5 ms·

Show HN: 500 years of Joseon court omens as an observability dashboard

158 points by poppypetalmask 4mo ago

sperandeo 4mo ago
Treating historical records like system logs is a framing I hadn't considered. interesting
roetlich 4mo ago
Great, now we need this with current data for modern governments
- harimau777 4mo ago
  While pardoning thanksgiving turkeys, president was bitten by one of the turkeys. Very bad omen.
  - ForOldHack 4mo ago
    Cannabalism ?
- csh0 4mo ago
  “Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings, 'The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.' But since the Freedom of Information Act, I'm afraid to say things like that.” - Henry Kissinger
creakingstairs 4mo ago
This is the definition of a nerd snipe for me. I’ve been binging a Korean YouTuber called Hyangachi(향아치)who goes into Joseon dynasty history in a very approachable way for younger generation and I’ve been researching observability dashboard for my side projects. I didn’t even think about combining the two. Joseon dynasty was obsessed with preserving history. Not even the king could interfere with it. In fact, a king fell from his horse during a hunt, then told them to not write it down. But we know this happened because they wrote down the order :D The historians also have known about the importance of resiliency and made back up copies too!
- WastedCucumber 4mo ago
  Thanks for that hilarious history tidbit. The actual record makes it even better. From the wiki page for Taejong of Joseon: The king himself rode a horse and shot arrows at a deer. However, the horse stumbled, causing him to fall off, but he was not injured. Looking around, he said, "Do not let the historians know about this."
  - nico 4mo ago
    I just made the connection to why they had a scene like that in a Korean show on Netflix, cool
    - hbarka 4mo ago
      I think it's this one: Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung. It's on Netflix, the Korean series about a Joseon-era scribe for the royal house.
      - pinewurst 4mo ago
        That’s a good one btw
- poppypetalmask 4mo ago
  Yes, that horse story is perfect. One of the things I love about the Sillok is that even the king wasn’t above the record. Kings were educated to think their conduct would be judged by history, and then you get this very human little entry where the king basically says “don’t log this,” and the system logs that too.
joonehur 4mo ago
The data comes from the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty. https://sillok.history.go.kr/intro/english.do https://sillok.history.go.kr/intro/english.do I'm browsing it. Wow, there's so much detail, like: 己酉二月, 世宗講武于平康, 世祖射鹿, 七發皆貫其項。 기유년 2월에 세종이 평강(平康)에서 강무(講武)를 하였는데, 세조가 사슴을 쏜 7발(發)이 모두 그 목을 관통하였다. "In the second lunar month of the giyu year, King Sejong held a military drill (gangmu) at Pyeonggang. Sejo shot seven arrows at a deer, and all of them pierced its neck." https://sillok.history.go.kr/id/kga_000002 https://sillok.history.go.kr/id/kga_000002 Many K-drama and movies are inspired by these records.
- yborg 4mo ago
  Feel like there should be a K-drama about that deer lol.
  - joonehur 4mo ago
    Yes — see this YouTube Short: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3lRLsFb_Ihs https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3lRLsFb_Ihs The actor from Squid Game, Lee Jung-jae, played King Sejo.
zuzululu 4mo ago
This is fascinating. Perhaps what trips me up is the mention of UFOs in the Joseon Archives. https://youngit.blogspot.com/2012/08/ufo-recorded-in-annals-of-choson.html https://youngit.blogspot.com/2012/08/ufo-recorded-in-annals-...
- EA-3167 4mo ago
  Interestingly it sounds like an incoming bolide, not unlike what happened in MA today.
delichon 4mo ago
If you have a dashboard that you trust and it notifies you that you have the mandate of heaven, what do you do? Buy a lottery ticket? Make an indecent proposal to someone out of your league? Drive without a seatbelt? Is this actionable intelligence? Do I still have to floss?
- Georgelemental 4mo ago
  If you need to ask, you don't have it
- becquerel 4mo ago
  Build monumental architecture and increase the size of your harem.
Bratmon 4mo ago
This feels like something that would have done numbers on StumbleUpon
becquerel 4mo ago
Spectacular use of free will.
jdw64 4mo ago
You can also download the original text of the Annals using South Korea's Public Data Portal (https://www.data.go.kr/data/15053647/fileData.do https://www.data.go.kr/data/15053647/fileData.do). I'm not sure if foreigners can access it, though
- clan 4mo ago
  I did not understand a thing from that link. But clicking on 2 blue boxes allowed me to download 143 MB of "something" from europe.
  - jdw64 4mo ago
    These are the original historical texts of the Joseon Dynasty, from the Annals of King Taejo to the Annals of King Cheoljong
ajithhyd 4mo ago
Damn. Gave me 3-body problem vibes
vintermann 4mo ago
I came across an omen list in a book I looked at for genealogy, and it was quite interesting to search and try to figure out which comet or volcanic eruption an entry referred to. Usually it wasn't hard. Makes me think lesser events like lightning strikes and misshapen calves they recorded are also reasonably accurate.

