Weekly Wikipedia Find: Metempsychosis

Philosophy is the love of wisdom or often knowledge, but it is also very much concern for the soul. At times, it is a very obvious psychomachia or "battle for the soul." This is done through psychogogia or "a leading of the soul." That's what philosophy is, but frankly it's all Greek to me.

Metempsychosis, on the other hand, is the "transmigration of the soul." The soul aspires to freedom. The soul, like inspiration or the creative spirit, moves from one vessel to another. The soul is the text and the text is alive and produces new texts. Transmigration is intertextuality. Layers and layers, the palimpsest of the soul, like lives and lives. Thus the soul (the "text") miraculously returns to life, when it informs another.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Fifty-Two: Memory hole
Week Fifty-One: The Black Book
Week Fifty: Spear of Longinus
Week Forty-Nine: Moral panic
Week Forty-Eight: "The Move"
Week Forty-Seven: Cloaca
Week Forty-Six: Ship of fools
Week Forty-Five: Slattery Report
Week Forty-Four: Isolationism
Week Forty-Three: Foxy
Week Forty-Two: Young Woman with Unicorn
Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: The Black Book

The Black Book is not your little, black book, you dog, you. No, the Black Book is English nomenclature for the Sonderfahndungsliste G.B., which was basically a 3000 name Adolf Milhous Hitler's enemies list. These names represent prominent British subjects and European exiles in Britain who were to be rounded up and presumably purged (executed) upon the successful completion of the Nazi invasion of Great Britain during World War II. Twenty thousand copies of the book were produced for the six paramilitary groups that were to follow the invasion forces. Two survive.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Fifty: Spear of Longinus
Week Forty-Nine: Moral panic
Week Forty-Eight: "The Move"
Week Forty-Seven: Cloaca
Week Forty-Six: Ship of fools
Week Forty-Five: Slattery Report
Week Forty-Four: Isolationism
Week Forty-Three: Foxy
Week Forty-Two: Young Woman with Unicorn
Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Spear of Longinus

The spear of Longinus is the holy lance which pierced the side of Him that is Jesus Christ as he was on the cross. This piercing was undertaken by a Roman soldier, ostensibly named Longinus, like a little doe-eyed child curiously poking the body of a dead drifter he found in the woods, washed up on a bankside, beside some train tracks. "Yeah, it turns out he's dead." "So that's was a dead body looks like. Poke. Poke. Poke.

The lance was a much sought after objet for its occult value. It was said that during World War II Adolf Hitler himself was in possession of the lance, wielding its magical power and preventing Superman's entrance into the European theatre alongside the Allied Forces and affecting a quick victory for the good guys.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Forty-Nine: Moral panic
Week Forty-Eight: "The Move"
Week Forty-Seven: Cloaca
Week Forty-Six: Ship of fools
Week Forty-Five: Slattery Report
Week Forty-Four: Isolationism
Week Forty-Three: Foxy
Week Forty-Two: Young Woman with Unicorn
Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Moral panic

What are moral panics? According to Jones and Jones, it can be defined as "the intensity of feeling expressed by a large number of people about a specific group of people who appear to threaten the social order at a given time." An intensity of feeling. I think I might suffer from that. But a dearth of emotion. It be complicated. But that's neither here nor there.

But if there is to be moral panics, there are certain roles needed to be cast. There is the moral entrepreneur, hocking his wares from here to Delaware. This value salesman feels the encroachment upon his entreprises from an increase in consumer demand brought upon the availability and quality of supplies. This results in the introduction of folk devils, who sneak into the gap left by the inadequacies of the moral marketplace. These folks devils offer new, often foreign-made, values at cheaper prices (The irony is this is purely capitalistic in its promotion of competition).

