The Songbook of Zengeren van Male

One of the weirdest manuscripts you will ever see, chock full of bizarre images across hundreds of pages.

Intaglios from the Roman World

These little carved gems are one of the great delights to come down to us from the Classical world, each one a little surprise, each one a wonder, because they can depict almost anything.

This one is in the Met, which glosses it as "Mummy of Osiris carried on the back of a lion, accompanied by Anubis and flanked by two winged goddesses (Isis and Nephthys), inscribed around margin: bainchoooch abrasax, and on reverse two lines of characters with the seven Greek vowels in order." Abrasax was a common magical world, but I can't remember ever seeing bainchoooch before. Thinking of making this my battle cry, or maybe posting it as a response to really inane tweets. Bainchoooch!!!

The Met explains this one as a "mystical invocation" of the uterus. 

Anybody out there who can read the text on the back? Is it really mystical or is that a highbrow euphemism?

Rat and elephant

Huntsman spearing a boar

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Sea chariot with a being who may be a sea god, or perhaps the deified Augustus

A sculptor at work

Snake

Cupid on a Hippocampus

The Two-Faced Statue

Remarkable carved wooden statue by an unknown French artist, c. 1890. It depicts two characters from Goethe's Faust, Mephistopheles and Margaretta.

Carved from a single sycamore log.

Amazing

The Sutyagin House

According to some guy on Reddit:

The house was built by the local crime lord Nikolai Petrovich Sutyagin and his family. It was considered to be the tallest wooden house not only in Russia, but in the world. The house was 13 stories and 44 meters tall (144 feet). Nikolai was eventually arrested for a few years because of racketeering and the house deteriorated harshly because of that. In 2008 the local goverment deemed it a fire hazard and started to dismantle the building. On December 26th 2008 the top tower was pulled down and in February 1st 2009 it was ordered to be completely demolished. The rest of the remains were dismantled manually over the course of the next few months.

Most of the photographs online seem to come from the demolition phase.

Wikipedia adds:

Constructed by Mr. Sutyagin (a sawmill owner) and his family over 15 years (starting in 1992), without formal plans or a building permit, the structure deteriorated while Sutyagin spent a number of years in prison for racketeering.

Of course he was a crooked sawmill owner. Who else would build this?

The Conspiracy End Point

Turning Point USA seems to be in crisis, with several firings, because many staffers believe Candace Owens' accusations that TP had some role in the assassination of their founder, Charlie Kirk.The Bulwark:

Laitsch is just one of several Turning Point staffers who has been fired amid what’s been dubbed a “purge” of employees. While it’s not clear how many have been let go, Owens has played audio on her show of another staffer who claimed to have been fired without explanation. Owens also claimed that a TPUSA executive showed up at a third staffers home to fire her and demand the immediate return of her company devices. A GoFundMe for staffers booted in the “TPUSA Purge” has raised more than $71,000 as of Thursday morning.

It’s hard to say if these firings are being driven by the (very sensible) disapproval of staff talking about their company killing its founder, or paranoia about Owens having credible information about internal TPUSA activities—or both. But clearly, someone within the organization is leaking to Owens. Just this year, the highly controversial podcaster posted videos of Erika Kirk on internal videochats in the wake of Kirk’s assassination that were interpreted on the online right as insufficiently mournful.

The young people one presumes are the future leadership of MAGA believe Candace Owens.

Sigh. 

And poor Erika Kirk; first her husband is murdered, and now members of her own organization think she did it. The very definition of "adding insult to injury."

How to Begin an Academic Paper

Candidate for the best first paragraph of an economics paper, from a paper on round numbers in auctions by Adriaan Soetevent:

In perhaps the most notorious auction in history, after murdering the emperor in 193 CE, praetorian soldiers offered the entire Roman Empire to the highest bidder. Commentators since Klemperer and Temin (2001) have found Julianus' winning bid of 25,000 sesterces per soldier remarkable for various reasons: its sheer size (exceeding one billion current dollars), its enormous jump over the previous bid (20,000 offered by Sulpicianus), and its ultimate futility (Julianus only reigned as emperor for two months before being murdered himself). What has gone unremarked is that both Sulpicianus' and Julianus' bids are round numbers.

Advanced Seduction Techniques

The editor of what was for centuries the standard text of Montaigne's Essays, published in 1595, was a young woman named Marie le Jars de Gournay. From an elite family but penniless, she taught herself Latin by laying ancient texts side by side with French translations and working out what the Latin words must mean. When she read the Essays she was, she says, so transported that her mother thought she had gone mad and tried to give her hellebore. (An herb traditionally used to treat mania.) She eventually managed to meet Montaigne and convey this passion in person. Montaigne later wrote of this encounter that

to show the ardor of her promises, and also her constancy, she struck herself with the bodkin she wore in her hair four or five lusty stabs in the arm, which broke the skin and made her bleed in good earnest.

