there’s rocks and there’s boulders—children take cover (13. 063)

Apologies for propagating this somewhat irreverent earworm—but blame Miss Cellania for referring us to this lyrical seismic realignment of the classic Fleetwood Mac ballad, composed in 1975 but not released until 1997 as a single after the group reunited) to make it literally about natural disasters by Dustin Ballard (aka There I Ruined It, see previously) and friends. The band’s beautiful repertoire in my head isn’t so sacrosanct not to be above parody and often mentally set random phrases that scan alike to Edge of Seventeen, etc. I’m taking cover too.

6 january 2021 (13. 062)

On this day five years ago, a mob of Donald Trump supporters descended on the Capitol in an abortive self-coup to prevent a joint-session of the US congress from tallying and certifying the 2020 presidential election, formalising the victory of then president-elect Joe Biden. Instigated by Trump himself to “stop the steal” with false claims of widespread voter fraud and election irregularities, a “Save America” rally was held at the Ellipse at noon ahead of proceedings, the park south of the White House, gathering a crowd of thousands of MAGA members, whipped into a frenzy and dispatched to the Capitol. “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Some two thousand individuals forcibly entered the building, occupying the vacant senate chamber while authorities evacuated representatives amid vandalism and violence. Though repeating false claims, Trump told the mob to go home in peace. Certification resumed and by the next morning, Biden was declared the winner. Whilst not acknowledging defeat, under pressure from his cabinet, Trump conceded to an orderly transition of power in a televised statement. A week later, congress voted to impeach Trump for a second time but the senate failed to convict him, allowing the out-going president to run for public office again. Over fifteen hundred rioters were charged with federal crimes for the insurrection but as the culmination of the revisionist narrative that was presented regarding the event, all were granted clemency under the presidential pardon power by Trump just after re-taking office in 2024.  A full-time and archived news reports from NPR at the link up top.

9x9 (13. 061)

flu season: experimentation with gene-editing tools suggest CRISPR may be able to stop the virus from replicating—see also

i want my mtv: a service that rebroadcasts the cable channel from its first day until they stopped playing music, including vintage commercials—via MetaFilter 

l’etat, c’est moi: Trump makes the case for his own impeachment with his Mar-a-Lago press conference on Venezuela  

fire with fire: stopping a rogue AI with an instinct for self-preservation may call for turning off the internet—or more drastic measures 

a day of love: a plaque commemorating Washington, DC police for their actions during the Capitol insurrection has gone missing on this fifth anniversary—see below, see also  

monkeybranching: Gen Z dating and relationship terminology  

donroe doctrine: Denmark demands Trump quit his designs on seizing Greenland, risks the end of NATO  

gomrath: a forgotten psychedelic masterpiece rediscovered fifty years on  

home-brew: researchers develop a vaccine deliverable by beer

synchronoptica

one year ago: European Cultural Capitals (with synchronopticæ), certifying the vote of the electoral college plus the coat of arms of Denmark changed to signal Greenland is not for sale

twelve years ago: repeating history’s mistakes

thirteen years ago: cocoa and Christmas chocolates plus the threshold of discoverability for actors

fourteen years ago: debates over fluoridated water plus American empire

sixteen years ago: boxing up the Christmas stuff 

seventeen years ago: a faded superpower 

he just stares back unblinking (13. 060)

Reprising the ensemble of especially assembled backing performers from the previous season, Blondie’s Jimmy Destri and cabaret singer Joey Arias joining the musical guest and Klaus Nomi, David Bowie appeared on Saturday Night Live on this day in 1980 with the numbers “The Man Who Sold the World,” “Boys Keep Swinging” and “TVC-15.” Introduced by guest host Martin Sheen, these singular artists presented these songs with avant garde flair, testing the limits of abstraction and androgyny with the track from Station to Station sung in a skirt and stilletos and Bauhaus costumes with the latter from the Lodger ultilising a live green-screen to make Bowie into a marionette. Shortly after Bowie’s death in 2016, cast member Fred Armisen dedicated the episode to him, crediting Bowie for a transfixing experience from this particular show that the adolescent future comic stayed up late to watch and inspiring his own career to transform whatever venue, medium into art.

sabc (13. 059)

More than a quarter of a century after it had been introduced to the rest of the Western world—and against the will of the apartheid government, South Africa had its first television broadcast on this day in 1976. Initially programming was limited to the time slot from 19:00 to midnight with half the airings in English and the other half in in Afrikaners. The first programmes were a re-broadcast of the acclaimed British documentary miniseries The World at War and an episode of The Bob Newhart Show. 

