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Understanding The Voynich Manuscript #4

Understanding The Voynich Manuscript #4 If not Latin, then what? Please see the links at...

Understanding the Voynich Manuscript #3

Understanding the Voynich Manuscript #3 Plants and the moon. For thousands of years, people...

Understanding the Voynich Manuscript #2

Understanding the Voynich Manuscript #2 An i for an i ? Not nymphs: women! There are...

Understanding The Voynich Manuscript #1

Understanding the Voynich Manuscript #1 Tom, Dick and Harry explain a statistical method. ...

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Patrick LockerbyRSS Feed of this column.

Retired engineer, 73 years young. Computer builder and programmer. Linguist specialising in language acquisition and computational linguistics. Interested in every human endeavour except the scrooge... Read More »

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Relic Finds Reveal Zulu War Cover-Up

Relic Finds Reveal Zulu War Cover-Up

Apr 01 2011 | comment(s)

Relic Finds Reveal Zulu War Cover-Up


Paleontologists searching for fossils in a remote area of South Africa were astonished to find spent bullets and cartridge case remnants in an area not previously known as a battle site.  A chemical analysis of the cases and traces of propellant identified the items as being from the time of Britain's wars with the Zulus and the Boers.  Investigators seeking further information about the previously unrecorded presence of British soldiers in the area have found papers in British Government archives which show that a third battle was fought after Isandlwana and
An Arctic Decade 2001 - 2011

An Arctic Decade 2001 - 2011

Mar 31 2011 | comment(s)

An Arctic Decade 2001 - 2011


For thousands of years the Arctic has been covered in perennial ice with seasonal changes at the margins and some natural variation, seen as losses and recoveries of extent.

For hundreds of years observers have noted that seasonal and local variations at the margins can leave some relatively small regions ice free one year, and solidly iced up in other years.
RMS Titanic - Lessons From History

RMS Titanic - Lessons From History

Mar 29 2011 | comment(s)

RMS Titanic - Lessons From History

Titanic 100 Festival

Belfast's most famous creation, Titanic, will be commemorated in an extended annual festival from 31 March - 31 May 2011, which will include key dates of the ship's build.
http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/



It is unlikely that anybody involved in the design, construction and operation of RMS Titanic ever claimed that she was unsinkable.  But the rumor persists that the claim was made.
New Energy Source Discovered

New Energy Source Discovered

Mar 26 2011 | comment(s)

New Energy Source Discovered

... what do we find today, now that the internet is so common and so many people are using it to communicate and share ideas?

A new energy source, that's what.

Ahren Paulson has recently published his discovery of a new source of energy which could fuel the world's power stations.

The new energy source has the added advantage of reducing the incidence of trolling on climate - related blogs.


Hat tip to Daniel Bailey for - indirectly - leading me to the above news story.
Arctic Ice March 2011 Update #2

Arctic Ice March 2011 Update #2

Mar 24 2011 | comment(s)

Arctic Ice March 2011 Update #2


The melt season of 2010 ended with a low extent and with little ice older than two years. There are strong indications that the winter of 2010 - 2011 did not compact and thicken the sea ice as much as would normally be expected.

Arctic sea ice extent averaged over December 2010 was 12.00 million square kilometers (4.63 million square miles). This is the lowest December ice extent recorded in satellite observations from 1979 to 2010, 270,000 square kilometers (104,000 square miles) below the previous record low of 12.27 million square kilometers (4.74 million square miles) set in 2006 and 1.35 million square kilometers (521,000 square miles) below the 1979 to 2000 average.
...
How many beans make five?

How many beans make five?

Mar 23 2011 | comment(s)

How many beans make five?

6.25

Caveat: the above answer is only a ballpark statistical assumption.

In many jurisdictions there are statutory requirements relating to the sale of goods.  Of relevance to this discussion are the laws regarding 'fitness for use'.  Regulations covering the sale of seeds commonly require a germination rate of at least 80% under some set of standard conditions.

80% of 6.25 seeds produces how many bean plants?  You do the maths.

Of course, there are many varieties of beans.  Then there are various climatic conditions, soil types, fertilizers etc.  Now factor in the chances of fungal rot, insect and bird predation etc.