stigler’s law of eponymy (12. 894)

Via Kottke, we are introduced to the above occurrence, recursive like instances pleonasmy, which proposed by statistics professor Stephen Stigler in 1980, attributes his own discovery to an idea formulated by sociologist Robert Merton, whom also popularised such notions as unintended consequences, reference groups, role models and self-fulfilling prophecies, and holds that no scientific discovery is named after its original pioneer, citing Hubble’s Law of universal expansion derived by Georges Lemaître among others and that credit is an object lesson in plagiarism and immodesty. Fully aware of his legacy, Merton’s own version was a variation on his so called Matthew Effect of cumulative advantage from the gospel summarised in the adage “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”—specifically referring to women’s sidelining in the academia and the arts, like the Matilda effect or the Bechdel test who repeatedly attributed the idea to her friend Liz Wallace but to no avail.

acrophony (12. 893)

Having written quite a lot of about the NATO Phonetic Alphabet beforehand (see previously here, here, here and here), we quite enjoyed this deeper dive into the history (with new-old antecedents of enunciating preceding and following letters with the target in between—see also) of the widely adopted set of clear-code words for communication transcription codified in 1956 and profile of each letter courtesy of Language Log. The title refers to the Ancient Greek convention of naming a grapheme according to to its first sound: ALFA, BRAVO, CHARLIE, DELTA. The first letter and JULIETT (which could not be with her ROMEO) are spelled such for those not familiar with English orthography and QUEBEC for Q for the University of Montreal where the standard was developed, and few personal names were adopted as well as toponyms for their stability and relative universality (though India has a wealth of exonyms) after the old-new German system—with other notable national carve-outs—albeit whose own signifiers like C for Chemnitz (formerly Karl-Marx-Stadt) underwent changes and were carefully chosen, though a misnomer and somewhat misleading regarding its provenance. As a further mnemonic, like how the English alphabet can be sung to the tune of “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman” (“Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star as arranged by Mozart) so too can the NATO Phonetic Alphabet be repeated to Beethoven’s “An die Freude” (“Ode to Joy”), similarly with only a few infidelities.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: manifesting (with synchronopticæ) plus capitol conveniences 

twelve years ago: the history of the unicorn plus the annals of the Basil Registry

thirteen years ago: American secessionist movements  

fourteen years ago: house-hunting 

fifteen years ago: a foiled terror attack on the Reichstag 

one flew east, one flew west (12. 892)

As our faithful chronicler reminds, on this day in 1975, Miloš Forman’s cinematic adaption of Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel was released in the United States, starring Jack Nicholson as newly arrived patient at a mental institution, Randle McMurphy feigning mental illness in order to avoid a sentence of hard labour following a series of crimes including statutory rape, and Louise Fletcher as the abusive and sadistic Nurse Mildred Ratched (77 Sunset Strip and spiritual leader Vedek Winn on Star Trek: DS9, much like the part of head nurse) with a supporting cast of inmates featuring Christopher Lloyd, Danny DeVito and Will Sampson, Jr as Chief Bromden. In development hell for thirteen years prior (primarily due to the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia—the Communist party was Forman’s Nurse Ratched) to shooting in Salem Oregon, the project originally called for Kirk Douglas and either Angela Lansbury, Anne Bancroft or Jane Fonda in the lead roles, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was critically acclaimed and remains ranked among the best films ever made, netting five Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Screenplay and Director. Recognising the subversive presence of the new arrival as a threat to her authority within the ward, Ratched scales back patient privileges—only causing more rebellion. Rehearsed on location at Oregon’s state public psychiatric hospital, the cast observed the daily routine prior to filming to get into character, including sessions of electro-shock therapy and stayed overnight in the wards among the criminally insane.

most other two-digit numbers had no meaningful trend over that period (12. 891)

