my supper is late—i want my turnips (13. 927)

Courtesy of Fancy Notions, we are introduced to the British children’s educational programme Words and Pictures through this 1975 episode “Pigs and Pumpkins”—which does agreedly give a certain Teletubbies energy and allure in its presentation and repetition that one could just zone out to—to practise the letter p and cut out a jack-o’-lantern face to scare off Halloween witches and goblins. There is a bit of unintended cozy terror in the delivery, hosted and voicing all characters, in jarringly different styles from Clutch Cargo style lazy animation to rather involved stop-motion, by Charles O’Rourke, police dispatcher from Z Cars. The more terrifying aspect to us was the unbidden automated transcript, enjoyably still bad like misheard lyrics, and how the short programme is divided into chapters, just as a classic arc of narrative with a setup and exposition, conflict with players learning through negative reinforcement, dénouement and resolution—an unnecessary structural analysis putting it and everything else on par with the great tragedians—they’re doing this for podcasts of every category as well. Hop… hop… hop…

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synchronoptica

one year ago: asteroid 951 Gaspar (with synchronoptica) plus the coinage of neurodiversity

two years ago: a mascot for the Vatican plus IKEA acknowledges forced labour in East Germany 

three years ago: Don Giovanni (1787), an undergraduate thesis on ASCII art plus a devilish ball

four years ago: places lived and just past through plus a last day in Crete

five years ago: Constantine’s victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge,  Orinoco Flow (1988), a Mario marathon, celebrating a Renault classic, a collection of horror GIFs plus the end of the Salem Witch Trials

six years ago: assorted links to revisit plus referring to parents by the names of their offspring

seven years ago: the political alignments of Mario Kart characters

eight years ago: Italy battles the EU over its fiscal policy, Merkel to not run again for party chair, synthetic traditional Chinese medicine plus more on Angela Merkel stepping down

 

dr x builds a creature (13. 926)

Courtesy of Messy Nessy’s Cabinet and here batch of latest finds, we are directed toward an arguably more refined cult-classic in Dr Caligari, comparable to all the trappings and traditions of Rocky Horror Picture Show. This 1989 campy, avant-garde film, pitched as an psycho-sexual thriller and quasi-sequel to the original 1920 (sharing aesthetic elements of its inspiration but through a late 80s filter (see previously here, here and here) , it details the unethical and illegal experimentation, that the titular doctor, granddaughter of the original mad scientist, conducts on her patients. Hoping to achieve a mental balance, Caligari, through clashing uncorrected personality traits, she selects subjects on opposite ends of the spectrum for mental-transference. A cult classic with the occasional screening as a Midnight Movie, learn more about the obscure Stephen Sayadian vehicle—the director and writer an acolyte of adult entertainment entrepreneur Larry Flynt—from Messy Nessy Chic at the link up top.

day two hundred thirty three (13. 925)

With the election results inconclusive and neither of the two major party blocs securing a controlling majority, Knesset president Isaac Herzog urges no new vote. IDF shells eastern Gaza City and Deir Mimas in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah rejects Israeli-brokered framework for peace. Arab political parties make significant gains but both Netanyahu and opposition leader Eisenkot refuse to work with them, despite their participation being necessary to form a coalition government. Houthi strikes hit the airport in Aden and the largest Saudi refinery complex in Ras Tanura. Putin gives public praise to Elon Musk as the SpaceX CEO assists with Russia’s Rassvet constellation of satellites to target Ukraine. Bolsonaro and family arrive in Miami and are issued visas for the US. Iran says that Qatari negotiated peace deal to end US-Israeli aggression is unacceptable through intermediaries.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the discovery of tomb of King Tut (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links to revisit

two years ago: a tarot card inspired garden, more air-based food plus a Trump rally in Manhattan 

three years ago: presidential personal coats-of-arms 

four year ago: further adventures plus unblogged Crete

five years ago: your daily demon: Shax, Gulliver’s Travels plus more on being in the flow state

six years ago: the Greek flag adopted, priority group mall Santas, the short films of Al Jarnow, a pizza chain’s logo plus a home-makeover for the Simpsons

seven years ago: a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere, a mundane Halloween plus The Millennial Raven

eight years ago: a day-trip to Frankfurt plus more links to enjoy

 

day two hundred thirty two (13. 924)

As the vote count continues, Netanyahu claims that the right wing has a decisive lead and a mandate to govern, though the race is too close to call. Middle Eastern leaders meet during Moscow Gas Forum, Pezeshkian condemning US disregard for diplomacy and breaking their end of the deal with respect to the Islamabad MOU, saying the region’s problems are caused by American and they can resolve them without Washington. Saudi led coalition claims victories over Houthis, repelling them from Bab al-Mandeb, whilst more oil fields are struck. During a campaign rally, Trump says he can end the war whenever he wants, as costs approach fifty billion—fuel prices enjoying a temporary reprieve due to his diesel deal with Putin during a stump speech in Texas, poised to elect Democrats to high office for the first time in three decades. Fearing investigations after his run-off loss to Lula da Silva, Flávio Bolsanaro and family flee to the US on cancelled passports.

