enter prince andrew (12. 738)

One cannot presume to speak for the strategy that may be behind the decision of the royal family and the prime minister to go ahead with hosting this appeasement tour, placating Trump’s ego with an unprecedented state visit. Both the Queen, under advisement of her Household, and Starmer had the sense of propriety and decency to dismiss respectively the younger brother of the then heir-apparent and in the latter case the up until very recently the ambassador to the United States as associates of Jeffrey Epstein, who as ombudsman delivered the personal invitation of the King Charles III, so their overall tactic may yet be warranted. Both former friends were denied a place at the banquet table for their relationship with the infamous sex-trafficker and financial fixer, however—rightly so, but it does not seem right that the court might afford Epstein’s best buddy a seat. It’s definitely a risk and a humiliation regardless of the aims, rolling out the red carpet for a charlatan and sex-pest whose empty threats have become merely wearying and something to endure and outlast. Nice that the pageantry is marred at every turn by protests keeping the hosts in line. Exeunt omnes.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronopticæ)

thirteen years ago: Suzanne Vega and the .mp3 plus limits on freedom of expression in Germany

fifteen years ago: side-quests and gamification plus immigration and othering

pious fictions (12. 737)

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency contributor Carlos Greaves shares an uncharacteristically sobering flowchart, decision-tree on telling the difference between a lone wolf and a coordinated effort by the radical left.

The parallel construction triangulates with a lecture series by tech oligarch Peter Thiel embracing the language of the apocalypse—rebuffing, redirecting worries over AI godhead with talks that appeal to particularly American obsessions of naming the Antichrist and belief in angels and demons (environmental activist Greta Thunberg is a favourite target of the influential billionaire for the Great Satan—in the parlance and policing of y’all Qaeda) and the censoring of media outlets with producer son David of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison looking to acquire CNN after taking over Paramount-Skydance with consequences already apparent, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission bullying ABC-Disney into cancelling another popular late night talk show critical of the administration, the divestiture of US TikTok to a MAGA cadre to transform it into a propaganda mill far worse than any hand wringing over China, and the Washington Post dismissing a veteran journalist for reporting the news and calling out sophistry.

la casa azul (12. 736)

Renowned artist Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, known for her numerous works of self-portraiture (Autorretrato) and murals executed in a naïve folk style with an element of magical realism that examined topics of class, race, gender, identity, post-colonialism and her personal experience with chronic pain, having recovered from a disabling case of polio as a child and, aged eighteen was a promising and gifted student headed to medical school was on this day in 1925 in Mexico City was nearly killed in a serious accident when the bus she was a passenger in collided violently with a streetcar. Sustaining numerous injuries, including a fractured spinal column—never fully recovering her mobility—for the next two years Kahlo (see previously here and here) was confined to her bed whilst her body healed. During this long convalescence, she returned to her childhood aspirations, also prompted by an extended period of recuperation and resignation, of becoming a painter. Kahlo’s parents provide an easel and supplies arranged where she could work reclined and mounted a mirror on the ceiling so she could study herself bedridden and produced among many other painting the pictured aristocratic self-portrait in a velvet dress. The mannerist piece was later considered Kahlo’s seminal project and first professional painting, and was gifted to her boyfriend at the time, during a fractious time in their short relationship, which aided in a brief reconciliation, though he moved away to Europe while Kahlo remained in Mexico, toughening up her self-image and rejecting the expectations of the male-gaze.

bank error in your favour (12. 735)

Reminiscent of a possibly apocryphal story circulated by tellers of accepting coin rolls of pfennigs and exchanging them for euro bills shortly some years after the change over, on this day in 1975, one Stephen Holcomb Jr of Transverse City, Michigan presented a hundred-thousand mark note, wishing to trade it for US dollars after a local electronics store refused to take the foreign money for the purchase of an AM/FM radio and suggested he go to the bank. With no malice or fraud intended, the clerk had accepted the bill at face value, giving Holcomb the going rate and exchanging it for nearly forty-thousand in cash, promptly buying the radio and going on a spending spree. Honouring the current rate had been a mistake as the bill was dated 1923, issued during the inter-war period of hyper-inflation and valued at a fraction of a cent—see also here and here. Holcomb’s mother had been an antique dealer and the worthless artefact had been in the house as long as they could remember. Although not criminally charged, the balance of the money was recovered and new truck and other purchases repossessed after Holcomb’s night on the town in Chicago when he was apprehended by a bank detective upon returning home.

recaptcha (12. 734)

The latest game from Neal Agarwal (see previously) comes to us courtesy of Waxy and involves increasing ridiculous challenges for website access (see also here and here) by proving one is not a robot—the barriers to entry enhanced and erected more often as of late ostensibly to prevent bots from scrapping data but criticised for their dual-use as free labour by training said bots in the not particularly human capacity for image- and character-recognition, wasting time and providing little security in exchange. What level made you give up? Also via ibīdem, here are some more infuriating yet plausible captchas designed to frustrate dishonest brokers—created in the same spirit as this first line of defence from telemarketing scams.

hedgehog highways (12. 733)

Via Metafilter, we learn that a cross-bench committee of peers of the House of Lords are debating amendments to the planning and infrastructure bill before parliament that’s been deemed woefully inadequate by conservation groups for allowing offsets for developers to pay into rather than building in a minimal, sustainable and cohabiting manner on new properties. Mandates for new construction include the above corridors for small mammals to increase their range across neighbourhood gardens, special glass to reduce bird-strikes, nesting boxes, so called “swift bricks,” as refuges for avian friends, bats, insects and others. More from The Guardian at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a versatile French pronoun (with synchronopticæ) 

qed (12. 732)

A once in a century event, at least for jurisdictions observing the MM-DD-YY format (see also), today—rendered as 9/16/25—illustrates the Pythagorean Theorem—that is, a²+b²=c² or three-squared plus four-squared equals five squared or the unit measures of the shorter vertices of any right triangle yield its hypotenuse. As a bonus, the full year, 2025 (see above), is the square of forty-five.  More auspicious dates with numerical properties at the links above.

7x7 (12. 731)

life is too short to not say exactly what you mean all the time: folk singer Jessie Welles (previously) on one’s calling and being candid in trying times 

post-parade afterglow: clips of Chinese soldiers returning home with identical tan-lines from drilling in the helmets in the sun for the event commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the end of World War II  

crash blossoms: Tropic Storm Gabrielle Spaghetti Models as Hurricane Chances Increase and other headlines 

bijin-ga: a selection of Japanese prints featuring cats and butterflies eau de eight-bit: fragrances inspired by classic home computers 

analyst call: Trump urges US Securities and Exchange Commission to eliminate quarterly reporting requirements for businesses, afraid of how markets will react to the knock on effects of tariffs of 

brahmins and buddhists: an exploration of a right-wing ideologue and influencer who brought yoga to the West