synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica)
seven years ago: consciousness and the breakdown of the bicameral mind plus a vineyard in New Zealand
eight years ago: a visit to Amsterdam, safety-pin solidarity plus a visit to Wewelsburg
nine years ago: the philosophy of Peanuts, planet Vulcan plus speaking Dinglisch
ten years ago: more on the spread of Indo-European languages
dr tj eckleburg: how The Great Gatsby influenced Robert Moses and transformed New York City
tether: although the material technology is not quite there for a terrestrial one, a lunar space elevator might be feasible
ssccatagapp: Russia moves to ban all content deemed to promote a childless-lifestyle—via tmn
cleromancy: spiritual taverns that combine tarot and I Ching with cocktails are seeing growing popularity in China jeu de puce: fleas, chips and other observations on the 9ᵉ édition du Dictionnaire de l’Académie française just published
talking head: Pentagon and US allies in shock over Trump’s intent to nominate a Fox News commentator as secretary of defence
sobriquet: the twenty-eight European cities claiming to be Venice of the North—see also—via Messy Nessy Chic
collectives: a series of aerial photographs of junkyards and graveyards neatly organised by Cássio Campos Vasconcellos—via Things Magazine
a remembrance of things past: Proust and The Breakfast Club
synchronoptica
one year ago: a medieval large language model (with synchronoptica), a new family of goblin spiders, a novel way to hack light pollution plus block printing personal narratives
seven years ago: tariffs on Chinese aluminium, revolutionary terrariums plus using AI to minimise road-kill, disruption to migration
eight years ago: RIP Leonard Cohen
nine years ago: assorted links worth revisiting plus emoji syntax across different platforms
ten years ago: more on the spread of Indo-European languages
Having previously explored the influence of architect and resistance-fighter through her Frankfurt model kitchen that has become the standard design for the Western world, we were pleased to learn that personal 
domestic space of Margarete Schütte-Lihotzsky has been carefully conserved and made accessible to the public in her Vienna apartment. The modern, fitted standard with harmonised features now taken for granted, like broad counter surfaces, tiled Spritzschutz which are reversed for British and American English and plenty of recessed storage room was first introduced in 1926 and the restored 1970s version in her former home. Despite of the impact of her installation, Schütte-Lihotzsky, who never was a homemaker nor cook prior and relied on interviews, was understandably resentful for only being remembered for this singular innovation at the expense of social aspect of architecture and urban-planning.
A temporary export bar has been placed on a 1827 needlework sampler made by Mary Anne Hughes, aged 
eleven, to prevent the national treasure (“rare, modest and of enduring interest”) from leaving the UK by giving institutions (see previously) the chance to raise funds for its purchase ahead of auction. The image depicts the Menai Bridge, opened to the public just the year before after seven years of construction, Designed by Scottish engineer Thomas Telford as the first suspension span of this scale and carries road traffic to this day, the bridge connects Anglesey to the Welsh mainland, bypassing a treacherous water route (particularly for fording livestock) through the Menai Strait. More from The History Blog at the link above.
Via our faithful chronicler, we are reminded how on this day in 2016, on the first episode of the show
synchronoptica
one year ago: Connections (with synchronoptica) plus Remembrance Sunday
seven years ago: a German true crime mystery that’s partially never been solved
nine years ago: gasholders plus a photography clearing house
ten years ago: taxi cab confessions plus Roman Mainz
eleven years ago: some nimble and sure-footed goats
With control of the House of Congress yet to be called, and removing the New York representative from the legislative body (as one cannot work for two branches of government at the same time) narrows the 
Republicans’ narrow control further, Trump announces one of his first cabinet picks (amid a lot of speculation) as Elise Stefanik in the role of US ambassador to the United Nations (a position formerly held by Nikki Haley). Though with little foreign policy experience and given her spot on congressional committees after the GOP stripped Liz Cheney of her membership for being critical of Trump, Ms Stefanik has been a vocal supporter of the administration (if inconsistent but ultimately blamed Nancy Pelosi for the January Sixth Capitol Attack) and Israel and played a high-profile part in hearings that led to the resignations of several American university presidents for their stance on campus protests and unrest in support of the Palestinian people.
Though still unclear that RFK, Jr will play a significant role in the Trump administration’s setting of 
medical care policy and public health practises, a staunch proponent of the anti-vaccine movement accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic but also with antecedent denialism over AIDS and a host of other ailments as well as promoting the idea that the standard, lifesaving regimen of childhood vaccinations cause autism and lately advocates removing fluoride from drinking water, Kennedy’s conspiracy theories have fuelled the embrace of rival Antoine Béchamp’s disproven alternative (see also) to Louis Pasteur’s model of germ theory: pleomorphism—that the state of the internal topology of the body (accumulation of toxins due to poor diet and exercise) is the cause of disease by attracting scavengers and not compromised immunology by invading pathogens.
With the possibility for insight but far more likely to skew towards red-herrings, misassociation and even dangerous omission, Anthopic’s Claude AI model (see previously) will partner with Palantir and Amazon Web Services to process and analyse classified information for undisclosed US defence and intelligence agencies.
Accredited to scrape data up to secret, the contract is being criticised for being in opposition to Anthropic’s motto of “show, don’t tell” oriented toward safe and ethical use of AI, and comes after a demonstration project by Peter Theil’s analytics platform (named for the magical, scrying palantíri, the far-seeing stones, of The Lord of the Rings used for communication across space and time—or to spread propaganda) for an insurance underwriter which cut down claims processing time from weeks to hours—the company also not disclosed and with no independent assessment of its success rate—and strikes one as something akin to a credit score and equally non-perspicacious. Another way of saving on man hours it takes to conduct this type of undertaking is to throw one’s workload in the garbage.
synchronoptica
one year ago: a WWII musical documentary (with synchronoptica), an ancient supermassive black hole discovered plus the diplomatic tactic of constructive ambiguity
seven years ago: Carnival season begins plus the outsized influence of Futurama
nine years ago: the retirement crunch
ten years ago: more on the Fifth Season
eleven years ago: extremophile bacteria that survive in space, a trip to Oppenheim plus more on combatting light pollution
