chiliad (11. 735)

Via Curious Notions, we learn the above term from the Ancient Greek χῑλιάς for a grouping a thousand things mostly encountered in modern English in the form of chiliastic, a Christian doctrine associated with the a thousand-year period of peace and prosperity the would follow the return of Jesus or—synonymously—believe in an apocalyptic millennium. Used generally to denote large in number or uncountable, it is on tenth of a myriad (M̄, the subject numeral rendered as X̄, with the largest Greek exponent M̄M̄ denoting a hundred million—see previously)), probably from the Greek word for swarming ants (μύρμηξ) and both can be used as a noun or adjective (distinguished in the cases “chiliad reasons” or “a myriad of reasons”) with hyper-pedantically, as with decimate, the former citing exactly a thousand causes and the former meaning a diverse basket of them.

somewhat agree (11. 735)

Via tmn, we become more familiar with the pervasive rating scale used on polls, research questionnaires and surveys, a range of response choices that are immediately recognisable, but that we didn’t know that the psychometrics are called the after their namesake, social psychologist Rensis Likert. Also developing ostensibly the antithesis in open-ended interviewing—to glean more information from respondents on their perspectives and preferences but filtered with a funnelling technique that narrows down answers towards a given goal—and management system styles that are also pretty well-known and pop-up on leadership and workplace satisfaction assessments too: Exploitative Authoritative, Benevolent Authoritative, Consultative, Participative, the scale of agreement and disagreement and measure of intensity has slowly seeped out academics and test markets to rankings, reviews and instant feedback quantified for everything. How likely are you to recommend the Likert scale to your colleagues?

commonwealth electoral act (11. 734)

Receiving Royal Assent on this day in 1924 by George V in his capacity as King of Australia, the collection of statutes governing eligibility and processes established compulsory voting for referenda and federal elections for enrolled, registered voters. In effect a century later, individuals who fail to cast a ballot face not insignificant fines if unable to give an adequate excuse. Inspired by low turn out during the 1922 by-elections and local and state mandates already in place in Queensland, participation jumped instantly from under sixty percent to over ninety. No explicit requirement is made to vote for any candidate and abstention is possible, only to enrol, show up to a polling station, mark the ballot and go into the voting booth, with whatever the mark signifies left up to the conscience of the individual (a secret ballot a radical idea), with early-voting and mail-in ballots as options offered to avoid sanction. While having consistent levels of engagement, some have lobbied against the practise, calling it paternalistic and claiming that involuntary participation illegitimates the outcome for those who disagree or hold no opinion. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: life as an expression of the laws of thermodynamics plus Einstein’s brain

eight years ago: vintage Cuban propaganda, a visit to a vineyard plus Portugal’s experiment with drug decriminalisation

nine years ago: more links to enjoy plus time zone deviants

ten years ago: arming Israel and Russian incursions in Ukraine, the Pope on fostering happiness, more adventures in Croatia plus Apple fashion

 

monty hall enlightenment (11. 733)

Via Quantum of Sollazzo, we are invited to revisit the sometimes fiercely and vehemently counterintuitive probability puzzle based on the TV game show Let’s Make a Deal. Though it is easy to demonstrate that one should always switch doors, have a two out three chance of winning rather than staying with one’s original choice, there are an array of perfectly unreasonable factors that at play that make people stick with their original bet and believing the odds to be even, whereas they’re only ⅓ as likely to not walk away with a prize goat, the dilemma and its trenchant nature says a lot about human bias and errors of commission. Even mathematicians and physicists come to the wrong conclusion until being disabused (sometimes it never takes as our original selection is endowed by magical thinking and those times when we switch and lose cling to our minds more) by brute repetition or by positioning themselves as host and realising that certain protocols are followed in games of chance. This is a specific and tenacious example which illustrates our withering capacity for judgment but I wonder if there are analogous other odds that we similarly misunderstand.

7x7 (11. 732)

autotopia 2000: a consumerist satire from animation team Halas and Batchelor, best-known for their adaptation of Animal Farm 

broligarchs: the Trump-Vance tax proposal that is courting the support of Silicon Valley billionaires 

supermarket sweep: a monograph on graphic designer Ted Eron, who was responsible for the aesthetics of the food aisle  

kamal holding vinyls: Ms Harris will display your favourite album covers—via kraftfuttermischwerk  

run: an appreciation of the consequential and formative programming language BASIC—see previously—via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links  

i’m a little teapot, short and stout: the analogy from Betrand Russell that shifts the philosophical burden of proof to the party making unfalsiable claims  

goalball: a team of animators illustrate explainers for Paralympic events

synchronoptica

one year ago: Christian comics (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus Molson Ice Rocks for Canada

seven years ago: Ottoman bird palaces plus superstitious etiquette

eight years ago: the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary and other mythical beasts plus custom automatons

nine years ago: Esperanto enthusiasts plus a helpful cheese chart

ten years ago: William Barker’s Schwa

midnight special (11. 731)

As our faithful chronicler informs, the Dick Ebersol production for NBC, previously in the role of Director of Late Night programming, debuted the music video and variety programme to capitalise on the popularity of MTV on this day in 1983, airing for nearly two decades though in the end mainly featuring stand-up comedians. Having co-created Saturday Night Live with Lorne Michaels and displacing the Canadian-import sketch-show SCTV, this segue block on broadcast television was far more widely available than its cable originator and was further simulcasted on affiliate radio for a stereo listening experience. Popular segments included the “Video Vote” request line and celebrity cohosts, often pairing network celebrities, like the casts of The Cosby Show, The Facts of Life, Kate & Allie, Growing Pains, Cheers and Family Ties as well as prominent musicians as video-jockeys.

ambrosia (11. 730)

The Olympic Committee issued an apology for a tableau during the Paris Olympic’s opening ceremonies that some claimed was deeply offensive to Christian communities and blasphemous—notably the shrillest outrage from US conservatives—for depicting The Last Supper with drag queens. Except it was not inspired by Da Vinci’s depiction of Jesus and his apostles, as the spectacle’s director explained—though few could hear it over the social media torrent—and the performance had to be regrettably recanted, but rather by Le Festin des Dieux, a seventeenth century work by painter Jan van Bijlert prominently displayed in the national gallery in Dijon. While the Dutch artist himself was referencing Leonardo’s earlier work and one sees what one wants to see, the mythology figures are patently recognisable, including Apollo, Pan, Mars, Minerva and Dionysus, the father of the Gallo-Roman goddess Sequana (and whose totem spirit, familiars are ducks), the deification of the Seine, sourced in Côte-d’Or is not far from Dijon.

and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom (11. 729)

In more meme news, the presumptive Democratic nominee made a surprise showing during the conclusion of the San Diego Comic-Con panel on The Simpsons, reciting a slogan from the Treehouse of Horror VII special from 1996, the short Citizen Kang, about the recurring alien characters interfering in the then upcoming contest between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, eventually replacing the candidates with themselves. While unclear if Harris endorsed this message specifically for the weekend’s forum—or if it was an older clip that a group of political science students arranged when tasked with getting a politician to make a statement about America’s two-party system (see above), her appearance nonetheless energised the crowd. A self-described superfan of the long running show—and maybe this fellow GenXer also pretends it ended circa 1997 instead of entering its thirty-sixth season, which is probably the best approach—Harris’ other solid Simpsons association comes from the 2000 episode Bart to the Future, wherein a similarly dressed Lisa succeeds Donald Trump as US president—which seems a bit more prescient than it was, Trump having been a serial candidate before finally securing the Republican party’s nomination in 2016.