pepperoni and mushroom (12. 978)

As Boing Boing informs, on this day in 1974, Donald Sherman, who had Möbius Syndrome, a rare congenital disease that results in facial paralysis, and had the inability to speak, was able to order a pizza by placing a call from the Michigan State University’s Artificial Language Laboratory. The revolutionary text-to-voice synthesiser (see also) was designed by university researchers and the successful exchange was captured for posterity by local media, though it didn’t go off without a hitch as the synthetic voice was unexpected by the operators—with major delivery chain Domino’s hanging up on the caller—until a sympathetic employee at a small pizzeria took the order. Celebrated annually on campus, Domino’s has been furnishing free pizzas for the commemoration, ostensibly out of the bad publicity for hanging up on Sherman all those years ago.

*    *    *    *    * 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the accidental Republic of Cospaia (with synchronopticæ), a counterfeit caper plus US president-elect Trump threatens global tariffs

twelve years ago: Germany takes on informal hoteliers  

thirteen years ago: Nativity scenes plus more examples of pareidolia 

fourteen years ago: unseasonable weather, loose change plus piracy and net-neutrality

sixteen years ago: US pressures allies on Afghanistan 

seventeen years ago: bail-outs and quasi financial institutions 

show dna (12. 976)

With a nice scrollytelling format, via Quantum of Solazzo’s newsletter, we are able survey the changes in cast and host of Saturday Night Live over its fifty plus year history of sketch comedy and lampooning of the powerful. Each season has a heading, renaissance or ruin, with an overview and clickable biographies (short and too brief perhaps but with interesting asides, like how Julia Sweeney’s androgynous “Pat” character was made the subject of a film in 1994 or that Sarah Silverman had made limited, regular appearances for a single year—my memory of SNL like with The Simpsons to have stopped and cemented at a certain point though still appreciated, which I’m sure it has done for many after college and moving abroad) of the not-ready for primetime players with the ensemble cameos sliding in and out to show their longevity and network of connections and an interesting overview of matriculating emertii and emeritae.

t-1500 (12. 975)

In anticipation of the fiftieth anniversary of the introduction of its first digital wrist watch, the world’s first multifunction model, the Casiotrom X-1, the company has curated a gallery of all its models from 1976 to today with a brief history for each point on the timeline. I have my retro classic but am also really intrigued about their innovative wearables, like the 1985 “Data Bank” that had a rolodex and calendar function or a universal remote for TVs and VCRs and analogues of contemporary smart watches with pedometer and pulse-check capabilities and even a calculator with touch-sensitive display and an advanced horologium decades ahead of its time. Check out the whole catalogue from Casio at the link above. The model with a face that flips open like a compact for extra features and input is pretty cool but apparently not currently on offer.

x ↦ 𝑓(x) (12. 974)

Via Clive Thompson’s latest Linkfest, we are directed to towards a hidden reliquary of old, obscure Microsoft Excel functions maintained update after update to preserve compatibility and integrity of spreadsheet data—some being very dated like the ticker-tape age DOLLARDE and DOLLARFR when stocks and bonds were quoted in fractional dollars pre-decimalisation or highly specific like ROMAN which converts Arabic numerals, mainly for decorative use only as they are not well suited to double-entry bookkeeping (see also) and BAHTTEXT that transforms a value spelled out in Thai Baht, introduced in accordance with the country’s invoicing standards that require numbers expressed both ways to ensure clarity. Like the way the amount on a cheque is written out in long form, Excel only offers this feature for Thailand, which isn’t the only jurisdiction that requires it.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a virtual Advents Calendar of work entering the public domain (with synchronopticæ), Saint Zephania plus a game of incense

thirteen years ago: combatting youth unemployment, a post-industrial revolution plus a Lt Uhura My Little Pony

fifteen years ago: extremophiles 

sixteen years ago: holiday shopping 

seventeen years ago: authorised delay 

10x10 (12. 973)

no time for dancing or lovey-dovey: David Byrne’s ensemble Tiny Desk concert—see previously  

