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.”
founder and ceo of edgars industries: 1995 episode of Babylon 5 sums up the political situation in the US rather eerily
decoy: an ambiguous, superimposed typeface that hides from AI
add “crack spread” to your economics vocabulary: an explainer on the disconnect on the price of crude versus petroleum-derived products
presque vu: the latest batch of new emoji seem familiar—via Waxy
my father was a barn burner: a PSA from the Norwegian Consumer Council on why we can’t have nice things—see previously
benford’s law: the counterintuitive observation that helps catch financial fraud—via Quantum of Sollazzo
dazzle camouflage: more on adversarial apparel, clothing designed to confound and encourage public dialogue on the surveillance state and privacy—via MetaFilter—see more
it’s show-time, synergy: the Flop House on the quintessentially 1980s cartoon—the funniest lines came out over the mid-season theme song replacement, to the tune of Fame, “Jem—I’m gonna live forever! I am a hologram!”
synchronoptica
one year ago: Sylvanian Families sues over defamation (with synchronoptica) plus a mothballed West German army garrison
two years ago: assorted links worth revisiting plus Geraldine Ferraro accepts her party’s nomination (1984)
three years ago: a banger from Genesis (1986), English occupations in 1881 plus assorted links worth revisiting
four years ago: a ferry to Newcastle, the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games plus arriving in Scotland
five years ago: a visit to Bohuslรคn
six years ago: the Upping of the Swans plus a tour of Rhรถngrabfeld
Via a 1956 summer-gig for flat broke beat writer Jack Kerouac as a hermit on Desolation Peak in the Washington Cascades as a fire lookout, undertaking the vigil akin to that of a lonely lighthouse-keeper and watching for signs of smoke, we are introduced to the panoramic, circular cartographic creations of Archie Norcross, centred around the thousands of observation towers erected after a devastating series of forest fires between 1903 and 1908 for the state of Maine. 
Resident rangers would be watching for telltale plumes and triangulating its location with a simple sighting device (the title turning board) and alert authorities. Of the some eight thousand lookout posts constructed, most have fallen into disrepair, made redundant after newt echnologies and forest management techniques were introduced, with a few maintained as shelters for hikers. Kerouac’s own summer home was demolished in 1972 due to the structure being a lightening rod during frequent thunderstorms on the mountain top. Much more from Public Domain Review at the link above.
The FBI subpoenaed several journalists from the New York Times, pressuring them to reveal their sources regarding Trump’s change of planes upon departing the NATO summit in Ankara, leaving on the old Air Force One, rather than by the one gifted to him by the Qatari government—the reporters uncovering it was done out of safety and security concerns over the retrofitted aircraft and not a chance for the new plane to make a publicity tour of European US bases as officially put out. 
Already targeting infrastructure and energy facilities across Russia, Ukrainian strikes destroyed major logistics hubs and warehouses in the Tambov and Moscow regions of Wildberries (ะะฐ́ะนะปะดะฑะตััะธะท), the Russian e-commerce giant and Amazon equivalent. Iran’s Supreme Leader suspends the MOU as Washington and Tehran continue to exchange fire. Two American soldiers stationed in Jordan were killed by incoming Iranian ballistics and a third service member is missing. A US radar station in Camp Arifjan in Kuwait was destroyed. Shelter in place orders were issued for Bahraini citizens near the base hosting the US Fifth Fleet. Israel moves to seize ancient freshwater reservoirs in Bethlehem as desalination plants of neighbouring countries continue to sustain damage. Israel also reclassifies the endangered status of the Nile crocodile in order to use the animals as deterrent for escape from a prison holding suspected Hamas militants and sympathisers.
Ruling until 1929 when transferred by the corps back to the United States mainland, abruptly ending his reign, Polish-American Marine stationed in Haiti during the occupation of Hispaniola (1915-1934), Lt Faustin Edmond Wirkus, was crowned co-regent of the island off the west coast of La Gonรขve by Queen Ti Memenne on this day in 1926. 
Posted to the country since the beginning of the military regime—the National City Bank of New York (Citibank) had convinced president Woodrow Wilson (previously) take control of Haiti’s political and financial interests during a period of socioeconomic instability after the execution of tyrannical president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam imperilled US business interests, eventually reinstituting enslavement, the republic having gained independence through its hard-won petition for emancipation—Wirkus as commander of a regimen of native troops on La Gonรขve, the satellite just off the coast of Port-au-Prince honouring a locally recognised matriarchy given a large degree of autonomy even during the US military government, arranged the release of a young woman in distress detained on charges related to practising Vodou. Unbeknownst to Wirkus, the individual he assisted was the queen and in gratitude proclaimed her rescuer King Faustin II in Vodou ceremony. Though born Palestine Weirkus in Rypin in the Congress Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire, his regnal name was an auspicious coincidence and sign for the queen, bearing the same given name as former Haitian emperor Faustin-รlie Soulouque and believing Wirkus was him reincarnated. The population of La Gonรขve accepted his appointment as a just ruler in his dual role. Tolerance for the monarchy ended after Wirkus’ reassignment and the republic assumed control in the same year.
scrubbed launch: SpaceX has lost over a trillion dollars since its initial public offering on 12 June
off-sides: the extensive rules and regulations governing tournaments in the Middle Ages—via Strange Company
outside the far side: a short biography of comic creator Gary Larson—see previously
two birds, one stone: alkaline thermal treatment of plastic waste produces high purity hydrogen as a fuel source
memento: how memories and stored in the brain and how retrieval alters them
street view: gorgeous photologs of San Diego in the 1970s plus more about this municipal mapping method
the king’s great fortune: a fairy tale written in classic style with contemporary resonance
from the chinagate hoax department: documents Trump ordered declassified to demonstrate meddling from Beijing cost him the 2020 presidential race show instead that Moscow was championing his re-election
vikram-1: India’s first private rocket reaches low Earth orbit and deploys a satellite
