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The Daily Triptych146 / 365

26 MAY 2026

Day 146

In the succession of generations the conditions and institutions of the world change.

Ibn Khaldun · The Muqaddimah
A circular disc of pale quartz, thinly cut and densely engraved with small figured scenes and inscriptions arranged across the face, shown against a neutral ground.

I · THE OBJECT · BRITISH MUSEUM

Lothair Crystal

Quartz · 855–869 · Lotharingia

A palm-sized disc of quartz, engraved with scenes from the biblical story of Susanna, made in Lotharingia between 855 and 869 and now in the British Museum.

Enter lesson 5 MIN

II · THE IDEA · ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Extreme Low-Bit Post-Training Quantization

efficiency · post-training · 2–4 bits per weight

After training ends, each weight can be cut down to a few bits. The accuracy that remains turns on how rounding is chosen and how the model is calibrated, not on bit width alone.

Enter lesson 7 MIN

Written before source checking was enforced · facts in this lesson are unverified

A wide outdoor scene of two armed groups meeting. At the centre one commander hands a key to another. Behind the receiving side, a dense rank of upright lances rises against the sky; horses and soldiers fill the lower ground.

III · THE WORK · ART HISTORY

The Surrender of Brea

Diego Velázquez · 1634–1635 · Oil on canvas

Velázquez stages the moment a Dutch governor hands a city key to a Spanish general — not as triumph, but as a quiet exchange under a wall of upright spears.

Enter lesson 6 MIN

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