this five-hundred word bumper sticker on my tesla explains why i’m not a bad person (12. 417)

After reading about an entrepreneur earning a small fortune with a collection of significantly less apologetic and succinct stickers, we quite enjoyed this imagined screed plastered on the rear of a Tesla by one owner from McSweeney’s contributors Lia Woodward and Leah Folta: 

Does it help to know that I always return my shopping cart to the designated area? What about the fact that I’ve never been to a Chick-fil-A? Or that I commissioned this bumper sticker from the Etsy shop of a woman who was fired from the EPA?

…how could you possibly predict that someday he will say and do those same things a lot louder and more often?

[citation needed] (12. 416)

Taking longer than expected after Musk cast aspersions against what he styled as “Wokepedia”—though remember with these unimaginative and incurious MAGA toddlers every accusation is a confession—the Wikimedia Foundation is joining good company for a very bad precedent with the Trump administration’s Department of Justice issuing a boilerplate letter to the free encyclopaedia, threatening to strip it of its non-profit status for facilitating the spread of propaganda. Following the memory-holing of entire programmes and purging US government websites of any established science, from vaccine efficacy, the climate catastrophe to the spectrum of sex and gender identity—as well as any affirmative action—and pressuring any corporations contracting with the government to do the same, department lawyers levy that Wikipedia permits and promotes the manipulation of historical events and the biographies of American political leaders, subverting Trump’s agenda and undermining the interests of US taxpayers, who subsidise the international consortium in the same way that tariffs equal economic prosperity. As with other respected scientific institutions, like the New England Journal of Medicine and universities that have seen federal funding withheld, Wikipedia has been audited for proof that they have sufficient counter measures in place to suppress partisan disinformation edited by foreign nationals and measures to include competition viewpoints, such demands being another tactic to silence dissent and control the dissemination of knowledge that does not align with administration’s narrative and agenda.

millennial saint (12. 415)

Beatified and with the confirmation of a second miracle attributed to his intercession, the canonisation of blessed Carlo Acutis, a teenager and avid gamer (though imposing limits on himself to an hourly weekly as an ascetic) and burgeoning influence (whose bandwidth is increased in the repose of the saints, noted for his devotion to the Eucharist, hitting when the time is ripe for inculcating into trad- and pious ways which appeal to many), was originally scheduled to be canonised on this day but the death of Pope Francis means the matter is left to his predecessor. I wonder who played the devil’s advocate for this hearing. Sadly succumbing aged fifteen to leukaemia, Acutis had created several websites for local parishes for outreach and volunteer engagement and another prize-winning project that documented all miracles, guardian angels and Marian apparitions, demonstrating from a young age a keen interest in hagiography, particularly the life of St Francis of Assisi, where he was eventually entombed in the Sanctuary of the Spoliation of Santa Maria Maggiore, his funeral and memorial mass attended lapsed Catholics, especially young people that had abandoned the Church. It is not yet determined what Acutis’ patronage will be exactly but one can make educated guesses. His relics and body on display exhibit the incorruptibility of the holy—some of which is owing to an expert embalming job. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica), the Hobby Computer Club of Leiden plus Lego Lost at Sea

seven years ago: the Japanese domestic automarket, nightingale floors, North and South Korea accords, a unique bicycle design, America’s balloon lobby plus typographer Herb Lubalin

eight years ago: der Kuss, AI safeguards, an AI outfitter, the skies of The Scream plus a pop-up recycling facility

nine years ago: longer-lasting batteries plus taxidermied mermaids

ten years ago: the Jonbar Hinge

sidebar (12. 414)

Gathered for the pontiff’s funeral, Trump and Zelenskyy met for the first time in person since the February summit that fell apart on live television, coming after a rare rebuke by the US administration for Putin following deadly airstrikes and accusing Russia of not wanting a peaceful resolution after threats towards Ukraine of walking away from the US-brokered settlement (ostensibly fulfilling Russian objectives by ceding Crimea and other occupied territory) if no progress materialised. Starmer and Macron joined the conversation at various points and it was described by all parties as a productive meeting.

