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Gathered for the pontiff’s funeral, Trump and Zelenskyy met for the first time in person since the February summit that fell apart on live television, coming after a rare rebuke by the US administration for Putin following deadly airstrikes and accusing Russia of not wanting a peaceful resolution after threats towards Ukraine of walking away from the US-brokered settlement (ostensibly fulfilling Russian objectives by ceding Crimea and other occupied territory) if no progress materialised. Starmer and Macron joined the conversation at various points and it was described by all parties as a productive meeting.

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With today being International Crab Day, around since Jurassic times and with one of the most complex and contentious cladograms in Nature, we show some extra respect to a museum in Margate dedicated to the marine crustacean for championing transgender rights after the UK Supreme Court, sadly taking a cue from the US culture wars, ruled that women are defined by “biological sex” to the exclusion of transgender accommodations, and whilst not eliminating rights and protections completely nor declaring that there are only two sexes as in America, it is consequential insofar as single-sex services including restrooms, changing rooms, hospitals, prisons, sports clubs and shelters. The judgment however specifically stated that the biological characteristics delineating men from women are assumed to be self-evident and requiring no further explanation or nuance, according to the court’s interpretation of the Equality Act of 2010—to which drawing on its expertise in evolutionary history and biology the museum countered that there are no binaries in Nature and it was an abuse of science to suggest sex and gender was not on a spectrum. Other institutions have spoken up in solidarity, expressing rigorous opposition to changes in intimate spaces.

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crytophasia: eye-witnesses to an accident, twins speaking in unison yield insights about language acquisition   

keep your cool: a 1967 garage rock number appropriate for our times by Terry and the Chain Reaction   

swiss pavilion: the country’s contribution to the Osaka Expo evokes the spirit of the original venue—see previously here and here   

all dams are temporary: an interesting look at the limitations of hydrological regimes   

universi dominici gregis: the faithful and world leaders gather at the Vatican for the pontiff’s funeral   

buying access: Trump offers largest holders of his meme coin exclusive dinner date 

 hilma’s ghost: a monumental glass mosaic installed in New York’s Grand Central Station—in homage to the mystic artist   

on the corner: Myles Davis’ rock and funk, at first panned but now considered a masterpiece 

rampant pedantry: an overview of prescriptivism and hyper-correction

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica), a massive gallery of Star Trek images plus ancient scrolls deciphered with the help of AI

seven years ago: Brutalist Tetris, Macron addresses the US congress, the mythological namesakes of the Chinese lunar programme plus conspicuous consumption and the Diderot effect

eight years ago: Japanese manhole covers, journalism from Wikipedia, more links to enjoy, the Turkish-Syrian border, a Nazi-era bronze back on display plus more persuasive maps

nine years ago: bat nurse, the Sykes-Picot agreement, US tax-havens plus cataclysmic anniversaries (caution flashing image)

ten years ago: American founding fables

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Even as Trump has directed the responsible party to dismantle the institution, and is clawing back payment plans in arrears administered under department, he is encouraging the promotion of literacy in artificial intelligence, which the secretary so charged with making herself redundant referred to as the steak sauce, with the integration into the curriculum to teach the next generation of AI workers. Aside from sounding like a dystopian effort to drain human handlers of original, non-recursive thought, expendable once exhausted or replaced with a level of sycophancy useless to all parties, prioritising such initiatives following other governments stated reforms, which strike as far more feasible and responsible imbued with a functioning bureaucracy, Trump will need his DOE extant in some form to administer his Presidential AI Challenge and form partnerships within the industry, an unacknowledged tension for the organisation that he ordered dissolved and remanded to state school districts as the Supreme Court appears more focused on granting parental carve-outs for objectionable curricula rather than a hands off approach as promised.

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Via Just a Car Guy (to demonstrate he is Trainspotting Spice—smashing—How about Sporty-but-interested-in-other-things Spice? And then there’s the little ginger one, full of useless information about manta rays… We can relate) we are treated to the highlights from an excellent New York photography retrospective featuring some superlative street scenes, images of Keith Haring, Peggy Guggenheim and the pictured Georgia O’Keeffe with a tumbler of wine and slice of cheese whilst being chauffeured in the American southwest. The latter two were captured by the world-class visual documentarian Tony Vaccaro (see previously), a scout during World War II in the European theatre and remaining to document post-war life before returning to the United States to work primarily as a celebrity and fashion photographer.

