Voynich manuscript news

About a month ago reader nolandda reported in a comment here that progress had been made in deciphering the famous Voynich manuscript.  This week a more detailed report was issued by the University of Bedfordshire:

An award-winning professor from the University has followed in the footsteps of Indiana Jones by cracking the code of a 600 year old manuscript, deemed as ‘the most mysterious’ document in the world. 

Stephen Bax, Professor of Applied Linguistics, has just become the first professional linguist to crack the code of the Voynich manuscript using an analytical approach. The world-renowned manuscript is full of illustrations of exotic plants, stars, and mysterious human figures, as well as many pages written in an unknown text...

Professor Bax however has begun to unlock the mystery meanings of the Voynich manuscript using his wide knowledge of mediaeval manuscripts and his familiarity with Semitic languages such as Arabic. Using careful linguistic analysis he is working on the script letter by letter.

Voynich manuscript news

About a month ago reader nolandda reported in a comment here that progress had been made in deciphering the famous Voynich manuscript.  This week a more detailed report was issued by the University of Bedfordshire:

An award-winning professor from the University has followed in the footsteps of Indiana Jones by cracking the code of a 600 year old manuscript, deemed as ‘the most mysterious’ document in the world. 

Stephen Bax, Professor of Applied Linguistics, has just become the first professional linguist to crack the code of the Voynich manuscript using an analytical approach. The world-renowned manuscript is full of illustrations of exotic plants, stars, and mysterious human figures, as well as many pages written in an unknown text...

Professor Bax however has begun to unlock the mystery meanings of the Voynich manuscript using his wide knowledge of mediaeval manuscripts and his familiarity with Semitic languages such as Arabic. Using careful linguistic analysis he is working on the script letter by letter.

“I hit on the idea of identifying proper names in the text, following historic approaches which successfully deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs and other mystery scripts, and I then used those names to work out part of the script... already my research shows conclusively that the manuscript is not a hoax, as some have claimed, and is probably a treatise on nature, perhaps in a Near Eastern or Asian language.” 

Some published reports overstate the significance of the news by referring to this as a decipherment of the document.  It would be more accurate (and a bit more prosaic) to indicate (as Professor Bax does) that what has been proved is that the ms. is internally cohesive and consistent with a true language, and not simply a nonsensical folly or hoax.

Voynich manuscript news

About a month ago reader nolandda reported in a comment here that progress had been made in deciphering the famous Voynich manuscript.  This week a more detailed report was issued by the University of Bedfordshire:

An award-winning professor from the University has followed in the footsteps of Indiana Jones by cracking the code of a 600 year old manuscript, deemed as ‘the most mysterious’ document in the world. 

Stephen Bax, Professor of Applied Linguistics, has just become the first professional linguist to crack the code of the Voynich manuscript using an analytical approach. The world-renowned manuscript is full of illustrations of exotic plants, stars, and mysterious human figures, as well as many pages written in an unknown text...

Professor Bax however has begun to unlock the mystery meanings of the Voynich manuscript using his wide knowledge of mediaeval manuscripts and his familiarity with Semitic languages such as Arabic. Using careful linguistic analysis he is working on the script letter by letter.

“I hit on the idea of identifying proper names in the text, following historic approaches which successfully deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs and other mystery scripts, and I then used those names to work out part of the script... already my research shows conclusively that the manuscript is not a hoax, as some have claimed, and is probably a treatise on nature, perhaps in a Near Eastern or Asian language.” 

Some published reports overstate the significance of the news by referring to this as a decipherment of the document.  It would be more accurate (and a bit more prosaic) to indicate (as Professor Bax does) that what has been proved is that the ms. is internally cohesive and consistent with a true language, and not simply a nonsensical folly or hoax.

Note:  You can view a complete digitized copy of the Voynich manuscript online at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Note:  You can view a complete digitized copy of the Voynich manuscript online at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

“I hit on the idea of identifying proper names in the text, following historic approaches which successfully deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs and other mystery scripts, and I then used those names to work out part of the script... already my research shows conclusively that the manuscript is not a hoax, as some have claimed, and is probably a treatise on nature, perhaps in a Near Eastern or Asian language.” 

Some published reports overstate the significance of the news by referring to this as a decipherment of the document.  It would be more accurate (and a bit more prosaic) to indicate (as Professor Bax does) that what has been proved is that the ms. is internally cohesive and consistent with a true language, and not simply a nonsensical folly or hoax.

