lemon lot (12. 298)

We’re all weary of these fascist antics of Trump and his viceroy and there are far more destructive and dangerous acts being committed by the administration (a litany of horrors bears repeating but is quickly growing too lengthy to recap or process—with the latest being the detention and possible deportation of a student for organising pro-Gaza peace rallies which is a test on limiting free speech and reigning in the latitude of elite and liberal universities and eviscerating the department of education) but this photo-op of Trump’s newly acquired Tesla really is beyond the pale. In response to buyers’ remorse and some incidents of vandalism perpetrated on Cybertrucks and verbal assaults, fragile owners have convinced their congressional representatives to classify such attacks as “hate crimes” with Trump selecting the vehicle from a line-up as his new personal automobile, not the reviled flagship make and model, on the White House south lawn—further blurring ethical lines for Musk’s roles in government leading DOGE initiatives and receiving billions in federal contracts with SpaceX and Starlink, simultaneously dismantling his chief competitor NASA while running the Nazi bar formerly known as Twitter and the Columbia House Music Club inspired car subscription service—blatantly signalling the economy will be driven by favouritism and crony capitalism. Trump endorsed his purchase, at market-value, “I think he has been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people—and I just want people to know he can’t be penalised for being a patriot, and he’s also done an incredible job with Tesla,” and used the opportunity to reiterate that the private company had been subject to “ongoing and heinous acts of violence” orchestrated by radical leftists and declared that occupation or protests on dealerships will be henceforth labeled as acts of domestic terrorism and that perpetrators will “go through hell” for their infractions. Musk’s wealth and Trump’s favourability depend on their brands being not toxic for their own wealth and success and seem to be summarily alienating their consumers and constituents.

9x9 (12. 297)

ei-ei-o: a comparison onomatopoetic words for animal sounds across different languages—via Waxy   

acrostic: textile company’s branding has the aesthetics of concrete poetry 

destiny narrative: an omnibus post on the horrors and avoidability of war  

analog society: a British group performs live mash-up of notionally similar songs 

tectonic independence: why Greenland is an island and Australia a continent—see also   

360: Manhattan’s only revolving restaurant to reopen  

telephone game: Russia demands details from US before agreeing to any ceasefire agreement in Ukraine   

cross-walk: mimes direct traffic in Bogotá   

an old error has more friends than a new truth: proverbs and idioms from around the world

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) plus more FOIA follies

seven years ago: raising awareness for prosthetic limbs, Japan’s residential towers plus more links to enjoy

eight years ago: provisions requiring employees submit to DNA screenings

nine years ago: what if the Singularity already happened, the doorway effect plus colourful ancient statuary

ten years ago: Disney reboots, even more links plus more made-up jobs

inatsisartut (12. 296)

Though a referendum for independence is not explicitly on the ballot, forty-thousand of the island territory’s population of fifth-six-thousand residents have cast their vote in what could be consequential election of the autonomous region with geopolitical overtones that extend far beyond local politics. Characterised as a “fateful choice” for Greenlanders by the Prime Minister Múte Inequnaaluk Bourup Egede (incidentally a descendant of eighteenth century missionary Hans Poulsen Egede who founded the capital as Godthåb, now known as Nuuk, documented one of the earliest encounters with a sea-serpent and had challenges translating the Lord’s Prayer as the populace had no concept of bread and first tried to convey “Give us this day our daily seal”) of the democratic socialist Inuit Ataqatigiit pro-independence party, previously lobbied successfully to leave the EU over fishing rights, while recognising how the strategically located landmass is a point of contention for polarised powers seeking a foothold in the Arctic and mid-Atlantic. Results, once the tally is complete—an arduous task on the world’s largest island (granted home rule since 1979 with the above titular unicameral parliament—“those who make the law”) to collect ballots from isolated communities and general not subject to immediate speculation—will indicate whether Greenland wants to rehabilitate relations with Denmark or move towards integration with the United States with overtures to “buy” (or annex) it outright for its geographical vantage point and mineral wealth. Sentiment suggests that Kalaallit would prefer to be prefer and allowed self-determination and reject becoming another colony, especially given US imperial ambitions and its disrespectful and untrustworthy treatment of supposed allies and partners.

trade wars are good and easy to win (12. 295)

In response to a surcharge placed on electricity flowing into the American states of New York, Minnesota and Michigan, Trump has hurled multiple threats at Canada and the provincial government, accelerating the tariff schedule that is already bringing turmoil to international markets over uncertainty about global supply chains with a rambling post on his social media platform:

Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on “Electricity” coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. This will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th. Also, Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff of 250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products, which has long been considered outrageous. I will shortly be declaring a National Emergency on Electricity within the threatened area. This will allow the U.S to quickly do what has to be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada. If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada. Those cars can easily be made in the USA! Also, Canada pays very little for National Security, relying on the United States for military protection. We are subsidizing Canada to the tune of more than 200 Billion Dollars a year. WHY??? This cannot continue. The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear. Canadians’ taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that. The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World — And your brilliant anthem, “O Canada,” will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen! 

