negative seigniorage (12. 876)

The Philadelphia Mint struck its last batch of pennies today after issuing the one cent coins continually since 1793 after Trump declared them retired earlier in the year, with some four times the face value going into the smallest denomination. Although retailers and speciests had been advocating for its cancellation for decades, the abrupt execution has left cashiers frustrated with many rounding down to avoid short-changing as supplies begin to dwindle for the legal tender for all debts public and private, and some ironically offering a premium for paying with a sweaty palm of coins to hold in reserve.

legislation considered pursuant to a rule (12. 875)

Following Sunday night’s vote in the senate which saw eight political safe Democrats side with Republicans to overcome the filibuster threshold on a bill to reopen the US federal government after a stalemate of over forty days, in exchange for the protecting the right of the Government Accountability Office to sue the president for misappropriation of funds against the wishes of congress and a hollow promise to vote on whether to extend expiring health care subsidies (citing hardships and potential ruined holidays that were nonetheless being redressed by other means), which was the instigator of the standoff in the first place and now seems all for nothing, a self-own when the Democrats were ahead with their strategy and rather chuffed over a slate of election victories, the measure was returned to the house of representatives, recalling them from a recess of seven weeks to avoid the swearing in of an Arizona member whose vote in favour of releasing the Epstein files could force the matter to be brought to a floor vote, despite the speaker’s directive. Congress was recalled, again delaying the swearing in of the new representative and focusing on the legislation that they were just handed, with the bi-partisan oversight committee releasing a tranche of new documents, including some rather incriminating emails that refute Trump’s claim over a split with the pedophile and disgraced financial fixer. Whilst members on both sides of the aisle are enraged about postponing the discharge petition, it has also come to light Ghislaine Maxwell, already serving her sentence in a minimum security, is seeking a full commutation for her crimes. The president for his first meaningful interaction with the legislative branch outside of approving cabinet nominations, has cleared his schedule to sign the continuing resolution once it reaches his desk. The house is set to vote later in the afternoon but the entire ordeal is poised to repeat at the end of January when funding again runs out and it remains unclear whether the bill will pass, the Republican caucus only able to suffer no more than three defections and a provision to outlaw hemp-based products may cause some from agricultural states who have grown reliant on this industry to vote against the measure as it stands and torpedo its chances.

chthulucene (12. 874)

Having recently revisited the designation of the Anthropocene Age in the midst of the COP30 climate summit and we enjoyed this alternate heuristic, courtesy of Clive Thompson’s latest Linkfest, for not only understanding the era in which we live but also as way to put into perspective an appreciation for the concept of deep time (see also here and here) that underpins geology and evolution and even our accelerated moment of anthropogenic climate change. Though premised and predicated on gradual change over aeons which outlives any observer, thinkers like Charles Darwin and contemporaries failed to grasp the timescales that they were invoking and not much better equipped to fully comprehend its enormity and depth than us who deal with far cruder and protracted cycles. Not the Elder Gods of H P Lovecraft (the sudden-death round of links below features another allegorical Lovecraftian entity in the shoggoth, a meme to describe the unknowable and formless horror when AI becomes unhinged and reveals its true nature) but rather in the sense of chthonic powers—earthly forces of volcanos and seismic quakes and tidal waves deified in a host of underworld heroes and horrors unleashed by Mother Earth through our own prospecting and extraction.

synchronoptica

one year ago: from 2016 SNL mourns Leonard Cohen, Trump victory (with synchronopticæ), a national treasure of rare, modest and enduring interest plus more the Frankfurt Model Kitchen

thirteen years ago: thrift shops and overconsumption 

fourteen years ago: myth and monetary policy 

fifteen years ago: Esszett now an allowable character in domain names 

segelfluggelände (12. 873)

After last weekend’s walk up the hill to the model airplane field, we realised we had never shared actual impressions from wandering around the larger landing strip for gliders, small, self-launching motorised planes and ultralight aircraft on the opposite end of town at Büchig. Taking advantage of break in the fog and overcast skies, we made a circuit around the summit. 

The massif affords some really nice views of the surrounding pastures and forest and chain of peaks leading off into the distance, as well as the Lichtenburg, which despite its ruined state still has intact ramparts and high keep (the tallest in the region, but still nearly overtaken by the construction crane working on restoring the bailey) to entice the imagination, particularly at eye-level, with all the elements of a medieval knights’ castle. 

 For mid-November, seeing the fallow fields blooming, with even stunted sunflowers, was a bit off putting. It’s another nice spot to let the dog run free.

