summum bonum (13. 658)

Via a losing lawsuit against the Utah state liquor board (see also)—with no official roles of membership kept, the syncretic church that combines Gnostic beliefs with ancient Egyptian polytheism estimates its adherents at a quarter of a million by volume of wine bottles sold—we are introduced to the religious movement founded in 1975 by Claude “Corky” Nowell after an encounter with supernatural beings described as “Summa Individuals.” Unlike sacramental wine, authorities in Nowell’s home town of Salt Lake City, ruled that the “nectar” had too high of a proof—despite the fact, as Nowell argued, it had been produced in a pyramid and was imbued with sacred messages, resonances that impart different spiritual concepts, which aid in meditative practise, the eleven percent alcohol content said to cross the blood-brain barrier and led to enlightenment. Though contracted out to California producers for since 1983 until 2008, Summum’s “publication” branch ultimately prevailed and obtained a winery license, becoming the first federally bonded vintner in the state. Drawing from early twentieth century writings on neo-alchemy and spiritualism, Nowell, also known as Summun Bonum—after Cicero’s concept of the highest good—Amon Ra and later Chucky Ra, founded the movement to share his gift of revelation, arguing that the only path to knowledge lay in revelatory experience and not through intellect or obedience. The church also practises mummification as a way to guide one’s essence post-death to a higher plane—offering this service to any who seek it for spiritual reasons, and pets, with a suggested donation.  The founders mummy is inside the pyramid.  Following its precept that “The voice of wisdom is silent except to the open mind,” Summum has reinterpreted the Ten Commandments as the Seven Aphorisms, believing humanity has evolved since the time of Bible enough for a more sophisticated reading—which the movement also unsuccessfully lobbied to be publicly displayed along side Mosaic law, maybe Summum will win in the end on this case too. As above, so below.

meanwhile back at the manse (13. 657)

When presented the opportunity to relocate from Denver to New Mexico, artist Johnny DeFeo was captured by a vision for the Land of Enchantment that came to him in a dream of a zoomorphic ensemble of buildings. Unable to act on this monumental impulse immediately after it came to him, DeFeo deferred his inspired idea but the vision lingered, until serendipity or svengali appeared in the form of a contest, call-for-submissions sponsored by an infamous unlicensed lodgings company—displacing local residents, hollowing out the souls of cities, contributing to overtourism and to the housing crisis—that would fund projects for the quirkiest rental properties. DeFeo was reluctant at first to even put in his entry, fearing it would compromise his yet unformed plans. Coyote Casita, otherwise known as The Trickster, was selected as a winner, eventually resulting in a one-of-a-kind guest accommodation executed in concrete and adobe, an abode that does not go unoccupied when there is a vacancy and benefited local artists whom helped design it. More from Wallpaper and the artist’s website at the links above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Trump returns to his Scottish golf course (with synchronoptica) plus more inflorescence flowers 

two years ago: the Paris Games opening ceremonies 

three years ago: a banger from Peter Gabriel,  a fine art ranking plus RIP Shuhada' Sadacat

four years ago: around the Isle of Skye plus more of the Inner Hebrides

five years ago: office space, the Feast of Saint Anne, linoleum flooring patterns plus words that exist only in plural form

six years ago: Esperanto Day, segregation ends in the US military (1948) plus assorted links to enjoy

day one-hundred forty-three (13. 656)

An individual known to authorities as a member of the “Islamist scene” drives a van through crowds gathered for Berlin’s Christopher Street Day parade, the Pride festival named after the address of the Stonewall Inn in New York City, riots against police raids there starting off the gay rights struggle. The ramming incident leaves one dead and sixteen injured. Iran reports the first night without US strikes in two weeks—Washington officials cite the potential to “dangerously drain” already diminished munitions stockpiles in the region. The Houthi launch ballistics at Saudi Arabia in reprisal for the destruction of the airport at SanaaTehran’s foreign ministry summons Ukrainian diplomatic envoy to explain why Kyiv targeted an an Iranian flagged vessel in the Caspian sea, straining tensions between the two star-crossed and besieged underdogs. Israeli settlers in the West Bank burn down a mosque as more neighbourhoods are bulldozed.

