider a penalty imposed against one of the star players of team USA and reverse the referee’s red card—forever earning the game an asterisk (see also) in the history books.

exceptional growers (13. 595)

Recalling that decades ago, whilst in Prague and having frequented the legendary Thirsty Dog (the tavern opposite the capital’s Municipal House, Žíznivý pes made famous by the Nick Cave song) and having ordered a Harvey Wall-Banger was presented a small potted cactus before being served, the bartender later explaining that this was part of her brother’s collection who had seemed to have lost interest in their upkeep, we found history of succulent capers, hardly a one-off occurrence of enthusiasts in the Czech Republic, to be quite resonant. The craze and eventual poaching began with “Alberto” Vojtěch Frič in the 1900s and a botanical expedition to South America after his original garden fell victim to a hard frost, which informed Czech collectors in an enduring legacy, at first isolated from global market to cultivate a space, a pastime separate from Communism and Soviet domination.   More from The Conversation at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Bauhaus theatre (with synchronoptica) plus Operation Ploughshare 

two years ago: assorted links to revisit, bracket orthography plus Forrest Gump (1994)

three years ago: when in the country 

four years ago: an East German rock opera plus a message beamed into deep space

five years ago: more on artist Sophie Taeuber Arp, a banger from David Bowie, a visit to Mellrichstadt, wolfsbane plus assorted links to revisit

six years ago: time immemorial plus a trip to the Moselle

day one-hundred twenty-five (13. 594)

Dayslong funeral services are held for the late Supreme Leader with the new ayatollah still conspicuously absent from public view. OPEC has agreed to increase production as the Strait Hormuz gradually opens. Trump is slated to discuss maritime security at the upcoming NATO summit as trade resumes between Qatar and Iran as well as ending the Russia-Ukraine war. A cargo ship is attacked off the coast of Yemen. Tehran names a new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

an american in paris (13. 593)

Courtesy of Messy Nessy Chic via a link roundup that celebrates the US’ special relationship with France as told though its expatriates and exiles, we learn about American Air Force veteran and expert archer Erika Eiffel (née LaBrie) whom married the famous tower in a commitment ceremony in 2007. Polyamorous by nature, Eiffel first discovered her unique subcategory of paraphilia after an attempted sexual assault by a fellow cadet in the academy, rebuffing her attacker with a training sword, which she was reluctant ever to be without, then credits her skill with archery to her relationship with her bow, Lance. After her first visit to the tower in 2004, Eiffel felt an immediate connection on several levels and was inspired to found an organisation for those with similar feelings for inanimate objects (see also here and here) and advocate how love is reciprocated and empowering, as she explained in an interview with Good Morning America and the Tyra Banks’ Show. Aside from the mythical sculptor Pygmalion and Quasimodo’s love for the bells of Notre Dame, real life examples include a Swedish woman who wed the Berlin Wall in 1979 and an Australian woman who married Le Pont du Diable in Hérault in 2013.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica)

two years ago: returning via Switzerland plus a new Labour government for the UK

three years ago: a banger from Janet Jackson, more links to enjoy, Tynwald Day in Manx, the Tiny Awards plus pull-tabs for canned beverages

four years ago: Saint Zoe plus a passport for the stateless (1922)

five years ago: points of departure 

six years ago: Thomas Cook travel agency (1841), a 90s music festival generator plus even more links

days one-hundred twenty-three and four (13. 592)

Preoccupied with state funerals for the leadership killed during the onset of the war and American bread and circuses, Tehran and Washington have been mostly adhering to their armistice—although debates still remain unresolved concerning tolls for Hormuz and the Omani alternate route through the strait. Trump claims he extended the truce out of respect and charity for the former Supreme Leader and his family, though the US president interrupted his holiday schedule to speak with both Zelenskyy and Putin as efforts to end the war are seen as stalled and no closer to breaking the deadlock as the war is well into its fifth year, delivering from Mount Rushmore—there is still a movement within the GOP cult to add his visage to the monument—a relatively anodyne speech about American exceptionalism, the country’s spiritual-misguide, before veering into the sinister threat of Communism with rhetoric that rivals the Red Scare.

thüngen und gambach (13. 591)

 

Afterwards, we traveled to the market town of Thüngen, whose name is derived from the Old Germanic word Thing, þing, ding for an assembly place and placed on to a knightly family (see previously), on the river Wern. There is an ensemble of Schlosses including the old hospital palace and warehouse but in private hands, it was not really possible to get a good view of the castles from the street other than the Orangerie at the entrance.

Driving a little further on, we returned to a constituent community of Karlstadt, Gambach, just beyond the vineyards and hiked up a geological trail, populated with lizards and snakes though we didn’t encounter any, that showed the limestone strata of the epochs forming the hills now given over to viticulture. A top the Weinbau was a chapel and a Lourdes Grotto, constructed in 1958 for the hundredth anniversary of the Marian apparition in France and inspired by a local war veteran’s pilgrimage to the Occitan site in the Pyrenees (see also), grateful for surviving World War I and praying for intercession to stop the landslides that threatened to destroy the wine harvest, promising to build the shrine.

karlstadt am main (13. 590)

 

 

Next we travelled further into the Franconian wine-growing region of Main-Spessart to Karlstadt facing the Karlsburg, the village of Mühlbach hosting the castle ruins (destroyed during the Bauernkrieg in 1625) and harbour on the opposite bank of the river. The thirteenth century town on the eastern shore was founded by the bishopric of Würzburg to defend its territories against the marauding Counts if Rieneck, the streets of the Altstadt laid out like a chessboard.

 

We hiked up to the remains of the spur fortress, built sometime before the eighth century, perhaps at the direction of Charles Martel, situated on the broad rocky promontory overlooking the river and valley below, the landscape of fields, pastures and vineyards now dominated by huge silos where agricultural products are stored, staged and loaded onto barges.  Though I did not capture it in the best light, we appreciated the photogenic signage that the town had on display at the river bank, like they have for Amsterdam, Gdańsk, etc.