тысячи

First articulated out the Cyrillic script (see previously) in the Bulgarian Empire in the tenth century following a long established Greek, Ionian convention to differentiate numerals from letters when context was not exactly clear with spacers, dots and a diacritic over the glyphs called a titlo ҃ or as a prefix signalling a long string of numbers to follow ҂, like a tilde or macron. Still sometimes seen in Slavonic Church publications and in old monuments and coinage, the system was in use until the civil reforms (see also) of Peter the Great in the early seventeen hundreds when Hindu-Arabic representations were introduced and because of this centuries-long custom continued well into the early modern era, elaborate signs were developed to express powers of magnitude and in terms of both a long and short scale (lesser and greater count multiplier) for accounting and scientific purposes. Align with the Greek (rather than alphabetically), one through ten, correspond with the Cyrillic letters: А, В, Г, Д, Е, Ѕ, З, И, Ѳ and І. The pictured powers of ten using the older alpha form, with the Myriad (Тьма) encircled    ⃝   either ten-thousand or a million and Many Myriad   ꙲   either one billion or 10⁵⁰.

cornershop

Manx illustrator Jay Cover has created a uniquely triangular series of stamps for the Royal Mail, Isle of Man Post Office, which celebrates the Lunar New Year and upcoming Year of the Ox (see previously). This set of hopefully postage is the distillation of some earnest research and illuminating fact-checking undertaken by the artist into the Chinese zodiac to ensure he was making the most of his embracing and honouring new traditions on a tiny yet representative canvas.

past imperfect or picking up on a pattern

We quite enjoyed these contemporary irregular verb conjugations by McSweeney’s contributor Elizabeth Preston. For instance, the infinitive to smile: 

Simple past: I smiled. 

Present tense: I smize behind my mask. 

Present progressive: I am squinting jovially and half-nodding at strangers on the sidewalk.

Future tense: I will miss this mask-acquired acne not one bit. 

Future perfect: I will have forgotten how to smile without grimacing like a toddler who’s asked to say cheese. 

More at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency at the link up top.

de anatomische les van dr. nicolaes tulp

Regarded as one of the early masterpieces of Rembrandt van Rijn (previously), the dissection (only one public viewing was permitted a year in Amsterdam, to which Dr Tulp as the city’s chief anatomist invited the artist to execute a group portrait, mise-en-scène) that inspired the painting occurred on this day in 1632 (possibly two weeks later, according to some sources) in the surgeon’s operating theatre. The corpse, as in all such exclusive social occasions was that of a convicted and executed criminal, laid out in Christ-like repose was called Adriaan Adriaanszoon (aka, Aris Kindt) and was sentenced to death by hanging for armed robbery. The detail of the tendons and musculature—especially in the vivisected forearm, is rather remarkable, and is significantly, displaying growing confidence in his abilities, is signed simply with his forename f[ecit] (made me) and the year rather than the monogramme RHL—Rembrandt Harmenszoon of Leiden, plus rhotic glyph seen in the body’s navel.

your daily demon: vapula

This infernal duke and sixtieth spirit of the demonic calendar occupies the zodiacal position between 25° and 29° of Capricorn—corresponding to this day until 19 January—presents as a fierce lion with the wings of a griffin and specialises in teaching crafts and handiwork. Ruling thirty-six legions, Vapula is countered by the archangel Mitzrael under the leadership of Michael.

pequod

Prior to the arrival of the pilgrims the small, isolated island of Massachusetts Bay Colony whose name in Wampanoag means “sandy, sterile soil tempting no one” and the brunt of many a Limerick was home to a small and sustainable population of Native Americans, evicted by the rapidly increasing settler numbers, soon realising that Nantucket lived up to its name. And so not content with their misguided incursions, the colonisers looked to the sea to support their growth, including whaling operations. Public Domain Review has collected dozens of visually brilliant ship’s logs and personal journals of crew sourced mostly to the cusp of the age when waters were depleted and boats had to venture further and further for their quarry and cheaper alternatives to the risky enterprise presented themselves.

presque vu, jamais vu

In the spirit of those spirit guides that direct the curious to something never before seen (see also here, here and here), a sort of negative view count, London’s Science Museum—with only about a quarter of its vast

holdings documented—has a digital docent that scours the archives to bring forth an artefact, from the mundane to the mysterious, that has not really seen the light of day since accessioning and a suite of tools to curate and adopt these special exhibitions. Let us know what wonder you are the first to see.

snowflake bentley

Vermont meteorologist and photographer Wilson Alwyn Bentley (who also answered to the above moniker, *1865 – †1931) captured the first detailed images of snowflakes on this day in 1885 by trapping them on a black velvet surface, a method perfected after much experimentation and still used. One can peruse the entire historical gallery of unique ice crystal formations developed originally as glass-plate micrographs curated by the Buffalo Museum of Science. Here are a few I managed on a pipe cleaner and some on the railing that I could photograph with I’m sure infinitely less patience than Bentley displayed—the fleeting creations ephemeral not only for melting but sublimating before the lens. If you’re getting some snow, try to take some pictures of a single flake.