day sixty-eight (13. 407)

synchronoptica

one year ago: anticipatory austerity (with synchronopticæ), the giallo genre plus assorted links to revisit

fourteen years ago: diplomatic dysfunction plus France’s new president

why send a unit when you already had a ghost? (13. 406)

Our gratitude to MetaFilter for directing us towards this captivating long-form cloak-and-dagger interview with the unlikely political saboteur, Rodney Wilkinson, Olympic fencer and veteran of the apartheid regime’s secret war with Angola who successfully planted four bombs in South Africa’s under construction Koeberg nuclear power station in December of 1982, pulled the pins on the detonators and bicycled away, covert until 1995. The damage, costing an estimated half-a-billion rand (when the currency was at parity with the US dollar) set the programme back eighteen-months before the reactor—still the continent’s only one—could be repaired and brought online, and the attack was organised by uMkhonto we Sizwe, the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC) in exile—founded by the then imprisoned Nelson Mandela after the massacre of ninety-one demonstrators protesting racial segregation in Sharpeville Township. Intelligence for the sabotage came from anti-apartheid activist Renfrew Leslie Christie (*1949 - †2025) who went on to further thwart South Africa’s nuclear ambitions, undermining its clandestine project to develop an atomic arsenal—best known for his defiant quote, referencing his family members whom had died fighting against the Third Reich: “I learned from them very early that what one does with Nazis is kill them.”

day sixty-seven (13. 405)

After announcing a pause on US plans to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the Revolutionary Guard announces that it could reopen the vital waterway to tanker traffic if the US were to end its blockade. Although sticking points won’t be resolved in a single round of talks, Pakistani go-betweens suggest that indirect negotiations have continued and that a peace deal may be close. In response to US sanctions on members of the International Criminal Court, Spanish prime minister Sánchez has requested the European Commission to impose its blocking statue (trade bazooka) to pressure America to stop intimidating the justices by enabling Europe to ignore the US embargo. The penalty was imposed on the court in response to its 2024 issuing of warrants for the Israeli prime minister and former defence minister for actions in Palestine. The UN is demanding the release of activists detained after their aid flotilla was intercepted off the coast of Gaza. The destruction of Hezbollah infrastructure continues in southern Lebanon.

synchronoptica

one year ago: planned tariffs for foreign cinema (with synchronopticæ) plus The Little Screw

thirteen years ago: a Bulli AT-AT plus feline toxoplasm

sixteen years ago: sovereign default plus in pursuit of a mad bomber

seventeen years ago: pollen in the air 

the house of mouse (13. 404)

Via Messy Nessy Chic, we are directed towards this illustrated strategic plan and sales pitch (click to embiggen) that Walt Disney presented to investors in 1957 showing revenue streams and how the company would work just as the empire was forming, Disneyland opening just two years prior, financed in part by syndicated anthology series, the Mickey Mouse Club—the variety show for children also a talent pool for the studio’s live-action stars, and a mini-series on frontiersman Davy Crockett with a tie-in ballad becoming a best-selling record. The entire juggernaut of merchandising (coonskin caps included) was complete and unprecedented, becoming firmly ensconced in American and later worldwide culture.

day sixty-six (13. 403)

Despite the apparent desire for a show of force and to embarrass Tehran by demonstrating that they do not have a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz (the blockade of the blockade continuing nonetheless as the naval siege remains in place on Iranian ports), Trump has announced a pause of “Project Freedom,”
the US plan (only begun on Monday as a favour to the world) to escort stranded commercial ships out of the waterway and into the Persian gulf—pausing the sealift for a short time to allow negotiations and finalise a settlement to end the frozen conflict. For the second day in a row, petroleum assets in the United Arab Emirates came under drone and missile fire, though Iran denies responsibility for the attacks.

synchronoptica

one year ago:  a controversial visit to a war memorial in Bitburg (with synchronopticæ) plus a music appreciation society

7x7 (13. 402)

national character: photographer John Sanderson captures shifting social demographics in the US—via Nag on the Lake  

c-64: chiptune Depeche Mode—see previously  

db: revisiting the measurement of loudness and the decibel scale, meant to replace the older unit of miles of standard cable to measure loss of fidelity—via Quantum of Sollazzo  

filmaffisch: early to mid-century movie posters by prolific graphic artist Eric Rohman  

stranded assets: the economic concept of demand destruction, emerging from peak oil and pivot to energy alternatives  

beast in the basement: the musical stylings of organist Leon Berry, who also recorded a cover version of “Misirlou”  

blind patriotism: Banksy (previously) confirms that guerrilla installation in central London is his work

day sixty-five (13. 401)

Whilst Trump is characterising nascent talks as positive and a sign of resolution to the conflict, Tehran is continuing calls that Americans plans to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz a violation of the ceasefire terms and fighting seemed to almost reignite when two US-flagged vessels passed through,

Iran lobbing drones at the warship escorts, the projectiles intercepted and the navy destroying half a dozen Iranian motor boats patrolling the waters. The skirmish did not escalate but further negotiations are contingent upon Iran reopening the waterway—which America claims is not under Iranian control—and agreeing to abandon its nuclear ambitions under Trump’s terms. Operation Epic Fury is declared over as US senate Democrats attempt to relegislate the war powers resolution.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ) 

fifteen years ago: catastrophism and the the economy 

vom berg zum burg (13. 400)

For our last full day in the area this time around, H and I visited a pair of nearby palaces in Schloss Weißenstein in Pommersfelden, a Baroque three-winged complex built for the counts of Schönborn as the summer Residenz of the Prince-Bishop electors, delegates who represented the interests of the imperial estates of the Holy Roman Empire.

Whilst the commission, Lothar Franz, future archbishop, had inherited a medieval moated castle in the vicinity—described as “robbers’ den”—he felt those confines did not suit the grandeur of his office and an ongoing feudal territory dispute between Bamberg and Bayreuth split the property was a major distraction, undertaking design for the project with architect Johann Dientzenthofer personally for a palace and grounds that would rival the construction’s imprint in Versailles.

Contemporary peers upon visiting the palace had some critical impressions about its portions and planning and surplus of golden embellishments, and although tours can be arranged, the property remains in the hands of the Schönborn family. We were nonetheless impressed by the courtyard and roosting storks that made their clapping noises as we had the place essentially all to ourselves. We explored the extensive enclosed gardens, an artificial deer-run with a colony (Wilddam) still living there and a protective habitat for frogs. We were a bit hesitant to take the dog but she failed to see the deer resting in the shade of a tree. Afterwards we revisited Schloss Seehof (see previously) in Mememelsdorf, another Baroque retreat, more modest and based off the quadrilateral Johannisburg of Aschaffenburg by Balthasar Neumann but also with the input of Lothar Franz for later landscaping.