8x8 (13. 736)

a comparison using like or as: a treasury of simile and metaphor from Ross MacDonald’s private detective Lew Archer 

mario v pareto: a scrolly-telling illustration of efficiency and optimisation—via Quantum of Sollazzo   

siamese wins: Thailand avoided colonisation through diplomacy and cultural synthesis  

world famous gopher hole museum: a visit to an usual tourist attraction in a tiny Albertan hamlet  

biblioclasm: Amazon’s AI book-pulping division has a cartoonish evil logo 

count coudenhove-kalergi: the Austro-Japanese politician and diplomat who championed the movement of European integration and was the inspiration for the character of Victor Laszlo in Casablanca—plus nominated Ode to Joy as the theme for the united continent 

balloon banjo: a 3D printed heuristic tool for experimenting with acoustics  

ounce dice trice: a garland ring of unusual words that ends up where it starts out

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) plus a cache of vintage picture postcards

two years ago: a quick weekend get-away plus the Formosa Straits crisis of 1958 

three years ago: the US Republican primary debates plus more links to enjoy 

four years ago: even more links plus Ukraine re-establishes itself as an independent state (1991)  

five years ago: assorted links worth the revisit, ant architecture plus Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)

six years ago: cocktails for remote learning, superlative garden photographs plus re-sampling Soviet pop

day one hundred seventy-one (13. 735)

Though the admission by Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian that his country was facing financial hardships might be seen as weakness and a sign that the US economic pressure campaign is working, it is only an honest expression of the realities of war and a stark counter point to Trump’s attitude—far from affirming it—that dismisses the pains of Americans and insists that expensive gas is a small price to buy to ensure Tehran never obtains a nuclear weapon. In his overtures to North Korea, Pyongyang so far giving the American president the cold shoulder, Trump disclosed the amount of warheads the country has, fifty-seven, and thus an arms race for the atomically ambitious to achieve that floor in order to have a deterrent against the US and Trump’s largess. After a month’s long deployment detour US refuelling planes leave Bulgaria after other NATO countries refused them quarter to persecute the war in Iran—and following explicit threats from Tehran. Pakistan’s army chief is flying to Iran in hopes of breaking the impasse in talks as the Islamic Republic threats maritime traffic passing the Strait of Hormuz with fines and detention, vowing that the war will not be settled under the aggressors’ conditions.

pepperidge farm remembers (13. 734)

Via ibidem, we are referred to this rather incredible gallery documenting the effort that went into the packaging and presentation of corporate standing for shareholders and stakeholders once upon a time for annual reports when trade and commerce were a bit more staid and predictable for North America and companies involved invested in production and distribution, retaining their own branding and marketing teams. This expansive archive ranging from the 1940s to the present is interactive and fully searchable—though beyond the considerable cover art might prove a tad boring and academic. Take a browse through the archives and let us know what you find.

art in the age of the artificial (13. 733)

Best experienced rather than attempted to be explained, the selected portfolio of Diepholz artist with the Künstlernamen Moe P Wellington, via Web Curios, explores the paradoxical relationship between UI and AI—input designed to be understood and assayable for humans with the output constructed by artificial intelligence whose simulacrum only provides the illusion of understanding logic, intention and convention. The resulting schema is unrevealed upon inspection and has the disorientating feeling of a manual that one cannot quite gain a purchase on—like a prelude to an arcade game with the rules and operation behind an arras and strikes us how dreams, those repetitive ones that are are markers for anxieties where some simple task or misplaced accessory suddenly becomes impossible and sisyphean, degrading with each iteration until one wakes up, seem to be a parasomnia that mirrors  (we don’t want this disturbing our slumber) the downgrading effects of engagement with the machine.  There are pre-tests in the repetoire and the ability to generate one’s own work.

iso 4217 (13. 732)

Introduced on this day in 1976 to replace the South Africa rand, which had been used as the legal currency since the republic gained independence from the UK in 1966, the Botswana pula (symbolised by P) is from the Setswana word for rain, a very precious commodity in the Kalahari desert, meaning by extension fortune and blessings. Unpegged from the rand and the US dollar to a floating currency, the pula adopted a fixed exchange rate regime with a basket of funds that reflected its regional trading relationships. The sub-unit, thebe (meaning shield) is represented in various denominations of coinage (also one, two and five pula coins, with the lower value bill demonetised in 2014) and bear the motto ipelegeng, meaning to carry one’s own weight, to be self-sufficient. The ten pula note currently in circulation (according to the central bank) depicts the country’s fifth president, not quite aligned with the up-to-date political situation, Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, who served in high office from 2018 to 2024 and has been succeeded by His Excellency Duma Gideon Boko, leader of the Motswana opposition party Umbrella for Democratic Change—the former demonym is the singular case with Batswana being the plural, collective form for the people of the “Land of the Tswana.” The pula is also used widely in Zimbabwe following the hyperinflation of its dollar.

