synchronoptica
one year ago: Carrie at fifty-plus (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: another hit from Melanie, Lustron steel homes plus the Pillars of Creation
eight years ago: optical character recognition, amending the US constitution plus the news is fake but the leaks are real
nine years ago: the Panama Papers, Star Trek inspired cosmetics, manhole apartments, a gallery of Mid-Century Modern homes plus David Bowie as Abraham Lincoln
ten years ago: Easter greetings
Via fellow internet peripatetic, Messy Nessy Chic, we really enjoyed this celebration of the choreography of Bob Fosse (previously) taken from the 1969 cinematic adaptation of his Sweet Charity—based off of Fellini’s Le notti di Cabiria featuring the narrative of a sex-worker in Rome and lightly sanitised as the story of a call-girl, dancer-for-hire in Times Square’s Fandango Ballroom, its sleaziness illustrated by “Hey, Big Spender,” portrayed by Shirley MacLaine. Invited home by a celebrity guest on the mends from an apparent breakup, the protagonist finds herself in his apartment for dinner, “If They Could See Me Now,” whilst pursuing an ill-fated romance with a claustrophobic elevator-operator.
museum of now: This American Life invites us to sit with and reflect on the artefacts of day and hour
rift valley: a Trump appointed special envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tiffany’s father-in-law, seeking to make a deal on mineral resources in hopes of securing peace with Rwandan rebels
fay wray: a swarm of drones recreate the iconic scene of King Kong scaling the Empire State building
toast malone: a short clip of the singer performing Circles, animated on one hundred thirty-three slices of bread
altair 8800: a retrospective of Microsoft at fifty
the bronx is up and the battery’s down: new NYC subway map is an homage to an early digrammatic version
blanket non-fraternisation policy: US bans government personnel stationed in China from forming relationships with locals
national endowment for the humanities: US museums, libraries and archives see their grants terminated—see previously
Via Web Curios, we are directed towards this AI generated music video from artist called Igorr from the Meat-Dept collective that displays a directorial continuity through storyboarding that we didn’t think was possible with current models—the inability for character permanence or the ability to tweak the outcomes, edited or otherwise. There’s no real narrative quality to the short piece but the underscoring of the percussion track and the unexpected series of strangeness holds one’s attention despite its unsettling visuals and übercanniness. Neurodivergence is virtuosity, particularly in this setting.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus The Good Life/Good Neighbours (1975)
seven years ago: Capella Sansevero, askance satellite views, more on seamstress Agnes Richter plus antique Friendship Books
eight years ago: an open air gallery in Amsterdam, tensions over North Korea, Gibraltar and Brexit plus a march against alternate facts
nine years ago: an MST3K reboot plus mesh churches
ten years ago: more links to enjoy plus Norway mothballs a secret arctic seaport
Via the always wonderful source for a vocabulary boost, Futility Closet, we learn a new useful term with derivatives of something I think I can quite relate to in the above for something poorly pronounced. From the Greek κακός plus ἔπος (bad word), I tend to think I am inclined to laziness on getting enunciation and delivery right, which is no excuse especially when it comes to what someone calls themselves, though even the dictionary example of autodidacts sometimes end up being cacoëpists recalls the important adage not to hypercorrect.
A bit of social media sleuthing and reverse engineering suggests that the Trump administration contrived its nonsensical tariff formula by asking AI and set those custom rates per the confident suggestion of a chatbot, which are not reciprocal to import duties at all but rather their trade surplus divided by total exports. 
Economist and frequent financial contributor to The New Yorker and other publications James Surowiecki obtained similar solutions when prompting various AI models with the question “how to fix trade imbalance.” We suspected that infusing artificial intelligence into everything and the attendant slop produced eventually would drive us collectively over a cliff but wasn’t suspecting such a mark, like a kid rushing to get an overdue homework assignment completed, would be its agent, native and wilful ignorance, shortcuts and retribution conspiring to further fray the global supply chain whose brittleness was on display not too long ago during the pandemic and unleash havoc on world markets and international relations.
Via the New Shelton wet/dry, we are directed to this scrolly-telling essay (in the style of the artists from the sadly former Nib, from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (previously) blog entitled “Mars Attacks” 
about how Elon Musk’s and his colonial aspirations for the Red Planet, as a part of a general aversion towards rules, could transform into a flagrant violation of the Outer Space Treaty, which far from a relic of the Cold War has served to preserve humankind here on Earth by preventing weaponisation of the higher ground and includes liability rules for damage caused by spacecraft, the safe return of fallen astronauts, an international rocket registry and the prohibition of projecting national sovereignty or claiming domain. Surely it is the intent of Muskovite Martians to proclaim their independence from terrestrial entanglements, however that first Virginia Dare might be reliant on Earth-based resources and wealth, and even if the flag nation does nothing to stop this assertion, other signatories will, launching a new geopolitical conflict over extraterrestrial claims.
kapmifmif: a study morphological emic distribution classes through a constructed language—see previously
murder on flight 502: the star-studded 1975 television disaster movie gets the Poseidon’s Underworld treatment
blanket rate: bad assumptions and arithmetic informs Trump tariff regime, which is tanking markets globally
mira calligraphiae monumenta: paging through a sixteenth century illuminated model book on scribal excellence rebelling against the standardisation of the printing press—with embellishes reminiscent of the Voynich manuscript and Codex Seraphinianus
clickens: judge chicken portraits on various personality traits and harness the wisdom of the masses—via Kottke
salmon run: a beautifully crafted early home arcade game speaks to swimming upstream
sala di consultazione: free access to the Vatican Library’s digital archives
elbows up: Canada plans retaliation over US punitive duty deal plus GOP senators side with Democrats to rebuke the proposal to levy additional tariffs on its northern neighbour
real id: US government is beginning to require an internal passport, which is not automatically issued
mezameta: the role of katakana in loan words, gairaigo, scientific binomials and transcription and the problem with conveying the shifting meaning of woke
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica), standard lunar time plus vulgar expressions of indifference
seven years ago: Iran’s faux Western fast foods, bi-lingual Braille plus a North American medicinal plant map
eight years ago: more links to enjoy
nine years ago: vintage Canadian tourist posters plus a Rosary ring
ten years ago: the Anthropocene plus the architecture of folklore