 

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: The Wiz (with synchronopticæ), assorted links to revisit, Galileo’s coded astronomic observations plus Ron’s Place preserved

twelve years ago: a treasury of vintage marketing plus a trip to Idstein 

thirteen years ago: OMG! from 1917 

fourteen years ago: colony collapse syndrome

fifteen years ago: augury and the economy

ten-forward (13. 058)

Via Kottke, wee enjoyed exploring these 360° panoramas of the interiors of several ships of vessels from the Star Trek franchise—the bridges, engine rooms, quarters, sick bays and corridors from ships from different series—see previously, see also. Sets include USS Voyager, and the original USS Enterprise plus -D and -E.

8x8 (13. 057)

the gift of the magi: Better Living through Beowulf shares a Godfrey Rust poem for the Feast of the Epiphany  

wegmans: NewYork grocery store chain collecting biometric data, conversations of shoppers  

year of the fire horse: zodiacal facts about the upcoming annual cycle 

heavy sour crude: how realistic Trump’s designs on Venezuela’s reserves are—see more  

pea-brained: organoid culture research and experimentation raises ethical, philosophical concerns 

big brother and the holding company: the numerological and business significance of six-and-twenty  

john players’ special: the tobacco purveyor presents the celebrated gates of London 

mother superior jumped the gun: convert Elizabeth Ann Seton feted as first American saint for establishing the parochial education system in the New World

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump does not want lowered flags for his inauguration (with synchronopticæ), the chaotic twin of Pi, the right attacks Wikipedia plus Mussolini’s Black Shirts

twelve years ago: vaping regulations, landmarks lost to progress, miniature artists plus hyperobjects

thirteen years ago: the push for green energy plus fake smiles

fourteen years ago: marginal victories plus Three Kings’ Day 

sixteen years ago: holidays unwrapped

seventeen years ago: New Year’s resolutions 

operation nifty package (13. 056)

With clear parallels to current events in Venezuela with the kidnapping and extraction of Nicolás Maduro for trial in the United States, codenamed Absolute Resolve and carried out by the same elite unit, Delta Force, the removal and rendition of Panamanian military dictator Manuel Noriega—which took place on this day in 1990 and far from the only other US intervention in the region, has some important differences, especially in terms of the timeline and chance for international bodies to process developments. On the pretext of the death of a US marine, shot in Panama City—though planning had been taking place for months in advance—America invaded on 20 December 1989, deploying nearly thirty thousand troops supported by three-hundred aircraft, targeting the weapons and drug smuggling and money laundering facilities of Noriega, a long time source and correspondent of US intelligence agencies but never president of the country, the unelected individual amassing wealth and connections through trafficking facilitated by the national army and propping up politicians favourable to the CIA until they suddenly weren’t. The United Nations, whilst not mourning over the potential ouster of Noriega, convening and condemned the invasion as a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Panama—biased polling conducted at the time by CBS news claimed to overwhelming support for US intervention, surveying only wealthy dissident populations. Unwilling to believe that after the coup he had fallen from American favour and loathe to believe tips on the impending invasion, Noriega eventually went into hiding, evading capture. The capital overrun with US troops, Noriega and four compatriots sought refuge in the Apostolic Nunciature, the embassy of the Holy Sea—granted conditional sanctuary for giving up most of his weapons and pledging not to flee to the countryside and launch guerrilla warfare. Prevented by papal concord from entering the grounds, US forces conducted a campaign of psychological torment to dislodge Noriega, blasting the compound non-stop with rock music, a limited playlist of Public Enemy’ “Fight the Power,” “Panama” from Van Halen, “Danger Zone” and Tom Petty’s “Refugee.” Ten days into the ordeal, Noriega surrendered and was detained as a prisoner of war. For his trial, all evidence from the defendant that had anything to do with payments from the US government or work with intelligence services was deemed inadmissible, Noriega spending the rest of his life behind bars.