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Via Super Punch, we learn that supermarkets in Canada are labelling food with a “T” symbol if it’s sourced from the United States and impacted by tariffs. I support this development even at the risk of discounting the role of the consumer in boycotting products exported from America, these extra duties may well seriously harm sales but to be fair it’s also the constant threat of annexation (Ⓣrump in the same breath extolling the economy boon that the surcharges borne by the shopping public will bring—and again we all have trade deficits with our grocery stores—and offering to eliminate them should one become the fifty-first state or relocate all manufacturing to the US) and moreover having RFK, Jr in charge of the Food and Drug Administration and safety regulations (which the administration regards as barriers to free trade) that make the prospect surpassingly unpalatable to the point of down right dangerous to health and wellbeing.

synchronoptica

one year ago: university protests (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: Turkish Star Wars plus assorted links to revisit

eight years ago: security keys, the EPA’s graphic charter, a mismanaged Monopoly, war-drums plus Trump’s daughter at the G20

nine years ago: pop stars and the early internet plus a pioneer of information theory

twelve years ago: architecture of choice for supermarkets

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Wandering a bit through the neighbouring market town of Ostheim vor der Rhön and learned our area had a connection—and a celebrated one at that—with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, marking his visits to the town in 1780, accompanying Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar, whom ennobled the writer and polymath, in his role as privy councillor and highway commissioner. 

 On one occasion, under the advisement of local economics chair, Goethe directed the construction of two ramparts bridging the river Streu, designed to straighten the flow of the waters and provide irrigation to the meadows, a system used by famers through 1985. Referred to in local dialect as the above (Wackeliege Stege) as the original wooden footbridges, replacing the stepping stones, became wobbly shortly after installation. 

 The master baker Hans Bickert was an avid researcher of local history and was particularly intrigued by the connection to Goethe and acquired in 1970 the old Saxe-Weimar Amtshaus (we have been to a Flöhmarkt inside this building) from the State of Bavaria (see above: Ostheim is historically tied to Thüringen but joined Bavaria in 1947)—restored and renovated the history structure next door and hung signs bearing important transitional dates in the ownership and allegiances of the town. 

The chronicle includes the second visit of Goethe in April of 1782, this time to recruit draftees for the American Revolutionary War, a task which Goethe detested as human thievery and resolved to keep his focus on his earlier project of improving the towns river shallows and apply new irrigation techniques, and adding a basin for wading and ablutions—see also. Not many men were conscripted for Prussia. This minor but lovingly attended to construction together with notable correspondence dispatched from here not only helped the amateur historian to commemorate Goethe’s time in Ostheim with several plaques but also inspired the baker to dress up as the poet laureate while giving guided tours of the town.

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Via our faithful chronicler we learn that on this day in 1961 (along with many other events of pith and circumstance) the single by Charles Weedon Westover (better known by his stage name Del Shannon, which he adopted reluctantly later in his career after his favourite car, the Cadillac Coupe de Ville, and a regular from the his first venue) began a four week run at the top of the Billboard charts. Like Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, honing his instrumental skills whilst stationed in West Germany during the post war period, Del Shannon found a part time gig after returning stateside and was a rhythm guitarist for the Moonlight Ramblers at the Hi-Lo Club in Battle Creek, Michigan and found himself band-leader after the organiser was fired for consistent drunkenness, regrouping at the Big Little Show Band with the addition of keyboard artist and electronic music pioneer Maxfield “Max” Doyle Crook, the song’s signature bridge performed on a Musictron, an early synthesiser that predated the Moog and Univox of his own invention. Covered by Elvis, Bonnie Raitt, the Small Faces, it was an instrumental version released the following year by Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra that made the lament about an unamicable break-up an international hit.

*     *     *     *     *

synchronoptica

one year ago: a treasury of weird words (with synchronoptica), AI running out of data to scrape plus the ISO’s Online Browsing Platform

seven years ago: filmmaker Miloš Forman, a different meaning for heart-shaped plus Trump on the rampage

eight years ago: cherry blossom season, speech-recognition to screen asylum-seekers, the photographic-eye of Melania Trump plus political dynasties

nine years ago: finally getting iPhones, our tented house in the papers, lèse-majesté plus a stay at Elsinor

eleven years ago: a visit to Alzey