Exploratoria

This blog has moved.

2009-08-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

This blog has moved ~ the new URL address is:

http://exploratoria.posterous.com/

Hope to see you there soon!

Miranda, paleolinguist

2009-03-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

In an early stage in his military career, an intrigued and ever curious young Miranda copied these odd inscriptions found on excavations surrounding the Alhambra - he then saved the copies in his Travels archives, along with his diaries:

Translation, anyone?

Best Travel Books of All Time

2009-03-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

The Telegraph has just published their list of the twenty best travel books of all times- a selection worth reviewing.

Second Earth (2009)

2009-02-18T20:06:00.000-08:00

From the bright minds of NOAA comes this fascinating merger of technologies towards a better 3D visualization of topographic and satellite data, combined with the versatility of the Second Life platform. The potential is vast.

William White's Notes and Queries (1854)

2009-02-18T18:52:00.000-08:00

"In one of the bodegas or cellars belonging to the firm of M. P. Domecq, at Xeres, are to be seen five or six casks of immense size and antiquity (some of them, it is said, exceeding a century). Each of them bears the name of some distinguished hero of the age in which it was produced, Wellington and Napoleon figuring conspicuously amongst others: the former is preserved exclusively for the taste of Englishmen."

From Notes and Queries by William White, published by Oxford University Press, 1854; picture of the Domecq casks which still exist in Bodega El Molino, Jerez de la Frontera, courtesy of sherry.org

A discovery: Hale Farm & Village (1863)

2008-07-08T19:06:00.001-07:00

It must be said that the place exudes the very kindness and good spirit of the people who work there. I am convinced that to stumble across it, in the very heart of Bath Township in Summit County, may be the best thing that could possibly happen to you this or any Ohio summer on a warm Sunday afternoon.

There is a number of very well preserved buildings and many paths to explore. You can learn about bricks & crafts, good schooling and maple syrup; about living in a cabin, religious traditions and Mister Benjamin Franklin Wade. Our thoughts flew to families with nine children living in a dark log cabin in winter, without glass windows.

And we sang the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' by the piano with cheerful patriotic folks, and attended a domestic session of bread-making.

To be sure, the gloomy days of the War between the States seem less wearisome and more hopeful in Hale, and should God place you in Mr. Richard and his daughter Mrs. Williams' stately home whenever a tornado becomes a happenstance, you should consider yourself lucky.

They will entertain you and be quite hospitable - Mr. Richards even offered his crisp copy of Harper's New Monthly for me to peruse until the rain eventually ceased.

Hallelujah! We shall return to visit our new acquaintances and friends soon.

Fawcett's Basalt Idol

2008-07-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

Before disappearing forever in the jungle in 1925, Percy Harrison Fawcett took with him this mysterious basalt idol, a gift of Sir Henry Rider Haggard (June 22, 1856 – May 14, 1925), the famed writer.

Apparently, the idol had belonged to Rider Haggard's son. Fawcett insisted there was some weird electricity generated from inside the idol, that would reach up the arm of those who held it.

Some claim he had obtained it from a slave in a Brazilian fazienda - a plantation; others attribute the finding to the British Consul O'Sullivan Beare. Fawcett had sent it to the British Museum for analysis, but the research came out inconclusive.

A few researchers like Prof. Barry Fell have reported progress in deciphering the writing on the statue; that the language was creole Minoan Hitite and that it was an appeal for people to visit a temple and pay a token.

Perhaps someday in the future, someone will rescue it back from the heart of the jungle and modern science shall be able to examine it more closely...

The Mysterious Peruvian

2008-06-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

So, who is this mysterious Peruvian mentioned by Benjamin Franklin in his 1788 letter to James Bowdoin?:

"A Circumstance observ'd by the Inhabitants of South America
in their last great Earthquake, that Noise coming from a
Place some Degrees north of Lima, and being trac'd by
enquiry quite down to Buenos Ayres, proceeded regularly
from North to South at the rate of Leagues per
minute, as I was inform'd by a very ingenious Peruvian
whom I met with at Paris.

I am ever, my very dear friend, yours most affectionately,

B. FRANKLIN."

Is it perhaps Miranda, who already admired him and was called in France Le Péruvien?

If so, this may be the piece of evidence that I have been seeking of an encounter between Benjamin Franklin and Francisco de Miranda... I am writing a small article on Miranda and the Founding Fathers.

An online version of the Diary of Miranda (in Spanish)

2008-04-20T13:18:00.001-07:00

An online version (in Spanish) of the diary of Francisco de Miranda, defender of freedom and forerunner of the independence of South America:

The number 9

2008-03-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Consider any number with 2 figures - say "68", for example.

6+8 = 14.

Substract the sum obtained from the original: 68-14 = 54.

Can you see the 9, always there?