Wikipedia by Week

Week Forty-Eight: "The Move"
Week Forty-Seven: Cloaca
Week Forty-Six: Ship of fools
Week Forty-Five: Slattery Report
Week Forty-Four: Isolationism
Week Forty-Three: Foxy
Week Forty-Two: Young Woman with Unicorn
Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: "The Move"

Like all great things not limited to Ziggy and Horseface, this factoid comes to our attention because of The Wire Season 2.

Of all the things to secretly move in the middle of the night, a football team?

Wikipedia by Week

Week Forty-Seven: Cloaca
Week Forty-Six: Ship of fools
Week Forty-Five: Slattery Report
Week Forty-Four: Isolationism
Week Forty-Three: Foxy
Week Forty-Two: Young Woman with Unicorn
Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Cloaca

Birds. How do they do it? Sex. Bird sex. The cloacal kiss. It's how. What's a cloaca? A sewer organ. Shittin' and pissin' and fuckin' all in one. The cloacal kiss is the touching of cloacas together, however fleeting, to pass precious fluids.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Forty-Six: Ship of fools
Week Forty-Five: Slattery Report
Week Forty-Four: Isolationism
Week Forty-Three: Foxy
Week Forty-Two: Young Woman with Unicorn
Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Ship of fools

I wish Wikipedia would make a list of for all of their long-been-a-fixtures for Western literature and art. It would make things a lot easier on me. Because here I am, sitting in my ship, being ignorant like some kind of... some kind... some kind of foolish person. Like an ass, or an idiot, or an imbecile. Or a mooncalf, or a moron, or a nincompoop. A ninny or a nitwit. A simpleton or a softhead. Like one of those things, but of a term that more accurately would describe me as a silly or stupid person lacking in judgment or sense. Whatever that term may be. And in this ship are like-minded individuals, and we are all ignorant of our direction. Foolish as we are.

Foucault would be able to see the symbolism in such a symbol. Ship of fools he could call it. If he weren't so busy and would just return my calls already. I didn't mean to hurt you, baby, I swear I love you, I just love you so much.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Forty-Five: Slattery Report
Week Forty-Four: Isolationism
Week Forty-Three: Foxy
Week Forty-Two: Young Woman with Unicorn
Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Slattery Report

The Slattery Report or the "Problem of Alaskan Development" was the proposal that following the Night of Broken Glass incident at a German pogrom just prior to the outbreak of World War II, Alaska, then a territory and not yet a state, be used as a Jewish refugee haven, but faced opposition from American Jews. Instead, Alaska remained an Okie backwater from the dustbowl migrations.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Forty-Four: Isolationism
Week Forty-Three: Foxy
Week Forty-Two: Young Woman with Unicorn
Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Isolationism

It turns out there already is such a thing as isolationism. Damn you, complete world knowledge! Isn't there anything that escapes your neon claws?

Now if someone would just take this military/political policy and apply its basic principles to literary/social theory, then we'd be rolling.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Forty-Three: Foxy
Week Forty-Two: Young Woman with Unicorn
Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Foxy

Foxy is a fox. Like Mickey is a mouse, and Oswald is a lucky rabbit, Foxy is a fox. But Foxy is not a mouse, nor a lucky rabbit, because Foxy is a fox and should not be confused for not a fox. Foxy had a girlfriend, who was also not a mouse, and also not named Minnie, because she was also not named. Later, unnamed fox became Roxy the fox, girlfriend to Foxy the fox.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Forty-Two: Young Woman with Unicorn
Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Young Woman with Unicorn

There is a painting by the famed Italian Renaissance painter Raphael Sanzio, commonly known by the singular nom Raphael, painted circa 1506 which for the longest time was attributed to a contemporary and listed as St. Catherine until it was restored in 1935 and properly identified.

There is a vastly intriguing narrative and history contained within this Wikipedia entry. Just imagine, the young art history scholars and restorers in the 1930s cleaning this painting, only to discover what she holds within her arms. "You got to be shitting me?!" One exclaims. "Hey Larry, you gotta see this." One calls to another. "Fuckin' 'ell. Is that a unicorn?" High fives all around.

