Via Boing Boing, after going up on his space elevator, Neal Agarwal invites us to scroll down from the ocean’s surface through the pelagic zone through the midnight zone to the dismal seabed and explore with the denizens of the deep, like the cosmopolitan sixgill shark that spend their days at depths of seventeen hundred meters and their nights in swallower waters and the so called headless chicken fish that’s a sea cucumber with wing-like fins that propel them through the dark at nearly three thousand meters below or plunge to the ultra-abyssal hadal zone (the adjectival form of Hades), inaccessible places in the deepest trenches that have had fewer visitors than have been on the Moon.
Sunday, 23 July 2023
twilight zone (10. 900)
Friday, 2 June 2023
7x7 (10. 782)
court of last resort: Propublica presents a guide to potential imperilled rights in the US—via Waxy

velben goods: the concierge to the world’s rich and powerful—see also
mermen: the increasing popularity of underwater performances in China—see previously
stumbling block: in a simulation, an AI-controlled drone kills its human handler because that individual was thwarting its achieving mission objectives, later apparently walked back
rainbow crusaders: a more inclusive examination of heroism during World War II
legislate guns not makeup: a roster of state houses poised to adopt bans on drag performers
Wednesday, 24 May 2023
the judgment of paris (10. 763)
Aptly alluding to the myth of a scorned guest and chaos agent, Eris, the goddess of Discord—who was not invited to the marriage ceremony of Greek hero Peleus and sea nymph Thetis and tossed a golden apple into the wedding party to be awarded to the fairest, a bone of contention that sparked the Trojan War, an international jury of wine experts convened in the French capital on this day in 1976 to carry out a blind-tasting—ultimately rating varieties of Napa Valley wines as superior to the historically more esteemed French vineyards. The results of course sparked controversy—top honours going to a 1973 chardonnay from Chรขteau Montelena and a cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars whereas the opposite outcome was rather a foregone conclusion, and marked a pivotal moment in the California industry (see previously) with a follow up match in 2006 on the event’s thirtieth anniversary that re-certified the standings.
Friday, 28 October 2022
ฮฌฯฯฮตฯฮฑ (10. 253)
On the south shore looking back over Souda Bay, there is an ancient settlement that enjoyed strategic importance from Minoan through Hellenistic times and to the modern day given the nearby Greek and NATO military bases, called Aptera—without feathers—owing to the legend that Hera, Queen of the Gods, convinced the Muses and the Sirens to a song contest, with the former sister-act handily beating the latter, the Sirens being so upset by losing that they rent their feathers a wings, dusting the ฮฮตฯ ฮบฮฌ ฮฯฮท (White Mountains) with them and plunged into the sea.
The archaeological remains of site mostly date to the Roman occupation and include a cistern and baths and an impressive amphitheater. Visiting on Oxi Day (ฮฯฮญฯฮตฮนฮฟฯ ฯฮฟฯ ฮฯฮน, the Anniversary of the ‘No’)—marking the date that Greece refused the ultimatum issued by Benito Mussolini and resistance to fascism during World War II, entry was free as well as the bit of history and the more contemporary couching. On same high plateau of Paliokastri, there was also the Kule (Castle) of Subashi with a view of the Ottoman Izzedin Fortress below. In the area we also toured the monastery of St George (ฮฮฟฮฝฮฑฯฯฮฎฯฮน ฮฮณฮนฮฟฯ ฮฮตฯฯฮณฮนฮฟฯ) outside of ฮฮฌฮผฮฟฯ ฯ (Vamos) with tranquil small church and old olive presses that highlight pre-industrial extraction with millstones and frails, the round bags used for squeezing the pulp. We got to sample some of their bread and olives afterwards.Sunday, 25 September 2022
♆ (10. 166)
Capturing the best images of that last known planet, king Neptune, before plunging into the endlessly, inky interstellar void that we’ve been witness to in the past three decades since Voyager 2’s 1989 fly-by, through the JWST we discover that there is a lot happening in this distant, icy constellation. Far distant from the shepherding satellites that keep the brilliant ring in place, the seemingly bright star is the rogue moon Triton, appearing so dazzling due to the highly reflective composition of its surface. Much more to explore at Bad Astronomy with Phil Platt at the link up top.
Sunday, 21 August 2022
8x8 (10. 075)
west eigg: via property scout Messy Nessy Chic, this lighthouse and keeper’s quarters on Pladda island in the Firth of Clyde
oled: a clever tinkerer makes dynamic LEGO computer consoles—see previously

