X marks X mass X

let Ks = Gz = Ksh = Z = silence

X = the unknown. René Descartes (1596-1650) popularized the use of "X" as a variable in his mathematical equations (like x + 7 = 12), as the thing that is not yet known and needs to be resolved.

The X (or cross) symbol is one of the oldest abstract shapes depicted by human beings, as found on the Blombos Cave walls in South Africa, dated to about 73,000 years ago.

The Greeks, influenced by the Phoenician alphabet, were the first to use X as an actual letter, (around 900 BC), and called it “Chi” (pronounced by them as Kh, as in Bach). The Etruscans eventually adopted the letter, and passed it on to the Romans (who changed the sound to Ks, as in Box,) who passed it on to the Californians, (who changed the sound to Kash, as in Ch-ching! — X-rated, X-box, X-files, X-men, Lil Nas X, X (Twitter), X-planes, xtc).

The letter X has various pronunciations in contemporary English, such as in: exit (ks sound), xenophobia (z), luxurious (ksh), exam (gz), as well as being completely silent in loan-words, like in faux fur. (Combining all of those, Elon Musk’s future grandson’s likely inexorable name, “XXXX-13”, would sound as if vocalized by a jazz beat-boxer: Ks(silence)Gz-Ksh-Thirteen!).

The letter X has various negative symbolic meanings and uses, like the crossbones on a pirate flag, or the crosshairs of a sniper’s scope. A cross — tee or ex orientation — for a thousand years to the persecuted meant torture, pain, and death by crucifixion. Especially if you happened to be politically-incorrect in 519 BCE and living in Babylon when it was expropriated by Darius the First, who holds the world record for the execrable activity. (Those same Babylonians, in their ancient texts, describe a celestial body or “crossing point” called Nibiru which periodically enters our solar system and wreaks havoc, causing pole shifts and mass extinctions on Earth. That rogue planet-of-doom is today colloquially called “Planet X”).

You could extinct just yourself from Earth by willfully ignoring any XX labeling on liquid product packaging, because it means poison — so however daring, don’t use it as the 6th ingredient in your Xanadu cocktail. Two Xes replacing the pupils of a cartoon character mean he’s stunned or dead, and the triple-Xes written on a jug of moonshine mean 180 proof and you might end up just like that cartoon character if you drink from it*. (A couple extra to exit the paragraph: an X scratched on a fencepost in 1800s hobo code meant “don’t stay here”, and in most Western cultures, people cross their arms as a sign of feeling anxious or threatened).

Xes denote negation (“cross-out that line”), redaction, censorship or secrecy. Xes were the original keyboard strikethrough from the age of typewriters, and the technique is still employed online today to hide or obscure information (like your credit card as XXXX-XXXX on the “renew subscription” form at celebrityusedchewinggum.com). Malcolm X adopted the letter to symbolize the negation of the true knowledge of his African surname and ancestory due to slavery. The Xes used in the nomenclature of high-tech military planes — like the X-1** that broke the sound barrier in 1947 — designate the craft as top-secret.

Various authors use X as their pseudonym to hide their identity, like online fanfiction erotica writers depicting a sordid love affair between Spock and Captain Kirk (I’m guessing), but also scholars like Professor X (who wrote the book “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower”, a critique of the college system), and internet chefs like X2C (who contribute haughty wisdom like “Totally Wrong! DO ADD SALT!!!” when critiquing recipes on the exquisite-cuisine Reddit forum •r/howtomakemashedpotatoesfromPringles).

There are positive uses of X as well: X-rays, of course, aiding in healing; the ash X on the forehead as protection from the angel of death and the cross as symbol of salvation and rebirth. An X can mean treasure, like in “X marks the spot”. There’s also its use to imply star quality (“X-factor”); as celebratory-body-shape-pose after scoring a cup goal in Europe (or when doing the haka dance before a rugby game in New Zealand or on the final day of a corporate training seminar in Manhattan); as a good place for a handout (an X inside a circle, according to that hobo code); or as an oxymoronically interesting PowerPoint (TEDx). If you are from exotic Sweden, crossing your arms means, contrarily, that you are actually relaxed and happy to listen. There is even, literally, the occasional positive X (fka tweet) on the platform X, for ex. as seen on animal-friendship videos like when a pet donkey escapes the farm to live in the hills with a herd of elk and that guy posted “frEeyore forever!”.

