Voynich manuscript

The Voynich manuscript, described as "the world's most mysterious manuscript",^[3] is a work which dates to the early 15th century (1404–1438), possibly from northern Italy.^[1][2] It is named after the book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who purchased it in 1912.

Some pages are missing, but the current version comprises about 240 vellum pages, most with illustrations. Much of the manuscript resembles herbalmanuscripts of the 1500s, seeming to present illustrations and information about plants and their possible uses for medical purposes. However, most of the plants do not match known species, and the manuscript's script and language remain unknown and unreadable. Possibly some form of encrypted ciphertext, the Voynich manuscript has been studied by many professional and amateur cryptographers, including American and British codebreakers from both World War Iand World War II. As yet, it has defied all decipherment attempts, becoming a famous case of historical cryptology. The mystery surrounding it has excited the popular imagination, making the manuscript a subject of both fanciful theories and novels. None of the many speculative solutions proposed over the last hundred years has yet been independently verified.^[4]

The Voynich manuscript was donated to Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in 1969, where it is catalogued under call number MS 408and called a "Cipher Manuscript".^[5][6]

Voynich Manuscript
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University MS 408
One of the foldout pages in the Voynich manuscript
Type	Manuscript codex
Date	Early 15th century[1][2]
Place of origin	Possibly northern Italy[1][2]
Material	Vellum
Size	23.5 by 16.2 by 5 centimetres (9.3 by 6.4 by 2.0 in); about 240 pages

Contents   [hide]  1 Content 1.1 Text 1.2 Illustrations 1.3 Purpose 2 History 3 Authorship hypotheses 3.1 Fabrication by Voynich 3.2 Other theories 3.3 Hoax 4 Language hypotheses 4.1 Constructed language 4.2 Ciphers 4.3 Codes 4.4 Micrography 4.5 Steganography 4.6 Exotic natural language 4.7 Glossolalia 4.8 Hybrid language 5 Cultural impact 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

[edit]Content

The manuscript measures 23.5 by 16.2 by 5 centimetres (9.3 by 6.4 by 2.0 in), with hundreds of vellum pages collected into eighteen quires. It is made up of, depending on how some of its unusual fold-out multi-part pages are counted, approximately 240 pages in total. The top righthand corner of each recto (righthand) page has been numbered from 1 to 116, probably by one of the manuscript's later owners. From the various numbering gaps, it seems likely that in the

Antikythera mechanism

The Antikythera mechanism (pron.: /ˌæntɨkɨˈθɪərə/ ant-i-ki-theer-ə or /ˌæntɨˈkɪθərə/ ant-i-kith-ə-rə) is an ancient analog computer^[1][2] designed to calculate astronomicalpositions. It was recovered in 1900–1901 from the Antikythera wreck,^[3] but its significance and complexity were not understood until a century later. Jacques Cousteau visited the wreck in 1978^[4] but, although he found new dating evidence, he did not find any additional remains of the Antikythera mechanism. The construction has been dated to the early 1st century BCE. Technological artifacts approaching its complexity and workmanship did not appear again until the 14th century AD, when mechanical astronomical clocksbegan to be built in Western Europe.^[5]

Professor Michael Edmunds of Cardiff University, who led a 2006 study of the mechanism, said: ^[6][7]

This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind. The design is beautiful, the astronomy is exactly right. The way the mechanics are designed just makes your jaw drop. Whoever has done this has done it extremely carefully ... in terms of historic and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than theMona Lisa.

—30 November 2006

The Antikythera mechanism is displayed at the

Dracula:Vlad the Impaler

Vlad Ţepeș" redirects here. For other uses, see Vlad Ţepeș (disambiguation).

Vlad III Dracula
Voivode of Wallachia
The Ambras Castle portrait of Vlad III, c. 1560, reputedly a copy of an original made during his lifetime[1]
Reign	1448; 1456–1462; 1476
Born	November or December 1431[2]
Birthplace	Sighișoara, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary
Died	December 18, 1476 [2] (aged 45)
Place of death	Bucharest, Wallachia
Royal House	House of Drăculești (branch of theHouse of Basarab)
Father	Vlad II Dracul
Mother	Cneajna of Moldavia

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431–1476), was a member of the House of Drăculești, a branch of the House of Basarab, also known by his patronymic name: Dracula. He was posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler (Romanian: Vlad Țepeș pronounced [ˈvlad ˈt͡sepeʃ]), and was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462, the period of the incipient Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. His father, Vlad II Dracul, was a member of the Order of the Dragon, which was founded to protect Christianity in Eastern Europe. Vlad III is revered as a hero in Bulgaria as well for his protection of the

Socotra Island

Socotra (Arabic: سُقُطْرَى‎ Suquṭra), also spelled Soqotra, is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. The largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago. It lies some 240 kilometres (150 mi) east of the Horn of Africa and 380 kilometres (240 mi) south of the Arabian Peninsula.^[2] The island is very isolated and through the process of speciation, a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. It has been described as the most alien-looking place on Earth. The island measures 132 kilometres (82 mi) in length and 49.7 kilometres (30.9 mi) in width.^[3]

Socotra is part of the Republic of Yemen. It had long been a part of the 'Adan Governorate. In 2004, it became attached to the Hadhramaut Governorate, which is much closer to the island than 'Adan (although the nearest governorate is Al Mahrah).

