synchronoptica
one year ago: a Euro Pop playlist (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: a yลkai primer, assorted links to revisit, transhumance plus an AI suggests April Fools’ pranks
eight years ago: more links to enjoy plus Mr Roger’s Conflict Series
nine years ago: Easter origins, a venerable guesthouse plus a sinister lullaby
ten years ago: night-vision eye-drops plus even more links
Established on this day in 1528 as an outcome of the Treaty of Barcelona in which Holy Roman Emperor Karl V—also king of Spain—seeking relief from debts incurred and privately financed, granted to the 
Welser family of Augsburg and Nuremberg, a banking firm who claimed ancestry with the famed Byzantine general Belisarius, who reclaimed much of the land of the vestiges of the Western Roman Empire from the Vandals under Justinian I, a charter to rule, explore and colonise the territory known as Little Venice, later Weslerland (the exonym originally from Amerigo Vespucci after the Spanish equivalent), and seek out the legendary El Dorado and seven cities of gold. Governed from abroad, the colony was the German’s most significant stronghold in the Americas and though not lasting two decades before given to Spanish rule over mismanagement and the death of many German settlers and enslaved people dispatched to develop the land, the Welsers’ privilege was propagandised in later years to promote German imperial expansion in the 1880s and 1890s.
us agency for global media: Voice of America director files lawsuit over ordered closure—a federal judge issues a temporary stay
pecksniffian paragraph: Trump as a Dickens’ stock character over his sermonising on transgender military service members
entomological adultery: the 1912 Cameraman’s Revenge painstakingly animated by Wลadysลaw Starevicz
deterministic bit generator: a financial institution’s experiment with quantum computing generates certifiably random numbers with applications in auditing and encryption—see also
the memes have entered the chat: the internet responds to Signalgate (aka whiskeyleaks)
arts dรฉcoratifs: rediscovering Betty Joel, Britain’s forgotten maven of Art Deco design—part of a centenary celebration of the movement—see previously
the population of an old pear tree: an 1870 work by Belgian author Ernest van Bruyssel celebrating biodiversity and insect life
import/export: ahead of the planned tariff action for 2 April “Day of Liberty” Trump announces twenty-five percent duties on foreign cars and components, triggering retaliation
are you sure ms kerger—because he is red: NPR and PBS testify before congress with its federal funding at stake—see previously
synchronoptica
one year ago: anatomised police lineups (with synchronoptica), assorted links to revisit, a classic from U2 plus a Nordic Easter witch
seven years ago: the dynamic Cosmos, more links to enjoy plus Everything’s Coming Up Simpsons
eight years ago: backmasking and the Satanic panic, the show with the mouse plus the Bombay Sapphire distillery
nine years ago: Easter greetings, revisiting the Leipzig Panometer plus a canting dialect
ten years ago: Holy Blood, Holy Grail, even more links, poet Paul Verlaine plus affecting a holiday accent
debonair: an amazing and comprehensive collection of flight attendant uniforms—via Things Magazine
contrapoints: a documentary contextualising misinformation to point out it is misinformation
shortened itinerary: second lady’s tour of Greenland (now joined by her husband) is limited to inspecting the troops at Pituffik Space Base
seagram’s vo: pallets of American alcohol being returned to the manufacturer
jug band: a fun cover of Beat It!—with a powerful solo bridge by the Bottle Boys
boilerfaker: a new trend in microdosing alcohol—via tmn
duty to report: the 1890 attempt to coerce Canada into joining the US backfired spectacularly
signalgate: The Atlantic editor inadvertently added to a national security counsel group chat publishes transcript in full after Trump administration downplayed the seriousness of the breach
hmnd: an incomplete bestiary of humanoid robots
As the autonomous overseas territory has been garnering some welcome and some unbidden attention lately with the US determined to annex the artic island and sending an entourage to engage in election interference and meddle with self-determination, 
Tedium presents a celebration of Greenland’s unique pop culture, informed but untethered from its history as a colonial dependency. From the first piece of cinema entirely produced on the island with a cast of local actors to the psychedelic, prog rock band Sumรฉ, critical of the Danish government, past policies of assimilation and an anthem for the independence movement, the national artistic output is couched on the struggle for recognition but also stands on its own outside of any context. There’s a coda linking back to the US vice-president through Richie Cunningham’s character enlisting in the army stationed at Ultima Thule—to get away from Happy Days—and director Ron Howard assaying Vance’s autobiography. Much more at the link above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: AI search (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: gerrymandering, suicide prevention plus the buccaneers of America
eight years ago: a coopted meme, studio MUTI plus more on technological redundancy
nine years ago: ambitious Hyper-Loop plans for Europe
ten years ago: crusaders sack Constantinople, a roundup of patriotic cartoons plus the rise of the smart-watch
Via the New Shelton wet/dry, we are directed to problem of how most cuisine is reduced to a flag and 
cordoned in by national borders, which is serviceable to an extent but results in a monolithic understanding when regional dishes are in reality much more granular foodways. Chinese cooking has been categorised in popular culture into eight styles, Sichuan, Cantonese, Anhui, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Fujian and Zhejiang as a start (based off the order of courses presented in banqueting tradition) but is far more rarefied in reality, even to the exclusion of standard dishes which so far not been subject to an official count but seems conservatively to number in the scores with this “coffee table” enumeration of representative recipes, ingredients and trajectories.
Via JWZ, the crew at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency has regrouped after that initial and unending force majure of flooding the zone to again catalogue the daily horrors instigated by the Trump administration, like last time around, lest we forget. The atrocity legend has been updated with several new and dreadful categories to work into the schedule.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the calculus of Easter (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: Woozle hunting plus a local beverage
eight years ago: art projects informed by the Rijksmuseum collection
nine years ago: digital colonialism, an AI chatbot comes to a disastrous end plus the Satan-Leaf Gecko
ten years ago: assorted links worth revisiting plus hipster animals
reading between the lines: Trump regime shutters access to border-straddling opera and library, the Haskell House, which served as neutral territory for family reunions and marriages during his first term’s travel ban
shreve, lamb and harmon: hidden details of New York City’s iconic buildings—via Damn Interesting kennedy center honors: Conan O’Brien awarded the Mark Twain prize for American humour, embracing the irony and tension of the moment
backstroke of the west: an incomprehensible translation and re-translation of a Star Wars bootleg DVD
free spaced repetition scheduler: geography with positive reinforcement—via Maps Mania
opsec: Trump administration inadvertently shared its plans to to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen with a journalist from The Atlantic