This has been the untold story of Portrait of Young Woman with Unicorn.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Forty-One: Cosmicism
Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Cosmicism

Having just finished a collection of some of H.P. Lovecraft's works, this post is less a post on Cosmicism, than a tribute to the mini-cottage industry of Lovecraft wikis that are contained within all that is Wikipedia.

But more particular the cosmicism of the Cosmicism Wikipedia entry refers to Lovecraft's penchant for horror that was not based in the supernatural, but rather a universal, one of un-understandable scientific capabilities and biologies, and the earthbound cults built around this mighty astral beings.

But what Wikipedia doesn't mention, (and I did ctrl+f on the main Lovecraft page, so I'm taking full credit for this) is that Lovecraft's horror is an epistolary horror. All of his stories, or at least the better ones, seemed to be based around academics and scholars researching, delving, stumbling upon seem mysterious thing, place, history and getting involved, often perilously too close, as there story is recounted in letters and diaries.

I will give one brief shout-out to cosmicism though, and that is: cosmic indifference. The idea that God exists, gods in fact, and they don't care. They of course are only gods in that sense of supreme beings who obey a set of natural laws that are beyond all human understanding.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Forty: Prisoner's dilemma
Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Prisoner's dilemma

So here we are, a thought experiment coming back on the scene and kicking incest to the curb. How utterly disappointing. And middlebrow. Seriously now, if someone out there sees the the incestuous deep sea monster thought experiment Wikipedia entry, forward it my way.

This thought experiment, the Prisoner's dilemma, is actually a problem in Game Theory as described by the RAND Corporation.

I'm not going to bother to try to do this one justice so you should probably just read it yourself if you're interested. I'll just mention the point that if two accomplices in a crime are brought in for their crime, and given the chance to betray the other (in separate interrogations, natch), then "rational choice leads the two players to both play defectly even though each player's individual reward would be greater if they both played cooperately."

But remember that movie about game theory Nobel Prize winner John Forbes Nash Jr.--A Beautiful something-- and how it was only so-so, but it had the great scene where Nash and his faculty pals used game theory to pick up girls in a bar. (I believe they decided they shouldn't all go after the blonde--I'm not sure, I only saw it like once. It was so middlebrow.)

Wikipedia by Week

Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Demimonde

The language, it is continually evolving, yet it stays the same. New words come up, yet our old words don't disappear. Some may label them archaic. They might not be gauche. But they still get the job done. And with style.

"Demimonde" was the "mistress" of the nineteenth century. That is, to say, mistress is the new demimonde.

But they are so much more than mere mistresses. While they enjoy the same kept-ness (captivity?) of the mistress, they also constitute their own social class.

Their decline is owed to ever rising tide of progress, time, feminism, and the middle class. Social mores are for the bourgeoisie; demimondes are for the wealthy.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Haemophilia in European royalty

Aristocratic inbreeding again, Justin? I know, I know. But its an awesome concept. Incest: an awesome concept? Yes. Yes! YES!!

The only problem with incest (yes the only problem) is that it tends to allow the propagation of undesirable traits such as a horrible underbite or excessive bleeding. Yes, today's focus of the royal intermarriage corner is haemophilia in European royalty.

Haemophilia, the inability of the body to control blood clotting, was passed among the houses of Europe by that nineteenth century queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland's Victorian era, Queen Victoria, who likely developed the condition through spontaneous gene mutation. From there, she passed this gene to her son Leopold, an inconsequential heir (fourth in line!) who would die from the excessive bleeding, and princesses Alice and Beatrice, consorts of Princes of Germany. And through their children, the disorder would reach the houses of Prussia, Russia, and Spain. Natural selection at its finest.

Of course, today it is sad to report that hemophilia is extinct in the Royal Houses of Europe, but there is still hope that it does in fact still reside, hidden, waiting, in the genes of a female descendant of Victoria.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion