radiant fracture

https://languagehat.com/arete/

Posted by languagehat

https://languagehat.com/?p=17715

From the About the Project page:

ARETE is a project of the UCLAB at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. The central result of the project is the interactive visualization of the history of the Latin alphabet. In particular, the visualization shows the temporal and formal relationships of the different scripts and typefaces to each other.

Our main concern was to show the diversity and variance of the Latin alphabet over the centuries. It is often suggested that the Roman Capitalis evolved to Antiqua scripts to today’s Grotesk in a linear way. However, we believe that this is only one possible view among many. Like any cultural development, the history of type and script is, at its core, a network. Over the centuries, designers have learned from others, referred to existing designs, and developed variants. There were times of greater standardization and then again times of great variance. The Arete project wants to show and clarify this diversity and these different design lines.

Another concern was to show not only the typographic history, but also the history of calligraphy and handwriting. Even after the invention of printing, a lot of text production occurred by hand. In the 17th and 18th centuries, various social, economic and cultural developments even caused handwriting to flourish.

Lots more info at the link; it’s a pleasing layout, even if I don’t understand all the ins and outs — there are lots of things to click on. (Via chavenet’s MeFi post.)

https://languagehat.com/arete/

https://languagehat.com/?p=17715

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154497/blast-from-the-past-arizonas-meteor-crater

Posted by NASA Earth Observatory

The “young” and well-preserved crater helps scientists understand cratering processes on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ravne-tunnels

The Ravne tunnels.

Semir Osmanagić has become something of a national hero in Bosnia for his claims that a collection of hills in Visoko, 24 km northwest of Sarajevo, are in fact giant ancient pyramids. He has successfully commercialized this theory through tourism to a network of allegedly prehistoric tunnels that connects these “pyramids” underground.

Inside the 3.8-kilometer-long Ravne Tunnel complex, which is operated by Osmanagić’s Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation, there are supposed ceramic plates said to have healing powers. There are also alleged runestones in the tunnels, and water from them is sold with promises of healing powers. In addition to offering tours of the tunnels, the Foundation sells opportunities to participate in their further excavation.

Although Osmanagić has been well-received by many Bosnian nationalists, he has been ridiculed by the scientific community. A study found no evidence to suggest that the “pyramids” are anything other than natural hills. As for the tunnels themselves, they are likely remnants of medieval mines or tunnels dug by Yugoslav Partisans during World War II. A geologist found that the runes are likely modern additions. Osmanagić himself has admitted to widening the tunnels for tourist usage.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ravne-tunnels

dailybunny_feed

Posted by Daily Bunny

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2025/7/3/everybun-needs-a-helping-hand-sometimes

Thanks, Kathy, Evan, and bunny Mac! Kathy writes:

Mac's 11+1/2 now. Still bunderful! I hesitate to share photos lately because he has some hair missing around his eyes, which doesn't look so good. It comes and goes, might have to do with his drops for glaucoma (3x/day) or allergies, etc. He's been having trouble jumping up, so these 'steps' from Amazon are perfect.

Anyway, Mac sends his love to all the bunnies!

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2025/7/3/everybun-needs-a-helping-hand-sometimes

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3110/

Starting a meta-leaderboard for tracking who holds the record for ranking behind the most distinct people on an online leaderboard.

https://xkcd.com/3110/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/patio-of-sculptures-at-marco

Colors and volumes in the patio.

Designed by noted architect Ricardo Legorreta, Monterrey's Contemporary Art Museum—known as MARCO (from Museo de ARte COntemporáneo)—opened its doors in 1991. Legorreta was influenced by the Tapatía School of architecture, probably best exemplified by the works of his teacher, Luis Barragán.

The Tapatía architectural school derives its name from the term used to descrive natives of Barragán’s home town, Guadalajara: the capital of Jalisco, known for its large number of country estates, or “haciendas,” many of which produce tequila and similar spirits. Architecturally, haciendas are greatly influenced by the tastes of Spanish colonists, and this influence can be seen in their open-air interior courtyards surrounding separate buildings to house extended families, service staff, animals, and even industrial areas.

