apocalypse hier et demain (12. 515)

Realising the resonance of revelation seems less abstract now than in more peaceful and sanguine times, a special exhibition put together by the Bibliothèque nationale de France of images and interpretations of the End of Days spanning from medieval manuscripts to nineteenth and twentieth century depictions, like the pictured rendition from chapter twenty of the enchained dragon locked away for a millennium from Symbolist draughtsman Odilon Redon, curated in a fashion that is meant to make visitors reflect on the choices that brought us to this eschatological inflection point and the spiritual housekeeping that might prove a measure redeeming rather than a fatalistic preoccupation with the end of the world. From the Koinē Greek incipit ἀποκάλυψις for unveiling, the prophetic text of John of Patmos, a series of visions recorded in the Book of Revelations in a grotto on the small Aegean volcanic island received by one of Jesus’ apostles banished like many others of this new cult seen as a political subversive to a penal colony and sentenced to hard labour. After a missive to the Seven Churches of Asia—“he who has an ear, let him listen to what the Holy Spirit say”—relating his instructions, John commits his fantastic and symbolic disclosures in florid detail with iconic and inscrutable figures like the Son of Man among seven lampstands, the Whore of Babylon, the Beast with Seven Heads, the Four Horsemen, the Woman Clothed with the Sun. The numbers seven and four in this context refer respectively the perfection of the hereafter and the imperfection of the present world according to ancient numerological traditions. Much more on the showing from Hyperallergic at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an early, dark version of ChatGPT (with synchronoptica), commencement addresses plus an extraordinary tree specimen in New Zealand

seven years ago: guidelines for nurturing democracy, THX’ Deep Note plus shape-shifting ghouls

eight years ago: Putin’s playbook, medieval games and pastimes plus continued tensions between Germany and Türkiye

nine years ago: the Lollards, diplomatics, a new Banksy graffiti  plus the US attempt to annex Iceland

thirteen years ago: the passage of Venus, flea market finds plus distorted Google maps views

a fine bromance (12. 514)

Although it was bound to happen eventually (see also), we were a little surprised that the very public and acrimonious split between Elon Musk and Donald Trump took as long as it did to occur, with insults exchanged on their respective social media platforms coming to a breaking point during Trump’s meeting with the Chancellor of Germany, Merz (see below) did not seem quite to know what to make of the US president’s asides: “You saw a man who was very happy when her stood behind the Oval desk—even with a black eye,” asking Musk if he wanted some concealer, which Musk declined. “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.” Their partnership showed its first signs of strain with reservations over Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, ultimately ratcheted up to calling in a “disgusting abomination” and threatening to his influence to unseat Republican members who vote for it, discarding restraint and reluctance to air their private differences. Trump appeared at first only slightly taken aback over what was characterised as full-throated endorsement of his economy and domestic policy omnibus bill and only update because language mandating the accelerated adoption of electric vehicles was removed from the legislation, which prompted Musk to unleash his ire. Having announced his support for Trump after the failed assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, Musk told Trump that he would not have won the election without his help, both on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter and his generous donations. “Such ingratitude.” Trump then responded on his Truth Social that he had fired Musk from DOGE as he had worn out his welcome. Musk then escalated the feud even further denying he had been fired and re-tweeting calls for Trump to be impeached and accusing the government of suppressing the release the files on Jeffrey Epstein and his underage sex trafficking ring because they implicated Trump. Unclear if he will follow through with the threat, Trump concluding that a big cost savings measure would be to terminate the billions spent on Tesla and SpaceX government subsidies and defence contracts. Rightwing writer who Musk sired his fourteenth known child with, Ashley St Clair, now estranged and suing for alimony, @‘d Trump, “Let me know if u need any breakup advice.”

geburtsurkunde (12. 513)

In quite the diplomatic flex, Chancellor Friedrich Merz presented Trump with the birth certificate of Friedrich Merz, Trump’s grandfather who was deported to the United States for draft-dodging and desertion, to subtly signal that Trump too has immigrant roots and in a way to defuse some of the past rhetoric of birtherism for his predecessor and current rehashing of travel bans (see below), during their White House meeting. Suffering childish, incoherent drivel from Trump about trade deals with China that do not exist, backhanded praise for increased defence spending (“I’m not sure that General MacArthur would have said it’s positive. He made a statement: ‘Never let Germany rearm.’ I always think about that when he says, “Sir, we’re spending more. I say—ooh, is that a good thing or a bad thing? I think it’s a good thing.”) and drawing moral equivalency for Russia and Ukraine (“like children fighting in a park”), Merz pointed out that tomorrow is the anniversary of D-Day, marking America’s entry into the war. “That was not a pleasant day for you? This is not a great day,” Trump countered, to which Merz responded that it was the beginning of his country’s liberation from Nazi dictatorship. That obnoxious punchline lays bare his true vacuousness and shortcomings for dealing with consequences and I think maybe this encounter (see further below) might have given Trump, despite his stultifying lack of self-awareness, a glimpse, however temporary, into his own boorishness and Merz may have made his point.

