(13. 094)

synchronoptica

one year ago: Americans turn to a TikTok alternative (with synchronopticæ), cartoon show-bibles plus assorted links to enjoy

fourteen years ago: more German un-words

jardin del edén (13. 093)

Via tmn, we are taken on a tour of the groves of the Todolí foundation on the east coast of Valcencia, which produces over five hundred varieties of uncommon citrus, the largest collection in the world, fostering a natural refuge for endemic frogs, birds and pollinators—whilst supplying markets and gourmet restaurants, promoting biodiversity and conducting research to bear these usual fruits through the changing climate and to come out on the other side with more harmonious and sustainable farm to table strategies. Humans are the only primates that have lost the ability to produce vitamin C internally and need to supplement their diet accordingly. There are twelve groupings: citrons, pummelos, mandarins, papaya, sweet and bitter oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, kumquats and trifoliate with exotic examples of the latter in the Buddha’s Hand and exquisite finger limes. Much more on the wide spectrum of citrus at the links above.

bespoke commissions (13. 092)

Corresponding with the aesthetic of McMansion Hell or the yachting-set, we are directed to these custom models put out by Rolls Royce recently that indulge every whim of those who can afford conveyance in excess of a half a million above and beyond their standard luxury appointments gleaned from the errant news alerts and newsletters from a former automotive journalist’s mailing list. The individuals clients are not clients are not named and don’t need to be as all their conspicuous ostentation is on display and illustrates the uncanny valley of human experience that the rich find themselves in—adoring one’s pets is universal so is embracing one’s hobbies or expressing one’s favourite colours but its as if this hyperbole, achievable by much less costly means (the dog certainly doesn’t know the difference) is as if an alien or AI tried to understand these qualities and way over did it. Much more from Victoria Scott—including a gamer edition that compelled her to write the article (I drive a Rolls-Royce because it’s good for my voice) at the link above.

what a mistaica to make-a (13 .091)

On this day in 1996, the seaplane of Jimmy Buffett, Hemisphere Dancer, whilst taxiing off the coast of Negril was fired upon by the national coast guard mistaking it for a drug-trafficking aircraft. Only sustaining minimal damage with no injuries, the pilot surrendered to authorities following several harrowing minutes of assault and the passenger manifest included U2 members Adam Clayton, Bono and his family as well as Island Records producer Chris Blackwell. The government acknowledged the incident and issued an apology, and Buffett (previously) penned a song several months later to commemorate the rather traumatising event—admitting in the fullness of time that he might have been transporting his own personal stash.

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synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronopticæ), Trump’s special envoys to Hollywood plus identified aerial phenomena 

thirteen years ago: clinical studies on marijuana 

fourteen years ago: planet hunters 

sixteen years ago: hircine decor 

dateline (13. 090)

On this day in 1609—with some evidence that the periodical was in circulation already for four years—the first newspaper in Germany and among the first worldwide was published, Avisa Relation oder Zeitung, by printer Julius Adolph von Söhne in Wolfenbüttel (also the home of the Jägermeister distillery) in Niedersachsen with the issue carrying developments and happenings from various countries up-to-date (see also), with the presumption it went out then. The French daily of record Le Figaro was first distributed on this day as well in 1826, named for the Beaumarchais character from Le Mariage de Figaro with a line from his closing monologue “Sans la liberté de blâmer, il’nest point d’éloge flatteur”—without freedom to criticise, there is no room for praise. The first issue of of the journal Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners later to become the Paarl gazette was published in as the first periodical in Afrikaans language in 1876. The leading news agency and wire-service of Italy, Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) was also founded today in 1945 by a consortium of the resistance to Mussolini’s fascist regime.

9x9 (13. 089)

crisis actors: Trump supports protests of any authoritarian regime except his own 

wikipedia@25: the Free Encyclopaedia project was started on this day in 2001—see previously, see more  

demumu: popular Chinese app, “Are You Dead?” is a safety tool aimed for a growing demographic of one-person households  

fafo: thousands of World Cup fans are cancelling their tickets, prompting an emergency meeting of the football association  

the revolution won’t be televised: acute disappointment from “liberated” Venezuela—plus Trump was gifted the Nobel peace prize  

limited deployment: contingents of soldiers from European allies arrive in Nuuk to demonstrate NATO resolve  

legacy media: looming challenges for journalism outlets and studios  

mouseover title: xkcd (previously) on sailing rigs 

heimat: US Department of Homeland Security adopts another Nazi slogan

fourscore (13. 088)

Acquainted with vigesimal systems of counting, and with due apologies to French for thinking their way was over-complicated for ways of enumerating values above sixty-nine in most Francophone areas, shifting from decimal to base-twenty—for example: quatre-vingts for eighty or soixante-quinze (sixteen-fifteen) for seventy-five—we were however unaware of the rules and conventions for Danish numeral. Like German, for anything above twenty, with 21 pronounced as enogtyve one-and-twenty, and similar to French change to vigesimal for values above fifty with halvtreds(indstyve) literally a half-third or two and one-half (times twenty), 70 being halvfjerds, half-fourth or 3½ × 20, firs for 80, a shortened form of four-twenties, and the number 99 pronounced as nioghalvfems, nine and half-fifth or 4½ × 20.

synchronoptica

one year ago: knowing things is hard (with synchronopticæ), a looming trade war plus a ceasefire deal in Gaza

twelve years ago: woolly pigs plus economic recovery in Iceland

thirteen years ago: Wikitravel plus the history of PEZ

fourteen years ago: national firewalls 

fifteen years ago: licensing likenesses 

sixteen years ago: Martian terrain 

seventeen years ago: yellow journalism 

let’s circle back (13. 087)

NPR’s Word of the Week feature gives us the history and etymology of the rather repugnant corpospeak buzzword synergy, which although seemingly a recent construction of workplace jargon championing teamwork and the sanctity of being in the office, its roots go back to Greek books of the New Testament signifying cooperation in συνεργία (see also) amongst fellow workers striving towards a common goal. Though not exactly common parlance, it came into use during religious debates regarding salvation during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation as a compromise and reconciliation of relationship to the Church and congregants—at least for some—and then again as a counterpoint to co-morbidity in the medical sense of treatments equalling more than the sum of their parts, as opposed to making one part of the body healthy at the expense of others. By the mid-twentieth century, popularised in part by the writings of Buckminster Fuller, though with a specific meaning of “binding energies” and didn’t denote the familiar, reviled vagaries of the conference room until corporate America entered the conversation.