synchronoptica
one year ago: an old school webring (with synchronoptica) plus a logic-based constructed language
seven years ago: the Ig Noble Prize plus Big Tech to disrupt the corner shop
eight years ago: subway etiquette plus no assembly required 3D printed machines
eleven years ago: navigating new technology plus the problem with biometrics
twelve years ago: the Pope in Lebanon
The note taking app (I wonder a bit about the necessity and utility of this feature in the first place) introduced by Google this past year has an experimental mode that will generate a podcast hosted by a pair
Although originally founded on Washington, DC’s F Street in 1867 in the capital’s shopping district, the luxury department store solidified its reputation on this day in 1924 with the opening of its flagship store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, next to St Patrick’s Cathedral, made possible by its merger with the Gimbel Brothers, Inc. (both chains founded by Bavarian immigrants). Ten other metropolitan retail sites were opened over the decades with seasonal boutiques operating in executive resorts and universities before turning suburban malls, then to catalogue sales, e-commerce and factory outlets.
Via Super Punch, we discover Mexico’s newly elected president, Claudia Sheinbaum, visiting one of the country’s military academies and addressing an audience of cadets and alumni ahead of her inauguration ceremony scheduled for next month. 
Though by far the most interesting story is victory of this progressive individual with little significant dispute from her competition and the peaceable transfer of power, but the venue is also worth noting with those hulking modern buildings that look like something built by the Galactic Empire, the Heroico Colegio Militar’s Tlalpan central campus, completed in 1976. Located just south of the capital, it was designed by famed sculptor, poet and architect Agustรญn Hernรกndez Navarro, recognised internationally for his monumental and futuristic ensembles, with references to pre-Columbian heritage, the Brutalist abstraction of the main hall is meant to invoke the Mayan god of rain Chaahk, also associated with warfare.
Labelled an imbecile and cretin during his lifetime, though the latter with some charity in the sense of a pious, holy fool, for his weak constitution and shy, withdrawn and compliant behaviour, Swiss artist assistance and apprentice Gottfried Mind really came into his own following the death of his master Sigmund Henderberger of Berne known for his sentimental pastoral scenes. Mind accidentally discovered his precocious virtuosity for the faithful feline study, usually drawn from memory with exacting detail, eventually earning him the reputation as the Katzen-Raffael—or the Raphael of Cats. Click through for more of the artist’s portfolio at the link above.
With the only officially sanctioned style of art for the USSR and satellites since the 1930s being that, like in the pictured mural from Dresden’s Kulturpalast Der Weg der Roten Fahne, of Soviet Realism—depicting idealised views of the state—all other movements of forms of expression were pushed underground. The unofficial showing which would become known as the titular event of non-conformist (see also), 
avant garde artists held on this day in 1974 in Moscow’s Bitsa Park was dispersed by a large police force that destroyed the paintings with earth-moving equipment and water cannons. The artists were arrested and visitors at the exhibit, including journalists and foreign diplomats, were attacked and fled. Extensive media coverage in the West of the incident embarrassed the government, who later relented and allowed, under controlled conditions, subsequent shows, regarded as an important turning point in freedom of expression. All the artworks were destroyed but a typical composition would have been like this abstract contribution from Lydia Masterkova, who left the Soviet Union for France after this event.
A wildfire detection device made of wax and charcoal, taking its inspiration from the botanical function of pyriscence (a type of serotiny which is triggered by an environmental factor like the seasons, weather 
conditions, moisture or in this case fire) wherein seeds are only released once their protective resin is melted away in a forest fire has won a UK James Dyson scholarship for further development of the prototype. Like the natural process to reseed the woods, the outer shell of the pine-cone shaped alarm is liquified and activates a radio beacon that alerts local authorities, the electronic components also made of organic materials to avoid leaving foreign objects in the environment and to forego the need of mining more raw materials of components. As compared to established methods of monitoring which rely on drone patrols, satellites and sensors Pyri offers a passive solution that can be widely deployed at low costs and requires no maintenance after distribution. More from Dezeen at the link up top.
Children’s author and musician Michael Hearst, expanding on a project to teach his young son about music from the 1980s, began recording his own cover versions of the classics and enlisting help from melodic friends from The Magnetic Fields, They Might Be Giants, creative commons session artist Jonathan Coulton and many others. There’s some new orchestration with a diverse range of unconventional instruments like the theremin, accordion and daxophone (a kind of friction-based idiophon, like a musical band saw) and is releasing a song a week for the next eighty weeks with the first batch recorded, ’Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry,” Gap Band’s “You Dropped a Bomb on Me,” “In My Room” by Yazoo, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” from Crowded House and The Cure’s “Lovecats.” Watch the whole discography unfold at the promotional video below.
