The reason why we use the hole emoji as a tag for cartoons, as our faithful chronicler informs, on this day in 1955, the Robert McKimson Looney Tunes short premiered. 
Among the handful of Warner Brothers’ animated features not to include their usual cast of characters. Despite disapproval from his wife, Gertrude, scientist Calvin Q Calculus continues his research and develops a portable hole. The achievement publicised in a newsreel, a thief pilfers the professor’s briefcase containing the stock of his invention for nefarious purposes. The debut directorial work of McKimson for the studio convinced producers to revive their animation unit that was in the process of slowly shutting down since 1953, but lack of funding prevented other animators being recalled to contribute, with McKimson doing all of the work himself.
Thursday, 16 April 2026
inventive genius makes great discovery (13. 357)
if you block me, then i block you (13. 356)
What a strange timeline we live in. Iranian communication officers have already proven their trolling chops with a series of Lego shorts trolling the US administration over its illegal war of choice, but the below video, a riff on the 1986 French europop hit by Desireless, attributed to the Iranian embassy, is really the chef’s kiss even with the stakes as high as they are. I wish conflicts were settled this way, and although designed to send Trump into conniptions, I am afraid that the dowager queen might be a little flattered by this competent use of AI.
day forty-eight (13. 355)
Contradicting earlier pronouncements that the tenuous ceasefire between Washington and Tehran would not be extended and then it would not be necessary as the second round of peace negotiations were imminent and that the war is nearly over, Trump and Iranian leadership seem poised to prolong their truce in anticipation of another summit to be hosted by Pakistan over the weekend. 
Despite rumours that Israel is contemplating a one week armistice in Lebanon, actions seems to rule out the possibility of a respite, Netanyahu seizing a historic opportunity to route out the Iranian backed terror group once and for all, declaring land south of the Litani river a Hezbollah “kill zone.” The US claims it maritime blockade to be water-tight though telemetry suggests that some ships are transiting the Strait of Hormuz and exiting the Persian gulf, whilst Iran threatens to close of access to the Red Sea and the Suez via their proxies in Yemen, the Houthi rebels should the US keep up their embargo, an economic pressure campaign that has repercussions for worldwide markets.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the Hartsfield-Jackson airport of Atlanta (with synchronopticรฆ) plus an infinite botanical quilt
fourteen years ago: the murder of Trayvon Martin plus a papal birthday
fifteen years ago: donkey rescue society
sixteen years ago: fire and ice
seventeen years ago: clearing one’s cache
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
stalemate (13. 354)
One of the most popular variants of the game, in reverse or losing chess, the objective is to be the first to have all their pieces captured, the players obliged to act on taking an opponent’s square if availed to them. 
Aside from compulsory capturing and the lack of royal succession—no pawns become queens and pieces are not promoted in rank—the rules remain the same but without careful opening strategies, the game tends to result in a draw, with greater regularity than in standard chess, and a dead board. Originally codified in the late nineteenth century as “take me,” this anti-chess has seen a surge in popularity in recent decades with its own clubs and tournaments, players intrigued with challenge of competitive exposure and creating vulnerabilities.
setlist (13. 353)
Via Kottke, we are directed to the Aadam Jacobs’ collection of bootleg concert recordings of over ten-thousand venues now online with the help of archivists at the Internet Archive. 
Starting taping live-shows in 1984, the massive, high quality bank features early performances by Stereolab, Bjรถrk, Sonic Youth, Tracy Chapman, REM and many, many more including forgotten and disbanded collaborations held in bars and nightclubs that are a distant memory. Not considering himself an obsessive nor an archivist, as many call him, Jacobs labels himself a fan and a documentarian, a fixture especially for the Chicago touring scene, eventually invited in by club owners with the express purpose to unofficially record sessions.
day forty-seven (13. 352)
European nations are working on an independent plan to open the Strait of Hormuz without the involvement of belligerents. Talks between the Lebanese government and Israel take place on the sidelines as the world roundly condemns the killings of more UN peacekeepers and the targeting of healthcare workers in the Beirut suburbs and over a million residents remain displaced, those remaining fearful that a coup is being stoked for their nation dragged into the conflict.
one year ago: the Great Seattle Windshield Pitting Panic (with sychronopticรฆ) plus the Gleichschaltung
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
daddy, what’s sundowning? (13. 351)
The most memorable and harrowing instalment of the series of commercials from Time-Life, aired first in December of 1985, the twenty-five volume serialisation of the conflict bookended the Reagan administration, released from 1981 to 1988, The Vietnam Experience sought from a mostly American perspective to bridge the rifts across the Greatest Generation, the Baby Boomers and generations next through exposure of tactics, cultural gaps, secret, parallel waging of conflicts by assaying the social and political aftermath and reckoning. To these ends, the two-minute spot features a plaintive question as father and son (the other timely response is “Look it up, dear” promoting Encyclopaedia Britannica from the following year and maybe prompting a generation of independent-research) whilst touring the newly dedicated and controversial veterans’ memorial wall of Maya Lin. 
The gravelly narration is provided by Martin Sheen, delivered with the intonation of his role as CPT Willard in Apocalypse Now, framed as a “question a child might ask” and followed by several others in the same vein, “Daddy, did we win?” and portentously warning that these queries must not go unanswered. Though in the fullness of time technically not forever wars as eternity will eventually embrace the Sun’s supernova, we have to wonder what cold-comfort we might offer in terms of explaining what’s a late night rage tweet, what’s a golden shower, covfefe, self-own, projection, deflection, hamberder, etc to someone who has not directly lived through these time.
9x9 (13. 350)
reference desk: harness Google’s secret card catalog—via Kottke
nitrate divas: a remarkable 1928 amateur film adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe short story “The Fall of the House of Usher”
๐: a Scrabble Map commissioned for the word play game’s (previously) international commemoration, celebrated yesterday
middle powers: Carney’s Liberal Party secures supermajority in parliamentary special elections
print gallery of an artist: an MC Escherque exploration of recursive spaces—via Waxy
infallibilitร papale: ally Meloni (previously) breaks with Trump over criticism of Pope, cancels security arrangement with Israel
dutch cartocubism: an overlooked approach to simplify mapping from the early 1930s from the figures behind ISOTYPE—via Quantum of Sollazzo—see also
connie converse: rediscovering the forgotten folk-music genius
ะพะณะฐั: the 1960s proto-internet that the Soviet Union passed on—see previously
