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.
Sunday, 7 September 2025
primary residence (12. 706)
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
cittร 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 synchronopticรฆ), 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
Saturday, 6 September 2025
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.
goodbye england’s rose (12. 702)
With two thousand invited guests in attendance in Westminster Abbey, the route through London lined with over a million and two-and-a-half-billion viewers worldwide, the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales (previously), took place on this day in 1997—although not an official funeral but rather a royal ceremony, organisers relied on the plans, rehearsed for the previous two decades, codenamed Operation Tay Bridge (see also) for the Queen Mother, and was accorded the pageantry and liturgy usually reserved for the royal family. 
The dean of the cathedral had personally appealed to senior palace aides to secure Elton John’s performance at the service—to include something modern. Diana and John were last together only a few weeks prior, attending the funeral of mutual friend Gianni Versace in Milan, and immediately upon learning of the princess’ death, John reached out to lyricist Bernie Taupin to rework his 1973 tribute to Marilyn Monroe to honour Diana. A quarter of a century later to the day in 2022, Queen Elizabeth the second held an audience with outgoing and incoming prime ministers, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss respectively, at her residence in Balmoral as her last official acts before her death.
7x7 (12. 701)
people are flushing toilets ten times, fifteen times, as opposed to once—john jay: other AI-generated quotes of America’s foundational figures at new Smithsonian exhibit—see also
coronation street: a recent celebration of the eleven hundredth anniversary of the enthronement of King รthelstan, the first ruler of united England
_invalid_username: a short, seemingly intuitive quiz—we failed miserably at—on what constitutes an email address—via Web Curios
dj earworm: an end of summer mashup
double, double toil and trouble: Shakespeare added the witches, weird sisters (see also) to Macbeth for the benefit of his patron James I—see previously
founding fathers: the colourful life US constitutional signatory turned harsh critic of the mythos Gouverneur Morris—via Strange Company
synchronoptica
one year ago: a nuclear war preparedness exercise (with synchronopticรฆ)
twelve years ago: Iranian president offers a Rosh Hashanah blessing
thirteen years ago: some castles of Rheinland-Pfalz plus a bleak economic picture
fourteen years ago: revisionism and security theatre persist ahead of the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks
fifteen years ago: bird-watching plus a trip along the Danube
sixteen years ago: mascot mayhem
seventeen years ago: a trip to the Wasserkuppe
Friday, 5 September 2025
cartooner (12. 700)
Another fun juxtaposition from ibฤซdem, is this single panel comics caption swapper that draws the extensive archives of Gary Larson’s The Far Side, Bill Keane’s Family Circus, George Gately’s Heathcliff and Hank Ketcham’s Dennis the Menace—the franchises in syndication taken up by other artists. The comic strips of themselves aren’t terribly humorous on their own (exceptions for Larson’s work) but in this form do elicit a laugh and a moment more of study and worth cycling through to find the correspondence and sheer wealth in the way flipping the script as it were works.
parts of speech (12. 699)
Mad-lib style, we discover, via Web Curios, this search engine that combines random adjectives and nouns and delivers a side-by-side comparison of what Wikipedia and one of the front-page browsers (Bing, 
Google, Duck-Duck-Go with varying degrees of AI) turn up with potential rabbitholes for every query, the former invariably telling you that the articles does not exist—whilst inviting you to make one—but not making presumptions about what you meant, just offering articles containing those keywords, making for a rather delightful non-sequitur medley to explore, whereas the latter confidently serves up what it thinks you meant, no more googlewhacks or 404 errors, or invents an enticing, seemingly relevant, overlay—probably not worthy of further exploration as impromptu catch-penny clickbait—see previously here and here, but the parallel frames make an intriguing juxtaposition.
