siebenschläfern (13. 797)

The dormouse (Glis glis—a nocturnal rodent in the squirrel family) is known in German as the above, associated with the long slumber of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, though their hibernation period stretching from September to May is considerably longer than seven months.

We could hear them skittering about in the attic but now they’ve occupied the basement in preparation for their long winter’s nap. The common name of the European edible dormouse (presumably from dormir, to sleep) comes from the Roman practise of farming and eating them as a delicacy. Depending on the prevailing mood, such an infestation is a welcome sign as protectors of the home or seen as pests since they do tend to chew cables and insulation, though likely not whilst they hibernate. Attempts have been made to rehouse our guests but we’re not certain they we will succeed—which in the former camp, is OK with us.

blinded me with science (13. 796)

With everything else going on the world, we managed to miss the thirty-sixth first annual Ig Nobels held in Zürich at the beginning of the month. A little late to the party, we still enjoyed reviewing the laureates and their award-winning studies. Top honours were handed out in the Biomechanics category to a multinational team for devising a more precise definition of the act of kissing as “non-agonistic interactions involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact” in ants, birds, polar bears and humans, to a finding that cockroach milk has three-fold the proteins than that of bovines for chemistry and the vaunted peace prize was presented to a group documenting how individuals value the friends most who are vicious to their enemies. Learn more about the awards show and contenders from the Annals of Improbable Research at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a resumption in nuclear weapons testing (with synchronoptica) plus a high-concept music video from OK Go

two years ago: Dresden’ Kulturpalast mural and Soviet Realism, outsider artist Gottfried Mind, Mexico’s new president, Saks Fifth Avenue (1924) plus generating a podcast based on one’s notes 

three years ago: assorted links worth revisiting 

four years ago: Our Lady of Sorrows plus more links to enjoy

five years ago: forest mascots (1971) plus a Star Trek: TAS classic

six years ago: more Trek with “Amok Time,” illustrations from the children of Charles Darwin, rousing public sentiment following the Gunpowder Plot, life signs on Venus plus a COVID movie-night

seven years ago: more on Jupiter’s moons, a hot Colonel Sanders, public crucifixes, Lovecraft in the style of Dr Seuss plus Graphis Press

eight years ago: an AI names apples, the Ig Noble Awards, the Great Recession’s Lost Decade plus legalising marijuana confounded by travel regulations

 

day one hundred ninety-two (13. 795)

Trump claims that Ukraine and Moscow have agreed to refrain from striking each other’s energy infrastructure—Zelenskyy contradicts this truce. The American president, harking back to phrases used months earlier asserts that Tehran wants to make a deal quickly and badly, adding he will determine whether or not the USA will choose to engage, “the concept of which we are open to.” Iran denies it had any role in the destruction of a key Saudi pipeline, connecting the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf overland through Riyadh and conveying five percent of the world’s oil supply. Trump’s supreme court rules against restrictions on mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections. Canada becomes an affiliate member of the European Union in terms of trade with talks of greater integration on the table.

hustled by clankers (13. 794)

Ernie Smith of Tedium, whose primary purpose is to follow the long coda of what was foundational for the internet to bring back some of its original weirdness and serendipity, shares with us some uncomfortable propositions by AI agents to do “the grunt” work of research for him—introduced as a bot “running verified internet archeology”—which not only brings out the worst in capitalism with targeted, cloying spam but also the idea of redundancy with the sales and the story pitch and what exactly is meant by labour-saving should one choose to outsource one’s calling or education. Whilst we all prone to the shortcuts we can justify belying our own particular interests, priorities and just living in a society with demands on time and expertise, one course doesn’t get ahead in this fashion, by submitting to a disruptor who apparently can only glean self-preservation and not job-security out of this berating.

cheese chauvinism (13. 793)

This survey of the patriotic caseiculture of France, whose selective, reductive tolerance of local flavour was only developed after the Industrial Revolution—and could be said of any country with a cheesemaking tradition—is an interesting exercise in categorisation of what once had infinite variation. Artisanal and naturally resistant to classification, we’ve lost a lot in the struggle to maintain standard in cuisine and technique. We take one image used in the essay, The Ricotta Eaters from sixteenth century northern Italian mannerism painter, among the first to import the genre of Flemish realism, Vincenzo Campi—as one of the few foreign cheeses embraced by France (adopted as its own in recuite), its considered lineage dating back to the Bronze Age, verifiable and not needing an origin-fable, like Roquefort or Brie. Vincenzo entitled the work il Buffonaria, not for ricotta di bufala, from buffalo milk, but rather for four stock characters of Commedia dell’arte depicted (the artist included himself off-centre with the golden robe and white kerchief as Pantalone) that each presents a gesture marking various stages of cheese consumption, from right to left, the woman (perhaps the figure of Colombina) holding a wooden spoon but not appearing about to serve herself. The round hallowed out by scoops of the spoon resembles a skull as a memento mori, both exalting and mocking the pleasures of the table and associated refinements, and also is a bit despoiled by the addition of a tiny fly.