mundaneum (13. 731)

Established in Mons in 1910 by the collaborative work of two Belgian lawyers Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine as founding pioneers of the discipline of documentation science, informatics or library science as the study of the recording, storage and retrieval of data, following the their first joint project of establishing the Institute International de Bibliographie in Brussels with the mission to classify and cross-reference all recorded knowledge with a card catalogue system with tables, indicators and connecting mark-up notation, originally as the Palais Mondial in the left wing of the government office complex Parc du Cinquantenaire, this programme of systematic and public-facing linkages, an archive of some twelve million annotated index cards and other documents provisioned the internet—see also here, here, here and here. Though the technical capacity of the peace activist’s time was not up to the challenge, Otlet hoped that people would be able to access his catalogue from their own home studies or the office and experimented with a pre-digital réseau (network), virtual communities of researchers that cooperated via telegraph. As the scope of the project grew, there were plans to move the Mundaneum (World Museum) to Geneva to be housed in an institution designed by architect Le Corbusier (previously) but failing to materialise, the collection was copied and with another branch in the Hague, championed by Otto Neurath in 1933, following the political economist’s flight from Austria after the defeat of the Social Democratic Party following the dissolution of the Hapsburg empire (here is another artefact from Otlet). Under Nazi occupation the Mundaneum was placed in storage with the area in the Cinquantenaire Palace used as an exhibition space for Third Reich Art. The collection was eventually reunited, restored and conserved in a large former department store in the Hainaut capital. On this day in 2015, the massive filing cabinets of the card catalogue were featured as the Google Doodle in tribute to its founders and forefathers of open information. More from Open Culture at the link up top.

my word is my bond (13. 730)

We quite enjoyed perusing this curation of full-page advertisements from Champion Papers in Art Direction magazine from the early to the late 1960s as compiled by Alex Jay. The trade journal that documented campaigns in visual communication and showcased design practises under the editorial guidance of Herb Lubalin (previously) and other luminaries of the typographic profession. Both the publication and its main sponsor in the printing concern in its contemporary form at least seem to have both folded around 1980, leaving quite a legacy—with Champion once the largest coated paper (glossy and matte finish) producer in the United States, branching out to paper grocery bags, cardboard boxes, posterboard, stationary and what we would call construction or craft paper. Its mills and other remaining assets were acquired by International Paper in 2000. Much more at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: journalism in Star Trek (with synchronoptica), religious indoctrination classed as child-abuse in Japan plus pareidolia 

two years ago: cinematic pathways, a 1954 royal yacht party plus fun with LinkedIn profiles 

three years ago: gymnastics with an AI avatar, a musical clock plus the Wagner Group coup-plotter dead in a plane crash

four years ago: the Elvis Comeback Special (1968) plus the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism and Stalinism

five years ago: your daily demon, a Roman holiday, Ashes to Ashes (1980) plus the ambient it

six years ago: assorted links to revisit, Elder Sign, photographer Harry Gruyaert, the Stockholm Syndrome (1973) plus Why Man Creates (1968)

day one hundred seventy (13. 729)

Iran doubles the bounty on US soldiers for women who kill or capture them un the event of a ground invasion. NATO is said to be exploring options to ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. As countries around the world shrug off Trump call for solidarity and economic warfare, the American president, cryptically and confusedly, suggests that the US military could be enlisted—somehow—to offset loses in the bond markets, global skepticism in the future solvency in the country that makes it more expensive to finance its debt, possibly intimating that the armed forces could become mercenaries for hire for third-party conflicts. The US only other option for leverage against Iran, having painted itself into a corner, would be to sanction Chinese banks and small, independent “teapot” refineries that import Iranian oil, but ahead of Xi’s planned state visit to the US, it does not seem like a palatable course of action—strong-arming has gotten them nowhere. France pledges delivery of air interceptors to Ukraine after deadly waves of Russian attacks. Canada hits America with a retaliatory tariffs as trade war escalates. Washington removes Syria from its list of states sponsoring terrorism after fifty years following a congressional review and hints that Damascus might play along with the embargo against Tehran.