Weekend Grab Bag ~~ Herding Black Swans

Black Swans, of one sort or another, can be found gliding around all over the place:




The Movie and Ballet

First, and what usually comes to mind first these days, particularly apt as we swan into zodiac sign Virgo: last year's movie, Black Swan, Oscar nominated re-telling of the Swan Lake ballet, exploring the perils of artistic perfection. The heroine (Nina, played by Natalie Portman) gradual cracks into two separate personalities. Her mental breakdown reflects the ballet’s duality embodied by the White Swan and the Black Swan. Traditionally, these characters are portrayed by the same dancer and while Nina is the right dancer for the White Swan her attempts to embody the Black Swan bring about trouble.



In Philosophy and Writers' Trope/Figure of Speech

Recently I've been noticing journalists comment that we're in a "black swan
situation". A little light Googling explains:

The Black Swan Theory or Theory of Black Swan Events is a metaphor that encapsulates the concept that The event is a surprise (to the observer) and has a major impact. After the fact, the event is rationalized by hindsight. The theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (born 1960), a Lebanese American essayist whose work focuses on problems of randomness and probability. His 2007 book The Black Swan, was described in a review by Sunday Times as one of the twelve most influential books since World War II.

A "black swan event" sounds like a job for planet Uranus does it not? Uranus, with its eccentric orbit is the planet linked to "the unexpected" in astrology. I wonder if Mr Taleb has Uranus strongly placed in his natal chart - but I can find no birth date for him, other than 1960 - when Uranus was in Leo.

A black swan is an outlier, an event that lies beyond the realm of normal expectations. Most people expect all swans to be white because that's what their experience tells them; a black swan is by definition a surprise. Nevertheless, people tend to concoct explanations for them after the fact, which makes them appear more predictable, and less random, than they are. Our minds are designed to retain, for efficient storage, past information that fits into a compressed narrative. This distortion, called the hindsight bias, prevents us from adequately learning from the past. ~~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Derivation ~~~ The term black swan derives from a Latin expression, its oldest known reference comes from the poet Juvenal's characterization of something being "rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno". In English, "a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan." When the phrase was coined, the black swan was presumed not to exist. The importance of the simile lies in its analogy to the fragility of any system of thought. A set of conclusions is potentially undone once any of its fundamental postulates is disproved. In this case, the observation of a single black swan would be the undoing of the phrase's underlying logic, as well as any reasoning that followed from that underlying logic.
(Wikipedia)



On Signs
In towns, cities and villages all over the UK you'd have little trouble finding pubs called The Black Swan with lovely illustrated signs hanging out front.








On a Flag


The Black Swan is the official state emblem of Western Australia, and is depicted on the Flag of Western Australia, as well as being depicted on the Western Australian Coat-of-Arms. The symbol is used in other emblems, coins, logos, mascots and in the naming of sports teams.

The Black Swan is also of spiritual significance in the traditional histories of many Australian Aboriginal peoples across southern Australia. Metaphoric references to black swans have appeared in European culture since long before the real-life discovery of Cygnus atratus in Australia in the 18th century.
(Wikipedia)


In Reality
The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic conditions. Black Swans are large birds with mostly black plumage and red bills. They are monogamous breeders that share incubation duties and cygnet rearing between the sexes.




The Black Swan was described scientifically by English naturalist John Latham
in 1790. It was formerly placed into a monotypic genus, Chenopis. Black Swans can be found singly, or in loose companies numbering into the hundreds or even thousands. Black Swans are popular birds in zoological gardens and bird collections, and escapees are sometimes seen outside their natural range.
(Wikipedia)

In Dreams:

White swans in dreams are symbolic of cleansing and purifying ourselves and our lives. Black swans indicate deep mysteries within us that are longing to be set free to express themselves creatively.


In Song

Nina Simone with Black Swan

Thom Yorke's Black Swan