one year ago: the first summer study abroad programme (plus synchronoptica)
seven years ago: Trump and the press, more on still-lives plus superlative drone photography
eight years ago: the Iraq Inquiry
nine years ago: the taxonomy of Jorge Luis Borge plus assorted links to revisit
ten years ago: advertising hoardings that serve as shelters plus ISIS’ wanton destruction of cultural treasure
Going into general release in the USA on this day in 1994, admittedly I never watched the Robert Zemeckis adaptation of the Winston Groom novel that follows the life of the protagonist photobombing pivotal events of the twentieth century and recalling his story ignorant of their significance but never skipped it out of any ideological reason that I was aware of but rather that I missed the moment and it was already part of the Zeitgeist and could surmise, intuit it by enough popular references. I never appreciated however that the film was part of the ongoing values debate in America and limns a contentious divide for those who interpret the melodrama about being present as either a nostalgic glamorisation of conservative (and counter- counter-cultural) credentials or as a sweet as a box of chocolates but glib reduction of the most consequent decades of the mid-twentieth century.
Having pondered the meanings and styles of bracket-use before, we appreciated this xkcd (previously) comic panel via Language Log. What other orthographic conventions do you know? 『Someone is talking Chinese』— A James Joyce [or Leo Tolstoi] character is talking. — ,, A Georgian person is talking” >A Usenet user is talking " ⠦A vision impaired individual is talking⠴ [sic] A pedant is talking [recte]
won’t back down: Biden committed to remain his party’s candidate for the US presidential election
wall∙e: facing a labour shortage, Japan railways deploys a colossal humanoid robot to maintain train tracks
conspiracy theory rock: the 1998 Saturday Night Live TV Funhouse cartoon that may or may have not been banned by the network
if it’s so smart, why does it live like this: next version of ChatGPT has post-doctorate level intelligence and the poor life choices to back it up
shadow secretary: the political upbringing of Sir Keir Starmer
wish you were here: beforehand postcards to prepare prior to departing for vacation—see previously
oberheim ob-1: a short documentary on the revolutionary analogue synthesiser that allowed musicians to record and save patches for playback
a face to a name: researchers create life-like robotic skin to express emotion and self-healing from harvested juvenile foreskin cells
dark brandon: Democrats backing Biden’s decision to run
synchronoptica
one year ago: advice for urban day-trippers in the countryside (with synchronoptica)
eight years ago: gameifying one’s wellbeing
nine years ago: pushing Greece out of the EU plus assorted links to revisit
ten years ago: more dragnet surveillance
eleven years ago: a history of fireworks
In a welcome, refreshing bit of good news amid rather bleak outlooks for democracy in America with Trump given new dictatorial license, Biden encouraged to drop out of the race at this late stage and the rise of far-right in France, Labour bounces back after nearly a dozen years of Tory control of government, with the Conservative party trounced. Party leader Keir Starmer is appointed prime minister and forms a cabinet, and after the 4 July general election, many of the opposition, including members Boris Johnson, Theresa May and Liz Truss lost their seats in parliament when their home constituencies voted them out.
Reluctantly we headed back home after our adventures in Italy and Switzerland, this time consulting more local sources and news, discovered that the portion of the Swiss Autobahn washed away by a rockslide had in less than two weeks been made once again navigable for traffic with engineers incorporating material that had destroyed the roadway.
This snapshot above was not an atypical Swiss highway rest stop with lowing cattle and cow-bells.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Nasty Boys (with synchronoptica), Tynwald Day on the Isle of Man, assorted links to revisit, the Tiny Web awards plus the pop-top can
seven years ago: an extra prosthetic thumb plus more on public education in America
eight years ago: what’s across the oceans, timber architecture, Olympic demands plus a giant radio telescope in China
nine years ago: a distraction for a hot day plus more links to enjoy
ten years ago: a game of geographic trivia
Returning to the Castelvecca area, we took a nice stroll the the forest to see the waterfalls cascading from the top of Monte Cuvignone from a height of a hundred meters and carving out a space suggesting an amphitheater above the collecting pools.
On this day in 1924, the Caesar salad was invented in Tijuana by restaurateur of Italian-extract Caesar Cardini, from Baveno on the shores of Lago Maggiore, in his eponymous dining establishment. 
Caught unprepared by the large number of Americans crossing the border to legally purchase liquor otherwise unavailable during Prohibition for the long holiday weekend, Cardini improvised to stretch his food supply by mixing a large salad in the middle of the main dining hall, making due with what he had a surplus of on hand with the addition of tableside tossing by the proprietor for some dramatic flair. Several food columnists and Julia Child, who sampled the original sometime in the 1920s, helped popularise the dish whose reputation proceeded it, with the latter celebrity chef helping to codify the recipe with the help of Cardini’s daughter in the 1970s, romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, black pepper, Dijon mustard, anchovies (substituting capers and tahini for a vegetarian version) and Parmesan cheese.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the US national anthem (with synchronoptica), David Bowie’s trans-Siberia railway journey plus Uncle Sam’s predecessor
seven years ago: a botched memorial
eight years ago: a space probe arrives in Jupiter’s orbit plus the chemistry of a candle
nine years ago: pyrotechnic effects
ten years ago: hyper-capitalism plus anti-migrant sentiment
