synchronoptica
one year ago: Howard Hughes’ private streaming service (with synchronopticรฆ) plus Putin in Mongolia
twelve years ago: staycations, reactions to the uncanny valley plus a prefiguring of internet etiquette
thirteen years ago: Bavarian castles plus Baden-Wรผrttemberg castles
fourteen years ago: a papal audience plus a manufactured mountain for the Danish countryside
sixteen years ago: early versions of webpages
Realising that that’s hardly the point of the proposed redevelopment scheme under the above acronym for Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation, the suggestion of creating a US mandate charged with rebuilding the occupied enclave as a chain of high-tech megacities—in the spirit of the Line in Saudi Arabia, is the cover for large-scale ethnic cleansing and land appropriation, expelling the Palestinian population (given a digital token for their land, redeemable elsewhere) as Israeli forces gather for siege warfare on the population already dying from hunger and encroach further into the West Bank—though typical of Trump—the leaked prospectus being circulated looks so shoddy and grifty to be nothing more than a real-estate scam cooked up by the self-described business mogul himself for beach-front time-shares. 
It’s like getting irrationally angry seeing maps showing the Gulf of America, knowing that’s not the half of it, instead of how the USA would sell out Palestine and Ukraine and Taiwan if they stood to profit. The conceptual images are so poorly executed without even the hint of effort—the whole thing obviously slapped together by AI, like something generated by a ChatGPT knock off before the platforms were widely available—and worse betrays no familiarity with Palestinian geography or politics, only pandering to Israeli settlers’ ideas of manifest destiny and divine entitlement with the revealing subtitle from “From a Demolished Iranian Proxy to a Prosperous Abrahamic Alley” and includes an “Elon Musk” industrial estate.
As an appeals court affirms the decision of a lower court addressing the legality of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs—staying the enforcement until mid-October in order to give the administration the opportunity to appeal—jeopardising some hundred billion dollars in duties collected from exporters, which in reality is a tax on the consumer, that may need to be refunded, the presidency has meanwhile been taking another tactic on revenue-generation which some economists are acknowledging a generational shift away from free-market capitalism and some critics regard as a dangerous pivot toward socialism by MAGA and the conservatives. Of course the US economic landscape is ripe with subsidies and tax-incentives for choice businesses, engaging what outsiders may classify as protectionism for vital industries—and what America would definitely call barriers to trade and given domestic businesses an unfair advantage—and the US has become stakeholders in businesses beforehand—primarily with its bailouts and interventions for banks and automakers during the 2008 Financial Crisis and for small businesses during the COVID pandemic, but government ownership through a controlling share of a public company is a bit unprecedented in non-emergencies. 
First the US Defence Department bought stock in a rare-earth metals operation, then Trump conceded to a large microchip maker’s argument that sales of less advanced components to China would increase competition and innovation and most recently ten percent of chip maker Intel—the latter tech firms settling up with mildly extortive deals. Whilst not uncommon practice elsewhere with government invested in private industry, the US has generally eschewed such involvement, heralding the above free-markets (albeit the source of dissatisfaction for billions, exploitative and destroying the world) as the driver of progress and the hallmark of capitalism, and if the trend continues—and perhaps it should—one must come to terms with redefining what open competition means. Governments would be partial to businesses and bidders that they own in one way or another, and while previous administrations saw a significant return on investment with bailouts, grants and other aid but the public, aggressively attacked on other fronts—in believing it’s getting back from these companies and contractors, an indirect tax on corporations which Republicans would never own up to—may end up more impoverished and indebted if investment decisions are carried out poorly or in the spirit of cronyism.
synchronotpica
one year ago: union label (with synchronopticรฆ) plus assorted links worth the revisit
twelve years ago: a visit to Offenbach plus prunk and posh
thirteen years ago: the castles of Thรผringia plus a botched restoration job
fourteen years ago: large demoninations
fifteen years ago: immigration debates in Germany
As the US Department of of Defence is apparently moving ahead with renaming it the Department of War—which seems unalloyed with Trump’s aspirations for the Nobel peace prize, the Daily Heller revisits the branding (influenced by ISOTYPE) and logos created by Charles T Coiner for the Civilian Defence Corps of the FDR administration. 
