(12. 424)

synchronoptica

one year ago: symbiosis (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: the Koreas realign their time-zones, commemorating US Marine Corps lore plus medieval European microstates

eight years ago: the right tries to appropriate Star Trek, cruise ships with amusement parks plus self-repairing concrete

nine years ago: dialectical shifts for the names of shopping bags 

ten years ago: Haitian artists recreate taro iconography, fun with family photos, assorted links to revisit plus Miss Piggy honoured as a feminist icon

very stable genius (12. 423)

No stranger to e-moluments and general rentiership, the Trump Syndicate is making further furrows into dodgy cryptocurrencies not only with his own memecoin, of which a thick wallet of can buy a seat at the table but now working with congress and the Federal Trade Commission to legitimise the stable coin market, having raised millions of actual fiat cash from tokens as campaign donations as well as through the family’s own spurious ventures. Stable coins, for the individual who famously bankrupted Atlantic City, are essentially casino chips, that one can purchase from the cashier at a fixed rate and in theory redeem them back at the same rate, no matter how much time and exchange fluctuations have occurred in the interim—in order to essentially gamble in crypto market, like one’s chips retaining their value, within the venue at any case. The holder of the stable coin is left holding the bag, however, since it is a trading market and it is not always possible to find a buyer to convert back into dollars at the same exchange rate of one-to-one. In order to sustain value during shocks to the global currencies, the dollars, euro, yen or renmibi are invested—usually in something safe like government bonds—with the stable coin backers reaping any additional profit and shielding themselves from losses, the theoretical store of wealth not generating any added value for the purchaser themselves, unlike earned interest or appreciating equity. Though barriers to entry are low as with any digital product, saturation means that its a high bar to build any significant network, with the Trumps adding this instrument to their basket of IOUs.

first one hundred days (12, 422)

Though adopted as an arbitrary yet studied milestone by every subsequent US presidential administration, the phrase coined by the FDR administration was not meant to mark the anniversary of his inauguration in 1933 but rather his immediate summoning of congress back in session for three months of legislation and the passage of laws to counter the devastating economic effects of the Great Depression through fifteen major bills regarding work-programmes and reforming financial regulations. Roosevelt also signed ninety-nine executive orders during that period, a number unsurpassed by any president until Trump’s first day of his second term, albeit no significant legislation has been enacted with the involvement of the legislature. Despite celebrating his first one hundred days, lauding successes with little evidence to back it up and quite overwhelming indications of the contrary and declaring himself “unstoppable,” the campaign-style rally held in Michigan was punctuated with retribution and repetition of old grievances and lies regarding the stolen 2020 election, and while ostensibly winning on certain fronts of the culture wars and immigration with ending affirmative action, suppressing opposing viewpoints and generally affecting regressive social policies and making the prospect of coming to America—both for migrants and guests—more fraught (a serviceable PR smoke screen that few buy outside of the staunchest loyalists and probably none privately), Trump’s return has been viewed as a grift and abject failure on all counts: a burgeoning constitutional crisis with ignoring and threatening judges and sidestepping the senate, a foreign policy that abrogates the post-war world order that the US helped built and benefited greatly from with attendant loss of trust from allies and partners, rubbishing the global trade system with punishing tariffs and no way to extricate ourselves as well as retreating from its responsibilities from environmental stewardship and duty-to-care. Even the single issue that the administration can point to as a qualified success, controlling the borders, is being tainted with accounts of expulsions without cause and exporting what are considered undesirables—again with no due process—to foreign concentration camps, acts which are becoming increasingly unpalatable to even strong advocates. Detractors and even polls that indicate Trump’s approval ratings are underwater on his handling of the economy—the markets are one thing he cannot cow into submission or have “bend the knee”—and foreign policy, overplaying his hand with Putin and Xi, are dismissed as lies and fake news. The knock-on effects of blanket and threats of reposing reciprocal tariffs are just starting to be felt by average consumers, outside of the agricultural and shipping sectors and will present a rude surprise.  After reports circulated that Jeff Bezos would be displaying tariff surcharges on Amazon items (see previously), then backing off after attracting Trump’s ire, it seems like the oligarch now has no choice but to go forward with the plan and commit to the bit. 

droodles (12. 421)