Many consider haciendas among the most representative architectural styles of Mexico, including in Nuevo León, of which Monterrey is the capital. So when Legorreta was selected to design MARCO, which was to become one of Monterrey’s calling cards in its rapid modernization at the turn of the century, he looked to the past for inspiration.

MARCO is centered on a square central section in a nod to the hacienda courtyard. Normally open to the air on an hacienda, the museum’s version is indoors and mirrors the typical central well or fountain with a reflection pool filled at random intervals from a waterfall-like source.

The “Patio de las Esculturas” of the Museum is practically its only outdoors area, thanks to two of Monterrey’s best-known characteristics: its often-extreme weather and its impressive natural surroundings that earned it the nickname “Ciudad de las Montañas” (City of Mountains). Chief among these mountains is the Cerro de la Silla, resembling a “silla de montar,” which can be translated as Saddle Hill. The land earmarked for MARCO had a great view of this hill, which Legorreta decided to highlight with an open-air patio. (It has probably helped in the installation of massive sculptural works for temporary exhibitions as well.)

This patio can perhaps be seen as the equivalent of the hacienda’s stables, or another structure separate from the main house. In true Tapatía School style, the building employs linear volumes and bold colors, “Mexican pink” chief among them. The high walls enclosing most of the patio give way to a much lower one in the direction of Saddle Hill to allow its imposing presence to lord over the view. Other than the shade of these walls, the only cover comes from a walkway lined with featureless geometric columns, a minimalist response to a colonnade. Unlike hacienda patios, this space is completely devoid of vegetation, in order to keep the sky and view as the only natural intrusions in a man-made environment designed to showcase sculptural works.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/patio-of-sculptures-at-marco

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154506/blast-from-the-past-young-impact-crater-uncovered-in-yilan

Posted by NASA Earth Observatory

The 50,000-year-old crater is relatively young, and only the second discovered in China.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wonderwerk-cave

Inside Wonderwerk Caves, underground caves and excavation, Kuruman, Northern Cape

Over a million years ago, one of our ancient ancestors took a burning stick from a wildfire and carried it into a dark cave in South Africa. Light danced on the walls as our hominin forebear (Homo Erectus, that is, not quite modern humans just yet) placed the burning stick on a pile of twigs, which burst into flames. Or at least, this is the scene we might imagine based on evidence found in Wonderwerk Cave.

Controlled fire—aka a campfire—was one of the most important breakthroughs in our soon-to-be-human history. Mastering fire allowed our great-great-great- (add about 40,000 more greats) grandparents to stay warm, light up the night, and keep predators at bay. Most importantly, it meant they could roast their food. Cooking made food easier to chew and digest, unlocking significantly more calories and nutrients than raw food. The innovation of fire and its impact on early diets is also believed to have played a major role in increasing brain size among our early human ancestors over the next half-million years.

Wonderwerk Cave traces this early culinary history. Inside the 456-foot-long (139-meter) cavity, signs of ancient fires suggest people cooked food here about a million years ago. Buried deep in the rock, archeologists and scientists found the ashy, burnt remains of grasses, leaves, and animal bones. This discovery ranks as some of the earliest evidence of controlled fire.

While this is the oldest currently accepted evidence for hominid controlled fire, it is certainly possible that hominid controlled fire may date back as far as 2 million years ago.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wonderwerk-cave

https://languagehat.com/commonly-spoken-languages-in-toronto/

Posted by languagehat

https://languagehat.com/?p=17709

Brilliant Maps has a page with two terrific images, one “a colourful map of Toronto’s most widespread languages” shown together, and another, “54 Languages in Toronto,” with separate (tiny) maps for each language showing where in the city each is spoken; they “are both the work of Alex McPhee, aka Pronghorn maps,” and there’s a link to his site, where you can buy copies if you so desire. I do love this sort of thing, and there’s a lot more information at the Brilliant Maps link.

https://languagehat.com/commonly-spoken-languages-in-toronto/

https://languagehat.com/?p=17709

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25886740-murderbot-tv-adaptation-good

So...