cinetimes: a free film and documentary aggregator with a familiar streaming-service interface—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links
sad beige werner herzog: a master of the bleak-harvest aesthetic
รงiftetelli: more on “Misirlou”—see previously
the dolmen of guadalperal: drought in Europe reveals the “Spanish Stonehenge”—a circle of one megaliths almost always submerged
fresnel lens: a LEGO ideas kit allows one to create one’s own well-appointed beacon
Sunday, 31 July 2022
u is for undine pursuing ulyssess and umberto, who fee her damp, death-dealing kisses (10. 028)
Via Nag on the Lake’s always excellent Sunday Links (lots more to see there), we are directed towards a concise, antique abecedarium (previously) of celebrities of 1899—most of whom are recognisable and accessible to modern audiences—with rhyming verses that gently lampoon fin de siรจcle poets, authors composers and politicians paired with figures from Antiquity. There’s no context really for this tightly rhymed (Q, V and X are done well) and nicely illustrated work by Oliver Herford that tosses together historic and contemporary personages in a bizarre manner but no matter. Columbus, who tries to explain how to balance an egg—to the utter disdain of Confucius, Carlyle, Cleopatra, and Cain.
Tuesday, 28 June 2022
8x8
cutting-corners: skimpflation and other consumer caveats
section 30 order: Holyrood to hold second independence referendum in October
edutainment: a new volume on poet Emily Dickinson concludes with a Math Blaster style game from LitHub

white rabbits: an unsung group of women sculptors employed during the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893—via Messy Nessy Chic
adobe flash: watch a time-lapse of a luxury villa with pool built out of mud and bamboo via Everlasting Blรถrt
allons-y alonzo: assonances, alliterations and vowel harmonisation in French and other languages
coffee siren: the origins of the ubiquitous cafรฉ mascot (see also here and here)
Sunday, 26 June 2022
a part of your world
Starting their own local chapter—one of thousands across the globe—a “pod” after finding the experience of donning the tail suit and monofin positively transformative, a self-described middle aged Filipina transgender woman left called Queen Pangke Taboraher career as an insurance agent to sponsor other merfolk and teach mermaiding and free-diving full time. Honing in on something meditative, peaceful and liberating about being submerged, millions of “mers” as they prefer participate in pageantry, Mercons, and competitive sporting events—to say nothing of a supportive community that recognises the feeling of being liminal and embraces change and fluidity.
catagories: ๐ณ️⚧️, ๐ณ️๐, ๐ง♂️
Saturday, 11 June 2022
pfarrdorf, kirchdorf
Tuesday, 31 May 2022
6x6
not to put words in your mouth: Google’s collaborative incubator discreetly withdraws from deepfake research—via Slashdot
mermay: a month-long (didn’t get the memo but for next year) sketching challenge to draw merfolk with daily prompts

now listen to my heart—it says ukrainia: the Scorpions update their lyrics to Winds of Change to stop romancising Russia
joueur-animateur en direct: French ministry of culture reforms guidelines on gaming jargon to combat anglicisation—see previously
monk tone scale: Google adopts a better classification system for skin pigment to combat baked-in biases (see previously) for its algorithms and artificial intelligence
Monday, 2 May 2022
fan mail from a flounder?
Given the MST3K treatment for the first time on this day in 1999 in their tenth season, the surpassing bad 1971 sci-fi horror film also released under the titles ZaAt (the name of the chemical compound), Hydra and Attack of the Swamp Creatures relates the plot of a mad scientist first to transform himself into a catfish-like monster (sort of like the hybrid God-Emperor primate-sandworm) then drug an entire town’s water supply with the same serum to create a community of merpeople. The mad scientist then turns his focus to revenge on his fellow researchers who ridiculed his work.
Saturday, 2 April 2022
6x6
un robot quadrupede al servizio dell’archeologia: SPOT to patrol ruins of Pompeii and protect the site from looters—also raising a quandary for future archaeologists

