the porkkala concession (13. 117)

Operated as a Soviet naval base, leased to the USSR under the terms of the Moscow Armistice of 1944, the peninsular for a period of fifty, originally scheduled for repatriation in 1994, was returned to Finland early after eleven years of service on this day in 1956 with the displaced former inhabitants of the communities of Kirkkonummi, Ingå and Siuntio restored their lands. Hosting the bulk of the Baltic fleet and some sixteen thousand sailors and submariners at one point on the borderlands just some thirty kilometres from Helsinki, the withdrawal was based on several political factors in including the Finno-Russian Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance of 1948, Khrushchev’s shift away from Stalinism, other basing opportunities and Finland’s own post-war policy of neutrality, which also precluded its accession to NATO. Presently the Pokkala peninsula is home to main base of the Finnish naval forces at Upinniemi.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Welsh labyrinths (with synchronopticæ), assorted links to revisit plus a real life Voight-Kampff test

twelve years ago: nursing shortages, all-inclusive vacation packages plus more on the monomyth

thirteen years ago: tavern etymologies 

fourteen years ago: the potential of 3D printing plus the right to be forgotten

sixteen years ago: crafty advice plus Davos security chief found dead

the adjustment bureau (13. 116)

Far from the Hollywood image of sleek undercover agents keeping the general public in the dark about extraterrestrial congress, the circumstances that informed the movie version of the men in black, whilst sharing some elements, is a complete apotheosis of the film franchise with all the existential terror of having one’s memories wiped and sense of place in the Cosmos inverted from one moment to the next. Herbert Hopkins, a doctor and hypnotherapist working in Maine was approached by a representative of the New Jersey chapter of the UFO Research Organisation one evening in September of 1976 to act as a consultant on an alleged case of serial abductions. As soon as he accepted the commission, however, a figure appeared at Hopkins’ doorstep. A finely appointed man in a black suit, though seeming less elegant and more like an undertaker, doffed his hat to reveal a colourless pate and began discussing the case—Hopkins inviting the stranger inside, reasoning in his shocked state that this was the same individual from the institute several states away that he had been talking to over the phone a few moments beforehand. Addressing the reports of abduction, lost time and teleportation, the figure retrieve a pair of coins from his pocket and placed one in Hopkins’ hand, instructing him to focus on it. It flickered in and out of existence and gradually disappeared. The strange visitor then told him, “Neither you nor anyone else on this planet will see that coin again. Shaken by this encounter, Hopkins immediately declined the request for help and destroyed what evidence and personal research he had thus far collected. A spate of similar threats on witnesses and investigators reportedly occurred throughout the year. More from Dangerous Minds at the link up top.

cathode-ray tube amusement device (13. 115)

Patented on this day in 1947 by co-inventors Estle Ray Mann and Thomas Goldsmith Jr, television pioneer at DuMont Labs, the first interactive electronic game consisting of a vacuum tube with electron gun and an oscilloscope, inspired by radar displays employed during World War II, the schematic of the filing describes a game in which the player can control the trajectory of the a missile, the focus of the electron beam, to hit target represented by paper overlays on the screen. Never brought to market and only a couple of prototypes produced due to equipment costs and financial problems at the network, the project was abandoned and forgotten until 2002 when researchers came across some artefacts and ephemera in Goldsmith’s archives. Given that rediscovery and the device’s analogue and mechanical construction, it is thought that this use of a graphical display input interface did not did not have any influence on the development of video games, with the first home gaming console, the Magnavox Odyssey—see also, one of the twenty-eight games bundled with the system was the forerunner for Atari’s arcade version—released in the UK in 1972.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump administration stops all work at USAID (with synchronopticæ), the Fugio cent plus an appreciation of Pop-Up Video

thirteen years ago: smart roads 

fourteen years ago: proposed warnings for disinformation plus the unforeseen consequence of clothing donations 

fifteen years ago: plans to transform former Tempelhof airport into a farmers’ co-op 

say their names (13. 114)

A day after the historic general strike in the Minnesota capital in response to the brutal killing of Renée Good by immigration and customs enforcement agents and in general to push the deputised, untrained goons out of their state, multiple agents wrestled thirty-seven year old veterans’ administration intensive care nurse Alex Pretti to the ground and shot him in the head multiple times. Live video shared at the scene seems to contradict the Department of Homeland Security narrative that Pretti was brandishing a semi-automatic handgun (every one could be carrying in America) and threatening the officers who attempted to disarm the individual labelled as a domestic terrorist, firing defensive shots. Multiple witnesses have been detained by DHS and their phones confiscated as they might undermine the department’s notoriously unreliable accounts and show Pretti to be a bystander and observer. Tim Walz (governor and former Democratic vice-presidential candidate—US attorney general suggests that the ICE surge could be called off if Minnesota surrenders its voter rolls for inspection, making the swing-district a retroactive win for Trump and/or frustrating future elections and plainly admitting what this was about all along) has activated the national guard to police the police and prospects for a partial federal government shutdown again appear likely—despite funding bills for the DHS and department of war passing congress, the senate may try to contain this reign of terror.

