paris-flash (12. 586)

Via Messy Nessy Chic (whom has found an assortment of travel-related items including a bit more information on l’îlot rocheux de Nichtarguér) we are directed to the premiere animated short from Champeaux Studios—the founder in collaboration with Jean Image, stage-name of Imre Hajdú, also responsible for France’s first full-length animated film, Jeannot l'intrépide, Johnny the Giant-Killer). This satiric cartoon about a group of tourists, foreign visitors and one provincial, from 1958 but with a thoroughly contemporary style would have been screened in cinemas, like Looney Tunes, with newsreels before the feature. Sparse commentary by chanson artist Jacques Baudoin—unnecessary to enjoy the animation and visual presentations of the behaviour of tourists (we especially liked the montage of snapshots with the American party posing for selfies)—this portrait of Paris in the late 1950s won numerous accolades with its commanding audience-share. There are some light stereotypes, mostly to do with travellers abroad, which dates the work but don’t detract from the fun.

blessed be the fruit (12. 585)

After having taken away workplace flexibilities and maximal telework and remote working postures purely out of spite—not enhancing workgroup cohesion since all meetings and encounters are still conducted virtually for the most part, just adding misery to government employees returned to under maintained and overcrowded offices or nearest available government-leased or owned building (only to sell off surplus real estate prior to accommodating everyone, including those who never worked in an office), the latest guidance from the Office of Personnel Management regarding religious accommodation encourages agencies to utilise a variety of flexibilities in order to not infringe on one’s faith practise, to include variable schedules and teleworking and fulfil religious obligations (sabbath, holiday preparation, periods of fasting and time-specific prayer) without compromising department mission, adding that telework is a low-cost solution that does not impose operational burdens. To the exclusion of agnostics and atheists, the memorandum does include surprisingly inclusive language—though we know the target audience is Christian Nationalists and perceived slights and prejudice will be weaponised (see previously) to promote a certain theological point of view.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Bell Systems’ Science series (with synchronopticæ) plus the medium is the metaphor

police procedural (12. 584)

First heard on NPR’s news quiz Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, we learned that over the weekend, police in Wisconsin searched a vehicle with an individual with a warrant out for their arrest—after a drug-sniffing dog gave authorities probable cause. Iconically they found various paraphernalia, a loaded gun, an amount of fiat currency and cocaine in a bag labeled ✨Definitely Not a Bag Full of Drugs✨. The driver and passenger were arrested for possession and as a felon with with a firearm. The photograph of confiscated evidence also features a dice bag used for role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, which should definitely not be considered criminal behaviour especially in the home state of Gary Gygax. It does, however, seem like a scoff-law move not to have stashed their everyday-carry in the more iconic (though possibly more obvious) Crown Royal bag. The Canadian blended whisky introduced on the occasion of the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939 as the first reigning monarchs to visit North America, the purple velvet satchel with golden draw-strings has been part of the brand’s identity ever since and is a genuinely useful object to have handy—and I’ll admit to buying some Crown Royal just to have one around in case of need. One can also order personalised bags from the distillery or request a care-package—so packaged—send to troops abroad.

gegenschein (12. 583)

Light pollution being a topic of particular concern to us, appreciating the fact that we are privileged to be far removed from most of the effects and most holidays too are spend under the stars, we liked learning about the metrics that went into this app—via MetaFilter—that uses the Bortle Scale, which builds and improves upon the way astronomers generally gauge the quality of the observations, naked-eye limiting magnitude (NELM) and judging the apparent brightness of the faintest visible objects, to make a better informed assessment of one’s environs and how far those margins might extend when looking up from a given location. The enlightening nine-step classification system with visible phenomena, untethered from a specific constellation or distant galaxy, with the most optimal including the zodiacal band (false dusk), regions of the Milky Way casting shadows on the ground with starshine and the above occurance of counterglow (not pictured—it’s much more subtle than that—see here for an actual attempt to image it), a brighter spot in the night sky centred at the antisolar point caused by the backscatter of sunshine on the opposite side of the Earth by interplanetary dust. Though previously described, the term was coined by Alexander von Humboldt during his South American expeditions, noting that this slightly illuminated spot appeared at midnight.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the asteroid Pallas (with synchropticæ) plus Lonesome (1928)

thirteen years ago: more security theatre plus the Vertue of the Coffee Drink 

sixteen years ago: hundredth blog post 

project ester (12. 582)

