☞ NOTICE TO READERS: The Chronicles are arranged in reverse chronological order, as is the custom, meaning you are reading the most recent events first and working backwards toward the beginning, which is how time works when viewed from the wrong end.
14 May, Anno Domini MMXXVI
Founding
Announcement
On the Establishment of This Site, and Why It Exists
☞
⚙ EDITORIAL NOTE ⚙
The Chronicler was asked whether this was a good idea.
The Chronicler said: "Probably not, but here we are."
Here we are indeed.
Mirabilia was founded on a Thursday afternoon for reasons that seemed clear at the time and have since grown pleasantly hazy. The basic premise is simple enough: the internet is very large, most of it is sensible and purposeful, and someone ought to look after the parts that are neither.
This site will contain, over time, observations on creatures both real and invented, illustrations of variable quality, links to places of interest, and whatever else seems to belong here. There is no schedule. There is no plan. There is only the pleasant conviction that something interesting will eventually happen and ought to be written down.
Note to self: actually write things down. — The Chronicler
The Bestiary is already underway. Five creatures are documented; one remains stubbornly unclassified, which is, frankly, the most interesting one of the lot.
✦ ─────── ❧ ─────── ✦
13 May, Anno Domini MMXXVI
Observations
Philosophy
A Meditation on Things That Do Not Fit Neatly Into Categories
⚠ CAUTION ⚠
This entry contains several unresolved questions.
Resolution was attempted. It did not take.
The world, it seems increasingly clear, is not organised into tidy categories. It insists on being organised into tidy categories — we insist upon this on the world's behalf — but the world has its own opinions on the matter and expresses them by producing, at regular intervals, things that do not fit.
The platypus is perhaps the most famous example: a mammal that lays eggs, has a duck's bill, beaver's tail, otter's feet, and the ability to detect electrical fields through its bill, which is a skill that seems excessive. When first encountered by European naturalists, they assumed it was a taxidermy prank. The creature declined to be a prank and continued laying eggs.
This is the spirit of Mirabilia. We are interested in the things that decline to be pranks. We are interested in the ones that continue laying eggs when all available evidence suggests they shouldn't.
The platypus, when pressed, has no further comment. It is busy being impossible. — Field Notes, 1799
⚙ ✦ ⚙ ✦ ⚙
Sometime Earlier
Theory
Conjecture
Possibly Wrong
The Theory of the Adjacent Possible, and Other Encouraging Notions
There is a concept in the study of complex systems called the Adjacent Possible. It holds that at any given moment, there exists a set of things that are almost-but-not-quite possible — things that could exist if just one or two other things were in place first. The internet itself was adjacent possible for centuries. So was the printing press. So was, apparently, this website.
The encouraging part of the theory is that the Adjacent Possible expands as you move into it. Each thing you do or make or discover opens up new adjacencies that did not exist before. This means that the act of beginning something — anything, even something small and peculiar and without obvious purpose — expands the set of things that can happen next.
Mirabilia is, in this sense, a small expansion of the adjacent possible. Whether anything adjacent and possible will now occur remains to be seen. The Chronicler is cautiously optimistic, which is the only sensible way to be optimistic.
More entries forthcoming. The Chronicler has opinions. They will surface in time. ✦