9x9 (13. 655)

all the queens houses: the eclectic architectural vernacular that makes up the New York City’s most diverse borough  

everything counts in large amounts: the moral imperative to understand big numbers, however unimaginable—via Kottke   

incendie de forêt: over a quarter million residents in France and Spain are evacuated from encroaching wildfires  

question de forme: the geometric animation of René Jodoin—see also, see previously

concurso de belleza: Trump cites his beauty pageant credentials to claim to be the competent authority when Venezuela is ready for elections  

plotlines: charting the journey of the protagonist in select classic novels with period maps—via Language Hat 

devil dog: Poseidon’s Underworld (previously) reviews the 1978 made-for-television star-studded spectacular about a satanic litter  

interstitial: Western science seems to recognise the meridians and subtle body of acupuncture and Ayurvedic traditions with a popular article on human anatomy’s third circulatory system  

cornell, 1965: filmmaker Lawrence Jordan’s 1978 profile of peer and colleague Joseph Cornell of Utopia Parkway, Flushing Queens

abdominal quadrants (13. 654)

We enjoyed studying this small collection of antique nineteenth century ukiyo-e prints that illustrate the inner-anatomical functions, to promote good health and moderation as well as a civics lesson with bodily fitness as an allegory of not necessarily of industry (see also) but of an ordered society. The pictured woodblock is by artist Utagama Kuisada (歌川 国貞), among the most prolific designers and commercial successive artists of the medium who in his own time was far better known than contemporaries Hokusai and Hiroshige, and is titled the “Mirror of the Physiology of Food and Drink.” Much more from Open Culture at the link up top.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Battle Beyond the Stars (with synchronoptica), cheese advocacy, Trump seeks to fire the Federal Reserve chair for cause plus a completist’s drinking adventure

two years ago: the arch of Constantine plus assorted links worth revisiting

three years ago: more links to enjoy 

four years ago: Ullapool and environs plus a historic NATO outpost

five years ago: the first colour advert on monochrome TVs (1967), Einstein on the Beach, St Thomas à Kempis plus an epic mosaic along the Thames

six years ago: cognitive fitness, Wikipedia 1.0, the US Space Force, St Cucuphas, Sino-US tensions plus enduring character tropes

day one-hundred forty-two (13. 653)

After Trump’s reciprocal tariffs were ruled executive overreach by the US supreme court, the American president has sought other avenues to rebuild his regime of punitive levies on what he perceives as uncooperative partners taking advantage of his largess, including imposing a fifty percent tariff on Canadian goods over forest fires and a ten percent base tax on some eighty countries Trump accuses of forced labour practises. Amidst intense exchanges of fire and the lowest maritime traffic passing through the Persian gulf in almost two months, Trump further insists without evidence that Iran is engaged in “far more serious talks” but not quite ready (beaten into submission) to make a deal yet. Iranian proxies, the Houthi rebels in Yemen declare that they do not intend to completely the Bab al-Mandab strait and access to the Red Sea—only the Saudi side. Riyadh launches strikes on the port city of Hodeida in response. US bases (plus Amazon data-centres and warehouses) in the region continue to come under attack, vowing to kill an American soldier for every Iranian civilian life lost to the US nightly raids. After sacking the defence minister, Zelenskyy relieves his army chief, both Kiev and Moscow under fire.

ear-shot (13. 652)

Just when we thought we had exhausted the quirky and confusing subject of courtesy and conventional measurements (see previously), we discover the mil (via Futility Closet) which was used as a common unit of distance among the countries of Scandinavia. Ultimately derived from the same Roman source as the mile (mille passus, a thousand paces), it is now standardised as ten kilometres—the same as the obsolete myriametre (ten-thousand metres) once used in France with the inception of the metric system, and likewise is only used in informal contexts with no representation on maps or traffic signs, though still used colloquially and by Swedish tax authorities for calculating deductions for business travel and as the usual way to measure fuel consumption and efficiency, litres per mil, but historically varied widely by local surveying. In its final form, the Danish mil was reckoned as just over seven and a half kilometres as the equivalent of four minutes of latitude though a lot of regional variations persisted through the nineteenth century and endure in common parlance, halvmil being a widely used term for five kilometres, from skogsmil or rast, a Forest Mile or the distance that traveller on foot would be able to cover between breaks, like a league representing the pace of the average gait in the course of a hour. Synchronised along with the rest of the adoption of SI units ultimately, the Finnish, Suomi native term for mil, peninkulma, originally closer to those neighbouring shorter conventions between four and seven kilometres away came from how far removed one could hear a dog’s bark.

geopolitical ontology (13. 651)

Courtesy of Maps Mania, we turn to another gem of a xkcd comic from Randall Munroe (previously)in this cartographic flowchart, decision tree that could, in principle help one determine when an otherwise undated, modern era map was made. We especially liked the junctures “Number of Yemens plus Number of Germanys = ?” and is the town between Albuquerque and El Paso called Hot Springs or Truth or Consequences? The mouseover title is “Does the screeching chill your blood and herald death? If yes, banshee. If no, seagull.” Post-2026, we wonder what markers and borders might be used to pinpoint age. Much more at the links above.