märchesänger (13. 107)

Youth choir, whose early members were mostly comprised of individuals orphaned during the war founded in 1948 in Obernkirchen in Niedersachsen (named after the constituent county in West Germany), the Schaumburg Fairytale Singers rapidly attained a high degree of musical excellence, winning many competitions in their class, and were propelled to a level of international fame unexpectedly on this day when their English interpretation of Der fröhliche Wanderer (Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann) peaking at number two of the British singles on this day in 1954, remaining in the charts for twenty-three weeks after it was broadcasted by the BBC as the encore after placing during a performance in Wales. Domestically, the arrangement composed by the choir director’s brother made to sound like an authentic folk song, the success of the Schaumburger Märchesänger was boosted by the Merry Wanderer being made into a Heimatfilm (a nostalgic, pastoral genre especially popular in West Germany and Austria from the late 1940s to early 1960s, and abroad lead numerous tours, concerts and special appearances, including the Ed Sullivan Show and at the Kennedy White House. With an expanded repertoire and extended alumni association, the choir and music school (also with multiple campuses) continues the legacy of its founders in cultivating talent.

the concept of a deal (13. 106)

Though met with scepticism and denial—and a protracted drama that allies will not soon forget or forgive—NATO secretary general Mark Rutte at Davos somehow managed to talk Trump back from the brink of calamity and relented on additional tariffs for European countries sending troops and materiel to Greenland and agreed himself not to authorise the use of force for its seizure. One of course needs to question the strength of Trump’s word and whether the rhetoric, ratcheted up with the invasion of Venezuela, is over now that he can claim a win, though the outcome and details of the discussion are unknown and the reasons for backing off unclear—Greenlanders and Danes not part of the conversation. Not much different in kind than the arrangement that the US has had for the autonomous arctic territory since 1951, rumours have it that the framework proposes (hardly a negotiation since if true, it would be unilateral and the other parties have not yet been informed, reminiscent of the Russian peace plan for Ukraine when Kiev has not been at the table) that a small parcel of Greenland might be ceded to the US, similar to the arrangement that the UK has with Cyprus for the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrortiri and Dhekelia, former crown colonies retained as part of the island’s independence treaty—which Britain had planned on withdrawing from completely from the mid-1970s but stayed on, mostly due to pressure from America whom wanted to keep a strategic foothold in the region—see also. After Trump’s interminably berating and bellicose opening remarks, a litany of self-congratulatory bravado and petty attacks, we’ll see what emerges but we certainly don’t believe that this crisis is over yet.

synchronoptica

one year ago: AI-aided edutainment (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links worth revisiting

twelve years ago: phone hygiene plus the advertisements of Dr Seuss

thirteen years ago: bent icicles   

fifteen years ago: bird houses 

7x7 (13. 105)

helix nebula: JWST captures amazing images of the planetary incubator 

academy cinema two: the linocut posters for movie classics from Peter Strausfeld  

degrassi high: an appeal for Canada television to bring back its weirdness—via MetaFilter  

deus ex machina: a survey of the long history of technology assisted writing  

the attention economy: cybernetic interface and the tolerance of distraction as told through “pursuit tests” on the last century  

public domain revue: an call for submissions to remix properties like Betty Boop, Nancy Drew, Flip the Frog and more—see previously, see also  

galileo let me go: the most challenging mission in the history of NASA

there is no doubt that china and russia have notice this act of total weakness (13. 104)

Shifting tactics, Trump has now cited the UK’s decision last year to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands (see previously, we wonder who is putting these thoughts in his head) to Mauritius as justification for the US annexation of Greenland. Characterising the decision that the administration supported at the time of ceding control as an act of “great stupidity” because of the archipelago’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean, the terms of repatriation—generous as Britain resettled the native population in 1971 to make way for the military installation—include a ninety-nine year extension of the lease of the joint US-UK base on Diego Gargia (most of the map is water with only the outline of the tropical atoll enclosing the lagoon) so the two countries will retain ownership and access, just like in the case of the arctic island where no invasion or seizure is necessary—except after the tantrums and histrionics, American might get the boot altogether.

life in a day (13. 103)

Contributing footage captured all on a single day, 24 July 2010, some eighty thousand participants from one-hundred-ninety-two countries answering the call-for-submissions on the video hosting platform, the Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald (director also of biopics Whitney and Marley, State of Play, The Last King of Scotland and Touching the Void) collaboration is a crowd-sourced feature length documentary, revelatory at the time, and was previewed on Youtube (conceived in part as a commemoration of its five-year anniversary) one week prior to its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on this day in 2011. Inspired and informed—with new media and technological possibilities—by a 1930s British sociological and ethnographical project called the Mass Observation movement—asking respondents around the UK to share their diary entries for one day per month, anonymously and answering a few basic demographic questions, in order to highlight the complexities and fullness of the seemingly mundane—and to demonstrate that everyone’s the main character in their own narrative, a touch lesson to learn, the director began the appeal for clips with a column in The Guardian, asking simple questions about people’s passions, what was in the pockets and their fears—also dispatching video cameras to people in the developing world. That particular day was chosen as it was the first Saturday following the World Cup. Several countries including Panama, Canada, India and Spain made their own national versions in the following years and a sequel was made in 2020 for 25 July during the height of the COVID-19 global pandemic and premiering just after the inauguration of US president Joe Biden.