An X, employed dexterously, also allows you to humblebrag: “I’m going to 12X on this tech stock, probably”, or when asking for prophylactics, “XXL please”. Also, if you cross your fingers you are allowed to lie, and holding up your fingers in an X-shape wards off vampires. (This means if you are at the drugstore and Noseferatu —who got his Pharm.D degree from UNC— happens to be behind the counter, and you fib about what condom size you require, it’s a double-cross).

The X also allowed illiterate people to sign legal contracts. And that gave us “kisses” — when many people still couldn’t write their own name, they’d sign an X, and then kiss it as a gesture of sincerity. This led to the modern association of written Xes with kisses (like when, just before getting out of the car, you add thick XXXXs and OOOOs in extra-large strokes at the bottom of the Xmas card you bought your mom at 7-11 on the way to visiting her on New Year’s day).

But mostly, X marks the human. People are literally made from Xes— the X chromosome, which every single human being has in every single cell, (all 37 trillion of them). The chromosome was named X because that’s exactly what it looked like when first observed under a microscope. So in each of us, buried in the map of our body, are trillions of treasures. (And mysteries, and secrets, and pains, and kisses, and celebrations).

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The Window (l-r): — the crosswalk, dancers, pointing, Xes, portrait of a man in 60 parts:

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NOTES:

• didactic xplanation: All photos in “The Window” are caught by chance from a single location (and arranged as interconnected sets of “visual poems” as installation). It’s a durational continuum. The grouping in this set is Part LXVI. See all the 65+ sets HERE, or more about from the Menu at my art site HERE (which also has weatherworks, CRISPR-ed paintings, recombinant and distributed sculptures and installations and ideas xtc.)

• *granted, the triple-X on bottles of moonshine may be seen as good thing by certain persons

• **they are now up to experimental plane X-666, a transonic truss-braced wing that enhances fuel-efficiency, reduces exhaust, and expeditiously delivers the Devil.

• obviously the cross and X are most recognized as symbols of Christ (crucified on the cross), as shorthanded in “Xmas”. The two-barred cross in the 10th (coincidently Roman numeral X ) photo above is a symbol of the Knights Templar; it signifies their dual-roles as both warriors and religious men.

• the photo with the single jet-trail-cross and the double-cross both occurred within a couple hours of the man carrying the red cross on the street. I’ve never seen a jet trail centered exactly between those buildings. I don’t know what it means. Let X = X, a thing unknown that doesn’t need to be resolved.

• the very top image was caught because I heard an unusual and extremely loud roar approaching overhead and ran to my photo spot. turns out it was the Italian Air Force practicing overhead (wasn’t an air show). it’s very hard to discern directions from that kind of sound; I was lucky to be looking the right way at the right xeptosecond — basically the method of the entire Window project.

• Mark Twain wanted to X the letter X, suggesting in his essay “A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling” that it be removed from the alphabet. For example “Example” could be written as “egzample”, fox as “focks”, etc. Devil’s advocate: ecstasy should be written “extasy” and et cetera as “ex cetera” and “xtc.” (because despite what haughty google says, that is how people actually pronounce it.)

• Jamin Pelkey (in his book “The Semiotics of X: Chiasmus, Cognitions and Extreme Body Memory”) says: “…the origins and meanings of X go far beyond alphabets and archetypes to remembered feelings of body movements - typified in the performance of “spread-eagle” [see final photo above, the celebratory-body-shape-pose in silhouette] as a posture or gesture. These body memories are then projected onto other patterns and dynamics to help us make sense of the world”. Well, okay. Like I said, let X = X***.

• Xes in music: X (LA punk) , The xx (indie pop), XTC (new wave), X-Ray Spex (punk), Xzibit (rap), XXXTentacion (trap), EXO (K-pop)… and the songs XO (Beyonce), XXX (Kendrick Lamar), and my fave “Let X = X” (Laurie Anderson).

• Chiasmus is a literary device where words or concepts are repeated in reverse order. Its origins are from “Chi” (the Greek name of the letter X), coined because of the symmetry of the letter — it’s the same top to bottom, and left to right. A chiasmus egzample: “Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.” - Percy Bysshe Shelley

• speaking of poetry, this post’s haiku:

  luxurious fox:
  like exotic exhaust or
  a faux xylophone

• *** or rather, Let X = X x 37 x 10¹²

• XXXXs and OOOOs to all, everybody around the world, XL hugs and kisses

The Window as continuum

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BONUS IMAGE: interstellar kisses and hugs

K.I.A. art site: www.nu4ya.com