I signed up for Apple TV the other day expressly so I and my weekly media-watching buddies could take a break from our usual Asian fare to see their production of Martha Well's Murderbot. (Heaven knows I don't need yet another streaming service, but...) We binge-watched the first 8 half-hour episodes last night.

I am astonished and delighted (and envious) with how well the show has managed so far to stick to the original story -- they are still in the first volume, All Systems Red. So great to see something that isn't part of the endless stream of media retreads and remakes we are plagued with. Casting is pretty great as well -- one could identify nearly all of the characters in their first appearance, before they even opened their mouths.

And they totally get the humor of the story. Granted the tales are action-heavy, but though the Tor book covers are wonderful pieces of art, nothing about them even hints that any humor will be found beyond them.

Given the dry commentary on corporate shenanigans in the stories, I was meta-amused by the fact that Apple streaming won't play on my Chromecast; happily my son the IT support found the way around (going directly from my laptop.)

It looks like the first season of these half-hour episodes will cover All Systems Red; let's hope it is successful enough to go on to another volume and season.

Recommended.

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on July, 02

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25886740-murderbot-tv-adaptation-good

dailybunny_feed

Posted by Daily Bunny

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2025/7/2/regal-yet-absurdly-floofy

Thanks, Lisa and bunny Maisie!

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2025/7/2/regal-yet-absurdly-floofy

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154502/blast-from-the-past-vredefort-crater

Posted by NASA Earth Observatory

The world’s oldest and largest known impact structure shows some of the most extreme deformation conditions known on Earth.

https://languagehat.com/birthday-loot-2025/

Posted by languagehat

https://languagehat.com/?p=17699

As I anticipate my chicken curry and lemon bars, I’ll mention some of the gifts that have come my way. There was a group of movies, for some reason all Asian: two by Tsai Ming-Liang (Rebels of the Neon God and Vive L’amour), Mother by Bong Joon-ho (I loved his Parasite and Memories of Murder), and the new 2-Blu-ray Criterion edition of Seven Samurai (replacing my ancient DVD), one of my favorite movies (I last watched it in conjunction with a reread of The Last Samurai and am due for another viewing). Oh, and I almost forgot Gimme Shelter, one of the greatest and most troubling of rock movies. My lovely and generous wife gave me this Mingus box set (7 CDs!). And I got a book of great Hattic interest: Taiwan Travelogue: A Novel, by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (her name has the tone marks on the cover, the first time I remember seeing that). The NY Times review by Shahnaz Habib (archived) gives an idea of what I mean about its interest:

Aoyama Chizuko, a Japanese novelist, is traveling around Taiwan with O Chizuru, a brilliant translator with deep knowledge of the island’s layers of culture. Having received an official invitation to conduct a lecture series, Chizuko plans to spend a year on the island writing travel articles for Japanese publications. […]

Who better to answer these questions than a translator, adept in the language and culture of the colony and the colonizer? Translation, after all, can be both a capitulation and an act of resistance to the soft power of an empire. Having mastered the master’s toolbox, the translator understands precisely how cultural domination works.

Perhaps this is why Yang fashions “Taiwan Travelogue” as a nesting doll of translations. Richly detailed conversations about food, for example, serve as code for the growing erotic tension between Chizuko and Chizuru, which remains unspoken.

Beyond this, the book itself is presented as a fictional translation of a Japanese novel written by Chizuko years after she returns to Nagasaki. According to this framing device, the novel was published in Japan in 1954, and translated into Mandarin twice, first by Chizuru, and then decades later by Yang. There are multiple afterwords and many footnotes from both fictional and real translators. It all amounts to a virtuosic performance of literary polyphony.

In her disorientingly convincing afterword, Yang, writing as the book’s fictional translator, recounts how she discovered Chizuko’s novel by following a breadcrumb trail of archival material. (To complicate matters further, Yang Shuang-zi is actually a pseudonym, but, for your sanity and mine, I refer to her as the author in this review.)

A few pages later, the novel’s English-language translator, Lin King, writes in her own (real) afterword that she consulted the Japanese translation of “Taiwan Travelogue” for help with certain terms, noting the irony of turning to “the Japanese translation of a Taiwanese novel that claims to be a Taiwanese translation of a Japanese novel.”

