😱 (13. 778)

In a fascinating panel discussion with the hosts of Tiny Matters, Helen Zaltzman’s latest episode of the Allusionist presents a thoroughgoing historical, linguistic and cultural survey of our concept of phobias, now defined as an anxiety disorder characterised by a persistent and irrational fear of an encounter or a situation.Although first described in detail and subject to clinical diagnosis since the Middle Ages, likely first Persian polymath Abu Zayd al-Balkhi who accurately attributed them to a psychological imbalance that manifests itself with physical symptoms like trembling, fainting or paleness, their debut in common-parlance during the Enlightenment came thanks to the correspondence that American revolutionary, founding father, social justice advocate and physician Benjamin Rush had with Dr Diederik Janssen of the University of Maastricht in 1786, the pair of letters half-humorously (in the same spirit of the fanciful books of venery that gave us collective terms like a murmuration of starlings), half in earnest explores specific phobias and manias that give us the modern, if informal, sense of aversion and affection as suffixes, though without the double-barrelled Greek binomials. Whereas in Rush’s day phobic disorders were used to describe diseases—like hydrophobia, the old name for rabies, for the avoidance that late-stage patience displayed for drinking water, those messages helped inspire others to name dread and panic in a clinical manner with Victorian interest in psychotherapy becoming recognised and wide spread over the ensuing decades, hitting at just the right time. Being able to name something can be a gateway to healing, community and sympathy. The legacy of word play however also gave rise to non-medical and political use as in xenophobia and transphobes, which really have nothing to do with a debilitating fear of anything and are rather euphemistic attempts to categorise unjustified bigotry and discrimination and to trivial uses, both in making light of those with serious conditions in hyperbolic empathy and a profusion of -phobias that cause little to no distress. Do give the show a listen and discover a myriad of others at the website up top.

10x10 (13. 777)

futura is a favourite and we’re always going to root for her, but then for legibility you can’t go wrong with frutiger: the very model of a modern day typographer—see previously  

if every girl had a diary: filmmaker Sadie Benning’s quiet confessions to her confident Pixel Vision camera delivers a powerful message from the shelter and safety of her bedroom  

leisurama: the prefabricated Mid-Century Modern vacation home of Montauk, Long Island  

learning to live with an elephant: a 1968 animated short from Terry Gilliam—see previously  

 

movie maps: worldwide cinematic address—comprehensive but missing our village’s cameo—via Nag on the Lake 

insecta odonata: dragonflies migrate over long-distances, comparable to Monarch butterflies 

 🛂: the world’s current one hundred ninety-nine passports mapped as a data-visualisation—via Quantum of Sollazzo  

last and first men: the 1930 science fiction work from Olaf Stapledon who examined humanity from a height of two billion years  

only major western capital without a monumental arch: groundbreaking to begin for the Arc d’Trump in two weeks—see previously

synchronoptica

one year ago: Stravinsky’s Serenade in A (with synchronoptica), protests in Nepal plus more revelations on the closeness of Trump and Epstein

two years ago: voting from space, split-screen campaigning plus British holiday camps 

three years ago: assorted links worth the revisit plus traditional Palestinian embroidery 

four years ago: a banger from The Stone Temple Pilots (1994) 

five years ago: statehood for the US capital district, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9), a rewilded oasis in DC plus more links to enjoy

six years ago: the founding of Washington, DC (1791), the dispute over Hans Island, a celebrated lighthouse plus AI-generated super villans

day one hundred eighty-six (13. 776)

Maritime drone wars between Russian and Ukraine disrupt Black Sea shipping. Immediately following the departure of US special envoys from the capital, Moscow orders heavy strikes on Kyiv. The US and Iran exchange fire over the Strait of Hormuz and the plan for the shipping corridor again disintegrates and tankers are sunk, sending oil prices over one hundred dollars per barrel. The Revolutionary Guard claiming hits on America naval destroyers and bases in Jordan after the destruction of eight of its commercial vessels. All member states of the EU issue condemnation of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

illiterate boyfriend test (13. 775)

Keeping English orthography being what it is and the profusion of loan-words, established or trendy, and the sage prescription not to judge a person’s pronunciation as they may be saying it aloud for the first time—and elocution is not monolithic, as I am reminded often by H when he recalls how a server at a Chipotle’s in Washington DC had the gall to correct his ordering Shiraz (ʃɪˈɹɑːz from širâz, a city in Iran) with how it’s apparently said in American English (that waiter probably does not shop at Targét)we found this apparently popular quiz making the rounds on the internet, supposedly underscoring a reversal in the intellect gap between the genders (and it is coded very hetero-normative, like the earlier profusion of the “Alpine Divorce”—which is disappointingly somehow less sinister than such a term could be, an interesting cultural artefact and signifier. The vocabulary of the more widespread versions include: thyme, epitome, challah, gnocchi, fuchsia, colonel, queue, niche, pseudonym and hyperbole. Such shibboleths (maybe that word should have been part of the test) ought not to be highlighted as some sort of relationship red flag and strikes one as performative leverage for embarrassing patrons in restaurants and making the table feel uncomfortable and schooled, or for an excuse for a dating off-ramp.  Coming across this on UNESCO’s International Day of Literacy, the phenomenon also seems to capitalise on the worrying prognosis that people no longer read.

