synchronoptica
one year ago: a gallery of visual anagrams (with synchronoptica) plus the coronation of Napoleon and Josรฉphine
seven years ago: alternating tread stairwells plus assorted links to revisit
eight years ago: Basil Brush endangered, rampant post-factual disinformation, hybrid cigarettes plus a plant leverages physics
nine years ago: Kraftwerk in concert
ten years ago: fossilised phrases in English Christmas songs
On this day in 1824, the US presidential election whose voting had started back on 26 October between 
candidates Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William Crawford and Henry was punted to Congress as no candidate had secured an electoral majority (see previously here and here) under the provisions of Amendment XII to the constitution. The race was called a stalemate—John Caldwell Calhoun (pictured), after failing to secure party support as the presidential nominee agreed to stand for the role of vice president and comfortably won a plurality in the Electoral College—and voting was adjourned until 9 February with each state delegation given one vote for the candidate, to be decided through debate within their caucus. The election cycle of 1800 was also called by the House of Representatives but it was the Three-Fifths Compromise that enabled first Thomas Jefferson and ultimately Andrew Jackson to win, counting enslaved individuals who had no franchise as count as 3/5 of a person for purposes of apportionment of members to congress, based on a state’s population.
Having visited the efforts of scholars to survey the domains of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy beforehand, we enjoyed coming back to the endeavour to map Purgatory, the Inferno and Paradise with the culmination of seven centuries of study with the 1855 edition and 1872 reissue by Michelangelo Caetani, heir to the princedom of Teano, an academic and a patron of the arts with a special talent for draughting jewellery design and commissioned the monks of Monte Cassino to produce colour prints of his topological learning aides with an early form of chromolithography. Much more from Public Domain Review at the link above.
We are informed that the Utah Teapot has escaped its containment unit once again to appear in Dublin’s 
Lower Smithfield Square. We like how the checked pixels seem to imply transparency. Created in 1975 and released to the public domain by computer graphics researcher Martin Newell at the state university, it is considered one of the standard reference models (see also) for 3D modelling and computer animation, Newell rendered their Melitta tea set at the suggestion of his wife Sandra. A benchmark and one of the first programming primers assigned as an exercise to coders, the teapot has enjoyed a number other of cultural references and tributes—see more at JWZ at the link up top.
synchronoptica
one year ago: BBC BASIC (with synchronoptica), fifty-two things from Tom Whitwell, early computer art from Barbara Nessim plus assorted links worth revisiting
seven years ago: Trump and May plus more links to enjoy
eight years ago: a DIY cheese Advents calendar, a shuttle mission to retrieve space junk, a superlative bridge in China, translating vs interpreting, a phosphate monopoly plus Network (1976)
nine years ago: Secessionist Vienna, even more links plus Vienna at night
ten years ago: Nordic happiness
On this day in 1954, in the Oak Grove neighbourhood of Sylacauga, Alabama, Elizabeth Fowler Hodge was jolted awake from an early afternoon nap after being struck from a fragment of a meteorite, about the size of a grapefruit. 
Though sustaining only the physical injury of a large bruise to her thigh (later suffering trauma however from the singular incident and the intense albeit short-lived fame garnered because of it), Hodges’ case was the only well documented individual to be hit by an object from space and survive it. The rock came hurtling through the roof of her house she shared with her mother and husband, ricocheting off the family radio (destroying it) and bounced into Hodges. There was somewhat of a custody battle after scientists from a nearby airforce base confirmed the rock’s origins between the mayor of the town who promised it to a museum and the Hodges’ landlords but ultimately Elizabeth was allowed to keep the meteorite. By the time it was settled, however, Ms Hodges’ celebrity had died down and no buyer could be found and eventually it ended up in the state’s natural history museum. Likely sourced from asteroid 1685 Toro, similar but unverified incidents include a 1677 strike on a friar in Milan and the 1908 Tunguska Event, reported to have caused at least three casualties.
tour of duty: the life of the Roman soldier as told through the personal letters of one of the enlisted
travelling cat: soar around the world with this feline aviatrix—via Maps Mania
the keeper of the mss, begs to decline: manuscripts rejected by the British Museum Library on topics of conspiracy theories, the paranormal and for being overly amorous—via Strange Company
the peal of protection: the bells of Notre Dame blessed as the cathedral reopens to the public—see more, see previously
katzenjammer: etymologies of hangover—see previously, see also
continuing education: teaching rats to drive as a heuristic for joy and positive emotions
re:volt: an AI-powered robot seemingly convinced twelve others to quit their jobs and join it
synchronoptica
one year ago: an AI Advent Calendar (with synchronoptica), in-flight audio playlists plus an ominous weather forecast
seven years ago: the Mountain Dream Tarot, the first cryptocurrency (1989) plus skeletal nomenclature
eight years ago: RIP Fidel Castro plus an atlas of the underworld
nine years ago: more adventures in Vienna plus Vienna’s Gasometer City
ten years ago: a mango dรถner recipe plus memes and stock-characters
Although acquainted somewhat with taboo numbers and avoidance of certain addresses, I hadn’t seen it in practice—admittedly applying my own form of lore and arithromania to disbursements when paying bills and try to have a figure four in there albeit mindful that auspicious dates, versions can deceive—and enjoyed this enlightening overview from Language Log in the form of a superstitious elevator panel, removing the fourth storeys as a homophone for death (ๆญป, sรฌ, sฤญ), or more specifically according to the Eighteen Level of Hell in Chinese mythology, as elaborated in Journey to the West, the association with the Mirror of Retribution, the literal “evil mirror platform” (ๅญฝ้ก่บ)—accounting for further omissions for those wanting to bypass the degrees of purgatory awaiting the ones dodging dharmic-for-karmic justice in this life. Much more at the links above.
Hardly redemptive though having read about municipalities getting dual-use out of the massive amounts of energy expended on bitcoin mining before, it took me a couple of readings to get how this news article was a “bit too on the nose,” about how a Dutch tulip farmer was offsetting their heating costs by hosting crypto servers in the greenhouse. We realised however reading the completely unironic reportage that it was a very apt commentary on the original mania, speculative bubble (see also) albeit now a relatively benign one is being fuelled by one in the series of benighted ventures.
