reklama (12. 158)

Prior to World War II, the capitals of Eastern Europe were lit up with dazzling neon signage just as one would imagine in Western cities (see also) but destruction and depravation led to the loss of this nighttime illumination. About a decade into Communist rule under Soviet influence, however, we learn courtesy of 99% Invisible’s latest minisode (which also features a history on the alarm clock and the placebo button of the snooze bar) that there was a concerted government effort to brighten up cities, particularly Warsaw, through commissioning graphic designers to restore the light features in a more uniform and planned way, like the pictured symbol of the Polish capital, the Mermaid (Syrenka) wielding a sword a top an open book, to advertise a public library. The neonisation project extended to milk bars, hotels, shops and other government service. During the revolutions of the late 1980s, much of the signage was again lost to neglect and “recycling” campaign was instituted, but thanks to the conservation efforts of a singular institution, there is a reference base from which to launch a return of the aesthetic. Much more at the links above.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus Braille ambigrams

seven years ago: Oprah for US president, more Japanese New Year’s designer cards plus retiring household items in cross-stitch

eight years ago: more debates on immigration plus a cursed metro line

nine years ago: the statuary of Paris, ancient and artisanal pigments plus scratch circles

ten years ago: designer chicken coops, knotty language, Samuel L Ipsum plus fundamentalism and sharpening distinctions

ufo/uap (12. 157)

Released the first week of January in 1950, we are directed to the independent feature by Mikel Conrad and Howard Irving Young, via Miss Cellania, which first addressed the subject of flying saucers but not as heralds of an alien invasion but rather an attempt to limn how the paranormal follows the paranoid. Capitalising on the moniker that captured the public imagination coined by pilot Kenneth Arnold to a reporter in 1947 on seeing a group of silvery discs silently flying in tight formation, the movie plays on the phenomena of repeated, copycat sightings, the narrative focuses on the US intelligence learning of a covert Soviet-lead investigation into appearances of mysterious aircraft sourced to Alaska, commencing a series of spy encounters and eventual counter-espionage, double-agents and stolen technology. The psychology of misapprehension and anxieties is also a major theme but light on acting performance and special effects, stock and B-roll footage of the tundra upstages (much from the director’s acting role in Arctic Manhunt from the previous year) the movie’s impact and legacy. Re-released three years later as a double feature with 1941’s Man Made Monster (the first sci-fi billing—not a willing nepobaby as a decision of the studio—of Creighton Tull Chaney as Lon Chaney, Jr to associate him with his father though already an established actor in the genre) about a nuclear mutant, the film has been largely forgotten, replaced by the abstract tropes of extraterrestrial visitors and kaiju. More from Inverse at the link up top.

groupe d'étude des phénomènes aérospatiaux non-identifiés (12. 156)

The close encounter, described by some sources as the most thoroughly documented and researched sighting of all time, occurred on this day in 1981 in the commune of Trans-en-Provence of the southeastern Var department (see previously), referred by the local authorities to the above unit GEIPAN of the French Space Agency charged with such unidentified phenomena after the sole witness reported it. Farmer Renato Nicolaï was startled by a strange whistling noise and claims to have seen a saucer-shaped object touch down in a nearby field, deploying retractable landing gear, and taking off almost immediately. The investigative group undertook a rather comprehensive battery of tests, finding the ground at the site showed signs of compression, scorching and trace amounts of phosphate and zinc. Yielding no plausible explanation after two years of joint research with the gendarmerie, many in the scientific community were sceptical of GEIPAN’s study as they could have been the result of normal agricultural activities. The team is still active and consists of four employees aided by dozens of volunteers and in general the cases are solved with pretty mundane explanations.

9x9 (12. 155)

pacific palisades: southern California wildfires kept at bay from the Getty compound and vast holdings of antiquities  

we still dance on whirling stages in my busby berkeley dreams: the kaleidoscopic visions of the 1930s Hollywood visionary—see previously  

snap-back: Europe signals that they will not allow Trump to besmirch their sovereignty  

in search of: dark oxygen (see previously) in the world’s deepest mines in South Africa  

how nietzche came in from the cold: the unlikely rehabilitation of the philosopher banned in East Germany and silenced in the West over his championing by National Socialism—via the new Shelton wet/dry 

fine hypertext products: HTML is a programming language—via Kottke 

morning joe: the health benefits of coffee are most evident early in the day  

lake of the woods: a retired Minnesotan forester pre-satellite maps planted a forest in the shape of the state

fps: attend a MoMA opening with DOOM: The Gallery Experience—via Waxy

synchronoptica

one year ago: a massive collection of card games (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: border stories, a reconstructed astrological clock plus photographs of social decay

eight years ago: votive devotionals plus Waiting for Godot chatbots

nine years ago: New Year’s fireworks, assorted links worth revisiting, built environments on Mars plus the ethics of genetic chimeras

ten years ago: the Triadic Ballet, a collection of Do Not Disturb signs, the Restoration of the Icons plus distributed content

england’s home of mystery (12. 154)