a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim (12. 413)

With today being International Crab Day, around since Jurassic times and with one of the most complex and contentious cladograms in Nature, we show some extra respect to a museum in Margate dedicated to the marine crustacean for championing transgender rights after the UK Supreme Court, sadly taking a cue from the US culture wars, ruled that women are defined by “biological sex” to the exclusion of transgender accommodations, and whilst not eliminating rights and protections completely nor declaring that there are only two sexes as in America, it is consequential insofar as single-sex services including restrooms, changing rooms, hospitals, prisons, sports clubs and shelters. The judgment however specifically stated that the biological characteristics delineating men from women are assumed to be self-evident and requiring no further explanation or nuance, according to the court’s interpretation of the Equality Act of 2010—to which drawing on its expertise in evolutionary history and biology the museum countered that there are no binaries in Nature and it was an abuse of science to suggest sex and gender was not on a spectrum. Other institutions have spoken up in solidarity, expressing rigorous opposition to changes in intimate spaces.

9x9 (12. 412)

crytophasia: eye-witnesses to an accident, twins speaking in unison yield insights about language acquisition   

keep your cool: a 1967 garage rock number appropriate for our times by Terry and the Chain Reaction   

swiss pavilion: the country’s contribution to the Osaka Expo evokes the spirit of the original venue—see previously here and here   

all dams are temporary: an interesting look at the limitations of hydrological regimes   

universi dominici gregis: the faithful and world leaders gather at the Vatican for the pontiff’s funeral   

buying access: Trump offers largest holders of his meme coin exclusive dinner date 

 hilma’s ghost: a monumental glass mosaic installed in New York’s Grand Central Station—in homage to the mystic artist   

on the corner: Myles Davis’ rock and funk, at first panned but now considered a masterpiece 

rampant pedantry: an overview of prescriptivism and hyper-correction

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica), a massive gallery of Star Trek images plus ancient scrolls deciphered with the help of AI

seven years ago: Brutalist Tetris, Macron addresses the US congress, the mythological namesakes of the Chinese lunar programme plus conspicuous consumption and the Diderot effect

eight years ago: Japanese manhole covers, journalism from Wikipedia, more links to enjoy, the Turkish-Syrian border, a Nazi-era bronze back on display plus more persuasive maps

nine years ago: bat nurse, the Sykes-Picot agreement, US tax-havens plus cataclysmic anniversaries (caution flashing image)

ten years ago: American founding fables

a1 is number one (12. 411)

Even as Trump has directed the responsible party to dismantle the institution, and is clawing back payment plans in arrears administered under department, he is encouraging the promotion of literacy in artificial intelligence, which the secretary so charged with making herself redundant referred to as the steak sauce, with the integration into the curriculum to teach the next generation of AI workers. Aside from sounding like a dystopian effort to drain human handlers of original, non-recursive thought, expendable once exhausted or replaced with a level of sycophancy useless to all parties, prioritising such initiatives following other governments stated reforms, which strike as far more feasible and responsible imbued with a functioning bureaucracy, Trump will need his DOE extant in some form to administer his Presidential AI Challenge and form partnerships within the industry, an unacknowledged tension for the organisation that he ordered dissolved and remanded to state school districts as the Supreme Court appears more focused on granting parental carve-outs for objectionable curricula rather than a hands off approach as promised.

untitled (12. 410)

Via Just a Car Guy (to demonstrate he is Trainspotting Spice—smashing—How about Sporty-but-interested-in-other-things Spice? And then there’s the little ginger one, full of useless information about manta rays… We can relate) we are treated to the highlights from an excellent New York photography retrospective featuring some superlative street scenes, images of Keith Haring, Peggy Guggenheim and the pictured Georgia O’Keeffe with a tumbler of wine and slice of cheese whilst being chauffeured in the American southwest. The latter two were captured by the world-class visual documentarian Tony Vaccaro (see previously), a scout during World War II in the European theatre and remaining to document post-war life before returning to the United States to work primarily as a celebrity and fashion photographer.