bathing beauties: the nautical folk art of Kyler Martz—via Messy Nessy Chic  

ac/dc: the unlikely friendship of Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla 

warrior ethos: the Canadian publisher of the beloved children’s book series Franklin the Turtle strongly objects to US Secretary of War’s depiction of him firing on boats of supposed narco-terrorists 

the downfall of joann: the US craft and hobby economy ruined by private equity—via MetaFilter—see previously  

steerage: turned upside down, this grainy photograph of a third-class cabin appears to expand into a grand stateroom  

not even a squib of an entry: a steeple chase of an etymological mystery that may have arisen out of a case of mis-division—see also 

exalting the beauty of an overcast sky: Luke Howard (previously) on cloud-modification and his correspondence with Goethe  

nuns on the run: a rebel sisterhood who escaped from a nursing home to return to their abandoned convent refuse to give up their social media accounts as it would deprive them from the protection of an interested public 

chanson pour tout le monde: “Song for the Children” was by Jimmy Buffet, released on his 1979 album Volcano

fifty two weeks make a year (12. 972)

Tom Whitwell treats us to another catalogue of facts, lessons and observations—see previously below—gleaned from the past twelve months. It’s well worth your while to peruse the retrospective list in its entirety and some of things new to us included (5) the use of meteor bursts in point-to-point terrestrial communications, harnessing the ion trails of microscopic debris burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere to transport compressed data-packets with fidelity over thousands of kilometres, used to keep in touch with off-shore rigs and with other applications, (29) to encourage tax compliance and accurate reporting, every printed receipt in Taiwan bears a lottery number with a quarter-million pound jackpot and (45) the government of Denmark pays an honorarium to amateur metal detectorists for archaeological artefacts in accordance with a law on the books since 1241 called the Danefæ. A few others we had come across in our own meanderings—like how a gram of silica gel has the surface area equivalent of two basket ball courts but there is not much cross-over—and yet very much appreciated learning how another arrived at these fascinating and unexpected facts.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Ludlow Typograph (with synchronopticæ), assorted links to revisit plus more obscure words

twelve years ago: China’s lunar missions plus poverty thoughts 

thirteen years ago: seasonal hot drinks 

fourteen years ago: EU sovereign debt crisis 

sixteen years ago: the iconoclasm of climate change 

hook, line and sinker (12. 971)

Named the word of the year after a public vote for Oxford University Press (previously) recognises the rise of outrage-driven online content over contenders like aura farming and biohacking with rage bait. A survey of digital climate has found a three-fold increase of the term that refers to content deliberatively stoking anger by being frustrating or offensive as a proxy for engagement, attention commodified as emotional manipulation over the lexically related but somewhat dulled and less potent clickbait. The OED sources the first instance of the term in relation to the phenomenon of “road rage” in attempting to provoke a response from a Usenet forum in 2002 with the concept now migrating to standard use in news rooms and on social media.

world aids day (12. 970)

Whilst instructing US officials not to commemorate it, despite the first Trump administration proclaiming the day for remembrance and awareness as had been done since 1988 and since 2007 with a prominent banner hung from the portico of the White House as a symbol of George W Bush’s commitment to combat the disease and the landmark and hugely successful president’s emergency plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR) that has saved millions of lives, following cuts to crucial HIV prevention programmes carried out under the aegis of USAID, the global public health campaign continues with this year’s theme overcoming disruption and transforming response.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Utah teapot and other graphics benchmarks (with synchronopticæ), more mapping of Dante plus a contentious, contingent election

twelve years ago: on this day in PfRC history, expanding the charitable works of the Church plus pareidolia

thirteen years ago: legal advice plus a brief hagiography of Saint Nicolas

fourteen years ago: Belgium forms a government plus expertise attacked in the US

fifteen years ago: a pay-freeze for US federal employees 

sixteen years ago: immigration and integration in Switzerland 

seventeen years ago: a visit to Leipzig