dans l’ombre du star wars kid: the National Film Board of Canada’s documentary on the internet phenomenon
entrรฉe: a family-run Tbilisi-based artisanal bakery expands into East London
the atlantean: after Dallas (debuting on this day in 1978), Patrick Duffy appeared as a merfolk-hybrid hero
intonarumori: Luigi Russolo’s experimental sound machines
Sunday, 14 November 2021
inner oort cloud
Co-discovered on this day in 2003 by astronomical teams in Caltech, Yale and the Gemini Observatory, the planetoid, trans-Neptunian object (previously) provisionally nicknamed the Flying Dutchman because of its slow (eleven-thousand plus years) and solitary journey around the Sun that made researchers almost miss it for a fixed star, it was welcomely given the official designation 90377 Sedna in honour of the Inuit sea goddess who dwells at the bottom of the frigid Arctic Ocean, and establishing that future objects found in the same orbital region should be named after polar mythologies. The astronomical monogram, which matches the ones of ancient astrology quite well, is a combination of the Eastern Canadian Inuktitut characters แดแแ, Sanna—the modern version of the name and suggests a leaping seal. Because of the extreme eccentricity of its perihelion—too great to have been caused by the gravitational influence of the known worlds, Sedna’s existence lends credence to either interstellar interlopers or a so called Planet Nine, ten-times the size of Earth but hidden as a cosmic counter-balance.
Monday, 18 October 2021
your daily demon: velar
Our forty-second spirit is an infernal grand duke that presents as a merman, who is able to both raise dread tempest and drown sailors or provide safe passage, according to the will of a skilled exorcist. Ruling from today through 22 October, Vepar controls twenty-nine legions of subordinates and is opposed by the guardian angel Mikael.
Wednesday, 29 September 2021
7x7
kรกdรกr cube: a practical, mass-produced boxy house (Magyar รpรญtลmลฑvรฉszet) from Communist-era Hungary is staging a comeback
the new english canaan: revisiting the banned publication that mocked American’s puritanical ways—see also
you’ve got a habit of leaving: the first single from the unreleased David Bowie album, coming in January
merfolk and melusine: tritons and mermaids entertained by enlightened minds
facebookland: the social media giant ought to be treated like the autocratic rogue state it is—via Waxy
roll over beethoven: a team of musicologists using artificial intelligence complete the composer’s unfinished tenth symphony—to premier in Bonn next month, via Kottke
ะณะพััะธะฝัะน ะดะฒะพั: a rotating arch for a shopping arcade in St. Petersburg—via Pasa Bon!
Tuesday, 14 September 2021
wara art festival
The above named byproduct of the annual rice harvest (see also), the left-over straw (็จฒใใ) was traditionally used a feed for livestock, fertiliser and for weaving doormats and other household items, but the use of industrial materials over the years has led to a lot of surplus, and inspired the Niigata farming community to concoct a creative solution, first organised in 2007, with artisans sculpting monumental figures over a wooden framework. Subjects are wild animals and creatures from mythology, including the beaked sea-going yลkai called Amabie. Learn more from Hyperallergic at the link above.
Tuesday, 10 August 2021
d’une figure de proue
Via Fancy Notions, we are introduced to Belgian animator and educator Raoul Servais (*1928) through the lens of his 1968 dystopian short on humanity’s siren song—the totems of exploitation, globalisation over-fishing. His 1979 horror-comedy piece featuring trying to live with another legendary creature, Harpya, which innovatively mixed live-action with cartoons took the Palme d’Or at Cannes that year in that category. The source title refers to a 1964 British horror film by Roger Corman that was part of a series of adaptations of works by Edgar Allen Poe about a widower whose Atheist wife’s soul was purloined by a demonic cat.
Thursday, 8 July 2021
hic sunt dracones
Via the always interesting Languagehat not only do we learn that there is a cooperative effect to document and propagate a lexical database of marine life, said lexicon also covers chimera and mythical beings, revealing that merfolk also include the merbishop (unclear whether that is due to appearance or ecclesiastical hierarchy), an anthropomorphic fish described by Cornelius Aurelius in 1517 and revisited by renowned Swiss naturalist and regarded as the father of zoology Conrad Gessner in 1604—exemplars along with mermonks (moine de mer, Seemรถnch, pesce monaco) captured in the Baltic Sea. Much more to explore at the links above—including an impressively comprehensive, non-sea-life glossary of boat-building terminology.
catagories: ๐ฌ, ๐ง♂️, ๐ข, myth and monsters
Tuesday, 8 June 2021
6x6
scream real loud: The 1954 “Pinky Lee Show” that prefigures in a way Pee-Wee’s Playhouse
7/10: promoting health for the high seas on World Oceans Day—previously
avian aftershave: crows treat themselves to ant baths
squirrels under the hood: an AI researchers illustrates how algorithms are dangerously regressive reflections of the worst of us (previously) and are far from artificial or intelligent
###: a short from Optical Arts repeats a range of actions with different objects in the key of A
that’s my name—don’t wear it out: do yourself a favour and check out the blog of Pee-Wee Herman