synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus candidate Bill Clinton on a late night talk show (1992)
seven years ago: a visit to Kloster Veรra, ultimate Monopoly, Andy Warhol shot (1968) plus the revival of an ancient Sumerian religion
To be instituted in mid-July when the federal hiring freeze is scheduled to be relaxed, albeit limited to one new employee for every four leaving the workforce on top of the three-hundred thousand target reduction—of which about half has already been achieved through normal attrition, leveraged buyouts and illegal firings by DOGE with the rest left up to AI and a programme called TurboRIF—the new recruitment plan to fill vacancies will require applicants to praise the administration’s executive orders, neither law nor policy and could be undone just as easily, and submit to a process of continuous vetting. The latter being not a mid-point evaluation or more rigorous scrutiny but rather a loyalty test and the former would require prospective to be judged on the merits not of education, credentials or experience but instead on their ability to pen an essay response, limited to two hundred words, that demonstrates their patriotism and citing which EOs that their job performance, if selected, would advance. 
I wonder if there will be a catalogue of regressive measures corresponding to each career field—to cross-reference for each public sector position of trust, like combatting DEI, protecting women, ending tax payer subsidies for biased media, promoting religious liberties, unleashing off-shore drilling, strengthening high education, reinstating common sense, restoring American seafood competitiveness, addressing the synthetic opioid supply chain in the People’s Republic of China as applied to low-value imports, etc. Answers to these four questions are not to be generated by chatbots and new hires must consent to assessments of their post-appointment conduct following onboarding to ensure that their responses were genuine and have not become hardened and disillusioned by turning in an assignment outlining who they’ll cast aspersions against minorities and the marginalised for a pay check, and contradictory adhering to an oath to uphold the law of the land. Human Resources and Human Capital Management professionals are taking exception with these highly qualifying criteria as unmeasurable and far from streamlining hiring are making the process much more onerous (by design) for rating and referral with unquantifiable standards.
synchronoptica
one year ago: astronomers question existence of Vulcan home world (with synchronoptica), how the robin got its name plus ghost malls and other modern ruins
seven years ago: Universology, kinetic, computational art plus tariffs and crony capitalism
eight years ago: pigeon shoes, the US leaves the Paris Climate Accords, the coronation of Elizabeth II (1953), a plant-filled bus plus assorted links worth revisiting
nine years ago: turning one’s social media presence over to a robot, existing in a simulated reality plus forgotten superstitions
ten years ago: more links to enjoy, closing down Germany’s nuclear power plants plus romanticising youth
the chairs of dr who: the quest to identify as much seating as possible from the series’ first great age from 1963 to 1989—via Pasa Bon!
ฯ in the sky: random star distribution reveals the mathematical constant with surprising accuracy
cowardcore: milquetoast Pride apparel collections—via Super Punch—see previously
the amalfi coast of japan: sites that compare themselves to more famous vacation destinations
all these worlds are yours, except europa—attempt no landing there; use them together, use them in peace: future missions to drill into the icy crust of the ocean moons—see previously
maxwell house: a fascinating omnibus of the cinematic commercial advertisements of Ridley Scott
Not the first meme on the subject, Trump has before propagated a false hysteria back in 2016 during his first campaign (at least the first one that netted a win for the serial candidate), repeating a snippet from an activist and agitator with Latinos for Trump complaining about continued immigration from Mรฉxico: “My culture is a very dominant, culture and its imposing and causing problems—if you don’t do something about it, you’re” going to have the above. In response, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce launched a Guac the Vote campaign to utilise these menacing snack bars as voter registration information booths. 
