synchronoptica
one year ago: Chinese buzzwords of the year (with synchronopticรฆ), kanji character of the year plus the first purpose-built communications satellite (1958)
twelve years ago: regrettable legal precedence plus canine translators
thirteen years ago: counter-narratives on internet regulation
fifteen years ago: seasonal weather
sixteen years ago: contemplating a Christmas canival
During a Hanukkah reception held at the White House, Trump invited Israeli-American mega-donor Miriam Adelson, widow of billionaire businessman, serial entrepreneur and casino and media magnate Sheldon Adelson whom was already the president’s largest single benefactor for his 2016 and 2020 campaigns and established a legal defence fund to shield Trump from fallout during the Mueller investigation, to join him on the dais, saying that when someone can give you a quarter of a billion dollars, “I think that we should give her the opportunity to say hello”—echoing the same sentiment nearly verbatim he said of Elon Musk during his re-election. 
Though constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, it’s hardly been a prohibition that he’s flaunted all along, and Trump intimated (with ample enough, indirect corroboration) that the generous two-hundred and fifty million dollar contribution would go toward his 2028 campaign, prompting riotous cheers from the assembled guest of four more years. Even if this horror of a moribund leader, like Israel had with prime minister emeritus Ariel Sharon, were to come to pass, with a very pliant supreme court and still time for a constitutional amendment—or convention, and as this gift, bribe (a relatively low one as the president’s a cheap date) or election is being directed towards a political war-chest for a future run that at present against the law, regulation on campaign finance funding do not apply and can be used however the committee sees fit, redistributing to other races or used personally to enrich the Trump estate.
DJ Earworm (previously), aka Jordan Roseman of San Francisco, presents his annual United State of Pop in a quite longstanding and well established, since 2007, tradition of mashing-up the most vaunted albums of the year. And whilst admitting I must have aged out of the top-twenty for some time now—and recognised zero percent of these songs but a few of the artists, I appreciate the artistry of the precise mixing and sampling of contemporary culture as a hook to make me want to find out more.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Chinese names and the challenges of Romanisation (with synchronopticรฆ), a survey of superyachts plus euro coins starter packets
twelve years ago: the evolution of Santa Claus plus holiday long-distance commercials
thirteen years ago: the coat of arms for Frankfurt am Main
sixteen years ago: ring-fatigue
Via Quantum of Solazzo’s latest data-driven newsletter, we are referred to this rather impressive planespotting application, which drawing telemetry from various sources, shows airplanes crossing the skies rendered on a 3D map in real time at the location of one’s choosing. 
Of course one’s experience will depend on factors like whereabouts and time of day but even for fly-over country, one can zoom out with Airloom and click on an aircraft to get information on the flight number, origin, destination, carrier and make and model—and virtually travel to any hub to monitor arrivals and departures as planes weave a network overhead.
Having just turned forty, Joel was inspired by a chance encounter with a friend of Sean Lennon at a recording studio half his age, reflecting that it was a terrible time to be twenty-one, with a litany of contemporary dilemmas. Joel encountered he had his own at that age, which his interlocutor dismissed, saying he had grown up in the 1950s, a rather halcyon pause in their mind at least when nothing happened. Joel came back with a few headlines of the time and conceived a catalogue of all the impactful, formative events, cultural and political, that had occurred between the year of his birth, 1949, to the present—in mostly chronological order (see above). One hundred-eighteen people, artefacts and circumstances are listed in the song, which upon re-evaluation are panned lyrically, almost to the point of disavowal, with absolute refusal for extra verses by the artist. Only four named individuals are still alive—Brigitte Bardot, Bob Dylan, Bernie Goetz and Chubby Checker.
synchronoptica
one year ago: The Towering Inferno (with synchronopticรฆ), assorted links worth the revisit plus a museum dedicated to depictions of The Last Supper
twelve years ago: seigniorage and inflation
thirteen years ago: trim up the tree with Christmas stuff, US school shootings, lucid dreaming plus O Antiphons
fifteen years ago: the legacy of Cablegate
Via Super Punch, we learn that adding such a quotidian thing as the writing implement to his list things to make do with less of as a kind of patriotic austerity during a recent rally, veering again from casting affordability as a hoax and blaming high prices on immigration—“You can give up certain products. You could give up pencils—because under the China policy, every child gets thirty-seven pencils. They only need one or two. They don’t need that many. You always need steel. You don’t need thirty-seven dolls for your daughter. One or two is nice. So, we’re doing things right.” 
US consumers are foregoing a lot more things at the moment and is unclear how less of one equals more of another, but the example chosen (and not for the first time) may come from a parable used to illustrate global supply chains and trade that one of Trump’s handlers though might be couched in terms he could comprehend on a basic level of Ricardian economics but instead was grossly misconstrued. The 1958 essay by libertarian free market think tank founded, under the long title, “I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E Read,” written in first person from the perspective of the pencil, summarises the complexity of its creation, listing its parts (wood, lacquer, ferrule, pumice, wax, glue, graphite), those people (sort of like a gratitude chain) that put it together down the janitor of the factory and the lighthouse keeper that ensured that the shipment made it safely to port, conclude that since, in the absence of a master mind directing all these the activities—something no individual would be capable of—there is only the Invisible Hand of capitalism running the show, proclaiming that the “know-hows” should not be impeded terms of self-coordination. Apparently Trump interprets the fable that he is Providence.
jabrael shelbys: Afghan morality police arrest a troupe of young men for dressing like characters from Peaky Blinders for “promoting alien culture”
holiday inn: the hidden history behind the 1942 Irving Berlin staple “White Christmas,” composed at the La Quinta hotel
trump derangement syndrome: US president roundly condemned for his disparaging, disgusting remarks on the murder of Rob Reiner and wife Michelle, who photographed him for his Art of the Deal jacket—there is no line for that meathead and his followers
the internet of beings: proprioception and web-enabled organs
do you see what i see: tales of Winter Wonderland disasters
cultural ambassadors: individuals from seventy countries offer their best imitations of US tourists—see also
synchronoptica
one year ago: suggestions for what US president Joe Biden could do with his remaining weeks (with synchronopticรฆ) plus more on vexillology
twelve years ago: a history of coffee bans plus a periodic table of cheese
thirteen years ago: slips and sits plus Bad Neustadt all decked out for the holidays
fourteen years ago: poinsettias plus FACTA coming into force
sixteen years ago: the psychology of secret societies
