Conceived by Virgin Records in London and taking its name from a 1920s advertisement for Danish brand 
bacon (the pig would become the mascot for most of the series, Richard Branson had purchased the poster from a nearby antiques shop), the first compilation album was released in the UK on this day in 1983, with hit tracks including Phil Collins’ You Can’t Hurry Love, Boy George’s Karma Chameleon and Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart, the biggest hits from artists under their own label. An immediate commercial success, anthologies were put out three times per year—with the best-selling edition (seven times platinium) from 1999, NOW! 42 featuring Britney Spears, Shania Twain, Lou Bega, Backstreet Boys, Robbie Williams and Phil Collins’ with You’ll be in my Heart. There have been many spinoffs (and imitations) of the concept including music television channels, Now Dance, Now That’s What I Call X-Mas and NOW! 62 released in 2005 as a digital download.
Friday, 29 November 2024
30 top chart hits (12. 039)
god of management (12. 038)
From Slashdot’s No Peace even in Death department, we learn that Panasonic plans to resurrect the company’s founder and long-time COO Kลnosuke Matsushita (ๆพไธ ๅนธไนๅฉ) as a digital clone, rebuilding 
his personality, leadership and decision making skills, revered as by the above title in business circles in Japan and beyond for creating the largest and enduring consumer electronics company in the country, with AI informed by Matsushita’s writing, recorded speeches, meeting minutes and notes. Having died in 1989 and with a generation mentored by the originator aging out themselves, Panasonic hopes that Matsushita will continue to be able to inspire and develop those who never got the chance to interact with him personally. What do you think? The verdict is still out on these sort of doppelgรคngers, whether they are effective beyond a compelling, cloying sense of nostalgia (especially in terms of running a large corporation) but one has to wonder about the ethical responsibility (see previously) of bringing one back from the dead without say in the matter—especially that of a god. Is it letting the genie out of the bottle or indenturing one’s restive soul?
synchronoptica
one year ago: Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year (with synchronoptica), the Origin and Evolution of the Palestine Problem (1978) plus a Bansky mural demolished
seven years ago: JFK’s undelivered speech plus artist Pepe Cruz Novillo
eight years ago: assorted links to revisit, the Stout Scarab plus bus fare in exchange for ads
nine years ago: a visit to Vienna
ten years ago: kingship and coinage plus the comics of Ruben Bolling
Thursday, 28 November 2024
cp 1919 (12. 037)
Discovered by post-graduate astrophysics student Jocelyn Bell Burnell using the Interplanetary Scintillation Array of Cambridge Observatory on this day in 1967 whilst searching for radio signals in space, because of its precise regularity, it was dismissed by colleagues as terrestrial interference initially,
but combing through reams of data, Bell Burnell correctly pinpointed its origins to celestial coordinates of nineteen′ nineteen′′ right ascension, twenty-one° declination, coming from the constellation Vulpecula—for which it was given the designation LGM-1, little green men, supposing it might be an alien beacon of some kind. The discoverer, however, correctly posited that the source was a rapidly rotating neutron star. Fellow researchers received a Nobel prize in 1974 for their work in radioastronomy but Bell Burnell’s contributions were overlooked (for her part, she maintained that she did not believe that the committee should be in the business of honouring research assistants), and the novel class of star is now recognised as a pulsar, emitting beams of radiation from its poles and have proven to be an indispensable lighthouse in the cosmos for detection and triangulation, a throughline for detecting the first exoplanents and the phenomena of gravitational waves among others. In 1979, for their debut studio album, Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division adapted a ridgeline plot of the stars’s radio emissions’ pulses for the cover art.