Sadly demolished in 1905 to make way for offices and flats, we enjoyed this appreciation of the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, originally commissioned by antiquarian and naturalist William Bullock as a museum to house his collection of curiosities acquired by Captain Cook’s exploration (see also) of the South Seas and built in 1812 in the revival architecture style popularised (see also) by reports of Napoleon’s exploits and Admiral Nelson’s defeat of the French navy on the Nile, which after disposing of his ethnographic and natural history collection, transformed the space into a public exhibition hall, with rotating collections including Napoleon’s carriage captured as a war trophy at Waterloo, Egyptian artefacts and The Raft of Medusa. By the end of the nineteenth century, the hall became a venue for magical acts and spiritualism demonstrations, chiefly staged by the duo of Maskelyne and Cooke with a rather remarkable run of thirty-one years—the former, John Nevil, stage magician, card shark, professional sceptic (wanting to expose fraudsters and charlatans) and inventor of a typewriter of proportional character width (kerning was apparently all over the place and probably would have driven me to distraction) and the pay-toilet, hence the euphemism, “spend a penny.” Much more from Feuilleton at the link above including a gallery of show posters.

what a beautiful name—and it’s appropriate, it’s appropriate (12. 153)

Fresh from threatening to annex Canada through economic and not military means after long-service prime minister Trudeau announced his intention to step down as the nation’s leader and his idiot spawn is touring Greenland as a prospect buyer, Donald Trump, bemoaning the way that US neighbour to the south was taking grave advantage of his largess through trade and immigration, suggested to reporters during an impromptu interview that the Gulf of México should be reflagged as the Gulf of America. It seems since his first term, he has gained the aspiration of imperial expansion from role models like Vladimir Putin. One of Trump’s most vile and vocal cheerleaders, Marjorie Taylor Greene, immediately pledged to introduce legislation to officially rename the oceanic basin off the Yucatán peninsula, which some states share a coastline and first subject to detailed European exploration by cartographer Amerigo Vespucci, the continents’ own namesake, has been listed as such for navigation since 1497. Would you like Freedom fries with your order?

community notes (12. 152)

In what’s being characterised by some as a radical departure in policy but really just proves how garbage the platform is and always was, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta announced that Facebook, Instagram and Threads will stop referring controversial and potentially misleading posts to independent factcheckers to review and will now instead follow the model of X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, owned by shadow president apartheid Space Karen, and rely on fellow users to add caveats and context to contentious posts. We can imagine who might volunteer for the job of hall monitor and what abusive vitriol that they might have to endure. Just ahead of Trump’s inauguration, which he donated a million dollars to—a quite meaningless sum to him just like the campaign money that Musk contributed to help secure Trump’s win, Zuckerberg, whom like all the technocrats has been trying to secure the incoming president’s good graces, said, “The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritising free speech.” Aiming to remove bias by getting rid of moderation and lift restrictions on topics (which were never taboo but had in place guardrails to protect from harassment, hate speech and disinformation) like immigration and gender identity and promote more political posts, the platform hopes to generate discourse reflective of a free society and cites supposed regimes in Europe and Latin America institutionalising censorship and making innovation impossible.  Meta has gone full MAGA and it would be best to vacate this Nazi bar too.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year (with synchronoptica), a folk reckoning of Spring’s arrival plus exceptional fungi

seven years ago: a drive-in recharging station 

eight years ago: recreating the ancient soundscapes of Stonehenge, glass pennies plus the urban history of Istanbul

nine years ago: safety advice for terrorist attacks plus the Scunthorpe Problem

ten years ago: two spirits, peak oil plus theofascism and the Charlie Hebdo attack

royal achievement (12. 151)

Ascended to the throne one year ago after the abdication of his mother, Margrethe II, King Frederik X. has changed the coat of arms of the monarchy, last lightly adjusted in 1972, that better reflects the composition of the Danish realms from a historical and heraldic perspective, giving formerly colonies and present autonomous regions of Greenland and the Faroe Islands equally billing with their own fields (quartered shield with the update per dexter, represented by a polar bear and ram respectively—the escutcheon supported by a pair of woodwoses, vildmænd, a symbol for the patron protector Silvanus of the woodlands). Decreed in late December, the change signals (see also) that Greenland is not for sale after repeated overtures by the incoming Trump administration and internal calls for the territory’s independence, which with the US involvement has not always worked out well (see previously here, here and here), and the de-mothballing of American military installations in Iceland.