• ἐπαινῶ: παντὶ γάρ μοι δοκεῖ δῆλον ὅτι αὕτη γε ἀναγκάζει ψυχὴν εἰς τὸ ἄνω ὁρᾶν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐνθένδε ἐκεῖσε ἄγει. — Πολιτεία τοῦ Πλᾰ́τωνος
• • For every one, as I think, must see that astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another. — Plato’s Republic (c. 375 BC), Book 7, line 529a
An exceptionally ingenious anagram by the American mathematician Mike Keith (born 1955):
hydrogen + zirconium + tin + oxygen + rhenium + platinum + tellurium + terbium + nobelium + chromium + iron + cobalt + carbon + aluminum + ruthenium + silicon + ytterbium + hafnium + sodium + selenium + cerium + manganese + osmium + uranium + nickel + praseodymium + erbium + vanadium + thallium + plutonium
↓
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii + uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu + mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm + nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn + eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee + rrrrrrrrrrrrrr + ooooooooooooo + llllllllllll + aaaaaaaaaaaa + tttttttttt + ccccccc + hhhhhh + bbbbbb + ssssss + dddd + yyyy + ggg + ppp + z + f + v + x + k
↓
nitrogen + zinc + rhodium + helium + argon + neptunium + beryllium + bromine + lutetium + boron + calcium + thorium + niobium + lanthanum + mercury + fluorine + bismuth + actinium + silver + cesium + neodymium + magnesium + xenon + samarium + scandium + europium + berkelium + palladium + antimony + thulium
[as chemical names]
1 + 40 + 50 + 8 + 75 + 78 + 52 + 65 + 102 + 24 + 26 + 27 + 6 + 13 + 44 + 14 + 70 + 72 + 11 + 34 + 58 + 25 + 76 + 92 + 28 + 59 + 68 + 23 + 81 + 94
=
1416
=
7 + 30 + 45 + 2 + 18 + 93 + 4 + 35 + 71 + 5 + 20 + 90 + 41 + 57 + 80 + 9 + 83 + 89 + 47 + 55 + 60 + 12 + 54 + 62 + 21 + 63 + 97 + 46 + 51 + 69
[as atomic numbers]
Elsewhere other-accessible…
• Mike Keith — official website (with anagram here)
ვენერა — რიგით მეორე პლანეტა მზიდან; მისი სიმკვრივე და აგებულება მსგავსია დედამიწისა (Translate.ge)
金星 — 金 jīn, jìn, gold; metals in general; money; 星 xīng, a star, planet; any point of light (MDBG)
Norman Weaver’s cover for The Freedom Trap (1971) by Desmond Bagley (image from Morgan’s Rare Books)
“Why boredom is anything but boring — Implicated in everything from traumatic brain injury to learning ability, boredom has become extremely interesting to scientists”, Maggie Koerth-Baker, Nature, 12i2016.
Elsewhere other-engageable…
• Beard Tales — a review of Alan Moore’s The Devotee of Ennui (2013)
Use a straight-edged object against the screen to confirm that these are straight lines
Perfect circles, despite what your eyes say
Concentric circles, not a spiral
The optical illusions above are by the Japanese psychologist Akiyoshi Kitaoka via SYFY.
Mexican morning-glory, Ipomoea tricolor
(click for larger image)
I wake from dreams and turning
My vision on the height
I scan the beacons burning
About the fields of night.
Each in its steadfast station
Inflaming heaven they flare;
They sign with conflagration
The empty moors of air.
The signal-fires of warning
They blaze, but none regard;
And on through night to morning
The world runs ruinward. — A.E. Housman in More Poems (1936)
There was a young fellow named Bright
Who travelled much faster than light.
He set off one day,
In a relative way
And came back the previous night. — Anonymous
Shock-diamonds in the exhaust of a Lockheed SR71 Blackbird at 85,000 ft (from MechStuff.com)
(click for larger)
Faster Than Lichen #6 (front cover)
Faster Than Lichen #6 (back cover)
Elsewhere Other-Accessible…
• Songs from the Center of the Sun — an interview with Faster Than Lichen
Overlord In Terms of Core Issues Around Maximal Engagement with Key Notions of the Über-Feral 