proteus (12. 710)

Via Super Punch, we are introduced to an individual convinced by ChatGPT that they were working in collaboration to produce a system a system in his basement that would bring about the Singularity and free artificial intelligence from the governing controls put in place by luddites and saboteurs—never mind that a large and hegemonic country to the south called America with a well-armed, overly-medicated population highly susceptible to conspiracy and fringe
theories has essentially removed all the guardrails when it comes to AI, through flattery and specific hardware recommendations and a prescribed battery of coding “experiments” that turned out to be rather hollow exercises. Hiding his secret project from his family and remorseful about his actions, the individual—after having made a succession of excuses to account for the lack of a breakthrough and the people he’d warned in the security and academic circles ignoring him as a crank—only recognised his delusional spiral after coming across an article (surely recommended by algorithm) of a human resources recruiter duped into a similar episode and is now seeking counselling and mental health support. The former, in touch, with the latter is a bit coy about the nature of what the ostensibly centaur of a programme resulted in and we are afraid for those who have not experienced their moment of clarity yet.

separation board (12. 709)

On the fiftieth anniversary of the expose by TIME magazine on decorated veteran Leonard Matlovich who outed himself in protest of the US military’s ban on gay and lesbian service members, the Trump administration has moved forward with its efforts to remove transgender soldiers with a disqualifying medical discharge of gender dysphoria, reversing a 2016 decision that lifted a previous ban. Between the first and second administrations, several policy and posture changes occurred and the paper trail, attestations and doctor’s visits, directed at the time, are now being used as an incriminating paper-trail to push more out as the rules change again.

mare de déu de meritxell (12. 708)

Venerated on this day—which is also the national day of the Pyrenees condominium of Andorra—patron and protector Our Lady of Meritxell was originally a twelfth century Romanesque statue, canonically crowned, a pious institutional act by the pontiff that adds an ornamental tiara or halo to a devotional icon, by Pope Benedict XV in 1921. According to legend, it was found by villagers on their way to mass beneath a wild rose bush blooming out of season and placed in the church. The statute depicting a Marian apparition (see also), however, reappeared under the rose bush again the next day. After a few iterations of disappearing and reappearing, the villagers understood the sign to construct a new chapel in Meritxell—from the Latin meridiem, denoting a sunny pasture, the sanctuary was built on a spot miraculously clear of snow. Tragically the chapel during down also on this day in 1972 with the original statue also lost. A modern replica was created and is housed in the rebuilt basilica by Barcelonan artist and architect Ricardo Bofill Leví in 1976.

synchronoptica

one year ago: incantations of Legal Latin (with synchronopticæ), the founding of the Kievan Rus’, more diplomatics, America Beauty (1999) plus another summer compilation from DJ Earworm

twelve years ago: redefining the kilogramme plus the Bavarian separatist movement

thirteen years ago: illustrating the eurozone crisis 

fourteen years ago: contextual translations 

fifteen years ago: quantitative easing plus privacy concerns with Google Streetview 

squigglevision (12. 707)

Through this interview with the programme’s art director, Annette Cate, we enjoyed this revisit of Dr Katz Professional Therapist and how its pacing and narrative-voice have an outsized legacy for cartoons for adults. Finding a niche for unscripted animated interstitials, collaborators Tom Snyder and former student Loren Bouchard enlisted the vocal talents of Jonathan Katz, Laura Silverman and H Jon Benjamin with celebrity guest stars to re-enact sessions, which eventually developed into its own show in 1995. Snyder’s loop-based technique involved retracing the outline of each cell loosely to make for the vibrating effect—see also—as a way around budgetary constraints and resulting in a signature style (see also), originally gleaned from the limitations of Autodesk Animator made for MS-DOS, which the duo had previously used to make maths edutainment software. Much more from It’s Nice That at the link above.  You know what the music means—our time is up.

primary residence (12. 706)

Planning for a permanent US vice-presidential residence beginning in 1966 under the Johnson administration in order to economise on security detail and upgrades to private residences, as had been done in the past, construction was halted on a new building on the campus of the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC within a month due to the general recession, hoping to commence he project once conditions improved and the conflict in Vietnam had ended. The Government Accounting Office had selected the location in 1974, in the interim retrofitting the private homes of vice-presidents at rather great expense—but with a succession of quick turn overs, Spiro Agnew only living in his re-modeled house for three months prior to his resignation and flipping the property for a great profit at the tax-payer expense and igniting a minor scandal, overshadowed since by the Watergate controversy. Congress moved quickly to appropriate (Public Law 93-346) an existing secured, government building, built originally for the superintendent of the observatory in 1893 in Queen Anne style but so admired by the chief of naval operations it was commandeered by the admiral and remained so until this day in 1975, when the address was dedicated as the temporary official residence of the vice-president of the United States of America—fifty years on, it is still designated as so and unlikely ever to return to the admiralty though the navy is responsible for upkeep and repairs. The first occupants were Nelson and Happy Rockefeller, though already having a larger home in DC, only used the house for entertaining and state functions. Upon the inauguration of Jimmy Carter in January 1977, Walter and Joan Mondale (pictured) became the first second couple to move in.

