open letter (12. 117)

Though sad to learn of the artist’s passing earlier this month, we very much appreciated learning of the extensive repertoire of Anna Banana (see also) and the movement that the helped pioneer and propel referred to postal or correspondence art focused sending and receiving smaller scale works via post. A spin-off of Fluxus in response to invitations to draw Tommy the Turtle and Petey the Pirate and antecedents that generally commercialised creativity, mail artists eschewed traditional markets and display spaces with their exchange that didn’t necessitate though often elicited reciprocation and expansion on a theme. As with the proliferation of zines, the genre and medium anticipated the loose collective of web communities that riff and remix the creation of others with established norms of attribution and curation. Much more from Hyperallergic at the link above.

mmxv (12. 116)

Numerically speaking, the coming year has some compelling arithmetic properties—albeit some are classified as amusing puzzlers without mathematical significance, though nonetheless worthy of exploration—foremostly being that it is a square that remains square if all its digits are incremented: itself a square (45²), the sum of three squares (5² + 20² + 40²) and the product of two squares (5² x 9²), the sum of a 9x9 multiplication table, and split as (20 + 25)² = 2025. Moreover by both American and European calendar conventions (because of the communicative property of addition) 24 July is a Pythagorean Day, with 24² + 7² = 25², like the last one on 16 December 2020. More from Futility Closet at the link above.

starquake (12. 115)

On this day in 2004, forty-two thousand years after a powerful explosion occurred on the surface of the magnetar, a class of neutron star with a powerful magnetic field, located in the constellation of Sagittarius, the resultant gamma ray reached Earth, the brightest event known to have been experienced on the planet with an origin outside the universe, the incredibly dense and compact star (only fifteen kilometres in diameter) designated as SGR 1806-20 and discovered in 1979 as a gamma-repeater (see previously) releasing as much energy in a tenth of a second as the Sun will in one hundred and fifty thousand years. The expanding cloud of radiation briefly enlarged the ionosphere and it is estimated that a comparable blast within ten light years of Earth would ravage the atmosphere and destroy the ozone layer.

synchronoptica

one year ago: solfège in other languages (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: messianic complexes, one of small character, memories of y2k plus an inverted skyscraper

eight years ago: assorted links worth revisiting plus telegraphing kisses

nine years ago: banana supply chains plus more links to enjoy

ten years ago: tiny houses, Russian metro stations plus stress and motivation

really want to see you, lord, but it takes so long, my lord (12. 114)

The first chart-topper of a former Beatle, George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” (previously) began a four-week run at number one in the US market on this day in 1970. Originally given to fellow artist under the same label, Billy Preston—session musician who played keyboard for Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles whom was recognised in his own right for his funk and gospel compositions (“Will it Go Round in Circles” and the Joe Cocker hit “You Are So Beautiful”)—which Harrison produced for his record Encouraging Words in September of the same year, the song’s author included it on the triple album All Things Must Pass, engineered by Phil Spector (see above) and given the Wall of Sound Treatment (see also) to highlight and enhance Harrison’s signature slide guitar. Intended as a statement against religious sectarianism, the modern and inclusive hymn is a reflection of Harrison’s yearning for a direct and unmediated relationship with God, in line with the teachings of philosopher and teacher Swami Vivekananada who introduced yoga and the Vedas to the western world in the late nineteenth century (see also) with the maxim “If there is a God, we must see him, and if there is a soul, we must perceive it,” echoed with a degree of impatience, later reconciled, in the opening verses.

smultronstället (12. 113)

