synchronoptica
one year ago: AI espionage (with synchronopticรฆ), RFK Jr’s future role in Trump’s cabinet plus the lead narrows in the US congress
thirteen years ago: toothpaste for dinner, the architecture of choice plus making an animated gif
fourteen years ago: double-eleven
sixteen years ago: new wheels
The US supreme court unanimously rejected a bid to reverse its 2015 landmark decision on the case Obergefell v Hodges, turning away an appeal “without comment” launched by the former Kentucky county clerk who declined to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite the ruling.
The registrar, Kim Davis, was fired for contempt in not discharging her duties and lost a bid for re-election but appears not to have had legal standing in her petition. And whilst a relief that the Roberts court apparently found some spare stare decisis and the judicial fortitude to uphold precedent and settled law, select justices are likely passing on this bigoted loon and shopping for a better plaintiff to annul gay marriage at the altar of religious convictions.
On this feast of Saint Monitor, fifth century bishop of Orlรฉans of whom nothing is known, Pope Leo I, also active during the mid-four-hundreds, called the Great and a diplomat perhaps best remembered for his embassy with Attila the Hun that successfully persuaded him to turn back his armies and not invade Italy, and many others, revolutionary France declared a national Fรชte de la Raison on this day in 1793 (An II, 20. Brumaire), 
organised by humanist philosopher Antoine-Franรงois Momoro under the Cult of Reason, as a state-sponsored atheistic religion to replace the Catholic church (a policy of agnosticism and god-building or la construction de dieu as a surrogate as opposed to outright abolition), which was seen as a major catalyst for the uprising, arguing that deifications of such ideas as liberty and truth diminished the autonomy and self-determination of the individual. Former houses of worship were transformed into Temples of Reason, stripped of icons and idols—the largest event hosted in Notre Dame in Paris. Women dressed in togas and tricolour sashes of the republic tended a symbolic flame on the altar representing the values of the First Republic. Described by detractors with the lurid hallmarks of Roman excess and misplaced ritual, the holiday did not see a repeat, supplanted with the rival tradition, slightly more deistic and promoted by jurist and statesman Maximilien Robespierre with the Cult of the Supreme Being. Both sects were banned by Napoleon Bonaparte with the Law on Cults of 18 Germinal, Year X—re-privileging the old order.
First in print on this day in 1961, the debut novel of Joseph Heller, often cited as one of the most significant literary works of the twentieth century, follows the narratives of fighter pilots and bombaries of a US army airforce squadron based on an island off the west coast of Italy during the waning years of World War II, struggling to maintain sanity and professional bearing while fulfilling increasingly elusive service requirements in order to be discharged and reintegrated back home. Relayed with a unique, non-chronological third person omniscient voice to develop separate perspectives and forward the plot along with the timeline for the course of events. 
Replete with paradox and flashback and shifting points-of-view, the antihero Captain John Yossarian comes to fear his commanding officers more than the enemy as the required number of combat missions keep increasing and though Yossarian once met that prerequisite, the requirement is retroactively raised, and cannot escape due to contradictory rules and conditions—the bureaucratic rule never stated fully, if it is even in written regulation, follows the illogic that one can be deemed unfit to fly by reason of insanity—incapacity demonstrated by willingness to participate—but as one has to apply to be excused from further mission, the appeal itself betrays a sound mind and self of self-preservation, refuting the reason for being grounded. With parallel themes of theodicy and why a benevolent god would allow evil in the world, Heller’s working title was Catch-18, referencing the the Hebrew letter and symbol chai (ืַื
) which in Jewish numerology, gematria—assigning a number value to each letter—this sort of secret message to piece together being more prominent in earlier drafts, signifies being alive, but publishers Simon & Schuster urged the author to change it to avoid confusion Leon Uris’ recent Mila 18 and seventeen also rejected for its proximity to another contemporary in Stalag 17. Twenty-two encoded as tav—truth—as the last letter of the alphabet and the doubling (picked by the editors) evokes the feeling of dรฉjร -vu and disjointedness with episodes replayed again and again from different angles.
Adopted by the United Nations’ General Assembly on this day in 1975, the infranational body determined that Zionism was a form of racial discrimination a year after taking up the Question of Palestine and inviting the Palestine Liberation Organisation at seat at the table (see previously) in the milieu of the declaration of 1963 to eliminate all forms of racism, which had condemned the nationalist and expansionist policies of the Israeli government. 