hot l baltimore (13. 113)

Via our faithful chronicler, we are reminded that the Norman Lear sitcom (see previously), named after the cheap and perceived as seedy residential accommodations with the neon E flickering out on the marquee and never replaced, premiered on this date in 1975. Based off a 1973 off-Broadway play by Lanford Wilson with a cast of regular guests that included sex-workers, undocumented immigrants and American television’s first gay couple, the show, like in the beginning with All in the Family, carried a disclaimer before the introductory credits warning viewers about mature themes. Starring Lee Bergere (Dynasty), Al Freeman Jr (The Mod Squad, Kojak and Maude), Conchata Ferrell (The Love Boat, LA Law, Two and a Half Men), James Cromwell, Charlotte Rae (The Facts of Life) and Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough) and championed by the network, it failed to secure an audience and was cancelled after thirteen episodes—the midseason replacement was Karen, a vehicle to launch the actor’s career, starring Karen Valentine (Room 222) working in a liberal lobbying group in Washington DC and uncovering corruption, which was also cancelled after thirteen episodes—and Maryland affiliate declined WJZ-TV declined to air the programme out of concern for the public image of the city.

7x7 (13. 112)

les chansons de bilitis: a century old literary hoax of a fictional lesbian poet incited dialogue and reevaluation on the genuine figure of Sappho and queerness in antiquity  

apt mascot: a manufacturing error created the Cry-Cry Horse and its popularity for the Lunar New Year has prompted suppliers to reinstate the stitching mistake  

tam o’shanter: a poem for Sunday’s Burns Night  

ts and cs apply: new updated user agreement for US TikTok draws scrutiny regarding its privacy policy, including sexual orientation, mental health and immigration status  

coming attractions: an imagined trailer for Star Trek: Voyage to Vengeance as directed by Quentin Tarantino 

the disappointed tourist: an elegy to lost places  

composition yellow, blue, black red and white: reevaluating the cross-dressing Cornish artist Marlow Moss whose work influenced that of Piet Mondrian—via Kottke

synchronoptica

one year ago: jazz artist Keith Jarrett (with synchronopticæ), a Bolivian abundance festival, assorted links to enjoy plus Trump pledges to overhaul federal emergency response agency

thirteen years ago: the assassination of Caligula 

twelve years ago: impending base closures and a reduction in US forces 

sixteen years ago: relaxing US campaign financing reforms plus petty kingdoms 

the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears—that was their final and most essential command (13. 111)

As monstrous and terrorising as the cosplay Gestapo is already, reaffirmed by ten of thousands demonstrators rallying in Minneapolis and beyond to protest their presence the White House, after posting a manipulated image of the arrest of a civil rights attorney railing against detentions in a church led by a pastor is who also supposedly and an immigration and customs enforcement agent—incidentally we wonder when we’ll see the latter part of their mandate in action once the smuggling of contraband wine and cheese begins to avoid high tariffs—to suggest she was taken away in anguish, altered by AI, moments after the original dignified and defiant photo circulated by Homeland Security propagandists, unapologetically saying that the memeification will continue. Labelling her a left-wing agitator, the lawyer is being charged with obstruction of the free exercise of religion for leading the protest in a house of god.

8x8 (13.110)

board of peace: German chancellor declines to be a party of the administration of Mandatory Palestine, joining several other regrets-only by world leaders, and Canada being disinvited 

irl: attempts at recreating sloppy AI-generated advertisements  

📺: as the medium celebrates its centenary with the first public demonstration in 1926, we reflect on one hundred of its greatest moments  

fighting nazis since 1996: former special prosecutor Jack Smith (previously) inadvertently re-platformed and given the chance to argue his case that Trump engaged in criminal activity that was removed from the docket—more here—via Meta Filter—and thanks a Capitol police officer in the gallery wearing a Drop Kick Murphys shirt 

snowmageddon: half the US braces for a colossal winter storm  

controlling share: TikTok parent company divests itself to avoid US ban—see previously 

a word on thinking for yourself: the existential threats of AI eschatology—via Duck Soup 

stayed a little back from the front lines: a global chorus repudiates Trump’s remarks about NATO contributions in Afghanistan