The eventual outcome of this was that formed some sort of relationship, although what sort is very much disputed. Eventually de Gournay took to calling herself Montaigne's adopted daughter, and this is how she described herself in her preface to the famous edition.

Naming the People of the Philippines

From James Scott's Seeing Like a State:

Filipinos were instructed by a decree of November 21, 1849, to take on permanent Hispanic surnames. The author of the decree was Governor Narciso Claveria y Zaldua, a meticulous administrator as determined to rationalize names as he had been determined to rationalize existing law, provincial boundaries, and the calendar. He had observed, as his decree states, that Filipinos generally lacked individual surnames, which might “distinguish them by families,” and their practice of adopting baptismal names drawn from a small group of saints’ names resulted in great “confusion.” The remedy was the catalogo, a compendium not only of personal names but also of nouns and adjectives drawn from flora, fauna, minerals, geography, and the arts and intended to be used by the authorities in assigning permanent, inherited surnames. Each local official was to be given a supply of surnames sufficient for his jurisdiction, “taking care the the distribution be made by letters [of the alphabet].” In practice, each town was given a number of pages from the alphabetized catalogo, producing whole towns with surnamed beginning with the same letter. In situations where there has been little in-migration in the past 150 years, the traces of this administrative exercise are still perfectly visible across the landscape: “For example, in the Bikol region, the entire alphabet is laid out like a garland over the provinces of Albay, Sorsogon, and Catanduanes which in 1849 belonged to the single jurisdiction of Albay. Beginning with A at the provincial capital, the letters B and C mark the town along the coast beyond Tabasco to Tiwi. We return and trace along the coast of Sorsogon the letters E to L; then starting down the Iraya Valley at Daraga with M, we stop with S to Polangui and Libon, and finish the alphabet with a quick tour around the island Catanduanes.”

Also on wikipedia.

"Trump Gaza"

At the NY Times, Dan Brooks ponders the Trump Gaza video:

Right up front, and only once, let us acknowledge that everything about the “Trump Gaza” A.I. video is insane: the proposal on which it is based, to resettle the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and turn the area into a resort property; its content, which includes bearded belly dancers, an Elon Musk look-alike dancing on the beach and a golden statue of President Trump; and the fact that the president posted it, without comment, on a website called Truth Social. It’s all absurd and awful. That is probably the point, if a concept as antiquated as intent applies to the new genre of computerized irony this video represents.

I doubt anyone involved in its production and dissemination believes it describes a viable plan for the future. Nevertheless, it expresses the perspective of a certain subset of Americans — not how they imagine the Gaza of tomorrow but how they understand the internet of today. What we have here is the MAGA aesthetic distilled: political expression not as a way to persuade people or even convey ideas but as social and cultural posturing.

There is also a song. Generated by A.I. in a style I would call in-flight techno, its lyrics begin, “Donald’s coming to set you free/bringing the light for all to see/no more troubles, no more fear/Trump Gaza is finally here.” This opening plays over shots of ruined city streets, where masked warriors with assault rifles alternately menace and care for children as civilians crouch in the rubble. GAZA 2025, the supertitles read. WHAT’S NEXT?

The rubble remains, but at this point the foggy skies clear up to reveal construction cranes in the distance. A shot of soldiers passing through an archway cuts to a woman and two children walking through the mouth of a cave toward a beach. Modern skyscrapers fill the horizon, followed by a drum break synced to a series of quick cuts: golden sands lapped by cerulean water, mixed-use retail on streets lined with late-model Teslas, more kids running out of another cave to another beach. . . .

Given how recently generative A.I. developed, it’s remarkable how fast its aesthetic hallmarks have become recognizable: high-contrast textures, perceptibly diffuse lighting, forced-perspective shots in which people walk down city streets or through arched openings. It’s not what dreams look like so much as a visual rendering of a dream’s description, complete with mild failures of object permanence and the sense that we have seen it all before, although it didn’t look like that. 

Truly our civilization is in peril.

Threats to China's Security

China's State Security Ministry now has a social media account that they mainly use to warn citizens about potential security threats. Vivian Wang has some of the highlights (NY Times):

Apparent Good Samaritans: One recent post titled “Beware! Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing” warned readers that spies might pose as generous donors. . . .

