Along the expected ideological lines, the US supreme court has ruled that the president, past, present and future, are entitled to the presumption of immunity from prosecution for any official acts—but not in an unofficial capacity, however that is defined.
Monday 1 July 2024
clearing the docket (11. 658)
castelli di bellinzona (11. 657)
Returning to Ticino, we visited the UNESCO World Heritage site, the ensemble of fortifications, of the cantonal capital and strategically important location occupied and defended since Neolithic times as the place where several Swiss rivers converge and near the Alpine passes of San Bernardino, San Gottardo and Lukmanier, and maintaining hold of Bellinzona meant control of traffic and trade between northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
ambitions of the Duchy of Milan, the third and highest, Sasso Corbaro, was added in the sixteen century with reinforcement on the lower existing structures, and is now a symbol of Swiss unity and identity.
one year ago: a venerable Viennese newspaper folds (with synchronoptica)
six years ago: negotium and otium
seven years ago: an AI names cats, moss walls, the Tour de Trump plus the Hong Kong transfer of sovereignty (1997)
eight years ago: on listicles plus the fantastic illustrations of Franรงois Schuiten
nine years ago: West Germany’s NATO accession (1955), grail candidates plus assorted links to enjoy
Sunday 30 June 2024
sacro monte di varese (11. 656)
One of nine UNESCO designated sites, the holy mountains of Lombardi and Piedmont were came into their present form after the 1571 Battle of Lepanto, in gratitude for the decisive maritime victory for the Holy League over the Ottoman Empire, a mediative pilgrimage to the summit and sanctuary that showcases religious artistic and architectural skill of the Duchy of Milan while in harmony with the natural landscape.
one year ago: the US supreme court strikes down Biden’s student loan amnesty (with synchronoptica) plus Night of the Long Knives (1934)
seven year ago: more telephone trivia, German marriage equality plus assorted links worth revisiting
eight years ago: Mid-Century Modern library posters, a robot lawyer, the place of English in the EU post-Brexit plus mobile beach-changing rooms
nine years ago: the Greek drachma, more links to enjoy plus more independence, secessionist movements
ten years ago: electromagnet forensics plus essential oils
catagories: ๐ฎ๐น
Saturday 29 June 2024
Il rocco di caldรจ (11.655)
Visiting the comune of between Luino and Laveno Castleveccana and took a hike through the frazione of Caldรจ to the Rocco, a promontory that first hosted a defensive castello in the early tenth century but was breached during the campaigns of Otto I against Berengar II.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Dancing in the Streets (with synchronoptica), an animatronic facelift, We Didn’t Start the Fire updated plus US supreme court ends affirmative action
seven years ago: the parable of the second arrow, rolling back regulations on pesticide use in the US, Trump goes to Paris plus the US united in quackery
eight years ago: weaponising toxic-masculinity, more on ISOTYPEs plus a Golden Mean pocket scope
nine years ago: a word for relating to pigeons plus assorted links worth revisiting
ten years ago: social engineering, an optical muezzin plus placebos and nocebos
Friday 28 June 2024
isola boromee (11. 654)
Though island-hopping was not as logistically easy as we thought—an all day commitment and much of the archipelago did not allow dogs, we nonetheless enjoyed our excursion via ferry to the Lago Maggiore island group in the bay of Stresa.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) plus The Wizard of Oz x Pink Floyd
seven years ago: Grenfell Tower, colonial Americans’ expanding settlements plus Germany legalises same-sex marriage
eight years ago: biometric passwords plus Invisibilia returns
nine years ago: more on the Right of Panorama plus a trip to the Wetterau
ten years ago: obscure sorrows plus pataphysics and Alfred Jarre
Thursday 27 June 2024
ponte dei salti (11. 653)
Driving back through Ticino near Locarno, we headed through the Verzasca valley, punctuated with a monumental reservoir, Lago di Vogorno. Completed in the mid-1960s by the same civil engineer, Giovanni Lombardi, who designed the Gotthard Base Tunnel, the dam makes a cameo in the 1995 film Goldeneye, with James Bond parachuting from the wall. No bungee jumping was on offer today, however.
synchronoptica
one year ago: paronomasia (with synchronoptica) plus a critique of the Latin alphabet
seven years ago: America’s retaliatory strike on Syria, Salvador Dalรญ exhumed plus the TSA empowered to check one’s reading material
eight years ago: US supreme court upholds Trump’s travel ban plus the history of America’s Pledge of Allegiance
eleven years ago: Snowden granted asylum
twelve years ago: drone warfare
Wednesday 26 June 2024
carmine superiore (11. 652)
Traveling back to Luina—which inherited market privileges from Maccagno—but not quite the showcase of local food and craft week expected, we returned to Laveno to take a ferry ride to the Piedmontese side on the lake at the port of Intra by Verbania and between the stretch of coast known as the Cannero Riveria—with same Mediterranean flair—and city of Cannobio, we stopped to explore an abandoned village—the lower settlement named inferiore though still populated.
one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus the Pied Piper of Hamlin
seven years ago: low-Earth orbit being crowded out, mobile check-up units, more links to enjoy plus an IBM featurette
eight years ago: a camera carriage frame for car morphing, secessionist groups plus a potential UK constitutional crisis
nine years ago: more links to enjoy
ten years ago: the Wicked-isation of classic fairy-tales