zol and gel (10. 370)

Via Waxy, we are directed to the collaborative handiwork of Dylan Black from Maximum Effort, Minimum Reward whose exercise in a reversal of sorts with an OpenAI chat model (previously and trained on such dialogue originally) on inventing a new agglutinative language with grammatical rules and then to translate it back into an actual language is really quite astounding in terms of demonstrating the recursive nature of communication and inflection. Building off a series of a few simple prompts, the artificial intelligence constructs Glorp, the language of slimes—which albeit a little like Huttese and perhaps lacking the sophistication of an evolved language—is nonetheless very impressive. Gloop slog sploma slurpi. See the entire learning process, generated vocabulary and methodology at the link about.

reichsbürger-razzia (10. 369)

Various media outlets (EN/DE) are reporting a nationwide raid—an anti-terrorism operation—of some one hundred and thirty properties across Germany carried out by thousands of police officers has netted twenty five individuals on charges of treason with as many more suspected of colluding to overthrow the government. Two ringleaders identified by prosecutors, in line with privacy rules as Heinrich XIII P R and Rüdiger v P, are among the arrested and are known champions of the Reichsbürger, sovereign citizen movement, a loose coalition of groups that rejects the legitimacy of the Bundesrepublik on the basis of their argument that the constitution in place prior to World War II was never properly nullified and the Basic Law has no authority, now mixed with an unhealthy dose of QAnon ideology. Primarily a tax-avoidance scheme and attended with fantasies in line with those of the Cosplay Caliphate, the organised groups were armed and had a plan, with portfolio and cabinet positions already designated for key members and were apparently already in negotiations with Moscow to establish diplomatic relations.

blue marble (10. 368)

Photographed by one of the crew, likely Harrison Schmitt or Gene Cernan but ever member took turns taking pictures with the Hasselblad camera, of the Apollo XVII mission on its way to the Moon from a distance of just under thirty thousand kilometers on this day in 1972. Backlit and slightly rounded—gibbous and hence the name—from the astronauts’ perspective and after Earthrise only the second whole planet image captured by a human photographer, the Blue Marble is among the most widely reproduced and circulated images in existence, it was received by the public at a moment of increased environmental activism and awareness and helped focus the movement by framing Earth’s uniqueness and vulnerability set against the endless expanse of space. Although recreated by satellite imagining, there have been no crewed excursions since that taken us high enough aloft—yet—to fit the entire planet in the view-finder.

yulehole (10. 367)

Via Language Hat, we are referred to a love letter to obscure and superannuated words—like the above that refers to the slacker notch in one’s belt that might be necessitated by the attendant feasting that goes along with the Festive Season—from Guardian contributor and logophile Paul Anthony Jones who offers a selection of Christmas-related terms like boun—that is, to dress with evergreen boughs, the snowballing effect of rolling across a field to accrue size is a hogamadog (also the name of a nascent snail shell that matures into something substantial), bull week, the period preceding the holiday and a time to sort out the rest of one’s business and particularly the Tudor-era term for a hangover, a barleyhood.

vomiting camel (10. 366)

Planet Money’s partner podcast The Indicator introduces us to a practise called stock price charting or technical analysis that economic academics have long debunked as a poor predictor of market trends and no heuristic for basing future trades though pattern recognition yet for some traders and for many media outlets that cover the markets, this study with its language of line graphs classed as candlesticks, heads and shoulders, flags, pennants and cup and handle patterns is proving enduring and a guide of first resort. Skeptics dismiss this method as ineffective at best and verging on an obsession for a few adherents. Sort of like Doge Coin be created as a joke which gained purchase of its own, one detractor began to see the titular pattern in stock performance and offered this pareidolia as a critique of this sort of divination but it too took off as a telling up-and-down spike to be on the lookout for and be primed to buy—or sell—or hold. What do you think about reading the economic tea-leaves? Is it no better than one’s astrological chart or is there something to this superstition for a system buoyed up by common belief?

8x8 (10. 365)

synthetic cubism: an exhibition of the cut paper figures of Pablo Picasso, a medium rarely shown—via Messy Nessy Chic  

set in stone: a tutorial on reading ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs 

spa-day: new research suggests that Christian modesty (see previously) may not have been the cause in the decline of public bathing  

carbon capture: Microsoft-backed start-up is using limestone powder to pull CO₂ (previously here, here and here) out of the atmosphere

illuminated addresses: a graphic design studio rediscovered in Manchester that pre-dates the traditional 1922 beginning of commercial arts 

щедрий вечiр: a Ukrainian choir performs Carol of the Bells (see previously) a century after it debuted at Carnegie Hall  

varly’s swiftwater café: a fish and chips in operation for two decades in remote Whittier, Alaska—a small village in one building  

picassanta: annual tradition of giving a village phone kiosk a makeover, reminiscent of Guernica for this fractious year

itsenäisyyspäivä (10. 364)

Celebrated as a national holiday, on this day in 1917 the Finnish Declaration of Independence was adopted by the country’s parliament (eduskunta), simultaneously severing its autonomy within Imperial Russia as a Grand Principality and forming a independent republic, prompted the Bolshevik Revolution, in turn caused by hardships experienced during World War I, and the subsequent abdication of Czar Nicholas II, who held the title of Grand Prince, which nullified the personal union between the two territories. Russian revolutionaries acknowledging a general right to self-determination—including the right of secession ”for the peoples of Russia”—the People’s Commissars, members including Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin, approved of Finland’s decision and recognised its status by late December and establishing diplomatic relations by January 1918.

saorstát éireann (10. 363)

Established on this day in 1922 as a dominion of the British Empire (equivalent to the status of Canada) one year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty that ended the war for independence, the Irish Free State comprised twenty-six counties, with the remaining six choosing to opt out of the framework—forming the constituency of Northern Ireland. Described by statesman and revolutionary Michael Collins as affording the “freedom to achieve freedom” with the possibility of an wholly independent republic not entertained within the terms of settlement, Ireland was still accorded more liberties and self-determination in legislation than it had had for the past four centuries. The Free State came to an end in 1937 with a constitutional referendum that drafted a wholly new fundamental law that informs and asserts its present sovereignty as Ireland (Éire) and since 1949 officially as the Republic of Ireland.