hell is other people (11. 859)

With apologies to Sartre, we learn from Web Curios’ lede link that a new social media platform has been launched that’s either a withering piece of metacommentary on personal branding and curation or actual hell. As the main (and only) character, one can create a private place for announcing status updates, “reflect, post, feel heard,” like one’s daily diary except with an infinite host of generative followers, tailored either as fans, foes, trolls, cheerleaders, haters, etc. While having a personal sounding board may be helpful sometimes for those feeling lonely or isolated, it’s too easy to conflate regurgitation with connection and seems to be the realisation of the Dead Internet Theory. This does not seem like a market place of ideas, nor constructive feedback and only contributes to the echo-chamber and tribalism. More at the links above, including this user’s perspective of the experience.

6x6 (11. 858)

second-hand baloney boys: director Bong-Joon-ho’s Mickey17 explores indentured immortality with his expendable space colonists—like the duplicates paradox of teleportation 

r/no burp: a Redditor community brings recognition to an undiagnosed but pervasive syndrome 

ultimate world cruise: the social media coverage of a trip to seven continents plays out like reality television  

the ladies annual journal; or, complete pocket book for the year: the 1776 diary of Susannah Dalbiac kept in the back of an almanac 

twenty-eight years later: latest instalment of Danny Boyle’s zombie franchise was filmed entirely on iPhones 

sanewashing: how journalists can resist normalising outrageous and radical ideas—via the New Shelton wet/dry

building fires (11. 857)

Via Quantum of Sollazzo, we are directed to a highly visual piece of reporting from Reuters highlighting the dangers and deficiencies in construction codes (see previously) in many jurisdictions that don’t mandate the removal of polymer (essentially solidified gasoline) cladding from residential and office buildings. Driven by the energy crisis of the 1970s, architects were pressured into reducing heating costs with ventilated façades that provided extra insulation to improve energy efficiency. That intermediate panelling which creates an air gap for the structure are now recognised as combustible and for their failings in terms of safety and yet remain with evacuation strategies tragically outdated. Much more at the links above.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) plus the stock market panic of 1873

seven years ago: more links to enjoy,  Trump at the UN General Assembly plus the lives of Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe

eight years ago: a telescopic mountain-finder in the Swiss Alps, even more links worth revisiting plus AI jingles

nine years ago: a visit to Lake Garda plus regional vintages

ten years ago: Roman timekeeping

megaslump (11. 856)

The expanding Batagaika crater is a thermokarst depression in the northeastern Siberia taiga, presently about one kilometre long and growing at an alarming rate, beginning as a small gulley in the 1960s when the permafrost thawed (see previously) after the surrounding forests were cleared and since 1990, swallowing more and more land and becoming known as the Gateway to Hell. On a vicious trajectory, feedback loop, more thawing occurs as the gash gets bigger and the ground is bereft of tree cover and releases more ancient organic stores of carbon that further contribute to the planet’s warming, making more unstable sinkholes.

blue line, red line (11. 855)

In a statement delivered amid the sonic booms of Israeli fighter jets conducting mock air raids in the skies over Beirut and actual strikes on the southern border, Hizbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah addressed for the first time publicly the coordinated denotations of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies Tuesday and Wednesday that killed three dozen supposed operatives and seriously maimed thousands as low-tech communication devices exploded in orchestra after receiving the trigger signal at the same time. Israeli intelligence manufactured and distributed the rigged handheld pagers through a series of Taiwanese and Hungarian shell companies beginning in 2022 once it surmised that Hizbollah were avoiding cell phones for fear that their messages could be intercepted, and whilst this surprise simultaneous assault is arguably more targeted and discriminating than the bloodshed in Gaza, the injuries sustained happened in public, in the markets and in traffic and not on individuals actively carrying out the business of the organisation, in violation of the on prohibition on landmines and similar traps, causing mass panic and overwhelming Lebanon’s and Syria’s emergency care infrastructure. Potentially six thousand of people could have been killed all at once in this unprecedent attack. Nasrallah called the sabotage an act of war, vowing to keep fighting until aggression in Palestine ends. Though not acting during the immediate chaos, Israel is committing to this “new phase” of the war in order to return settlers to the north of the country on the countries’ disputed border region and the occupied Golan Heights.

getting to philosophy (11. 854)

Reminiscent of other connections and daisy chains discovered in the linkages in the growing universe of articles, following the first hyperlink in the main text of a Wikipedia entry (in English at least) and repeating the process for subsequent pages will bring one ultimately to the article on the love of wisdom and the process of critical inquiry, some ninety-seven percent of the time, with the small remainder consisting of orphaned topics or a self-referencing tautologies. This phenomenon may be due to the recommended style of contributing and editing and points to a certain hierarchy of taxia. Because of the changing nature of online encyclopaedia, the number of steps it takes to arrive a philosophy can vary from day to day, sixteen paces from apple juice to the discipline and it would be interesting to see the outliers that take the most jumps. More from Open Culture at the link above.

the sammies (11. 853)

Via tmn, we learn of the awards ceremony hosted by the US Partnership for Public Service that acknowledges the seen and unnoticed efforts by contentious bureaucrats of the federal government, who many are presently reviling as the Deep State. Named for the late benefactor Samel J Heyman, businessman and philanthropist who encouraged recent graduates to pursue a career in government, the gala has been hosted annually during the first week in October in Washington, DC and a selection committee of journalists, politicians, educators and corporate executives nominates individuals in the categories of emerging leaders, citizen services, science and the environment and safety, security and international affairs plus employee of the year out of the pool of the two-and-a-half million who work for America’s largest employer. The awards ceremony is surprising moving and deserving of its monicker as the Oscars of government work.

synchronoptica

one year ago: rotating ramen (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: a sanctuary of internet freedom, navel-gazing, antique Japanese hoardings, bacterial phages fight tumours plus more unbuilt architecture

eight years ago: more on the pioneers of Information Theory

ten years ago: more on Scottish secession 

eleven years ago: the US debt ceiling

10x10 (11. 852)

analogical harmony: Edwin Babbit’s Principles of Light and Colour (1878)  

riding the rails: a guide to a cross-country trip on America’s Amtrak

world level zero: how well travelled are you—see previously  

porifera: an appreciation of the barely understood sea sponge  

me and my aero: one inventor invented both the flying ring frisbee and an innovative coffee press—via Kottke  

type tuesday: Microsoft’s new default font (see previously here and here) and more typographical briefs  

the cry of cthuthu: Poseidon’s Underworld reads the July 1979 anniversary issue of Starlog—see previously

small world: kinetic microphotography captures biological processes and microbes in never-before-seen ways  

road trip: charting the longest possible drivable distance through Eurasia  

come up off your colour chart: Taylor Swift lyrical swatches

synchronoptica

one year ago: faithless electors (with synchronoptica) 

seven years ago: the stage play that coined race plus a legitimising veneer for populist prejudice

eight years ago: a visit to the Hessen Landtag

ten years ago: Roman emperor Hadrian 

eleven years ago: a photographic scavenger hunt in Leipzig plus gifting votes