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synchronoptica

one year ago: a planetary alignment (with synchronopticæ), the side projects of Vangelis, a longitudinal study of love songs plus more trivial maths

twelve years ago: more data breaches 

thirteen years ago: kitchen implements, self-healing construction plus workplace distractions

fourteen years ago: geopolitical meme templates 

sixteen years ago: privatising student debt 

seventeen years ago: house-hunting 

fabianus (13. 102)

Unexpectedly elevated to the papacy by popular acclaim whilst attending elections in Rome following the brief reign of Anterus as an observer but not a candidate when a dove landed on him—which delegates took as the sign of the choice of the Holy Spirit—Pope Fabian is fêted on this day (shared with St Sebastian in Catholic traditions) on the occasion of his martyrdom during the Decian persecutions in the year 250. On good terms with the imperial government for a stint of fourteen years, loathe to stir up discontent or crack down on Christian upstarts, Fabian was able to arrange the repatriation of earlier exiled Pope Pontian and Anti-Pope Hippolytus, whom had died at hard labour in the mines of Sardinia, dispatched apostles to Gaul, including Saturnin, to christianise the population, reformed Church bureaucracy, establishing hierarchy and jurisdiction and appointing subdeacons as officers of the ecclesiastical court to document the acta of the martyrs and collect proceedings and judgements of oppressed and introduced the clerical orders of acolyte, porter, lector and exorcist and reportedly baptised Emperor Philip (called “the Arab” and the first convert well before Constantine) and his son, whose successor in 249, Trajan Decius, decided he’d had enough of this kumbaya moment plus the bread and circuses of his predecessor, vanquished during an uprising. Decius, elected by the Senate on account his suppression of revolts in the provinces, sought to strengthen state religious conformity, directed that all residents of the empire would have to commit sacrifice before the magistrate of their ward in order to prove their loyalty and and ensure the security of the empire. While possibly not an attempt to impose the cult of the pantheon on all inhabitants, Decius was pressured to legitimise his position as the Empire approached its millennial anniversary and promote Pax Romana, calling out several bishops, Fabian included, of refusing to indulge prescribed idolatry. The Seven Sleepers hibernated until Rome had a more tolerant attitude towards Christians.

agnes english (13. 101)

The one-hit wonder from John Fred and the Playboy Band reached the top of the US singles charts on this day in 1968, holding the number one spot for two weeks with their best known song, whose title is a mondegreen of the Beatles’ track “Lucy in the Sky” which Fred initially misheard. Although never achieving the same success as the lead from their sophomore album—performing well on international markets too with Argentinian singer Anthony Swete’s version of “Judy Disfrazada” among South America’s best-selling singles of the year, very much influenced by the British Invasion, the group hailing from Baton Rouge had a sizeable discography and were active for decades in the local music scene as session performers and openers.

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synchronoptica

one year ago: Reagan’s second inaugural (with synchronopticæ), planetary alignment plus Trump’s second inaugural  

twelve years ago: the Treaty with Respect to the Final Settlement on Germany plus psychoanalytic comics

thirteen years ago: tinkering with DNA, organic wine plus more yarn bombing

fourteen years ago: piracy and copyfight 

fifteen years ago: regional rights 

10x10 (13. 100)

the cameraman’s revenge: a 1912 stop-motion film featuring taxidermied insects by Ladislas Starevich—see previously  

collateral damage: Trump’s seizure of Venezuela has deliberate knock-off effects for Cuba 

the monkey’s paw curls: prediction markets and betting on everything  

a spirit of dialogue: the World Economic Forum begins its summit in Davos (previously) in moment of geoeconomic warfare 

il tormento di sant’antonio: an examination of Michaelangelo’s juvenilia, the painting (more on the subject) not attributed to the artist for half a millennium  

bic cristal: the flagship product of the French sundry firm turned seventy-five—see previously  

mercator projection: famed Flemish cartographer believed that there was a magnetic mountain, Rupes Nigra, at the North Pole, accounting why compasses point towards the arctic—see also  

snow crash: Facebook quietly discontinues the Metaverse  

vanity project: Trump has formed an intergovernmental agency to oversee reconstruction in Gaza called the Board of Peace as an alt-UN with billion dollar membership dues—see previously here and here 

how now, brown cow: back-scratching bovine causes animal behaviourist to reassess their intellect—see also