I imagine I’ll be posting about it in due course.

Update. A couple of later-arriving novels: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward and A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar.

https://languagehat.com/birthday-loot-2025/

https://languagehat.com/?p=17699

ao3_news_feed

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/31879

5 Things an OTW volunteer said

Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer's personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today's post is with Rhine, who volunteers as a volunteer manager in the Translation Committee.

How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?

As a Translation volunteer manager I mostly deal with admin work that surrounds the work our translators do – be it talking to other committees about things that are to be translated, preparing English texts for translation, making sure our version of the text is up to date, or getting texts published once they are translated – along with more general personnel stuff like recruiting new translators, keeping a clear record of who is supposed to be working on what and who is on break, checking in with translators and how they feel about their work, that kind of thing. Having been in this role for some time now, I also help with mentoring newer volunteer managers in how to do what we do, at the scale we do it.

What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?

There isn't one singular stereotypical week in this role, but some different modes with different focuses that are more or less typical for me:

Going on-call for a week: Translation volunteer managers work from a shared inbox that serves as a first point of contact for all inquiries related to the Translation Committee. Each week, one or two volunteer managers go on-call as the ones primarily responsible for making sure everything gets actioned and squared away as needed. This usually means spending a couple hours each day working through everything in the shared inbox, including but not limited to assigning tasks to translators, checking on translators who were on hiatus, triaging translation requests from other committees, and responding to any questions translators may have in the course of their work.
Working on a bigger project, like a series of high-visibility posts (e.g. membership drive, OTW Board elections), opening recruitment, or internal surveys: When Translation does a committee-wide thing, it'll by necessity involve most or even all of our forty-some language teams, each with 1–8 members. Coordinating all that takes some organisational overhead (and some love for checklists and spreadsheets, along with automations where feasible), which typically means sitting down for a few hours on three or four days of the week and chipping away at various related tasks to keep things moving, including but not limited to asking other people to double-check my work before moving on to the next step.
Working on smaller tasks: When I want to have a more relaxed week while still being active, I'll sit down on one or two afternoons/evenings, and take care of a task that is fairly straightforward, like scheduling and leading chats to check in with translators or train people on our tools, creating a template document with English text for translation, drafting and updating our internal documentation, asking others to look over and give feedback on my drafts, and giving feedback on others' tasks, drafts, and projects.
Weekly chair training/catch-up chats: We have a regular weekly meeting slot to sit down and talk about the few chair-exclusive things in the Translation Committee, as part of chair training.

What made you decide to volunteer?

I actually started volunteering at the OTW as an AO3 tag wrangler back in 2020, when lockdowns were on the horizon and I felt like I could pick up some extra stuff to do. Growing up bilingual and with some extra languages under my belt, I ended up hanging out in some of the spaces with lots of OTW translators. Then I found out that I could internally apply as a Translation volunteer manager, and the rest is pretty much history. At that point I was missing the feeling of doing some volunteer management and admin work anyway!

What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?

On a high level, I'd say it's striking a balance between the expectations and the reality of the work the Translation Committee does, including the sheer scale. On a more concrete level, it's like this: Being a translator in the Translation Committee is, by default, a relatively low commitment, with a number of optional tasks and rosters that we encourage people to take on, if they have the time and attention to spare. Part of how we ensure that is by dealing with as much of the overhead in advance as we can, as Translation volunteer managers.

This means that for instance, when the English version of a text is updated – which may take about two minutes in the original text – we go through each language team's copy of the text, make the changes as needed in the English copy, highlight what was changed, and reset the status in our internal task tracker so that it can be reassigned to a translator. This way the changed part is clearly visible to the translator, so they can quickly pinpoint what they need to do and make the corresponding changes in the translated text.

For both the author of the original English text and the translator, this is a very quick task. On the admin side, on the other hand, it's the same two-minute process of updating our documents repeated over and over, about 15 times on the low end for frequent news post series that we only assign to teams that consistently have some buffer to absorb the extra workload, and almost 50 times on the high end for some of our staple static pages that (almost) all teams have worked on, meaning it's something that takes somewhere between 30 minutes to almost two hours even when it's a tiny change and you're familiar with the workflow.

