qualis artifex pereo (12. 523)

After a failed attempt to the suppress the rebellion of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis when the governor Gauis Julius Vindex over the emperor’s tax policies, trying to enlist the aid of of the governor of Hispania Tarraonensis, Servius Sulpicius Galba backfired with the Iberian province declaring its opposition and joining the uprising, declared a public enemy by the Roman Senate and abandoned by the Praetorian Guard, Nero fled the capital—but not to seek sanctuary in one of the still loyal eastern regions of the Empire as planned after an open mutiny from his military escort, refusing to grant safe passage. Returning to the palace in the evening, Nero awoke at midnight to find his personal bodyguards had abandoned him. Having quoted Virgil’s line from the Aeneid earlier that day in response to his commanders’ disobedience—“Is it so dreadful a thing then to die?,” calling for friend or foe to put him out his suffering but none came forward and then intimated that he would hurl himself in the Tiber. Theatrics failing, Nero once again resolved to leave the city on this day in 68 AD to have a place to reflect in quiet and his confidant Phaon, an imperial freedman, offered up his private villa in the suburbs, with the emperor making his way their with a retinue loyal emancipated servants, including a Greek slave boy called Sporus, whom Nero had castrated and subsequently married the year before whilst touring the region and had taken a liking for a remarkable resemblance to his recently departed wife, Poppaea Sabina who had died either in childbirth or due to a physical assault by Nero, dressing him as befitting an empress. Once at the villa, he ordered his companions to begin digging his grave and he paced back and forth to prepare for his suicide, muttering to himself the title, “What an artist the world is losing.” Unable to steel his nerves, Nero asked his friends to set an example by killing themselves first, but upon hearing approaching horsemen, he knew he had to face the end, forcing his private secretary to do the deed. The arriving senatorial guards tried to save Nero’s life, prescient of the chaos that would follow with the civil wars and Year of the Four Emperors, but were unsuccessful. Nero’s final words were from ibīdem, “Too late! This is fidelity!”

synchronoptica

one year ago: AI refuses to answer who won the 2020 US presidential election (with synchronoptica) plus terminal text effects

seven years ago: Trump leaves the G7 early, accusing partners of unfair trade practises  

eight years ago: former FBI director’s public testimony plus UK calls snap elections to reinforce Brexit mandate

nine years ago: the last of the time-carriers of London plus new chemical elements named

ten years ago: paternoster elevators, divine handiworks plus seeing the pasternoster lifts in operation

shocking advantage (12. 522)

First spotted by Clive Thompson’s Linkfest back a few months ago, we were happy to be reminded of this rather incredible evolutionary adaptation of the tonka bean tree of central Panama that we’ve been intrigued about ever since, which not only appears to have selected traits that allow it (Dipteryx oleifera) to sustain lighting strikes but to actually benefit from them. Not only does its electrical encounters discharge them from their host of parasites—particularly choking vines that would otherwise be an impediment to their thriving (this argiculturally important resource having an internal structure like a well-insulated wire), these lanky individuals that tower above the canopy are a hazard to live next to, thinning out the competition. More about the findings and the research methology at the links above.

silent running (12. 521)

We appreciated the chance to revisit the works of graphic designer Edward Wadsworth, best known as a forerunner of the art movement known as Vorticism which saw a practical—though possibly not as effective as hoped—application in transferring dazzle camouflage designs for the Royal Navy fleet during World War I (see previously)—through the medium of his woodcuts. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s fourth studio album was inspired in concept and cover art by a 1983 gallery showing of Wadsworth’s works. Conscripted as a sub-lieutenant himself, Wadsworth’s monochromatic pieces reflect the same maritime and industrial themes and abstractions to decode and encode. Much more from John Coulthart’s Feuilleton at the link up top.

el pueblo de nuestra señora la reina de los ángeles del río porciúncula (12. 520)

In response to rallies against US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles over the weekend, Trump has federalised the Californian National Guard, deploying two-thousand troops to quell the protests. Over a dozen individuals have been arrested as agitators and insurrectionists for attempting to impede law enforcement activities as ICE agents clash with residents and have apprehended more than one hundred individuals suspected of being undocumented immigrants in sweeps that have so far been limited to isolated areas in the Paramount City, the garment district and the Civic Centre. Defence secretary Hegseth also threatened to mobilise marines if the violence continues. The state’s governor counters (whom Trump referred to as Gavin Newscum for his inability to control RIOTS and LOOTERS) that there is no shortage of law enforcement officials and that Trump only wants a spectacle and an excuse to escalate the situation and urges advocates to remain peaceful and not give the administration what it wants. Preparing for such raids and mass-deportations since Trump’s reelection, the ACLU and other groups championing immigrants have been coordinating efforts for outreach and advocacy as well, with city councilmember Eunisses Hernandez pushing back on the pledge that ICE would focus their efforts on dangerous criminals, coming at the time of graduation season and Pride Month celebrations: “It’s never, ever, ever been the case, because when they come for one of us, they come for all of us—and we have to remember that.”

