Ascended to the throne one year ago after the abdication of his mother, Margrethe II, King Frederik X. has changed the coat of arms of the monarchy, last lightly adjusted in 1972, that better reflects the composition of the 
Danish realms from a historical and heraldic perspective, giving formerly colonies and present autonomous regions of Greenland and the Faroe Islands equally billing with their own fields (quartered shield with the update per dexter, represented by a polar bear and ram respectively—the escutcheon supported by a pair of woodwoses, vildmรฆnd, a symbol for the patron protector Silvanus of the woodlands). Decreed in late December, the change signals (see also) that Greenland is not for sale after repeated overtures by the incoming Trump administration and internal calls for the territory’s independence, which with the US involvement has not always worked out well (see previously here, here and here), and the de-mothballing of American military installations in Iceland.
Monday, 6 January 2025
royal achievement (12. 151)
public law 49-90 (12. 150)
A joint-session of the US congress is set to convene for what had previously been the unceremonious administrative task of certifying the votes of the Electoral College in some ways will be like the proforma ritual of the past but there are still very present reminders of what occurred at the Capitol four years ago. 
With no dispute from the losing party, there will be no angry rioters descending on the hall of government, motivated by the unseated president who never conceded the other’s victory and no vandalism and violence to stop the process (unguarded threats and calls of widespread voter fraud hurled by the Republicans throughout the campaign immediately dissipated shortly after polls closed on election day), the grounds have still been put on high alert with temporary fencing and legislation was passed in the immediate aftermath to better codify a framework based on normative behaviour but full of attendant ambiguities and foster the peaceful transition of power. Rejecting an elector’s ballot would require a major vote in both chambers to sustain an objection and explicitly defines the role of the Vice President as President of the Senate as purely magisterial and does not and never did have the authority to overturn the counting, despite what Trump amplified to his supporters, sending a literal lynch mob after Mike Pence (and other public officials). As happened last in 2001 with Gore losing to Bush, Kamala Harris will oversee the certification of the presidential race in favour of her opponent.
c the unseen (12. 149)
Deutsche Welle has a pair of interesting profiles of the cities—three actually—that will serve as the 2025 European Cultural Capitals. 
Once the flagship metropolis of the DDR (see previously), Chemnitz (formerly Karl-Marx-Stadt) has mostly dimmed since reunification and attracting negative attention, but under the motto above (“C” for the vehicle registration plate) organisers hope to highlight the city’s long history and rich heritage, including showcasing a selection of the thirty-thousand garages built during the East German era as a backdrop to explore their functions not just for parking but also storage and communal spaces, like the allotments of Gardenstรคdte. The other municipalities participating is Gรถrz, once the home to an Alpine dynasty under the Hapsburg Empire, now divided into Nova Gorica and Gorizia along the Italian-Slovenia border but for the first time celebrated together as a joint culture capital. The former cosmopolitan and culturally diverse city was annexed by Italy following the dissolution of Austro-Hungary at the end of World War I and the German and Slovene populations were either expelled or assimilated, borders redrawn again in the aftermath of World War II with Yugoslavia’s Tito founding a new district on the divide between East and West. More on the year’s schedule of events and programme at the link up top.
synchronoptica
one year ago: YMCA at number one (with synchronoptica), Epiphany in Greenland plus assorted links to revisit
seven years ago: the animations of Jonathan Stroh, an AI generates plausible Wikipedia categories, designer candies plus more links to enjoy
eight years ago: even more links, more Japanese designer New Year’s cards, an inaugural prop plus The Running Man (1987)
nine year ago: more links worth revisiting, wearable tech plus underwater farming
ten years ago: CNN’s apocalyptical sign off plus a supposed Nazi UFO
Sunday, 5 January 2025
hearth and home (12. 148)
We’ve received a happy status update regarding this rather spectacular temple to outsider art, Ron’s Place 
in Birkenhead outside of Liverpool, a flat hidden within an unassuming brick residence holding a scarcely seen gallery of hearths, altars and murals created by renter Ron Gittin, now catalogued and conserved. The landlord a permissive sufferer of such flourishes was however mostly ignorant of the extent of the artist’s embellishments (as well as his friends and family upon his unexpected death in 2019) that celebrated the multi-hyphenate’s interest in Antiquity and repository of his other creative pursuits. Let’s wish all property owners could be so tolerant of their tenants’ eccentricities and had faith for the next occupant’s inheritance. Much more at the links above.