8x8 (13. 923)

das horst-wessel-lied: propaganda and public enlightenment in Weimar-era Berlin  

👎: the great data theft bait-and switch  

forever blowing bubbles: for China, lofty valuations for AI collapse as sign of what’s to come for the rest of the world

a tavola senza schermi: a consortium of Sardinian restaurants are banning smart phones and tablets during dining  

flock: the first automobiles were EVs 

clucksville: OG Readmore’s take on Chicken Little  

eveready: after a slate of emergency preparedness campaigns, including US military bases to ready themselves for a ninety-day period of self-sufficiency, America public told to stock up

tamara in a green bugatti: artist Łempicka who defined the Art Deco aesthetic

ptable (13. 922)

Via Quantum of Sollazzo, we are redirected towards a suite of interactive data tables in development since 1997—quite a change log to keep apace with increasing sophisticated user interfaces and scientific discovery— that cleverly lets one explore the chemical elements by any number of parameters of properties and then, as an encore, applies the data visualisation and organisation to taxonomy to survey the entire Tree of Life, every Kingdom, Phylum and Class down to families and species, accessible and with links to Wikipedia articles for the whole inventory. The resources and network is maintained by Michael Dayah.

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synchronoptica

one year ago: a banger from Baccara (with synchronoptica), the fantasy maps of Ursula K Le Guin, Dial-a-Poem, an abecedary of British folklore plus more AI christo-fascist propaganda

two years ago: Bezos’ owned Washington Post declines to endorse a US presidential candidate, a temporary monument for the January Sixth rioters, a seasonal treat from Louie Zong plus assorted links worth revisiting 

three years ago: outsider artist Robert Martiensen, more links to enjoy plus the discovery and development of the petroleum industry presented as the Bayeux Tapestry

four years ago: another MST3K classic plus further adventures in Crete

 

five years ago: Antarctic outposts plus a funicular escalator to revitalise a historic resort

six years ago: an experimental solar sail, artist Mary Moser, a smart safety helmet plus a commemorative camera styled after Bond’s Q

seven years ago: toying with time

eight years ago: a counter-march in Wiesbaden, AI Halloween costume ideas plus Yoko Ono’s Warzone

 

mozilla (13. 921)

Nostalgic but in a surprisingly non-cloying and unintrusive way and not necessarily a target demographic that one would expect to be entertained as it’s not trying to shoehorn in sales in any fashion and those it’s addressing likely never strayed from from the browser, we enjoyed this clever campaign for Firefox from We Believers (really Super Bowl level of an ad we’ll sit through by choice) that assembles a cast of early Internet icons as a reminder of purer times when grift, scam and engagement was not baked into everything, before the Attention Economy was at scale. How many do you recognise? Note that whilst the viral memes are timeless, the figures behind them are not and have aged, as we all do, so it’s worth your while to compare to the originals.

day two hundred thirty one (13. 920)

Labelling Norway another shithole country for denying him the Nobel Peace Prize once again—following Obama’s unchecked personal jokes at the expense of the president, ridicule that encouraged the failed businessman and sex-pest to run for political office in the first place, Trump disinvites the theoretical Norwegian immigrants he embraced during his first term with his Muslim majority country travel ban. María Corina Machado, who presented the US president her medal after kidnapping political rival Nicolás Maduro, returns to Caracas from exile to engage in talks with the puppet regime of Delcy Rodríguez, hoping to achieve real reform and perhaps torpedo US plans to steal Venezuela’s oil resources. Chief of German automotive company Audi under fire for pledges to build up manufacturing capacity in American amid domestic lay-offs and appearing in a campaign rally. Egyptian parliament authorises military aid for Saudi Arabia as the Mecca Alliance meet with Iranian officials in Tehran and agree to seek peace in the region, the inclusion of the Islamic Republic in the newly-formed defensive pact signalling a significant realignment of regional cooperation. Kremlin official Medvedev issues a public appeal to Trump to direct the CIA to assassinate Zelenskyy.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica), superlative drone photography plus the Archbishop’s Palace in Charing

two years ago: The Terminator plus half-baked ideas 

three years ago: a rare vintage Japanese synthesiser plus an AI generates Halloween treats

four years ago: more adventures in Crete

five years ago: a Roger Corman classic (1958),  Austria declares neutrality (1955) plus more links to enjoy

six years ago: William Shatner in an Esperanto language film, even more links plus the Trump-Biden debate

seven years ago: assorted links worth revisiting 

eight years ago: Monster Mash, time travel with the dictionary plus Star Trek: Lower Decks