Etymology

In the notes to his translation of the Periplus, G.W.B. Huntingford remarks that the name Suqotra is not Greek in origin, but from the Sanskrit dvīpa (Skt. "island") sukhadhara ("supporting, or providing bliss"). Another probable origin of the name is the Arabic “Suq” meaning “market” and “qotra” meaning “dripping frankincense”.^[4]

[edit]History

Map of the Socotra archipelago

There was initially an Oldoway (or Oldowan) culture in Socotra. Oldoway stone tools were found in the area around Hadibo by V.A. Zhukov, a member of the Russian Complex Expedition in 2008.^[5][6]

Socotra appears as Dioskouridou ("of Dioscurides") in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a 1st century AD Greek navigation aid. In the notes to his translation of the Periplus, G.W.B. Huntingford remarks that the name Socotra is not

The JERSEY DEVIL

The Jersey Devil, the supposed mythical creature of the New Jersey Pinelands, has haunted New Jersey and the surrounding areas for the past 260 years. This entity has been seen by over 2,000 witnesses over this period. It has terrorized towns and caused factories and schools to close down, yet many people believe that the Jersey Devil is a legend, a mythical beast, that originated from the folklore of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Others disagree with this point of view. The following text will show there is evidence to support the existence of an animal or supernatural bring known as the Jersey Devil. The evidence consists of the stories of the Jersey Devil's origin, the sightings of it, and finally, the theories on it.
There are many different versions of the birth of the Jersey Devil. One of the most popular legends says a Mrs. Shrouds of Leeds Point, NJ made a wish that if she ever had another child, she want it to be a devil. Her next child was born misshapen and deformed. She sheltered it in the house, so the curious couldn't see him. On stormy night, the child flapped it's arms, which turned into wings, and escaped out the chimney and was never seen by the family again. A Mrs. Bowen of Leeds point said, "The Jersey Devil was born in the Shrouds house at Leeds Point." 1 Another story that also placed the birth at Leeds Point said that a young girl fell in love with a British soldier during the Revolutionary War. The people of Leeds Point cursed her. When she gave birth, she had a devil. Some people believe the birth of the devil was punishment for the mistreatment of a minister by the Leeds folk.
Another story placed the birth in Estelville, NJ. Mrs. Leeds, of Estelville, finding out she was pregnant with her 13th child, shouted,"I hope it's a devil". She got her wish. The child wad born with horns, a tail, wings, and a horse-like head. The creature revisited Mrs. Leeds everyday. She stood at her door and told it to leave. After awhile, the creature got the hint and never returned.
Burlington, NJ, also claims to be the birthplace of the Jersey Devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night. Gathered around her were her friends. Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the devil himself. The child was born normal, but then changed form. It changed from a normal baby to a creature with hooves, a horses head, bat wings and a forked tail. It beat everyone present and flew up the chimney. It circled the villages and headed toward the pines. In 1740 a clergy exercised the devil for 100 years and it wasn't seen again until 1890.
There are many other versions of the legend. The legends say it was the

Encounter with Mothman,Mothman in Middle Tennessee?

In the mid-1960s, a mysterious creature that became known as Mothman frightened residents around Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Described as having large red eyes and enormous, silent wings, the creature has become legend in the area, and sightings are claimed to this very day. In the summer of 2005, Matt and his stepsister encountered something unknown, and they wonder if it was the Mothman monster. This is Matt’s story:

My stepsister Lynn and I were visiting her grandparents in Virginia. Her grandparents’ house is in the countryside with a 20-acre cornfield next to it. About 50 yards behind the house lays miles of forest.

The first night we were there, we were unpacking and getting ready to go to sleep. There was a bunk bed in the guest room, which our younger siblings were going to sleep in. There was a couch and a pull-out bed in the living room, which Lynn and I decided to sleep in. We were channel surfing on the TV, and we flipped to a show about urban legends in the United States. Since my stepsister and I have always been interested in paranormal happenings, we decided to stop and watch for a few minutes.

Something came on about a creature called “Mothman.” According to the show, sightings of Mothman were said to be

Do fairies, gnomes and goblins really exist? Suspend your disbelief for a moment, and consider these real-life encounters with creatures from the land of make-believe.

Most of us have grown up with the timeless fairy tales of The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson. They are wonderful stories populated by fairies, gnomes, trolls, goblins and other strange creatures that inhabit dark woods, foggy swamps, mystic meadows and mysterious mountains. They are also powerful stories that stay with us our entire lives because they tap into our primal fears of the unknown - creepy little archetypes of the human collective unconscious.

But are these creatures only the stuff of folklore and imagination? Do they have a basis in reality? Is that an idea too crazy to even consider? People around the world have claimed to have actually seen and even interacted with such beings. In moments of stress and unfamiliarity, are their minds merely recalling the fairy tales of their childhoods... or are their experiences real? Read the following accounts and decide for yourself.

SEBASTIAN POLIZAR, THE GNOME

I am now 22 years old, but when I was 17 I saw a gnome, and this is how it happened. My mom and I just moved to Puerto Rico. She bought an old house on a hill that she fixed it up, and soon we moved in. One day I came home early from school. No one was home, so I went to take a shower. I could hear my dog barking and chasing something, so I got out of the shower, ran to the window and saw what he was barking at: a gnome! He was standing behind a tree. He was very small, wore a white, cone-shaped hat and pointy shoes. Everything he wore was white. He saw me and we looked at each other. When I blinked, he was gone.

I decided not to say anything to anyone. Then a couple of days later when I saw him again outside my window, smiling at me... then he disappeared. The next time I saw him I yelled out, "What's your name?" To my surprise, he yelled back and said, "My name is Sebastian Polizar." I told my mom and she was like, "Yeah, right..." I told her that I would prove that it was true. I yelled his name out loud and told him to