Despite notable abstentions, the measure passed, though ultimately rescinded in 1991, in hope of forwarding the peace process and respecting boundaries drawn up in 1948 with the original partition of the UN mandate. Resolution 46/86 revoked the previous designation, raised under pressure from the United States and Israel, saying that the UN was not in keeping with its role and founding mission in challenging Israel’s right to exist. The rescission was later welcomed by Secretary Kofi Annan, living with the legacy of apartheid, calling the stance from a half-century ago deplorable and antisemitic.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticรฆ), the Bear of California plus Trump’s grievances
twelve years ago: The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock illustrated, observing evolution plus a trip to Mainz
thirteen years ago: parts of speech and other systems of classification
fourteen years ago: EU financial integration
fifteen years ago: quantitative easing plus Germany’s rejection of nuclear power
seventeen years ago: a tour of local castles
Having gotten his political start as secretary of the labour party in for the city of Trento in Sud Tirol under the Austro-Hungarian empire with an editorial role with the partisan newspaper, L’Avvernire del Lavoratore (The Future of the Worker), Benito Mussolini was eventually deported back to Italy for several incendiary essays but not before having the opportunity to publish several pieces of his own academic and creative writing works around 1910—fancying himself to be quite the well rounded intellectual, with travelogues, literary theory and even a serialised romanzo storico, L’amante del Cardinale. 
Possibly ghost-written and loosely based on a historic papal affair and scandal from the seventeenth century, the lurid novel was a violent, anti-clerical invective and though tripled circulation for the publication, it was forgotten just as quickly as Mussolini trajectory barrelled towards fascism (compare to the water-colours aspirations of Adolf Hitler) but was compiled and reissued in 1928 in English translation as a sort of curiosity of purple prose—during the interbellum, many in UK and the US extending approval and tacit tolerance for Mussolini’s efforts to modernise and stabilise the country (dissolving and unifying the Papal States, the Pope was confined to the Vatican—see previously here and here) and its north African colonies despite his authoritarian tendencies, but some, particularly in academic circles, were less charitable and recognised the author for what he was. Dorothy Parker (previously) was especially biting with her criticism and saw right through the pretence. More from Print Magazine’s Daily Heller at the link up top.
Coined this February by OpenAI Andrej Karpathy as a machine-aided solution for those wanting to create a bespoke programme yet never learned the basics of coding—which admitted on a certain level is the sort of in-group jargon that keeps the out-group out but are also instructions that computers understand—allowing users to become transcendental and forget that the underlying code even exists, vibe coding was selected by Collins Dictionary as their WotY for 2025—see previously.
As with other forms of rocket-surgery, going with one’s untempered intuition and trusting the machine does not always achieve the desired outcome and the requester would not have the skills to edit or debug something that came close. Other terms on the shortlist included Henry, an acronym for “high-earner, yet not rich,” micro-retirement for a work sabbatical, aura farming, clankers and broligarcy.
amor fati: Fredrich Nietzsche’s philosophy (previously) of passing on engagement can break the cycle of polarisation without becoming disengaged and nihilistic
the memes of production: the internet reacts to Zohran Mamdani’s mayorial win in New York City
unpaving paradise: an urban greening game to optimise replacing parking spaces in Berlin with trees
№: why number is English is abbreviated n-o
no springs: a hypnotic video of manufacturing robots politely waiting their turn in the assembly process—see also
alive internet theory: a seance with the vibrant web and all its expressive artefacts against the countervailing argument it has become overrun by bots—see also—via Waxy
gathering wool: online apparel retailers in China employ oversized hangtags to curb high return rates
hatch act violation: US federal judge rules administration overstepped its bounds by inserting partisan blaming into furloughed government employees’ out-of-office autoreplies
bleak outlook: astronomical survey deposits galaxy could be riddled with the artefacts of long dead alien civilisations that could avoid destroying themselves—we suppose that depends on what sort of religion they develop—see also, see previously—via MetaFilter
synchronoptica
one year ago: a monument to the Armenian diaspora (with synchronopticรฆ), the Carrington count, backstage customs plus US presidential numbering
fourteen years ago: food and drink prohibited plus Inventors’ Day
