ailill mac máta

A pair of prodigal County Roscommon residents, interesting in plying their craft brewing experiences in their homeland isolated and fermented a special troglodytic wild yeast from a paleolithic archaeological site and cave complex to provide a point of departure to explore the influence and the background of the story of Queen Medb, also tied to this land.
Not to be confused with Queen Mab, Shakespeare’s invented fairy monarch though perhaps informed by the semi-legendary figure, her name shares its etymology—appropriately—with mead as she who intoxicates and according to ancient sources, Medb was born in the same cave, Oweynagat, held also to be a portal to the Underworld. The warrior queen, as all females in the egalitarian world of the Celts, was liberated and independent and not defined by her gender, unlike most women in other contemporary Western European cultures. The brewster (see also) worked with experts in microbiology to detect the undomesticated varieties of catalyst and bravely—since the divide between the world of the living and the world of the dead is most porous at that time of year—went spelunking in Oweynagat on Samhain to collect the yeast. Read more about the quest for the ingredients of this special ale and discover more strange brews at the link up top.

pleonasm

The above term, from the Ancient Greek πλεονάζω for I am superfluous, can be used to describe the phenomena of unnecessary repetition, like referring to one’s PIN number, saving something in PDF format, or making a visit to the ATM machine (this particular foible is called the RAS syndrome, RAS itself an initialism for “redundant acronym syndrome”).
Pleonasm also occurs especially when it comes to invoking topology or a group that’s customarily named in a different language—such as blaming the incident on the al Qaeda, visiting the Milky Way Galaxy, being extracted from the La Brea Tar Pits, or surveying Table Mesa or the Rock of Gibraltar.

morph cut

Having seen that child materialise in the background as well, we appreciated this explanation of what’s going on in the editing room with the seamless splicing out of unwanted pauses and hesitations while preserving the essence of the interview—especially when polling for the typical man-on-the-street responses. It’s no sneaky jump cut and nothing is completely extemporaneous and unfiltered but one could well imagine the potential for abuse or deception with the glitches smoothed out. Learn more and see a manipulative example at Waxy at the link above.

wort des jahres

The Zeitgeist and the jury of the Association for the German Language (GfdS—Gesellschaft für deustche Sprache) in Wiesbaden has picked Heißzeit—a neologism that sounds like its opposite Eiszeit, Ice Age—as the Word of the Year for 2018 (DE/EN).
In deference to extreme heat and the drought conditions in Europe and across the globe this summer and acknowledged urgency in addressing climate change, Heißzeit beat out other contenders like Funklochrepublic for spotty, quality cellular network coverage, Pflegeroboter for automated nursing services for the old and infirm, Handelskrieg for trade war and Brexit-Chaos, needing no translation.

yetinsyny

One of Weird Universe’s latest entries is a strangeness multiplier, not only introducing us to the art and underlying cosmological theories of painter and sculptor Stanisław Szukalski (*1893 – †1987), who aimed to create a whole new Polish art movement based on his mythos of Zermatism, a theory positing that human civilization can be sourced to a group of antediluvian survivors from Rapa Nui (Easter Island)—from which all of culture and language derives.
Humanity’s ongoing struggle for dominance over competitors like the Yeti and human-yeti hybrids (see also) are what characterizes humans’ uneasy, conflicted relationship with the natural world and their place in it, also bringing related cryptids into popular culture. Most of Szukalski’s work—whose fans and patrons included Leonardo DiCaprio and his father, was informed by these origin stories—but he also interested in other contemporary subjects and the celebrity culture of his adopted homeland of America—having immigrated to Chicago in the 1920s where he honed his artistic skills until deciding to return to Poland in 1934 to further develop his doctrine only to be evacuated (as a US citizenship) the next year when the country was invaded by Nazi Germany, and through this we learn the story behind that image that appears often as catch-penny marginalia: the young woman with the blue chin tattoo.
Szukalski painted a portrait from the well-circulated carte de visit of Olive Ann Oatman (*1837 - †1903). Most of the Oatman family were killed while trying to settle in Arizona territory, well outside of the area where settlement into Native American lands was already incurring. Though circumstances are unclear and Oatman’s story is uncorroborated, she was eventually raised by the Mojave and given this traditional marking—returning to her own society years later and presenting her “memoir” on the speaking circuit along the eastern seaboard of the US.  Though Oatman related her experience ultimately in a favourable light, her account was still far from an enlightened one.  Read more about Szukalsky and see more of his works plus the trailer for a biopic at the link above.

8x8

bouquet: floral masterpieces recreated with living flowers

plenary session: climate activist Greta Thunberg delivers a powerful message to those gathered at Katowice

coming attractions: a mashup of all the biggest movie trailers of 2018

the notorious rbg: supreme court justice is amazingly resilient

rebel scum: gorgeous, retro Star Wars style propaganda posters

hot neptune: researchers locate an exoplanet that’s slowly being evaporated by its host star—via Slashdot

patchwork pojagi: the beautiful kimonos and accessories of South Korean textile artist and educator Chunghie Lee

please enjoy responsibly: funny suggestion for a Christmas time drinking game

smart compose

Whilst most of the deserved animosity towards technology comes in the flavour of resent towards the busy work it’s created at the margins and the sine cure, meaningless jobs it’s responsible for, the opposing category of directed vitriol is even more fraught, I suppose: that technology is too uncannily clever and works too well, as Atlantic contributor Derek Thompson expounds on predictive powers pervading more and more of our routines. What do you think? Though a lot of automation is meant to spare us from the tedium that’s in part technology’s own creation, so much hinges on anticipation and serving us back our own patterns and preferences.

suomen kuningaskunta

Declaring and securing its independence on 6 December 1917 as it succeeded from the Russia Empire embroiled in revolution and civil war, Finland had originally proclaimed itself republic but the intervention of monarchists elements and Germany—despite being occupied with World War I itself—who thought the newly minted nation should be a protectorate, a client state, as it did with other territories formerly part of Russian Empire by plying them with surplus royalty, Finland was for a short time a constitutional monarchy.
On 9 October of 1918, Prince Friedrich Karl von Hessen (*1868 - †1940) Landgrave and brother-in-law to the soon to abdicate Wilhelm II was voted by Finnish parliament to the throne. In light of the dissolution of other royal houses with the cessation of fighting, the king-elect judged the situation untenable and Friedrich declined his commission on this day just over two months later—having never set foot in his kingdom much less establishing his court. This decision led to democratic reforms and the re-establishment of a republic by the following summer.