7x7 (13. 229)

all modern digital infrastructure: a XKCD panel made interactive 

hell harp: Oxford scholars recreate the musical instruments from the Garden of Earthly Delights and play them—see previously 

≲5×10³: Iranian academics propose that technologically advanced civilisations wipe themselves out and have a constrained lifespan on Earth and throughout the Cosmos—see also here, here and here  

set theory: literary news in Venn diagrams  

tragic mansions: the sadly overlooked life and career of Mrs Philip Lydig  

orrery: a mechanical clock to tell the time in our solar system  

habe mortem præ oculis: perhaps the worst pun ever usage clause: AI can rewrite, refactor COBOL language applications, reportedly reducing the risk of moving away from legacy systems—see also, see previously

day four (13. 228)

Following attacks on the British sovereign airbases on Cyprus for their tacit cooperation with US aggressors, the government of Spain denies American forces the use of their jointly operated bases in Rota and Morón in pursuing its attack on Iran, strongly condemning US-Israeli strikes. Explosions were observed in Riyadh as well as a fire at the local US embassy, with more air raids at Dhekelia, UAE, Erbil and Bahrain. Non-essential personnel are being evacuated after the strikes in the Saudi capital and the hotel quartering US troops in Iraq, with Trump vowing retaliation over the drone attack on the consulate. Airspace and trade routes continue to be closed. Israel continues the bombing campaign in Beirut against Hezbollah operations.

synchronoptica

one year ago: ideas lying around (with synchronopticæ) plus gnawing wood

twelve years ago: protection and pretence 

thirteen years ago: drone warfare plus ultra-processed foods

fifteen years ago: Volkswagen Bullis plus a wine sampler

mythical reel pull (13. 227)

Through there’s possibly no longer such a thing as serendipity and salvation in the endless feed with the machine knowing better and better what’s a hook for fleeting attention, there was once a belief in algorithmancy as a form of divination when scrollers were blessed or cursed with a presentation so jarring and out-of-keeping with the content bubble of one’s usual FYP fare. Though these incidents of benighted and inscrutable magic seem to be the antithesis of traditional bibliomancy and other forms of divination with an injection of chaos built into the calculus—some pseudo-random variables or tenuous connection that evades linkage—there is on a certain level the same pretended element of chance as with thumbing through a well-worn tome to land on an inspired or affirmative passage—the rhythm of flipping through a book, bindings and subtle dog ears make the process less random and more resonant in the dissonance. There’s strong appeal sometimes in being told what to do. It has been a minute but we suspect one’s feed has not been completely disenchanted.

9x9 (13. 226)

strength is not strong: it takes more than might to make right 

right of reply: Palantir sues small Swiss media outlet for accurately reporting of the government’s rejection of their surveillance and analytic services offers  

lifeguard on duty: annual design competition to reimagine Toronto’s beach rescue stations as public art during the winter break  

a tuba to cuba: the travelogue of a jazz band’s trip to Havana to explore their musical roots  

visual variable: a free library of thousands of cartographical icons that can be scaled down to the head of a pin—via the Map Room  

the tamizdat project: a library curating literature smuggled into the Soviet Union as part of US spycraft (“published abroad”) to destablise the Bloc from within 

site specific: a roundup of some of the most garish public art installations in the world—via Miss Cellania   

homily: Pope Leo urges priests to stop using AI to write sermons 

brother fire: reflections on a war of choice and the dashed hopes of the Arab Spring

day three (13. 225)

Israeli defence forces opened a new front in the nascent war with airstrikes on Lebanon in order to incapacitate missiles launched by Hezbollah. Gulf states, hosting US bases, have issued condemnation for Iran’s indiscriminate attacks not only on US assets but petroleum infrastructure, major refineries and ports shut down after drone strikes. The Cypriot base, RAF Akrotiri, is being evacuated after threats it has become a legitimate target after agreeing to allow refuelling of US jets on the UK outpost. Thousands of flights in and out of the Middle East have been cancelled in the biggest disruption to travel since the COVID pandemic—with airlines afraid of the economic impact and market turmoil. Later in the morning, Iran stated that its Natanz reactor site has been bombed, sparking fears radiological contamination.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the musical stylings of Wintergarten (with synchronopticæ) plus Firefly Aerospace

twelve years ago: Norway’s sovereign petroleum fund, Tom Swift, Russia annexes the Crimean peninsula plus meteorological spring

thirteen years ago: a brain-to-brain interface, major construction projects in Berlin plus US budgetary sequestration

fifteen years ago: consumer rights 

sixteen years ago: limits on data retention 

that often happens in war (13. 224)