Named after queen Hadassah of the Hebrew bible who canonically revealed the designs of the Persian vizier to execute the Jews of Persia and urged them to take up arms against their enemies, the conservative think-tank, the Heritage Foundation’s other agenda—aside from Project 2025—ostensibly with the laudatory aim of combating what it classifies as antisemitism, Project Ester was launched a month before the US presidential, coinciding Hamas-led attack on Israel. Like many aspirational goals of the think-tank’s other programme, which seemed naïvely at the time far-fetched and were dismissed as panic mongering or symptomatic of Trump derangement syndrome, their target as outlined in the project’s blueprint—which the administration has brought whole-cloth, has shifted from something that ought to be an uncontroversial and given of dignity and respect shown to fellow humans to something ideological and partisan—only attacking anti-semitism on the left (which in itself seems like an oxymoron)—and using dismantling pro-Palestinian organisations and protest as a vehicle, a national strategy to frame an stance perceived as critical of the government of Israel as supporting a network of terrorism. The chilling effect that this has had for demonstrators, which the project’s architects do not deny was their intent, manifest in cancelling student visas and millions of dollars in US federal grants for colleges and universities not seen to be doing enough to combat anti-Semitic acts. Critical of “legacy” American Jewish institutions as complacent and embraced by evangelical Christians, many in the community Project Ester is claiming to champion have disavowed its tactics, recognising that their real plight is being appropriated to incite moral panic and spread conservative values broadly by targeting students, educators, politicians and other figures and institutions aligned with the purported movement that threatens not only Israeli interests but the US as well.

7x7 (12. 581)

latam-gpt: frustrated with the limitations of hegemonic AIs, Latin America is building its own inclusive, nuanced version  

whatever files she thinks are credible: amid backlash and reversing a reversal of previous postures, US congress moves to release the Epstein files  

þjóðvegur 1: a twelve day summer road-trip on Iceland’s Route One worthy of a saga  

percussion section: a word-search drum machine for selection of literary classics—via Waxy  

what’s the story, morning glory: every Oasis song visualised—via Quantum of Sollazzo  

not our war: MAGA revolts over Trump’s decision to supply weapons to Ukraine, realising his fawning respect for Putin is not reciprocal 

 lived experience: editors engaged to fix AI copy 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronopticæ) plus the Trump-Vance ticket

fourteen years ago: a periodic table of typefaces plus holidays in France

sixteen years ago: IKEA nomenclature 

cyberstress (12. 580)

We quite enjoyed this rather wholesome reminder, via r/ObscureMedia, from 1997 that goes beyond office ergonomics—which is frankly where most concepts of workplace well-being stopped and didn’t progress any further, from this cosmic guide to relax… take breaks… relax… take breaks… Me in 1997 would have been suspicious and very dismissive of such advice but now realise it was way ahead of its time—like an epiphany—and did manage to relieve my tension.

hapax legomenon (12. 579)

Via Waxy, we found this project from by Josh Sucher to create a cinematic lexicon of infrequent words from a data-set of prolix, dialogue-heavy films. Unsurprisingly, the top tier of one-in-a-billion words come from adaptations of Shakespeare with a close runner-up being the move version of The Pirates of Penzance and coming in at third overall was the TV new drama Network, the logophilia of the screen-writer Sidney “Paddy” Chayefsky (Marty, The Americanization of Emily, Paint Your Wagon, The Hospital and Altered States) inspiring the endeavour, which includes such terms as oraculate, chateaubriands and auspicatory. The project’s website gives definitions and the lines of dialogue from the film, cross-referencing other uncommon words used in the same production.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a storied gay bar in Seattle (with synchronopticæ), the Great White Way, an unavailable lecture by Grace Hopper plus assorted links to revisit

fourteen years ago: East Bloc architecture plus reading the comments below the fold