Life and the Secret of Ages

2008-02-24T09:50:00.000-08:00

“Life is a beautiful magnificent thing, even to a jelly fish”
Charlie Chaplin in Limelight (in answer to the question: “What is there to fight for?”)

In one of those forgotten, lost books you never expect to see again, I once read that somewhere in Notre-Dame-de-Paris there was an Ankh (the Egyptian symbol of Life, the Crux Ansata or cross with a loop), carved in one of the stairs. The memory of this oddity laid quietly ignored in the dusty shelves of my mind until one day, for no apparent reason, it suddenly awoke and began to demand verification. And so, following a relatively short Google search, words from the mysterious Fulcanelli himself finally uncover something: that the abside of the great cathedrals, and of course, that of Notre-Dame, had been designed in the shape of an Ankh, always in the elliptical apse joined to the choir (Patrick Riviere’s Fulcanelli: His True Identity Revealed).

It seems that the notion of Universal Life embedded in all matter and represented in the crucible, a symbol of the human institution for which the building was designed, was thus imprinted into the heart of the building itself. Alas, a victory of secret wisdom of the Old Master Builders - the Gothic Architects... a genial bit revealed by Master Fulcanelli, the obscure man who died in 1933, in his 6th floor attic of 59 Rue Rochechouart...

Coincidence?

We’ll close this entry with a quote from Vincent Bridges:

“Symbolic knowledge is locked within the architectural ornamentation of Notre-Dame and other gothic cathedrals. Understanding the symbology is the key to unlocking the secrets of the ages.”

PilotGirl's blog

2008-02-03T20:55:00.001-08:00

Today's recommended blog is Sony Stark's, a.k.a. PilotGirl. As per her own statement, PilotGirl is a videographer who has traveled to 25 countries on all five continents... ran the Marine Corps Marathon ... in her spare time, she hangs out with her golden retriever, Rocco. Ms. Stark has pretty good pictures, well organized, great authentic material - everything any good decent blog ought to have. The blog entries are usually brief and to the point, peppered with substantial tips and professional impressions. The picture of friendly Quatis, to the right, comes from PilotGirl's blog.

As for here, the cold is still out there, although receding - for the time being. Present choice of reading is J. M. Roberts' The Penguin Short History of the World (now short it is not, I don't think so, it will take ages to finish it but it's such a great classic, it's well worth all the paragraph by paragraph re-reading). Eyeing The Investigation, bought last month but have not found the time to start yet. Written by a retired Federal Agent on the allegedly forged Howard Hughes will and conclusions as to why it may prove to be true, after all. If so, poor Melvin Dummar (whose thumbprint was supposedly found both on the will and on the cover of a book on hoaxes at his college library and caused a Nevada claim to dismiss the will in 1978) was the victim of a sad bad error in judgment and should have had access to his 1/16 stake of the multi-million dollar estate of The Aviator.

Fragment (chosen for friend John C.): "Lincolnshire has been an absolute treasure this weekend. Who knew that so many major motion films shot in dozens of stately castles, cathedrals and churches here? When Westminster Abbey rebuffed Ron Howard’s Da Vinci Code request the film crews came to Lincolnshire and filmed beautiful lcations inside the Lincoln Cathedral. Just down the road a bit is Keira Knightley’s Pride and Prejudice was filmed. And next summer, Judy Dench stars in another iconic film shot here. This place is more popular than New Zealand! Of course, I’m having the time of my life! There are so many idyllic cobble-stone streets lined with food stalls, fresh markets, crumbling stone walls, quaint cafes and fresh bakeries. The area is rich with scholarly influence dating back 900 years, long before Oxford and Cambridge were founded. And every 15 minutes the Cathedral bells silence the frenetic masses into quiet contemplation. Its chimes can be heard for miles. Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about the The Burghley Castle, its 76 fireplaces, the witty and congenial Miss Lady Victoria and a restaurant with 46 varieties of cheese just for dessert. So much more to come."

A Controversial Conference

2008-01-19T11:46:00.001-08:00

And how else to describe one on the Unidentified Flying Objects phenomenon, with some very unusual retired military and former governor testimonies? This was held at the National Press Center in Washington D.C. on Nov. 12, 2007 - barely two months ago. Regardless of the stance anyone might take on the highly controversial, inflamatory issue of UFOs, this series of short statements will surely provide some serious entertaining material for debate. You can enjoy the 1 h 34 min video of the many surprising, candid statements by clicking here.

Diary of a Mad Natural Historian

2008-01-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

A novelty... the Diary of a Mad Natural Historian is both refreshing and tastefully written. Latest entry has some pictures of a lamb stew. No recipe, though it looks very enticing.

Education, the Moebius Strip and Second Life (SL)

2007-12-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

Today, about one in every 1,000 people on Earth is signed up as a guest/member/visitor to Second Life; however, this number is likely to increase exponentially as the technology becomes more accessible to the masses.

