the thirteenth floor (12. 042)

Although acquainted somewhat with taboo numbers and avoidance of certain addresses, I hadn’t seen it in practice—admittedly applying my own form of lore and arithromania to disbursements when paying bills and try to have a figure four in there albeit mindful that auspicious dates, versions can deceive—and enjoyed this enlightening overview from Language Log in the form of a superstitious elevator panel, removing the fourth storeys as a homophone for death (死, sì, sĭ), or more specifically according to the Eighteen Level of Hell in Chinese mythology, as elaborated in Journey to the West, the association with the Mirror of Retribution, the literal “evil mirror platform” (孽鏡臺)—accounting for further omissions for those wanting to bypass the degrees of purgatory awaiting the ones dodging dharmic-for-karmic justice in this life. Much more at the links above.

overwintered (12. 041)

Hardly redemptive though having read about municipalities getting dual-use out of the massive amounts of energy expended on bitcoin mining before, it took me a couple of readings to get how this news article was a “bit too on the nose,” about how a Dutch tulip farmer was offsetting their heating costs by hosting crypto servers in the greenhouse. We realised however reading the completely unironic reportage that it was a very apt commentary on the original mania, speculative bubble (see also) albeit now a relatively benign one is being fuelled by one in the series of benighted ventures.

you aitch-dropping apical shibboleth! (12. 040)

Language Log directs us to the very satisfying discovery with the latest SMBC (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Zach Weinersmith—see previously) webcomic on how phonological jargon can be employed quite effectively to hurl insults. Embarrassed for choice, we agree it’s hard to find a linguistic term that wouldn’t fit the pattern, even though all are beningly describing a morphological phenomenon—it’s all in tone and delivery. You voiceless epiglottal plosive—you, you reduplicative nilpotency!

30 top chart hits (12. 039)

Conceived by Virgin Records in London and taking its name from a 1920s advertisement for Danish brand bacon (the pig would become the mascot for most of the series, Richard Branson had purchased the poster from a nearby antiques shop), the first compilation album was released in the UK on this day in 1983, with hit tracks including Phil Collins’ You Can’t Hurry Love, Boy George’s Karma Chameleon and Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart, the biggest hits from artists under their own label. An immediate commercial success, anthologies were put out three times per year—with the best-selling edition (seven times platinium) from 1999, NOW! 42 featuring Britney Spears, Shania Twain, Lou Bega, Backstreet Boys, Robbie Williams and Phil Collins’ with You’ll be in my Heart. There have been many spinoffs (and imitations) of the concept including music television channels, Now Dance, Now That’s What I Call X-Mas and NOW! 62 released in 2005 as a digital download.

god of management (12. 038)

From Slashdot’s No Peace even in Death department, we learn that Panasonic plans to resurrect the company’s founder and long-time COO Kōnosuke Matsushita (松下 幸之助) as a digital clone, rebuilding his personality, leadership and decision making skills, revered as by the above title in business circles in Japan and beyond for creating the largest and enduring consumer electronics company in the country, with AI informed by Matsushita’s writing, recorded speeches, meeting minutes and notes. Having died in 1989 and with a generation mentored by the originator aging out themselves, Panasonic hopes that Matsushita will continue to be able to inspire and develop those who never got the chance to interact with him personally. What do you think? The verdict is still out on these sort of doppelgängers, whether they are effective beyond a compelling, cloying sense of nostalgia (especially in terms of running a large corporation) but one has to wonder about the ethical responsibility (see previously) of bringing one back from the dead without say in the matter—especially that of a god. Is it letting the genie out of the bottle or indenturing one’s restive soul?

synchronoptica

one year ago: Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year (with synchronoptica), the Origin and Evolution of the Palestine Problem (1978) plus a Bansky mural demolished

seven years ago: JFK’s undelivered speech plus artist Pepe Cruz Novillo

eight years ago: assorted links to revisit, the Stout Scarab plus bus fare in exchange for ads

nine years ago: a visit to Vienna 

ten years ago: kingship and coinage plus the comics of Ruben Bolling

cp 1919 (12. 037)

Discovered by post-graduate astrophysics student Jocelyn Bell Burnell using the Interplanetary Scintillation Array of Cambridge Observatory on this day in 1967 whilst searching for radio signals in space, because of its precise regularity, it was dismissed by colleagues as terrestrial interference initially,but combing through reams of data, Bell Burnell correctly pinpointed its origins to celestial coordinates of nineteen′ nineteen′′ right ascension, twenty-one° declination, coming from the constellation Vulpecula—for which it was given the designation LGM-1, little green men, supposing it might be an alien beacon of some kind. The discoverer, however, correctly posited that the source was a rapidly rotating neutron star. Fellow researchers received a Nobel prize in 1974 for their work in radioastronomy but Bell Burnell’s contributions were overlooked (for her part, she maintained that she did not believe that the committee should be in the business of honouring research assistants), and the novel class of star is now recognised as a pulsar, emitting beams of radiation from its poles and have proven to be an indispensable lighthouse in the cosmos for detection and triangulation, a throughline for detecting the first exoplanents and the phenomena of gravitational waves among others. In 1979, for their debut studio album, Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division adapted a ridgeline plot of the stars’s radio emissions’ pulses for the cover art.

9x9 (12. 036)

to john dillinger and hope he is still alive: William S Burroughs’ Thanksgiving Prayer  

sampler-sized: iconic electronic music remixes by year  

silent poems: a weird and wondrous, non-WYSIWYG word processor from graphic designer Lavinia Petrache—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest 

blacklisted: Musk publishes names of federal workers he wants to eliminate, a terror-inducing tactic that may force them to resign in lieu of being fired  

well, please post the rebuttal—then community notes will take care of the rest: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg explains to Elon Musk how EV charging works 

sortes vergilianae: a particular form of bibliomancy drawing random passages from The Aeneid (see also here and here) and other works by Roman poet Virgil  

anacyclosis: the rise and fall of civilisation and the undermining of democracy  

the nine lives of dr mabuse: avant garde pop band Propaganda celebrate the filmology of the chaotic villain—see previously  

pay no attention to that man behind the curtain: a political reading of Wicked

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Battle of Versailles (1973—with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth the revisit 

seven years ago: Tom Baker returns as Dr Who plus Trump celebrates Native American Heritage Month

eight years ago: emoluments and more

eleven years ago: the debut of MST3K (1998) plus Germany’s Goldfinger tax-model

twelve years ago: :D for Düsseldorf

statute at large (12. 035)

Not exercised since the codification of the US congress’ role in determining the federal budget in 1974 in response to Nixon’s abuse of the prerogative of impoundment as a violation of the American system of checks and balances and separation of powers (specifically, the president frustrated the will of the legislature by arguing that the administration could withhold monetary assistance for water pollution reduction grants that the White House vetoed and was subsequently overridden, the Environmental Protection Agency a product of Nixon himself) until late July of 2019 when Trump attempted to direct the Office of Management and Budget to not disburse funds for Ukraine while coercing an investigation into the family of his political rival, Joe Biden—for which Trump was impeached for the first time, the matter never purview of the Supreme Court to debate its constitutionality. A tool limited by political norms afforded to past presidents and currently in the form of line-item vetos and requests for rescission of appropriated funds, Trump wants to now channel the act of congress and restore the power as yet another quiver to subvert fiduciary guidance and steamroll the legislative branch by empowering his Department of Government Efficiency.