synchronoptica
one year ago: terraforming Mars (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: bioluminescence
eight years ago: majestic sandcastles, a particular aesthetic, the uncanny mantis shrimp, digitising archival photos plus a collapsing bike helmet
nine years ago: saving the bees
ten years ago: linguistic redundancy plus high-fructose foods
Although the Republican will have control of both houses of the legislature, there still may yet be resistance from within the party to some of Trump’s most potentially disruptive and controversial nominees, which with combined with procedural manoeuvres afforded to the Democrats in the framework of parliamentarian proceedings, could seriously frustrate forming a cabinet and designating agency heads. 
Constitutionally, and again dating back to eighteenth century logistics and the speed of travel, the president can make term-limited appointments to fill vacancies while chambers are adjourned and curtail the normal confirmation process, wherein picks are vetted by a committee related to their role, which last through the next session and subject to formal extension—possibly not a bad arrangement for positions expected to have high turnover rate, like last time—and has been occasionally used in modern times. The senate, however, must be out for ten consecutive days to be considered in recess, and pro forma meetings are conducted, with as few as one member present, to ensure that the body is kept in session. Republicans could still declare that the senate is out of session, by a bald majority, though having them all submit to an abrogation of their duties and influence seems like a reach. If the chamber cannot be vacated to allow the president to circumvent the nomination process, congress can suspend itself but only with the agreement of both chambers—or are otherwise deemed in a state of disagreement. Should this be the case, the president has the power to force adjournment, or prorogue the legislative branch, something unprecedented and what the American Revolution sought to avoid with royal prerogative and would be elevated to the Supreme Court for resolution. Buckle up, Buttercup!
Introduced by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1957 to track the orbit of Sputnik with a thirty-six-bit mainframe, to save on memory and compute resources by expressing time-coordinates in just eighteen-bits through 7 August 2576, the Modified Julian Date system simply dispatched with the proceeding two-million four-hundred-thousand days of history from the dawn of the calendar, counting backwards and resetting the number at noon on this day in 1858, often further truncated. 
This was also the reference epoch (see previously) for the earliest operating systems, chosen in part as it predated most modern record keeping. Because of the continual count, it is easier for software to process the intervening time elapsed between two events for applications like calculating interest, sell-by-dates for perishable inventories, etc, in the same was computers can’t really perform mathematical operations except by matrices. The Julian Period was proposed by sixteenth century academic Joseph Justus Scaliger (a year after the unrelated calendar was replaced in most of Europe by the Gregorian one) as the sum product of three calendrical cycles that comprise the system, twenty-eight solar cycles, nineteen lunar cycles and fifteen indiction cycles (the periodic census and tax reassessment of the Roman Empire that occurred every fifteen years)—or a span of seven thousand nine hundred and eighty years, reaching back in time under the assumption that all were synchronised at the beginning of time. Scaliger calculated this to be 4713 BC, well before any events in recorded history known to him.
Capitalising on a trend in the publishing industry of epistolary collections—Stoo Hample’s 1966 “Children’s Letters to God” being the originator with a sequel and many homages—and hoping to rehabilitate the president’s public image, the United States Information Agency (see previously) produced this rather imaginative, endearing little segment (hopefully with in-house animation) drawing from young people’s letters to the commander-in-chief—via Fancy Notions—narrated by Dick Van Dyke in 1972—in the midst of the Watergate scandal and less than a year and a half before Nixon’s impeachment trial and ultimate resignation.
On Life Day no less, we get the perfect allegory for Elon Musk’s parasitic and co-morbid relationship with Donald Trump, a cantankerous, destructive, nit-picking lizard-monkey to his host, a minor boss in the Hutt family crime syndicate, with further news of Musk outsourcing decisions to popular vote on his social media platform, a self-selecting “wretched hive of scum and villainy—we must be cautious”—
although Nazi bar is a more succinct way of putting it, as well as using his promised position within the coming administration to badger and berate foreign governments (the latest target is Italy’s judiciary after attacking the UK’s migrant policy months earlier) whom feel more obliged to respond rather than ignoring the trolls. Vox populi, vox Dei is something not best left up to American public, as evidenced by last week’s election and we wonder how long this symbiotic arrangement can last, given both have huge egos, easily bruised.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus Osama bin Laden on TikTok
seven years ago: a virtual cocktail, a record-setting auction for an alleged Da Vinci plus a kitty takes over Times Square
eight years ago: more links to enjoy plus Google’s Quick Draw
nine years ago: optimal seating arrangements plus solidarity with France
ten years ago: lore and language
Having been astonished by the savant-like abilities of some individuals to pinpoint places in the world 
from random Google Street View imagery, we could appreciate this rather comprehensive, forensic-level geography aid, via ibฤซdem, which while probably made with improving one’s Geoguessr challenges in mind (we weren’t any good at that but did look for little clues that might match the continent or familiar registration plates—previously here, here and here) but could have a host of other applications. One can sort (among other filters) by bollards, pedestrian crossings and stop signs, which are pretty interesting to compare.
if you really care about women having autonomy, you should stop questioning our decision to elect a guy who wants to take it away: sure, I voted for someone whose policies might kill you, but now’s the time to put aside our differences
with some account of the judicial “congress”: John Davenport’s 1869 collected essays on Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs
operation bear claw: four Los Angeles residents charged with insurance fraud for dressing in a costume and damaging luxury cars
goldeneye: a tour of Ian Fleming’s estate in Jamaica where the author wrote all the Bond novels
blue days, all of them gone—nothing but blue skies from now on: the alternative social network’s growth is attributed to privileging user choice over algorithmic engagement
ai granny: telecom O2 has created a scambait protocol to keep fraudsters on the line as long as possible and away from potential human victims
feat. rowlf as king herod: Muppet Christ Superstar—see also
lysistrata: as Trump’s next term approaches, more women are seeking to disassociate themselves from the men in their lives, withhold sex
subway therapy: the exhibition inviting New Yorkers to share their thoughts on the presidential election returns after eight years
synchronoptica
one year ago: The Sound of Music (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: The Book of Life: The Spiritual and Physical Constitution of Man
eight years ago: the lost art of correspondence plus WoTY: post-truth
ten years ago: lucid dreams plus a selection of random t-shirts
eleven years ago: the Asylothek, retro Christmas cards plus more fallout from US dragnet espionage tactics