9x9 (12. 036)
to john dillinger and hope he is still alive: William S Burroughs’ Thanksgiving Prayer
sampler-sized: iconic electronic music remixes by year
silent poems: a weird and wondrous, non-WYSIWYG word processor from graphic designer Lavinia Petrache—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest
blacklisted: Musk publishes names of federal workers he wants to eliminate, a terror-inducing tactic that may force them to resign in lieu of being fired
well, please post the rebuttal—then community notes will take care of the rest: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg explains to Elon Musk how EV charging works
sortes vergilianae: a particular form of bibliomancy drawing random passages from The Aeneid (see also here and here) and other works by Roman poet Virgil
anacyclosis: the rise and fall of civilisation and the undermining of democracy
the nine lives of dr mabuse: avant garde pop band Propaganda celebrate the filmology of the chaotic villain—see previously
pay no attention to that man behind the curtain: a political reading of Wicked
synchronoptica
one year ago: the Battle of Versailles (1973—with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth the revisit
seven years ago: Tom Baker returns as Dr Who plus Trump celebrates Native American Heritage Month
eight years ago: emoluments and more
eleven years ago: the debut of MST3K (1998) plus Germany’s Goldfinger tax-model
twelve years ago: :D for Dรผsseldorf
Wednesday, 27 November 2024
statute at large (12. 035)
Not exercised since the codification of the US congress’ role in determining the federal budget in 1974 in response to Nixon’s abuse of the prerogative of impoundment as a violation of the American system of checks and balances and separation of powers (specifically, the president frustrated the will of the 
legislature by arguing that the administration could withhold monetary assistance for water pollution reduction grants that the White House vetoed and was subsequently overridden, the Environmental Protection Agency a product of Nixon himself) until late July of 2019 when Trump attempted to direct the Office of Management and Budget to not disburse funds for Ukraine while coercing an investigation into the family of his political rival, Joe Biden—for which Trump was impeached for the first time, the matter never purview of the Supreme Court to debate its constitutionality. A tool limited by political norms afforded to past presidents and currently in the form of line-item vetos and requests for rescission of appropriated funds, Trump wants to now channel the act of congress and restore the power as yet another quiver to subvert fiduciary guidance and steamroll the legislative branch by empowering his Department of Government Efficiency.
when the moon is in the seventh house (12. 034)
Courtesy of fellow internet caretaker, Messy Nessy, we are directed to a lavish performance of the medley The Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by the indomitable Miss Raquel Welch. Filmed in 1968 just one 
year after Hair and The Fifth Dimension’s popular rendition, it was shot on location at the Pirรกmide del Sol in Teotihuacรกn originally to promote the Mexico City Olympic Games (see previously here and here)—but probably more people retain a hazy memory, or fever dream, of this sequence for its inclusion in the 1970 CBS television special Raquel! with extravagant musical numbers set in exotic, cosmopolitan locales. The elaborate zodiac costumes were designed by Bob Mackie—dresser of such icons as Cher, Bette Midler, Barbara Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Tina Turner, Oprah among many other luminaries.
8x8 (12. 033)
this is all i’m asking for: Mariah Carey’s ubiquitous Christmas song in the style of classical composers
anti-slapp legislation: lawmakers rush to protect journalist and protesters from nuisance lawsuits before Trump takes office
๐ญ: experimental lickable devices extend augmented reality—see previously
don’t bring your zombies to work: ULCA student creates an escape room in their dormitory
the federation of damanhur: a spiritual commune outside of Turin constructed a spectacular network of secret underground temples in the 1970s, uncovered and protected, despite their illegal building, in 1992
all delicious mac & cheese recipes are alike; each gross mac & cheese recipe is gross in its own way: a dish from Leo Tolstoy—aka, Mac & Peace—via Kottke
11 bizarre things the US government actually spent money on: Musk’s mandate to increase efficiency does not add up, is sourced from a Readers’ Digest listicle
anitra’s dance: quilts inspired by the music of Peer Gynt—see previously—via MetaFilter
grand marshal (12. 032)
Tied as the second oldest Thanksgiving pageant in the US after Philadelphia’s municipal one, it was immediately declared to held yearly due to popular acclaim despite it being barely covered in the press and has aired live on television since 1953. The popularity of the event was also due to civic pressure for an alternative way to celebrate the holiday rather than the custom called Ragamuffin or Beggars’ Day that came into being in New York shortly after the national holiday was declared by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 (see also) in the spirit of reconciliation after the Civil War. Children dressed, prior to the popularisation of Halloween, as exaggerated imitations of the poor and unhoused and went door-to-door, begging for pocket change and other treats—much to the annoyance of adults and sought to channel this activity into a more wholesome and organised one, with commercial sponsorship.
one year ago: home taping is killing music (with synchronoptica)
