for jointly having negotiated a cease fire in vietnam in 1973 (12. 800)

Co-laureates announced on this day of the same year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee controversially decided to award the prize, following the Paris Peace Accords, to the delegates of the United States of America and North Vietnam, Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ respectively. The treaty negotiated and signed without the input or endorsement of the senate or the government of South Vietnam, having been derailed several times over the demands that all prisoners of war be released, American intervention in the war was ended and troops withdrawn (see previously) leading to an almost immediate resumption of the conflict. Thọ outright refused the questionable honour and Kissinger accepted it only in absentia, fearing the optics of protesters at the ceremony. Kissinger subsequently tried to return the award but the Nobel committee did not want it back. Consideration given to forty-four other nominees that year, deliberations included author Pearl S Buck for work in humanitarian projects and championing racially mixed children, Indira Gandhi, the Hague, Spurgeon Milton Keeny for work in family planning and reproductive choice and Luis Kutner for advocating for a universal law of habeas corpus to counter arbitrary imprisonment and exile, Josip Broz Tito, Universala Esperanto-Asocio and sponsored by several members of congress Richard Milhous Nixon for accomplishments promoting lasting world peace. Further criticism includes recipients Jimmy Carter, the European Union, Shimon Peres with Yasser Arafat and Barack Obama, whose, in the minds of some, electoral award pressed Donald Trump to the to pursue the same circuit of honours. 

synchronoptica 

one year ago: Rocky & Bullwinkel and the Cuba Missile Crisis (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links worth the revisit

sixteen years ago: home-heating units 

7x7 (12. 799)

do not comply in advance: many news organisations are refusing to sign on to new US department of war rules to report on only officially vetted items 

haibao: a look back at the 2010 Shanghai world Expo plus a menagerie of other mascots  

touched by an angle: more biblically accurate heavenly hosts—see also here and here  

the lighthouse, the prioritiser and the flashlight: dozens of strategies for safeguarding one’s attention in an exhausting environment—via MetaFilter 

xeno canto: a geocaching tutorial for birdsong—from a revamped Maps Mania  

zoomorphic stereotypes: the 1806 human-animal hybrid caricatures of Charles Le Brun 

sos: Save our Signs project aims to preserve ten thousand placards in US national parks threatened with deletion for telling uncomfortable truths of the past for present and future generations

acervo (12. 798)

Via It’s Nice That we are referred to the repository, living archive of vernacular graphic design curated by one Alagoas native, Victor Yves, who began his collection after encountering the paucity of visual archives of Brazil’s northeast and resolved to create his own. The personal project of gathering “eye exercises” (exercícios para os olhos) gleaned from posters, prints, pamphlets and other ephemera informed by naïve- and folk-art soon developed into an academic obsession by its own inertia of filling what would become an obvious gap in the region’s creative heritage, amassing a sizeable portfolio of influential contributors whose credit was missing from the national canon. There are over five thousand (and growing) artefacts to peruse in the gallery, each with a short biography of its provenance and artist plus a selection of other exhibits with similar energy.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an incredible Trump rally (with synchronopticæ) plus a creepy featurette

fourteen years ago: adventures in Ireland 

sixteen years ago: blogging-block 

latent belief (12. 797)

A very low-stakes example (see here for a somewhat more consequent one) of human hubris and machine over-confidence seems to be uncovered in queries about the existence of a seahorse emoji—much depending on how one broaches the question. Whereas a straight yes-no answer elicits false assurances, a more casual manner of asking incites a sort of freak-out including citations of the Mandela effect to disabuse the questioner, the variety of other marine life in emoji form, how to convey the sense of seahorse by a combination of symbols, and how petitions and appeals for its inclusion failed in 2018 (in the same release as the dodo, which did make the cut)—with means of redress for submitting one’s own ideas to the steering committee. It seems a simple question yields the hallucinatory false memories and goes the way of other proposed but declined representatives, like the yurt, triceratops, wind turbine, wheelie bin, tattoo, lighthouse, face with laser eyes but yet four types of waffle and five variations on the polar bear.

rhapsody in green (12. 796)

Though released in 1976 with the impressive credentials of synth music pioneer and eclectic composer of genres ranging from easy-listening to the occult space age electronic pop Mort Garson, his anthology album of Moog sounds formulated for plants and plant-lovers failed to sell a single record for decades that is until a bootleg copy was put online and subsequent vinyl pressings. Its obscurity owed to the fact of its limited, exclusive release only as a free gift for those purchasing a houseplant from the eponymous store on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles—and to those who purchased a mattress from a local Sears outlet. A touchstone of of the era also on account of the interest in horticultural communication and well-being, Plantasia is more celebrated and cerebral for human enjoyment as a forerunner of electronic music. More from Kraftfuttermischwerk including an intense analysis of the complex contrapuntal composition due in part to the to limitations of the Moog with a single voice, monophonic instrument and its virtuosity in the ability to layer those effects.