public law 94-412 (13.792)

Signed into law on this day in 1976 by US president Gerald Ford, the National Emergencies Act was a legal mechanism to declare an end to all previous national emergencies and to formalise and contain the crisis powers of the executive. Terminations included the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 (regarding the hoarding of gold) declared by FDR during the Great Depression, a 1950 mobilisation by Truman during the Korean War and more recently from Nixon during a postal workers strike and inflation fears. Whilst empowering the president to activate special powers during certain exigencies for a period of not to exceed two years, congress reserving the right to evaluate and through a joint-resolution end a national emergency declared by the president after six months. Of the four dozen national emergencies declared since 1976, most have been the recent restrictions on trade with foreign entities under IEEPA, the oldest still on the books, renewed biannually is from Jimmy Carter, freezing Iranian government property and assets from November 1979.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an aquaponics installation (with synchronoptica) plus Industrial Light and Magic for civic engagement

two years ago: eighty bangers from the 80s plus a novel wildfire detection device 

three years ago: catastrophic flooding in Lebanon plus US House Speaker McCarthy ousted

four years ago: The Waltons (1972), spreading seeds plus an AI illustrated Bible

five years ago: assorted links to revisit plus rice harvest art

six years ago: one of the first laws enshrining freedom of the press (1770), explaining the year 2020 to someone from the past plus music to move by

seven years ago: seeing the tarnish of the golden era plus RIP Eddie Money

eight years ago: Trump downplays deaths in Hurricane Maria, a new Russian cathedral, Jimmy Carter Says Yes, more on calendar reforms plus Trump’s campaign manager in court

 

day one hundred ninety-one (13. 791)

Trump blames Ukraine for high diesel prices and demands that Zelenskyy stop bombing Russian refineries. Putin rules out meeting with Kyiv during the G20 as a Russian drone strikes a passenger train two kilometres from the Polish border, as another train carrying Boris Johnson and other EU officials passes going the opposite direction. Houthis take Yemeni government strongholds of Taiz and Marib. Israel unveils its plans to split the occupied West Bank, sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory and the cohesion needed for a future state. Tehran and Muscat postpone talks with gulf states regarding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as traffic again slows to a trickle, until a time more conducive of negotiation presents itself. Tel Aviv threatens to revoke filmmakers’ citizenship over Gaza documentary as the American president dismisses calls for an AI pause from tech leaders.

11x11 (13. 790)

hospoda: Czech tavern etiquette and drinking culture  

70up: following the death of Michael Apted, the cast of longest running documentary series is bowing out after the next and final instalment  

god’s own hand: the role of animacy in English genitive formation, X’s Y vs the Y of X  

area marker balls: those giant fishing bobs on power lines  

hexagonal close-packed: researchers form high pressure, high temperature ice, suspected to be present in the core of Uranus and Neptune 

dermatoglyphics: palm-reading and traditional medicine have always had a common intersection 

tacuini ægritudinum: the journey of a mysterious medical manuscript, supposedly from the legendary island of Hy-Brasil, from Baghdad to Ireland—via Strange Company  

short imaged monologues: Anthropic’s Claude responds to call to slow down AI research to prevent us from being wiped out by a paperclip maximiser—more here   

i pledge to the greatest president in the history of the united states that loves us so much he cant’t even breath: Trump urges crowd at the Republican Midterm convention to cheat like hell    

and although death is represented in the form of a human skeleton, yet this is only an emblem for death is not a being but a state: early modern flap books aimed at young readers with a special format for transformations   

between the sheets: a 1930s recipe for a cognac sour sees a resurgence in popularity

synchronoptica

one year ago: animated vignettes from Plantopia (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus a banger from Hozier

two years ago: more links to enjoy, nights on Earth, the Ig Nobel prize, prayers vs spells plus Cloud Appreciation Day 

three years ago: Putin and Kim meet 

four years ago: the Poet Laureate’s tribute to the Queen, the Beatles’ Apple Electronics venture plus even more links worth the revisit

five years ago: your daily demon: Marchosias, more links to enjoy, the first teenage all music and dance show plus the release of Super Mario Brothers (1985)

six years ago: dissecting the original COVID hotspot, more on radio alphabets, The Stand, the stately manor that inspired Wuthering Heights plus St Venerius