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

clear & quick (13. 109)

From Sixth Tone, we appreciated this update on the long-lost prototype unit for the MingKwai experimental typewriter since it was discovered in a basement in Arizona of famed novelist Lin Yutang (林語堂) about a year ago. The relatives knew Lin was able to retire young and relocated to the States from royalties earned from best-sellers but had not known that fortune also funded his passion for inventing and that the early models, which whilst patented never went into mass production. Most active as a writer at a time when the advances in telegraphy and print had accelerated global exchange of information in the first half of the twentieth century, Lin realised acutely that China, despite having introduced publishing to the world, was at risk of failing behind due to framework of Western technologies designed for the Latin alphabet and not the ninety-thousand characters of his native language. Though not inventing the typewriter, Lin did devise and patent a more intuitive and portable format that anyone could learn to use, spending as much time reflecting on language and word frequency as he devoted to the mechanics. The seventy-two key layout (multilingual with shifting carriages that also printed in Cyrillic, Japanese as well as English and Chinese and became pivotal in the study of machine aided translation during the Cold War) also featured a preview window, a Magic Eye that narrowed the possible choices from deconstructed stroke elements displayed on each key. Revolutionary as it was, the the MingKwai (the name means the title) proved unmarketable due to a collusion of factors—geopolitics, the complex engineering that went into the character indexing system of this mechanical marvel and the burgeoning computer industry—though the same limitations and alphabetical privilege again came into play. Much more at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a utility station wagon (with synchronopticæ), Thailand legalises same-sex marriage, internationalisation and localisation plus informing fonts with ancient inscriptions 

fourteen years ago: the Year of the Water Dragon plus artist Rashad Alakbarov

fifteen years ago: a visit to a local Wasserschlöss 

seventeen years ago: cognitive dissonance plus a nuclear reactor outside the window

hyperion (13. 108)

Named after the solar deity, a Titan whom according to several theogonies sired the Sun, Moon and Dawn in an incestuous act, the ambitious data centre that Meta—having recently abandoned and embraced telepresence—is constructing in the marshland of northern Louisiana, on the foundations likely of vacated Alligator Alcatraz. Difficult to grasp the scale of this project, the footprint of the structure spanning over five miles in length and more than a mile wide in the middle of no where, we are directed towards this tool which will overlay the massive building in perspective of any given address in the States and next to landmarks and routes that one may have walked, like Central Park in New York City, the National Mall in Washington DC, dwarfing the heretofore largest office space in the world, the Pentagon or the arrondissements of Paris. This wager on AI is being seen as increasingly risky and may fail to deliver a return on investment and couching the size of these data centres, which are seeing a building boom with Meta not the only player, in a familiar setting helps one understand the new nimbyism (I’d much rather a windmill in my backyard) with these sprawling projects that may not contribute to the local economy and have raised utility prices for the surrounding communities.

märchesänger (13. 107)

Youth choir, whose early members were mostly comprised of individuals orphaned during the war founded in 1948 in Obernkirchen in Niedersachsen (named after the constituent county in West Germany), the Schaumburg Fairytale Singers rapidly attained a high degree of musical excellence, winning many competitions in their class, and were propelled to a level of international fame unexpectedly on this day when their English interpretation of Der fröhliche Wanderer (Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann) peaking at number two of the British singles on this day in 1954, remaining in the charts for twenty-three weeks after it was broadcasted by the BBC as the encore after placing during a performance in Wales. Domestically, the arrangement composed by the choir director’s brother made to sound like an authentic folk song, the success of the Schaumburger Märchesänger was boosted by the Merry Wanderer being made into a Heimatfilm (a nostalgic, pastoral genre especially popular in West Germany and Austria from the late 1940s to early 1960s, and abroad lead numerous tours, concerts and special appearances, including the Ed Sullivan Show and at the Kennedy White House. With an expanded repertoire and extended alumni association, the choir and music school (also with multiple campuses) continues the legacy of its founders in cultivating talent.

the concept of a deal (13. 106)

Though met with scepticism and denial—and a protracted drama that allies will not soon forget or forgive—NATO secretary general Mark Rutte at Davos somehow managed to talk Trump back from the brink of calamity and relented on additional tariffs for European countries sending troops and materiel to Greenland and agreed himself not to authorise the use of force for its seizure. One of course needs to question the strength of Trump’s word and whether the rhetoric, ratcheted up with the invasion of Venezuela, is over now that he can claim a win, though the outcome and details of the discussion are unknown and the reasons for backing off unclear—Greenlanders and Danes not part of the conversation. Not much different in kind than the arrangement that the US has had for the autonomous arctic territory since 1951, rumours have it that the framework proposes (hardly a negotiation since if true, it would be unilateral and the other parties have not yet been informed, reminiscent of the Russian peace plan for Ukraine when Kiev has not been at the table) that a small parcel of Greenland might be ceded to the US, similar to the arrangement that the UK has with Cyprus for the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrortiri and Dhekelia, former crown colonies retained as part of the island’s independence treaty—which Britain had planned on withdrawing from completely from the mid-1970s but stayed on, mostly due to pressure from America whom wanted to keep a strategic foothold in the region—see also. After Trump’s interminably berating and bellicose opening remarks, a litany of self-congratulatory bravado and petty attacks, we’ll see what emerges but we certainly don’t believe that this crisis is over yet.

synchronoptica

one year ago: AI-aided edutainment (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links worth revisiting

twelve years ago: phone hygiene plus the advertisements of Dr Seuss

thirteen years ago: bent icicles   

fifteen years ago: bird houses