i palindrome i (13. 774)

Having always been a little obsessed with the topic and enjoying the near-misses and deceptive examples nearly as much, we enjoyed learning that for the August 2010 edition of Word Ways journal (see previously) one contributor, Jef Raskin—an pioneer of computer science who helped create the Macintosh and Lisa, incidentally, and coined the term app originally as an information appliance, distinguished from a general use computer as a device designed to perform a specific electronic task as part of their work on machine-human interface, found themselves less than enchanted with the contorted syntax and characteristic vocabulary of palindromes, inspiring the the invention of the plaindrome. Something following the conventional scansion and stilted language of all but the best, examples include: “An item? No, revolt took Natasha” or “Money-man I, an Adam, not even a doom.” The reader adds the concept of ungrams as a foil to the anagram, with Richard M Nixon / Noxious Charmer and Brooklyn Bridge / Good ride by Lake. One could become addicted to making such misleading epigrams.  An antigram, by comparison, is rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to give the opposite meaning, as in “forty five” transforms into “over fifty” or Satan into Santa.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Our Lady of Meritxell (with synchronoptica), Trumps ousts trans troops from the military plus AI-sparked delusion

two years ago: incantations of Legal Latin, the founding of the Kievan Rus’, more diplomatics, American Beauty (1999) plus another summer compilation from DJ Earworm 

three years ago: Star Trek: the Animated Series 

four years ago: Perry Rhodan (1961), assorted links to revisit plus the death of Queen Elizabeth II

five years ago: your daily demon, the premier of Star Trek (1966), Ford pardons Nixon (1974), books and cheese, an unfortunate juxtaposition plus how language evolves

six years ago: Hopi kachina dolls, a Volvo six-wheeler, more links to enjoy, photographer Manfred Thierry Mugler plus Noncensorship (1922)

day one hundred eighty-five (13. 773)

Forces of the Yemeni regular army begin a counteroffensive in hopes of retaking Sanaa from Houthi rebels, the Saudi-led regional defensive pact vowing to intervene if more civilians are killed in the crossfire. Iraq searches for alternate routes for petroleum exports as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz again grinds to a halt. Israel constructs a road partitioning the West Bank. Qatar warns of an irrecoverable “industrial catastrophe” if the crisis in Iran is not resolved soon. EU pledges over two hundred million in aid to Greenland amid continued threats of annexation from Trump. The Panama Canal cuts maritime traffic further as El Niño strengthens. Russia closes a consulate in Germany as tensions rise.

space farce (13. 772)

Another example of the abused to meaningless Poe’s Law when even a small percentage of Trump’s AI slop escapes containment into reality and distractions masquerading as policy and directives and that action figures are not human capital, the American president unveils a mock-up of the dress uniform for his Space Force Guardians, “inspired by the discipline and functionality” of the uniforms from Starship Troopers. The fact that we are sure that general-issues would look dumpy and poorly tailored on Earth or in an artificial-gravity environment is sort of beside the point as the American president did not repair immediately to the Hugo Boss apparel of the Nazi or to the derivative of the Galactic Empire, fascists already, but to the cinematic adaptation by Paul Verhoeven whose upbringing in the occupied Netherlands informed his directorial decisions—Trump wanting to leave no doubt that yes, we are the baddies from the outset—and perhaps a little too on brand for the regime. One Christian commentator insisted that the design is a perfect blend between Star Wars and Star Trek.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica), The Tonight Show at the Berlin Wall (1961), the official residence of the US vice president plus Dr Katz: Professional Therapist

two years ago: a electromechanical rotor cipher, the ugly, car-centric focus of American urban planning plus more links worth revisiting 

three years ago: Interpol (1923) plus divination with cheese

four years ago: a controversial campaign ad (1964), a banger from John Parr plus Germany ends its public transportation subsidy

five years ago: the social engineering of kitchen design, WikiCommons (2004), a weird conspiracy involving the Muppets and 9/11, Dancing Queen (1976) plus three look-a-like candidates running for the Duma

six years ago: the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, Clärenore Stinnes drives around the world (1929) plus Egypt’s national handball team

day one hundred eighty-four (13. 771)

Iran announces a restricted zone surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, still settling in for a long war despite sustaining heavy attacks from the Americans, saying the era of proportional response is over. Tehran lifts its ban on social media use by government officials to allow them to address the people directly and refute the narrative of the Trump administration. EU sanctions North Korean reeducation camps where Russia sends kidnapped Ukrainian children. Though Kyiv calls for new trilateral talks after Kushner and Witkoff‘s audience with Putin, former ambassadors do not see any purchase for a breakthrough. Trump contemplates renaming the state of New Mexico to New America. IDF bombards southern Lebanon as Palestinian farmers fight settler saboteurs to save crops in Hebron. AfD wins in Saxon-Anhalt fall short of majority and cannot form a government without coalition support.