Mystery of the Day: The Voynich Manuscript

Here's an interesting little thing I stumbled over today... The Voynich Manuscript is a curious collection of writing thought to have been compiled as early as the 1200s (though some place it later).

One of the many intriguing things about it is that it's written in a language that uses letters no one--not even modern-day cryptologists, can decipher. The symbols don't form any known language, which, in other cases generally doesn't stop fearless code crackers. For some reason, thoguh, this one just doesn't make sense. It's not just a bunch of jibberish, either. It's an organized manuscript, with sections on various things, repeating words, etc. Clearly someone knew what they were writing.

Another interesting thing is the illustrations--They're quite lovely. However, many of the plants depicted are not reconizable by botanists, and appear to be fantastical, while others are clearly identifyable.

Here is a link to the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale, which has high resolution images of many of the pages online.

What's next for the Mushroom House?

I found out that the owner and architect of the infamous Cincinnati "Mushroom House" passed away this year, and the house has gone on the market. I know neighbors have complained about it in the past, and even threatened to buy it to tear it down. I do hope this odd little landmark survives, though. It's right across the street from a great coffee place I sometimes go to, and it's fun to look across at its quirkiness.

A Lovely Little Diversion: Auditorium

We all just have too much time on our hands, right? I mean, the holidays are coming up, and we're just sitting around, completely done with everything we need to do. Not an ounce of stress or busyness.

Really, what we need is a time waster. Yes. Too much time is certainly a problem, but I'm here to help.

Here is a lovely little gem of a game for you. Auditorium is very pretty process that requires you to simply move spheres around to redirect the flow (Of water? Energy? Do not question.) through little blocks of audio levels to activate the sounds they contain. You can increase or decrease the size of the spheres for different effects. The whole thing is rather mesmerizing and meditative.

Mario Kart Love Song

I love nerds who write songs about nerdy things.