Pondering the proper use of XOXOXOXOXO

The use of xo to denote hugs and kisses dates back to at least 1763, when The Oxford English Dictionary first defined X as "kiss," but e‑mail and social media have provided a newly fertile habitat... 

At first, its virtual identity was clear: a pithy farewell, sweeter than See you later, less personal than Love. Men could xo their wives. Girlfriends could xo girlfriends. It was a digital kiss—meant, of course, for somebody you’d actually kiss. But soon enough, nonstop e‑mails and IMs and tweets began to dilute its intimacy factor. “You could compare [it] to how the epistolary greeting Dear changed over time, originally just for addressing loved ones but eventually becoming neutral,” says Ben Zimmer, a linguist and lexicologist...

This gender divide has spawned a new breed of etiquette dilemmas, especially in the workplace. Can xo-ing colleagues shore up office alliances, or does the practice cross a line? Does one run the risk of being labeled a bitch for refusing to reciprocate? And what happens if a woman accidentally xo’s her male boss?

He almost certainly wouldn’t xo back, for fear of coming off as unauthoritative, unprofessional, or just plain creepy. Zimmer says he would never dare xo anyone but his wife (though the female editor of his Boston Globe column xx’s him frequently). Most men say xo has become so feminized, they wouldn’t even consider using it. “I’ve never signed an e‑mail, letter, text, stone tablet, smoke signal, or any other form of communication with xo,” says Brett Webster, a television producer in L.A. “Rightfully or wrongfully so, I would assume a guy who includes xo in correspondence is gay. Or a football coach.”

Iron inclusions inside lead shot from the Mary Rose

The image above was published in Archaeology magazine last year.  It's a neutron-beam-generated image of a lead shot from the Mary Rose shipwreck, showing a fragment (?crystal) of iron inside the lead coating.  I found more details at The Telegraph:
Among the items most exciting archaeologists are cannonballs believed to be early examples of armour-piercing rounds. Such shells were thought to have been developed during the late 1800s, before the technology was refined during the world wars. But the new findings by experts working with the Mary Rose Trust, which has been preserving the ship, now suggest the technology was being used several centuries earlier — although it could also have been a money-saving strategy, using cheaper iron inside the lead balls.

Edward Lear as a serious artist

Most people who recognize the name "Edward Lear" remember him as the author of "nonsense verse," which he illustrated with line drawings.  I remember this verse and illustration from my childhood:

Lear was, however, a skilled artist, as the parrot at the top demonstrates.

“Although he is best remembered today as a whimsical nonsense poet, adventurous traveler, and painter of luminous landscapes,” Peck writes, “Edward Lear is revered in scientific circles as one of the greatest natural history painters of all time. During his relatively brief immersion in the world of science, he created a spectacular monograph on parrots and a body of other work that continues to inform, delight, and astonish us with its remarkable blend of scientific rigor and artistic finesse.”

It tells something

The story probably depends as much upon the perspective of the viewer as the content of photo itself.

Ex: The story the photojournalist thought he/she was telling: Woman reunited with cat believed perished in house fire.

Other possible stories: 1) Cats nonplussed, pretty much always — also lukewarm on people, rescues, photojournalism, etc. 2) Dog smells a photo-op, literally. 3) Post-millennial apparel places strong emphasis on functionality. 4) Humans are weird.

Is 100% democracy exist?

It is well known that the word ‘democracy’ originates from Ancient Greece and means ‘power of the people’. Such an idea, in its literal sense, encompassing economic, political and social democracy does not exist anywhere in the world. This is primarily because the planet’s resources, many of which human beings need in order to live, do not belong to the people as a whole. Instead, they are in the hands of a small, privileged, rich minority. Such extremely limited political ‘democracy’ as does exist in parts of the modern world, is scarcely even a shadow of what genuine democracy will be like when it is finally put into practice.

For real democracy: imagine a society where all the people would be of equal status, with equal, free access to resources owned by the community, as a whole (e.g. food, shelter, healthcare, education, transportation, etc.). Imagine a world with no leaders and no elite to lord it over the rest of the population. A society where everyone can have an equal say in the issues that concern them. Above all, a world, in which all the people own and share the wealth that we need in order to live.

Is it justice ?

One child in Africa is dying with hunger and on the other side one person(somewhere in world) having 150 kg+ weight due to access of eating.