first flight (13. 271)

From property then belonging to Asa Ward before becoming his Aunt Effie’s farmstead in Auburn, Massachusetts, pioneering jet propulsion engineer and physicist Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fuelled rocket on this day in 1926. With a mixture of gasoline and liquid oxygen, the projectile, christened as Nell, only reached an altitude of sixty metres but in less than three seconds and was a solid demonstration of proof of concept. Reserved and painfully shy since, Goddard was criticised by contemporaries as dabbling in an undignified field not worthy of serious scientific investigation, his contributions only posthumously recognised—thanks in large measure to his habit of keeping a daily diary of experiments and imbued early on with a sense of curiosity and awe, first captivated by the electrification of his hometown at the turn of the century and then a transcendent experience, referred to in his journal as his “cherry tree dream” aged seventeen, when perched in the branches to prune some dead limbs in the autumn all of a sudden, imagining his ascent higher and higher above the Earth and intuited the basic principles of combustion and propulsion, coming down from the tree a changed adolescent. That vision never left Goddard, for the rest of his life keeping the anniversary of that event, 19 October 1899, as a private commemoration of his greatest inspiration.

day seventeen (13. 270)

Contrary to boasting that the war has already been won and telling a UK reluctant to enter this illegal war of choice, Trump is now calling for a coalition of nations to send battleships to protect the Strait of Hormuz and restart transit. Specifically calling out Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, the UK and France as reliant on unblocking this vital maritime artery, all of whom have reservations and are refusing to commit at this juncture—Britain is sending mine-sweeping drones—Trump says refusal to cooperate has dire implications for the future of the NATO alliance, only the latter two being members of the mutual defence pact, without cooperation, which is probably exactly the objective. Iran is calling the joint US-Israeli bombing of its oil infrastructure an act of ecocide and a war-crime.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an AI-enhanced Billy Bass (with synchronopticæ), rewilding one’s browsing experience plus DC socialite Pearl Meste

fifteen years ago: Germany debates discontinuing nuclear energy plus On the Beach

sixteen years ago: spring break hot spots and no-go zones

according to our new arrival (13. 269)

As our faithful chronicler reminds, Mr Belvedere debuted on ABC on this day in 1985, and while having scant affection, nostalgia or memory (except maybe for the nightly journaling) for this culturally mismatched sitcom, a posh British, world-travelled butler engaged by a nouveau-riche American family living in the suburbs of Pittsburgh as a mentor and caretaker, in the tradition of Family Affair from two decades earlier and inspired by the character created by novelist Gwen Davenport at the end of WWII with the displaced coming to the aid of the dysfunctional, just like with antecedent and precedent series like Charles in Charge and Who’s the Boss?, I do have a fondness for the theme song as performed in ragtime style by Leon Redbone throughout its relatively short and ultimate shelved run, whose full franchise was ultimately aired in syndication, a rarity for a show that was cancelled and on the cusp of expository intros. Belvedere himself was adapted cinematically several times before the pitch for television was made and failing until being buoyed up by the above thematically similar shows.

11x11 (13. 268)

epistemic cocoon: filters, bubbles, synthetic friends and the personal theatre of disinformation—via Web Curios  

no yokes: a quarter of a century in market fluctuations  

semantic drift: the etymological and entomological history of the word drone  

belated blogoversary: Kottke turns twenty-eight  

wet shelter: the house photographer of the aid mission in the crypt of St Botolph’s 

le salaire de la peur: in a demonstration project to expand research partnerships with other laboratories, CERN attempts to transport a microscopic payload of antimatter for the first time—see previously  

caged lorries: Singapore, despite pressure from businesses that rely on migrant labour, is moving towards banning the dehumanising way workers are transported to job sites  

unbirthday: salutations and reflections from veteran blogger Diamond Geezer  

áfram með smjörið: delightful Icelandic idioms—via friend of the blog Nag on the Lake  

what’s that got to do with the price of tea in china: US egg cost down forty-two percent—hope it was all worth it  

ai is african intelligence: the exploited workers who tutor and moderate chatbots fight back

day sixteen (13. 267)