While it is unclear whether America is in need of a comprehensive corporate identity and national design strategy, it is manifest that the work of graphic designers and communicators help to sanctify the vaunted ideals underpinning democracy and the dignity of the worker in their role as defenders of the values of freedom and equity. More from Print magazine, as well as disambiguating the alphabet soup of agencies, at the link up top.
Via John Coulthart’s { feuilleton }, we appreciated the introduction (as well as the source) to renowned woodblock printer Sekino Jun’ichirล (้ข้ ๅไธ้) who is considered one of the leading figures behind the title Creative Print (ๅตไฝ็็ป) movement that was a post-war departure from the traditional ukiyo-e craft whose output was characterised by a rigid division of labour, the artist’s expression not dependent, downstream from the collaboration of artisan tasked with conceptualising, carving and colouring. The pictured “Summer Ending” seemed appropriate for the changing seasons (see previously), and the prolific artist produced and exhibited several series aside from individual portraiture and cityscapes such as a reinterpretation of the classic by Utagawa Hiroshige The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tลkaidล, the rest-stops and horse-refreshing posts along the royal road connecting the shลgun capital of Edo to the imperial one of Kyลto, hot springs of the country and folk toys. Much more at the links above.
Running some errands back in the Geratal region, we took a stroll through the village above the valley called Geraberg, higher up on the slope of the Arlesberg on the northern edge of the Thรผringer Wald. 
Though first mentioned in a deed of gift to the Henneberg knights for its vineyards in the eleventh century, the area was more famous of its traditions of mining and forestry, fuelling the smelting of iron ore. The cadet industries of glass-making and porcelain manufacturer developed in the nineteenth century and taking advantage of one by-product of mining operations, mercury, Geraberg became a centre of technical expertise for the making of clinical thermometers (that’s one in the main traffic circle) and other glass medical instruments, beginning in 1873 and lasting until 1990, employing some two-thousand individuals. There was also a museum dedicated to the village’s association with the device, along with the broader technological advancements from contact to digital thermometers and thermostats, closed Mondays but looks worth checking out on a return trip.
synchronoptica
one year ago: a pivotal moment in the Star Trek timeline (with synchronopticรฆ), aspiring travel-writers, assorted links worth revisiting, a trip to Schwickershausen plus the largest aerospace exhibition
thirteen years ago: Saxon castles plus selbst gebackt biscotti
fourteen years ago: holding the UN for ransom
fifteen years ago: more ado about Glรผhbirne plus conceptual Star Wars posters
Via Super Punch, we learn that the honest-to-goodness academic term for the kink that can sometimes occur in both naturally-occurring and manufactured helix-based structures, like in knotty Christmas lights or the twisting of a telephone handset cord, is tendril perversion—which the article’s header helpfully disambiguates from Japanese tentacle based erotica (don’t get them confused). Already established as the accepted turn of phrase by the time of Charles Darwin and contemporary botanists, the phenomena was noted as the invariable twist in the spiral of a growing vine or sprouting seedling, and was formalised as a way to describe the elastic geometry of breaking symmetry and chirality.
Via Nag on the Lake and Memo of the Air—although we could not really really find any affinity—nor notes for—this catalogue of the weirdest and worst novelty songs, to have been graced with music videos, we did appreciate the presentation from Vole Television with clever interstitials like classic bumpers from MTV. 
The title track—“(I want to be) Elected”—was produced by Bruce Dickinson (not a single-issue voter and well before Rowan Atkinson became one) for the Red Nose comic relief charity and was included in the closing coverage before purdah by BBC Parliament in 1992. Going through more of the playlist, we do find that there are VH-1 pop-up video style commentary and factoids and also features Lieutenant Pigeon, so maybe some measure of kindredness. Tag your favourites.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the dissolution of East Germany (with synchronopticรฆ) plus a banger from George Harrison
