the adjustment bureau (13. 116)

Far from the Hollywood image of sleek undercover agents keeping the general public in the dark about extraterrestrial congress, the circumstances that informed the movie version of the men in black, whilst sharing some elements, is a complete apotheosis of the film franchise with all the existential terror of having one’s memories wiped and sense of place in the Cosmos inverted from one moment to the next. Herbert Hopkins, a doctor and hypnotherapist working in Maine was approached by a representative of the New Jersey chapter of the UFO Research Organisation one evening in September of 1976 to act as a consultant on an alleged case of serial abductions. As soon as he accepted the commission, however, a figure appeared at Hopkins’ doorstep. A finely appointed man in a black suit, though seeming less elegant and more like an undertaker, doffed his hat to reveal a colourless pate and began discussing the case—Hopkins inviting the stranger inside, reasoning in his shocked state that this was the same individual from the institute several states away that he had been talking to over the phone a few moments beforehand. Addressing the reports of abduction, lost time and teleportation, the figure retrieve a pair of coins from his pocket and placed one in Hopkins’ hand, instructing him to focus on it. It flickered in and out of existence and gradually disappeared. The strange visitor then told him, “Neither you nor anyone else on this planet will see that coin again. Shaken by this encounter, Hopkins immediately declined the request for help and destroyed what evidence and personal research he had thus far collected. A spate of similar threats on witnesses and investigators reportedly occurred throughout the year. More from Dangerous Minds at the link up top.

cathode-ray tube amusement device (13. 115)

Patented on this day in 1947 by co-inventors Estle Ray Mann and Thomas Goldsmith Jr, television pioneer at DuMont Labs, the first interactive electronic game consisting of a vacuum tube with electron gun and an oscilloscope, inspired by radar displays employed during World War II, the schematic of the filing describes a game in which the player can control the trajectory of the a missile, the focus of the electron beam, to hit target represented by paper overlays on the screen. Never brought to market and only a couple of prototypes produced due to equipment costs and financial problems at the network, the project was abandoned and forgotten until 2002 when researchers came across some artefacts and ephemera in Goldsmith’s archives. Given that rediscovery and the device’s analogue and mechanical construction, it is thought that this use of a graphical display input interface did not did not have any influence on the development of video games, with the first home gaming console, the Magnavox Odyssey—see also, one of the twenty-eight games bundled with the system was the forerunner for Atari’s arcade version—released in the UK in 1972.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump administration stops all work at USAID (with synchronopticæ), the Fugio cent plus an appreciation of Pop-Up Video

thirteen years ago: smart roads 

fourteen years ago: proposed warnings for disinformation plus the unforeseen consequence of clothing donations 

fifteen years ago: plans to transform former Tempelhof airport into a farmers’ co-op 

say their names (13. 114)

A day after the historic general strike in the Minnesota capital in response to the brutal killing of Renée Good by immigration and customs enforcement agents and in general to push the deputised, untrained goons out of their state, multiple agents wrestled thirty-seven year old veterans’ administration intensive care nurse Alex Pretti to the ground and shot him in the head multiple times. Live video shared at the scene seems to contradict the Department of Homeland Security narrative that Pretti was brandishing a semi-automatic handgun (every one could be carrying in America) and threatening the officers who attempted to disarm the individual labelled as a domestic terrorist, firing defensive shots. Multiple witnesses have been detained by DHS and their phones confiscated as they might undermine the department’s notoriously unreliable accounts and show Pretti to be a bystander and observer. Tim Walz (governor and former Democratic vice-presidential candidate—US attorney general suggests that the ICE surge could be called off if Minnesota surrenders its voter rolls for inspection, making the swing-district a retroactive win for Trump and/or frustrating future elections and plainly admitting what this was about all along) has activated the national guard to police the police and prospects for a partial federal government shutdown again appear likely—despite funding bills for the DHS and department of war passing congress, the senate may try to contain this reign of terror.

hot l baltimore (13. 113)

Via our faithful chronicler, we are reminded that the Norman Lear sitcom (see previously), named after the cheap and perceived as seedy residential accommodations with the neon E flickering out on the marquee and never replaced, premiered on this date in 1975. Based off a 1973 off-Broadway play by Lanford Wilson with a cast of regular guests that included sex-workers, undocumented immigrants and American television’s first gay couple, the show, like in the beginning with All in the Family, carried a disclaimer before the introductory credits warning viewers about mature themes. Starring Lee Bergere (Dynasty), Al Freeman Jr (The Mod Squad, Kojak and Maude), Conchata Ferrell (The Love Boat, LA Law, Two and a Half Men), James Cromwell, Charlotte Rae (The Facts of Life) and Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough) and championed by the network, it failed to secure an audience and was cancelled after thirteen episodes—the midseason replacement was Karen, a vehicle to launch the actor’s career, starring Karen Valentine (Room 222) working in a liberal lobbying group in Washington DC and uncovering corruption, which was also cancelled after thirteen episodes—and Maryland affiliate declined WJZ-TV declined to air the programme out of concern for the public image of the city.

