(Thanx Anne!)
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Ancient language mystery deepens
A linguistic mystery has arisen surrounding symbol-inscribed stones in Scotland that predate the formation of the country itself.
The stones are believed to have been carved by members of an ancient people known as the Picts, who thrived in what is now Scotland from the 4th to the 9th Centuries.
These symbols, researchers say, are probably "words" rather than images.
But their conclusions have raised criticism from some linguists.
The research team, led by Professor Rob Lee from Exeter University in the UK, examined symbols on more than 200 carved stones.
They used a mathematical method to quantify patterns contained within the symbols, in an effort to find out if they conveyed meaning.
Professor Lee described the basis of this method.
"It I told you the first letter of a word in English was 'Q' and asked you to predict the next letter, you would probably say 'U' and you would probably be right," he explained.
"But if I told you the first letter was 'T' you would probably take many more guesses to get it right - that's a measure of uncertainty."
Using the symbols, or characters, from the stones, Professor Lee and his colleagues measured this feature of so-called "character to character uncertainty".
They concluded that the Pictish carvings were "symbolic markings that communicated information" - that these were words rather than pictures.
Professor Lee first published these conclusions in April of this year. But a recent article by French linguist Arnaud Fournet opened up the mystery once again.
Mr Fournet said that, by examining Pictish carvings as if they were "linear symbols", and by applying the rules of written language to them, the scientists could have produced biased results.
He commented to BBC News: "It looks like their method is transforming two-dimensional glyphs into a one-dimensional string of symbols.
"The carvings must have some kind of purpose- some kind of meanings, but... it's very difficult to determine if their conclusion is contained in the raw data or if it's an artefact of their method."
Mr Fournet also suggested that the researchers' methods should be tested and verified for other ancient symbols.
"The line between writing and drawing is not as clear-cut as categorised in the paper," Mr Fournet wrote in his article. "On the whole the conclusion remains pending."
But Professor Lee says that his most recent analysis of the symbols, which has yet to be published, has reinforced his original conclusions.
He also stressed he did not claim that the carvings were a full and detailed record of the Pictish language.
"The symbols themselves are a very constrained vocabulary," he said. "But that doesn't mean that Pictish had such a constrained vocabulary."
He said the carvings might convey the same sort of meaning as a list, perhaps of significant names, which would explain the limited number of words used.
"It's like finding a menu for a restaurant [written in English], and that being your sole repository of the English language.
Victoria Gill @'BBC'
Phelps 'Catfish' Collins RIP
Growing up in Cincinnati, Catfish inspired Bootsy to outfit an old guitar with bass strings, helping to define Bootsy’s signature funk sound. Catfish also introduced his brother to the music of Indiana blues guitarist Lonnie Mack. The siblings first played together in the Pacemakers, a funk act, in 1968. One year later, James Brown recruited them to join the original lineup of the J.B.'s, Brown's touring band. Catfish's clean, funky strumming was integral to Brown classics like "Super Bad," "Get Up," "Soul Power," and "Give It Up." "It was like playing a big school with James [as the teacher], like psychotic bump school, only deeper," Bootsy told Rolling Stone in 1978.
When the original J.B.'s split from Brown in 1971, the Collins brothers joined Parliament-Funkadelic, playing on albums like 1972's classic America Eats Its Young. (Catfish also played in Bootsy's side project, Bootsy's Rubber Band.) In 1983, Catfish split from Funkadelic, remaining mostly quiet until 2007, when he contributed guitar to the Superbad soundtrack.
Collins' death comes just one month after fellow Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist Garry Shider passed away from cancer at 56.
Patrick Doyle @'Rolling Stone'
SageFrancisSFR If the artist has to wear multiple hats in order to survive but the middlemen refuse to work extra angles then #KillEmAllAndLetGodSortEmOut
Thom Yorke plays new Radiohead song
Radiohead front-man Thom Yorke played a surprise gig at the Big Chill festival, and during his set, the man performed a brand new Radiohead tune called “Give Up The Ghost”. This wasn’t, however, the first time Yorke has played “Give Up The Ghost”.
via prettymuchamazing
download link for another live version of "Give up the Ghost"
Everyone goes on holiday in Britain...
Even Hells Angels.
I've just found a wonderful, very funny documentary made in 1973 about a group of British Hells Angels.
It's about their daily life and culminates in them going on a weekend mini-break on a derelict barge in the pouring rain near Aylesbury.
They're obviously not very nice people (especially as they tend to go on about Nazis). And the film has a disapproving commentary that talks about their "psychotic tendencies" and their "empty daily existence". But as you watch the film you begin to realise that the director (or possibly the editor) was making a completely different film.
It uses the Hells Angels as a comic and exaggerated parody of the emptiness of the daily life for everyone in Britain.
The film is full of wonderful moments. The lead character - Mad John - goes round to see his wife, but completely ignores her because he finds a letter to him from the fountainhead of Angeldom - the California Angels chapter.
His wife stomps off leaving Mad John with his suitcase of memorabilia. Inside the suitcase is a magazine called "Big Chopper" and a real chopper. He sits with his only real friend - his alsatian dog called Hitler.
And the Hells Angels' holiday ends with all them all sitting together on the barge in the rain watching Dr Who on television drinking cans of lager.
Not much change there then.
Here are the stars of the film:
"Mad John" the Vice President of the Chapter. He was named "Mad John" by "Buttons" who was the first official Hells Angel's leader in Britain. (You can see Buttons' legendary autobiography - Buttons, The Making of a President - briefly in Mad John's suitcase.)
Karl - the Sergeant at Arms of the Chapter. He has been cross-eyed ever since his eyes were knocked out of their sockets in a fight.
Mad John's dog called Hitler plus a great carpet and some fantastic wallpaper.
And Angel member Mick's mum who comes round to lend them a portable TV for the weekend. She is asked what she thinks about her son being a Hells Angel - and she gives one of the best quotes I have ever heard. It is brilliantly comic.
Adam Curtis @'BBC'
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