From the portmanteau of doodle plus riddle, Futility Closet directs our attention to the long history of minimal visual puzzles—first introduced in a therapeutic capacity as an exercise in creative thought—then
syndicated and serialised as above by humorist Roger Price, whom co-developed the concept of Mad Libs and was a regular game-show panellist, in the early to mid-1950s with newspaper feature with simple abstract drawings that did not make sense or register without the caption, relatedly. The craze, leading to its own game show, was fuelled by public calls for submissions, including recognition and honoraria, creating one’s own in the same spirit of drollness. One of the more iconic droodles, “ship arriving too late to save a drowning witch,” was the title and cover art of a 1982 Frank and Moon Unit Zappa album—see also—which is owning to the interjection “gag me with a spoon” from the song “Valley Girl”—which may well have been fabricated. Try making up your own.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus I am the Eggplant

seven years ago: politicians and robot rapport, Hair (1968) plus artist Julije Knifer

eight years ago: a last minute stop gap measure to fund the US government, post-Soviet public spaces, tensions for the Turkish diaspora plus advanced speech synthesis

nine years ago: White House movie screenings 

ten years ago: Used to be a Pizza Hut, more links to enjoy, examining urban blight plus a Balkan micronation

10x10 (12. 420)

america’s war: a special report from the Verge for the fiftieth anniversary of the Fall of Saigon   

leaflet: an Art Nouveau study of botanical forms and their application in decor—see previously  

mangajin: an appreciation of the month English-language publication for students of Japanese language and culture—full archives from the entire run from 1988 to 1997 here   

do: inspirational words from artist Sol LeWitt to fellow creative pioneer Eva Hesse 

chisanbop: the Korean technique of fingermath   

i have to push the pram a lot: Monty Python and the Holy Grail at fifty   

animal spirits: what felines, bovines, porcines, etc on the label say about wine quality   

you wouldn’t right-click a car: US anti-piracy campaign filled with hypocrisy, including a stolen font—see also   

bus error collective: a WSIWYG primer on oscilloscope music—via Waxy   

worst one-hundred days: assessments of Trump first months in office for his second term—more here and here

synchronptica

one year ago: Pennsylvania 6-5000 (with synchronoptica) plus naming world wars 

seven years ago: a corollary to the Bechdel test plus a visit to Stockheim

eight years ago: archaeology with trace DNA, Islamic gateways plus responding to nuclear extortion 

nine years ago: crowd control robots, language acquisition plus a hand-held DNA sequencer

ten years ago: visiting FDR’s Georgia retreat, ribald limericks, assorted links to revisit plus pontoon bridges to alleviate traffic congestion

benefactive case (12. 419)

Whilst English has the above modifiers to generally intensify as reflexive—as in “I love me some chicken” whereas the accompanying mood expresses a wish or benediction, like “May the Force be with you” or “God willing”—Japanese has a unique and surpassing feature, we learn with gratitude built into grammar and the inflection of a verb can frame thanks and positivity into one’s thoughts and expressions. Simple tasks and transactions can be imbued with a sense of thankfulness or favour with the auxiliary verb kureri (くれる). Moreover this one of kind construction cannot be used reciprocally and only flows in one direction, acknowledging one’s own gratefulness but not on behalf of another or attributing to others how they should receive your help or kindness. More on these social cues at Æther Mug at the link above.

street where the riches of ages are stowed (12. 418)

Via our peripatetic companion, Messy Nessy Chic, we learn that the iconic anchor antique shop, Alice’s, of the famous fleamarket mile of London’s Portobello Road—the scene sadly a bit diminished in recent years with gentrification—is on the market. The business had been in the same family for three generations and was featured in the original Italian Job movie as well as in the Paddington Bear stories. The property consists not only of the retail space but the maisonette also has a spacious living quarters above. Much more at the links above—anything and everything a chap can unload is sold off the barrow in Portobello Road.

this five-hundred word bumper sticker on my tesla explains why i’m not a bad person (12. 417)

After reading about an entrepreneur earning a small fortune with a collection of significantly less apologetic and succinct stickers (not pictured), we quite enjoyed this imagined screed plastered on the rear of a Tesla by one owner from McSweeney’s contributors Lia Woodward and Leah Folta: 

Does it help to know that I always return my shopping cart to the designated area? What about the fact that I’ve never been to a Chick-fil-A? Or that I commissioned this bumper sticker from the Etsy shop of a woman who was fired from the EPA?

…how could you possibly predict that someday he will say and do those same things a lot louder and more often?