In a succession of increasingly hostile and unfocused re:truths, Trump went on to accuse Ontario Premier Doug Ford of stooping “so low as to use ELECTRICITY, that so affects the lives of innocent people, as a bargaining chip” and that the country will pay “a financial price for this so big that it will be read about in History Books for many years to come!” Tariffs (which end in FFS) are taxes charged on foreign exports paid by importers and typically pass the cost on to consumers and likely to raise prices for US businesses and shoppers very soon—risking, coupled with flagging consumer, boycotts and investor sentiment and disruption to finished products, the possibility of recession and job loss. Canada didn’t pick this fight and the extra duties run counter to the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that Trump negotiated back in 2020, hailing it as the “best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA.”

7x7 (12. 294)

wikiportraits: a group of photographers offering their services to furnish the free encyclopaedia with better celebrity images  

good enough: the rising phenomena of vibe coding, AI text-to-programming  

any one, any one: how US tariffs might play out—see more

march madness: a bracket face-off of the best literary villains 

stand up to a bully: a profile of Canada’s new prime minister, former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney   

i’m using an exclamation point so you know i’m friendly and excited: email etiquette   

ask jeeves: the International Butler Academy of Simpelveld in Limburg

synchronoptica

one year ago: Marlo Thomas and Friends’ Free to be You and Me (with synchronoptica) plus a lightly edited royal portrait

seven years ago: propagandist Axis Sally 

eight years ago: toasting the newly discovered TRAPPIST exoplanet system

nine years ago: a moving McDonald’s ad plus odd British toponyms

ten years ago: more protests against refugees in Germany, assorted links to revisit, folk etymologies and false cognates plus recycling e-waste

♀ (12. 293)

Courtesy of our faithful chronicler, we learn that on this day in 1914 suffragette and activist Mary Raleigh Richardson walked into the National Gallery and attacked The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velázquez with a meat cleaver in protest of the arrest and incarceration of movement leader Emmeline Pankhurst the day prior. After slashing the canvas, apprehended and sentenced to the maximum allowable for vandalising a work of art of six-months, Richardson issued a statement to the press: “I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the government for destroying Mrs Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history,” her actions further embellished in the papers in violent terms and framed as a callous murder of a actual person—an enduring problem when most female eponyms bestowed on places are not for actual figures but rather goddesses and deifications and more defamed by the omission, see also here and here. Velázquez’ 1651 work, successfully restored after the attack but again vandalised in 2023 by Just Stop Oil activists, was rather singular as one of the few nudes to come out of Spain during the Inquisition (Richardson also objected to the way gentleman gallery-goers leered at the image) and the motif, often copied, gave rise to the psychological, depictive departure known as the Venus Effect (cf, titular planetary symbol) with the goddess contemplating her reflection with back turned to the audience, seeing her face though not directly behind her, the intuitive framing often used in cinema to better frame an actor looking in the mirror.

blm (12. 292)

Created in response to federal officers attacking peaceful protesters with teargas in order to clear demonstrators as Trump’s entourage walked to St John’s Church for a photo-op holding a Bible, Washington DC’s iconic Black Lives Matter street mural is being erased, the city’s mayor pressured by contingent of congressional representatives to remove the slogan (citing public safety) or lose federal funding. Dedicated 5 June 20202 on the what would have been the twenty-seventh birthday of Breonna Taylor, a nursing student student killed during a botched police raid on the wrong premises, adding to global sorrow and outrage amid a mass movement to expose inequities, discrimination, violence the brutality of law enforcement for that began with the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2013—and too many before and since—and grew to its international scope after the killing of George Floyd in May. The two block stretch and surrounding plaza have been a forum for healing and a venue for continued rallies as all our affected by the administration’s unrelenting attack on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, banning books and outlawing critical race theory or anything else that might make white people uncomfortable.

the birth of the robot (12. 291)

Having enjoyed some samples of Leonard Charles Huia Lye’s work (better known as Len Lye) in his pioneering animation studies and experimental use of rotoscope techniques, we appreciated being introduced to his kinetic sculptures and work in stop-motion short (presented in living Gasparcolor, developed in Berlin in 1933) about an undaunted motorist (see also) suddenly caught in a sandstorm and stranded in the unforgiving desert, who despite being reduced to sun-bleached bones is resurrected (with a few drops of life-giving petroleum) as cyborg. Watch the entire film at Open Culture at the link above from the Shell Oil historical archive—which includes many other promotional pieces of iconic animation.

synchronoptica

one year ago: 1978’s The Incredible Hulk (with synchronoptica) plus a cheese-mongers’ survey

seven years ago: a next generation scarecrow  

eight years ago: bringing back the bees plus more on repealing and replacing Obama Care 

nine years ago: illustrator William Thomas Horton, a fantastic projection of the Trump dynasty plus a Roald Dahl inspired font

ten years ago: an Ayn Rand film adaptation plus roving wireless