For anyone who is interested in learning to read very basic 篆書, I encountered the following gem in my recent travels on the web 篆書唐詩選五言絶句. A mid-18th C Japanese edition in the Waseda Collection. www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/ht...

What about these? They give me the creeps every time I see them, usually fleetingly in the background.

I was going to thank them for advertising Amtrak.

Seen in the 'hood:

What the hell, Medicare! Good call Gmail!

Two crows are outside my window, enthusiastically dismantling a cherry tree for nesting material. They break off small branches and then fly off with them. Saves the city from having to prune.

I freaked out for a moment at the prospect of a palace coup, but no, the target of the plot turns out to be Cuba. At any rate, situation still normal, still all fucked up.

I have seen the remains of these statues in an SF series a while back. Ah. I recall now it now: The Peripheral

Forwarded to me by a friend who prefers to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. Source unknown. Once we have reclaimed ownership of Pepe, we can take back ownership of 🇺🇸 !

Here's an interesting paper on the impact of AI on creativity when the AI is unavailable. It seems that humans who have become entrained to the AI norm continue to conform in its absence.

I finally got around to looking up the design of the intersection between I-405 and NE 85th St, in my neighborhood. Nothing could do more to convince me that the correct solution was to slap double track light rail right down the middle of I-405 from Everett to Renton.

How CNN quietly manipulates information. The following showed up in my wife's email box this am. It characterizes the protests in Los Angeles incorrectly as "anti-immigration protests". Later articles delete the word "anti-immigration", and fail to mention what the protests are about in the lede.

For example, 牛科重宝記　A Handy Guide to Cattle Medicine, shown below, published in 1756. This presupposes a literate farm population.

3-4K people here in downtown Kirkland

The text in my volume is almost identical, word for word, except that the names are now in pinyin. :)

I always check those Little Free Libraries when I encounter them. This one was still there when I went back three days later, so I traded it for a Patricia Churchland volume on cognition that had languished on my shelf, unread, for more than a decade. I think I came out ahead.

Recently seen:

It's nice to still be cited occasionally. But this one is really weird. What on earth is going on here? An LLM-generated article? LLM-generated citations? www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/14...

We're trapped in a mirror image universe. How do we get back to the real universe? I don't like it here.

Holy shit. Here's what the Atlanta Fed is saying now on that other unmentionable site: "On April 1, the #GDPNow model nowcast of real GDP growth in Q1 2025 is -3.7%: bit.ly/32EYojR. #ATLFedResearch"

The content is a gorgeously illustrated exposition of the interaction of art, calligraphy, and poetry in Japan across history. Notably, it provides transcriptions, Roman script transliterations, and translations for much of the calligraphic text--a huge benefit to readers at all levels of Japanese

This marvelous and deliciously weighty volume arrived in the mail today.

For those interested, the technical term for this is "desire paths".

I am a small man. I confess I am enjoying this.

I have managed to get myself onto two block lists overnight. One is based on my following too many people. I have lived long enough to have many interests that cut across humanities and sciences. So tough. If you don't like that I follow a lot of people, feel free to unfollow or block me.

The library wants this bundle of heartbreaking eloquence returned today. Would it be a sin if I got it back tomorrow?

This gem arrived in my mailbox a couple of days ago. Analysis of 29 translations of a single poem by Li Bai. I suspect this wonderful little volume might end up becoming necessary reading for anyone interested in understanding the kinds of choices made when translating poetry.

The spamsters in my junk mail box are getting more ambitious these days. This one may be attempting to swallow a whale.😂