Now in the wake of a contested order to halt the president’s power to unilaterally impost tariffs without the consent of congress by a tribunal with a highly specific role, the US Court of International Trade—a quasi-judicial entity of the Treasury Department to deal with customs disputes, composed of expert judges appointed by Obama, Reagan, GW Bush, Clinton and Trump himself with the authority of a federal court but unlimited jurisdiction, referred to the Supreme Court for appeal, a Financial Times reporter has coined an acronym and modus operandi that has really gotten under the skin of the administration: TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) policy not only implies that this timorous madman approach gets too spooked when markets tumble and reverses or pauses the implementation in response to economic pressure, he and his cohort of loyalists also grift off stocks on the rebound of his actions, insider trading in a very public forum. Trump himself excused his vacillation as negotiation, describing himself in opposite terms despite investors seemingly willing to blow off threats as bluster and bullying and telling a journalist inquiring about the unflattering meme that it was “a nasty question” and never to ask it again. The special tribunal that enforced an injunction of Trump’s predictably chaotic behaviour argues that without the participation of the legislature and other parties with standing, the citation of national emergencies (drug trafficking and trade deficits) do not merit the prescribed remedies.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) plus Trump’s trials recall Cop Rock
seven years ago: a trip to Treffurt, French publicity caravans, crazy walls, Vegas hospitality workers strike plus more links to enjoy
eight years ago: more plagiarism scandals in government, the Shavian alphabet, Shakespeare and hawk-fanciers plus a trip to the Speewald
nine years ago: xenoglossy, the Bible in emoji plus visiting Restormel castle
ten years ago: more wearable technology, the philosophy of Erasmus, a trip to Gersfeld plus even more links
To mark both the fiftieth year of the European Space Agency and the second centenary of the birth of the composer—as well to redress a glaring omission in the playlist of Voyagers’ Golden Records, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra performed the “Blue Danube” livestreamed for terrestrial audiences and beamed out to the stars from an ESA dish antenna in Cebreros, Spain, part of the array of the deep-space network. The waltz by Johann Strauss II had its association with the wonder and grandeur of the Cosmos cemented by its use in the score of Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey—see also—and broadcast at the speed of light, the single will have surpassed the twenty-four billion kilometres transversed by the twin probes launched in 1977, overtaking Mars in just four and half minutes, Jupiter in thirty-seven minutes and Neptune in four hours. ESA director general hopes that this concert will inspire future scientists and explorers and become the anthem of space travel.
synchronoptica
one year ago: outtakes from Dalรญ Atomicus (with synchronoptica) plus more on numbers stations
seven years ago: brutalist birdhouses
eight years ago: a visit to Schloss Moritzburg plus bot armies
nine years ago: a trip to Berchtesgaden plus language and colour perception
ten years ago: the lifecycle of ladybugs
Departing from his post adhering to the statutory limits of his appointment as an emergency hire—though departing from the usual politicians’ script of “spending more time with my family” to spend more time with his businesses and showing up for his outprocessing with a sufficiently theatrical black eye, which he blamed on his child X although it could have been any number of agency chiefs, department heads or any conscientious bureaucrat (or Brigitte Macron) that socked him one on his way out, Musk as the destructive and chaotic force behind DOGE fell far short of his stated goal of trillions in savings and eliminating government fraud, waste and abuse. 
Instead the public reputation of Tesla and Starlink have been battered (as well as demonstrating his personal repugnance) , important public work selectively and irreparably, ruining lives and careers along the way. Realising the Sisyphean task and the fools’ errand, Musk’s ego is also bruised—laid bare by wilful ignorance of what services that the US federal government provides and how those functions hang together and so called inefficiencies are by design to prevent mass surveillance, not a legacy to be fixed by AI. For his exit survey, Musk also punched back in a way albeit it too little and too late given his influence, criticising Trump’s reckless Big Beautiful Bill as ultimately economically damaging.
one year ago: a US supreme court justice flies provocative flags (with synchronoptica), a WWII battle for an Aleutian island, the anatomy of a limerick plus Trump found guilty of falsifying business records
seven years ago: all about Ostheim
nine year ago: a wearable, in-ear translator plus giving Tumblr a try
ten years ago: Swiss cheese goes blind plus Alf’s hip-hop album
eleven years ago: mourning a ruined laptop, semi-conducting cement plus getting ready to travel to Lake Como