*    *    *    *    *

synchronoptica

one year ago: Pulp Fiction (with synchronopticæ), a simplified LED typeface plus a mysterious visit from Mr Babbage

fifteen years ago: Jesus H Christ 

oblique strategies (12. 795)

Though I am reluctant to add many executive toys to my physical desktop, I do catch myself staring off quite a bit in moments of tension or feeling overwhelmed at a collection of juggling practise bean bags, a memory match game wherein one tries to pair dogs with their owners (I think the idea is supposed to be pretty open ended and there are no wrong choices) to jar or dislodge or alleviate something, and so very much appreciated this new deck of cards to put in one’s rolodex to seek out a positive reframing rather and “avoid falling into the slipstream of prevailing trends” and performative expectations. Ambagious Tactics contain an aphorism or question to ponder on each cue-card, a prompt to cleanse the palette, following the format of the above worthwhile dilemmas co-created by Brian Eno (most famously used during the recording sessions of David Bowie’s Berlin trilogy) and Peter Schmidt in 1975 to encourage lateral thinking and help creatives—or anyone—break through an impasse. Only ever released in limited runs, physical copies of Strategies are hard to come by but are available on-line to shuffle through for suggestions—this cartomancy (see previously here, here and here) carefully crafted to be trusted even if the appropriateness is unclear, and with signicant cultural impact, many books, songs and film make oblique reference to the cards, including the bit of advice, “Withdrawing in disgust is not the same thing as apathy,” a lyric in REM’s What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? Other suggestions run along the lines: Emphasis repetition; Try faking it; Restate the problem as clearly as possible; What would your closest friend do? More to explore from { feuilleton } at the link above and perhaps the inspiration to make one’s own set for yourself or as a gift.

penmanship (12. 794)

We throughly enjoyed this introduction to the Zaner-Bloser method for teaching handwriting through a collection of satisfying alphabet and type specimens that were instructors’ aides used at the Zanerian College of Penmanship of Columbus Ohio from around 1904 to 1910. Originally developed with the intent of making the transition from block-print to cursive script, advanced slides also dealt with different typefaces and incorporated elements of graphic design. Likely one of the only professional efficiency hacks worth attending to is speed and accuracy in typing—just so with with one’s manuscript in whatever medium.  Though the institution of higher education is no more and in the US the D’Nealian method (of Donald Neal Thurber with its monkey-tail flourishes) developed in the mid-1960s is more familiar to generations of pupils, the educational duo’s later incarnation as a publishing house still produces such classroom materials and Highlights—a once favourite in practise waiting rooms. Conceived at first to educate illiterate enlisted soldiers, the magazine is no longer in print, but its legacy carries on in a children’s podcast featuring Goofus and Gallant. More samples from Flashbak at the link above.

continuing resolution (12. 793)

In order to dull the pain or inconvenience that the average member of the American public associates with the furlough and partial government shutdown and avoid the optics of service members in uniform queuing at food pantries on pay-day, the administration has proposed, akin to the rescission-process from earlier in the year, re-programming funds already committed, still in defiance of authorisations, to other projects, like army research and development or monies generated from sources outside the process of congressional appropriations, so air-traffic controllers, airport security agents and soldiers do not miss their next pay cheque. Whereas travel disruptions may be more relatable than the potential for mutiny over breach of contract, both are still within the realm of possibilities. Despite having virtually insurmountable control over the three branches of the federal government, Republicans persist in blaming the closure on Democrats—though perceptions are changing and the public and the federal workforce, in many cases not working or deemed essential and working for the promise of delayed pay, seeming more tenuous, know that the layoffs and evisceration of programmes were planned well in advance of the 30 September deadline and are something that the GOP would have carried out regardless.

synchronoptica

one year ago: university commas (with synchronopticæ), Peabody visual aides, an out-of-season bloom plus Dungeons & Dragons as group therapy

fifteen years ago: tabloid news 

sixteen years ago: the most beautiful object in the world