synchronoptica
one year ago: the bicycle from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure on display at the Alamo (with synchronoptica) plus the Epstein files
two years ago: enduring lessons of technology plus a thistle cousin
three years ago: Mary Magdalene
four years ago: the Firth of Cromarty, a banger from Take That plus the North Coast 500
five years ago: Plan 9 from Outer Space
six years ago: white Jesus
Saying that the US is not yet done with air strikes on Iran, Trump condemns government officials as “savages” after the latest execution of political protestors. Tehran warns Bulgaria against allowing America to use its bases for staging. 
US forces have their sites set on Pickaxe Mountain (Kuh-e Kolang), a secretive bunker believed to house centrifuges near the Natanz nuclear facility, destroyed in last summers campaign. Several tankers headed to Saudi ports made u-turns in the Red Sea after warnings from the Houthis. Lebanon hails the US-brokered agreement with Israel but clashes with Hezbollah still continue with no timeframe for IDF to withdraw from southern Beirut. Secretary of war Hegseth gives a rather low estimate for the costs of the Iranian conflict at thirty eight billion as he requests additional funding from the senate.
elbows up: Trump threatens to impose a fifty percent tariff on a range of Canadian export, claiming that the country discriminates against American dairy products, alcohol and automobiles
ashurbanipal: massive stele discovered by the Sun Gate of Nineveh in Mosul
no mutation without representation: the 1974 manuscript, The Periodic Table of Energy, authored by Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson during their unfortunate incarceration inside Vacaville Prison—via Boing Boing
the old man and the strait: with apologies to Ernst Hemingway on his birthday
calves and calves nots: guides’ exodus over global warming tourism
fungus among us: mapping the underground of rhizomal networks—see also here and here
ziwiye horde: actor Zendaya, in the role of Athena, sharply criticised for wearing three-millennia old Assyrian earrings to an event promoting Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey—see previously
fellow travellers: US department of state continues Red Scare on left politicians as Cuban agents
synchronoptica
one year ago: Trump’s push to bring back the Redskins (with synchronoptica) plus Appetite for Destruction (1987)
two years ago: an entrepรดt on the Seine, assorted links worth revisiting, more from Marshall McLuhan plus Joe Biden steps down as the Democratic presidential nominee
three years ago: more links to enjoy
four years ago: a concert in Potsdamer Platz to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall plus meandering along the Spey
five years ago: a nuclear powered cruise ship, the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925) plus the outskirts of Gรถteborg
six years ago: the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World plus remote screaming into the void
Having always snickered a bit at the French signage for a waste bin, I recently disabused of my bemusement upon discovering the etymology having nothing to do with poo but rather the namesake of compulsory use of garbage containers, lawyer and diplomat Eugรจne-Renรฉ Poubelle—a proposal considered so innovative for late-nineteenth century Paris that his surname is synonymous with the term for trash cans. 
In 1884, Poubelle decreed as the city’s prรฉfet, essentially holding the authority of the mayorship, that landlords must provide tenants with three covered containers for household refuse to be sorted into classes of compostable and recyclable refuse—encouraged to call them Boรฎtes Poubelle by the newspaper Le Figaro, meeting stiff resistance by building owners for their cost and upkeep (plumping and drainage was also championed) and regarded by chiffonniers (traditional rag-and-bone men) as a threat to their profession. Likewise, we were surprised to learn, the English, American word for a movable waste container (skips or scows being more common outside of North America), designed to be brought and taken away by specially designed garbage truck lifts originated as sort of a portmanteau for the Dempster Dumpmaster, the company run by three brothers, George Roby, Thomas and John, in Knoxville Tennessee who patented and standardised a system (see also) of bulk trash removals in the mid-1930s with their dumpster model. George Roby Dempster was also a city manager, philanthropist and politician, initially motivated to support the demolition and construction wing of the family business.
Middle Eastern nations are on high alert has hostilities continue to flare, the Revolutionary Guard declaring that Iran is in a state of all out war as US forces strike the southern cities of Shiraz and Tabriz and western Azerbaijan province. Sirens blare across Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar as more ballistics fall. Trump repeats his vow that the deaths of service members will be avenged many times over with secretary of state Rubio accusing Iran, rather obviously, of using its control of the Hormuz as “leverage against the world” whilst calling on other countries to share the burden of protecting global shipping. 