Traditional institutions like Harvard, M.I.T. and Princeton have already realized SL's vast potential for education and quickly created a presence in this immersive 3D academic world populated with all kinds of teacher and student avatars. And yet the amazing possibilities for those who wish to learn in this new brilliant cybermedium are mostly still untapped.

In the picture (to the right) , for example, is a 3D representation of a Moebius strip that could only be walked through with the help of this immersive resource. The internal continuity of the strip (you can walk and fly through all its internal tunnels and reach the end at your starting point, simply by following your path forward) offers students one of many mysteries of science and space, now within their grasp.

The model was developed by an MIT student and a high school student on MIT's island in SL, to explore the unusual topological features noticed by Professor Gonzalo Velez-Jahn (Universidad Central de Venezuela) when he first developed this Moebius model in the mid 1970s.

On the track of Steve Fossett's airplane

2007-10-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

According to an entry on Steve Fossett's official website, "the aircraft's last confirmed position on Monday (3 September) at approximately 10:30 A.M. local time showed Steve west of Powell Canyon (south of Walker Lake and southwest of Hawthorne), proceeding east towards the canyon. This location is less than 30 miles SE from his point of departure / expected arrival. Steve was expected to return to the ranch around 11:00 - 11:30 AM. ". The picture to the left is of the actual plane, a Bellanca Super Decathlon. Below, a satellite picture marking the area where the plane was last seen and the direction of flight at the time - the yellow circle points at our most likely target area.

Take this into consideration if you would like to join in the search for Mr. Fossett with the Amazon's Mechanical Turk system, using GoogleEarth, with fresh images by Google's provider GeoEye. There is a chance that he might still be alive, somewhere out there in the rough Nevada desert.

Against very fierce winds

2007-09-16T21:41:00.001-07:00

In an old Spanish book (Diccionario ilustrado de rarezas, inverosimilitudes y curiosidades, Vicente Vega, ISBN 0785908676), there is a reference to an odd place where houses could be seen chained to the ground. This was in hope to avoid being swept away by the frequent hurricanes. The place is appropriately named Hell's Gate, in the small mountainous island of Saba. While it was impossible to find any other reference to those unusual Caribbean houses of the Windwardside, you may see here (sourced from Wikimedia) another 'shingled' house in a diametrically different location with similar erratic weather: Mount Washington, New Hampshire.

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Read this week: Amazon's blog for Alan Greenspan's upcoming controversial memoir 'Age of Turbulence' (sadly ominous) and Jeffrey Archer's official blog (here on blogspot); entertaining and informative literature and nutritious food for thought.

Also read for the first time: Willard Van Orman Quine's Two Dogmas of Empiricism, suppressing the distinction between analytic and synthetic propositions. Quine's original view on circularity (and the a priori vs. a posteriori debate) is one that Kant himself would have probably found very amusing, to say the least.

2007-09-06T20:46:00.001-07:00

If you feel like reading an interesting diary entry about any particular subject or location, enjoy our new search engines, aimed at both classic and modern diaries (and blogs).

Intrepid Journeys

2007-06-24T09:41:00.003-07:00

SOURCE FOR THIS PICTURE: Television New Zealand

'Intrepid Journeys' is a collection of diaries sponsored by Television New Zealand.

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant (1885)

2007-06-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

Once again we are thankful to Project Gutenberg for making available to the public this very touching document which we have edited to a more convenient format, courtesy of issuu.com. In the memoirs, General Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States, does not ponder very much on his Presidency or his childhood. It is a poignant diary, penned in the last days of his life (he had terminal throat cancer) to be able to provide for his family. The book became a bestseller, and restored the family fortune.

We have also find samples of his amazing character in a letter he wrote to his brother at 37, edited by Jesse Grant Cramer. The excerpt below is a small gem of his belief in "the essential honesty of every man":

"I have been postponing writing to you hoping to make a return for your horse, but as yet I have received nothing for him. About two weeks ago a man spoke to me for him and said that he would try him the next day, and if he suited, give me $100 for him. I have not seen the man since; but one week ago last Saturday he went to the stable and got the horse, saddle and bridle, since which I have seen neither man nor horse. From this I presume he must like him. The man, I understand, lives in Florisant, about twelve miles from the city. "

How I found Livingstone: Diary of Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1872)

2007-03-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

SOURCE FOR THIS PICTURE: Statue of Henry Morgan Stanley, late 19th Century explorer sent by King Leopold II of Belgium (Congo-Kinshasa).
Source: Ellington, University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, Africa Focus

Courtesy of the the Library of the University of the beautiful city of Adelaide in Australia, consider the diary of Sir Henry Morton Stanley, G.C.B..