Considered not only as one of the director’s best works but also counted among the greatest films of all time, Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries premiered on this day in Stockholm in 1957. Conceived during a long drive from the capital to Dalarna via Uppsala, Bergman’s hometown, he imagined how it might be if one could open a door and be transported back to one’s childhood—realising that his medium could make such a transporting experience a reality and began the screenplay. Similar to Bergman’s own cross-country journey, he places his protagonist in the passenger seat of a lengthy car ride, a disaffected county doctor who gave up his practice to pursue a specialisation in bacteriology, to Lund to accept his Doctor Jubilaris (jubeldoktor) degree from his alma mater fifty years after the original conferring, driven by his daughter-in-law, who share a mutual dislike for one another’s company. Nodding off, a series of daydreams and nightmares set off by a succession of hitchhikers picked up along the way that cause the veteran academic to reminisce and reevaluate his life and choices. Half-dozing, one of the hitchhikers is transformed into an examiner from his dissertation committee, asking he defend his thesis but is suddenly unable to muster any rebuttal. The dream examiner then recites his proposition for him: “A doctor’s first duty is to ask forgiveness,” concluding, “You are guilty of guilt.” Idiomatically the title of the film (the Wild Strawberry [Patch]) signifies a hidden place with sentimental value.

8x8 (12. 112)

carnian pluvial event: that time it rained for two million years  

acme corporation: eight technological failures of 2024  

double-harvest: Christmas tree farmers exploring mycoforestry to raise timber and mushrooms on the same plot of land 

 🐜: how the world of ant geopolitics mirrors that of human colonisation and globalisation  

9.3 m_w: the Boxing Day Tsunami that cost a quarter of a million lives twenty years on

royal warrant: chocolatier to British crown Cadbury is delisted after generations for continued business operations in Russia  

woty: the Fritinancy edition—via Kottke 

wax wings: researchers awaiting telemetry back from the Parker Solar probe (previously) after historic approach to the Sun

synchronoptica

one year ago: DJ Earworm’s annual (with synchronoptica), The Glass Menagerie (1944) plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: a banger to time for New Year’s

eight years ago: a charging stretch of road, outer space vodka plus 2016 in review

nine years ago: 3D printing as a cottage industry, Quentin Crisp shares their favourite gangster films, Jesus in Japan, lions and lionesses plus Aleister Crowley’s manor

eleven years ago: Second Christmas plus a tuxedo vest

the fees being charged by panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to panama by the us—this complete 'rip-off' of our country will immediately stop (12. 111)

Though US president-elect Trump’s stupid antics are already too much to keep up with, they become too hard to ignore once the enter the territory of diplomatic crises and quashing internationally agreed upon norms of behaviour. A bundle of such instances can be traced to a recent assertion that America can and should reclaim the Panama Canal because of perceived unfair transit fees applied to US flagged vessels (never mind how America tanked British supremacy over a similar squabble in the Suez)—which seem to have antecedents in a Trump branded hotel in the capital that failed to pay Panamanian income taxes and social security for employees. The operation and management is administered (since New Year’s Eve 1999 when the US handed over the concession) by the Panama Canal Authority, a government agency which considers the waterway inalienable patrimony. Per the Torrijos-Carter treaties (see above) negotiated in 1977, America retains a right to defend the canal from threats to neutral operations but holds no claim to it. While there are two ports in the isthmus operated by China, there are no indications that American ship traffic has been affected, though imposing higher transit fees on non-US carriers might be seen as a way to bolster planned universal tariffs. At the same time, Trump is also renewing calls for the sale of Greenland to America (following offers to annex Canada as the fifty-first state), calling ownership and control of the Danish autonomous territory “an absolute necessity” for reasons of national security and global freedom. Neither property is for sale.

niemandsland (12. 110)

Though no White Christmas down in the valley, we took the dog for a frolic through the snow up on the highlands near of the Schwarzes Moor along the Lange Rhön (previously), an extensive basalt plateau about eight hundred metres in elevation. 

We saw the former border crossing Grabenberg with preserved East German watchtower, a relic in this nature preserve not far from the Dreilandereck, the tri-point where Bavaria, Hessen and Thüringen meet. 

Due to the constrains of the landscape and connecting roads, the partition extended DDR territory five hundred metres into West Germany in a horseshoe-shaped strip nicknamed die Badehose (the bathing trunks), which provided border guards considerable challenges in keeping Bavarian tourist from wandering into this invisible no man’s land.