(13. 567)

synchronoptica

one year ago: Château de Suscinio (with synchronoptica) plus an ensemble of monumental burial mounds

two years ago: a visit to the Borromean islands 

three years ago: assorted links to enjoy plus Dark Side of the Moon x Wizard of Oz

four years ago: more links worth the revisit plus bombshell testimony for January Sixth hearing

five years ago: the Body Language Academy, the International Criminal Court (1993), more pageantry from Weird Universe plus practical stenography

six years ago: Goldman Sans, a masculinity simulator, Martian meteors plus a complete catalogue of one’s stuff

day one-hundred eighteen (13. 566)

For the second night in a row, US forces have struck multiple targets in Iran for Tehran’s “aggression” against commercial shipping as the fragile ceasefire continues to fray—following on with a threat to wipe out the Islamic Republic. The Revolutionary Guard say that further violations of the truce will bring diplomatic talks to a halt as religious hardliners split on settlement negotiations. Bahrain is attacked by drones in response. Hezbollah rejects the ceasefire arrangement brokered by Washington between Israel and Lebanon. The draft resolution of Trump’s Board of Peace seeks sweeping immunity to block members and contractors from potential prosecution for work in “rebuilding” Gaza and allowing them to appropriate public property free of charge and with no oversight. Rocked by a wave of attacks that have resulted in fuel shortages, Moscow is building on new air defence complex on the grounds of Putin’s daughter’s intellectual development foundation just outside the capital.

lightning round (13. 565)

Without even being disclosed as satire with its ultimate tired-not-wired entry being “Having a ‘funny’ back page,” this early example of ragebait from Wit’s End September 1995 issue is an interesting time capsule of opinion (facetious, cringe—crass in hindsight or otherwise) of what was trending nearly twenty-one years ago. There’s a lot going on with this listicle of what’s deemed overrated, some of which still have resonance, like gender ambiguity, anything called a Summerfest, all-you-can-eat shrimp, being the host city of the Olympics, town-meeting with elected officials, morphing, zines. Others just seem bizarre for their inclusion like Pliny the Elder and conversion to Islam whilst incarcerated, 1968—and others, disparaging the likes of the alums of the Harvard Lampoon or Absolutely Fabulous, which made me rather upset. Check out the Reddit post above and let us know what stuck out for you—and maybe do a wellness check on that year.

🧐 (13. 564)

Courtesy of Kraftfuttermishwerk, we discover the world of how-to instructional reels that well predate but prevision influencers and looksmaxxing in the cache of Movietone News shorts, colourised and remastered carefully to preserve their charm and possibly unintentional humour through the lens of this 1930 tutorial by Count Etienne Louis Philippe Ścibor-Rylski of colonial Singapore, perhaps prompted by reports that the fashion trend had finally arrived in the States, on how to properly wear a monocle, the etiquette surrounding it—for those uncouth Yankees—and how to use it as an effective prop. Monocle drop was the original mic-drop. Click through for more vintage reels curated by Did You See? (including scenes of street life from the same period) and let us know what you find.

9x9 (13. 563)

pennsylvania dutch: an ethnographic profile of the Deitsch speaking Amish—see also  

it’s 1100 pm—do you know where your ai agent is: Janelle Shane (previously) on agentic artificial intelligence, vibe-coding and the need for guardrails  

hunshandake sandy land: battling creeping desertification with an army of chickens 

ethnic cleansing: US supreme court rules that the country can refuse asylum-seekers at the border and can begin the deportation of Syrian and Haitian refugees under temporary protected status        

⚙️⚙️⚙️🦑⚙️⚙️⚙️: manoeuvre your marine mollusc through an environment resembling dungeon levels from Zelda with Bubble Bobble type puzzles—via MetaFilter  

rainbow plaques: an alternative to Blue historical markers appear across London, honouring LGTBQ+  personages

final descent: the iconic airliner, the Boeing 747, is being phased out 

jerry’s world: a map of an imaginary land limned over decades using a deck of cards for procedural generation—see also  

despicable me: the influence of Minionese on the slang of Gen Alpha—see previously

isolated, initial, medial, final (13. 562)

Via Kottke, we are directed to a fascinating interactive introduction to the typesetting and rendering of Arabic script and the technical debt of font engineering and word-processors, built for the Latin alphabet (see also), which after years of struggles and comprise with alignment, default-settings that generated a WYSIWYG that looked ragged, broken and unaesthetic by Arabic standards is finally coming around to more faithfully reproducing the typography in the tradition of the scribes and calligraphers. Each glyph “holds hands” with the one preceding it and following it—everything is cursive, necessitating a minimum of four variants to create the right ligatures connecting the letters, dynamically renegotiating its shape for what comes next. The block formatting, which no manuscript would deviate from, is not achieved with spacing, but rather stretching or shortening the strokes within the word to make it flush with the margins. Much more including exercises and examples from La Vita Nouva at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Port Louis (with synchronotpica)

two years ago: Ponti dei Salti

three years ago: paronomasia plus design critique for Latin letters 

four years ago: attorney advertising, Captain Video, another MST3K classic, hummingbird hawk moths plus the Bored Ape Yacht Club

five years ago: your daily demon, Moby Dick (1955), Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Seven Sleepers, Queen’s first gig plus assorted links to enjoy

six years ago: the first Pride march, more AI pareidolia plus Russian bounties for US soldiers

day one-hundred seventeen (13. 561)

US strikes Iranian military facilities after an apparent drone attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz caused the UN to abandon evacuation efforts—Tehran and Washington establish a direct line of communication, a red phone to prevent incidents that could potentially escalate into military conflict. Trump characterised the victories of democratic socialists supported by New York mayor Zohran Mamdani as a win for “ruthless communism” after sabotaging a rare bipartisan bill aimed at addressing the housing crisis at the last second by refusing to attend a signing ceremony after the stage had been set—calling the proposal very “Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren-centric” and affordability was a low priority compared with his voter-suppression legislation he is insisting congress pass, potentially further alienating himself and the GOP from the issues faced by the American public. Lebanon, Israel and the US agree on a trilateral framework to stop the violence at the border as talks continue. Saudi Arabia restarts refinery operations after a four-month pause.

nobody’s laughing at us anymore—said the man filling in for milli vanilli (13. 560)

Though I’ve grown increasingly reluctant to delve into US domestic affairs and scandals as increasingly irrelevant and pathetic, I was beside myself for the captivation I am feeling for the American State Fair, a slapdash event hastily put together despite an alleged quarter of a millennium’s advanced warning, seemingly but the same people who brought us the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory Experience, Trump’s semiquincentenary task force—see previously. Following threats to cancel it altogether after most musical acts withdrew over the partisan political overtones of the patriotic festival—with several states also canceling plans to participate and not contributing their pavilions, first hand reports of opening-day describe a rather bleak and poorly attended public entertainment, with disappointing booths, a touch of grift and evangelicalism and a mock up of Trump’s triumphal arch. All I owe Ioway—It’s a grand night for singing.