158 points by poppypetalmask 4mo ago

sperandeo 4mo ago

Treating historical records like system logs is a framing I hadn't considered. interesting

roetlich 4mo ago

Great, now we need this with current data for modern governments

harimau777 4mo ago
While pardoning thanksgiving turkeys, president was bitten by one of the turkeys. Very bad omen.
- ForOldHack 4mo ago
  Cannabalism ?
csh0 4mo ago
“Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings, 'The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.' But since the Freedom of Information Act, I'm afraid to say things like that.” - Henry Kissinger

creakingstairs 4mo ago

This is the definition of a nerd snipe for me. I’ve been binging a Korean YouTuber called Hyangachi(향아치)who goes into Joseon dynasty history in a very approachable way for younger generation and I’ve been researching observability dashboard for my side projects. I didn’t even think about combining the two. Joseon dynasty was obsessed with preserving history. Not even the king could interfere with it. In fact, a king fell from his horse during a hunt, then told them to not write it down. But we know this happened because they wrote down the order :D The historians also have known about the importance of resiliency and made back up copies too!

WastedCucumber 4mo ago
Thanks for that hilarious history tidbit. The actual record makes it even better. From the wiki page for Taejong of Joseon: The king himself rode a horse and shot arrows at a deer. However, the horse stumbled, causing him to fall off, but he was not injured. Looking around, he said, "Do not let the historians know about this."
- nico 4mo ago
  I just made the connection to why they had a scene like that in a Korean show on Netflix, cool
  - hbarka 4mo ago
    I think it's this one: Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung. It's on Netflix, the Korean series about a Joseon-era scribe for the royal house.
    - pinewurst 4mo ago
      That’s a good one btw
poppypetalmask 4mo ago
Yes, that horse story is perfect. One of the things I love about the Sillok is that even the king wasn’t above the record. Kings were educated to think their conduct would be judged by history, and then you get this very human little entry where the king basically says “don’t log this,” and the system logs that too.

joonehur 4mo ago

The data comes from the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty. https://sillok.history.go.kr/intro/english.do https://sillok.history.go.kr/intro/english.do I'm browsing it. Wow, there's so much detail, like: 己酉二月, 世宗講武于平康, 世祖射鹿, 七發皆貫其項。 기유년 2월에 세종이 평강(平康)에서 강무(講武)를 하였는데, 세조가 사슴을 쏜 7발(發)이 모두 그 목을 관통하였다. "In the second lunar month of the giyu year, King Sejong held a military drill (gangmu) at Pyeonggang. Sejo shot seven arrows at a deer, and all of them pierced its neck." https://sillok.history.go.kr/id/kga_000002 https://sillok.history.go.kr/id/kga_000002 Many K-drama and movies are inspired by these records.

yborg 4mo ago
Feel like there should be a K-drama about that deer lol.
- joonehur 4mo ago
  Yes — see this YouTube Short: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3lRLsFb_Ihs https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3lRLsFb_Ihs The actor from Squid Game, Lee Jung-jae, played King Sejo.

zuzululu 4mo ago

This is fascinating. Perhaps what trips me up is the mention of UFOs in the Joseon Archives. https://youngit.blogspot.com/2012/08/ufo-recorded-in-annals-of-choson.html https://youngit.blogspot.com/2012/08/ufo-recorded-in-annals-...

EA-3167 4mo ago
Interestingly it sounds like an incoming bolide, not unlike what happened in MA today.

delichon 4mo ago

If you have a dashboard that you trust and it notifies you that you have the mandate of heaven, what do you do? Buy a lottery ticket? Make an indecent proposal to someone out of your league? Drive without a seatbelt? Is this actionable intelligence? Do I still have to floss?

Georgelemental 4mo ago
If you need to ask, you don't have it
becquerel 4mo ago
Build monumental architecture and increase the size of your harem.

Bratmon 4mo ago

This feels like something that would have done numbers on StumbleUpon

becquerel 4mo ago

Spectacular use of free will.

jdw64 4mo ago

You can also download the original text of the Annals using South Korea's Public Data Portal (https://www.data.go.kr/data/15053647/fileData.do https://www.data.go.kr/data/15053647/fileData.do). I'm not sure if foreigners can access it, though

clan 4mo ago
I did not understand a thing from that link. But clicking on 2 blue boxes allowed me to download 143 MB of "something" from europe.
- jdw64 4mo ago
  These are the original historical texts of the Joseon Dynasty, from the Annals of King Taejo to the Annals of King Cheoljong

ajithhyd 4mo ago

Damn. Gave me 3-body problem vibes

vintermann 4mo ago

I came across an omen list in a book I looked at for genealogy, and it was quite interesting to search and try to figure out which comet or volcanic eruption an entry referred to. Usually it wasn't hard. Makes me think lesser events like lightning strikes and misshapen calves they recorded are also reasonably accurate.