Rebuffing calls from allied Gulf states under attack for their hosting of American assets (materiel and business interests declared legitimate targets and intimating that some strikes are being carried out covertly by US and Israeli aggressors) for ceasefire negotiations, Trump rejects talks outright saying that Iran is demanding too much and expresses surprise that the conflict spread, insisting again he has decimated the oil export hub of Kharg Island and may destroy more facilities for target practise. US federal communications commission chair has accused media outlets of putting out fake news and hoaxes regarding the special operation and threatens to take away their broadcasting licenses unless they correct course. Separately, the Pentagon announces a major overhaul for the journalistically independent military newspaper Stars and Stripes, labelling it a “woke distraction.”People are being arrested for posting images of war damage in the Emirates and elsewhere. Formula One grand prix scheduled for Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April have been cancelled as the Iraqi national team prepares to travel to Mexico for play-offs for the upcoming World Cup, FIFA ignoring overtures to call off the North American venue. The Iranian national women’s soccer team withdraw their applications for asylum in Australia and plan to return home. The supplies of anti-ballistic missile interceptors continue to dwindle. Ukraine says Russia is replenishing drones. Switzerland denies request by the US for fly-over rights. Over eight hundred civilians have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli bombardment.

synchronopticon

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ), the four pillars of consumer rights plus veto through inaction

twelve years ago: everyday objects rendered useless 

fourteen years ago: impressions from Prague plus UAVs in warfare

fifteen years ago: buried news and hidden connections 

 

tavajjoh, tavajjoh, tavajjoh (13. 266)

Since the onslaught of US-Israeli joint attacks on Iran began, a mysterious signal has been broadcast twice a day, prefaced by the above announcement in Farsi of “attention” repeated three times and followed by a recitation of seemingly random numerals, ۷, haft, seven, ۵, panj, five, ۳, de, three, ۸, hasht, eight and so on, a classic numbers station, air-gapped and virtually unbreakable encoding dating back to the Cold War. Speculation by intelligence enthusiasts deemed the cipher as possibly a wake-up call for sleeper-cells around the world—embedded terrorists whom Trump claims to be closely tracking, yet the past year was squandered with terrorising domestically and deporting citizens and residents instead—until the fifth day of the unlawful offensive came and the transmission began to be squelched with jamming technology. The whole exchange being open and easily captured on short-wave and triangulated to somewhere in north-western Europe, with interference a signature of both American and Soviet methods for blocking propaganda, made the community wonder where the broadcasts were originating from, who was the sender and who was trying to suppress it and questioning if it weren’t some opportunistic ploy for attention, with some concluding that the transmissions were directed towards US sources and double-agents within Iran was an equally likely cause—though after firing all the experts, replaced with enablers, it does not seem that the US is game for the long game.

blue shield (13. 265)

Coming into force in 1956 and ratified by one thirty eight member states, the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, party to every belligerent involved in the current conflagration but not always respected as with the Red Cross designating a hospitals and humanitarian activities, Iran has unfurled scores of the emblems on museums, holy and historical sites across the country as a message that this is not a strategic target. Whilst modern militaries maintain their own “no strike” lists with varying degrees of selective accuracy and there’s no way to control the legitimate use of the shield, the effort is laudable as it does add a layer of responsibility for aggressors and those seeking protection. Pictured is the Tomb of classical Persian poet Baba Tahir in Hamadan in midwestern Iran, which also hosts the burial places of philosopher and polymath Avicenna and Queen Ester as well as being the birthplace of Wojtek the bear.

day fifteen (13. 264)

A Jewish school in Amsterdam is damaged by a terror attack. Explosions were also heard at the US embassy in Baghdad. Hamas calls for Iran to stop its provocative attacks against neighbouring states, while there are conflicting claims about oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, the chief export terminal for Iran’s petroleum exports after Trump claims it was obliterated by US strikes. Reportedly, an amphibious detachment of five thousand Marines (aboard the USS Tripoli) is ordered to deploy to Iran from their home base in Okinawa.  Though prices barely responded to the historic announcement of releasing strategic reserves by member states of the International Energy Agency, surpassing even the coordinated actions taken to offset the market shocks of the 1973 Oil Crisis, the US depart of the interior assures east Asia that it can provide “reliable” energy supplies—America, although a net exporter through fracking to ease dependence on the Middle East following the last disruption and a modest pivot towards renewables, is still bound by the global market.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: an anti-slavery primer (with sychronopticæ), more on microseasons, a subtle expression of solidarity with Canada plus US government shutdown averted

twelve years ago: ski-yoga 

thirteen years ago: more manhole covers plus the endurance of treats

fifteen years ago: the Fukushima disaster 

sixteen years ago: daffodils and asphodels plus a non-existent conquest