9x9 (12. 872)

climate change is no longer a threat of the future—it is a tragedy of the present: COP30 opens in Belém at the edge of the Amazon rainforest  

splice: following resignations, Trump threatens to sue BBC for one billion dollars over January Sixth documentary  

french windows: the animation of Ian Emes that defined Pink Floyd’s signature visual style 

epoch and era: geologists reject the Anthropocene age but it is still a valuable lens for understanding our present and future  

industrial organisation: the perpetuated belief that vertical monopolies and monopsonies are good for the consumer  

victory is mine again trebek: a clip reel of a Jeopardy! category  

so you’ve been bitten by a radioactive spider: a survival guide for the Marvel universe 

punt: anything other than a clear CR, US senate concludes debate and return the bill to congress for passage to reopen the federal government—including provisions for members to seek half-a-million dollars in compensation for having their phones searched for the January Sixth investigation (plus more pardons) and a ban on hemp  

money talks: Bill Gates apparently reverses stance on near-term emission reduction goals

synchronoptica

one year ago: AI espionage (with synchronopticæ), RFK Jr’s future role in Trump’s cabinet plus the lead narrows in the US congress

thirteen years ago: toothpaste for dinner, the architecture of choice plus making an animated gif

fourteen years ago: double-eleven 

sixteen years ago: new wheels 

in re (12. 871)

The US supreme court unanimously rejected a bid to reverse its 2015 landmark decision on the case Obergefell v Hodges, turning away an appeal “without comment” launched by the former Kentucky county clerk who declined to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite the ruling. The registrar, Kim Davis, was fired for contempt in not discharging her duties and lost a bid for re-election but appears not to have had legal standing in her petition. And whilst a relief that the Roberts court apparently found some spare stare decisis and the judicial fortitude to uphold precedent and settled law, select justices are likely passing on this bigoted loon and shopping for a better plaintiff to annul gay marriage at the altar of religious convictions.

the festival of reason (12. 870)

On this feast of Saint Monitor, fifth century bishop of Orléans of whom nothing is known, Pope Leo I, also active during the mid-four-hundreds, called the Great and a diplomat perhaps best remembered for his embassy with Attila the Hun that successfully persuaded him to turn back his armies and not invade Italy, and many others, revolutionary France declared a national Fête de la Raison on this day in 1793 (An II, 20. Brumaire), organised by humanist philosopher Antoine-François Momoro under the Cult of Reason, as a state-sponsored atheistic religion to replace the Catholic church (a policy of agnosticism and god-building or la construction de dieu as a surrogate as opposed to outright abolition), which was seen as a major catalyst for the uprising, arguing that deifications of such ideas as liberty and truth diminished the autonomy and self-determination of the individual. Former houses of worship were transformed into Temples of Reason, stripped of icons and idols—the largest event hosted in Notre Dame in Paris. Women dressed in togas and tricolour sashes of the republic tended a symbolic flame on the altar representing the values of the First Republic. Described by detractors with the lurid hallmarks of Roman excess and misplaced ritual, the holiday did not see a repeat, supplanted with the rival tradition, slightly more deistic and promoted by jurist and statesman Maximilien Robespierre with the Cult of the Supreme Being. Both sects were banned by Napoleon Bonaparte with the Law on Cults of 18 Germinal, Year X—re-privileging the old order.

we call that delegation of authority (12. 869)

First in print on this day in 1961, the debut novel of Joseph Heller, often cited as one of the most significant literary works of the twentieth century, follows the narratives of fighter pilots and bombaries of a US army airforce squadron based on an island off the west coast of Italy during the waning years of World War II, struggling to maintain sanity and professional bearing while fulfilling increasingly elusive service requirements in order to be discharged and reintegrated back home. Relayed with a unique, non-chronological third person omniscient voice to develop separate perspectives and forward the plot along with the timeline for the course of events. Replete with paradox and flashback and shifting points-of-view, the antihero Captain John Yossarian comes to fear his commanding officers more than the enemy as the required number of combat missions keep increasing and though Yossarian once met that prerequisite, the requirement is retroactively raised, and cannot escape due to contradictory rules and conditions—the bureaucratic rule never stated fully, if it is even in written regulation, follows the illogic that one can be deemed unfit to fly by reason of insanity—incapacity demonstrated by willingness to participate—but as one has to apply to be excused from further mission, the appeal itself betrays a sound mind and self of self-preservation, refuting the reason for being grounded. With parallel themes of theodicy and why a benevolent god would allow evil in the world, Heller’s working title was Catch-18, referencing the the Hebrew letter and symbol chai (חַי ) which in Jewish numerology, gematria—assigning a number value to each letter—this sort of secret message to piece together being more prominent in earlier drafts, signifies being alive, but publishers Simon & Schuster urged the author to change it to avoid confusion Leon Uris’ recent Mila 18 and seventeen also rejected for its proximity to another contemporary in Stalag 17. Twenty-two encoded as tav—truth—as the last letter of the alphabet and the doubling (picked by the editors) evokes the feeling of déjà-vu and disjointedness with episodes replayed again and again from different angles.