(And that's before getting to very last-minute changes and emergency news post translations with less than two days' turnaround time, where we manually track everything across around thirty teams, usually. Each time that has happened, everyone's dedication has blown me away. Thank you so much to everyone who answers those calls, you know who you are!)

What fannish things do you like to do?

I like to read, especially if it's something that plays around with worldbuilding or other things that were left unsaid in canon. I wish there were more hours in the day so that I can pick up some of my creative projects again. I suppose some of my coding projects like my AO3 userscripts and my AO3 Saved Filters bookmarklet also count as fannish?

Now that our volunteer's said five things about what they do, it's your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you'd like, you can check out earlier Five Things posts.

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan-run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/31879

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-old-secretariat

The 'Old Secretariat' government building in New Delhi.

Panaji, the capital of Goa, features a fantastic riverfront along the Mandovi River, which flows past the city and into the Arabian Sea. Lining the promenade are some of Panaji’s most iconic and historically significant buildings.

One of them – the structure known as "Old Secretariat" – is the oldest surviving building in the city. It was built by then ruler Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur around 1500 and is said to have served as his summer palace. The structure is believed to have had a salt water moat and an arsenal of several dozen cannons for its defense.

A bit about its history: In 1510, Adil Shah’s forces were defeated by Portuguese forces led by Afonso de Albuquerque during the Portuguese conquest of Goa. Thereafter, the palace was used as a rest house for visiting Portuguese Viceroys. Adil Shah’s Palace was called the ‘Idalcao Palace’ by the Portuguese.

Eventually, when the capital moved from Old Goa to Panaji, Adil Shah’s Palace became the official residence of the Portuguese Viceroys. Later, the residence was shifted to Cabo Palace near Dona Paula, which is at the southern end of Panaji.

After Goa’s liberation in 1961, Adil Shah’s Palace served as Goa’s Secretariat Building, or its legislature. During recent times, a new Secretariat Building was built at Porvorim, and the Legislative Assembly was shifted there. Hence, today, Adil Shah’s Palace is popularly known as the "Old Secretariat."

In current times, the Old Secretariat houses the Goa State Museum. The Museum houses a number of ancient relics such as statues, stone inscriptions, old lottery draw machines and old printing machines.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-old-secretariat

dailybunny_feed

Posted by Daily Bunny

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2025/7/1/whats-hoppening-mystery-bun

Thanks, Robbie and Mystery Bun! Robbie writes, “Here's a mystery bunny (European rabbit) that hopped across my path when I was walking on the local common here in South London looking for birds to photograph this morning.”

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2025/7/1/whats-hoppening-mystery-bun

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154493/blast-from-the-past-a-modern-lake-in-an-ancient-crater

Posted by NASA Earth Observatory

Famously visible from space, ring-shaped Manicouagan Lake was filled at the dawn of the Space Age when Canada dammed a river to flood a Triassic-aged impact crater.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bozdag-film-platolari

This set is inspired by a Roman arena.

The hit television series "Diriliş: Ertuğrul," (2014) and its sequel "Kuruluş: Osman," (2019), each tracing different phases of the history of the Ottoman Empire, are two of the most popular shows to come out of Turkey.

Fans of the shows now have the opportunity to walk in the actors' shoes as the show's production company Bozdağ Film has opened the elaborate sets in the Turkish village of Riva to visitors.

The sets mirror the history traced in the series, taking visitors back in time to travel from Central Asia, with structures reminiscent of caravanserai (the Ottoman equivalent of a modern day roadside motel or rest stop), to Thrace and Anatolia, then part of the Byzantine Empire that would become modern-day Turkey.

Recreations of Mongol-style yurts, a Roman arena and others give a sense of the diversity found from the Balkans to the Gobi during the 13th century lives of these two historical figures.

The shows have not been without controversy. While beloved by many, critics have pointed to historical inaccuracies and suggested the show carries an underlying political agenda.

Given the huge international following of the series, the Bozdağ sets have evolved into a permanent tourist attraction. They offer guided tours in addition to period-appropriate activities like horseback riding and archery.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bozdag-film-platolari