el arte peruano en la escuela (12. 512)

We enjoyed learning about the career and works of illustrator, textile designer and educator Elena Izcue through her 1930 inclusion of Incan and other pre-Columbian works into the curriculum of Lima’s National School of Fine Arts, much to the displeasure of some of her fellow academics aired with a very public debate—detractors finding nothing redeeming in native culture and a surrogate for a larger question of Peruvian identity. In the face of this resistance and aesthetic judgement, Izcue’s insistence and advocacy ultimately led to appreciation and a syllabus that included a set of workbooks she produced drawn from the motifs of Indigenous ceramics and fabrics and archaeological finds. Much more from Public Domain Review at the link up top.

air gap (12. 511)

We enjoyed these collected reflections from The Curious Brain on how genuine experiences and inauthenticity has broken trust and belief in what formerly was upheld as evidence but in that betrayal has sparked not regression or aversion necessarily but rather an appreciation for what’s not flawless and frictionless (whether we’ve asked for it or not) and in this post-verification era when seeing is not believing, distancing ourselves with presence and identify and define oneself with showing up and—despite the fraughtness and frailty of memories and expressions otherwise not committed to documentation and curation, made less reliable when seen through a distorting and optimising lens—“I was there.” In this age, authenticity it’s free—it’s currency. It’s status. It’s luxury.

7x7 (12. 510)

hero’s journey: researchers conducting a meta survey of fictional narratives find a consistent language patterns for compelling plots—see previously  

world’s tiniest violin: researchers make a functioning instrument smaller than a dust mote to test the abilities of nanolithography  

demi-troglodyte: cave homes for sale in France plus assorted miscellany from Messy Nessy Chic—including Edward Hopper in Paris, a David Lynch auction and a tactile picture book for the seeing impaired  

dangerous foreign agents: Trump imposes a new travel ban on citizens from twelve countries  

gipfel: German chancellor Merz to meet with Trump to discuss tariffs and trade and defence  

intransitive hand game: some interesting facts about rock paper scissors—see previously de facto, de jure: a survey of the world’s official languages

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to enjoy (with synchronoptica) plus civilised memorial regulations

seven years ago: the North Korean art market, a map of Prohibition Era Chicago plus trans-Atlantic relations

eight years ago: interoception, more on Trump’s tour of the Middle East plus making policy per tweet look more official

nine years ago: unbuilt architecture from Gaudí, a modern twist on the player piano, a mantis named after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg plus hidden messages in ancient manuscripts

ten years ago: more links to enjoy plus a visit to Dreieich

local on the the eights (12. 509)

Though hardly seeming retro to me being raised in an established tradition of a certain vintage of families who left the television on CNN Headline News, C-SPAN and The Weather Channel for ambiance, we got some nostalgic feelings over, via Waxy, the WeatherStar 4000 service developed by Matt Walsh (complete with a compliment of code to make your own project) as an attested weather watcher, cycling through the forecast with various statics from the almanac. Giving up-to-date conditions and predictions with appropriate musical accompaniment of pop and smooth jazz, the site emulates the eponymous STAR (Satellite Transponder Addressable Receiver) proprietary technology, compiling data from the National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Centre, initially sold as an add-on for customised meteorological reports before being targeted to local markets—now drawing on NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the acronym pronounced as ‘Noah’) only localised forecasts for the United States are available but an international version exists here.

павутина (12. 508)

Some eighteen months in planning—and a strong repudiation of that infamous White House meeting when Trump hurled insults at Zelenskyy and said that his country had no cards left—and with off the shelf hardware and software trained on old Soviet bombers on display in a museum to calibrate and target the semi-autonomous operation, Ukrainian security services carried out a sneak attack deep inside Russian territory, coordinated across five geographic regions, destroying up to a third of long-range air assets, a legacy fleet not quickly rebuilt, if at all. This stunning blow, codenamed Spider’s Web, was carried out on Sunday by three dozen basic quadcopters with heavy armament were covertly transported to their deployment sites near multiple area bases in containers disguised as mobile wooden cabins with retractable roofs on flatbed trucks, not an uncommon site and arousing no suspicions. Once in place, operators helped guide the drones through the domestic mobile telephone network, forgoing the need for satellite telemetry and avoid potential signal jamming technologies, from a command base located provocatively near to an FSB field office. The estimated damage to Russia’s missile carriers—which also includes a class of strategic nuclear bombers from the Cold War which cannot be kept in hangars under the terms of the START treaties—runs over seven-billion euro. 

This ingenious attack—which has drawn some comparisons to the booby trapped pagers that Israel used against Hezbollah, though Ukraine was far more surgical and had no collateral casualties—and was the biggest surprise victory since the sinking of the Moskva, followed with an encore of the third bombing of the Kerch bridge to Crimea. In the past weeks, Russia has significantly increased deadly strikes on Ukraine and comes just days ahead of planned peace talks in Istanbul. While a symbolic win and a potential set back that may spare some beleaguered communities from bombardment, this operation also illustrates a major shift in war fighting strategies and asymmetric engagement.