synchronoptica
one year ago: anchor Dan Rather assaulted (with synchronopticรฆ), an ongoing treasure hunt plus another scavenger hunt
twelve years ago: US government shut-down disrupts NASA projects plus capture houses and bait cars
thirteen years ago: more tarnished smiles
fourteen years ago: the Occupy Wall Street movement
fifteen years ago: reflections on twenty years of German unity
synchronoptica
one year ago: a banger from Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs (with synchronopticรฆ), the Berlin Freedom and Unity monument plus thirty-one days of Halloween
thirteen years ago: ohaguro
fourteen years ago: flag-counters plus der Tag der Deutsche Einheit
synchronoptica
one year ago: The Taking of Pelham 123 (with synchronopticรฆ) plus a giant hybrid sheep
seventeen years ago: out-of-body experiences
synchronoptica
one year ago: digital divinity (with synchronopticรฆ), ghost-writing, ambient music from a surveillance system plus up-selling
twelve years ago: reporting on the US government shutdown
thirteen years ago: DIY month, wine and cheese advertising, vintage community calendars plus the risks of the agriculture lobby
fourteen years ago: hidden messages in song lyrics
seventeen years ago: the fiscal new year
Whilst most attention was focused on Trump’s upstaging of the some eight hundred top generals and admirals from American military outposts from all over the world at great expense and distraction summoned to be presented a speech on warrior ethos that could have frankly been an email or at most a TEAMS virtual meeting only to then be lectured by the commander in chief regarding physical fitness of the force, woke- and fat-shaming the US military into a plaything exclusively by and for white, straight males with liberal bastions declared as training grounds, the federal government entered a shutdown after successive refusal by the Republicans to entertain negotiations over extending healthcare subsidies and defunding public broadcasting. 
The standoff preceded by congress blocking the swearing in of a Democratic representative from Arizona for fear of loosing the GOP‘s narrow margin and compelling the release of the Epstein files, replacing the official portrait of Joe Biden in the White House gallery with a crude picture of an auto-pen and continuing the violent vitriol against the radical left—out-of-office auto-replies are to specifically blame the opposition for the closure and lapse in nonessential services–a clear violation of the Hatch Act. The last significant shutdown lasting more than a few hours was during Trump’s first term in 2018 and 2019 when the government closed for thirty-five days
synchronoptica
one year ago: papabili (with synchronopticรฆ) plus assorted links worth revisiting
twelve years ago: US government shut-down show-down over Obama Care
fourteen years ago: salvage thieves plus advances in Chinese aerospace
fifteen years ago: a bumper crop of exoplanets plus planning a trip to Ireland
Incredibly after a run of forty-one years, the Chicago Tribune announced on this day in 1975 that it would be revising its style guide and discontinue the editing standards in place since January of of 1934 of offering simplified, phonetic spellings (see previously) of about eight common words, conceding that the newspaper was not making the grade when it came to came to English language conventions of putting words in print (both in headlines and copy) and wanted to cause no further confusion in the classroom, particularly for young pupils. While holding out that sanity and prescription might one day come to orthography, going forward, the paper agreed to no longer publish thru, tho and thoro for through, though and thorough—as well as rime for rhyme, fantom for phantom, sofomore for sophomore, etc.
synchronoptica
one year ago: sea birds in a hurricane (with synchronopticรฆ) plus a Schoolhouse Rock!-style explainer for Project 2025
twelve years ago: punctuation marks that failed to catch on plus downplaying the climate catastrophe
thirteen years ago: real life raiders of the lost Ark plus the debut of Star Trek: TNG (1987)
fourteen years ago: austerity measures for the German economy plus biometric punch-clocks
fifteen years ago: the reckoning of Iceland’s financial crisis
