the corsican twins

Vaguely remembering the short musical number—it turns out it was a song about phonetics from PBS‘s The Electric Company—I don’t know if I ever knew Alexandre Dumas’ Les Frères corses and so neither registered nor appreciated the numerous other cultural references. In the 1844 novella, the formerly conjoined brothers, separated by a surgeon at birth, were called Louis and Lucien. Whereas the former became a sophisticated attorney in Paris, the latter sibling remained close to his roots, living with their widowed mother in the south of the island near Porto Vecchio. Despite being put asunder by the doctor’s scalpel as newborns, the brothers have a sympathetic connection at a distance and can feel the other’s emotions. Lucien undertakes the role of mediator between two local feuding families and with Louis’ help lawyers up. There are myriad homages, pastiches and parodies, including Gene Wilders’ Start the Revolution without Me, dozens of adaptations and the twins renamed as Cheech and Chong, Samantha ans Sabrina, and in the GI JOE cartoon series, brothers-in-arms Tomax and Xamot are depicted as having the Corsican syndrome where any injury to one is suffered by the other. Dumas’ work is in part of an allegory critical of contemporary French attempts to centralise government power and civilise its provincial regions, including the territory annexed since 1768 remains ruggedly independent, like Bretagne.

de ajaccio à porto vers de la côte

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to enjoy (with synchronopticæ), punctuation against AI authorship, a Romani saint plus a magic circle programming language 

fifteen years ago: radical knitters and hydropower 

sixteen years ago: DNA watermarks 

ms mega smeralda (13. 457)

Originally built in 1985 in the shipyards of Helsinki for Silja Line traffic between the Finnish capital and Stockholm— christened for service by the famous Swedish opera star Märta Birgit Nilsson, the cruise liner joined the fleet of Corsica Ferries in 2012. 

Our ship’s maiden voyage the following year coincided with the Tour de France including legs in Corsica, the boat transporting sports journalists and others working on the race and docked at the port of Ajaccio, served as accommodations and a media centre.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the One Bill Beautiful Bill and birthright citizenship (with synchronopticæ), assorted links worth revisiting plus It magazine

fourteen years ago: Chinese treasury holdings 

fifteen years ago: not the end of the world 

sixteen years ago: German word-building 

day eighty-three (13. 456)

Trump again raises spectre of military intervention in Cuba. Macro Rubio will visit the issue of Trump’s disappointment with NATO allies during the upcoming anniversary of the founding. Though the position of redeployment of US troops in Germany seems to be settled, the president abruptly reversed his decision to stop stationing soldiers in Poland, leaving all parties confused. No appreciable progress has been made on negotiations with Iran as global petroleum supplies approach a red zone as reserves dwindle and are depleted. US director of national intelligence Tussi Gabbard is sidelined, marking another departure from the cabinet.

drôme (13. 455)

synchronoptica

one year ago: antique perfume bottle blueprints (with synchronopticæ), fake books by real authors, German troops deployed to Lithuania plus Trump meets with his South African counterpart

twelve years ago: a trip to Tuscany 

thirteen years ago: Bayesian logic  

fourteen years ago: a devastating earthquake in Italy plus weed-killer in Germany

sixteen years ago: delicate constitutions plus missing links and living fossils

lac de la seigneurie (13. 454)

 

day eighty-two (13. 453)

In a breach of protocol and following his warning after his meeting with Xi to Taipei to not speak of independence, Trump says he intends to hold direct talks with Taiwan’s president, the first time a US leader has done so since 1979. As indications that the US is preparing for conflict, former Cuban leader Raúl Castro is indicted by the US department of justice for the 1996 downing of two airplanes. Reports emerge that the US and Israel had hoped to put controversial populist ex-president Mahmud Ahmadinejad in power with the opening salvo of the war and the bombing campaign that killed the Supreme Leader, hoping to free Ahmadinejad from house arrest but underestimating support for the regime with apparently the former president souring on the idea of the coup as the fighting intensified.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Heidelberg Asparagus Supper (with synchronopticæ) plus NASA sells an iconic property

twelve years ago: privacy and HIPAA 

thirteen years ago: laser-cut recordings 

fourteen years ago: frictionless markets plus codified disinformation

sixteen years ago: synthetic cells 

 

derafsh (13. 452)

Whilst already prohibited as a symbol of political provocation during the 2022 Qatari games though inconsistently enforced, FIFA is introducing a blanket ban against the pre-revolutionary and pro-monarchist lion and sun flag at World Cup venues. Reportedly the move was instigated as a prerequisite to the national team’s participation in the events. Unhelpfully, Twitter at the beginning of the joint Israeli-US war of aggression against Iran changed its flag emoji to the pre-1979 version championed by those against the Islamic Republic. The title ( درفش) refers to the battle standard used by ancient Persian armies.