8x8 (12. 147)
black swan event: futurist forecast a host of unpredictable geopolitical scenarios for 2025—via the New Shelton wet/dry
it’s schoolhouse rocky—that chip off the block—of your favourite schoolhouse, schoolhouse rock: a rather incredible thrift store find of Smash Mouth’s Steve Harwell performing some numbers from the educational cartoon series—see previously
paraiso de los gatos: the art of Remedios Varo
to unalive or not unalive: the resurgence of the term was prompted by a way to get around advertiser blacklists with euphemisms—see more
reboot: the Landauer Limit, thermodynamics and more efficient computing—see also
post-scarcity, post-singularity: it’s still easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism—via Duck Soup
the eagle & child: Oracle’s Larry Ellison has purchased the Oxford pub frequented by Tolkien and C S Lewis—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest
the year that was and wasn’t: The Morning News interviews some of their favourite journalists about the most and least important stories and trends of 2024—see also the dumbest timeline
smaismrmilmepoetaleumibunenugttauiras (12. 146)
Although only privileging our very limited point of view, changes in the skies, even though expected and with rational explanations, like the phases of the Moon, eclipses and occultations, can still inspire strike with awe and reverence and drive us to herald, especially in the waning and vanishing, their return. Clive Thompson directs our attention to one upcoming astronomical event, beginning in March and lasting through November, when the rings of Saturn will disappear. This temporary loss of the gas giant’s main feature, a constellation of debris, failed moons, captured comets and asteroids, occurs for earthly watchers twice every twenty-nine and a half years as the planet makes its revolution around the sun and its inclination puts our world in the ring plane, too thin to be seen head on.
Galileo who began making careful observations of the planet in 1610 one day noticed that the “handles” or “ears” had gone away and was deeply unsettled by this sudden change in the eternal heavens, thinking perhaps the Titan had actually devoured his offspring as in myth. Named after the Roman god of wealth and agriculture who sired Jupiter (Zeus)—Saturn’s patronage did not only extend the harvest but also its cyclical nature, identified with Cronos, whom after overthrowing his own father, Uranus, to become king of the gods was prophesied to be unseated himself by his own children and so gobbled them all up to prevent this from coming to pass. His mother Rhea substituted a boulder for her sixth child, Zeus, and hid him away in Crete to stop the madness. The somewhat more benign Father Time is sometimes portrayed with a sickle or scythe, rising from these same mythopoeic origins, but is nonetheless an equally unmoving standard bearer for the unrelenting march of time and witnessing such an exception, especially for the first time and to see them return months later as Galileo did—the title, as was the practise among astronomers at the time, refers to an anagram that he recorded to document a finding before it was ready for publication, Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi (I have observed the most distant planet and it has a triple form) and Huygens in the 1650s, correctly identifying the nature of the unusual tripartite form wrote in a letter to his father “aaaaaaacccccdeeeeeghiiiiiiillllmmnnnnnnnnnooooppqrrstttttuuuu,” deciphered as Annulo cingitur, tenui, plano, nusquam coherente, ad eclipticam inclinato or Saturn “is surrounded by a thin, flat ring nowhere touching and inclined toward the ecliptic plane”—is a reflection not only on aging and dissolution but also on recurrence and renewal. Much more at the links above.
ease on down the road (12. 145)
The retelling of the L Frank Baum franchise (see below also) in the context of contemporary African-American culture and featured an all-Black cast. Among many luminaries, the role of Scarecrow (left in charge of Emerald City when the charlatan Wizard departs with Dorothy, the city only being green as everyone was made to wear tinted glasses) was played by the recently departed actor and choreographer Hinton Battle—the character portrayed by Michael Jackson for the filmed version, who studied ballet under George Balanchine and had several other staged appearances including Dreamgirls, Miss Saigon and Sophisticated Ladies and numerous television credits, counting among them Quantum Leap, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Cat for the pilot of the un-optioned American version of Red Dwarf—a recast re-shoot of the trial episode roundly criticised as ‘White Dwarf’ (Cat would now be female and played by Terry Farrell, known for acting as Jadzia Dax on Star Trek: DS9) for its inclusion, unlike the British sitcom, of all Caucasian actors. 
one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica), Book Review (1946), more on nominative determinism plus more on the Fermi Paradox
Saturday, 4 January 2025
[citation needed] (12. 144)
Via tmn, we are directed to Molly White’s thoroughgoing examination on the intensifying campaign on the part of a chorus of conservative voices attacking Wikipedia’s right to exist as the pitched-battle against free and open access information. 
In a Christmas Eve directive issued on X—former known as Twitter—its owner, free speech absolutist and Kekius Maximus instructed his followers to stop donating to “Wokepedia.” Self-selecting and cherry-picked, these shallow and repackaged grievances against the volunteer-based authoritative reference source include mistaking and misrepresenting initiatives to counter misinformation and bolstering the site’s reliability as their latest bugbear of DEI, they characterise Wikipedia as liberal propaganda, infected by the “woke mind virus” as evinced by their treatment of patent conspiracy theories and resistance to recognising Fox News as reliable sources. Restricting availability only to their approved syllabus, this latest assault is just another way, like banning books and pornography in the name of child protection and promoting family values, is designed to keep the proles under control and not enjoy the liberties and prerogatives of the rich and powerful. Needless to say, if you have the means, contribute—especially when other outlets have demonstrated their willingness for obeying in advance.
