synchronoptica
one year ago: scanning code from magazines (with synchronopticรฆ), the artistic side of Samuel Morse plus Surrealistic logos
thirteen years ago: demographic devolution among the German constituency
sixteen years ago: a potential life-extending compound isolated on Easter Island
peering capacity: a chronological representation of the undersea cable network and earthbound exchange points that forms the global internet—via Maps Mania
somewhere, somebody must have kicked you around some: a growing thread of emigration options
turophiles’ delight: a two part podcast on fromology, the science of cheese and cheese-mongering
this time for africa: a possibly unironic appreciation of the 2010 World Cup anthem—Waka Waka, inspired by Zangalรฉwa, the Cameroonian marching song—via Pasa Bon!
first serve: an overview of the history of tennis
a fine bromance: a series of ruptures in the relationship between Trump and Putin—previously—possibly signals the end
holding hands while the walls come tumbling down: a mental time-capsule of Gen-X doom ballads
frame of preference: a story about early Mac settings and control panels narrated through ten interactive emulators—see previously—via Kottke
synchronoptica
one year ago: Savage Curtain (with sychronopticรฆ), impressions of West Berlin in the summer of 1977 plus Project 2025
twelve years ago: World Heritage Sites around Germany plus RIFs for the Pentagon
thirteen years ago: East-Bloc versions of Western vehicles
alligator auschwitz: Trump’s Florida detention centre is by every definition a concentration camp
solvitur ambulando: when in doubt, go for a walk—see previously
mcmxxv—mmxxv: the century in one hundred films
rif me daddy: US supreme court overrules injunction against executive branch illegal mass firings after passage of Trump’ domestic policy agenda
geschirrspรผler: a 1959 German dishwasher in action
adam und eva: a group of Europeans’ failed attempt to found a utopia during the interbellum period on a remote Galรกpagos island—via Neatorama
race and ethnicity: the case of George Shishim, invoking Jesus, illustrates the particularly American obsession with whiteness to the exclusion of others—see more
Since its adoption in July of 1954, the Johnson Amendment as a provision in the US tax code has prohibited non-profit organisations, charitable foundations, universities and churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates or risk losing their tax exempt status. 
Named for then senator Lyndon B Johnson (previously), the section of the tax code of the Internal Revenue Service defining which groups are not liable to a levy on donations was amended without debate and was long considered uncontroversial until the 2010s when the Pulpit Freedom Initiative—likewise shielded from taxation—begin lobbying for its repeal, culminating with Trump announcing his intent to “totally destroy” the provision during the National Prayer Breakfast in February of 2017 shortly after his first inauguration. Whilst not completely removing the language, the acting IRS commission, during ongoing litigation between the tax authority and religious liberties campaigners, has signalled a significant posture shift in the rarely enforced law—comparing a religious institution’s endorsement of a a political candidate to a “family discussion” and falls short of intervening in a campaign if a pastor “in good faith speaks to their congregation through customary channels” on electoral platforms through a lens of faith. The Catholic church, regardless of legal permissibility, does not allow funds to be spent on behalf of candidates, officially, and as a general rule should not engage in partisan politics.
Via Waxy, we found this meta-analysis from the Pudding of gendered characters in children’s literature to be quite engrossing and seeing the stereotypes anthropo-morphised reveals deep and engrained associations we find not only in the first characters that many of us were exposed to (see also) but also in myth (think of all the women in Greek legend who get transformed into birds) and in language, pet names for one another and some fossilised but still carrying a lot of cultural currency. Much more on the data and methodology, including some surprising exceptions to the prevailing, at the link above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the 1948 London Games (with synchronopticรฆ) plus the Thirteen Colonies’ attempt to avoid open conflict with Britain (1775)
thirteen years ago: a classic car show tradition plus Jack of All Trades (1900)
fourteen years ago: German austerity policies plus the loss of a flagship for space exploration
fifteen years ago: getting ready for a trip to the Baltic Sea
We really enjoyed this essay from Aeon Magazine contributor Cameron Allen McKean that looks below the fold of the memes and tropes to examine the freshly rediscovered phenomena of carcinisation and convergent evolution generally that been observed by biologists for centuries and dates back much further in mythos with the resonant niche that we humans occupy as fellow increasingly armoured “intertidal scavengers” and crablike representatives of this extended phenotype. 
These liminal beings not only inform a common motif in contemporary science fiction but also inhabit our eldest stories, like the zodiacal sign—the Sun’s most northerly position in the sky during the solstice, the Tropic of Cancer (though now shifted to the constellation of Taurus due to the procession of the equinoxes) named for ฮฮฑฯฮบฮฏฮฝฮฟฯ, the pesky crab that played distraction whilst Hercules fought the Hydra of Lerna. Slain after pinching the hero’s foot, Hera—not a fan—placed the crab amongst the stars or the Norse tradition of the Kraken, usually depicted as a crustacean sea monster. Reaching even further into the past, fishing practises yield one of the most readily manifest examples of natural selection with the seemingly unnatural and superstitious cast-off and release that resulted in a population of crabs with angry samurai faces. Much more to explore at the links above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronopticรฆ), a forgotten pioneer of cinematography, swimming with Benjamin Franklin plus France at the polls
twelve years ago: advertising via bone-conduction, the Pope visits refugees on Lampedusa plus a proposal to drain the Mediterranean
thirteen years ago: Julian Assange granted sanctuary plus food additives
fourteen years ago: houseplants thriving
On this day in 1962 in Area 10 of the Yucca Flat testing grounds of the Nevada National Security Site in the US southwest, as part of Operation Plowshare, an investigative programme to explore the use of thermonuclear devices for mining, tunnelling, damming, the creation of harbours and other infrastructure applications—first pioneered and continued by the Soviet Union—a mixed yield hydrogen bomb, calibrated for fission of thirty percent and fusion of seventy percent, was detonated at a shallow depth of some two hundred meters underground. Instantly displacing eleven million tonnes of rock and soil, resulting in the title crater and minor earthquake. The project was abandoned after some thirteen million residents to the east of the blast site were exposed to radioactive fallout in the name of public safety. Native flora, aside from itinerant tumbleweeds, have yet to recover in the immediate area.
The first Master of Stage Craft (preferring his neologism Spielgang to the more orthodox term Theaterstรผck—I was later disabused of my own made up version of Spielstรผck for a play which is not a real word but understandable) at the Bauhaus and artistic and copyright lawyer by trade, we appreciated this introduction to dramaturge Lothar Schreyer through his retelling of the Passion staged only a few times in 1920 in a bleak post-war setting. 
The only well-documented directorial work, owing to the complexity of the performance that necessitated a programme with translation key for the audience, like many expressionist productions of that time, there are only scant records which mostly are preserved in the form of bad reviews by the trade press, Schreyer was later caught up in the allure of the Christian and Vรถlkisch mysticism of the Nazi party, despite his contributions being labelled as degenerate art (see below), and continued panning of his plays prompted his replacement, Oskar Schlemmer, to take on the leading role at the institute. More from the Public Domain Review at the link up top.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchropticรฆ), bracket orthography plus Forrest Gump (1994)
thirteen years ago: moons of the year, confusing job application instructions plus a typeface comparison
fourteen years ago: land octopuses