Courier services: Another post was called “These types of packages are not allowed!” Besides reminding people not to mail top-secret documents to spies, it warned that “some foreign organizations and individuals” had shipped animals, such as alligator snapping turtles, American bullfrogs and red fire ants, to China to reproduce as invasive species and destroy local ecosystems.

Students looking for cash: College students are a persistent source of worry for Beijing. Another post warned that students looking for part-time work may be targets for spies who ask them to take photos of scientific research sites for pay.

Students applying to colleges abroad: But students don’t need to be sharing sensitive information to threaten national security. They may also be unwitting vessels for spreading a negative image of China — as described in another post, where a study-abroad agency purportedly inserted political content critical of China into a student’s application materials, to help them win admission overseas. “Without knowing it,” the post said, the student went from “a young student with a simple résumé to an anti-China vanguard.”

Almost anything might conceal a hidden listening device or camera: Pens, lighters, tissue boxes. Dragonflies might actually be tiny aerial drones. 

“Some unassuming daily objects may contain mysteries,” the post said, above a hotline for reporting spies.

Modern Versions of Ancient Questions

Scott Siskind:

In Matthew 22, the Sadducees (a sect of anti-afterlife Jews) gave Jesus a puzzle. If a man’s wife dies and he remarries, then who will the man be married to after the Resurrection - the first wife, or the second? Jesus responded by saying that people will not be married in Heaven. 

Matthew 22: "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven." Which is one of the key texts the Catholics long used to argue for the superiority of celibacy, and which Mormons have done a lot of hemming and hawing to explain away.

Siskind continues:

Anyway, I was interested to learn there’s now an atheist version of this conundrum. Robert Ettinger, considered “the founder of cryonics”, had his body frozen after his death in hopes of being resurrected in the far future. His first wife died, he remarried, and both his first and second wives are also cryopreserved. There’s no evidence Ettinger was anything other than monogamous during life, so what happens in the far future? His second wife was an “author, feminist, and marriage counselor”, so I bet she’ll have strong opinions on this.

The Philosophers' Stolen Castle

Matt Levine explains:

I have always kind of thought that a clever form of effective altruism would be “we build a giant casino for crypto gambling, we skim a percentage of the handle, and we use it to buy mosquito nets to save poor people from malaria.” I once suggested to Sam Bankman-Fried that this might be what he was up to at FTX, his crypto exchange. Just moving money from low-valued uses to high-valued ones, very neat and utilitarian.

A less clever — but faster? — form of effective altruism would be “we build a giant casino for crypto gambling, then we steal all the money and use it to buy mosquito nets.” Arguably that is closer to what Bankman-Fried was actually up to, though that’s not quite right either. FTX actually recovered most of the client money, but also it does not seem to have notably devoted a ton of customer money to effective charitable works on behalf of the world’s poorest.

“We build a giant casino for crypto gambling, steal the money and use it to buy a castle for effective altruist philosophers” is even weirder? Like that’s a good assignment for a philosophy class? “Explain, using utilitarianism, how this is Good.”

Because one of the things that was done with Sam Bankman-Fried's donations to the Effective Ventures Foundation was to buy Wytham Abbey (photo at top) in England for around $18 million. The plan, apparently, was to use the manor house as a retreat where the thinkers of effective altruism would meet with their billionaire funders and come up with ways to make the world better. Unfortunately for that dream, after FTX went bankrupt Effective Ventures decided to return the money Bankman-Friend gave them, and to do that they had to put the house back on the market.

Levine's blog isn't set up so you can link to individual posts, but this is part of his post dated May 9.

Chat GPT4 Summarizes My Career

My employers are setting up a new system that is supposed to help us find expertise within the company. Like, say, if I am doing a historic resource study of a historic building and I need a structural engineer to assess its structural status, I should be able to look in this system to find an engineer with the necessary skills. For this system we are supposed to write little blurbs about ourselves. One of my colleagues got curious as to whether we could have Chapt GPT do this for us, so he supplied it with this prompt:

Write a short bio for a senior archaeologist named John Bedell. He has 30 years of experience and he does cultural resources studies and project management.

It supplied the following:

Dr. John Bedell is a distinguished senior archaeologist with an impressive career spanning over three decades. His unwavering passion for unraveling the mysteries of the past has solidified his reputation as a leading expert in the field of archaeology.

John's journey into the world of cultural heritage began when he earned his Ph.D. in Archaeology from a renowned institution. Armed with a deep understanding of archaeological methodologies and a commitment to preserving cultural resources, he embarked on a career that has left an indelible mark on the discipline.