7x7 (13. 112)

les chansons de bilitis: a century old literary hoax of a fictional lesbian poet incited dialogue and reevaluation on the genuine figure of Sappho and queerness in antiquity  

apt mascot: a manufacturing error created the Cry-Cry Horse and its popularity for the Lunar New Year has prompted suppliers to reinstate the stitching mistake  

tam o’shanter: a poem for Sunday’s Burns Night  

ts and cs apply: new updated user agreement for US TikTok draws scrutiny regarding its privacy policy, including sexual orientation, mental health and immigration status  

coming attractions: an imagined trailer for Star Trek: Voyage to Vengeance as directed by Quentin Tarantino 

the disappointed tourist: an elegy to lost places  

composition yellow, blue, black red and white: reevaluating the cross-dressing Cornish artist Marlow Moss whose work influenced that of Piet Mondrian—via Kottke

synchronoptica

one year ago: jazz artist Keith Jarrett (with synchronopticæ), a Bolivian abundance festival, assorted links to enjoy plus Trump pledges to overhaul federal emergency response agency

thirteen years ago: the assassination of Caligula 

twelve years ago: impending base closures and a reduction in US forces 

sixteen years ago: relaxing US campaign financing reforms plus petty kingdoms 

the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears—that was their final and most essential command (13. 111)

As monstrous and terrorising as the cosplay Gestapo is already, reaffirmed by ten of thousands demonstrators rallying in Minneapolis and beyond to protest their presence the White House, after posting a manipulated image of the arrest of a civil rights attorney railing against detentions in a church led by a pastor is who also supposedly and an immigration and customs enforcement agent—incidentally we wonder when we’ll see the latter part of their mandate in action once the smuggling of contraband wine and cheese begins to avoid high tariffs—to suggest she was taken away in anguish, altered by AI, moments after the original dignified and defiant photo circulated by Homeland Security propagandists, unapologetically saying that the memeification will continue. Labelling her a left-wing agitator, the lawyer is being charged with obstruction of the free exercise of religion for leading the protest in a house of god.

8x8 (13.110)

board of peace: German chancellor declines to be a party of the administration of Mandatory Palestine, joining several other regrets-only by world leaders, and Canada being disinvited 

irl: attempts at recreating sloppy AI-generated advertisements  

📺: as the medium celebrates its centenary with the first public demonstration in 1926, we reflect on one hundred of its greatest moments  

fighting nazis since 1996: former special prosecutor Jack Smith (previously) inadvertently re-platformed and given the chance to argue his case that Trump engaged in criminal activity that was removed from the docket—more here—via Meta Filter—and thanks a Capitol police officer in the gallery wearing a Drop Kick Murphys shirt 

snowmageddon: half the US braces for a colossal winter storm  

controlling share: TikTok parent company divests itself to avoid US ban—see previously 

a word on thinking for yourself: the existential threats of AI eschatology—via Duck Soup 

stayed a little back from the front lines: a global chorus repudiates Trump’s remarks about NATO contributions in Afghanistan

clear & quick (13. 109)

From Sixth Tone, we appreciated this update on the long-lost prototype unit for the MingKwai experimental typewriter since it was discovered in a basement in Arizona of famed novelist Lin Yutang (林語堂) about a year ago. The relatives knew Lin was able to retire young and relocated to the States from royalties earned from best-sellers but had not known that fortune also funded his passion for inventing and that the early models, which whilst patented never went into mass production. Most active as a writer at a time when the advances in telegraphy and print had accelerated global exchange of information in the first half of the twentieth century, Lin realised acutely that China, despite having introduced publishing to the world, was at risk of failing behind due to framework of Western technologies designed for the Latin alphabet and not the ninety-thousand characters of his native language. Though not inventing the typewriter, Lin did devise and patent a more intuitive and portable format that anyone could learn to use, spending as much time reflecting on language and word frequency as he devoted to the mechanics. The seventy-two key layout (multilingual with shifting carriages that also printed in Cyrillic, Japanese as well as English and Chinese and became pivotal in the study of machine aided translation during the Cold War) also featured a preview window, a Magic Eye that narrowed the possible choices from deconstructed stroke elements displayed on each key. Revolutionary as it was, the the MingKwai (the name means the title) proved unmarketable due to a collusion of factors—geopolitics, the complex engineering that went into the character indexing system of this mechanical marvel and the burgeoning computer industry—though the same limitations and alphabetical privilege again came into play. Much more at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a utility station wagon (with synchronopticæ), Thailand legalises same-sex marriage, internationalisation and localisation plus informing fonts with ancient inscriptions 

fourteen years ago: the Year of the Water Dragon plus artist Rashad Alakbarov

fifteen years ago: a visit to a local Wasserschlöss 

seventeen years ago: cognitive dissonance plus a nuclear reactor outside the window