For its WotY, Dictionies.com has selected “6-7” from its list of contenders for terms capturing the Zeitgeist of language and culture over the past twelve months, not just about confusion, neologism or popularity but moreover as a socio-linguistic mirror to visage. In the shortlist of other reference authorities, the meme, phrase and accompanying hand gestures from a nonsense lyric in a song by Philadelphia rapper Skrilla, titled “Doot Doot (Six-Seven).” And while grammarians have tried to apply several interpretations as to its meaning and etymology—from a reference to a street in the artist’s hometown or police code, which despite being incorrect have increased its rather enduring lore as opposed to recent marketing campaigns by fast food franchises and rumours that the next AI model will be called GPT-6-7 (surely a sign the trend is about to plummet)—it is genuinely a meaningless phrase though positive among cohorts who can share it together. The Wikipedia entry for the much older, fourteenth century English idiom to describe a situation in disarray—“at sixes and sevens”—from the proto-version of gambling dice game craps called hazard has not been updated to reflect this new phenomenon.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the events that inspired The Wicker Man (with synchronopticæ), an ancient amulet discovered, a thousand days of the war on Ukraine, shifting through default video titles plus Mister Plow (1992)

twelve years ago: digital footprints 

thirteen years ago: market bubbles 

fourteen years ago: in for a penny, in for a pound 

fifteen years ago: free-range exoplanets 

sixteen years ago: preppers and doubters 

discharge petition (12. 890)

Following the release of a tranche of incriminating emails and documents last week from the estate of disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and with Trump’s unexpected reversal (suspect and perhaps an attempt at normalising such abusive behaviour or over-confidence that all the right records were purged, denying justice for victims and survivors) on his stance that the growing movement was a hoax perpetrated by his Democratic opposition to discredit him and acquiescing to full disclosure, both chambers of the US legislature voted (we had some fear that the process would be pre-empted by a declaration of war)—with near unanimity, four hundred and twenty-seven to one congress members agreeing, even with the staunchest hold-outs, like house speaker Mike Johnson flipping and the senate fast-tracking the bill without a formal vote. The bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, will now go to the desk of the president to sign into law (something which Trump could have directed at any time without being compelled by congress), requiring the attorney general to disclose all records and investigative material not subject to classification, reserving the right to withhold information that might jeopardise on-going investigations or involuntarily out the identity of victims.

10x10 (12. 889)

trip hop: frustrated with his limited role in Massive Attack, Tricky embarked on his independent project Maxinquaye  

chud atlantis: more regional car-dealership rococo from McMansion Hell  

linguistic zombie hunting: a revival of the old prescriptivist superstition against ending a sentence with a preposition and the grammarians that support it 

state capture: the revolving door between government and industry creating the post-democratic world order—via Quantum of Sollazzo 

♾️ series: visual proofs that 1/4 + 1/16 + 1/64 + 1/256… yields ⅓  

circlesquare: filmmaker Jaron Albertin’s rather disturbing music video for “Seven Minutes” 

artful dodger: Victorian mugshots of juvenile offenders—via Nag on the Lake  

stay puft: some facts all about marshmallows sealab: project Tektite and experimenting with submerged human habitats  

giscardpunk: Fifth Republic techno-futurism reimagined—see previously 

synchronoptica

one year ago: farming by lottery (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to revisit

twelve years ago: coded correspondence

thirteen years ago: Thanksgiving salutations  

fourteen years ago: Bretton Woods and monetary unions 

fifteen years ago: privacy and Google Maps plus trade unions and Ricardian economics

parasocial (12. 888)

A term from academia coined by sociologists back in the mid-1950s observing how viewer formed very much unrequited bonds with television personalities—particularly soap opera characters but also news anchors and any regular guest hailing from TV land—the word chosen as Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year (previously) remained a clinical one until recently, having in the past few years entered into popular parlance thanks to social media fandom. The paramour phenomena not just restricted to following, the confessional nature of podcasts and AI chat is also forging confidants in hosts and bots alike—see also. Driven by look ups alone with no judgment passed on the healthiness of such a one-sided connection, as surrogates for actual friends and family, learn more about the term’s provenance that pre-dates publication by centuries at the link up top.

kid icarus (12. 887)

Collaborating with astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy, skydiver and musician Gabriel C Brown captured this incredible image of Brown transiting the Sun with an appreciable measure of luck and timing to triangulate and signal the exact moment for the jump and the shot, a composite mosaic through a telescope’s lens of the Sun roiling surface remotely tracking Brown’s falling silhouette, captured in the course of six passes by the ultralight prop-plane in the skies over Arizona.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Musk as Salacious Crumb (with synchronopticæ), letters to the president, Julian time plus Trump pushes through controversial nominees

twelve years ago: outsourcing espionage plus moving Germany’s spy agency headquarters from Bonn   

thirteen years ago: a survey of customer service 

fourteen years ago: a news roundup 

fifteen years ago: hysteria and security theatre