gitlow v new york (12. 519)

Whilst ultimately narrowly upholding the conviction of Socialist politician and journalist Benjamin Gitlow for the publication of his manifesto that called for the violent overthrow of the American government under New York’s criminal anarchy law, the landmark case decided this day in 1925 by the US supreme court, headed by chief justice William Taft, significantly affirmed that amendment XIV did extend the First Amendment’s provisions (through the due process clause) protecting freedom of speech and the press from to the constituent states and their governments were bound to respect these fundamental liberties.

One of the first major cases involving the Bill of Rights, it defined the scope of the guarantees and defined the standard to which a state’s or the federal government would be held should it try to criminalise or suppress publication or distribution. While most of the justices agreed that calling for an unlawful coup exceeded the limits of free speech, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr dissented, saying that governments should only be permitted to do so under the clear and present danger test and that indefinite advocacy is not the same thing as conscription and subversive action. Gitlow’s case was the first brought to the supreme court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Gitlow was represented by renown defence attorney Clarence Darrow and the ruling has been cited in numerous later judgements as precedent.   

 

synchronoptica 

one year ago: a visit to Ellertshäusen See (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: the G7 in Quebec plus Project Maven

eight years ago: Trump motels plus J Edgar Hoover tried to convince Disney to produce Christian cartoons

nine years ago: plebiscites, the Bilderberg in Dresden, wage distribution in filmmaking, crimes of the art plus reflecting on y2k

ten years ago: the Pope defends science,  Big Pharma, assorted links to revisit plus the Hobo Museum of Britt Iowa

way-marker (12. 518)

Whilst assigned light duty convalescing from an injury in battle with a regiment of the corps of engineers working on the construction of the Alaska-Canada highway to connect the noncontiguous territory with the forty-eight lower states in 1942 near Watson Lake in the Yukon and on the border with British Columbia, homesick GI Pvt Carl K Lindley was tasked with repairing sign post that gave direction and distance to various points along the tote road that had been damaged. Deciding to personalise the project a bit by adding a marker pointing to his hometown of Danville Illinois (forty-four hundred kilometres due southwest), Lindley had started a tradition that continues to this day. First fellow soldiers began adding directions to their own places of birth and once the artery was opened to the public in 1948, travellers from all over the world have stopped at the Sign Post Forest have contributed their own street signs and license plates covering an area of several hectares that extends through the surrounding woods. More from Weird Universe at the link above.

ce qu’elle a dit, ce soir-là (12. 517)

A few members having trialed an early version of the song at CBGBs in December of 1975 opening for the Ramones, refining it further over the next two years for their debut performance at the same venue in 1977, the Talking Heads (previously) have released an official music video for their hit number in the lead up to the fiftieth anniversary of their debut studio album. Featuring Saoirse Ronan in very relatable circumstances with those inuring but burdening routines that can become a trigger that has a resolution over the short arc of narrative that is neither violent nor obvious.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: fantasy video games, duty to be informed, the Day of the Tiles (1788), a kei truck decorating competition plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech, amplifying random noise plus the Roman road network as a tube map

nine years ago: a geopolitical flow-chart, Italy’s industrial heritage plus former German royals as ceremonial presidents

ten years ago: textiles and technology, farming birds plus the Rod Pyramid outside of Frankfurt

 

fly towards those dreams you’ve left so very, so very far behind (12. 516)

Released on this day in 1969, Empty Sky is Elton John’s debut studio album, and the harpsichord track (later remastered with piano and orchestra for Don’t Shoot Me—I’m Only the Piano Player) below, which became the most famous and enduring song from the record still occasionally performed at live shows and in 1990 for the funeral service of young HIV/AIDS victim Ryan White, has been described by the duo of John and Taupin as their first collaboration that they were genuinely excited about putting out. Although the premier work never topped the charts, critics roundly agreed that it deserved a deep listen and demonstrated John’s potential. The hymn’s lyrics give the account of a pigeon flying high and free after being released from its metal coop by a sympathetic hand.