Category: Diversions
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Episodes of Covertness [in the spirit of secret signatures]
Antiquity and the classical world Literature and scholarship Art & design Espionage and resistance Erasure, cover-ups, and what time reveals A List of a Hundred Episodes Antiquity and the Middle Ages Early Modern, and Artful Disguises Literature and Wordcraft Music and Sonic Ciphers Maps, Encyclopedias and Traps Coins, Currency and Craft Espionage, War and Resistance…
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Hidden Names and Secret Signatures in History
Introduction History is full of secret signatures and hidden marks left by creators who longed to be remembered. Throughout the ages, artists, builders and even bystanders have embedded their names or symbols in their works—sometimes openly, but often in clever or concealed ways. In periods when open self-promotion was frowned upon or credit was officially…
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The Rule of the Thumb, and Wife-Beating in Seventeenth Century England, [which the Americans immediately threw out.]
Abstract “Rule of thumb” is a seventeenth‑century English expression meaning a rough‑and‑ready guideline based on practical experience—literally, on what one could measure with a thumb. It has nothing to do with any law about wife‑beating; that story is a much later myth. Earliest appearances and literal sense In an age before precision tools, many crafts used the…
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Entropy tends to Zero, at the Boundaries
Testing and Evaluation Philosophy Psychology Economics Physics & Engineering Chemistry Biology & Medicine Computer Science and Data Science Statistics and Measurement Theory Linguistics and Semiotics Music and Acoustics Visual and Plastic Arts Law and Ethics Sociology and Survey Design Theology and Liturgical Studies
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
It was only befitting that I said a few words about the place where I studied before I conquered. MIT in Popular Culture MIT’s prominence as a top science and engineering university has made it a recurring symbol in global popular culture. Writers and creators often invoke “MIT” to instantly convey genius-level intellect, technological prowess,…
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The Song of the Blade that Slits the Air
In dawn-lit bloom where peach hues flare,A maiden stands with midnight hair;Her katana gleams in morning’s glare—A silver hymn that cleaves the air. Sakura petals stitch her gown,Soft pinks that drift yet won’t fall down;Their fragrant dance in spirals roundIs hushed when tempered steel is found. Mount Fuji’s crown of ghost-white snowLooks on the seas…
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Ten weary, footsore travelers
Anonymous Ten weary, footsore travelers,All in a woeful plight,Sought shelter at a wayside innOne dark and stormy night. “Nine beds — no more,” the landlord said,“Have I to offer you;To each of eight a single room,But the ninth must serve for two.” A din arose. The troubled hostCould only scratch his head,For of those tired…
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My daughter’s smile
Fatima would come and sit on my lap; my worries suspended for that valuable moment. I was surging to the vergeof diverging from my urge;my relentless, hot desireto merge and to acquire. Boardrooms throbbed with savage trade,tickers flashed, decisions made;spreadsheets hissed a neon choir,fueling bids that edged up higher. Deadlines pounded like a drum,steel-heeled seconds…
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A Positive Reminder
James Albert Lindon (b. 1914, d. December 16, 1979) A carpenter named Charlie Bratticks,Who had a taste for mathematics,One summer Tuesday, just for fun,Made a wooden cube side minus one. Though this to you may well seem wrong,He made it minus one foot long,Which meant (I hope your brains aren’t frothing)Its length was one foot…