7x7 (12. 671)

many happy returns: belated happy blogoversaries to Miss Cellania and Art for Housewives 

then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the areopagus: Peter Thiel’s lecture series sponsored by Acts XVII Collective  

oh the huge manatee: dugongs are making a return to the South China Sea after being declared functionally extinct  

cavlinball court: Justic Kentanji Brown Jackson has a name for her lawless SCOTUS  

no brat, no hot girl, no barbenheimer: trudging through the exhausting Summer of Nothing 

sadopopulism: Trump and the Marquis  

diastros, emergencia, ruin: a weather spot from The Fast Show, a BBC2 sketch comedy airing from 1994 to 1997

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronopticæ) plus a visit to Hermannsfeld 

fourteen years ago: junk drawers and stockpiling 

fifteen years ago: a medical scare 

aussichtspunkt (12. 670)

Via Damn Interesting, we are treated to a slide show of Kodachrome colour plates (see also), likely souvenirs from an unnamed nurse stationed at the 97th US General Army Hospital in Frankfurt circa 1952 to 1953 just as West Germany was rebuilding from the war—a sprawling medical campus first used during the Berlin Airlift and since become the grounds of the consulate general. Images from this individual’s tours of West Germany feature the most some of the most photogenic shooting locations for postcard snapshots from Frankfurt, Würzburg (including scenes from the Saint Killian parade), Rothenburg ob der Tauber as well as places unknown, just passing through, the obligatory grand tour whilst in Germany whether one’s stay is short or long. Much more at the links above.

9x9 (12. 669)

de minimis: new US tariff confusion has many European shipping companies suspending deliveries to the United States—see previously  

o tu illustrata: the 1988 David Lynch produced album of Jocelyn Montgomery performing Hildegard von Bingen compositions—see previously here and here  

thank you for your attention to this matter: Gavin Newson can perhaps ape despots so well because they’re not all that different 

optical illusion: if you stare at this circle for long enough, it becomes a red dot 

sometimes easy, sometimes hard: reflecting on the legacy of post-punk hit Deluxe by Harmonia half-a-century on—via Feuilleton  

labirinti di immagini: fifteenth century Italian architect Francesco Segala pioneered the picture maze  

entartete kunst: Trump orders a purge of diversity narratives at the Smithsonian 

uptown top ranking: a reggae one-hit wonder from duo Althea and Donna  

never let a crisis go unexploited: like the Dole fruit company in Hawaii or the supposed car-jacking in DC that led to its takeover, the US will capitalise on the protest of a newborn being removed from her Greenlandic mother for welfare reasons as the excuse to annex it 

synchronoptica

one year ago: a quick weekend get-away (with synchronopticæ) plus the Formosa Straits crisis of 1958

thirteen years ago: travel bumper stickers

seventeen years ago: designed obsolescence  

pareidolia (12. 668)

Like pictures of the Moon, I usually expect instances of the above phenomenon (coined and introduced by Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum during his directorship of the mental hospital in Görlitz from the Greek παρά and εἴδωλον, substitute form of pattern or facial detection (previously) never to translate well to the camera from my mind’s eye so was surprised to see again this distinguished moustachioed chappy hanging among the leaves and branches at sundown as I had remembered him—whereas even whilst looking at them, most faces or fossils conjured up in trees, rough surfaces (called mimetoliths) and shadows are fleeting and transitory at best, very like a cloud—forced perspective and state of mind being and focus being likewise escaping. What sorts of creative, imaginative landscapes are your favourites?

won’t someone think of the children (12. 667)

With the death of a monster like James Dobson whom advocated for corporal punishment to reenforce an inverted, hollow and self-serving Christian ideology through a lens of pseudo-psychology and encouraging behaviour that left religious-cum-political scars on a generation, Metafilter directs us to relatively recent debate and legislation in Japan that would classify forced indoctrination and participation in sectarian activities as child-abuse. The impetus for the change was fomented by the assassination of former Prime Minster Shinzo Abe by an individual with a history of complaints with controversial cult the Unification Church back at the end of 2022 and has since gained momentum with additional sponsors in the Diet. Of course the US is more interested in grooming in general, peddling the cult of MAGA conservatism and preaching the gospel of prosperity theology (at the expense of spiritual poverty or bankruptcy—concept image courtesy of Takashi Mifune) and although with a deficit of hegemonial cachet Russian too, if such a stance were adopted elsewhere, it could end the vicious cycle of hand-me-down prejudice, superstition and revival abuse that upholds not only evangelicalism but capitalism as well in only a few years, although the counter-forces are strong and well funded, rife with distraction and undermining choice in the same breath as they rubbish expertise.

