(13. 772)

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.

ohratal (13. 770)

Travelling a bit northeast towards Gotha, we visited the community of Luisenthal to see the dam of the river Ohra that flowed west of Oberhof on the edge of a high moor, which from the Middle Ages onward not only was an important for its fisheries but also a precursor to the Industrial Age, the waters powering mills and with abundant timber copper- and ironworks. The reservoir, now used for drinking water, flood-control and hydroelectricity was originally contained in 1957 due to the relative softness and purity, the low calcium content an idea source for steam engines and locomotives (see previously). We walked the circuit of the dam from the town’s centre and hiking back through a rather lush valley on a narrow footpath behind the waterworks and treatment facilities. We could really see how much the levels have been depleted gauging from the intake-tower’s exposed façade. 

Heading back through Ohrdruf through the communities of Schwarzwald and Crawinkel through the former river valley and stopped to see what we could see of one of the old smithies, called Tobiashammer (a forge with a water-driven trip hammer) used to finish machine parts, decommissioned just in 1972, but the museum’s entrance was closed. We spent more time, in fairer weather checking out the grounds of Schloß Ehrenstein, the Renaissance palace commissioned for the counts of Gleichen—a cadet line of the duchy of Pyrmont, and more of the small town’s historical centre.

The site of the moated castle was originally host to the first Christian cloister in Thüringen, founded by Saint Boniface (previously) during his missionary work in Germany. Ohrdruf is proud of this legacy too, as with other native son Bach (see above). Vacated by the Carmelites after the Reformation and fallen into disrepair, the palace took the place of the dissolved community in the mid sixteenth century.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica), the funeral of Princess Diana (1997) plus US speaker of the house suggests that Trump was an FBI informant to explain his association with Jeffrey Epstein

two years ago: a nuclear war preparedness exercise 

three years ago: a banger from The Jam, computer artwork from Keith Harring plus a novelty song from Ginette Garcin

four years ago: Boris Johnson returns plus more links to enjoy 

five years ago: even more links,  Jimi Hendrix’ last concert (1970), Leningrad renamed St Petersburg (1991) plus anthropomorphic Roman dice

six years ago: Trump makes the cover of Time magazine plus a tour of Little Switzerland

day one hundred eighty-three (13. 769)

With economic indicators like the better than expected jobs numbers and crippling inflation pointing to a need to increase interest rates, Trump (sporting a new coif apparently) threatens his newly minted chair of the Federal Reserve that if he does not comply and reduce rates, the American president will embargo countries that have a trade surplus with the US and suspend all economic activity—as an alternative to the reciprocal tariffs declared unlawful. The US fires upon at least six tankers headed towards Iranian ports—confirming by the numbers its new tit-for-tat policy of striking an Iranian affiliated ship for every commercial vessel or US asset targeted by Tehran, the Revolutionary Guard attacking a US naval warship enforcing the blockade. Netanyahu orders the IDF to bomb Qatar, labeling it a hostile state. Special envoys Kushner and Witkoff, despite their terrible track records, hold a late night meeting with Putin to discuss ending the war with Ukraine—in time for the midterms. AfD is poised to take over state government of Saxon-Anhalt as more suspected acts of sabotage against Germany‘s power grid are narrowly thwarted by authorities—Russian agents are thought to be behind the attacks. The US justice department pauses cooperation with the government of Canada.

lütschetalsperre (13. 768)

Having to get the camper seen for its annual inspection, we decided to make a long weekend of it and returned to the Ilm district, near the workshop, and took a camping pitch on the Lütsche reservoir outside of the town of Frankenhain on the northern slope of the Thuringian Forest. On the way there, we stopped in Geratal and saw the memorial to the death march to Buchenwald from one of the three concentration camps in the area (see more)—again missing the garden gnome factory, maybe next time.

The water levels looked pretty low after the drought conditions of the summer but the reservoir was being slowly replenished and the surrounding woods seem to have survived successive heat waves, still we know that nature is under stress. Sustainably logged and protected since the first human settlements around the sixth century, the area has always had a thick cover of woods, the inhabitant at the edge of the Thüringer Wald primarily making a living from carpentry, resin, tapping, pitch production and escorting merchants and travellers through the rather dark and foreboding forest. The Stauseen (see above) were later additions with the development of industry and agricultural was only suitable for certain, limited areas of the basin.