Over the course of his 30-year career, John Bedell has been instrumental in conducting cultural resources studies that have expanded our knowledge of diverse civilizations and historical periods. His keen eye for detail and methodical approach have unearthed artifacts and insights that contribute significantly to our understanding of human history.

Apart from his groundbreaking research, John has excelled in project management within the archaeological realm. He has successfully led numerous teams through complex excavation projects, ensuring the meticulous documentation and preservation of valuable cultural artifacts. His leadership skills, coupled with his wealth of experience, make him a sought-after figure in the archaeological community.

Throughout his career, Dr. Bedell has not only contributed to the academic world but has also played a pivotal role in public outreach and education. His commitment to sharing the wonders of archaeology with the broader community has inspired countless individuals to appreciate and respect the rich tapestry of our shared human heritage.

As a senior archaeologist, John Bedell continues to push the boundaries of archaeological research, leaving an enduring legacy that will shape the discipline for generations to come. His dedication to cultural preservation and his leadership in project management serve as a beacon for aspiring archaeologists, showcasing the impact that a lifetime of commitment can have on our understanding of the past.  

I am passing this along because I think it shows pretty well the state of LLMs right now. There is one obvious error, which is that my Ph.D. is in history. But beyond that we have generic academic braggadicio: passion, pivotal role, enduring legacy, leading expert. Certain words appear with no real context: methodology, diverse, leadership.

We have a lot of words, but no actual information.

But, you know, that describes a great deal of prose written by people, too. In the example of such a blurb we were given by the company, the employee describes himself as a "dynamic and motivated professional" with "excellent leadership abilities" and "exceptional organizational skills." Does that convey any information, beyond familiarity with business buzzwords?

In their current state, LLMs may be useful, but only because the standards in certain kinds of writing are so low.

The Conceptual Arsenal of Climate Collapse

Via Pessimsits Archive on X.

While I'm at it a few more old news items from the same source:

The Maya Conjurors of Waka'

Waka´ is a mid-sized Classic Maya city in Guatemala that for the most part looks like all the other mid-sized Classic Maya cities. It reached its peak between 400 and 800 AD. It seems to have been destroyed by the armies of Tikal around 800, or at least its royal line was ended, which means no more dated monuments.

The most remarkable thing about Waka' is a small group of elite burials that date to the 600s AD. I had seen some pictures of these before but I did not understand the full wonder of them until I stumbled on a marvelous new article by David Freidel and colleagues called Classic Maya Mirror Conjurors of Waka'. These folks think that Waka' was a famous place for divination using pyrite mirrors and divining trays, and that the royal family in particular was heavily involved in divination. It has long been known that Mesoamerican shamans used mirrors in their divinatory practice, what was called in England "scrying"; in fact Elizabethan magus John Dee had an Aztec obsidian mirror. Diviners too poor to afford obsidian or pyrite used shallow bowls of water. Above is the back of an "iron ore mosaic mirror" from Waka; notice that it depicts, among other things, the stinger of the divine centipede. (Just wait, it gets a lot weirder than that.)

The most famous burial is probably that of queen regnant Lady K'abel, dating to around 692. That's her above, flaunting her power.

The tomb includes the mosaic mask at the top of the post and a full suite of divining gear including a mirror and a divining plate.

And here is burial 37, a man also fully equipped with divining gear laid out in a ritual pattern that matches the gear of the Maize God shown on a famous stela. 

He also had a mosaic mask beside him.

But I am most fascinated by burial number 39, apparently a king, although the skeleton was too poorly preserved to be sure. Here we have yet another set of divining gear; but notice the circle on the plan marked "Figurine Scene."

That would be these figurines.

Everyone interprets these as a depiction of a ritual, most likely a divination. The characters include the king,

the queen – when this was part of a travelling exhibit of Maya figurines a few years ago it was described as a "proud warrior queen bearing a shield," but that isn't a shield, its a divination dish, as you can tell from the presence of the stylus that was rolled around to generate meanings –

a praying child watched over by a big-eared deer that all the authorities assure me is a representation of a guardian spirit,

and two dwarf boxers with removable helmets.

I mean, really, for what kind of ritual do you need the king, the queen with her divining dish, twelve ball players, two balls, a praying child, the child's bizarre guardian spirit, two boxing dwarves, a blind dwarf, a fourth dwarf with an elongated head, a young girl, and a monster? Besides, this being the Maya we're talking about, bloodletting, human sacrifice, and hallucinogens?

No, don't answer that.

Divinatory tokens from burial 39