ebs terranews (12. 666)

Given the esteem in which the profession of journalism is held and the state of space exploration—at least in some sectors—presently, we enjoyed this brief survey of reporters and anchors featured in various series of the Star Trek franchise. While some serve a purely expository role—especially in instances of time-travel and alternate dimensions, it’s comforting to know, from aspiring correspondents like Neelix and Jake Sisko and veterans like Marci Collins of 3 Action News (not affiliated with Channel 90 and Chris Brenner of Brenner Information Systems), that there are still investigative media outlets to cover politics in a post-scarcity, ostensibly utopian society.

synchronoptica

one year ago: cinematic pathways (with synchronopticæ), a 1954 royal yacht party plus fun with LinkedIn profiles

thirteen years ago: fostering an honest advertising ecosystem 

fourteen years ago: the enigma of supercentenarians plus minimalist business cards 

fifteen years ago: the social safety net and service fees 

sixteen years ago: zoonotic virus vectors 

spinternet (12. 665)

Rather than comply with an onerous, invasive and crippling supreme court decision affirming a Mississippi law that would require social media platforms to implement age verification for all users, obtain consent for minors and track the age and status of everyone, Bluesky has decided to block all IP addresses from the state trying to access the site. Although a further example of hysteria and moral panic, Mississippi’s new regulatory framework and the UK Online Safety Act (see previously, see also) are vastly different and the former requires a digital services provider to collect and maintain government identification and other sensitive information for all users and vet them before granting ingress to anyone, whereas under the latter the platform does not know or track their identities and who might be under the age of majority (a pretty bold demand of a backwards jurisdiction condoning child marriage and baby beauty pageants) and adolescences are only restricted from certain sensitive material and services. Bluesky will remain unavailable for Mississippians until legal challenges are resolved.

i could know about it, i could be the one starting it—i’m actually the chief law enforcement officer (12. 664)

The FBI and other federal agents launched a pre-dawn raid on the Maryland home of former national security adviser John Bolton, whom notably attempted to be one of the adults in the room briefly during the first Trump administration by discouraging the president from broadcasting his intent to use the justice department as his personal retribution service and going after political enemies as it would undermine the credibility of the rule of law for the United States—the war hawk and would-be minder somewhat rehabilitated through his catty tell-all account of his time in that role In the Room Where It Happened (a reference to the Hamilton number apparently) which was subject to pre-publication review for potentially compromising and politically embarrassing information and which Trump himself sued to stop its release during his first impeachment trial. Though initially denying any knowledge into the search of the premises, Trump in his next breath launched into an indictment that Bolton was not a smart guy but he could be “a very unpatriotic guy—we’re going to find out,” with the implication that Bolton had top secret government documents in his possession, similar to the case brought against Trump during his interregnum for bringing home a box of files on US nuclear capabilities and dossiers on dozens of foreign leaders after his 2020 loss (which upon re-election promptly retrieved and brought back to Mar-a-Lago). Perhaps Bolton, whom Trump also immediately after beginning his new term stripped of his security detail despite active attempts on his life by Iranian agents for involvement Trump’s ordered assassination of their military leaders, absconded with the Epstein files.  Meanwhile, a transcript was released of recent testimony of Ghislaine Maxwell stating that she never witnessed Trump engage in any illegal acts and downplayed Trump’s relationship with the infamous figure, claiming that no client list exists.  This raid also follows Bolton’s public rebuke of Trump’s summit with Putin in Alaska for the losing and subservient theatre it was. The purge of Trump’s critics and enemies is already ongoing and the judiciary branch and the supreme court are manifestly at his beck and call but this seems to suggest a new level of authoritarianism and performative democracy that makes one wonder who might be next on the hit list and what fabricated evidence might be planted.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: GPS epochs (with synchronopticæ) plus a potential violation of the Logan Act

fourteen years ago: street art in Bamberg 

fifteen years ago: a visit to the Memmelsdorfer Seehof plus the return of 3-D cinema

seventeen years ago: sabotaging crops with wartime bio-terrorism