"I would have run to him, only I was a coward in the presence of such a mob--would have embraced him, but that I did not know how he would receive me; so I did what moral cowardice and false pride suggested was the best thing--walked deliberately to him, took off my hat, and said:
"DR. LIVINSTONE, I PRESUME?"
"Yes," said he, with a kind, cordial smile, lifting his cap slightly."

A Most Mysterious Manuscript

2007-03-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

SOURCE FOR THIS PICTURE: Compelling press

Wilfrid Voynich found it in 1912, in the Jesuit school of Villa Mondragone, near Rome. Two hundred and twenty some pages of a unique medieval writing that has endured the most sophisticated computer and human analysis, eluding all attempts to decrypt it.
Who wrote it? When? Why? What does it say? A puzzling collection of cosmologica, botanica, zoodiacal volvelles and strings of nymphs bathing in green watered tubs connected by odd pipes... In the course of the past four hundred years, many distinguished scholars have attempted to break the secret... , but in vain, for such Sphinxes as these obey no-one but their master...
If you dare to learn more, here is the entrance: it is kept at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, at Yale University: read the entry, then click on the link to see the digital pictures in amazing high resolution:

Link to High Definition Images of the MS408 at Beinecke

But be forewarned: this is a cryptological syren... too many have succumbed to its charms and end up abandoning seizable portions of their time and lives in pursuit its many secrets...

If you do succumb, remember: 1) read the thick correspondence in our mailing list since 1980... almost everything you can possibly think of has been said there before:

http://voynich.ms/

2) explore the fascinating different theories;

3) you can get your copy of D'Imperio on B&N for $25...

4) I haven't read Nick's book yet, but some say it's a must-read...

5) Baresch's works are the Holy Grail of Voynichologists, yes.

6) Find links to some of our members' Voynich (MS408) pages here:

http://www.dcc.unicamp.br/~stolfi/voynich/

ok, so now you're all set. Happy Hunting!

Nan Matol - but a pyramid?

2007-03-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

SOURCE FOR THIS PICTURE: Henry Jones' blog

On P. Kent's website we read that Harry Mason wrote in 1989:

"In 1978 I was working in New Guinea on a mineral exploration project. Whilst at an expat club in Port Moresby one night I saw an 8mm film of a huge stepped pyramid city that was built like Venice with canals. Some 2/3rds of this massive affair was buried in the nearby Lagoon but could apparently still be seen with scuba gear. The film showed a yacht sailing down a "main street" canal with temples, houses, and pyramids for miles on either side sticking out of the jungle. The canals formed a regular interlocking grid - just like a typical USA city block system. Examination convinced the researcher that this city was designed and built with canals and had not just had it's roads flooded.

The film was shot by a sailor and his family who had toured the Pacific researching historical sites - I believe that the city location was on an island in either the Marianas or the Caroline Island Groups - sorry cannot recall exactly which one.

My main point on this is that all the structures were built from basalt and showed precision leveling of the rock surfaces, whilst the building structures were amazingly orthogonal. These strongly resembled the recent web site photos of the structures located underwater south-west of Japan. Perhaps someone has documented this "Venice" in the present day literature on Pacific Archaeology - re stepped pyramids and boat travellers from South America ???"

As Mr. Kent points out, this is probably Nan Matol (Madol?)... any other theories?

The Last Thylacine (1936)

2007-02-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

SOURCE FOR THIS PICTURE:
De Buidelwolf

Thylacinus cynocephalus - the last known member of this species ('Benjamin'), a.k.a. Tasmanian wolf, died of exposure in the Hobart Zoo in 1936. There are ongoing attempts to bring it back to life by cloning its DNA; especially commendable are the efforts led by Don Colgan.

The thylacine's retractile jaw (very impressive) and odd striped fur made it a very unique mammal... you can see its last appearances in rare film (now preserved in Youtube).

On the Aussie website 'A day in the life sciences in Australia', do not miss 'Reviving the Lost Tigers' by Peter Ridgeway and Michelle Brown. Well done work, it highlights the DNA work and progress of Dr. Colgan at the Museum; it includes some pictures of the data. Another excellent piece on the subject can be found at "Attempting to make a genomic library of an extinct animal: Australian Museum online", although the best video (a must-see) on the Thylacine DNA & genome is possibly this one, "Return of the Tasmanian Tiger".

Blondin across Niagara Falls (1859)

2007-02-11T16:12:00.000-08:00

SOURCE FOR THIS PICTURE: England in Particular

There is this extraordinary, almost forgotten incident related to Blondin's famous feat: on August 17, 1859, as he walked the rope over the roaring waters of Niagara Falls, Blondin was carrying on his shoulders a man by the name of Henry M. Colcord; at one point the man had to get off Blondin's back, in order to get some rest! You can read about Henry's goosebumping ride in an old Chicago Times-Herald clip reproduced here