Hours after the assassination was proclaimed both by Trump and Netanyahu after destroying the Tehran compound of Khamenei, officials and domestic news sources denying the claim saying he was elsewhere or outside of the country, Iranian state news announced that the Supreme Leader had in fact been killed along with four members of his family and several other key leaders, including former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others in the Ayatollah’s line of succession, a handpicked group in case of his death, and decreed forty days of mourning via a VHF radio broadcast as most of the country has had no internet connectivity since the height of the protests and in conjunction with crippling cyberattacks to aimed at digital infrastructure and handicapping Iran’s own skilled hackers. Assaults by belligerents on both sides have continued unabated with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian surrogate groups like the Houthis hindering Red Sea shipments and Kurdish separatists attempting to storm the US Iraqi Green Zone. Despite having to deflect a barrage of missiles for hosting US bases, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar stand to gain by ridding the region of an antagonist, an prospect too fraught and potentially costly to undertake themselves, but having found a far cheaper alternative with bribing Trump and his family, the used luxury jetliner and two-billion dollar consulting to fee to son-in-law Jared Kushner, this discount regime change undertaken by America and Israel is likely to result in disaster and certainly not lead to democratic reforms, perhaps reinstating the Shah and an royal autocracy that the other Gulf states find social acceptable for not calling out their hypocrisy and corruption with hyper-clericalism. The death toll continues to rise, with the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab adjacent to a barracks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and three US service members were killed in the line of duty. As Joe Biden once said if Israel didn’t exist then the US “would have to invent one.”

rundweg rhönblick (13. 223)

For a warm and sunny day on this first meteorological day of Spring, H and I returned to Höhe Geba (see previously, see also) and explored a circular path named after Helmershausen native son, novelist, physician and avid wanderer Dr Theo Malade through a juniper heath, past the source of a mountain spring and to a shelter on the western slope of the plateau, overlooking the Leichelberg (see above). 

 Inside the Hütte, there was an information board with the lyrics to Das Rhönlied, the 1912 regional anthem by Andreas Fack (“Zieh an die Wanderschuh / Und nimm den Rucksack auf, / Und wirf die Sorgen ab / Marschier zur Rhön hinauf!”—see also) and a stamp for one’s hiking card. 

The path led back through the eponymous village on the plateau, remote and with only fifty-seven residents even smaller than our hometown, which had an interesting octagonal church and historic schoolhouse.

the white witch of burley (13. 222)

Courtesy of Weird Universe, we are introduced to the enigmatic figure of Sybil Leek (*1917 - †1982) who made an enduring mark on the quaint New Forest village first with a robust chain of antique shops that dominated the local market, astrologer and then occult practitioner through her latter day cookbook and dietary guide according to one’s zodiacal sign—some people appreciate the nudge. Her eccentricities generated a lot of attention for the village from the 1940s to the early 1960s but not all the publicity was well-received as an early advocate for women’s rights, environmental stewardship and her generally stoic philosophy when it came to embracing what most liberated women (see below) were accused of being, with her landlord ultimately refusing to renew her leases, prompting Leek to emigrate to the United States and settling in Florida, where her penchant for the esoteric had more receptive audience, turning to prediction and her capacity for premonition and mediumship, authoring more books and appearing regularly on the psychic and parapsychology circuit—though astrological readings were still her mainstay. Trained in the dark arts, Leek did not believe in curses and only channeled the benevolent side of her power, she had a genius level IQ and argued that her spiritual practise was not a dramatic thing, as most perceived it—just quiet mediation instead of prayer. More at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit, the Covenant of the Goddess (with synchronopticæ), US Peace Corps founded (1961) plus pastel studies of the planets

twelve years ago: GCHQ’s operation Optic Nerve, Andy Warhol’s album cover art, storing energy in massive marbles plus Agnes of God

fourteen years ago: privacy and social media plus more dragnet surveillance and the US security jabberwocky

fifteen years ago: complimentary vexillology plus spaghetti rice

sixteen years ago: naming storms  

seventeen years ago: the month’s namesake