US fighter jets based in Germany are to be stationed at Israeli air force stations for safety. New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani speculates on the possibility of enforcing a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court—of which the US is not a signatory—should Netanyahu visit for a UN summit in September to the outrage of the American president, saying that the Israeli prime minister will in “no way, shape or form be arrested” and extradited. After a Riyadh-led occupation of the airport of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa to prevent Iran from sending aid to the rebels, the Houthi declare access to the Red Sea cut off to Saudi Arabia. US peacekeeping operations begin in southern Lebanese “pilot zones” as part of the trilateral peace agreement with Tel Aviv. Hamas names new political bureau chief, Khalil al-Hayya.
Writer, journalist, philosopher, world-traveller, war-correspondent and flight-instructor, Guy Murchie, Jr in his 1954 breakthrough book of recollections, drawing from his observations and experiences as an aviator, Song of the Sky, includes a glossary on the names of winds from around the globe, calling his treasury “among the least known and most beautiful words.” Murchie’s appreciation and fondness extends to:
Simoom—the desert, strong, hot and dust-laden gusts of Arabia, Syria and Libya
Siffanto—a blast of heat from the hot heel of Italy
Wisper—a wind whistling through the narrows of the Rhein valley
Haboob—the dusty downdrafts of Sudan and the Upper Nile
Etesian—describing the cool summer afternoons of Greece and the Levant
The title comes from the uncommon term for being governed by the changing winds. Much more from Futility Closet at the link up top.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Lee Harvey Oswald allowed to return to the US after defecting to the Soviet Union (with sychronoptica), assorted links to enjoy plus St Pier Giorgio
two years ago: a sign of solidarity with Trump’s failed assassination attempt plus going Nazi
three years ago: the Siege of Chartres (911)
four years ago: a champagne cocktail to commemorate the Moon landing plus exploring Aberdeenshire
five years ago: exploring Orust and Tjรถrn
six years ago: St Wilgefortis
US strikes against Iran continue unabated, to “honour” fallen Americans as the death toll rises. The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, is investigating reports on attacks on Iranian atomic power facilities, including a site under construction. 
Israel intercepts Iranian ballistics targeting Jordan, as regional American allies continue to come under fire, promising a full force response if it is targeted. The Revolutionary Guard declare the strait closed as oil prices again surge. Trump refuses to leave the stage for the World Cup champions’ trophy-lift with FIFA president Gianni Infantino delicately explaining to the American president that he is not part of the Spanish national team’s moment of victory. Moscow continues a major air raid over Kyiv as Ukraine sinks tankers in the Black Sea.
Based on the novel of the same name by Irving Wallace with screenplay by Rod Serling (previously), the Paramount release starring James Earl Jones, Burgess Meredith and Barbara Rush, the political drama debuted in US theatres on this day in 1972. The first in an aspirational cinematic trope of casting distinguished Black actors as the American president, taking place thirty-six years before the real world occurrence, Jones portraying Douglass Dilman, interviewed just prior to the inauguration of Barack Obama expressed disappointment in the project that he wished what was originally slated as a made-for-tv movie had been given more thought and budget to fully realise its significance, as president pro tempore of the US senate is elevated to high office, as also the first unelected individual, nor in capacity of the vice-presidency, through a series of unforeseen events. ).jpg)
This secondary plot point foreshadowing the elevation of Gerald Ford in lease than two years after the film’s premiere. In attendance at a summit in Frankfurt in West Germany, the president and house speaker are killed in a building collapse. Suffering from a terminal illness that was heretofore undisclosed to the public, the vice president—played by Lew Ayres, Dr Kildare and the protagonist German Solider of All Quiet on the Western Front, refuses the job, with the secretary of state, played by William Windom (district attorney Horace Gilmer in To Kill a Mockingbird and with reoccurring roles on Murder, She Wrote and Commodore Matt Decker on Star Trek, voicing Uncle Chuck in Sonic the Hedgehog), dispelling the popular but false belief that his cabinet position makes him the designated survivor. These seeming allies do not set up Dilman for success and conspire to make his shortcomings and scandals overtures to the party and electorate to strengthen their campaigns. The promotional taglines were “It took an accident to make this man President of the United States. What they do to him now won’t be an accident, “The First Black President of the United States. First They Swore Him In. Then They Swore to Get Him,” and “Fate thrust him into the biggest job in the world...President of the United States. Now he wonders if he's big enough to do it.”
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