Petrol and diesel is always more expensive on the Autobahn and we saw these prices at noon, the one time per day that German stations are allowed to raise prices since the start of the Iran war, but it was nonetheless pretty shocking, coinciding with learning that diesel prices in the States had hit an all time record, even surpassing the jump experienced when Russia invaded Ukraine. Thankfully, it was not a very long trip to this landscape that feels very different than home.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the second assassination attempt on Gerald Ford (with synchronoptica), a mad-lib style search engine comparison plus comics captions swaps

two years ago: America begins its bicentennial celebrations, coordination problems plus Trump announces the Department of Government Efficiency  

three years ago: assorted links to revisit 

four years ago: Tainted Love (1981) plus more links to enjoy

five years ago: DW Griffith’s Intolerance (1916),  European coats-of-arms mapped plus The Muppet Show (1976)

six years ago: the Gotthard Tunnel opens (1980) 

day one hundred eighty-two (13. 767)

The Norwegian Sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, announces it will divest itself of US treasury holdings as the American debt crisis presents as a more and more likely scenario. Diesel in the States surpasses the brief previous record high after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian strikes hit Ukrainian security services headquarters in Kyiv—prompting Washington to dispatch its favoured fail-sons, Kushner and Witkoff, to Moscow to de-escalate the situation and propose a peace deal. Sea drone warfare intensifies in the Black Sea. After expropriating Venezuela’s oil, Trump returns to the Donroe Doctrine of hemispheric dominance, resuming attacks on fishing boats with chatter about an assault on Cuba. Argentina sanctions oil production in the Falklands, proposing a Hong Kong-style handover of the UK territory. The Pentagon subjects fifty staff members to polygraph tests over supposed leaks concerning the progress of the war in Iran. Seventeen tankers assemble on the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz to attempt passage under US naval escort. The American president repeats the threat from July to strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain (Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La) the site of the heavily damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility. The administration is pressuring Turkish banks to join Operation Economic Outcast, insisting this request is not a judgment on the NATO ally.

9x9 (13. 766)

tokyo drift: where potential car owners have to show proof to the dealership of a place to park before purchase, Japanese architects carve automobile shaped voids in urban houses 

trickle down economics: diesel prices hit a record high in the US  

pew pew: laser-washing gives jeans a broken-in look  

mo6: Finnish company introduces carbon-negative building material produced from waste lignin from the timber industry  

tasting notes: visualisations and maps of coffee origins  

ceramic dalmatian: the Wheel of Fortune consolation prize added to the History of America in 100 Objects speaks to the evolution of the game show format and our collective aspirations  

a modified neublon-b escort frigate: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens in Los Angeles—see also  

newman’s own didn’t drop a these colours don’t run salad dressing: the attempt to rename Lake Ontario is a dumb distraction but with sinister, Orwellian undertones no matter how pathetic  

handmade utopia: the architecture of the back-to-the-land movement of Northern California of the 1960s and 1970s

synchronoptica

one year ago: linking celebrities across time and space (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth the revisit

two years ago: more links to enjoy

three years ago: Kenneth Anger’s first film plus hot labour summer

four years ago: the reservoirs of Saalfeld 

five years ago: AI generated movie posters, less and more of the old weird web, Space 1999,  a bluesy rendition of the Seinfeld theme, the Goethe-Schiller monument plus another MST3K classic

six years ago: Trump undermining public confidence in elections 

day one hundred eighty-one (13. 765)

US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick retracts his statement that no Americans have been killed in the Iran war, acknowledging that eighteen US service members have died in the line of duty. Vice president JD Vance announces that an investigation will take place over the deaths of individuals at a wedding party in the village of Kuhestak killed by a US airstrike but remains skeptical of Iranian claims. Further, Vance adds that talks will not resume until attacks on ships stop. Though not openly engaged with Tehran militarily, Israeli prime minister Netanyahu says that overthrowing leadership remains the main objective six months into the joint-US war of choice against the Islamic Republic and that that goal is within reach—at the same time accusing the opposition political party as traitors seeking to topple their own government—not as strong as Trump calling journalists “treasonous scum” for questioning US military readiness. Through the threat of drone attacks, Ukraine is dominating Russian airspace and causing severe disruptions to civilian plane traffic.