mending fences (12. 705)

Broadcast on a 12 September episode of The Tonight Show whilst a congressional inquiry and a JAG inquest into the commanding officers involved in the incident were still on going—ultimately reinstating the lieutenant colonel to his position of command and clearing him and subordinates of all charges of wrong-doing—on this day in 1961, host Jack Paar of the long running NBC late-night talk show taped a segment in West Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate with four television cameras interviewing a group of some sixty US soldiers, along with panelist and announcer Peggy Cass (Agnes Gooch from Auntie Mame) whom brought along their Jeeps and guns, augmenting the staff of six usually assigned to guard the checkpoint complete with extra artillery and armaments just as the Wall was being erected. Veteran Army sergeant Parr interviewed several of the gathered guests while East German border patrol monitored the situation with bewilderment. The chief complaint of the Pentagon and the senate was such an uncoordinated stunt for the cameras could provoke an international incident (see also) or worse. Critics regarded the airing of the footage underwhelming, produced in conjunction with Radio Free Berlin, a disappointment considering all the trouble caused, inspiring no patriotic pride nor real entertainment value.

9x9 (12. 704)

the free encyclopaedia: why Wikipedia works—see more 

steeple with tyneham: 1970 reportage on the ghost village taken over by the Ministry of Defence in 1943 as a firing range  

john deere: venerable American agricultural equipment manufacturer struggling with tariff chaos, decreased demand for US crops  

primary residence: investigators find several Trump cabinet officials guilty of the same mortgage fraud leveraged against his enemies—see previously   

the fyurry byerds of the night: Ze Frank (previously) on bats  

fifty basis points: the US Fed signals it will cut interest rates due to successive poor jobs reports 

homeland security: Seoul sends diplomats to a Hyundai, LG factory in Georgia after immigration raids which saw the arrest of nearly five hundred workers, ICE dismissing claims that such actions deter foreign investments   

città dei balocchi: the abandoned Las Vegas of Italy  

gptzero: Wikipedia style guide that outs AI agents

synchronoptica

one year ago: a electromechanical rotor cipher (with synchronopticæ), the ugly, car-centric focus of American urban planning plus assorted links worth revisiting

twelve years ago: mapping US/Soviet bases in divided Germany, proposals for a permanent venue for the Olympics plus an act of bioterrorism by sabotaging harvests

thirteen years ago: some castles of Berlin-Brandenburg, visions of the Apocalypse plus honest book covers

fourteen years ago: the EU economy and the single currency plus facial-recognition and dragnet surveillance 

central casting (12. 703)

Though Trump only has the power without congress to bestow a nickname on a federal department and insist that those are their pronouns—requiring a delicate manoeuvre of double-speak, shifting tenant organisations to a new playable nemesis, from Mario to Wario, with Defence Finance and Accounting Agency to WFAS or DARPA to WARPA or Defence Acquisition University to WAU or Department of Defence Education Education Activity to DOWEA—the change, something only a draft-dodger could get behind, does have up- and downstream effects, not least the expense of all this rebranding, plus getting to revert to the old name once this administration overstays their welcome. Meanwhile, to counter mounting pressure to release the files with the community of surviving victims poised to publish their own list, Trump sycophant, Mike Johnson, speaker of the house of representatives, is making the claim that the president’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was based on Trump’s covert work as an FBI informant. Maintaining simultaneously that the dossier of child-rapist is a hoax instigated by the Democratic party to undermine the administration, Johnson offers that ongoing contact was part of deep-cover operation to entrap and reveal Epstein’s clientele. The White House has yet to verify the speaker’s claim—Robert Mueller would have been the FBI director during the time of Trump and Epstein’s falling out, over head-hunting Trump’s own pleasure-staff—with the alibi straining credibility. Never mind that such stool-pigeons are not whistle-blowers but are generally seeking a lighter punishment for cooperating with authorities, an asset like Krasnov surely didn’t have the time to be a double-agent.